The most shameless alchemist in history

“Of course it’s important. With money, you can buy anything you want. Thanks to Mr. Cassel for introducing us to Master Seta, he really helped us a lot. By the way, this is your reward, Mr. Cassel. I can’t let you do all this for nothing.” Dure ignored Grey Falcon’s words.

He took a small handful of coins, about ten or so, from the money bag he had just received and handed it to Cassel. Although Seta had already left, Cassel's eyes were still fixed on the money bag in Dure's hand. However, he could also tell that Dure and Grey Falcon were somewhat different.

He could take the silver coins directly from the Grey Falcon, but he couldn't fathom the depths of this boy named Dure. If he rashly took the silver coins from Dure, who knew what might happen? In addition, Dure had given him three silver coins earlier, which made Cassel wait a little longer.

"Oh, this, this, how could I possibly accept this? I, Kassel, was just helping a friend. How could I possibly accept payment? Hahaha, this young man, Dure, is so honest. I, Kassel, love dealing with friends like you. If you ever need any help in the future, just let me know, and I'll definitely take care of it for you."

Kassel, feigning reluctance, eventually accepted the silver coin. For the sake of the coin, he treated Durei with great warmth, beaming with joy. He had lost everything at the gambling den at dusk and was worried about not having enough capital to make a comeback when good fortune came his way.

"Speaking of helping, there is indeed something I need, but I don't know how to bring it up," Du Lei said after a moment's hesitation, looking troubled.

“Hey, buddy, we’re not strangers. Just say what you need to say, and I, Kassel, will do whatever it takes without hesitation.” Dussel was in a great mood after receiving the money and started calling Durei a brother, even though he was much older than Durei.

“Since you’re so kind, Brother Dussel, it’s like this: Mr. Seta is leaving tomorrow, and as you know, he’s a big shot, not someone you can meet all the time. I’d like to take this opportunity to get to know him, but I’m afraid of disturbing his schedule.”

After pondering for a moment and taking a deep breath, Durei told Kassel what he wanted to do and affectionately called him "Big Brother".

“I knew you were a man of ambition, young man. Indeed, it’s not easy to see someone of Mr. Seta’s stature in a small town like ours. It would be a real shame to miss out.” Cassell wholeheartedly agreed. He had made quite a bit of money from Seta’s visit to Snow Eagle Town.

“So I have a favor to ask,” Dure immediately leaned close to Kassel’s ear and whispered a few words. Snowflakes were falling softly and the wind was howling, which masked their voices. Grey Falcon still stood by and couldn’t say a word. He looked at Dure with confusion in his eyes.

"I see. No problem, I'll take care of it for you. Alright, it's getting late, I'll head back now. Goodbye, little brother, have good luck tomorrow. Don't forget me, Kassel, when you've made it big." Kassel agreed to Durei's request, waved, and quickly left.

"Durey, what did you say to him that people like Kassel aren't worth associating with, and what about your Snow Shadow?" Gray Falcon came over after Kassel had gone far away. He hadn't heard what the two had said, but he still reminded Durey, since Durey had done him a favor.

“Of course I know that. It’s very late now, let’s go back and rest. We’ll start working as soon as it’s light tomorrow.” Du Lei nodded. He didn’t tell Grey Falcon any further details. He looked up at the sky. It was already late at night, and the wind and snow were getting fiercer.

"What's there to be busy with tomorrow?" Grey Falcon was completely bewildered and didn't understand what Dure meant by that.

"After several days of heavy snow, I think it will clear up again after tomorrow," Du Lei said softly.

Under the expectant gaze of the Grey Falcon, he ultimately said nothing. The two quickly returned to the Grey Falcon's home along the path they had come from. Their footprints from when they came had been covered by the snowflakes, and the traces of their return could not remain in the snow for long, as if they had never appeared.

Meanwhile, in the inn's underground warehouse, a dozen mercenaries were strictly guarding the place. No one could approach unless it was Seta himself. These mercenaries were all brought by Seta from Frost City, and their strength was far greater than that of the local mercenaries.

