The most shameless alchemist in history

Just when she was in despair, a figure suddenly walked over. This person made her feel warm and at ease, like suddenly finding a fireplace in the cold, snowy world.

“You’ve been waiting here long enough. Come with me.” A man reached out his hand to the young Messiah. He looked to be in his early twenties, somewhat thin, with black hair and eyes, giving him a clean appearance.

"Who are you?" Messiah tilted her head and looked at him. She felt that this person looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before.

“I am your friend,” the other person replied gently.

“Friend? But I don’t remember having a friend like you.” Messiah was still somewhat confused.

“I’m not your friend now, but I will be your friend in the future,” the man explained softly.

"Friends in the future? What's the difference between friends now and friends in the future?" Messiah was puzzled by this; she really couldn't figure out the difference between the two.

“There are still some differences. Your name is Messiah, right?” the man said softly, uttering her name.

"Huh, how do you know my name?" The little girl tilted her head, even more curious.

"Because we're friends," the man said with a smile.

"You've made me a little dizzy," Messiah said, returning to the previous topic.

“My name is Du Lei,” the man said.

“Dure? Is that how it’s spelled?” Messiah wrote on the ground with a twig.

"No, this position is wrong, it should be like this," Du Lei corrected.

"Oh, is that so? Then Messiah has learned it again!" the little girl said happily.

"Messiah is really smart, she learns in no time," Dure said with a smile, patting her head.

"Hehe, everyone says Messiah is very smart!" The little girl was very happy; she enjoyed being patted on the head.

"So Messiah, why are you here all alone?" Dure asked softly.

“Messiah is waiting here. Father told Messiah to wait here for him to return, but he has been gone for a long time and still hasn’t come back. We don’t know what’s wrong. Everyone is crying. What’s going on?” Messiah tilted her head, she had too many questions she couldn’t understand.

"Where did your father go?" Dure asked.

"It seems that a band of robbers appeared in Father's territory, and Father led his men to wipe them out," Messiah replied earnestly.

Just then, the previously dark surroundings became clearer.

A number of people gradually appeared in the vicinity.

If you look closely, you'll find that this is a castle, with its front facing a river. Standing on the castle's watchtower, you can clearly see the scenery in the distance.

This is a castle surrounded by a river bend.

Meanwhile, some servants were busy at work in the back, whispering among themselves in small groups.

From Dure's position, one could vaguely hear the servants' conversation.

vertex

861 It's agreed

"Alas, I never expected such a thing to happen. Duke Dorak was such a good person, yet he was killed by a bunch of bandits." A servant cleaning in the garden not far away murmured, his words filled with deep regret.

"Who knows? This kind of thing could have been easily handled by someone else, but the Duke insisted on doing it himself. As a result, those bandits didn't care about the Duke's noble status and killed him directly. It's really a pity," someone nearby sighed.

"There's nothing we can do about it. The Duke always does everything himself. Everyone is heartbroken by his accident, but only Lady Messiah... she doesn't know about her father yet. She's so young, how can she bear all this?"

The servants would occasionally glance in the direction of the Messiah, feeling deeply saddened, for they were all indebted to Duke Dorak.

Moreover, they had watched Messiah grow up and had a great fondness for the father and daughter. But who would have thought that such good people would encounter such misfortune? This garnered sympathy from the entire River Bend City, and the funeral was being prepared in full swing.

"Dure, what are they talking about?" Messiah asked her new friend, tilting her head.

The servants seemed not to see his presence, but Messiah was not worried, since Dure said he was her friend.

A friend wouldn't do anything to hurt a companion, so she chose to trust Dure because she felt a very close and familiar feeling towards him.

“They were just having a normal chat,” Dure replied softly, patting her head.

"Chatting? But I heard them say that their father died. What does 'death' mean?" Messiah asked curiously.

“Death… means never seeing him again; he’s gone to another world,” Dure explained.

"Another world? I won't be able to see him anymore? Will Messiah never see Father again? But Father clearly said he would come back." The little girl said with some disappointment.

“Actually, he didn’t want to leave Messiah either, but he had very important things to do and had to leave Messiah. Messiah is very sensible, right? He will understand your father, right?” Dure said softly.

“Father, is he busy again? He’s always like this, always busy with something. He promised Messiah he would go to many places to play, but he always gets delayed by various things. Actually, Messiah really wants to go and play with Father, but Messiah is a sensible child, and a sensible child cannot interfere with her father’s work… So I understand.” Messiah said earnestly.

"Messiah is so good, such a good child, a good child, you will definitely be happy in the future," Dure said gently.

"Happiness, what is happiness?" Messiah asked, tilting her little head.

“Happiness is when your whole body and mind are in a relaxed and joyful state,” Du Lei tried to explain.

“Messiah understands. This is how Messiah felt when he was with his father and mother when he was little. Is this happiness?” the little girl asked after thinking for a moment.

“Yes, that’s happiness too,” Dure nodded and said.

"But Father and Mother are gone, how can the Messiah be happy?" The little girl looked a little lost as she said this.

