The Shackle of Archisus
If Archisus left his name in the Demon Realm, Jukenen's name might be used as a synonym for betrayal in the future.
“Even when I offer to leave your name, you complain. Well, if you don't want it, whatever.”
You have obtained [Lalgrgal's Evil Venom]!
Your Reputation has increased significantly!
Lalgrgal hates you even more intensely!
Your current Alchemy stat is too low to identify the poison's true nature.
You possess the [Insight] skill. You can view the item description.
An extremely potent, evil poison created by the demon Lalgrgal using his Authority and the power of a god left on the continent.
Consuming this poison inflicts a fatal curse that cannot be cured by any means other than the antidote.
'This is it.'
“Lord Archisus! I found the antidote too!”
“Oh... Jukenen! You're doing a much better job than I expected. Are you sure you don't want your name left behind?”
“If you could perhaps release me...”
“That's a no.”
If he did a good job, he couldn't be released because he was too useful. If he did a bad job, he couldn't be released because he was useless! The Shackle of Archisus!
Jukenen spoke dejectedly.
“Here it is.”
“But how did you find it? Is your Alchemy skill high?”
“There was a label next to it that said 'Antidote'.”
“......”
Tae-hyun checked with a dubious expression. Indeed, he could see the demonic script written on the side of the bottle.
Your knowledge of the Demonic Script has increased...
'I don't need this anyway since Carbanog translates everything for me...'
Carbanog was practically the best encyclopedia in Pan-On. When others encountered unfamiliar characters, they had to search through books in a library, but Tae-hyun only had to ask Carbanog to get an answer most of the time.
'Anyway, there really was an antidote.'
In that case? 'I can basically consider this quest cleared.'
Except for the minor detail that Lalgrgal was chasing them from behind, the quest was as good as cleared! For now, there seemed to be enough for a single dose for the King.
'But... is there a way to increase the quantity?'
Besides the King, there were several other NPCs in Erance Kingdom who had collapsed after consuming this poison. Since he had obtained the antidote, he had to squeeze out as many rewards as possible. Only getting rewarded by the King was amateur hour.
Carbanog suggests diluting it with water.
'N-No, that's going too far.'
The temptation of a demon! No, the temptation of Carbanog!
'I should summon Freid and make him replicate it.'
Since they were both demons, Freid should be able to make it too! Of course, if other demons heard this, they would have thought, 'What kind of absolute nonsense is that?'
“They're trying to buy bombs?! Those bastards... so they had a trick like that up their sleeves!”
“Should we interfere?”
“How do you plan on interfering? By entering that territory?”
Flinch! At the mention of 'that territory', even the Guild Alliance rankers flinched. 'That territory' that everyone absolutely dreaded entering!
It was so bad that some members of the Guild Alliance even used going there as a bet or a penalty game.
“We already have to fight the Midas Guild right now, so what's the point of provoking Kim Tae-hyun? It's frustrating, but now is the time to endure. This is no time to pick a useless fight.”
“Then what should we do...?”
“We just have to buy them first. So they can't get their hands on them.”
“Will that even work? Given the relationship between us and Kim Tae-hyun...”
Sworn enemies! Weren't they the most famous rivals in Pan-On 2? Of course, the fact that a giant guild and a single individual were rivals was hilarious in itself...
“No. Kim Tae-hyun isn't the type of guy to be swayed by petty emotions. If the price is right, he'll sell.”
Kim Tae-hyun was a man who would shake hands even with his worst enemy for the right price!
“And if you think about it, there must be rankers in the Midas Guild who have been scammed by Kim Tae-hyun before too.”
“True... quite a few of them carried over from Pan-On 1...”
“And from what I've heard, Kim Tae-hyun leaves those blacksmiths pretty much to their own devices. In other words, if we can just convince the blacksmiths, we can buy the bombs. Kim Tae-hyun won't say a thing.”
“But how do we convince those lunatics?”