With their guards, no one else could enter the underground warehouse. When Seta entered the underground warehouse with the cage he had just acquired, a series of "cooing" sounds came from inside. Many sharp eyes stared at him from the darkness, which was quite creepy at first glance.

But when he picked up the kerosene lamp and illuminated the surrounding scene, he discovered that the underground warehouse was full of cages containing snow eagles of varying quality. These were the spoils of Seta's harvest in Snow Eagle Town over the past month. He had spent a lot of money to acquire a total of twenty-eight snow eagles.

"With this, our trip to Snow Eagle Town will be a complete success. This top-quality snow eagle will surely satisfy that lord. With his help, my business can be successfully expanded to the Dog Kingdom. This is wonderful!" Seta put the cage in his hand into the underground warehouse.

"Master Seta has a good eye, managing to acquire such top-quality snow eagles. When will we transport these snow eagles away?" A sturdy mercenary asked from behind Seta. He was Seta's trusted confidant and had always followed Seta to handle various matters.

"Let's transport them first thing tomorrow morning. Get a good night's rest tonight. Once we arrive in Frost City safely, I'll give you a break. You'll just have to work hard for a few more days." Seta encouraged the mercenaries, knowing full well that they couldn't let their guard down, especially at crucial moments.

The mercenaries nodded emphatically, already imagining the wonderful days of eating, drinking, and having fun back in Frost City.

060 Who said they were going to fight?

The next morning, before dawn, Gray Falcon, with dark circles under his eyes, was dragged out of bed by Du Lei, who had already prepared breakfast in Gray Falcon's kitchen. Gray Falcon hurriedly ate two fried eggs and wanted to go back to sleep, but Du Lei pulled him out the door, where snow was still falling heavily.

At this time of day, there are few pedestrians on the street. Occasionally, one or two houses in the large town will have their lights on, not including the town's only four-story building, the inn. Because there are distinguished guests staying at the inn, Mr. Seta, being generous, had booked the inn at a high price long ago.

"Du Lei, what's wrong with you? You woke me up so early! Can't a person get any sleep? Hey, say something! Where are we going?" Gray Falcon had barely slept a wink last night, and his dark circles were very obvious. He was very unhappy with Du Lei's actions.

"Today is the day Seta will transport all the Snow Eagles away. Are you really going to just watch Dogo leave this place and never see him again?" Dure turned around and asked Gray Falcon. He was walking ahead, and he had become quite familiar with the paths to Snow Eagle Town in the past two days.

"What can Dogo do? Can we take them back? The mercenaries around Seta are no pushovers; we can't beat them at all." Gray Falcon's expression darkened at the mention of "Dogo." He shook his head bitterly. It wasn't that he didn't want to take Dogo back.

Instead, he was completely helpless. He increasingly regretted how he had been so blinded by greed and sold Dogo to Seta. Dogo was a timid snow eagle, and it had been two days since he left him. How lost, helpless, and frightened it was! Gray Falcon felt a pang of sorrow in his heart.

“There’s a way.” Du Lei shook his head, squinting as he looked ahead. The hotel was right there, but he didn’t stop near it.

"What ideas? There's still Dure. Where are we going? Didn't we come to the inn to find Seta?" Gray Falcon couldn't understand Dure's intentions at all, so he could only follow behind him. The two bypassed the inn and continued walking forward, not knowing where their destination was.

“Seta is leaving Snowhawk Town early this morning for Frost City. With a large number of Snowhawks with him, what do you think he will choose to leave?” Dure did not answer Gray Falcon’s question directly, but instead asked a question in return. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the morning wind was unusually cold.

"The best way to leave would be by train," Grey Falcon thought for a moment and gave an answer, since there was a train station in town.

“That’s right, it’s a train, but Snow Eagles are birds of prey, not ordinary passengers. Where do you think Seta will put them?” Dure nodded, confirming Gray Falcon’s guess, and then continued to ask questions. He hadn’t been idle for the past two days, and had obtained a lot of intelligence through his investigation.

