Isaac measured the distance between them and the Knight of Death.
Strider noticed his gaze and followed it.
"Is that the person you were searching for? Is there something special about him?" she asked.
"Yes, but first check if he is awakened. Be careful to not make it obvious. He can’t hear us from this distance. But he might notice if you make a big move," Isaac replied.
"Who is that guy for you to be so serious—"
"If he is awakened, he might be strong enough to kill us both. Stop dilly-dallying. Or he will notice. Check quickly and discreetly," Isaac said, cutting her off.
Gone was Strider’s carefree expression. She stared at the Knight of Death.
Strider had [Kinetic Element]. She was sensitive to kinetic forces. Even if someone used an artifact to hide their Core, they could not hide the subtle forces generated by their muscles and movements. Strider could sense those forces. This was how she knew Merlin was a lot stronger than he showed.
"He is Unawakened. He seems to be suffering from chronic pain in his right shoulder, given how he is moving it awkwardly," Strider replied, regaining her calm.
She turned to him. "Did you see him in your visions?"
Isaac did not reply. He moved towards the farm where the Knight of Death and other farmers were working.
The Knight of Death looked quite old with wrinkles and sunburnt, rough skin. He had a hollow expression—which was the complete opposite to the gentle smile he used to wear in the last life—and used a sickle to cut grass and weeds.
’Looks like he hasn’t awakened yet.’
’Is his awakening related to the slaughter of Yilla Barony that will happen a year from now?’
’No, that doesn’t make sense. To awaken, he needs mana. Humans can only gain mana by eating mana-rich food or drinking mana potions. A farmer like him can’t afford those things.’
’Even with mana-rich food or a mana potion, it takes a lot of time to gather mana and use it to form a Core. It’s not possible to suddenly awaken by trauma of losing people around you.’
A hypothesis appeared in Isaac’s mind.
Someone—perhaps one of the Knights of Human King—was responsible for the slaughter of the Yilla Barony. This person recognized the talent of the Knight of Death and took him in instead of killing him, then trained him.
’If they took him in, why would the Knight of Death work with people who destroyed the town where he used to live?’
’It didn’t look like he was being forced to work for Human King either.’
’If anything, it looked like he was doing it due to a sense of duty.’
There was another possibility.
Isaac crouched and scanned the ground with his Poison Element to confirm if the second possibility was true.
His brows creased when he sensed that the land was poisoned.
’Looks like the Knight of Famine passed through this area already.’
The Knight of Famine never joined any battle, but among the four Knights of Human King, he was the one responsible for most deaths.
He poisoned the rivers and farms throughout the kingdom with slow poison years before the war started.
The poison deteriorated the land’s quality slowly over the years. By the time the war started, it reacted with the mana in the land and became even stronger. Crops failed. There wasn’t enough food to go around anymore. Countless people died of starvation.
’I couldn’t tell what kind of poison it was last time, since it had mutated already.’
’But now that I can check it... this poison is from the Mourning Frost Mountains. It’s Blue Stone extract.’
Poison Element was one of the most nuanced and difficult-to-master elements.
At First Layer (Beginner), a Poison Mage could strengthen the poisonous components in a poison.
It looked simple at first glance, but this ability had powerful applications. Namely, poison detection, poison strengthening, poison creation, and poison weakening.
’I should deal with this poison,’ Isaac decided.
He used his element to weaken the poison as much as he could.
One would wonder how a poison could be weakened by an ability that strengthened poisonous components.
It was simple.
Let us believe there was a poison [A1B].
This poison had three components: A, B, and C.
A and B were weak poisonous components, and C was a strengthening reagent.
A and B could not combine due to their opposing nature. C could not combine with B.
So, A combined with C to form a slightly stronger poison called A1.
This A1 could combine with B.
The result was a powerful poison [A1B].
This poison was created due to different poisonous components mixing in a perfect ratio.
Now, First Layer (Beginner) could strengthen poisonous components.
Isaac could strengthen A and B, but not C. C was not a poisonous component.
