Episode 62
But right now, the goal wasn’t to kill the man.
The mission was to steal the artifact without making a sound or leaving any trace.
“No problem. He doesn’t look too sharp anyway.”
Chris immediately got to work.
As he wandered around, he found the perfect targets to use.
Throwing-stone monkeys.
They were first-class magical beasts.
Not particularly strong individually, but they traveled in groups.
“Ookie, ookie!”
The monkeys pointed at Chris and laughed.
True to their name, they started to throw stones—
“Stay still.”
Their movements froze instantly.
Chris had activated his beast-control magic!
‘Easier than when I practiced before?’
He looked a bit surprised.
‘Thanks to the dark magi.’
His affinity was pure—100%.
That meant any kind of dark power he used was amplified beyond its usual limits.
‘Nice.’
Chris took full control of the monkeys.
Swish! Snap!
“What the—?”
The man, leaning lazily against a tree, frowned sharply as a stone suddenly flew at him.
“Damn beasts.”
But he hesitated.
Using poison would leave traces.
If the dark magi’s scouting party sensed anything suspicious, it would be trouble.
“I’ll spare you—now scram.”
It wasn’t an empty threat.
The masked man raised his presence, a force so overwhelming that any ordinary beast would cower and flee.
The throwing-stone monkeys backed off, looking frightened.
The man sighed and, annoyed, leaned back against the tree.
Then—
Thwack!
Another stone came flying.
“You little—”
He gritted his teeth.
From a distance, the monkeys mocked him, pointing and chattering gleefully.
Some flipped their bright red bottoms at him, others even urinated in his direction.
The pièce de résistance: one monkey defecated right in front of him and then hurled the mess at the man.
All orchestrated by Chris.
‘Still holding back? Let’s see how long you can take this.’
Hidden nearby, Chris continued to control the monkeys.
Surprisingly, it was kind of fun.
Under his command, the monkeys all defecated in front of the man and threw it at him.
“…”
As the filth rained down like a storm, the air around the man grew icy cold.
“You miserable creatures.”
Caught off guard!
The man glanced toward the artifact’s location, his voice boiling with rage.
“I’ll kill every last one of you.”
Snap!
He distanced himself from the artifact.
He couldn’t fight near it, so he planned to lure the monkeys away and deal with them there.
Chris kept the monkeys throwing their mess as they followed the man.
Once the distance was sufficient—
Whoosh!
The poisoned monkeys screamed in agony.
“Now!”
Chris moved.
He reached a small box.
The artifact’s sealed container.
He quickly grabbed it and pulled out a prepared item.
An identical sealed box.
He’d gotten it through Ruina, the moneylender.
An auctioneer dealing in all sorts of treasures, she had such things in stock.
‘Most artifacts are first found sealed in similar containers.’
However, the one from Ruina was secondhand—previously opened.
But a dwarf meister had specially treated it to make it look unopened.
Inside the swapped box was a worthless, low-grade artifact.
After a short while, Chris vanished again, cloaked in invisibility.
As if no one had been there, the sealed container shimmered with the blessing of the constellation.
Meanwhile, at that time, the scouting parties of the Venom Magi and the Dark Magi were active.
The Venom Magi’s team was endlessly struggling with the pointless orders Chris had given them, while the team led by Jupien was methodically exploring the labyrinthine zones one by one.
“There’s nothing here, Your Highness!”
“Then move on to the next area.”
Jupien spoke briefly.
She wasn’t rushing but was thorough, sweeping each zone carefully.
Next was the northwest region of the mountain range.
While exploring there, one of the scouts cautiously spoke up.
“But… what about young master Christian? Is he alright?”
“…”
Jupien pressed her lips tightly.
Days had already passed with no word since he left.
Enough time for something to have gone wrong.
She wondered if she should have stopped him, feeling a twinge of regret.
She didn’t have any fondness for Chris—in fact, she wanted to crush him on the spot—but as the leader of the scouting party, he was her responsibility.
And he was a member of the party she was supposed to look after.
Yet, knowing he was in danger, she had ignored it out of spite, and that left her uneasy.
‘No, he left on his own. Why should I be responsible? Whatever happens to that jerk is none of my concern.’
Jupien shook her head sharply.
At that moment, a shout snapped her out of her thoughts.
“Here! An artifact!!”
“!!”
They had finally found it!
Approaching, it was indeed the sealed container of an artifact.
“A holy relic?”
“Seems so.”
Jupien nodded.
It was a shame it wasn’t a magical beast artifact, but a holy relic wasn’t useless.
The artifact’s use would be decided by the clan elders anyway; their job was just to bring it back.
“Let’s head back.”
“Yes, ma’am! Everyone, return!”
The scouts cheered, energized by their success.
“Which way back?”
“We don’t know what the Venom Magi might try, so let’s go through the Langkas Gorge.”
That direction had more frequent monster appearances.
But Langkas Gorge had a major advantage.