“Seta would definitely put them on the train,” Grey Falcon said, though he struggled to think of an answer.

"The question is, which carriage on the train?" Du Lei astutely pointed out the crux of the problem and posed the question.

"How would I know? I've never ridden a train in my life." Gray Falcon shook his head. He had lived in Snow Eagle Town since he was a child and had never left.

“There’s only one train from Falcon Town to Frost City. This train has a total of twelve carriages, eight of which are for passengers and four for cargo. Seta must have chartered one of the last four cargo carriages to transport Snow Eagle,” Dure explained.

"Four carriages? But which one should it be?" Grey Falcon roughly understood what Dure meant and nodded as if he understood but not quite.

"It should be the ninth carriage. To ensure that Snow Eagle can be brought back to Frost City intact, Seta will definitely bring a large number of mercenaries to prevent any accidents. While he has chartered the ninth cargo carriage to transport Snow Eagle, he will definitely have chartered the eighth carriage to transport people."

Dure gave the answer again. All of this might be too difficult for Grey Falcon to understand, but it was perfectly natural to him.

Grey Falcon in the eighth carriage was having trouble keeping up with Dure's train of thought and needed to stop and sort things out.

“That’s right. Seta has more than a dozen mercenaries under his command. I’ve already inquired. These are the people he brought with him when he came. When he left, he had more than twenty snow eagles with him. He also gathered a group of mercenaries in the local area to protect him, bringing the total number to more than thirty. That’s no small number.”

Dure went on to explain that he was a good listener and could always find out information that others inadvertently revealed through multiple channels.

"You mean Seta will charter the eighth carriage and fill it with all his men to protect Snow Eagle? But that means no one else will have a chance. There are over thirty mercenaries there; they can't possibly defeat them." Gray Falcon hung his head, looking somewhat dejected.

“Who says violence, like fighting with them, is the most boring way to solve problems? We’re here, come with me.” Du Lei smiled gently and pointed ahead. It wasn’t quite dawn yet, but kerosene lamps were already lit, and many people were busy at work. This was the only place like this in the entire town.

"This is the train station, Dure. Do you mean we should sneak in?" Gray Falcon was very familiar with Snow Eagle Town. In fact, ever since Dure started talking about trains, he had roughly guessed that Dure was coming to the train station, and now his guess had been confirmed.

"Who said we had to sneak around? Can't we be open and aboveboard?" Du Lei shook his head again and swaggered toward the train station. The train had already pulled into the station and was currently refueling and feeding passengers, and was about to load a batch of goods onto Snow Eagle Town.

"Hey, what are you two doing sneaking around there?" Just as Dure walked over, the train guard spotted them and immediately reprimanded them. He wasn't a local and didn't know Grey Falcon. He raised his windproof kerosene lamp to prevent any suspicious people from approaching the train.

"Oh, guard, these are the ones I called over. They're my helpers. I was wondering why you two were taking so long to get here. Hurry up and go over there to move the goods." Someone walked up behind the guard, greeting him with a smile, seemingly quite familiar with him.

"Is that Kassel? Is there no man left in Snow Eagle Town? You're even calling such a young child over to be a porter." The guard picked up his kerosene lamp and glanced at the speaker. He recognized Kassel as the one who spoke. This wasn't the first time he had passed through Snow Eagle Town, and he had dealt with Kassel several times before.

"This is to save costs, you guys come on over, we have a lot of things to do." Kassel waved to Dure and the other man, who nodded and followed Kassel into the train station.

061 Why not let them go?

Grey Falcon and Dure arrived at the train station completely bewildered. What puzzled him even more was that Kassel would help them at this moment, allowing them to enter the train station smoothly. Following Kassel's directions, the two moved a batch of goods into the tenth carriage of the train, as the wind and snow blew fiercely.

Grey Falcon already harbored a great deal of resentment towards Kassel, and now he was being forced to work for Kassel as free labor, which made him extremely unhappy. However, at Dure's prompting, he did not lose his temper on the spot and proceeded to move the items to the carriage in an orderly manner. But at this moment, he noticed something amiss.

