In the blink of an eye, eleven days passed.
Today was the day Alex and Marc had to return to the academy—after all, the trip took two days.
These last days were spent mostly teaching Eve alchemy, spending time with his family, and developing his next spell: Water Spear.
He still had things to refine and correct—after all, creating new magic was anything but easy—but he already had a rough structure in mind. He wanted to use the centrifugal force of spinning water to make it solid, then concentrate that force into a minimal impact zone for maximum penetration.
Explaining it made it sound easy, but actually designing it was another thing altogether. His spell still collapsed often and sometimes caused backlashes. Fixing those issues only brought new ones, so for now, he was stuck—but he still had time until the midterms to perfect the spell.
During the vacation, he also checked Susan's progress and wrote down Windslicer Barrage for her to learn. He also explained to her how to contact the capital's shops to replenish the store's plant stock.
The shop had done well, making almost 200 gold coins in profit in just eleven days—mostly thanks to the "bring-your-own-herbs" system and the new potions. It also seemed that the new alchemist's potions were quite the sensation, as almost every customer said they were the best they'd ever tried.
Now that he was about to leave again, he placed Eve in charge of potion-making. She would receive 40% of the profits, Susan another 40%, and Alex would keep 20% waiting for him when he returned from the academy.
Since Eve's share projected to be immense—somewhere between 600 and 800 gold coins—Susan would safekeep her money until she was old enough and, in the meantime, give her an allowance to buy whatever she wanted.Alex, of course, didn't want her working at all, considering she was barely over nine years old.
With that in mind, the night before he had to leave, he sat with her in her room after she said she wanted to keep working at the shop.
"Eve, don't you wish to go outside and explore with your friends? Why keep working every afternoon when you already spend all morning at school?" Alex spoke bluntly. He never treated her like a little kid—despite her quirks, she was still quite mature for her age.
"Because doing alchemy is fun… Besides, I don't have any friends," she said, fidgeting with her fingers.
"How come?" Alex's heart ached.
"They all think I bring bad luck since Dad died the day after I was born… so no one wants to play with me." Her voice trembled as she lowered her head.
'Fucking hell.'Alex's chest ached intensely. He finally understood why she never brought friends home and why her birthdays were always celebrated so privately.
He couldn't find any comforting words, so he simply took her in his arms and hugged her.
"Okay… do whatever you wish," he said softly after a few minutes, still holding her close.
The next morning, after his routine, he went to speak with Susan about it.She was already aware of Eve's situation, of course.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"And what would I gain from telling you that? Having two depressed kids instead of one? No thanks." Susan sighed.
"Still, you should have told me. We're a family—we stick together. Isn't that what you told me?" Alex countered.
Susan couldn't find an argument. Those were indeed her own words—and now they made her feel like a hypocrite.
"Look," Alex continued, "why don't you just hire a private tutor to teach her in the mornings? With how much money the shop is making, you could easily afford one."
"But if she doesn't hang out with other kids, how's she going to make any friends?" Susan asked, her tone filled with worry.
"Susan, trust me when I say—seeing other kids do what you can't, and worse, being forced to do so, hurts far more than staying away. At least this way, she won't desire what she doesn't see. Think about it—she has to watch her classmates laugh and play every day while she stands on the sidelines. How painful is that? Are you really willing to make her endure that?"
Alex spoke from experience. He had been forced to watch as other orphans were adopted, each one finding a family while he remained behind, day after day, waiting for someone who never came.
"Haah… you're right," Susan said quietly. "You know, I hate the fact that you're so experienced in suffering."
And she truly meant it.She'd held onto a small hope—that one day, the other children would stop being cruel and include Eve—but Alex's words shattered that illusion.Now she couldn't understand how her daughter didn't hate her for forcing her to go to school and suffer every day.
"You know," Alex added gently, "Eve probably doesn't need anyone besides you to feel happy. I bet that's why she wants to keep working at the shop—to spend time with you, chatting and having fun."
After all, that had been his own case with Marc for a long time—until others came into their lives.
Then the time for Alex's farewell came, it wasn't the one he expected, but it was the one he had to live through.
He hugged his family tightly before leaving, carrying enough potions to last the trimester and steeling himself for the storm of harassment awaiting him at the academy. The nobles would surely come after him now that they knew he had been the one who humiliated them during the field test.
But he didn't regret his actions.He only regretted not messing with them even more—though the only thing that stopped him was his teacher's warning.
He feared that if he crossed the wrong noble, they would take revenge by targeting Marc. So for now, he had to keep his head down and endure.He also couldn't afford to die—not anymore. He had a family to protect.
Alex even thought about not returning at all, but he still had plenty of things to learn about, so he had no other choice.
And so, the return trip began.