It connected directly to the Dark Magi’s territory, so the Venom Magi wouldn’t dare cause trouble there.
“True. Unless the Venom Magi are crazy, they won’t make a move in Langkas Gorge. Let’s head that way.”
The scouting party quickened their pace.
They arrived at Langkas Gorge.
“Phew, almost there.”
The Dark Magi scouts looked visibly relieved.
Though Langkas Gorge was technically neutral ground, it was practically Dark Magi territory.
Still, the scouts noticed Jupien’s furrowed brow and exchanged puzzled glances.
“Is something wrong, Your Highness?”
“…”
What troubled Jupien was Christian.
‘He’s probably dead.’
No news for this long meant something had definitely happened.
He’d brought it on himself.
There was no reason to mourn.
But—
“Teams One and Two.”
“Yes?”
“You won’t return. Stay behind and search for Christian.”
No matter how much of a pain he was, he was still family to the main house.
At least they should pretend to look for his body.
“…Really?”
“Do as I say.”
“…Understood.”
The scouts reluctantly bowed.
‘Jupien is surprisingly soft-hearted.’
‘Why bother with that annoying jerk?’
“If it’s hopeless, don’t push yourselves. If you can’t find him in three days, return.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Just as the scouting party was about to split into two groups, an unexpected event occurred.
Rumble!!
Huge boulders tumbled down from above the gorge.
“!!”
Luckily, the rocks didn’t fall on them.
Instead, they landed in front and behind, as if to trap them inside a cage of stone.
“What is this…?”
“What the—?”
While the scouts panicked, Jupien quickly assessed the situation.
“Everyone, hold your breath and take cover! It’s an attack from the Venom Magi!”
But it was too late.
Flash!
A deep blue poison rained down from above, engulfing them.
‘It’s over.’
A masked woman above the gorge thought.
This was the terrifying strength of the Venom Magi.
They could trap their enemies and annihilate them in one fell swoop.
‘This place is near the Dark Magi’s territory, so this is practically suicide.’
But it didn’t matter.
Her goal was to deliberately reveal her presence and frame Marisa.
The poison used was the same deadly toxin Marisa had developed herself.
The “Blue Flower.”
A potent poison that had made Marisa a top candidate for successor.
Once enveloped in it, unless one was a fourth-rank warrior capable of defending their entire body with a black blade, death was inevitable.
Or unless they took an antidote from the alliance’s finest medical family, the “Medical Sage Clan.”
‘They’re all dead.’
The woman leapt down into the gorge.
All that was left was to retrieve the artifact and deliver it to Marisa’s lab at the Venom Magi’s main house.
The poison used was Marisa’s own.
The artifact would be found in Marisa’s lab, leaving her no way to deny the crime.
‘Better get it back before the Dark Magi arrive…’
But then, something unexpected happened.
Smash!
A black blade flew toward her.
“!!”
The masked woman flinched and dodged.
Turning her gaze, she saw a small girl coughing up blood, trembling as she struggled to stand.
“You… won’t get away with this…”
‘How?’ The woman’s eyes widened behind her mask.
Marisa was a genius poison maker.
Her toxins, though physical poisons, far exceeded the power of a third-rank warrior.
Yet here she was, still alive—and even standing?
The girl wasn’t the only one—Jupien wasn’t alone.
The other members of the expedition team were slowly starting to stir as well.
They were weak, bleeding from their pupils, noses, and ears, barely able to hold themselves up. Yet, none of them were dead.
‘Could it be?’
The woman considered one possibility.
“Did you take the medicinal elixir from the Uiseon family?”
“…What?”
“If not, it would be impossible for someone of your caliber to survive this poison!”
The masked woman watched the reactions happening inside the explorers’ bodies and spoke with certainty.
“The unique regenerative response typical of the Uiseon family’s elixir… So you really did take it.”
Jupien and the others looked confused, unable to understand the outburst.
“What… nonsense…”
Then Jupien suddenly shut her mouth tight.
‘We did take an antidote.’
Since they might encounter the deadly demons of Maga, they had taken a type of antidote that boosts resistance to poison.
But something about the antidote felt off.
It was clear and pure, gentle somehow.
The medicine looked the same as usual, but it felt far more potent.
‘Could that have been the Uiseon family’s elixir?’
But that couldn’t be.
The Uiseon family’s elixir was a treasure even demons sought after.
If the family had given them such a precious item, there was no way she wouldn’t know.
She had personally checked and received the supplies from the family’s warehouse—she was certain of that.
‘Or did someone swap the antidote in secret?’
That was even more absurd.
Who would do such a thing? And why?
Besides, the expedition team had been strictly monitoring and guarding their supplies.
It was impossible for anyone to switch out the antidote.
Then, in that moment, a single person flashed through Jupien’s mind.
‘Wait. There was one person who could have done it.’
Jupien swallowed hard.
‘Christian. That damn reckless bastard.’
Christian had been sleeping in the supply wagon the entire way here.