Chapter 226
“Hmm?”
“What kind of ‘hmm’ is that? You’re going to die!!”
This time, even Melin couldn’t side with Chris.
“…That was way too reckless.”
“Y-Yeah! Maybe we should just run away?!”
[Oh ho ho. That’s right. Since things have come to this, how about a romantic escape with me?]
“…I’m serious, Mari. Like Alos said, maybe running away is the better option. Although, I doubt those guys will just let the Duke go without a fight…”
Everyone reacted as if Chris had just signed his own death warrant.
But then Chris said something utterly ridiculous.
“Why are you all acting like that? This situation is perfect.”
“…Perfect?”
“Well, first off, now that the duel date is officially set, the Marquis Goras faction can’t harm me until then. No more poisonings or surprise attacks.”
Everyone, including Marisa, looked utterly dumbfounded.
“So what? You idiot! You’re going to die in the Holy Grail duel!!”
“Exactly, Your Grace. We should inform Count Kazar and request reinforcements.”
“Ahhh, someone save me!!”
[Romantic escape call?]
Amidst the chaos, Chris shook his head.
“Wait, I think you’re all misunderstanding. I’m not planning to lose the duel. I’m going to win.”
“…Win?”
“Yeah. Have you ever seen me fight to lose?”
He had no intention of losing at all.
In fact…
‘This duel is my chance to make the Marquis Goras faction kneel before me.’
A ridiculous thought.
But he meant it.
‘I came to the Poisonous Magus to gain their loyalty. The biggest obstacle is the Marquis Goras faction. I have to take them out first.’
That was why he proposed this duel.
He had a plan.
Everyone exchanged glances at Chris’s confident attitude.
Marisa spoke, hope flickering in her voice.
“Be honest. You secretly learned poison techniques, didn’t you?”
“No. I’m a beginner at poison techniques.”
“Then how the hell are you going to win, you idiot? You can’t use any tricks in the Holy Grail duel!”
“Exactly, Your Grace. It’s absolutely impossible…”
Before the noise could start again, Chris sighed.
“That’s why the duel is scheduled a month from now.”
“…You’re going to master poison techniques and win the duel within that time?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but that’s enough time.”
“……”
Everyone fell silent.
Still struggling to accept it.
“Is there some secret trick you’re not telling us?”
“Well, I do have something in mind.”
“What is it? Tell us.”
“First, Marisa, I need you to do something.”
Chris explained a few things, and Marisa’s eyes widened.
“A private room? A library pass? And a thousand kinds of poisons? Why?”
“Because I need a quiet place to study, reference books, and samples of poisons.”
Next was Alos’s turn.
“Alos, you have a job too.”
“…No way?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Chris gave a rough explanation, and Alos looked bewildered.
Another scheme to make Alos do the dirty work.
‘Ahhh, you bastard! Do you think I’m some walking artifact?’
But since it wasn’t as dangerous as before, Alos reluctantly agreed.
“Wait, Your Grace. Is that all?”
“Why?”
“You just created an efficient study environment, that’s it, right?”
Chris didn’t have any grand secret plan.
The mission he gave Alos wasn’t anything special either.
Everyone looked at him as if to say, “Is that it?”
“I thought, as the Duke, you’d have some special trick…”
“There’s no such thing as a shortcut in studying.”
“…So you really plan to purely study poison techniques for a month and win?”
“Yeah, it’s enough.”
Chris nodded as if tired of explaining.
“Have you all forgotten who I am?”
“……”
“Don’t think of me by the standards of a common criminal.”
He added one last thing.
“That day, everyone in the Poisonous Magus will witness a new pinnacle of poison techniques.”
A crazy claim.
But he was serious.
One month.
Enough time to work a miracle.
The next day.
An out-of-place figure appeared at the Poison Study Hall where the lower disciples learned poison techniques.
Beautiful, but with an extremely arrogant and unpleasant expression.
It was Christian.
“What are you looking at?”
“!!”
The lower disciples of the Poisonous Magus, who kept glancing nervously at Christian, quickly averted their eyes.
They all knew what crazy stunt Christian pulled in the heart of the Poisonous Magus yesterday.
“If you mess with him, you’re done for.”
“He looks even uglier than I heard. Better be careful.”
Meanwhile, Christian was frowning more than usual, and there was a reason.
‘Ahhh, you bastard. I’m not an artifact.’
Because it wasn’t Chris himself, but Alos!!
In other words, Chris had disguised Alos with the Constellation’s Veil to ‘attend in his place.’
Since attending class was a waste of time, he sent Alos instead.
‘If I get caught, no one can talk to me, so just keep frowning.’
Fortunately, the Constellation’s Veil mimicked even the essence, so no one suspected the disguise.
But soon, a crisis arose.
The teacher appeared.
A face resembling Fernand, who had been defeated by Chris yesterday.
It was Prince Amar, Fernand’s younger brother.
