The Silly Alchemist

“HUH?!” gasped Ye Lang and Athena at the same time.

Athena would never have guessed that this place was founded by Ye Lang. On the other hand, Ye Lang was even more surprised because he didn’t remember building this place.

“Perhaps you’ve forgotten about it?” Athena was sure he’d forgotten based on the gasp he let out.

“Yeah.” Ye Lang didn’t defend himself either, directly admitting to it.

“??” The fox stared at them in confusion, not sure what they were talking about.

“Do you know why Master—- Ye Lang built this place?” Athena accidentally called him Master out of habit, thank goodness no one noticed.

To be fair, it didn’t matter if someone heard her because they were all beastmen here. They had all once experienced Ye Lang’s kindness so even if they knew he was here, they would never betray him and would keep his presence a secret.

“Years ago, the thirteenth prince decided to build a home for the tiger girl with him, Tai Ya, therefore buying a large piece of land to start the project. He built this district based on the architecture style of the tribal lands, at the same time allowed all the beastmen in the city to stay here for free. This is how this place became the designated area for beastmen,” explained the fox.

“How many beastmen are there here?” asked Athena.

“We didn’t expect to have this many, but we have five thousand residents now,” replied the fox.

“Five thousand?!” Athena and the rest were surprised. Beastmen rarely lived so closely to humans, having five hundred beastmen in a human territory was already considered a huge crowd. Five thousand was unheard of!

“Yeah, the beastmen here are either here to learn, to trade, to expand their businesses... Some were once saved by the thirteenth prince spending money to buy them, some are the progeny of humans and beastmen...”

The beastmen were still involved in human society after all. Take the Royal Institute of Education, for example, they had many students from the tribe like Mia, who was also part of the beastmen race.

“Master, I can’t believe how much you’ve done here. It’s no wonder why so many people miss you and why they respect you so much...” whispered Athena by his ear.

The fox representative was also surprised to see how intimate Athena and Ye Lang were. He was initially planning to invite Athena for a tour of the city. Athena was one of the prettiest among the foxes, naturally she attracted a lot of attention.

However, he decided to give up because it looked like she was already taken.

At this point...

“Stop whispering in my ear, it makes my ear itchy!” Ye Lang shoved her face away.

“Huh?” The fox representative was stunned for a moment, his disappointment now replaced by hope again.

“You... I’ll bite you!” threatened Athena out of embarrassment.

“Stay away from me!” Ye Lang stepped away anxiously.

“...”

“Humour me, my lady, for I wonder what is your name?” the fox was making his move now.

“Athena,” she replied cooly, venting her anger on him.

“Ms Athena, who is he? How are you two related?” asked the fox. It didn’t matter if the girl was cold. Most importantly, he had to know if she was single. At least she told him her name, that wasn’t too bad.

“I don’t know him, we’re not related,” replied Athena once again, still upset at Ye Lang.

At the same time, Ye Lang entered the conversation. “I’m her elder brother, Apollo...”

“Elder brother?! Hmmph, I don’t know you!” rejected Athena.

The fox looked at Ye Lang, then at Athena. They had their similarities- the same silver hair, the same ears, the same tear and they were both gorgeous.

“Elder brother, I see... My apologies.” The fox believed Ye Lang’s nonsense in the end because they looked similar and their intimacy could be explained away with a sibling relationship.

Of course, the fox was also wishing hard that they were truly siblings. He would be very disappointed if they were a couple...

“...” Athena fell silent, not understanding why the fox chose to believe Ye Lang but not her.

“It’s fine,’ Ye Lang bowed. He had learned the fox tribal customs, it was simple.

“I’m Aili, nice to meet you, brother!” The fox named Aili started to work on getting on Ye Lang’s good side.

If he wanted to get the girl, of course he must get her elder brother to like him too. If her family wasn’t happy, he would be in trouble.

“Nice to meet you. Doesn’t my sister look so pretty today?” Ye Lang seemed to catch on too. Athena was exasperated. Why couldn’t he be smarter on a regular basis too?!

“Yeah, Miss Athena is the prettiest girl I’ve ever met! She’s as pretty as snow, I would die for a girl as gorgeous as her!” Aili nodded, praising Athena.

“Well, you don’t have to die... As long as you serve me well, I’ll let my sister marry you!” Ye Lang said loudly, slapping him in the back.

“Bring me to the Romantic Floor, has the place re-opened yet?” Ye Lang said with a grin.

“Of course, of course. I can’t believe you’re a man of taste too. It is a good place indeed. It’s a pity it was closed for such a long time, good that it’s open now.” Aili nodded excitedly.

“Romantic Floor? What’s that?” asked Athena.

“A brothel!” Ye Lang and Aili said at the same time.

THUD!

Athena exploded in rage, giving him a swift kick...

“Go to hell!”

“Aaaahhh...”