Chapter 25: I’m the Heir of the Poison King? (2)

“The heir of the Poison King? Me? I must have misheard, right?”

I must have misheard.

There’s no way they’d suddenly call me the heir of the Poison King otherwise.

But there was one thing that bothered me.

“Come to think of it, the dungeon lord called me the heir of the Poison King. Both Liela and Aris were there at the time.”

Since it was about Yona, the report about the dungeon couldn’t be left out.

Which means, one of the two reported that fact to Emily.

“Wait a minute. Didn’t Emily just say she met with her father? Could it be… does Delkarmen Muelia also think I’m the heir of the Poison King?”

I’m screwed.

Completely screwed.

I somehow ended up deceiving the Iron-Blooded Duke, Delkarmen Muelia.

“What do I do?”

It wasn’t my intention, but he would be furious to find out he was deceived by a mere commoner.

A noble’s pride is greater than I can imagine, so I don’t know what kind of punishment I might receive.

“No, this is ridiculous.”

Honestly, if you look at the situation objectively, it’s only natural that they mistake me for the heir of the Poison King.

But from my perspective, it’s unfair.

I woke up and suddenly became the heir of the Poison King.

“Considering Delkarmen’s personality, there probably won’t be any severe punishment.”

I need to think.

The most gentle way to resolve this misunderstanding.

Then, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

“Wait. Do I even need to clear up the misunderstanding? I can just become the real heir of the Poison King.”

The heir of the Poison King is not a combat position.

The previous Poison King was a Master Assassin, but the essence of the Poison King is to be the best at using poison.

The most important thing here is to make poison.

The combination and recipe determine whether the opponent can detoxify it or not.

But I already have future knowledge, right?

Look at the top-grade recovery potion.

I just made it without thinking to replenish Yona’s energy, and suddenly Riella mistook it for something else.

“Let’s try it right away.”

I’ve accumulated some knowledge about poison while studying alchemy.

If I add future knowledge to that….

“I can really become the heir of the Poison King.”

Come to think of it, becoming the heir of the Poison King didn’t seem so bad.

If I become the heir of the Poison King and become capable, the probability of surviving when the civil war breaks out will increase even a little.

Because Emily will keep me by her side and use me well.

I immediately headed to the alchemy workshop.

“Riella.”

“Yes? Rachel?”

“Where do you make poison? Can I make it here?”

“No. You have to go to the building next door. Just a moment.”

She closed the notebook she was writing on and stood up.

I followed her as she led the way.

The poison workshop was using the building right next to the alchemy workshop.

“Write your name here and list the ingredients you will use.”

I wrote my name on the paper she gave me.

Riella sat on a nearby chair and stared blankly.

“Are you going to stay here?”

“Um… yes. Is that not okay?”

I nodded.

If I show her my skills before I’ve even made a proper poison, my lie might be exposed.

“It’s a secret recipe that I can’t show to others.”

“Is that so? I understand. I’ll see you later. Have a nice day.”

Riella bowed 90 degrees and left.

I locked the door and started making poison.

“First, to prove that I’m the heir of the Poison King, I need to be able to use the signature poison he used.”

The most well-known poison among the poisons mainly used by the Poison King is Primus.

It is a colorless and odorless poison, and its incubation period is long, so it is a terrifying poison that kills slowly without even knowing that you are poisoned.

The recipe appears in the original story.

“Bardou, Harcel… what else was it?”

I started to combine the things I could remember, one by one.

I put various ingredients in the cauldron used for alchemy and boiled it.

But no matter how much I followed what I remembered, it didn’t become transparent.

“This should be right, but why isn’t it working?”

I kept trying, but the result was the same.

“This won’t do.”

I watched Riella do alchemy for two months.

Now I can make simple potions to some extent.

So I thought I could easily make poison, but it was a miscalculation.

The mechanism itself was completely different.

It was almost 12 o’clock.

The ravens were crying.

“Sigh. Nothing’s working.”

I’m tired. My clothes were soaked in sweat.

I sighed, panting.

Unlike alchemy, poison emits toxic gas when it is made.

It’s a skill to prevent it from coming out, but since I don’t have that skill, poison kept coming out while I was making it.

