Chapter 172
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: The Culprit in the Kitchen
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Altair couldn't believe it.
Cursed, and the one who cast the curse was not an enemy, but among his own allies?
"Yes. And it seems you've been ingesting it over a long period."
That explained the recurring nightmares that had plagued him.
The constant intake of the sleep herb had built up until it finally burst forth.
Fortunately, because he was Altair, he had endured even after collapsing, relying on potions.
Anyone else would have died long agothe dosage had far exceeded a lethal amount.
"But why call it a curse instead of poison?"
Altair couldn't wrap his head around it.
Anything ingested that caused poisoning was typically just called poison.
The idea of a curse triggered by ingestion was utterly foreign to him.
Jeong Hoon nodded.
"Yes. To be precise, this sleep herb is actually a curse herb. It's impossible to detoxify."
Once ingested, an invisible debuff begins to activate faintly, growing stronger with increased dosage.
As a result, regular detoxification can't remove the sleep herb's debuff. The only way is to use a dispel to eradicate the debuff that's taken root in the body.
However, Altair would have to cough up blackened blood as a backlash during the process.
"...Ha, who the hell would do this to me."
Altair scowled.
"Who knows. We'll have to investigate from here on out."
"Investigate? You think you can track them down?"
This was someone who had secretly dosed him over a long period.
They weren't the type to leave an easy trail.
"Yes."
Jeong Hoon nodded.
"How...?"
"Who handles the cooking around here?"
"Cooking..."
Altair's eyes narrowed.
Roskantor provided the answer in his place.
"It's Hilla."
"Hilla?"
"That's right. Ten years ago, she came to the City of Archers and started working in the kitchen."
Hilla.
She claimed to hail not from the City of Archers, but from a small village called Ardion.
However, her village had been razed by a monster attack, and she alone had barely survived.
A skilled archer, she wandered the land as a mercenary.
Eventually, she caught Altair's eye and settled in the City of Archers.
"I say this to avoid any misunderstanding, but Hilla could never be the culprit."
Hilla was among those Altair trusted.
She was a loyal subordinate who would lay down her life for him.
The idea of her attempting to assassinate him with sleep herb was absurd.
"I'm not saying she's definitively the culprit."
Jeong Hoon smirked.
This was someone desperately trying to avoid leaving a trail.
Ingesting sleep herb meant tampering with Altair's food, so they had likely designed it to frame her, the one in charge of cooking.
"Then?"
"For now, we'll leak the news that the leader has awakened."
"Hm? Not announcing it to everyone?"
"Yes."
"I don't know what method you're planning to use, but I'll follow it unconditionally."
Jeong Hoon was the one who had cured him.
So he planned to put his full trust in him for catching the culprit as well.
Roskantor hurriedly interjected.
"Leader! What about the war preparations then?"
"War preparations?"
"Yes! You gave the orders before falling asleep, and I've been acting as interim commander to continue them since."
"...Cancel the war preparations."
"Yes?!"
Roskantor's eyes widened like saucers.
The preparations had already passed the midpoint.
And now he was saying to scrap it all.
"I'm sorry for making you work so hard. But starting a war now would bring more losses than gains."
Before collapsing, it was true he had planned to settle things with those Warriors' City bastards once and for all.
But after three months in a coma, coming to his senses, he realized how insane that order had been.
Even with their current forces at full readiness, countless sacrifices were inevitable.
And that wasn't all.
Much as he hated to admit it, clashing with their current power would mean certain defeat.
In the end, driving them to their deaths would be on him, the commander.
I nearly became an incompetent commander.
He deeply regretted issuing such an order half a year ago, driven by rage.
Now was the time to correct it.
"...Understood. I'll halt preparations effective immediately."
Roskantor tucked his tail submissively.
The leader had awakened and ordered the war canceled.
As the ruler, his command was absoluteobeying was only natural.
"Thank you for understanding."
"What... As a subordinate, following my lord's will is a given."
Roskantor dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"So, I just keep lying here then?"
Altair asked Jeong Hoon.
"Yes."
"What about the bathroom? Do I handle my business right here too?"
Until now, Roskantor had personally taken care of Altair's bodily functions.
"Yes. The setting is that the leader has awakened, but his condition is so dire he can't move."
"I have my pride, you know..."
"If you insist..."
Jeong Hoon fetched an empty bucket from nearby.
"What's this for?"
"Do your business in here."
"...."
The kitchen in the Archers' Sanctuary.
There, fifteen cooks including Hilla were preparing meals.
With so many people, they had to hurry or they couldn't keep up with the numbers.
At that moment, Roskantor entered the kitchen.
"Hilla."
At his call, Hilla, who had been directing the other cooks, hurried over to greet him.
"Yes. What brings you here?"
"Oh, nothing major. Can you spare a moment?"
"A moment?"
Hilla tilted her head.
There was no reason for him to want a private word with her.
After the current leader Altair collapsed, she had been deeply disheartened and practically lived in the kitchen.
Roskantor had only watched her from afar.
