Chapter 265 The Alchemist Named Paracelsus
"By the way, did you know that his real name isn't Paracelsus?"
"Yes, I know. His real name is Mr. Theofrastos, right? I heard Alicia's father took that name."
"Actually, that's not his real name either."
""Eh!?""
Alicia was surprised by this statement. It seemed she had never heard it before.
"He was active as an alchemist named Paracelsus, but at the same time, he also worked as a pharmacist named Theofrastos."
"Did he use different identities?"
"Yes, he could manipulate his physical age with the power of fairies."
'Wow, so Paracelsus can also change his age. No wonder he lives so long.'
"What was his real name then?"
"Even he doesn't know. Apparently, he was abandoned in the forest when he was a baby who couldn't even stand or walk."
'Huh, if the creator god of this world reincarnated him, couldn't they have been a bit more considerate about where he ended up?'
"People might call someone like that a genius, but he remembers being abandoned. He often said, 'If you're going to throw me away, at least do it where there are people. I thought I was going to die.'"
"Wow... that's something. But how did he survive?"
"The fairies helped him."
"Wait, he was still a baby, right?"
"I don't know if it's true, but when he realized he was abandoned, he strongly thought he needed to protect himself, and then his magic appeared."
'Whoa. I thought I was pretty overpowered, but there's always someone stronger.'
"Feeling a life-threatening crisis and then manifesting magic is a common story, but doing it as a baby is quite rare."
"Because of that, it seems he almost died from running out of magic."
"...It's hard to tell if he's smart or not."
"Anyway, he formed a bond with a fairy that was drawn to his magic, and they helped him grow his body to the point where he could survive without breast milk."
"I see."
'He probably didn't have enough magic to be an adult yet.'
"The fairies gave him delicious fruits and nuts, and he gradually learned magic until he could catch beasts by himself."
"That's really impressive."
'Umm... he's quite the wild child, right? Like Tarzan or something?'
It's an old movie or anime that Sarasa doesn't even remember, but nothing else came to mind.
"In reality, he only lived in the wild for about 2 weeks, and then he was found and rescued by a woman who came to gather herbs. She lived by making and selling medicine in a village near the forest, so it seems he learned the basics of being a healer or alchemist from her."
"It's good that he was able to return to the human world early."
"He was born and raised in Odel, which is now Roisen."
"Huh, isn't he from Avalon?"
"Since he was abandoned, we don't know where his parents were from. It seems to be near the border."
"I see."
"But when Odel became Roisen, he moved to Avalon. The village was on the route of the Roisen army, and it was plundered by them."
"I see. But that was about 200 years ago, so Mr. Paracelsus has been around for quite a while, right?"
"I'm not sure how much I should ask about it since he looks sad when he remembers that time, but it seems he decided to part ways with an important friend in Odel and live in Avalon. I don't know how things are now, but I heard that the newly founded Roisen was executing people who formed friendships with fairies."
"That's tough."
'I see, so they were killing people who formed friendships with fairies, not just royalty. No wonder the fairies are angry.'
"Oh, speaking of which, the reason he called himself Paracelsus is that there was a court alchemist named Paracelsus living nearby. That person became obsessed with the idea of creating the Philosopher's Stone as he got older and was ignored by both the court and the academy."
"I feel like I've heard that story somewhere..."
"Oh, you heard it from Theo."
"Theo?"
"That's my father."
Alicia quickly followed up on Sylvia's statement.
"Many people in the family believe that my husband was researching the Philosopher's Stone, but that's not true. He was pretending to be the real Mr. Paracelsus and was doing his own experiments in the academy's lab for about 20 years."
"Huh?"
"The real Mr. Paracelsus was obsessed with his delusions and was in such poor health that he couldn't even go to work."
"So he was pretending to research the Philosopher's Stone while actually studying magic stones?"
"Exactly. He felt bad just deceiving everyone, so he compiled his research on magic language into a book. This is said to be the greatest achievement of the court alchemist named Paracelsus."