And poison, just by its existence, takes away a person’s vitality.

“I guess it’s not working.”

Sighing, I cleaned up the cauldron.

“This is pointless. I can’t even dream of being the heir of the Poison King.”

Through this experiment, I pulled out my memories, and the recipes I remembered were few.

“What should I do?”

I worried.

If I say it’s a misunderstanding, they’ll let it go, but they’ll be suspicious.

Even I think it’s suspicious that an ordinary commoner knows about the hidden legacy of the Poison King.

From my experience of living over 20 years, once suspicion begins to sprout, conflict is instantaneous.

“I need to talk about the royal family’s trap later, so I need to minimize suspicion as much as possible.”

Then, another new idea came to mind.

“Wait. I know more about alchemy than poison, and I know a lot more recipes. Wouldn’t it be better to say I’m the heir of the Medicine King?”

The Medicine King mentioned here is a title given to the person who is best at alchemy. And the heir of the Medicine King could know the legacy of the Poison King.

From ancient times, the Medicine King who saves people and the Poison King who kills people were like rivals at opposite extremes.

If I’m the heir of the Medicine King, it’s easy to explain because I would naturally know information about the Poison King.

I’ve studied a lot about alchemy while studying for two months, so I can prove it enough.

“The problem is that I can’t do alchemy. But I can make some kind of excuse for that. Haaam. Let’s sleep for now. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

I stretched my stiff body and went home.

The political circles of the empire are buzzing with one piece of news.

The topic is the territory war between the Muelia Duchy and the Meren Barony.

“Brother. The Muelia Duchy will obviously win, right?”

“Of course. The question is how long the Barony will last.”

“That will depend on the people in the vanguard. I’ll bet on two days.”

Everyone predicted Muelia’s victory.

Of course.

There has never been a family that survived after being targeted by Muelia.

Those unrelated to Meren talked about the territory war with pure amusement, while the nobles related to Meren hurriedly cut ties.

At that time, Aris.

“Please surrender. Baron.”

“Surrender? Our Barony has done nothing wrong!”

Aris sat in the Barony’s audience chamber and looked at the Baron and his wife.

In her hand was a certificate certified by the imperial family.

“Under the authorization of His Majesty the Emperor, it has been determined that the suspicion that the Meren family embezzled a considerable amount of money in the transaction with the Muelia family and damaged the honor of the Duchy is true.”

“We did nothing wrong! This is invalid! Invalid!”

“Are you saying you will ignore the authorization of His Majesty the Emperor?”

“That’s not it!”

Aris proceeded with the territory war in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

“Accordingly, Muelia has requested a territory war with Meren. From now on, we will begin the territory war between the Muelia Duchy and the Meren Barony.”

Aris stamped the Muelia family seal.

The only thing left is the Meren Baron’s seal.

When Aris stared intently, the head of the Barony clenched his teeth and stamped it.

“Don’t think that we will go down easily, even for Muelia. We are Meren. We will never forget this humiliation.”

“Do your best.”

Aris bowed her head slightly and went outside.

The Barony’s knights pushed her away with their momentum, but Aris wasn’t intimidated at all.

Rather, she pressured them in return.

She soon arrived at the small main force where 100 soldiers and two knights were staying.

“How did it go?”

“There were no separate ambushes or poisons.”

“That’s a shame. If they had used a cowardly trick, I would have torn apart the head of the family right away. What will you do?”

Aris checked the regular army of the Meren family far away.

As soon as the territory war was confirmed, the soldiers and knights were quickly forming a formation.

It looked like there were over 500 of them.

That’s just while they’re preparing, if today is over, there will be at least 1000.

“By 1 p.m. tomorrow, we will raise the Ducal flag in the Barony.”

The eyes of Aris, looking at the Baronial flag, are filled with murderous intent.

“The real territory war starts tomorrow, so rest until then. We must do our best so that the Duke will not be disappointed.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“The strategy is as we discussed earlier, so inform the soldiers.”

The knight nodded.

Afterwards, he conveyed Aris’s orders to the soldiers.

Clang!

The 100 soldiers answered by striking the ground with their spears.

Thus began the territory war that would determine the fate of the Meren family.