Verity gripped his spear tighter. There were many of them, and truth be told, they did look scary. Not as scary as the orcs, of course, but his hands were still trembling.

As it shivered under the pressure, he felt a soft hand land on his shoulder. “Relax. We’ve prepared for this.” Midnight told him, a reassuring tone in her voice.

This didn’t really calm his nerves but it did allow him to take a deep breath, and it at least slowed down his racing heart.

Ash took a few steps forward, and the gentle smile he had showed Verity was now directed toward the bandits. “Of course, of course. We wouldn’t dare cross through here without your permission.”

From one of the pockets inside of his coat, Ash pulled out a pouch, in which Verity could only assume rested a sum of money.

‘Are we not going to fight…?’

“This should be enough, right Bagua?” Ash told the leader, who’s name Verity now knew to be Bagua.

‘Weird name.’ He thought.

Bagua looked inside the pouch with a greedy gleam in his eyes. He pulled out a few golden coins, placed them against the sunlight, bit them, and even tried to break them with his fingers. When he was satisfied, he tossed the pouch to one of his goons, and his smile grew wider.

“You see, my good friend Ash. Times have been hard lately.” He patted his round belly, which jiggled slightly under his brown tunic. “Look at me! Do you see how much weight I’ve been forced to lose? I’m practically starving here!”

Starving, was not the word Verity would have used to describe the man. Quite the opposite in fact. ‘You could have at least tried to come up with a better lie…

Understanding what Bagua was getting at, Ash’s hand slowly slipped toward the hilt of his sword. “This was the agreed upon sum, Bagua. I’m being civil but… don’t push your luck.”

Bagua erupted into laughter. “BAHAHAHAH!” Before he drew his own blade. “The Flame Sword himself is threatening me! Boys, we’ve made it big!”

His underlings cheered for him.

“Our boss doesn’t care who you are!!”

“Yeah, he’s a blademaster now!! He ain’t scared of no one!!”

This only widened the grin on Bagua’s face, who pressed the tip of his blade against Ash’s neck. “Listen, Flame Sword. Considering our history, I’ll only ask for half a pouch more hmmm? How’s that sound?” He said, his face much too close to Ash’s.

Midnight clicked her tongue beside Verity. She drew both of her daggers, and crouched slightly, ready to strike. “I guess we gotta earn our pay at one point.”

Before she could use a skill, or perform an attack, however, Bagua raised his hand. “Since you won’t comply… lit them up boys.”

Midnight reacted lightning-fast. “You worthless pigs!!”

Verity heard leaves from everywhere around them rustle, and he did not have time to move before he felt a stinging pain at the base of his neck.

“What the…”

Before he could do anything, his body went limp, and it slumped to the ground.

[You are under the effect of a life-threatening neurotoxin.]

[You have failed to resist the effect of the neurotoxin.]

‘A-a neurotoxin…!?’

Verity felt as though he was under deep anesthesia and his body refused to listen to him. He could still see and hear, but he could not feel anything. Whether it was the dirt under him, the warm sun touching his skin, or the bugs which had begun crawling on him, he felt nothing.

Midnight had managed to defend against more than a few of the darts aimed at her by adeptly swinging her daggers but she eventually made a mistake, and her fate wound up similar to Verity’s. The poison was now spreading through both of their veins, and they were rendered powerless in mere instants.

“These damn bandits and their cheap tricks!!” She spat, her voice venomous and her eyes defiant.

The only ones who were spared were Eleanor, who was still inside the carriage, and the carriage driver himself, for some strange reason.

“Bagua!! You’ve crossed a line!!” Ash’s voice thundered, his anger palpable. He had not been shot, most likely due to his proximity to Bagua himself.

Bagua sneered. “My offer is still on the table, you know? Half a pouch more and you can go on about your day.” He then glanced at Verity and Midnight. “Ah, but then I suppose you would need the antidote, wouldn’t you? That would have to be another half a pouch.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Ash grit his teeth and clenched his fist. He evidently wanted to slice through Bagua right then and there, but he never unsheathed his sword. He glanced at the carriage, then at Midnight and Verity, and he seemed to understand that Bagua had left him with no choice.

His title of Flame Sword was not underserved, but even Ash could not defeat dozens of bandits, especially if Bagua was truly a blademaster as he had said.

Regretfully, he reached into another pocket, and pulled out an additional pouch of money. “Give me the antidote first.” Ash told Bagua, a contorted expression of anger on his face.

Bagua laughed. “I don’t think so. I hold the cards here. Give the pouch first, then we’ll negotiate.”

It was then that the atmosphere suddenly changed. Verity felt that it was suddenly getting hotter, and he could immediately identify the reason. The air around Ash was getting denser, more dangerous, and raw power was emanating from him. His fist clenched around the pouch, nearly crushing the coins inside.

“Bagua…” He said, his voice low and somber. “I’ve been more than lenient with you. Give me the antidote and let us go, or I'll make sure that at least, you do not live to see the next rise of the two suns.”

Standing so close to the heat emanating from Ash, it seemed Bagua had finally lost a bit of the bravado he had been showing. A droplet of cold sweat ran down his face, and he clicked his tongue. “...So serious. Can’t even joke around anymore.” he signaled to one of the other men, who brought a small brown bag sealed shut with a rope.

