CHAPTER 79 - MAGIC AND ALCHEMYMagic and Alchemy must not be rooted in the same soil. It was a lesson learned from the chaos that occurred decades ago.
After Sorcery, the Dark Art created by combining Magic and Alchemy was banned in this world, the Euclase Imperial Continent wiped out all knowledge of not only Sorcery but also Magic. At the same time, while Euclase chose Alchemy to be studied in modern times, the Petunia Continent or the West Continent chose Magic.
So while the Euclase people knew nothing about Magic, the Petunia Continent people knew nothing about Alchemy either.
Until they could find the right way to make the two arts work side by side without creating Sorcery, no world leader would agree to have the two arts merged together.
However, on the bright side, these two arts develop so well independently without each other. The two technologies advanced and helped the civilization of intelligent beings to a level far more than decades ago.
It was not that fast, but everything had become more convenient, from transportation, construction, and magic tools to help daily life and alchemical tools for refining industrial substances and medicines, weapons, medical technology, and so on.
Even in the capital, there were so many experiments to manufacture battery lamps with the latest technology developed by Alchemy. Currently, apart from the automatic transportation technology along with its fuel and food storage and refrigeration equipment, the Emperor was investing a lot of money into this experiment.
Because of that, Harriet was surprised to hear Sorcery, a word she had only read once, even then it was only available in the Empire's top-secret files and wasn't even something that seemed that important.
For the past three days, Harriet had been trying to gather everything she could. She had also dispatched Lycans under her orders to seek information from her acquaintances and comrades. But nothing looked promising.
The Old Duke was again labelled a madman who suddenly ordered kilos of Anti Sorcery stones to the Alchemists, while Heath… often disappeared.
And Liam was still unconscious.
Daniel carried the dinner tray with the maids behind him up the tower. Harriet hadn't come down from the tower in three days and was doing all her work up there.
She didn't ask for any food or drink, only asked for any books of knowledge about Sorcery and ordered the Lycans to search for information from all over the continent.
Daniel himself wasn't sure whether she had slept or not, because every time he entered the room at the end of the tower, Harriet was still sitting in the same position, on the chair beside the bed, facing the Young Lord.
The physicians had checked Harriet's condition. They said Harriet was in top shape, and her focus was perfect. Daniel himself was sure that Harriet was like this because what she experienced that night had shocked her, making her force her entire body to work optimally.
And sure enough, when Daniel opened the door, he saw the exact same sight. In fact, it seemed that the chair where Harriet was sitting didn't move one bit.
Daniel saw Harriet lowered her face, reading an ancient text from the castle library written in the old spelling from a hundred years ago. The text didn't even talk about Sorcery, only mentioning Sorcery in a sentence or two in the book, but Harriet insisted on reading them all.
"Madam."
Daniel's voice broke Harriet's focus, causing her to look up with cold wary eyes. Seeing Daniel carrying a tray of dinner, Harriet's gaze softened, and a warm smile spread across her face. It was Harriet's usual business smile, but it was much thicker and more perfect than usual, indicating that there was no emotion in that smile.
"Thank you, Secretary Daniel," said Harriet.
The woman stood up, closed the old book in front of her and set it on the side table.
“Please sit on the sofa, Madam. While you are eating, let the maids check the wounds on your leg,” said Daniel then.
Harriet nodded. She walked to the sofa silently and let the maids serve her.
She ate quickly, and at the same time, the maids also worked quickly. After the wounds were checked and they were sure they were healed properly, Harriet also finished eating. Without saying a word, Harriet returned to the bedside chair and took her book to read again.
Daniel, who was cleaning the room while lighting a new candle to light up the room, asked the maids to go with empty trays and plates. The middle-aged man took out a letter for Harriet.
“Just after sunset, we received an invitation from His Majesty the Emperor, Axias,” said Daniel.
Harriet nodded. "Put it on the table. It should be the invitation to his birthday party in early summer," said Harriet.
Daniel carried out Harriet's orders and bowed his head deeply. "Then please excuse me. You can ring the bell if something happens, and I'll be right up myself."
After smiling at Daniel and letting him resign, Harriet fell back into focus. In the past, because knowledge of magic and alchemy was hard to come by and masters were only willing to accept one or two disciples, not many people mastered Sorcery.
However, the development of civilization also meant that more and more people were getting access to knowledge. That was when Sorcery started to become a problem.
When people who mastered magic and alchemy began to innovate by creating dark arts, Sorcery was born. Previously, Sorcery wasn't used for any bad purpose, only for small-scale research in a small community. But then, Sorcery was finally used to harm people in war and strife.
And once that happened, people started to realize that Sorcery wasn't supposed to be created at all.
Harriet finally finished reading one text and reached for another book to find even the fewest knowledge of sorcery that remained. Such as the characteristics of its users, and their effects, as well as how to overcome them.
When she finally made her move after hours of sitting still, it dawned on her when her eyes caught Liam's golden eyes, opened silently in front of her. The man stared at her expressionlessly, making Harriet freeze to the spot.
And uncontrollably, a single tear fell from the woman's eye.