Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Fighting Poison with Poison - 1
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I asked Offense.
“You don’t mean...?”
“Yeah. I’ll get close and draw his blood. No one in this group is more suited for it than me.”
“...”
“The assassins have a special tool for that. He won’t even realize his blood’s been taken.”
I looked at him gravely and tried to dissuade him.
“He was your master.”
“He used to be. And I surpassed him when I was fifteen.”
“...”
“Lady Pheasant surpassed Dame long ago, right? It’s the same thing.”
Jenia spoke up worriedly.
“But Hiren’s been chosen by the Demon King now. Isn’t he different from before?”
“Of course, it might be a bit risky, but we don’t have any other options. I’ll just draw his blood and make the antidote.”
He looked at me and continued explaining.
“Risel calls in a cloud of spirits, and we mix the antidote into it. Then so-called ‘antidote rain’ will fall.”
“Oh. That’s a good idea. We could save all the territory’s people at once.”
“It’ll take about twenty minutes for everyone to return to normal. Then we can kill Hiren without worry.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do that.”
Serein tilted her head.
“But how do we actually kill Hiren? If he turns into smoke, we can’t hit him.”
That was the problem.
Trail asked.
[How did you kill the fourth finger before regression? Just reference that.]
‘Kaild stabbed him to death with his sword.’
[What?]
‘Before regression, the first through fifth fingers were all sacrifices to boost Kaild’s fame. Idria pulled the strings so they’d fall by his hand.’
Honestly, at this point, I couldn’t even be sure the fourth finger really died back then.
Maybe he just faked it, and Idria retrieved him later.
Our journey before regression had been in Idria’s palm from start to finish.
[Sheesh.]
Trail clicked his tongue.
Anyway, what should we do?
That’s when Offense spoke up again.
“While making the antidote, I’ll research a poison that can kill him too. Literally subduing poison with poison.”
“Huh? You think there’s a poison that works on him? He’s the master of poisons.”
“I researched one that could kill him. I got some results but shelved it midway.”
“Why?”
“I figured I could kill him without it.”
Our expressions turned awkward.
Adwin said.
“Uh, um. So you’ve been trying to kill Hiren for quite a while, huh, mister?”
He nodded nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
Risel spoke up.
“I get making a poison to kill Hiren. But how do we get him to ingest it when he’s smoke? The antidote we can mix into rainwater, but...”
“If he turns to smoke, gather it into one spot. Sprinkle poison powder there, and he’ll die on his own.”
“How do we gather the smoke?”
“We have an excellent spirit mage in our party.”
“Me? Oh. Yeah, we do.”
Typical Risel, spending most of her life in a daze.
Though she gets incredibly sharp at times.
“What are you thinking right now, Maide?”
See?
I shrugged and asked.
“I’m wondering if you can do it.”
“Hmm. Trapping smoke with wind spirits... That’d require a ton of them. I don’t see that many around here.”
“Try this.”
I pulled a horn from my bag.
The one from the imperial castle basement.
Risel’s face lit up as she took it.
“A spirit-summoning horn! Nice. I’m not the type who can use stuff like the Withering Jewel or the Branch of Corruption.”
“You sound upset.”
“Yeah. No? Not at all.”
“Anyway, it all hinges on Offense drawing the blood. Can you do it?”
Offense nodded as if it were obvious.
“Of course.”
“Idria might be watching. She’s a bit of a voyeur.”
“Seems that way.”
“If she links with Hiren, she could alert him to your approach anytime. Or even kill you.”
“Hmm. That makes me less confident.”
I chuckled and said.
“That’s why I’ll go with you.”
“You?”
“You focus on drawing the blood. I’ll distract Hiren—and Idria, if she’s watching through him.”
Neril cut in, looking a bit anxious.
“Then wouldn’t it be better if we all went?”
“If the whole party approaches, Idria will sic Hiren on us. But if it’s just me...”
“She’ll pay attention. I get it, but it seems too dangerous.”
I shrugged.
“I’m not going there to fight to the death. Like I said before, even if the Demon King watches through her minions, she can’t exert more power than the minion itself.”
“I know, but.”
“You worry too much.”
Neril muttered in a soft, barely audible voice.
“It’s just for you.”
Jenia immediately shared Agril’s view to pinpoint Hiren’s location.
Hiren was atop a nearby mountain, overlooking the entire territory.
I gauged the time and said.
“If we leave now, we’ll reach the summit by nightfall.”
“Shall we go?”
“Yeah.”
Offense and I climbed the mountain amid the party’s farewells.
It’s been a while since it’s just been the two of us.
[Why just the two of you? Forgot about me?]
‘Oops. Who’s this?’
[...]
‘Kidding. Don’t sulk.’
[I’m not sulking.]
I soothed Trail and said to Offense.
“I’ve heard all sorts of names wandering the continent, but Hiren’s was new to me.”
“Hm.”
“I have heard of ‘Bright Death,’ though.”
“Hiren wasn’t the type to move around personally or seek fame. Even in the guild I was in, most didn’t know his specialty was poison.”
Sensing his heart opening a bit, I probed gently.
“Why’d you kill him?”
“Straight to the point.”
“I thought I was being subtle.”
“Heh.”
“If you don’t want to answer, don’t. I just asked to forget this irritating situation.”
“What’s irritating?”
“Isn’t hiking a mountain at night with just two guys enough to be irritating?”
Offense let out a light laugh.
Then, in a quiet voice, he said.
“The guild I was in was called the Knell Guild.”
“...”