At the same time, another group of people were moving something into the adjacent ninth carriage. All the items were covered with black cloth. Grey Falcon, with his sharp eyes, immediately recognized the contents as belonging to Snow Eagle, including his own Dorgo. This excited him so much that he almost rushed over to call out Dorgo's name.

“Calm down. If you act impulsively now, all the plans will fall apart. Dogo will be taken away by Seta, and you'll never see it again. If you want to get Dogo back, you have to calm down and take it one step at a time. Trust me, there won't be any problems.” Dure held onto Gray Falcon tightly, afraid that he would make a mistake.

"I believe you understand, I will restrain myself." Gray Falcon watched as the group carried Snow Eagle into the carriage, and finally calmed down and did not act impulsively. At this time, their unloading work was nearing its end, and Cassel, who had helped them out of the predicament, also came over.

"Alright, young man Dure, Master Seta will be boarding the train soon, and it will depart in about ten minutes. So hurry up and make a good impression on Master Seta. This is the only thing I can do to help you." Kassel pointed to the passenger compartment ahead.

“Understood. Brother Cassel has been a great help. I will definitely seize this opportunity.” Dure nodded and expressed his gratitude to Cassel, who hurriedly left. Gray Falcon, standing nearby, was completely bewildered, not understanding why Cassel would help them or what Dure was up to.

"Durey, what exactly is going on between you and Kassel?" Grey Falcon couldn't help but ask, as Durey moved toward the next carriage.

“This is a deal between me and Cassel. I gave him face and compensation, and he gave me all the conveniences he could.” Dure didn’t hide anything from Grey Falcon and told him the answer directly. All of this was agreed upon in that quiet alley last night.

“But Kassel is such a despicable person.” Grey Falcon was still not entirely at ease with Kassel. After all, his prejudice against Kassel was deeply ingrained. In his mind, Kassel was an absolute villain, and expecting him to help was simply a pipe dream.

"Grey Falcon, remember this: never stand on a moral high ground and arrogantly accuse anyone. If we have to talk about despicable people, everyone is despicable, just at different times and in different ways. Even the most despicable person has his value and uses."

Dure shook his head. Gray Falcon was too young, inexperienced, and immature. He was too stubborn on many issues.

"Du Lei, I don't quite understand what you're saying." Gray Falcon struggled to understand; in his eyes, bad people should be avoided.

“You may not understand now, but you will one day. Let’s go, let’s get down to business.” Du Lei didn’t delve too deeply into the matter. He gestured for Grey Falcon to lower his voice, and the two of them successfully sneaked into the next carriage. At this time, there was no one in the next carriage.

"They managed to sneak in so easily? That's quite surprising." Gray Falcon followed closely behind Dure. He had originally thought that getting into the carriage would be quite difficult, but to his surprise, it went smoothly all the way. Because it was still dark, the carriage was dimly lit and gloomy.

“The people from Seta are all in the eighth carriage right now, and the checks are all on the outside. We’re here as staff, so we can easily sneak in. It’s all thanks to Kassel. Keep your voice down, don’t let anyone find out.” Dure made a shushing gesture.

"So that's how it is. All these cages are for snow eagles. Let me see. I found Dogo. Dogo is right here. I really found him. That's great. Are you alright, Dogo? I missed you so much." The gray falcon followed Dure obediently without daring to utter a sound.

Using the dim light, he looked to both sides and quickly recognized that, just as Du Lei had predicted, the entire carriage was filled with cages, and without exception, all of them contained snow hawks. Grey Falcon quickly found his own dog, Dogo, and looked excited.

"Don't make a sound. You won't save it, you'll only hurt it," Du Lei said, pulling on the gray falcon. The noise startled him.

“I’m very sorry, I understand. Dure, let’s release these snow eagles now and let them return to their freedom.” Gray Falcon realized his lapse in composure and immediately lowered his voice. He also knew that without Dure, he would never have been able to meet with Dogo again. He suggested releasing the snow eagles.