If he strengthened A, it would become A2. A would no longer be able to combine with C as A’s property (nature) had changed.
Since there was no A1 this time, A and B would never combine.
The result would be two poisons: A2 and B.
A2 was slightly stronger, since Isaac boosted it with his element. B was weak, as it was not boosted.
These poisons were weaker than A1B.
So, although Isaac had strengthened the poison, he ended up weakening it.
This was why it was necessary for Poison Element mages to learn about different types of poisonous components.
Poison Element allowed them to sense poisonous components, thus detect a poison, but they would not know what the poisonous component did—was it for paralysis of tongue, or a muscle, was it to put someone to sleep, or force them to cough violently—or how it would react with other poisonous components.
Learning what different poisonous components did required decades of dedicated research.
This was why no one understood that someone—the Knight of Famine—was poisoning rivers and farms.
The poison he was using was something no one had seen. Most people assumed it was just another ordinary poison.
After all, even a glass of water had countless different poisonous components. That didn’t mean drinking it would kill anyone. Air and land were no different.
The kingdom’s research on different poisons was not developed. They believed the poisons used by the Knight of Famine were naturally occurring weak poisons.
But Isaac was different. He learned about countless different poisons from the Royal Elven Library.
He could recognize the poison—Blue Stone extract—at a glance.
’I’ve weakened the poison on this farm as much as I could. Doing the same for the entire barony is going to take a few months.’
’I can’t purify the poison completely though. We will need holy mages from the church for that.’
Isaac could weaken a poison by strengthening its poisonous components and breaking the ratio.
He had no ability to remove a poison completely.
One might think he could strengthen different poisonous components to a ratio where they neutralize each other upon combining.
But Poison Element could only control poison.
As soon as the poison reached a state where it was about to be neutralized, Isaac would lose control over it.
In fact, this was how poison detection worked. If it could be strengthened, it was a poison.
’Holy Mages are only few in number, and they are expensive.’
’I also don’t want to get involved with the church. Not only is their Goddess suspicious, they might call me a heretic if they think someone has possessed Isaac and try to burn me at the stake.’
Isaac already had a plan to deal with the poisoned lands and farms without Holy Mages.
Though it would take years to work. For now, his goal was to observe the Knight of Death.
’The second possibility is that the Knight of Death is already working for Human King as a low-level grunt and has been stationed here to keep an eye on the poisoned farms.’
’If that is true, he will try to contact Human King’s side as I keep weakening the poison.’
If the second possibility was wrong, then the first one had to be true. The Knight of Death would meet someone from Human King’s side—likely the Knight of Famine—in one year and join them.
In either case, Isaac needed to observe him.
He might get a clue about the identities of the other Knights or the location of Human King’s base.
"Alright, I’m done," Isaac said, standing up and dusting his clothes.
"What were you checking on the ground? How low are people’s opinions of you?" Strider asked.
"Has someone told you that you speak a lot?" Isaac asked.
"Yes, and now their teeth are caved in," Strider replied with a smile.
"That explains why your conversations are so one-sided," Isaac said.
Isaac decided to go around and deal with the poison in the farms.
Soon, the Baron, his son, and his servants rushed over, likely having heard the news that some rich-looking people were near the farms.
They stiffened in shock and awe, seeing Strider.
Then, they stiffened in fear, seeing Isaac.
"W-welcome! Please allow us to host you, Miss Strider, Sir Isaac," the Baron said, rubbing together his greasy palms with a sweaty smile.
They threw a party to welcome Isaac and Strider. Later in the evening, Isaac told them to build him a house near the farms. The exact location was near the hut of the Knight of Death.
The baron looked pissed upon hearing Isaac was planning to stay, but he could only nod in the end.
He called for an Earth Mage from the next town and got Isaac a nice house to stay in.
Two weeks later, Hazel—Isaac’s maid—arrived. She took care of Isaac’s food while he trained.
He was always either training or dealing with Blue Stone poison or writing a book on different poisons, while secretly keeping an eye on the Knight of Death.
He learned the name of the Knight of Death during this time.