"Does that mean it became the achievement of the old alchemist in the neighborhood?"
"That's right. But since the real Mr. Paracelsus has passed away, he couldn't continue his research under the name Paracelsus anymore. Apparently, a relative of the real Mr. Paracelsus enrolled in the academy and caused a scene, saying, 'Paracelsus is already dead. That guy is a fake'."
"Ah, I can picture that."
'So, in short, he got caught for using research funds while pretending to be someone else, right?'
"Unfortunately, he left all his materials behind and hurriedly escaped from the academy's lab."
"Ah. So, the materials written by Mr. Paracelsus are now in a state of 'might be at the academy'."
"Exactly. He took off his old man disguise and snuck into the home of the deceased Paracelsus, declaring himself as the disciple who would carry on his master's name."
"Wait, why didn't he just run away?"
"At that time, he was already married and had children. According to him, 'It's hard to explain to my kids that their father was pretending to be someone else'."
"Seriously? He kept using a fake name just for that?"
'I wonder, he seems like such an elusive person... With all that ability, why was he struggling for money?'
"That's not the only reason. He was aware that he was borrowing the name, so he took good care of Paracelsus's affairs. Even while working in the lab, his wife was by his side, so the neighbors really thought he was the true disciple of Paracelsus."
"Wow."
"Ultimately, it seems that Paracelsus's relatives recognized him as the disciple who took care of Paracelsus until the end. They even gave him the building where Paracelsus lived along with the laboratory, so that's how the 'self-proclaimed' alchemist Paracelsus was born."
"So, in other words, he got a place to live and a laboratory, right?"
"That's right."
Sara also understood what happened next from the documents. He continued his research as a 'self-proclaimed' alchemist until he was taken in by the previous Marquis Grandchester. Fortunately, his sons entered the academy and became officially recognized alchemists.
When Paracelsus moved to the Grandchester territory, his eldest son stayed in the royal capital because he was already old, while the second son moved to Grandchester with him. It was this second son who established the alchemist guild in Grandchester.
"In the end, we still don't know Mr. Paracelsus's real name."
"He doesn't have a name given by his parents. But when he was found in the forest, he introduced himself as 'Licht,' so I guess that's the first name he chose for himself."
'Could it be the name from Mr. Paracelsus's previous life?'
"By the way, why did Mr. Paracelsus work as a pharmacist?"
"It seems he really didn't have any money."
"Even though his sons and grandsons are making money, he still needed money?"
"Because they only buy magic stones. If one of the kids or grandkids had shown interest in helping with magic stone research, it wouldn't have been a problem, but it seems they didn't show any interest at all. I heard the grandkid outright dismissed it as nonsense. They were feeling down because no one in the family understood them."
"Haha, it would have been great if Alicia had been born in that generation."
"Who knows? It's unlikely there would be an environment like Maiden's Tower where they just hand out magic stones freely, so I think he would give up at some point too. Even if it was theoretically possible, it wouldn't mean anything if it can't be proven."
Sara and the others can artificially create magic stones through technological innovation, but buying high-quality natural magic stones is like buying jewels. If you're not part of a public research organization, funding will quickly run out. Even in a public research organization, if you can't show results, it would be hard to keep going.
In that sense, Sara can understand why the people from the academy changed their expressions and why they tried to storm into Maiden's Tower. She can't agree with it, though.
"It seems that for the sake of his sons and grandsons, he felt it was inappropriate to act as Paracelsus, so he went by Theofrastos when he was a pharmacist. By the way, he made himself look like he was in his 40s. He was a very kind pharmacist who didn't mind examining women from the red-light district. I knew that, like alchemists, pharmacists also call themselves whatever they want, but I don't think anyone cared about that."
It seems that both Paracelsus and Theofrastos couldn't attend the academy due to age restrictions and continued to operate under their self-proclaimed titles.
'Even though he's so talented, he call himself that, huh? It's a waste; he should at least create a system that lets them transfer to a specialized course. Maybe the school should remove the age limit or something.'
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