“I was abandoned there at birth and raised by Hiren. Honestly, he wasn’t a good patron. All I remember from childhood is loneliness.”
He looked up at the night sky.
“When he saw my natural talent for assassination, it got worse. Not just poison—he crammed every dark art into my body... I contemplated suicide multiple times a day.”
“...”
“And the worst was this.”
He touched his face.
I tilted my head.
“What do you mean?”
“You think I was born with this ordinary face?”
“Assassins’ faces are usually ordinary, aren’t they?”
“This ordinary?”
I was at a loss for words.
Offense nodded and continued.
“This was Hiren’s poison too. Sprayed on the face to melt the skin and reshape the bones. He rambled that he’d been through it himself, and I wanted to kill him right then.”
“...”
“I lost my face because of him.”
“As harsh as this sounds, why didn’t you kill him sooner? Though you did end up killing him.”
“He had a daughter.”
Offense let out a deep sigh.
“Her name was Helena Gois.”
“...”
“Hiren was an assassin with a family, and weirdly punctual about coming and going from the guild. His wife probably didn’t even know he was an assassin.”
Wife, huh?
As expected, Offense continued as I suspected.
“But Helena knew. She joined the guild saying she wanted to learn the assassin trade too.”
“...So she became vice-guildmaster.”
“You’re quick.”
“I thought from the start it didn’t make sense for you to be a regular member. Even assassin guilds run on blood ties?”
“Yeah. Helena had no talent for assassination. None at all.”
Spoiled daughter.
Someone who whined about wanting to try it because it paid well, without grasping what killing entailed.
That’s how Offense described her... but what followed was entirely different.
“I fell in love with that idiot. We became lovers soon after.”
“...”
“What’re you staring at? Even I can fall in love. You do it too.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Anyway, as long as Helena was around, I couldn’t kill my potential father-in-law. Not until that day.”
That day before.
I asked.
“The previous emperor’s poisoning?”
“Yeah. Hiren left for the capital on a two-month assignment.”
“...”
“Then one day, a letter arrived in my room.”
The letter said, according to him:
We have Hiren’s daughter, Helena Gois, as hostage.
Kill Hiren Gois if you don’t want to see her corpse...
My mind raced.
The emperor?
The emperor killed everyone who knew about the previous emperor’s poisoning.
He even sent the Alcahad captain after Hiren.
That’s when Offense said.
“I can guess what you’re thinking. But it wasn’t from the emperor.”
“...”
“But back then, I thought it was. With Helena hostage in the emperor’s hands, I had no choice. So I killed Hiren.”
“...Who was the real culprit?”
“You seem like you’d know.”
I swallowed hard.
“Helena’s self-staged act.”
“Heh. Gotta hand it to your instincts. Yeah.”
“...”
“Helena coveted the guildmaster position despite her incompetence. Hiren refused, of course. Their rift grew so deep she used me to plan a father-and-lover double murder.”
“Weren’t you two lovers?”
“Guess it was one-sided. Pretty stupid, huh.”
Crunch crunch.
The summit was near.
Offense wrapped up the story.
“I learned the truth and went to Helena. She’d already taken the guildmaster seat and expelled me.”
“...”
“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t kill her.”
“I’m not one to force non-killing on others.”
“...Yeah. You don’t force anything on anyone. Even when recruiting me, you made me choose.”
He glanced upward slightly and continued.
“Well, it wasn’t some noble conviction. Killing her just seemed like a waste.”
“...”
“I left her alive. So she could live long and see all the world’s filth.”
“That’s a solid judgment.”
“Pfft.”
His laugh was utterly drained of strength.
“Don’t tell the party. I might die of embarrassment.”
“Not embarrassed telling me?”
“You asked. And it doesn’t matter with you.”
“Huh?”
“Heroes are supposed to soothe and comfort everyone’s hearts, right? Ah, we’re here.”
I scratched my head.
We hid behind a rock and erased our presence.
In the distance, Hiren gazed at the moon.
Jenia checked him through the shared view and reported.
-He’s ordinary. Super ordinary.
Just as she said.
Offense would look exactly like that once he ages.
Same poison reshaping the face.
I said.
“I’ll go first. Good luck.”
“Yeah. Good thing it’s a bright moonlit night. There’s a shadow right under Hiren.”
“So there is.”
“Keep him from moving.”
I nodded and stepped out from behind the rock.
Flinch.
Hiren startled at the sight of me, trying to turn his body to smoke.
But the next instant, his body froze.
Soon, a voice utterly unlike Hiren’s emerged from his mouth.
“Long time no see, Maide.”
Idria.
‘She was watching after all.’
If I’d sent Offense alone, it would’ve been disastrous.
I replied in as casual a tone as possible.
“Manipulating your minions’ bodies at will. I’d be pretty pissed if I were them.”
“Heh. Ophelia might’ve minded, but my other children won’t. I got their consent beforehand.”
“...?”
“They follow me deep in their hearts. That’s why I love them more.”
A Demon King talking about love.
Don’t make it sound so off.
That’s when Idria asked.
“By the way, how’ve you been?”
“We’re not close enough to exchange pleasantries.”
“If you don’t want to answer, have Bion do it.”
Trail refused, of course.
[................]
‘Your silence is longer than usual?’
[That’s how much I don’t want to respond. Tell her that.]
I chuckled and said.
“He answers with prolonged silence.”
“How rude.”
“I’ve noticed before—you treat Bion differently. You see other humans as mere insects.”
“Bion’s hardly human. Heroes already step outside the human mold, let alone someone born as one.”
Idria added.
“Well, not quite like you, Maide.”