“How was it, senior?” Alex asked. “Did I do anything wrong?”

“No, nothing wrong. Nothing out of code,” the old man said. “I have absolutely no complaints at all. What about you, Alchemist Wang?”

“No, nothing from me either,” the female alchemist said. “Watching Alchemist Dawnblade was like watching a master craftsman in his task. I am thoroughly impressed.”

“Thank you for the kind words,” Alex said with a smile. But he did wish they moved on from the formalities and said why they were there. After being around him all day, the least they could do was tell him the truth.

The old man turned to Alchemist Wang and asked, “So, how is it?” Alex’s eyes narrowed, looking toward the woman. The woman instead gave only a simple nod, explaining nothing else. What was going on with her?

The old man smiled and turned toward Alex. “Here is the thing, young Dawnblade. You must have realized that something is going on here and must be curious to learn what it is.”

Alex didn’t lie and simply nodded. “Truth is, I was indeed here for an inspection. I am responsible for all my alchemists that get licensed through my guild, and thus need to regularly make sure that what they are doing is well within the laws created by the Blue Silk sect.”

Alex understood what the man was saying. He had guessed at least that much from the very start. But, that couldn’t be all, could it?

What the old man said did explain what he was doing at his shop today. But it did not explain why the woman was here.

“But, that was not the only thing,” the old man said. “The thing is, Alchemist Wang here is looking for a new place to work in. You are the only Superior Alchemist in the city that a shop open that I know doesn’t have another alchemist, so I hoped that you would employ her at the shop.”

Alex looked at the man then looked at the woman and back at the man. “Employ?” he asked, confused. All that she did today, following him around every single second she was here, was to see whether or not she wanted to work in his shop.

‘Was that what the nod was about?’ Alex thought.

He felt… weird. He didn’t feel angry, exactly, but he didn’t like that they thought they could just come here and say that they wanted a job. Why should he give her one? He did not owe it to her.

Alex didn’t speak his mind. He simply thought for a bit and said, “I’m pretty sure that I heard somewhere that Alchemist Wang has a store of her own,” he said.

That was what the man who he saw on the rooftop during the duel had said. He had gone to her store to find what rank of alchemist she was.

“I… no longer have a store of my own. I shut it down a week ago after I lost the duel,” she said.

Alex was not expecting that answer. “You shut down your shop? Why?” he asked.

“I… I cannot tell you, my apologies,” the woman said. She looked sad enough to have shut down her store. But then, why did she shut down?

‘Was her store not making much profit?’ Alex wondered. He was making enough profit at the moment, but maybe that was not the case for this woman.

‘Either that or… she’s not permitted to say it,’ Alex thought. Pressure from someone above her? Or ABOVE her?

‘A heavenly oath?’ Alex wondered. Could she literally not tell him? He got curious now.

“Why not go back to the guild and work there?” Alex asked. “That should be an option too, shouldn’t it?”

“That… is not an option for me,” the woman said.

Alex looked at her with narrow eyes. “What about opening another store? Is that an option?” he asked.

The woman shook her head.

Alex turned to look at the old man who had begun grimacing at some point. “Senior, can you tell me what is going on here? Clearly, please.”

The old man sighed. “You must’ve guessed it by now. If you haven’t, Alchemist Wang has made an oath as a result of failing in the duel. She cannot tell anyone what the oath is.” “But as far as I can tell, she was made to shut down her store and was not allowed to join any guilds to work for a while.”

Alchemist Wang looked down in either shame or sadness, not wanting her feelings to be seen by others.

It came to Alex that there was more to the duel from a week ago than what it may have seemed on the outside. There was more happening there than what the people were being led to.

A Duel with bets attached at the end where one was forced to speak an oath. Alex turned to the woman and asked, “Were you forced to speak the oath or did you agree to speak it?”

Alchemist Wang looked up at Alex and shook her head. “There was no force involved,” she said. “But there may as well have been. I’m sorry, I cannot talk about it either.”

Alex was interested in the details, but it didn’t appear he was going to get any from the woman. He turned to the old man, hoping to get some more.

“They do everything in their power to make your store underperform. They don’t do anything illegal, so we cannot stop them, but it is clear that they are going out of their way to do this.”

“This… being?” “To shut down every successful store so theirs can be the only one.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed and things began falling into place in his mind. “Supreme Alchemist Ming, did he push her until she had no other route but to challenge him? So he can get her to shut her store?” he asked.

“That… is it,” the old man confirmed.

Alex couldn’t believe it. “Why?” he asked.

“Because the store got popular and they wanted to own it,” the old man said. “Her old store has already been taken over by them and now they run their business there.”

Alex frowned. “They… is that Supreme Alchemist Ming’s people?” he asked. Remembering who those people were caused Alex to frown even more. “Gale’s True Apothecary store did this.”

“They’re just a puppet, nothing more,” the old man said. “The one who is really doing it is the Bluehorn Alchemy Guild. But there is no way to fight back against them, so we have no choice.”

“Why not do what they’re doing?” Alex asked.

“Because we’re not that scummy,” the old man said. “You’ll have to be careful. Your store isn’t big or popular enough for them to come for you, but sooner or later I fear they will too.”

Alex remembered the man with the pill poison. “I fear they’ve already begun probing to see how well I do.” He chuckled a little at the absurdity of the situation.

Either do bad and don’t earn anything. Or do good and get targeted by people who will force you to earn nothing.

What a goddamn bull**.