Derrick walks the path through the emerald forest like Tetsuga did earlier before his arrival. But as Derrick got to a certain distance from the city entrance and into the paved path that led through the forest, he made a sharp turn to the right and started walking again. But was this not peculiar? For a man to be wandering the forest like this, one would assume that they were up to something. No good or otherwise. But luckily, it wasn't all that nefarious as his destination would be revealed in due time.
Meanwhile, we see the group of individuals from the tavern earlier now walking the streets as they look around. Seemingly aiming to do something. "So what, are we just gonna look for this guy like this?" One of them asks. Not wanting to just roam around the town in search of a guy that they somehow let by under their noses. "In a second. I know we can't search like this since it's too inefficient of our time" the other explains. A lot more calculating with his words compared to the former.
"But can we move it along you guys? My legs are killing me..." And then there was Craig. Complaining about his weak legs as they have been walking for a fair bit of time after exiting the tavern. "Quite your complaining Craig. You're not the only one." The more laid back member tells him as he had his arms over to the back of his head as they walked. "It's a valid complaint! And don't act like I do it all the time! I know for a fact you're the one who complains a lot!" Craig argues back at the laid back member who now had bit back as their laid back nature was now replaced with irritation. "You wanna say that to my face punk!?".
But while the two were bickering amongst themselves, the more intellectual member of the 3, walked up to a person and decided to ask them a question. "Excuse me sir. Do you perhaps know the whereabouts of this man in this picture?" They then show the random citizen a picture of Derrick as they immediately recognize him in a flash. "Oh yeah, I've heard of him. But I don't know where he is unfortunately for you." They say, leaving the one questioning a little disappointed.
"But, I do know where he goes to whenever he's done with this here town." They reveal. Piquing their interest. "In fact, everyone in this part of town knows about him. He's quite the infamous weirdo." They say. Now this was intriguing. So, they decide to press further for their whereabouts. " So, could you tell us where he goes?" They ask, which the good samaritan -with a bit of harsh words thrown at Derricks' expense- answered without hesitance.
"Yeah, yeah. The guy always goes out of the city after he's done with whatever he does in here. I dont know where but it's somewhere in the forest." It wasn't as much of a pinpoint location as it is a general area, but it seemed to be good enough for them as they decide to take it without anymore questions. "I see. Thanks for the info." They say before they leave to go back to his little group as he arrives to see the two still bickering with one another, which he stops right away before they start to take a toll on his mental.
"Alright, you two. Settle down." He says as he breaks them up. "I know where he is. Well, where he's going to at least." They inform. Gaining the attention of the other two as Craig decides to question how. "Wait, that easy? How'd you find that out?" He asks which the intellectual among them answered. "I asked." They say bluntly making both of the others pause for a second to think it over before nodding their heads in understanding. "Ah, right right. Makes sense."
"So where is he? You did get like a, general direction of it right?" The laid back one asks which was answered quickly by them. "Well, the locals say that he frequently exits the city into the forest whenever he's finished with his business in the town." They explain as he starts to walk away with the other two in tow. "So he's in the forest right now?" They ask for confirmation to which he received an affirmative nod. "Yeah. If we're lucky, we'll find him deep in the forest without anyone to intervene." They say.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's catch us an Alchemist!!"
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"Achoo!" From deep in the wilderness, Derrick sneezes out of nowhere. Weird since he didn't think he had contracted any allergies when traversing the woods. "Ha! Ha! Been a while since I've sneezed!", He comments. Seemingly talking to himself as he walked. But after a bit more walking through, he then gradually happens upon a small clearing within the forest as it was indicated with a bright light shining through a small open slit between two dense trees. "Ha! Ha! I've finally arrived! Hello home base!" He exclaims as he rushes towards the light and passes through the opening as on the other side showed what it was he was heading towards.
