The Peculiar Alchemist

62 || A Useful Lie

After knowing his father's exact location, and after making sure he was not only alive and well, but also had been coming back home without anyone but his mother knowing, Marc decided that he did not care anymore.

There was nothing more he could do, his father had been keeping everything he did from him and made sure to avoid him whenever he came back. It hurt, especially when Marc had been beside himself with worry, but he understood why his father did it. He knew Marc wouldn't agree with the whole necromancy thing.

It was all so horrid, and he wanted no part in it. Not unless he was ridding the world of those horrible people. All he wanted was to just bring his father back, and some part of him still wanted to do that.

But when days turned into weeks, and when weeks turned into months, Marc started to forget all about it and became used to his father not being around. This time he knew why, and he tried his best to forget all about it because of how horrible it is, and his life went on unaffected as it should be.

That is until Agnes asked for him to come. She also added a little threat just to make sure she got the message across, if he didn't show up there would be consequences. He didn't question that.

But he also didn't plan on not answering her. As much as he hated what he found out about his father, he still had to pay her back for tracking him down, otherwise Marc would have never found him. Weirdly though, Agnes didn't accept his money even though the amount he offered wasn't a small one by any means – he just wanted everything to be over with.

Instead, she gave him the strangest request and Marc accepted that out of desperation without thinking much of it.

Now is the time to regret it when he actually went to her and she told him something absolutely ridiculous. "What do you mean Briar wants to speak with me? I am not going."

Not looking too worried about his unwillingness to go, Agnes shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and accepted that without trying to persuade him any further. "That is what I get for being nice, I suppose."

Marc was about to head out and go back home, but something about what she just said bothered him. Agnes was never nice, she always ignored everything around her when she wasn't interested. There was no way she'd bother to call him here just to be nice, and there was also no way she would let anything go easily if it didn't go her way. This wasn't right.

And as tempting as it was to just leave, he still remained standing there unable to.

"What do you mean you were being nice?" He couldn't help but ask meeting her blank stare, and her striking blue eyes bore into him as if his presence alone annoyed her.

"You were about to leave. Why are you interested now?"

Clenching his teeth, he wondered if she really didn't care or if this was just one of her tactics to make him do what she wants. Marc couldn't tell, nobody ever could with Agnes, The only person who could was not here, and he wasn't much of a help either.

The only other person around was Aubrey who was not paying attention to their conversation at all. Instead, he was under one of the tables practicing his potion-making while muttering a few things quietly as if he was speaking to someone. The only company Aubrey had there with him was the crown, and it was happily munching on some nuts and berries that Aubrey brought for it.

The crow stared dumbly at nothing in particular as Aubrey spoke, but Marc couldn't see Sammy there who was right next to the crow. He only wondered why someone like Aubrey kept coming back here to Agnes.

And while Aubrey was not at all interested in the conversation he was having with Agnes, Sammy was. And he was enjoying it immensely.

Ignoring Aubrey and the crow for now, Marc turned to Agnes unable to stop himself from begrudgingly asking her about it all. There was something more to it all, and he couldn't let it go now. "Just tell me how you're being nice by informing me that a necromancer wants to see me? Why would I care about her?"