The hall grew silent for a split second. Confusion was written all over the guests' faces. Watching as one lord after another fell down, fear and anxiety gripped everyone's heart. Soon, the confusion died down and everyone rushed to their lord.

Baroness Bisca crouched down by her husband's side and tended to him. Looking at his blue lips and face devoid of color stung her heart. "Get a physician and an apothecary. Quick! What are you all waiting for?" Her shout brought the hall back to life and the servants ran off to fetch the physician and the apothecary.

Nathan and Zach headed for their father's location amidst the unfriendly gazes everyone was directing at them. Vincent followed closely, feeling uneasy. He had never expected things to escalate so quickly. Judging by the desperate howls of the guests, the lords had been poisoned. With Baron Bisca's shout at the end, the suspicion naturally fell on Viscount Rolft. Though he was the second to fall down, it made him even more suspicious . After all, he could have done it intentionally so as to avoid being the prime suspect. Furthermore, who could tell that he didn't have an antidote hiding somewhere to get away scot-free.

The air was oppressive and being stared at by everyone was unnerving. Nathan and Zach stayed by their father's side. Everyone else were accompanying their lords and trying their best to help, but it didn't do much as they were just people with slightly better medical knowledge. They were far from being equipped with proper knowledge or tools.

"Vincent. Come, quick. Have a look at my father." Nathan spoke in a hurried tone as it struck him that the other was a doctor. The fear in his voice could be felt clearly.

Vincent silently made his way towards Nathan and crouched down. He measured the baron's pulse and breathing and scrunched his brows. After a few more rudimentary examinations, Vincent spoke in a low voice. "Poison and such treatments are outside of my field of expertise, so my judgment might be incorrect. It looks like the poison isn't lethal. His breathing and pulse has slowed down significantly, but none of his organs seem to have failed. We should have enough time to save them at this rate. Of course, a specialist will have to take a deeper look to ascertain the poison and its cure."

Nathan calmed down a bit after listening to Vincent's words. Though Vincent didn't specialize in poison or its treatment, a qualified physician or doctor should be able to confirm whether the patient was in mortal danger or not.

Part of the crowd settled down a little after hearing Vincent's judgment but the majority were still tense. After all, trusting the words of a youth they had never heard of or seen before would be unnatural. Some of the lords had only held the glass but hadn't taken a single sip. The lucky ones were left in trepidation looking at the bodies on the floor. They secretly sighed in relief and praised themselves for being able to resist the alcohol's temptation.

Vincent concluded that the dosage of the poison was very small. Thankfully, most of the lords had taken but a single sip. After observing for some time and finding that the condition didn't deteriorate any further, he could finally be sure of his earlier judgment. Vincent proceeded to have a quick look through all of the lords. Some of the family members were very appreciative of his efforts while the others were downright cold towards him. He did feel wronged a little but paid it no mind as he could simply skip them. Strictly speaking, it only decreased his workload.

Soon, several guards made their appearance along with the physician and the apothecary. The physician was an old man with wrinkly face and skinny figure. He was a well known physician who had served the Gill household for decades.

The guests tried to get the old physician to check up on their own lords first. The lean old man was like a lonely leaf amidst a storm. Manners and the likes didn't matter in such times and the guests weren't hesitant to use forceful means. The guards wanted to step in and help out as their loyalty obviously lay with the host of the banquet, but couldn't actually do it as it would achieve nothing and just bring endless troubles their way. After all none of the people present were someone they could afford to offend.

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The physician however, wasn't intimidated and made steady progress towards Baron Gill. Despite his meek appearance, the man had fair share of dealings with people in power and could fend for himself. "The baron isn't in mortal danger. The poison has set in but the situation doesn't seem that bad as the dosage is very tiny. This means that the poison is very potent but is not meant to kill. But the tricky thing is that I have no clue as to what kind of poison this is. Concocting an antidote might be very difficult." The physician conjectured after some rudimentary examinations and continued, "Judging by the looks of it, the situation of the other lords are similar as well. We should move all the patients to a proper room equipped with tools to deal with any kind of emergencies."

The apothecary had no objection and collected the whiskey to sample the poison. While the situation wasn't life threatening at the moment, he couldn't ensure that the patient's condition wouldn't get worse over time. It was a risk he wasn't willing to take and he would have to get to work as soon as possible.

******************

Casper and Vincent were silently sitting in a dimly lit room. The event that had unfolded earlier had surpassed their wildest imagination. The banquet was supposed to be a platform for them to plant a seed to form their mercenary band. They had thoroughly prepared for multiple eventualities. In the end, things didn't even remotely play out as they had planned.

Vincent and Casper were doing fine as no one that got poisoned were directly related to them. Casper's father served Baron Gill, but in his eyes, the baron was just a scary man who used to scold him and Nathan when they messed up. Though he felt a little down, it didn't have much of an impact on him. Nathan and Zach, on the other hand were far from being well. Not only were their father's unconscious and poisoned, most of the guests were also ostracizing them. In the guests perspectives, they might very well be the spawns of the mastermind behind the poisoning.

The door slowly opened and Zach entered looking dispirited and fatigued. Casper asked in a gentle tone, "Are you okay? You took longer than I thought you would."

Zach waved his hands dismissively, "I am alright. I am not worried much for my father. The best physicians and apothecaries from the north western region will be here by tomorrow afternoon. I am sure the antidote will be made soon enough. Besides, the poison was clearly not meant to kill the lords, the mastermind will probably contact us soon and demand something in exchange for the antidotes. Elaine fainted after looking at her unconscious grandfather, so I just visited her for a while. After all, she is still my fiancée even if only in name. It would be unnatural for me to not visit her."

Casper and Vincent's eyes met and they felt a lot better. Seeing that Zach was still making excuses, it assured them that he would be alright. The trio sat there without talking and the room descended into silence once again. The day had been exhausting and they were finally getting some rest, so the calm was readily welcomed.

BAM!

The door flew open and Nathan rushed in, out of breath. A red envelope was clutched tightly in his hand. "The mastermind has made his move. The bastard calls himself Robin Hood."

Zach got up and took the wrinkled piece of paper. A bow and arrow was drawn with black ink and a row of text was written below it.

"The lords levy unreasonably high taxes on the poor subjects and oppress them."

"I have begun my fight against the corrupt nobles."

"A dose of antidote costs 1000 gold coins"

"The just thief-Robin Hood"

Zach read the text aloud with a somber look. Vincent took a second look through the paper and asked, "How did he deliver it?"

Nathan replied clearly vexed, "The bastard spread the pamphlets throughout the town. Now our arrangements to keep the matter a secret to avoid spreading chaos is all but useless. Thankfully most of the subjects can't read or write and this will give us enough time to impose a curfew."

Zach pinched his chin and questioned, "Ha! Robin Hood? What a poor taste in name. Are all the other pamphlets made in similar manner?"

Nathan replied dryly, "Yes, the bastard probably isn't alone. The contents were printed using wooden blocks. He had probably been planning this for a while now."