“No, we can’t let them go.” Dure decisively rejected him, his attitude very firm, which puzzled Grey Falcon greatly.

"Why, Dure? We've already found Dogo and the others. Didn't we come here to save them? Why can't we release them?" Gray Falcon couldn't understand Dure's actions at all. Even though he trusted Dure, he couldn't agree with this decision no matter what.

“The train hasn’t even departed yet. If we release them now, what do you think Seta will do? Will he let it go? Can he tolerate all the Snow Eagles he spent so much money to buy escaping?” Dure shook his head slightly. Gray Falcon’s idea was too presumptuous.

"This..." Gray Falcon was taken aback by Du Lei's question, because he hadn't really thought about these questions before and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

“So we should release them, but not now.” Dure could understand Grey Falcon’s feelings, and as he spoke, he walked to Snow Shadow’s cage.

"Not now, Durei. Do you mean we should hide on the train and find a chance to let them go?" Grey Falcon asked tentatively.

“Someone will come to check soon. There’s nowhere to hide here, so this idea can’t be put into practice,” Dureh said again.

"Then what exactly did we come here for? This won't work, that won't work either," Gray Falcon said, getting a little angry.

“We can’t let them go, but it can. Xueying, I’m leaving the rest to you. Oh no, people are coming from outside. We have to go.” Du Lei opened Xueying’s cage. The light was dim, and it was unclear what he was doing, but Xueying did not come out of the cage.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside. Dure immediately closed the cage again and quickly dragged the grey falcon outside.

062 He was sleeping so soundly.

He was extremely reluctant to leave Dorgo again, but at that moment someone came in. Even though Dure had acted quickly enough, the other person still took the lead and entered the carriage with a kerosene lamp. These were two strong and tall mercenaries, men from Seta.

"Who are you two? Who sent you here?" one of the mercenaries shouted at Du Lei and his companion. Their orders were to ensure Xue Ying's safety without any mishaps. Now, just before their departure, suspicious individuals had infiltrated the carriage.

"We're station staff. We heard some noise over here and thought a thief had sneaked in, so we came to check. By the way, what are you transporting? It smells like bird droppings, and the sound is really suspicious," Du Lei replied seriously, his expression unchanged.

"Thieves, I think you're the ones who look like thieves. Don't try to play the 'thief crying 'stop thief' trick with me. If I arrest you two, you'll behave." The mercenary was experienced and didn't believe Du Lei's words. He immediately stepped forward to arrest the man. If he hadn't been more vigilant, he would have been dead more than ten years ago.

“Wait, I did see these two working at the station just now. They shouldn’t be thieves. Let’s just leave it at that. Nothing was stolen, and the train is about to depart soon. Let’s not cause any more trouble.” The other mercenary carefully examined Du Lei and his companion, recalling that he had met them before.

He advised his companion that if they dragged the two people off the train at this moment, it would inevitably delay the train's operation, which would be a loss.

"I see. I'm very sorry, I thought you were suspicious people." The mercenary nodded, stepped back, and did not go forward again.

"It's alright, we all do this job, we can all understand. The train is about to depart, have a safe journey." Du Lei wasn't angry about the mercenary's previous reckless behavior. He swaggered out of the carriage, with Gray Falcon following behind him, his palms sweating.

"That really scared me to death. If they had caught them, Dogo and the others would have been doomed. Durei, aren't you scared?" After the two left the carriage, Grey Falcon was still shaken when he recalled the mercenaries' eyes. He was completely bewildered by the situation.

“Fear won’t solve the problem. Only by staying calm can we find the key to victory.” Du Lei shook his head. It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid, but that he dared not be afraid. After the two returned to the platform, all the goods had been unloaded, and the passengers had boarded the train. The train sounded a long whistle.

“But Dure, if we just leave like this, what will happen to Dogo and the others? Are we really just going to watch them get taken away like this? It’s so unfair.” Grey Falcon felt extremely guilty. He had clearly seen Dogo again, but unexpectedly, this happened.