Chapter 9 – Poison

Growing up in Aethfield town, all he ever wanted was to eat. His friends’ dreams varied from being a blacksmith to adventuring to a grand world, but all he ever wanted was to eat so much that he would become the fattest in town; he wanted it to be a sign of him being very well fed. Although his family wasn’t well off and there was another child on the way. All that did was make him more motivated. He and his family would all become fatties.

***

“They attacked me at first sight, so I just struck back. Surprisingly, they were pretty weak.” Rich said, “The important thing aside from what we heard, they were pretty vigilant from the beginning, even though they didn’t know we were here.”

“So even though they looked like they are helping the ghoul, they at least don’t trust it,” I said.

Rich nodded. “Yes, I reckon so.”

I took my time to look around to know where we were and walked around the unconscious people. I examined them one by one to see if I could recognize someone. We weren’t far from the town; I could see its perimeter not far away. As for our current location, it seemed to be a farm, apparent from the brown soft dirt that the current knocked out assailants were laying on peacefully.

Trotting around them, I examined their faces and their attire. Most of them looked to be guards from the town since they donned on the same chainmail armor. While only two wore different clothes, and to my surprised, I recognized one of the two. Adrian, the one who had sold me a sword, was wearing some kind of plate armor and had two battle axes lying beside him.

Approaching him, I took a closer look at his face to make sure.

“Recognize him?” Rich asked from the back.

“I do,” I answered. “I exchanged with him a watch for a sword.”

Turning my head towards Rich, I asked, “I want to wake him up. He might provide some much-needed information, like why were they here or why were they going to help the beast.”

Rich nodded. “Go ahead.”

After kicking his weapons away, I shook Adrian's body multiple times to wake him up, but he didn’t respond. How hard did that guy knock them out? I started hitting his face around, which finally resulted in something.

Adrian’s eyes fluttered and then opened. He looked around as if taking in what was happening, his face turned grim, and abruptly, he tried to get up and reach the axes that I had kicked away.

Before he could even move a bit, I grasped his neck and smashed his head into the ground.

I threatened. “Let me be honest here. If you move abruptly, I won’t guarantee your life. I just need a few of my questions answered, and then I can promise you no harm.”

He stared at me with such intense gaze that I comprehended that this wasn’t going to be easy. I let go of his neck and sat beside him. “Even if you don’t talk, we can ask the other people here. I don’t believe all of you will keep your mouth shut. At least if you answer, we won’t do anything to you. But I can’t say the same if you don’t answer. Your choice.”

The old man didn’t answer immediately. He took a look at his comrades around and then replied, “So what are the questions?”

“Quite simple, actually.” I said, “What were you doing here?”

“We were going to feed the ghoul so it doesn’t attack the village. Because you Otherworlders injured it, it was going to attack our village to replenish its energy. If we satiate its hunger before it goes into a rampage, it leaves us alone.”

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“So, you know there was a ghoul around the village from the beginning?”

He continued staring and kept his mouth shut.

Pondering, I asked, “I am curious, what do you feed it?”

Pointing to a barrel at the side, Adrian said, “A recently killed animal.”

I got up and checked the inside of the barrels. Turning my head to Rich, I said, “it’s true.”

Adrian did answer truthfully. Inside the barrel were what appeared to be a beheaded pig. So reapproaching him, I said, “You are making me more confused. If you’re only here to feed the ghoul, why were you after my companion when he appeared from the hole? If you’re so afraid of the ghoul that you feed it instead of laying a trap, why do you refuse help? Also, when you’re so knowledgeable about that abomination habits, how did the ghoul suddenly appear outside the inn with no prior warnings?”

Barraged with all these questions, Adrian maintained a stoic non-changing expression. Yet, somehow his stare just got more intense. I could feel the malice he conveyed even from a few steps away.

Suddenly, he got up and dashed towards me. Before he could reach me, Rich intercepted him and, with a single punch, knocked him to the ground. Rich then placed his foot on Adrian’s chest to keep him in place.

“I would rather take my sins with me to death than rely on strangers,” Adrian said, laying on the ground as blood started spurting out from his mouth. “You said you would ask the other people here if I don’t answer? Good luck with that. I will tell you one last time. You seem to be a smart man; leave before you regret it.”

Rich quickly crouched down beside the old man and placed his hand on his chest as blue-hued lines similar to auroras gushed out from his arm into Adrian’s chest.

After a few minutes, Rich’s hand stopped gushing the blue aroura, and he turned towards me and shook his head. Sighing, I approached Adrian’s body and checked his pulse. To my expectations, he was dead.

Even if I don’t know anything about the Fantasy-Esque things happing, I knew something that could cause such symptoms before death. I asked, “Poison?”

Rich nodded his head. “A potent one. There’s a trace of a mana art etched in his heart that can be activated on will.”

“What’s a mana art?”

“Think of it as a circuit system inside the body that operates on mana. Different uses result in different outcomes. This one was related to poison.”

I looked at him astounded. “You know circuit systems?”

“Where in the worlds do you think I come from—” Rich paused for a moment. “I think we can talk about this later. Do you have a suggestion on what to do now? We won’t gain anything from the people here. If this guy turned like this, I reckon the rest will be the same.”

“Can’t you remove the poison mana art or whatever that thing is?”

He shook his head. “They etched it on their hearts trying to remove it is like tearing a piece out of their heart. It would effectively kill them.” His face then turned ugly. “That is not only the problem. Having a mana art etched on your organs is very dangerous. Unless the one who is doing the engraving has excellent mana control, it mustn't be done. Because the side effects are very severe if not done properly. The results of the mana art wouldn’t be completely withheld in the engraving; it would flow out and affect the body. If they had someone with the capability to engrave an art to their heart perfectly, they wouldn’t have needed to fear the ghoul. That person could literally kill the ghoul in one hit.”

“So let me get this straight, the people here with the current art etched into them, that art is poisoning them?”

“Not only that, but since they don’t have that much mana themselves, the mana art is consuming their life in exchange as it’s partially activated.”

I understood the gist of what he was saying. These people were dying literally on the double. “Could you make sure that all of them really have that mana art in them?”

Rich nodded. “Sure.”

While he went to check on the people lying on the ground, I went around looking for a weapon. I had lost my sword since it was embedded in the ghoul’s head, and when we killed it, the sword was nowhere around.

I picked a sword on the ground around one of the guards and strapped it on my waist. I didn’t care about the quality. My weapon conjuring trait was good enough. I just wanted to be sure I had a weapon on me at all times. Also, I just discovered that my trait could fail to manifest if I use them too much. So this was also a fail-safe if that ever happened.

After Rich finished checking on every one of the assailants, he said, “All of them have the same problem a defective mana art etched into their heart, and a mild poison flowing through their blood. The poison won’t kill them immediately, but it will slowly do, if they don’t activate that art first.”

I nodded. “So what do we do now?”

“I think I asked, you, that a while ago, but I suggest we leave,” Rich answered. “We should regroup with your companions and then leave this town. Not only are we not welcome by the townsfolk, but there will be a bunch more ghouls after us. We can take another questline outside this town. This one isn’t worth risking our lives for with so many variables.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I am with you on this one.”