Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

After Zach had secured Drupesh's cooperation and the permission to use her students as slav—workers, Zach headed to the city. He wouldn't have minded getting started with his own mission, which meant he would be watching Alzara craft while training.

However, to maximize efficiency, he also had to put the alchemists in the city to work. So, he went to the city and gathered the alchemists in the building they had used to store materials, craft, and distribute potions last year.

After a while, creases appeared on the skin of his face. There were significantly fewer alchemists this time around. It also seemed like the ones that had stood out and performed well last time had left.

"Hmm." Zach hummed in displeasure. He was pretty sure he had made sure to tell them to stay and wait for his return. He had even paid them all a lump sum to cover their living expenses while they waited. They also had access to the storage as long as they paid back a share of the profits from the potions they sold.

But there was one exception. One of the alchemists who stood out had stayed in the city and chosen to return.

"You." Zach pointed at a woman with short, light brown hair and intense green eyes, who was looking at him like a baby bird eagerly awaiting food.

"Yes!" She sharpened her posture, straightened her back, and if she hadn't been holding a glass bottle since Zach interrupted her work with his arrival, she would have probably saluted as well.

"Relax. Your name was Jesse, right?"

"Jessecke. Yes, sir."

"Jessecke. Got it. Why did you stay? Someone with your skill should have been able to find work somewhere else in these last few months?" Before getting started with the real work, Zach wanted to find out where he had gone wrong other than trusting people, and what he had done right that made Jessecke stay.

"I believed in you, sir. I believed that you would come back and that you would bring more recipes with you." There was an excited glimmer in her eyes as she said it. She looked expectantly at Zach.

"You're not wrong. But did the others think I lied? Is that why they left?"

Jessecke avoided Zach's gaze before answering.

"...They didn't like being told to sit around and wait, especially after the materials ran out," she said with a low voice.

Zach's eyes narrowed slightly.

"...There should have been enough materials for all of you to make one or two potions a day. And as long as you didn't fail everything, your net profits should have been enough to buy more, even if the merchants started withdrawing from Basilia." Something didn't add up.

"Well…" Jessecke fiddled with her fingers and looked at the floor.

"Some of them realized that they could just take the materials and then leave the city. After one person did it, several others followed. And then…"

"Got it." Zach nodded and stopped her from continuing. He understood the gist of it. For whatever reason, the prided alchemists who had come to or made a living in Basilia before this didn't like Zach requesting they wait for the next school year. They took advantage of his generosity.

"Do you remember their names?"

"I wrote them down."

"Excellent." Zach's smile sent shivers down the other alchemists' spines.

"Ban them." Surprisingly, however, his punishment wasn't as harsh as they thought it would be, based on the cold light in his eyes.

"Ban them?" Jessecke asked for confirmation.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"If they come crawling back in the future, stomp on their fingers, spit them in their faces, and kick them out." There it was. That brutality was more in line with Zach's expression. The only thing that still confused them was the condition of it. Why would the other alchemists come crawling back?

In the future, the alchemists currently inside the building, all looking at Zach, would remember that question. They would remember it when they stomped on fingers, spat in faces, and kicked asses out. They would bless the lucky or unlucky stars that made them stay behind. And they would thank Zach.

"I'll put you guys to work as soon as we have ingredients again. Put together an extensive list and coordinate with Dukiel and the merchants to restock the storage as soon as possible. Make three copies of that list. Put whatever materials you can think of on it. Even if we can't get our hands on them now, we will get them in the future."

The alchemists looked at each other, wondering if Zach was serious. They didn't understand why he was going this far. Wouldn't they just be producing simple recovery, strengthening, and anti-underworld energy potions and medicine like last year?

"As soon as you do that, I'll give you more recipes than you can handle." Zach grinned as he saw Jessecke's and the other alchemists's eyes light up. More than money, what truly got these alchemists going was knowledge. And there was no greater knowledge than recipes for alchemists.

Alzara hadn't finished with the Book of Poisons, not by a long shot. It was also a collection of poisons, not potions. But the herbal knowledge and the theory it contained was enough for Alzara to add the finishing touches to several of her unfinished recipes that she had made when she experimented with the local ingredients. It had even allowed her to develop new recipes in full.

After all, the difference between a potion and a position could be as simple as a strand of hair. Mastery over one gave mastery over the other.

With the recipes Alzara developed, Zach was confident he could control the alchemists who had stayed, even if they had only stayed because they couldn't find work or occupation anywhere else. Even if they left in the future after learning from the recipes, they would definitely lose out, almost regardless of where they went.

Alzara would just continue making more and better recipes. The longer they stayed, the better the recipes that the alchemists would get to take part of.

"Right here and now, I am unofficially establishing a guild of alchemists. When you gather ingredients, feel free to gather name suggestions. It will still take a month or so before we can officially establish it."

Zach was even sure the alchemists heard him. They were already busy chattering about what kind of dreamlike ingredients they could and should ask for.