A/N: 2ch/day should resume tomorrow for a bit! Sorry, had to take care of my sister in the hospital, so less word count the past few days for all stories.
...
___
A week later.
Slam!
Slash!
BANG!
Syl threw several ice shards at the monsters while Finn slashed away, using his [Feather Step] skill to quickly go from monster to monster to finish them off.
Today, the Traniel mercenaries (Marcus, Leiah, and the rest) were back. At this point, they stayed increasingly longer at the inn. It was only a matter of time before they lived there. They were now heading to the extension together.
However, before they got too far from the inn, a notification appeared.
[Poison Detector Activated: Valya poison has entered the scope of the inn. Status: Ingested, active, currently breaking down the body’s proteins. There is 50% chance of death if not treated within 210 hours.]
[Poison Detector Activated: Valya poison has entered the scope of the inn. Status: Ingested, active, currently breaking down the body’s proteins. There is 50% chance of death if not treated within 208 hours.]
He blinked. When Finn suddenly stopped moving, a wall of ice appeared to shield him, blocking an attack from the side.
Finn realized his blunder and thanked his girlfriend, killing off the monster before discussing the new notification. "Syl, are you familiar with a Valya plant?"
She blinked. "Well, yes," she said. "It’s a slow-acting poison in the East. It’s not too common, however, why do you ask?"
"Is it curable?"
"Yes," she said. "The materials are not too rare, but you would need a particular combination for the antidote."
"I hope the ingredients could be bought in nearby marketplaces," he said, though since it was coming from Syl, the actual procurement might not actually be easy for most people.
If he’d have to guess, those ingredients were probably expensive.
"As long as it is in the Eastern regions, yes." Syl nodded before looking at him. "Why do you ask?"
"Someone seems to need it." No. Considering the alert was duplicated, it seems like there were two victims?
He then told her about one of the barrier’s functions of detecting poisons, which made her striking red eyes sparkle in interest. Finn chuckled and told her everything and before they knew it, they arrived at the area of the inn.
In the end, they decided to head back to the inn. They were only an hour or two away, anyway. Hopefully, the poisoned person wasn’t in the extension though, otherwise it might be harder to handle.
The others curiously listened to the conversation, and they were also curious who the ’lucky’ person to get poisoned was. Sadly, there was no name in the notification, so they’d have to ask around to determine who it was.
Who’d have thought they’d find out the answer to that very quickly.
They entered through the area where the campsite area was the first thing they’d see. They saw a relatively large group of adventurers—all familiar.
They were adventurers from Lotus Town!
Victor and Leez brightened at the sight of them. "You guys are here!"
Then, there were also some newcomers, but not necessarily new faces. For example, there was Pagol, the adventurer who drove them to the site of the third exam back then.
He was also one of the people who gossiped about Maria and Remus’ love life when he was drunk. "Ahh, I remember when I first met them a couple of months ago, they didn’t even look at each other. Now they’re making babies, HAHA! When will I get a love life? wuwuwuu—"
Pagol looked at him with bright eyes, definitely not expecting him to own such an inn, and then looked around with curious eyes. "I have to say, it seems like my imagination is still limited."
Marcus’ stories were always detailed, and when he described this place, it was so good and exaggerated that people absolutely believed it was embellished.
Somehow, though, despite all that, this place still ended up being beyond expectations instead.
Among them, they saw three of the most important adventurers they knew!
"ELDERS?!"
And there was more than one, too!
"Ah, yes, we came here ourselves," they said, absolutely sparkling when they saw Finn.
"FINN!"
"YOUNG LAD!"
"LONG TIME NO SEE."
"You haven’t visited the town when you said you would!"
"What’s your level now? Oh? Toughened already?"
The Elders gaped and nodded. Unlike most people there, many of them were aware of Finn’s potential, and one of them, Elder Waerron, was even there when it was tested. What a memory, indeed!
"As expected of someone with your potential!"
"It’s amazing."
"Good, good! HAHA! Those mercenaries would feel so defeated with the talent we’ve been hiding."
And so on.
Finn guided everyone around the few facilities and then booked a few accommodations for them. Only the elders had a room, though, as everything else was fully booked. The rest would have to make do with tents.
Finn ended up cooking for them, and they chatted while he cooked, assisted by Micc (who was also greeted passionately by the newcomer adventurers).
How often could they see the successful patient of limb reattachment?
For the first half an hour, all was well and people settled down, prepared to head to the canteen to grab a bite. It was just that as they headed in the direction of the canteen, the two elders paused and shook, coughing.
"Cough! Cough!"
Both of them, almost in sync, but they shook their hands to wave worry away. "It seems like the two of us caught something," they said. "It should go away on its own soon."
Finn looked at them with furrowed eyebrows before turning to look at Syl. She was looking at the Elders and, after meeting his eyes, nodded.
Finn quickly headed to them, asking to speak with them in privately. The elders nodded, not thinking much about it, and just let the others head to the canteen before them.
Finn led them out of the barrier, and then went in again. When the poison alert was activated again, he nodded at Syl, who created an ice wall to make sure no one was listening.
Seeing them like this made the Elders’ expressions turn somber.
"The elders have been poisoned," he said, direct to the point. "It’s something called the Valya poison."
"What?"
Syl nodded. "I recommend heading to the nearest Town East since it’s a more common material there."
"For reference, the Valya poison is a slow-acting and stackable poison. It has to be ingested for long periods of time, at least months."
The atmosphere felt heavy as the implication. Someone betrayed the elders. Whether it was someone from the guild or someone from their respective household, nobody knew yet.
"It’s still early, and it is fortunate it was detected early," Syl said, studying the elders. The symptoms were mild and can be treated as long as the medicine is found.
"You have less than a week to handle this. The earlier the better."
Fortunately, as an elder of a guild branch, the elder was not poor. They could really head East at this moment, with a large entourage, if they wanted to.
The Elders looked at each other with heavy expressions and sighed. It was a pity, and they just arrived, but who could gamble with their lives?
Unexpectedly, before they could finalize their plans, this adventurer group wasn’t the only new large group today.
"Ren, Zach, Aaron!?"
And behind them were about a dozen strong-looking men, wearing mercenary uniforms!
Finn looked awkwardly at the Adventurer Elders next to him.
Things will be peaceful, right?