The exchange was swift. Ash gave him the pouch, and Bagua handed the antidote over.

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, Flame Sword!” Bagua said, before whistling and ordering his entire group to leave.

Just like that, the bushes rustled once more, and any traces of the bandits had disappeared. All that was left was a terrified carriage driver, a furious Ash, as well as a paralyzed Verity and Midnight. Eleanor had stayed inside the carriage as instructed.

Ash made sure to reiterate the warning. “Do not come out until I tell you to, young lady.”

[Warning. Death is imminent.]

‘Thank, system!! Very helpful!’ Verity thought, scorning the voice in his head.

Thankfully, it wasn't a painful type of poison. It just made him numb, and Ash had gotten the antidote from the bandits.

Speaking of him, he was now leaning next to Midnight, feeding her a flask full of a purple-ish liquid that he had gotten from the pouch Bagua gave him. When he was finished with her, he immediately moved on to Verity, and fed him the rest of the flask. The effect was almost instantaneous. He felt various sensations returning to him. The prickly feeling of the pebbles and branches on the ground, the warm tropical-like breeze of the forest, and even the cold steel of his spear.

[You have survived the threat of a lethal poison.]

[The skill Never Again is being activated.]

[You have gained a new sub-skill, Minor Poison Tolerance.]

‘Ohhh!!’

The fear from the entire ordeal almost completely vanished when he heard the system’s voice.

Verity did have his suspicions on how he could utilize the skill, but this gave him solid evidence. Unlike what he had thought, he wouldn’t simply be able to place his hand in fire to gain a fire tolerance skill. It seemed that he needed to, at minimum, be in a life threatening situation.

Of course, two cases couldn’t count as solid proof for that theory, but the system always chose its words well. It specifically mentioned that he had survived the threat of a lethal poison, which may have meant that a non-lethal poison would not have activated Never Again.

Either way, this trial gave him the opportunity to test it out, and hopefully, gather a library of resistances.

A smile creeped up his lips. The excitement of novelty and a goal to pursue was growing within him. Something he hadn’t felt in months. Something he craved, but that his old job could not provide him with after only a year and a half. ‘I’ll need to experiment more…!!’ He thought, his heart racing.

Pulling him out of his thoughts, Midnight was the first to rise to her feet and voice her indignation. “We have to report this to the guild!! They’ve gone too far!!” She yelled as she clenched her fist.

“Agreed… Maybe even the knights. Their numbers have grown far beyond my expectations…” Ash replied in a low voice, before returning to the carriage. “For now, however, let’s finish the escort mission.” He said as he looked at the two of them, prompting them to get back inside the vehicle..

That… somehow felt off to Verity. “You want to just keep going?” He blurted out before even realizing he had spoken out. But despite his surprise at his own words, he doubled down. “W-what if they just come back later on and ask for more money? Or what if they’re no longer interested in money at that point?” He asked.

Verity had felt like a free-loader until now, and did intend to leave all the decisions to the two experienced adventurers until they got to the city, but this just didn’t make sense to him.

Midnight crossed her arms. “I gotta agree with the kid here. If they’re acting like this, I think we should turn back…Or at least go around the forest.”

It was almost imperceptible, but Verity could swear Ash clicked his tongue. Still, a soothing smile decorated his lips. “I understand how you both feel, but we’ve already given them the money, haven’t we? They’ve already agreed to let us through, and turning back now would take longer than reaching the next city.”

Verity wasn’t going to let this one go. He couldn’t explain, but he just had a bad feeling. Perhaps it was the foreign environment, the imminent night fall, or being here with these strangers, but Verity could not help but feel that he shouldn’t cross that forest, at least not that day.

“You’re trusting them to make good on their word? After they essentially robbed us, attacked us, and humiliated us?” Verity asked. He thought Ash couldn’t possibly be that naive. Verity certainly wasn’t. He knew this type from the novels he read. You couldn’t trust them to tell you the color of their eyes.

It also seemed that Midnight agreed with him, though she remained silent and only stared at Ash.

Noticing the unease of his companions, Ash made a proposition. “Listen, how about this.” He removed his sword from his waist and dropped it on the ground. “No matter how our opinions differ. I think we can all agree that going anywhere right now would be dangerous, seeing as to how night is quickly falling. Why don’t we find somewhere hidden to camp and discuss this in the morning? Even the bandits have better things to do than to scour the entire forest for us.”

Midnight’s tail moved slightly, though Verity could not interpret what that meant. “Hmm… The terrain is flat.. And the carriage could come along…That’s not a bad idea.” She went ahead of everyone. “I know of a small clearing near a river close to here. They won’t find us there. Follow me.”

This was certainly better than staying on the track where it was impossible to remain hidden, but it rubbed Verity the wrong way regardless. Still, what they said made sense, and he couldn’t argue against it. Hiding and waiting out the night was better than backtracking if the threat of more bandits really was the problem. Plus, now that Midnight agreed with Ash, he couldn’t really oppose the decision this time, lest he wanted to be kicked out of the group and have to fend for himself.

Verity bit his lip and started walking. ‘Damnit…Was it a mistake to tag along?’