Commission To Slay a Black Dragon

Chapter IV: Perfect Plan

Notes

Hello, notes first because sorta important stuff ahead! This chapter will closely follow details from Albedo's first story quest and "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon" event in 1.2 update. It's NOT canon! I'm just using the details to help fuel more Albedo suffering :'D. That's all from me, thank you for reading!

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Albedo regrets the day he agreed to help Jean. She had simply requested that he sort out some stolen items that were confiscated from recently apprehended treasure hoarders. Perhaps Jean knew that Albedo was always efficient in his work, perhaps she thought he would have more time than the other busy knights, perhaps perhaps perhaps...

Archons, why did she choose him?!

Alternate outcomes simultaneously play in his head in a deafening ring.

If only she had asked someone else, anyone else, then perhaps Albedo could have been spared from this cruel fate.

...Maybe then, he wouldn't have touched that sword by accident.

The alchemist had always been mindful of his surroundings. He knew that every creation that his master had prided herself in eventually succumbed to corruption. As much as he liked to believe that he was special, he still chose to take caution at all times. Albedo would always cover himself with layers of clothing, even wearing long gloves that reached his elbows and thigh-high boots to prevent himself from coming into physical contact with anything undesirable.

And for more than a century, the alchemist's wariness paid off...until that sword came into the picture. Albedo could not imagine which imbecile could have thought it was a good idea to imbue such a thick essence of Durin's corrosive blood onto a sword, and then proceed to lose that very sword.

That memorable day, Albedo was wearing his usual protective gear. Yet, his cautiousness did not prepare him for a sudden sting from touching something amidst the confiscated junk. Albedo instinctively shoots back an arm and jumps away from the item, which was now glowing an ominous pink.

The pain was not normal. What initially felt like an electric shock slowly turned into a burning pain that was agonising even for Albedo. The alchemist shakily turned his hand to inspect the wound, only to see a charred opening on his glove where the injury was sustained. The alchemist watched in helpless horror as a bright purple liquid seeped into his exposed flesh.

Despite the torment gifted to him by the wound, Albedo worked quickly to secure the sword and materialise it away. Then, he hastily paced back to his workshop in Dragonspine...no that place is too open.

Albedo changed his direction to the basement of the headquarters, where his personal lab was located. The lab occurred to him as a second choice simply because he had hated the room. Even though it was a quiet place that gave him all the privacy and space he needed, it was devoid of sunlight, and no sound of life from above could ever hope to reach it, like a...prison. But right now, the alchemist rationalises in his head that a prison is exactly what he needed.

Albedo desperately scrubbed his wound with a disinfecting wipe, ignoring intensifying stinging pain from the friction. He could not wash his hand under running water lest it contaminates whichever water source he used. After rubbing until bright raw flesh glared back at him, Albedo quickly administers the regular health check that he performs on himself weekly to check for corrosion. The alchemist had never cared for the Archons' favour in the past, but he found himself silently pleading to them for some miracle to happen - specifically for the test results to come out negative like it always had.