I Would Rather Be a Rogue [BL]
Chapter 130: The Witch’s Workshop

Chapter 130: The Witch’s Workshop

The boxes were gone the next morning. They had vanished from Felix’s house sometime between when he went to sleep in the evening, and when he was woken up by Vivi’s wailing in the morning. Remi must have taken care of them.

Only of transporting the boxes, though, because they were waiting for Felix to unpack them on the floor of the witch’s house when he arrived there in the afternoon to start his official shift! Not that he minded it. As long as he didn’t have to run back and forth with that old, rusty wheelbarrow, Felix was perfectly satisfied.

He entered through the back door this time, pressing a talisman he had received from the witch the day before to the door knob. He was an employee now, after all, not just a guest, so he had been allowed to see the rest of the house, or at least the witch’s workshop.

The workshop was surprisingly cluttered. Not because it was small, not at all. In fact, it was so spacious that it made Felix question again how it could fit within the witch’s house, when the meeting room and the maze at the entrance had to be somehow squeezed inside as well, not to mention any other rooms that might be there! All that large space, however, was occupied by a collection of various witchy things. Rows upon rows of uneven shelves filled with old books and jars. Odd plants growing in terracotta flower pots. Iron cauldrons of various sizes standing here and there. A large ebony desk, with a surface completely covered by all the books and papers towering on top of it. Then, the boxes with the ingredients from Kade, and finally, the cradle for Vivi placed randomly in the empty spot.

But it wasn’t dusty, not at all. Despite all the clutter, the place was clean, and clearly used often. Even the cobwebs in the corners seemed fake, only placed there for the sake of the witchy aesthetic.

Waiting for the witch to arrive, Felix put Vivi in the cradle, and walked around the shelves, taking a closer look at all the jars on display. Some contained various plants, dried and fresh (most likely kept that way through various enchantments), others unidentified liquids, while some... even more suspicious things. Such as the eyeballs of various creatures. Well, Felix had to weigh similar things the day before, so he wasn’t surprised. He was just glad that the tightly screwed up jars kept all the smells inside...

A soft rustling came from behind his back. Felix looked back over his shoulder, just in time to see Remi emerge from behind the curtain. In his human form, wearing a pair of black boots, black pants, a black, flowy shirt, and the usual spiky hat.

"Ready to start?" he smiled at Felix. Then, he handed Felix a black top. "You can wear this as your uniform."

Felix glanced at the so-called uniform. It was the witch’s top. Which meant that it was too big for him. Not to mention, it had a large cut at the front, but for some reason, it was missing the laces to tie it up... Wearing it over his jumper would look a bit ridiculous, and if he were to wear nothing underneath, as the witch probably intended to ask him to... Then that would leave his whole chest exposed! And would probably slide from his shoulders with every careless move.

"...Do I have to?" he muttered, staring at the revealing piece of clothing with reluctance. There wasn’t anything about any uniform in his employee contract, he was sure of it, as he had read it carefully the night before!

Unless the witch was going to play some tricks on him, and alter the contract with a spell?

Luckily, that didn’t seem to be the case. "You don’t have to," he said. Only to add a moment later in a hopeful voice, "But I would appreciate it if you did?"

His not-so-subtle plea had no effect on Felix, though, so in the end, Remi could do nothing but sigh. "I’ll leave it here for now," he said, hanging the top on the coat rack, "In case you change your mind..."

Of course, there was hardly a chance of Felix wearing the top anytime soon, and they both were aware of it. The Omega barely spared the top one last furtive glance, before changing the topic.

"Should we unpack the boxes first?" he asked, pointing at the cardboard pyramid standing proudly on the floor.

However, Remi shook his head in response. "Not yet. We will be using some of the ingredients to brew the potion for that cursed Alpha. It will be easier for you to find the right ingredients if we keep them all together."

’Some of the ingredients, ’ he said. It seems that Felix’s theory was right. Remi didn’t need all of those ingredients for the potions, he was only using Kade as a free-of-charge supplier!

Well, whatever. It’s not like Felix had a right to complain. He had also received plenty of things from Kade for free... The only difference was that he had never requested anything, but rather had it pushed into his hands. Either way, that was between the witch and Kade. Felix was just an assistant, it wasn’t his job to manage the witch’s mischiefs, even if he took advantage of his former fated mate.

As for the boxes, it would truly make it easier for Felix to leave them unpacked. If he put all the jars on the shelves, among the other ingredients... He would need to spend a lot of time flipping through the handmade compendium of ingredients he had received the previous day, and consulting it all with the witch in order to identify them. None of the jars had any labels, after all, which meant that to find the right ingredients, a person would have to rely on their knowledge. And Felix’s knowledge was currently pretty much non-existent! After a while, he should get used to it and get better...

But for now, he would probably slow Remi down a lot.

"Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeves, ready to get to work. "What should I do first, then?"