With great care, I lightly adjusted the shelf of various potions to add a glittering vial filled with an alchemical elixir to the collection. To the left of it, a round bottle full of a violent red froth. To the right, a silvery syrupy substance that constantly writhed like a mass of eels. All these items had been made in my workshop, by my own hand, using years of skill and experience as an Alchemist. The Alchemist's guild was an ancient and all-powerful body which oversaw the production, supply, and usage of magic in this country. We produced the concoctions that decided the outcome of the greatest battles, the most powerful wards on the most defensible strongholds, the curative medicines that cured even the most vile poisons... we were the true deciders of fate in not only this kingdom, but any other in which we chose to intervene.

Another knock on the window interrupted my admiring appraisal of the row of neatly labelled potions and wistful daydreams about my illustrious career. It was that elf again. Though the store, this town's branch of the Guild of Alchemy, was markedly still closed, the elf rapped at the window insistently. I sighed to myself and strode forward. After all, she had been knocking since she spotted me inside the store through the glass. She would likely keep knocking... it's just how high elves were. For how polite they claim to be, they get so absorbed in something, so singlemindedly set on achieving it, that they often lose sight of basic manners. The sun was barely up, and yet she demanded entry.

I unlocked the door, pulling it inwards a crack. She took this as an invitation, her slim frame pressing the door inwards, forcing me to back up hurriedly before she shoved me out of the way. She was taller than me. Her high elven body a willowy collection of limbs so perfect, it would make any mortal girl green with jealousy.

"You again?" I grumbled, dusting myself down. "Another perfume for your "hero-kun", then? Could have waited until opening time... but I suppose if you can't, then I'll make an exception for you, elf-girl." I knew the high elf had a crush on a man. Every single item I had ever made for her had been with that man in mind... the one with the ridiculous title she called him by.

"I am so sorry to inconvenience you," her melodious tones seemed to roll over me like soft rain, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance in her voice, as if I had offended her. "And I remind you every time I'm here, my name is Edraele of house Aephine! And I can't let hero-kun ignore me any longer! The time for perfume is over. This is an alchemy store, not a salon!"

"Is it now," I remarked wryly, walking past the shelf of potions Edraele curiously inspected and slipping around the back of the counter.

"Yes!" Edraele stated firmly. "It's that damnable dark elf... she's got him now. I mean, aren't I just perfect for a hero-kun? I'm such a gentle, polite and elegant soul, just like any hero-kun should be in love with, but instead he's chasing her big, stupid, heavy behind and it's just... uuugh." she pouted in a very un-elvish manner. She sounds more like a jealous teenager than a graceful maiden, and I knew where this was going. "But then I realized... you! You can make me potions, right? So why not make a potion to help make my superior high-elf rump a hero-kun magnet, just like hers? Then he'll realize I'm way better for him... you know, just with my soon-to-be throne-worthy butt helping bring some clarity to the right answer way more than these twig-thin thighs ever could elucidate..."

And there it was. Now, I had to decide for myself. Was I going to give her a potion, or a lesson in reality? Clearly, Edraele he was willing to go to great lengths for the object of her desire to look twice at her. But was it all infatuation or true love? Has this "hero-kun" actually been heroic? An alchemist, no, a potion seller has been entrusted with the responsibility of not only providing potions... but dispensing them into the hands that were right to wield them.