"The lab of Alchemy! I'm back once again! Ha! Ha!" He happily yells, his smile widens before skipping on over to his so-called "lab". The lab in question though was nothing too grand. Despite his outfit, the lab looked to be more like a concrete hut with straws lining the roof. Inside was nothing new either. What was seen outside looked to be what was also on the inside as the walls were still concrete with the roof still made of straw. The furniture was what set it apart from the outside as every square inch of the place was either occupied by a shelf or table filled with tons of materials, tools, equipment and such.
"How are my little darlings doing? I hope you all didn't miss me too much!" He talks. His words, being directed at.... Rocks. To be more specific, a bunch of minerals he's collected over the years he's been out in the woods. After greeting his materials with a jolly smile, he then takes out his money Puch and pours out the 5 silver coins he received in exchange for the gold scrap he found. "Ha! Ha! 5 silver! This'll do nicely!" He says before taking the silver coins and puts them inside an iron bucket. "In you go! To the furnace!"
He shoves the bucket inside the furnace and fires it up by taking a vial from the side and tossing it at the logs beneath it. As it shatters upon them, spilling the contents onto the logs, the substance ignites into a blazing inferno as the whole room gets lit up by the light of its fire. Once the initial blast died down, it then turned into a steady fire beneath the furnace. "And now, we wait!" He says as he stands in front of hit with his hands on his hips as he watches the fire burn beneath the furnace with its light illuminating his face.
"Auuuuggghhh... We've been walking for hours! Where is this guy!?" Craig complained as the 3 individuals from earlier were now walking the forest aimlessly, Trying to look for the elusive Derrick Barnes. But at the moment, they still had no luck in finding him as they still were roaming around with no certain direction. "Pipe down Craig! No one wants to hear you complain!" The laid back one pipes up, throwing shade at Craig once again.
"Quit it. You two aren't helping." The intellectual one says as he breaks them up before the act up again. "God, if I didn't know any better. I'd think both of you are children." He says which both took issue with as they voiced their opinions against it. "Don't lump me in with this doofus!" The laid back one yells as it was then followed up by Craig. "Yeah! And even if I was a child, I'd be the good one!"
"The hell was that supposed to mean!?" The other complains as they start to butt heads again as they grind their teeth at one another. But before the little scuffle could continue, it was broken up again by their third member as he pulled them aside for something. "Quiet you two!" He says. Trying to shush the two as he listened intently on something that the two were still clueless about. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" The two ask as they start to listen in as well. As they did, they started to hear a faint voice of someone. "Is.... Is that the guy?" One of them asks as they look at the older one. "One way to find out. Follow that sound!" He orders as the three marched towards the direction of the sound as they unknowingly neared the laboratory that Derrick was in. Meanwhile, the guy himself was too preoccupied with what he was doing as he takes the iron bucket from inside the furnace with his gloved hands as the smell of burned rubber filled the air a bit as the iron singed a little bit of the glove off.
"Hm? Oh, Ha! Ha! I did it again! Gosh, I really need to stop forgetting!" He laughs to himself as if it was a normal occurrence for him in his life as he pours the melted silver into a rectangular mold. "Out goes the silver! And ooh boy is it hot!" He says as the steam from the liquid silver fogs his goggles up. Temporarily blinding him for a moment. He then takes a metal ladle and scoops up some impurities in the liquid silver while it is still molten. After successfully scooping the impurities out and the silver cools down, he then flips the mold over the table and lets the silver drop down onto the wooden table with a large loud thud.
"Ha! Ha! We got another bar of silver to add to the collection! Isn't this great!" He talks to no one but himself as no response comes back.... That was until a response came back to him unexpectedly. "Yeah. It's really great isn't it bud?" The voice sounded very foreign to him. Knowing full well he didn't know this individual at all he decided to greet him with a smile through his fogged up goggles that he had yet to wipe. "Oh, visitors! Sorry, but I can't see you right now! My goggles are a little fogged-- " but what Derrick failed to notice was the butt of a dagger heading straight for his head due to his limited vision. "-up!...." The hit connects, knocking him out on the spot as he falls to the ground like a pile of bricks.
"Well.... That was easier than expected" said one of the three bandits.