Since Fernand, the original teacher, was imprisoned, Amar took over.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence fell.
As the prince of the Poisonous Magus stared at him grimly, Alos’s heart pounded wildly.
‘Ahhh, what if he poisons me? Damn you, Christian, why do you always put me through this?’
For reference, Prince Amar was also at the five-star level.
If Amar poisoned him, Alos would turn into a handful of blood and vanish.
Terrified, Alos forced himself to speak.
“What are you looking at?”
A bluff to avoid looking weak.
Luckily, the Constellation’s Veil perfectly transformed that bluff into Chris’s usual expression.
“!!”
Prince Amar reacted unexpectedly.
He ground his teeth and looked away!
Alos looked puzzled.
‘Is he scared?’
Quick-witted Alos immediately sensed Amar’s true feelings.
He was definitely scared!
‘He’s the same kind of coward as me!’
Cowards recognize each other.
Of course, Amar was five-star level, but at his core, he was a coward.
‘He must be scared after seeing his brother get beaten like that yesterday.’
When Alos cleared his throat, Amar flinched despite trying to act unaffected.
Trying not to show fear, Amar began the lesson.
“Today, we’ll cover advanced basics of poison techniques…”
The class went on, and Alos stared blankly.
‘…I don’t understand any of this.’
Of course, on the outside, his expression was perfectly arrogant.
Prince Amar frowned deeply.
“Not paying attention, Your Grace?”
‘I am paying attention, but I don’t understand. What if he asks me a question?’ Alos’s heart pounded.
Chris had prepared a line for this moment.
“Your level is too low to be worth my attention.”
“!!”
Prince Amar clenched his fists.
But he couldn’t say anything more.
He was definitely scared!
‘…This is kind of fun.’
Having always lived as the underdog, Alos felt an inexplicable satisfaction seeing his opponent afraid, and he acted even more arrogantly.
‘No matter how mad he gets, he won’t say a word.’
Alos understood the psychology of cowards.
They never dare to challenge the strong.
Thus, Christian’s(?) arrogant attitude in class spread throughout the Poisonous Magus.
“I heard the lessons from Christian, the Duke from the Dark Magus, are a spectacle. He’s a complete wild man.”
“Huh, is he crazy? He’s just starting to learn poison techniques.”
“He was always a wild man, but now he’s a total savage.”
Meanwhile, Christian nodded as he heard these rumors.
‘Looks like I’m doing well.’
He was in Alos’s form.
This was also thanks to the Constellation’s Veil.
‘It’s possible to have someone imitate my appearance, and vice versa.’
There were several reasons for swapping appearances.
First, to show constant laziness and carelessness to make the Poisonous Magus members let their guard down.
‘And more importantly, I have to hide what I’m studying for the next month.’
Just then, Marisa approached.
“Here’s your library pass.”
“Thanks.”
For reference, Alos also came as an exchange disciple.
So he could get a library pass under the pretense of studying.
‘No one will care what I study while I’m in Alos’s form.’
Marisa said,
“But the books in this library might be too advanced for you. Wouldn’t it be better to go to a library with books at a slightly lower level?”
Poison techniques were an academic discipline.
Therefore, there was a vast amount of literature, and libraries were divided by level.
Chris had requested a pass to the library containing books for poisons rated two to three stars and above.
These were advanced texts for disciples who had completed basic studies.
“No, it’s enough.”
“You really…”
“I’m going to study now.”
Leaving a baffled Marisa behind, Chris stepped into the forest of countless books.
Glancing at the shelves, he saw titles like “Antagonistic Effects of Corrosive and Neurotoxins,” “Processes for Enhancing Plant Poisons,” and other complex topics.
These were materials that would take years of study to understand.
But Chris casually picked up a book, skimmed through it, and said,
“Still nothing special.”
Words that would make anyone else’s ears perk up.
He had never properly studied poisons before.
But it was true.
Chris already knew most of what was written in the book.
Not just this book.
He was familiar with every book in this library.
He even knew most of the knowledge about the deadly poison called Maga.
The reason was simple.
“After all, poison is just a branch of medicine.”
It was a fact many overlooked.
There was no real difference between poison and medicine.
If you used the same substance to heal, it was medicine; if you used it to harm, it was poison.
“By knowledge alone, I’m already a master of poisons.”
That was why Chris was so insanely confident.
No matter who you were, achieving great results in a new discipline in just a month or two was impossible.
But poison was different.
He already had all the fundamentals in place; all he needed was a bit of technique.
“Let’s get started.”
Chris began devouring every book on poisons in the library.
Page after page, at a terrifying speed.
So fast that anyone watching would never believe he was actually reading.
“Most of this I already know anyway.”
He quickly absorbed only the unique poison-related knowledge that couldn’t be gleaned from medical texts.
It wasn’t difficult at all.
Even the specialized poison knowledge was just an application of medicine.
It was like a master in one field effortlessly grasping new information with just a glance.