“Happiness isn’t just this one kind. In the future, a wonderful person will come to Messiah’s side to take care of you, protect you, and make Messiah happy,” Dure said softly.

"Who is that person? When will he appear?" the little girl asked with a hint of anticipation.

“The Messiah won’t be here for long if he just waits patiently,” Dure gave an affirmative answer.

“I believe what you say, Dure. So Messiah will wait patiently and grow up obediently until that person appears.” The little girl nodded and said firmly.

“Messiah is such a good child. That day will come. So step out of the shadows, out of this darkness, and back to your rightful place in time,” Dure said, patting her head.

Soon the previously dark scene became even more vivid.

On the distant horizon, the sun appeared, and its golden rays quickly spread across the land, creating a warm and inviting scene.

"Back to my right time and space? What does that mean? And Dure... why is your body becoming blurry?" The little girl tilted her head and asked, quite surprised by the changes in Dure's body.

"I must leave before Messiah," Dure said softly.

"Leaving? Du Lei, are you leaving too?" The little girl suddenly became nervous.

“I will be waiting for you, Messiah, in another place,” Dure replied.

"Where is the other place?" Messiah was completely baffled.

"Another place is in the future, and I'll be waiting for you there." Dure's body quickly vanished without a trace.

The little girl tilted her head and watched him leave. The sun dispelled the gloom, and everything around her was bright and clear.

The sunlight felt warm on her skin.

"Waiting for the Messiah in the future?" The little girl still seemed to understand but not quite.

"Well, we made a promise, no matter where you are, Dure, Messiah will definitely find you!"

The little girl clenched her fists and made up her mind.

Yes, they will definitely meet again in the future!

When a beam of light enveloped her, Messiah, who had been in a dazed state, awoke as if from a dream.

She sat up abruptly, looking around blankly.

“Dureh…the agreement…where…is this place?” Messiah looked at his hands.

For a moment, she couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality.

However, she was certain that she was now a young woman in her twenties, no longer the little girl in her dream.

"My Lord Messiah, are you alright?" Bill immediately came over and asked anxiously.

"I...I'm fine. What happened?" Messiah was still completely confused.

"My Lord Messiah, you went underground into the Shadow Tower. By the time we caught up with you, you had fainted. We were so worried!" Bill said anxiously.

"Shadow Tower, underground..." I remember now, we were sheltering from the storm in the Shadow Tower.

Messiah thought about it and finally got some ideas.

“Yes, yes, that’s it, Lord Messiah, are you really alright?” Bill asked anxiously.

"It's really nothing. By the way, where's Dure? Where is he?" Messiah immediately looked around, searching for Dure's whereabouts.

vertex

862 After the Storm

Messiah's childhood was not pleasant. Her mother died of illness when she was very young, supposedly because she developed the illness during her pregnancy.

Her father was killed by bandits when she was only 10 years old. The cause of his death is still debated, as ordinary bandits were no match for the personal guard of the Duke of River Bend.

Moreover, when the former Duke of River Bend died, a man named Ronnie, who was the captain of his personal guard, also mysteriously disappeared.

One theory is that Ronnie fled in haste because he was afraid of taking responsibility for failing to protect the Duke.

Of course, there is another theory that Shangri-La of the Copper Wall of Ronnie murdered the Duke. As for why he did this, it was because he received instructions from Ze City.

Because the Duke of River Bend was so powerful, he possessed the most fertile territory in the entire Swamp Kingdom, and his subordinates were the most elite army in the entire Swamp Kingdom. In fact, in the succession dispute of that year, he was the most qualified to inherit the throne. However, due to various reasons, he later gave the throne to his brother and fully supported his brother's ascension to the throne.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Duke of River Bend is the most powerful person in the Swamp Kingdom. Generally speaking, if a person's power is too great, even exceeding that of the king himself, then he will inevitably incur the jealousy of the capital, especially as the king grows older and his son grows up day by day.

In order to ensure a smooth transfer of the throne in the Swamp Country, eliminating the most powerful duke at this time is a perfectly normal measure.

Even if the most powerful duke was the king's own brother and also his most powerful assistant besides the king, there are countless examples of brothers turning against each other in the face of power.

Of course, since Ronnie himself has not been found, all the various accounts are just speculations, and no one knows the truth of what happened back then.

Regardless of the truth, Messiah's childhood was destined to be unfortunate. Having lost both her parents, she inherited the title of duke and became the new duke of the River Reach, as well as the only remaining duke on the continent.

Inheriting the title meant she had to take on more responsibility. She needed to keep learning in order to become an outstanding leader. Of course, because of her position, she was a target of many, and on average she was targeted by at least 30 assassination attempts every year, which meant there was an assassination attempt against her every ten days.

She was already used to all of this. The reason she was able to persevere step by step until now was because of a promise she made when she was a child.

A promise she could barely recall from her hazy memory.

"Messiah, are you alright?" Just as Messiah was looking around, a figure appeared and walked over to ask softly.

“Dureh… I remember now, it’s you! You’re the one I met when I was a child!” Messiah finally remembered through that vague memory.