Vans was crushing some herbs, many people were paying close attention to his movements, as if he were doing something that could be considered some kind of secret. But he was just crushing herbs, like any other alchemist.
The court alchemists were watching his movements even more closely. All five of them were writing down everything Vans did. He did not like it, but he kept tolerating all the stares. The only gaze he did not mind was Duke Carmine's, the others bothered him, since they looked at him with a certain disdain and impatience.
Vans placed the material into the cauldron, then repeated the process nine more times and filled all the cauldrons. After that, he turned on the heating plates, he had always preferred fire, but he did not complain about having only the plates. When the water was starting to boil, he used light magic and turned the plates off.
"What did you just do?" one of the alchemists asked.
"I used magic to create the potions."
"So your secret is using light magic?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are your potions purer because you use light magic?"
"No, it's just that I was never very good at using raw mana, so I prefer using spells, but it doesn't have to be light magic specifically, any element works."
"I see," he said while writing down what Vans had just said.
"You're writing down that trivial information?"
The alchemist felt embarrassed.
"I ask that you be less offensive, sir alchemist," one of the ministers said.
"I'm not being offensive, this is basic knowledge learned in alchemy books."
"Actually, it isn't," another alchemist replied.
Vans was annoyed, he pulled a book from his item bag, it had a long name written on it and, at the beginning, the word beginner. He handed the book to the alchemists.
"Read the first two pages of this beginner's book."
They read it and confirmed the information.
"Where did you get this book?"
"I think it was thrown at me by an alchemist I used to annoy, I ended up keeping it, but I only read it once, the rest I learned from my father."
"This book is over three hundred years old."
"Yes, it's quite old."
"A lot of information was lost and this book remained, this book must be worth many gold coins or even platinum. How much do you want for it?" one of the alchemists asked.
"It's not for sale, but considering that this information is lost only justifies a bit of incompetence in learning the basics."
Vans took the book back.
The minister was about to say something, but he was stopped by the King.
The alchemists put the potions into flasks, Vans repeated the same process and changed the element a few times, the alchemists watched closely, he continued until he had all the flasks the King wanted, then the alchemists analyzed all the potions. They found that all the potions had a purity of 93%, the King expected 92%, but the herbs used were of higher quality, so Vans chose to take advantage of that and make better potions.
They did not know how Vans had so much mana to use in the potions, even using magic, mana was still drained, so he should have been exhausted after only a few cauldrons, but at no point did he seem tired. The King only said a few words that sounded rehearsed, then a guard handed the dagger to Vans, he stored it in an item bag and thanked him for the payment.
One man would not stop staring at him, but Vans ignored him in every way as soon as he realized the man was from the church, Vans was polite to everyone except that man, since the church represented everything Vans hated most in the world, he could not have even the slightest pleasant view of that institution.
"Do you want to join the church?" the man asked as soon as Vans turned to leave.
"I would prefer a violent and very painful death, that would be more pleasant than joining you," Vans said, direct, very direct in fact, the man was left speechless, the nobles in the hall laughed, the man was embarrassed.
He grew angry and cast a curse on Vans, but the curse returned to the man.
"I forgot to mention, I am immune to any status magic, but today I am using this artifact that transfers magical damage back to the attacker. You should deal with that quickly, it seems you are strong enough that even you cannot withstand your own magic," Vans said with an almost irritating calm.
The nobles laughed louder, the King was holding himself back from laughing, everyone there hated the church, but the institution was too powerful to have as an enemy, so everyone tolerated its members.
The cleric was angry, but at the same time he was in terrible condition, he said something about suffering the church's wrath.
"You have a rule in the third chapter, something about what you just did, so I think you are the one who will suffer," Vans said while removing a crystal from his clothes, he took another crystal from his item bag and then applied mana to the second crystal, the image of what the man had just done appeared. "Here is the proof, next time you try to annoy me."
Vans turned again, the cleric threw a handkerchief at him.
"I challenge you to a duel," the man said before passing out.
"One question, can I use a champion in my place?"
"Yes," one of the ministers replied.
"And to the death, is that allowed?"
"If both agree, it is possible to kill or enslave the loser, but in those two cases, even if both agree, it requires the King's approval. But in the case of death due to excessive force or something like that, there is no rule. However, if a person surrenders and is still attacked, then yes, that becomes a problem."
"I understand, I want a duel with whoever he chooses, but I will use a champion, and it will be my boss."
Vans was excited, he knew how much Victor hated the church, so it would be a great chance for Victor to release some of the hatred he felt, at least that was what he thought.
Victor disagreed with the idea, but accepted it. He did not have much choice anyway, and this was better than letting a subordinate be humiliated in the middle of a dispute.
A messenger from the King went to the shop, he was holding a cushion with a scroll on top, the man approached Vans, then he took the scroll and removed the string that was tying it. He read it out loud.
In short, the Kingdom found Vans' boldness interesting and decided to interfere, the King wanted Vans to defeat the church, if he succeeded, he would receive a great reward, but if he lost, he would become a vassal of the church. The King inserted himself into the bet and managed to secure an agreement to obtain some items he wanted from the church. The King took full advantage of the situation.
But what he really wanted was the church out of the Kingdom, an institution like that is never beneficial for maintaining power. But he could not go that far, so he chose something easier to achieve. The church has a power that goes beyond certain understandings, it offers something that no country could.