“People are all the same at the end of the day! There's no lunatic you can't persuade. Just look at our recent raid. I even managed to persuade Kim Tae-hyun.”
“Ohhh...!”
“That's true...!”
At Su Ning's words, the guild members temporarily looked impressed. Though a few rankers who knew the actual truth looked slightly dumbfounded!
'Can you really call that persuasion?'
'No matter how I look at it, it felt like we got dragged into his pace.'
Currently, the Guild Alliance was in no position to engage in a money war with Midas. They were barely holding on as it was.
Su Ning focused on a different approach.
“Sincerity!”
“Sin... sincerity?”
“Yes. Sincerity! We will win them over with our utmost devotion and heartfelt attitude.”
An approach that seemed the furthest thing possible from the Guild Alliance! The executives whispered among themselves. It sounded like a decent method, but who would actually do it? It sounded like a massive pain in the ass.
“But who is going to do that?”
“What do you mean? You guys, of course.”
“......”
The executives' faces contorted.
The currently thriving Midas Guild didn't appeal to emotions.
Clatter! The Midas Guild began stacking gold bars in front of the forge! They were showing a strong determination to solve the problem with money.
“Everyone! Please look at this!”
What did gold bars matter as long as they could buy the bombs! However, the blacksmiths were completely indifferent. In fact, they interpreted it in a completely different way.
“Gold is a bit subpar to use as a bomb material...”
“Silver would be better. Like blessed silver or True Silver. That way, it's guaranteed to work against the undead.”
“Should we try making a gold bomb? It might have some new effect.”
“......”
In the meantime, the Guild Alliance executives arrived.
“Bring it out!”
“Yes, sir.”
Clatter!
“What's that now?”
“Are they your friends?”
At the blacksmiths' question, the Midas Guild member shook his head in panic.
“I don't really know them... G-Guild Alliance! What are you guys doing here!”
“Blacksmith masters! Oh my, how hard you must be working on such a hot day!”
“It brings tears to my eyes. *Sniffle.* Please, have some of this cool honey water while you work...”
The executives approached while shedding fake tears. Both the blacksmiths and the Midas Guild members were utterly dumbfounded.
Did these bastards eat something bad?
“What did you guys come here for?”
“What do you mean 'what for'? We feel so deeply apologetic for our past actions that we have come to atone for our sins!”
“Please, order us to do anything!”
Seeing this, the Midas Guild member thought: The Guild Alliance is truly on the verge of ruin! To think they would throw away their pride to this extent!
'Idiots. Do they really think such emotional manipulation will work?'
The guild member snorted. Compared to the gold bars he had stacked up, such cheap tricks looked pathetic.
“Oh. Really?”
“It seems the Guild Alliance is reflecting on their actions?”
“Come on inside.”
“!!!!!!!”
The Midas Guild member was horrified. Did he just hear that right?
“N-N-No! Are you actually going to trust those guys?”
“They said they're reflecting. If they're reflecting, we should give them a chance.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
“W-What about our proposal...?”
“Huh? We already rejected it.”
“Y-You're rejecting us even after seeing this?”
“Ah, bring something better next time.”
“No, what could possibly be better than—”
Slam!
The door slammed shut instead of an answer.
Saruon, the demon who managed the Demon Forge, looked at the blacksmiths and asked.
“Are you really believing those guys? No matter how I look at them, they don't seem like the type to reflect on their actions.”
“Ah, we just needed some errand boys.”
“I needed some test subjects.”
Shiver!
Saruon shuddered as he looked at the blacksmiths. They've become splendid demons before I even realized it!
“We can just dilute it with water.”
“...R-Really?”
“Yeah.”
Freid, who had run all the way from afar, confidently boasted that he would show off his abilities. He was different from Saruon! He would show the true power of alchemy!
However, it was far too simple a task to showcase his true abilities.
The quantity of the antidote has increased!
......
......
Freid had literally diluted it with water to create multiple bottles of the antidote.
