On a dark night, a carriage quietly stopped in front of a mansion. Two mercenaries carried a man whose head and face were covered and whose hands and feet were bound, and quietly entered the mansion. They turned left and right in the brightly lit mansion, and finally entered a small room. The entire room was dark, with only a single candle providing a faint light. The mercenaries pulled away the black cloth covering the man's head and left the room without saying a word.
The man was chubby and short. A red nose hangs on his Yuandudu face, which is particularly conspicuous.
His face was now pale from fear. He looked in shock at the place where the mercenaries had just left - it looked like a completely sealed wall. Although he already knew there was a door there, no matter how long he squinted, he couldn't find the outline of the door on the wall.
He doesn't know where he is now. He had been blindfolded for three days. Blindfolded, he was purchasing supplies on the streets of Alemannic Federation Florence. During these three days, he felt the bumps of the carriage and the sway of the sea. He once thought that he was going to be sold to the Tianfang Empire as a slave.
——"Hohenheim, are you here?"
The sudden sound startled the man. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw nothing but the wall.
But clearly someone was watching him from behind that wall.
He tried to break free from the ropes that bound his hands and feet, but the ropes were so strong that they choked him. He knew he couldn't escape from here, so he had to bravely say: "Yes, I am Hohenheim! Are you robbers or pirates? If you want me to treat you, then untie the rope first..."
There was a laugh from behind the wall.
"Hohenheim, I heard that you always called yourself a doctor, but I didn't expect it to be true. Inpolita, go and untie him."
Bright light came in instantly. What Hohenheim had always thought was a wall was pushed open like a door. Opposite the door is a much wider and taller hall. The hall and Hohenheim were separated by several iron bars. This contrast made Hohenheim feel like he was being put into a dog cage.
Hohenheim was talking to a guy who was much fatter than he was. He was lying on a chair as big as a bed. Fat Dudu's hands and face made one feel that oil would flow out of them if he cut a cut.
The one named Yinbolita was a maid. Her hair was a stunning silver. She walked to the fence with a cold face, waved the knife in her hand, and motioned for Hohenheim to crawl over so that she could cut the rope.
Hohenheim was shocked by these sights. He originally thought that he had been robbed into a bandit's den, but looking at the scene in front of him, the big fat man was obviously an extremely successful wealthy businessman.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Hohenheim tilted his head to the left to avoid looking at the maid and instead focus on the wealthy businessman behind her. "I don't know you at all, and I have no enmity with you!"
"Of course, I have no grudges against you." A disgusting smile appeared on the wealthy businessman's face. "I only invited you here to tell you that your illegitimate daughter is in trouble."
"Rotildi?" Hohenheim was shocked, "What did you do to her?"
The wealthy businessman said slowly: "Yin Bolita, show that thing to it."
The silver-haired maid took out an IOU from her pocket and showed it in front of Hohenheim. Then he said coldly: "This is the debt your illegitimate daughter owes us. It has been overdue for one month. One hundred and twenty nomisms, this amount is enough to make her a slave."
"Of course, you can refuse to admit that she is your daughter." The wealthy businessman added later, "You can choose to pay off her debts, or you can choose to sever ties with her. If you choose the latter, I can let you go now. Of course. , there’s no telling what will happen to your beautiful illegitimate daughter - she has been put in a cage, and as soon as you leave, our men will clean her whole body and then check her condition."
"Let Rotildi go!" Hohenheim screamed.
The wealthy businessman looked at his fingers lazily. The maid turned the knife in her hand expressionlessly.
"...I understand." Hohenheim lowered his head in frustration, "Since you can find me, you should also know that I am not rich. Is there any incurable disease? Where is the patient?"
The wealthy businessman shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, Hohenheim, your medical skills are worthless in my eyes."
"Then what do you want me to do?"
Hohenheim glared angrily at the wealthy businessman.
"Hohenheim, why do you insist on claiming that you are a doctor? You are obviously an alchemist, but you are probably the greatest of this era - right? The madman who claims to have surpassed Celsus, Paracelsus Si?"
"Do you know that I am an alchemist?" Paracelsus' eyes suddenly became extremely cold. "What do you want from me?"
"The Seven Hills Empire has an amazing weapon - it is fire, but it can burn on the sea. It is so secret that few people in the royal family of the Seven Hills Empire know its secret. You Ever heard of this weapon, Paracelsus?"
"You mean Ocean Fire?"
"Yes, it is the fire of the ocean - Paracelsus, I want you to help me prepare it."
"Are you crazy?" cried Paracelsus. "How can I possibly know the recipe for ocean fire?"
"I'll just pretend that you really don't know, 'the alchemist who controls the element of fire.'" The wealthy businessman said with a smile, "But you'd better know as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be waiting for you in this room the next time you come. It’s not Impolita who’s here, but your Rotildi.”
Paracelsus took a deep breath.
"I really don't know what the formula of ocean fire is. But if you just want to burn it on the sea, I have a hundred ways. I can prepare 'ocean fire' for you, but this requires an entire alchemy laboratory, plus To purchase various equipment and raw materials in the laboratory, the final funds required will be more than ten times the debt owed by Rotildi."
Paracelsus deliberately exaggerated his financial estimate in order to scare off the wealthy businessman.
Unexpectedly, the wealthy businessman agreed without blinking: "Of course, you are the greatest alchemist and deserve to have the best alchemy laboratory. But -"
"Just what?"
"It's just that the light in this alchemy laboratory won't be very good - you will work for me underground."
Paracelsus stared at the wealthy businessman: "It doesn't matter, as long as it is more spacious than here - but you have to let Rotildi go first."
"There's no rush yet." The wealthy businessman shook his head, "Let me hear first what materials you plan to use to prepare ocean fire."
"The early alchemists of the Qiqiu Empire recorded a substance that was not gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, or mercury. It was not any of the seven metals. Symbolized by any star, if it is admitted to be a metal, it will separate the sky from the ground and destroy the basic law of correspondence between heaven and man. But I am convinced that it is a metal - among gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, The eighth metal besides lead and mercury. I will use it to make ocean fire."
The wealthy businessman stood up from his chair: "The eighth metal? What is that?"
"The alchemists of the Seven Hills Empire call it Zincum, which means white sediment. Based on this pronunciation, I named it zinc."
As Paracelsus spoke, he silently stared at the back of the wealthy merchant. When the wealthy businessman stood up, the coat of arms decorated on the wall behind him appeared in Paracelsus' sight. The coat of arms is a lion with wings, and a code of law is stepped on the lion's feet.
There is no doubt that this coat of arms belongs to the island republic.
