“Well, let’s see,” I said, while the innkeeper poured beer. “This morning I discovered the secret of turning base metal into gold. At lunchtime I killed my wife.” For such an amazing person as the philosopher Salonin, it’s an ordinary day. Of course, all we have is his word, and Salonin is known for his creative approach to the truth. Little white lies always come in handy when you're just one step ahead of the secret police and on the verge of the greatest discoveries in the history of alchemy. But why would a scientist with such a generous and understanding patron want to run away so desperately? And what do blue and gold have in common? Translated for the “Fantasy” channel in telegram. The text of the book was translated from the original language using an artificial intelligence program. For the most part, the translation of the text is of very high quality, but in some cases, due to the imperfection of the technology, there may be incorrect phrase translations in the text, as well as single words and expressions may not be translated.