“Yeah, yeah, you aren’t afraid of poison. Alright?” Linley said resignedly.
Magical beasts and humans were very different, biologically. Many magical beasts contained venomous parts and sacs within their bodies to begin with. The poisons which humans feared, they might not fear at all. The more powerful a magical beast was, the stronger their natural immune system was. In addition, since magical beasts generally resided in pristine, untouched forests, they often interacted with various natural toxins from a young age. Thus, one generation after another, magical beasts’ resistance to poisons would increase.
……
Linley’s group left the hotel very early in the morning. The red-haired man watched Linley’s group depart from afar, his face exceedingly ugly to behold.
“Ley?” The red-haired man muttered. “Where did such a powerful expert come from? And why must he travel with these two countryside-raised siblings?”
The red-haired man was extremely unhappy.
This mission to assassinate Keane and Jenne was originally quite simple. That old servant, Lambert, simply wasn’t powerful enough to do anything. But this originally simple mission suddenly became extremely difficult once that mysterious expert got involved.
“Nothing for it. I have to report to the Madame.” Knowing how powerful Linley was, the red-haired man didn’t dare to take any more risks.
……
As the most militarily powerful empire of the Four Great Empires, the O’Brien Empire had an extremely thorough communication system sustained primarily by a special communications corps who used Bluewind Hawks.
Every single prefectural city in the O’Brien Empire had quite a few Bluewind Hawks who were controlled solely by the communications corps. Bluewind Hawks were extremely intelligent. They recognized roads and, under the orders of their owners, could take a letter to any place at all.
But only the governing clans of the O’Brien Empire had the authority to use these Bluewind Hawks. Most commoners, and even most nobles, didn’t have that authority. And of course, the army had its own stand-alone communications system.
Carrying the seal of the city governor of the prefectural city of Cerre, the red-haired man requested Blackrock City to send a Bluewind Hawk towards the city of Cerre.
….
Flying in a straight line in the air was far faster than running on the road. Not long after Linley’s group had left Blackrock City, the Bluewind Hawk arrived at Cerre.
The prefectural city of Cerre. This was a fairly large city.
In the Northwest Administrative Province, it was one of the top ten cities. At this moment, within the castle that was reserved for the city governor, the mood was very dark and very sinister.
The master of this castle was Madame Wade! An infamously cold, grim, arrogant person.
“Sis, sis!”
Two middle-aged men came running into the rear flower garden. At this moment, Madame Wade was enjoying the radiant sun while being tended to by two serving women.
“What’s wrong, my two dear brothers?” Madame Wade lifted her head up as she looked at the two men.
“Sis, this is the mail that just came by courier. This mission was a failure.” The slightly chubbier of the two men said.
“Failed? How could Kerde [Ke’de] be so useless?” Madame Wade took over the letter. Reading it, she began to scowl, confused. “A mysterious expert who has a black panther as a magical beast companion?”
Per what the red-haired man, Kerde, was saying, that black panther was at least a magical beast of the eighth rank, and that mysterious expert was at least a combatant of the eighth rank, and perhaps even the ninth.
Madame Wade suddenly felt that the letter was extremely heavy.
“Sis, what should we do?” Madame Wade’s eldest brother, that chubby man, asked. Madame Wade’s second brother also looked at her hopefully.
Madame Wade frowned as she considered the issue.
“My two brothers, please request the services of Apothecary Holmer [Huo’er’mo].” Madame Wade said calmly.
“Holmer? That old freak?” Her second brother immediately cried out in surprise.
Madame Wade said coldly, “According to Kerde’s investigations, this mysterious ‘Ley’ fellow is at least a combatant of the eighth rank, perhaps even of the ninth. I don’t have the ability to kill a combatant of the ninth rank face to face. It’s best to have Apothecary Holmer take care of this affair. After all, Apothecary Holmer has killed a combatant of the ninth rank before.”
“But Holmer…” Madame Wade’s eldest brother hesitated as well.
“Hmph. If the two of you keep on acting like this, you’ll never accomplish anything. Even if I kill Keane, if you two act like this, do you think you will be fit to be city governors?” Madame Wade snorted coldly.
“Fine, sis. We’ll go speak to Apothecary Holmer right now!” Madame Wade’s two older brothers submitted to her.
…..
‘Apothecary Holmer’ was a title which Holmer had given himself.
Others viewed Holmer as a murderer, but Holmer viewed himself as an Apothecary.
And indeed, Holmer’s abilities in preserving life were quite high. Holmer was almost three hundred years old now. For a warrior of the sixth rank to live for nearly three hundred years was nearly impossible, but Holmer had done so. What’s more, Holmer looked as though he was in quite good shape. This was because Holmer often used various bizarre concoctions, allowing his three-hundred year old body to be as strong and healthy as a young man’s.
“Huh. Madame Wade is quite generous. This business transaction…I accept, I accept.” Holmer stroked his graying beard, laughing delightedly.
In front of Holmer, Madame Wade’s two brothers were still rather nervous.
“Apothecary Homer, it would be best if you act quickly.” Madame Wade’s eldest brother urged. “Our people will deliver you to your target.”
“Haha, first give me a down payment. I’ll head out right away afterwards.” Holmer laughed loudly.
“Down payment?” The two brothers looked at each other.
In the prefectural city of Cerre, the two of them had never been treated like this before. But after learning a bit about Holmer, the two brothers didn’t dare to irritate this elderly, self-proclaimed ‘Apothecary’. Once this old man got angry, no one knew how many people might die as a result.