Unwillingly Summoned: Chapter 19 – Mages and Alchemists

James watched a fascinating, albeit alarming transformation in Sig the farther they got from Alvarence’s dilapidated-looking shop and the closer they got to the alchemist shop that the dwarf had recommended. Never exactly a fountain of words, the man appeared to lose the capacity for speech altogether while his expression grew increasingly belligerent. The part that James couldn’t figure out was what had caused this abrupt shift in the man’s behavior. While often taciturn, the mage had struck him as generally steady person. Not the kind of man given to mood swings or outbursts. James couldn’t help but wonder if he’d misjudged the man somehow. Finally, he turned to Seiran who had been walking beside him.

“What’s with him?” asked James with a nod to to Sig.

“Oh, you know how alchemists and mages are about each other,” she said with a resigned shrug.

James blinked at her with a total lack of comprehension. Something she picked up on but seemed confused by before she shook her head.

“Oh. Right. Of course, you wouldn’t know. How could you?”

The question sounded rhetorical, so James just shrugged and said, “I couldn’t. So, what’s the story with mages and alchemists?”

“They don’t like each other,” said Seiran with an only slightly mocking tone.

“Gosh,” said James. “That was so helpful. I think you missed your calling as a teacher for small children.”

Chrosan, who had taken up station at the rear of the group, began violently choking. James wasn’t sure what he was choking on, though. Maybe the man had been hiding a snack somewhere. Seiran just stared at him for a second before she burst into laughter.

“Yeah,” she said. “I think you’re going to fit in fine.”

“Thanks,” said James. “But I still need to know about—”

“Alchemists and mages. Yeah. Alchemists don’t like mages because mages can do a lot of the same things that alchemists do, but they do it with spells. Alchemists usually refer to them as lazy, cheaters, fakers, or some combination of those. It… Well, let’s just say it’s not the kind of good-natured joking that endears you to someone. As for the mages, well, they usually say that alchemists are just a bunch of failed cooks. Stuff like that.”

“Well, that sounds super healthy,” muttered James. “It’s not the kind of thing that spontaneously erupts into, you know, murders, is it?”

“Not usually,” hedged Seiran. “There’s a mage in most parties, and killing someone’s party members is a good way to lose business and find yourself no longer burdened with breathing some dark and lonely night.”

“But it does happen?”

“It does happen. Occasionally,” conceded Seiran.

“Is this little shopping trip going to be a problem?”

“No. Sig won’t go inside. He just hates that we have to go there at all. But the truth is that there are some things that alchemists can do for us, all of us, that mages can’t.”

“Or so they claim,” grumbled Sig darkly.

“They can,” Seiran shot back.

James had the feeling that this was not a new argument for the two. He also didn’t want to get sidetracked with the pair falling into some kind of practiced bickering. It might be entertaining some other time, but he was still in information gathering mode.

“Out of idle curiosity,” said James, “just how much poorer is this going to make me?”

Seiran winced, but Sig spoke up before she could get a word out.

“We’ll cover it.”

“We will?” asked Seiran and Chrosan simultaneously and with nearly identical tones of surprise.

Sig actually stopped walking and turned around to give the other two party members a disgusted look.

“How heartless are you two? You saw how much getting that gear cost him. Money he wouldn’t have had to spend if we didn’t convince him to join our party. I’m not saying we’ll just give him the money, but we can let him pay it back over time.”

James felt a profound swell of gratitude for Sig in that moment. He hadn’t realized the exact depths of his concern over that much lighter coin pouch until it was no longer under immediate threat. He glanced at Seiran and Chrosan. Seiran only looked mildly chagrined, while Chrosan wore an openly guilty expression. He felt for them. Well, he sort of felt for them, but it was tempered by the knowledge that they’d gotten to do all of their spending over the course of years instead of hours. They might have been right that he would need the gear and that it was better to spend more now. However, that was very easy advice to give when the costs weren’t coming out of their pockets.

“He’s right, Seiran,” said Chrosan.

“I know he’s right,” snapped Seiran. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“If properly equipping me is that much of a burden—” started James, only to be cut off the second Seiran noticed his smirk.

“I already said that Sig was right. Don’t be an ass about it.”

“Okay,” said James, holding up his hands in surrender. “That’s fair. I shouldn’t have been an ass about it.”

“I’m glad that’s settled,” said Sig before he turned and resumed both walking and scowling.

The alchemist maintaining a surprisingly small space, especially after the warehouse proportions of Alvarence’s shop. James looked around with open curiosity but found that shelves of stoppered bottles that could only be separated by color and their labels weren’t that interesting. A woman with short-cropped black hair who only looked to be slightly older than himself stepped out of a back room. That initial assessment of her age felt wrong as soon at James looked at her eyes. There was something in them, something that screamed that she had seen it all at one point or another. She looked over their group and sniffed.

“Is the faker hiding outside? Too scared to face me?” she demanded.

Seiran let out a long-suffering sigh and said, “You’re too smart not to realize that he could level this building if he ever lost his temper in here. So, why antagonize him? More importantly, why try to antagonize him when he isn’t even in the room?”

The woman’s mouth twisted as though she’d gotten a big, healthy bite of something truly rancid before she looked at him.

“Who’s the pretty boy?”

“He’s the guy who punched me hard enough to put me through a wall,” supplied Chrosan. “I had to get my chest plate repaired.”

“You did?” said James, looking over his shoulder at the big man. “Sorry about that.”

Chrosan shrugged and said, “I had it coming.”

“Well, you lot are nothing but laughs today,” complained the woman behind the counter. “Alright, just tell me what you need.”

Seiran rattled off a short list of potions and elixirs, but James found himself looking back at Chrosan’s chest plate.

“What?” asked Chrosan as he looked down at his own chest in alarm. “Did I spill something on myself again?”

“No. I was just trying to figure out where the repairs were done.”

“Oh,” said the big man with a relieved expression. “If you could tell where it was, it’d be a terrible repair.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said James.

By the time he looked back at the counter, there was a small array of bottles set out on the counter. He did his best to suppress his smile at the look of pain on Seiran’s face while she paid for it. Something he was glad he did because the blonde abruptly looked back at him with suspicion. She narrowed her eyes at him before she went back to counting out coins. The alchemist provided a small bag for the concoctions before she fixed James with a hard look.

“Do not take all of these at the same time,” she commanded.

“Uh,” said James, a bit startled at the woman’s abrupt manner. “Okay. Can I ask why?”

“Let’s just say you won’t be as pretty if you do. Now, go away,” she said making shooing gestures with her hands.

Once they got outside, James said, “I can see why Alvarence recommended her. They’re two of a feather.”

“Two of a feather?” repeated Chrosan. “What does that mean?”

“It just means that they’re alike,” said James.

It seemed he was going to have to make an effort not to use those kind of phrases here if he didn’t want to spend a lot of his time explaining things.

“Well, that’s certainly true,” said Seiran with a brief huff of laughter. “Still, she knows her business. It’s why she can get away with being like that.”

“She’s a lot older than she looks, isn’t she?” asked James.

“I never asked,” said Seiran. “And neither should you if you don’t want her accidentally mix up her bottles and give you poison instead of a health potion.”

“She’d do it, too,” said Sig as he walked up to the group. “That one is mean.”

James rubbed his face with his hands for a moment before announcing, “For the record, that is the kind of information you people need to share with me before it can turn into a disaster.”