Levi almost admired how neatly she cornered him... she offered everything a desperate relative could want.
Refusing her help would make his little performance difficult to defend... although she had put him in a difficult position where he had to bring his A-game to bullshitting, there was a silver lining.
He had invented only the sick relative.
The illness and its remedy came from Alzhukar's book of ancient restorative potions... Levi had studied them while searching for uses of Thousandflavor Orchid Nectar, hoping one might lead him to a hidden location before the Myriad Treasures Exchange.
He knew better than to invent an illness and a potion inside a den of established alchemists.
"Tantalus' Release," he answered with a deep sigh. "His body rejects nourishment as though it were poison... he's starving while we keep trying to feed him."
"Oh?"
Madam Crowglass stopped her hand above the pond.
