An Owl's Rise

Being surrounded by a bunch of veteran owls that had their shops on the first floor of the alchemy hall for months or even years, Evelyn began to panic.

It was clear that a lot of them were angry at her, and now they were demanding that she give up her source on who had given her such quality potions.

Of course, none of them wanted to believe that she made them herself since it seemed impossible.

No fiend beast should have been able to do what she had and only a talented low tier awakened rank owl would be able to rarely produce potions of the same quality as her best.

Thus, Evelyn's stock of potions that were at the peak of quality for the bottom floor had upset the balance of the hall in just a single day.

And this was actually not the first time this had happened, but in all other cases it had been that a perpetrator was supplied these potions in order to make a quick buck for a more experienced owl.

This was why the owls on the first floor were so angry and were verbally attacking Evelyn to try and make her close-up shop and never return.

Yet an unexpected ally came to her aid and broke the group up.

"Now it is quite rude to gang up on a newbie and try to chase them out."

Turning a around to look at the source of the voice, all of the owl's went wide eyed to see the overseer coming to Evelyn's aid.

It was incredibly rare for him to get involved, and seeing him here meant that he was planning to take Evelyn's side.

Immediately a number of the gathered owls quietly moved away, not wanting to be involved anymore, but some of the braver ones stuck around to argue their point.

"Overseer Garth, you know it is against the rules to sell items made by a higher-ranking owl that are at the top or above the best quality those of us on this floor can make. This owl here is clearly in violation of that rule. If we allow those like her to operate with impunity, they will ruin the economy of the alchemy hall."

Other owls quickly joined in and back this stance and the overseer simply nodded his head and agreed with them.

"Yes, you are all correct in that assumption. However, that is not what has happened here. In the paperwork I received it was stated that Evelyn here was selling only goods that she herself made."

Hearing this the other owls were not so easily convinced and continued arguing, saying that the documents could have been forged.

"The confirmation came directly from the top, Lady Melisandre herself. I imagine that she already knows about this young owl's talent, which is why she gave her personally approval. If you have any complaints, you can take it up with her." The overseer of the first floor said.

This completely pacified the crowd. They knew there was no way that they could go against the overseer when he put up such a fight.

All they could do was grit their beaks and hope Evelyn could not continuously bring out such a supply of exceptional potions and pills.

"You certainly are a surprising one, aren't you?" the overseer said as soon as he was alone with Evelyn.

Now that he had watched her performance on her first day, he was even more intrigued.

She had put out a stock of items that were rare to be seen on the first floor of the alchemy hall and taken the place by storm.

This made the overseer believe she must have some powerful backing, but her demeanor suggested otherwise.

It was clear she had been really nervous when she first opened her stall, and even when she was surrounded by a bunch of other owls she did not try to ward them away by borrowing the authority of whoever was behind her.

"For mine and your sake, would you mind showing me how you made potions of that quality while at your level. Normally peak fiend beasts at best might make something a little better than half as good as yours, and only really talented low tier awakened bests could match you."

Yet the overseers attempt to watch Evelyn brew was met with her shaking her head.

"Really, are you sure? If you show me that you really are capable of making those pills and potions on your own, I can better get others to back off by saying that I witnessed your skills firsthand." The overseer said as he tired to push Evelyn towards his goal.

He now really wanted to see how she brewed and hope to gleam some insight into who was the one backing her.

But Evelyn could only shake her head and deny his request. She knew how much of a problem it would be for her brewing to be seen by others.

It was clear that while the supremely good quality equipment Melisandre had lent her was one factors in her above standard brewing, her heavenly flame was the main culprit for her ability to make things of a higher caliber than she should be able to.

'There is no way I am going to show him that what I have here is actually diluted from the alchemical items I can actually make. It will be best to simply reevaluate myself and dilute my brews even more.' Evelyn thought.

Luckily after vehemently refusing a few more times, the overseer he let her go. Since while he did want to know who was backing Evelyn, he did not want to anger them if they stood above him.

Now that the day was finished Evelyn left the alchemy hall and headed back to Melisandre's mansion.

Along the way though she noticed that she had a tail that was trying to follow her, and when she found that she could not lose them she simply went and confronted them.

This owl that was at the low tier of the awakened rank seeing that he had been discovered frantically flew away.

'Well at least they gave up easily enough.'

Returning to her course Evelyn flew around the Roost a bit more to make sure no one else was following her, and when she was certain she was good she made her way towards Melisandre's mansion.

Once safely inside she let out a sigh of relief and then immediately went to find Melisandre so that she could talk to her about what to do next.

So many things had happened that we outside of Evelyn's expectations or plans, and she was hoping that Melisandre might know a way to fix things.

Unfortunately, when she found Anneli the news she told her did not bode well.

"I am sorry Evelyn, but Melisandre has stepped out for the night. She informed that she would likely be back by tomorrow for dinner, but she said she had an urgent an important meeting tonight and tomorrow."

Internally groaning, Evelyn had really been needing Melisandre's wisdom but now she was not here.

"I understand. In that case could you find Karina for me, and I can ask my questions to the two of you?"

Nodding her head Anneli did as Evelyn asked and soon the two attendants of Melisandre were waiting to hear what she had to say.

To start she told them about what had happened during the events of her time on the first floor and about how she had made quite the wave.

Anneli seemed pretty much none the wiser about the situation, but Katrina slapped her face with her wing and shook her head.

"I am sorry Evelyn; I cannot believe how stupid I am. I was simply thinking about you not ruffling any feathers from the owls on the second floor, when I did not even think of the first properly. Yes, the potions you made after being diluted can appear on the first floor, but they are still rare. Showing up with such a large stock on them was bound to get you both good and bad attention. I should have thought of this earlier and warned you." Katrina said while lowering her head in regret.

"Well then, I can simply dilute what I make down even further to conform with what I should normally be able to make. Everything will be back to normal if I do that." Evelyn said confidently.

"No that would not be a good idea. It will seem far stranger if you suddenly show up with vastly different quality potions than before. I can imagine that this will only make your customers angry at you, since they will want more of the high-quality stuff. Also, it will just reenforce to the other vendors that their notion of you cheating is correct." Katrina said.

"What should I do then? Just keep making the same potions like today and ignore the other vendors?" Evelyn asked.

"Sorry but that will likely not help much either. But there is something you can do to try and alleviate the situation. You need only make a couple dozen at most of the higher quality potions while also having a variety of even more diluted ones to around twenty-five percent of your best. And if anyone asked why your stock is so different, just say you sold only your best that you had been making for months on your first day. Then you can keep you stock of the higher quality lower but not nonexistent so that no one questions you abilities. I imagine that if you do this, after a few days everything will smooth over."