So his summons felt a bit awkward.
"Yeah. Just a short one."
"...Understood."
Hilla handed off her duties to her subordinate Ter and followed him out of the kitchen.
But Roskantor was heading to the reception room.
What on earth did he want to discuss that he was escorting her all the way here?
"There's a guest who wants to meet you."
"A guest? Who?"
"You'll see when you get there."
Roskantor opened the door, revealing a stranger seated inside.
"...Who is this outsider?"
He was uglier than ugly.
"...I've brought you, so I'll take my leave."
But Roskantor offered no explanation and promptly exited.
"Wait...!"
Hilla reached desperately for his wrist, but he was a half-beat faster.
The door shut quickly and locked tight.
Now, only the stranger and Hilla remained in the reception room.
"If you have something to say, have a seat."
The stranger gestured to the seat opposite him.
Hilla stared at him in disbelief.
"If this is some nonsense, can I just ignore it and leave?"
"Yes."
"...Quite confident."
Hilla reluctantly sat across from the stranger.
He skipped straight to the point, as if small talk was beneath him.
Once the conversation ended, Hilla's pupils trembled wildly.
"You're lying... right?"
"It's all true. Why else would the interim commander escort you all the way here? Why else would I be sitting here?"
"But... even so, that doesn't make any sense!"
"A person lying unconscious for three months without wakingdoes that make sense?"
"...."
Guilt-stricken, Hilla began clawing at her hair.
If what Jeong Hoon said was true, then the food from the kitchen was the cause.
As leader, Altair had always received individually prepared meals using premium ingredients, unlike the regular archers.
'No need to make mine specialjust give me what the others get.'
'No, how could the leader eat the same as regular archers?'
She had staunchly opposed his wish to eat the same as everyone else.
Had she honored Altair's preference, he never would have fallen under the curse.
"You okay?"
"It's all my fault! I did something unnecessary...!"
"We can fix it now."
"The leader can't even get up because of the curse! How am I supposed to fix it?"
"We can catch them."
"That's ridiculous!"
She shouted in frustration.
Jeong Hoon sighed softly and pulled a note from his pocket, handing it to her.
'Deliver this to her.'
A note Altair had personally written and given him.
Reading it would let her realize indirectly that he was alive.
"Now do you believe me?"
"...Is this real?"
Hilla's pupils quivered.
"I'll explain the details once everything's settled. First, we catch the culprit."
Catching the culprit.
Her gaze turned icy.
"What do I need to do?"
The kitchen was now under Ter's command.
Though calling it command was a stretch.
The skilled staff handled their sections flawlessly, so he just watched quietly.
"Ter!"
At that moment, Hilla returned to the kitchen.
"Already back?"
Ter, who had been directing, greeted her.
"Yeah! I have good news."
"Good news?"
"Don't freak out. The leader's awake."
"Is that true?!"
Ter lit up.
The leader, who hadn't woken for three months!
"Really?"
"Wow! What a relief..."
The other cooks who heard Hilla brightened too.
Some even teared up.
"So today, we'll prepare a special meal. Got it?"
"Yes! What should we make?"
"Let's go with liquids. After lying there three months, his condition is serious..."
Hilla's eyes welled up.
No one in the kitchen was unaware of her loyalty to Altair.
Her tears meant his state was worse than imagined.
"Kitchen head..."
"We'll prepare it right away!"
The cooks burned with motivation.
"You brought those mushrooms recently, right? Make soup with them, and warm up that premium milk."
At her orders, the cooks moved in perfect unison.
This should do it.
Her task from the stranger was to prepare Altair's meal.
Hearing he was awake would surely make the culprit anxious.
Whoever you are, if I catch you, I'll crush you.
Gritting her teeth inwardly, she scanned the cooks one by one.
What the hell is going on?
Hudin struggled to hide his confusion.
The plan had gone spectacularly awry.
He wasn't originally from the City of Archershe was from the City of Thieves.
The sole reason he had come to the City of Archers was one.
'Very few know about this sleep herb. Use it to assassinate Altair.'
To kill Altair.
He had infiltrated the kitchen and worked diligently for half a year, earning their trust.
After that, he began dosing Altair's meals with sleep herb bit by bit.
He had been at it for two years and three months.
'The leader remains unconscious... Suspend the leader's meals for the time being.'
Finally, the sleep herb's effects had kicked in.
With him not waking for so long, Altair's death was only a matter of time.
Yet the bastard had clung to life for three whole months.
Hudin had thought he was one tough bastard, but he never imagined he'd actually wake up.
He panicked at first, but it turned out to be a good thing.
Now I can finally leave this damn kitchen.
He had tried slipping sleep herb into the life-sustaining potions, but under Roskantor's strict oversight, opportunities were scarce.
In the end, Hudin had to keep working in the kitchen until Altair's last breath.
Hudin fiddled with the small vial he carried in his pocket.
He always kept sleep herb on hand for emergencies.
If he could just slip this into the liquid meal, Altair's breath would truly stop for good.