“All done.”
“That's it.”
“...R-Really? Is there nothing else to do?”
“Not really...”
“......”
Freid's face contorted. To summon a person—no, a demon—all the way to Erance Kingdom just to do something like this?
“But why do we keep... talking while moving? It's exhausting!”
“Lalgrgal is chasing us.”
“Lalgrgal... Wait, that name sounds familiar.”
Only then did Freid realize there were many demons around them. Besides, their expressions were a bit... What was going on?
“C-C-Could it be Lalgrgal, the Greedy Devourer Demon?”
“Yeah. He's constantly chasing us, so we have to move fast.”
“I think I'll head back to the territory now to spread my alchemy...”
“Ah, right.”
“W-Why?! I have urgent business!”
“No, I was just wondering if you could replicate this deadly poison made by Lalgrgal.”
Freid paused, his interest piqued. A poison made by Lalgrgal. Just how powerful would it be?
“This... cannot be replicated.”
“Even if we dilute it?”
“Even if you dilute it, you can't! In the first place, Lalgrgal's power and... some unidentified power are mixed together. At any rate, it's a poison created through Authority. Without Authority, you can't replicate it.”
“Useless fellow...”
“W-W-What did you say?! Do you have any idea how great of a demon I am...!”
Ignoring the blushing Freid, Tae-hyun asked the next question.
“But we could dilute the antidote, couldn't we?”
“That's because that bastard Lalgrgal made it that way in the first place. He crafted it with his Authority so the quantity could be easily multiplied.”
It made sense, since he originally intended to feed it to his victims bit by bit to keep them alive while keeping them under his thumb.
“Ah, wait. Doesn't this cure almost any poison then?”
If he could keep adding water and selling it, there would be no business more lucrative than this!
Freid stared at him with eyes that said, What on earth is this madman trying to do with a demonic item?
“Do you really want to do that with such a precious item?”
“Why not? As long as we can make a large quantity, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I got it. I'll make sure to use the poison sparingly.”
“Right... Wait. Use what sparingly?”
Who was he planning to use it on?
“Then let's head to the royal palace!”
“Really? Even with Lalgrgal chasing us?”
“We have no choice. We just have to talk as fast as possible.”
Tae-hyun formulated a plan. Enter the palace as fast as possible, feed the antidote to the King as fast as possible, explain the situation as fast as possible, and get the reward! Once the reward was secured, run away with all his might!
“If that doesn't work...”
“?”
“You guys will have to buy me some time.”
“......”
Cain, Alcott, and Crawford were dumbfounded. Was this why this bastard had been dragging them along?!
“W-Wouldn't it be better for you, the strongest one, to buy time?”
Alcott asked, throwing away whatever pride he barely had left. But Tae-hyun was firm.
“To get a good reward from the King, it's better for me, who has the closest relationship with him, to do the talking.”
“......”
I'm a Baron too...
Alcott swallowed those words back down. Even if he spoke in front of the King, it would only look pathetic.
“IneedtoseeHisMajestyimmediatelyguidemeatonce!”
“Y-Yes, sir! But why are you speaking so quickly?”
“Guidemeatoncerightnow!”
“Yes, sir!”
The chamberlain ran out in a panic. If not for Tae-hyun's high Reputation and status, he would have been kicked out immediately, but Tae-hyun possessed both.
“YourMajestypleasewakeupIhavebroughttheantidote!”
Along with his words, Tae-hyun pulled out the antidote and poured it straight down the collapsed King's throat! A sheer boldness that skipped all procedures, greetings, and waiting!
Clamorous whispers flooded in. Tae-hyun ignored them and stared at the King.
You have completely cured Lalgrgal's Evil Venom!
Your Reputation increases astronomically!
'Whoa. I'm right on the verge of 100,000.'
No matter how easy the Reputation stat was to raise compared to others, being right on the verge of hitting 100,000 was an astronomical figure.
Save the King of Erance Kingdom