The quiet sound of footsteps awoke me. Nico stood at the door, slowly opening his eyes before walking to the bed. He noticed that I was watching him, nodded with a business smile, and got into bed. By the sounds behind us, Robin was doing the same from her end of the room.

  ?

  Simon and Emily were already downstairs eating, both of them looking like chewed-up and spit out. Simon barely looked at us when we showed up. “You didn't drink again, did you?”, I asked him as I sat down.

  ?

  “I caught something and got sick.”, he said. Emily gagged. “She too.”

  ?

  Rebecca sat down as well. “So, what's the plan?”, she asked. “Where are we going next?”

  ?

  Simon shrugged. His voice was scratchy as he spoke, “Streets are gonna lead somewhere, so long as we walk in the right direction, we′ll reach the capital eventually.”, he held his head and groaned.

  ?

  I looked at Emily. ”I don't think either of you should-” Emily already stood.

  “I can go, no problem.”, she declared.

  ?

  “Well, looks like I was wrong.”, I said.

  ?

  Emily nodded slowly and began walking away. “Exactly, you ar-” Her leg slumped in, and she fell, only to be caught by Rebecca before she could topple over.

  ?

  Rebecca lifted Emily up. “Someone got REALLY sick.”, she said. Then she froze. “Wait.” She sniffed the air. “No, not sick.” She looked up from Emily, who clung to her with shivering fingers. “Poisoned.”

  ?

  I could feel the cold shower over my back. “Poisoned? Who'd do that?”, I asked.

  ?

  “There's a good amount of potential culprits.” Rebecca replied.

  ?

  I picked up Simon, who tried to slip out of my grip. “Let's get them back into their beds.”, I said. “Then we can discuss further.”

  ?

  We were stopped by the bartender. He was, as far as I could say, fully human, which was a first for the people owning “Demihumans allowed” Inns. It also made him suspicious, to me at least, for the same reason. “Is everything ok?”, he asked. Rebecca pushed past him with Emily in her arms.

  ?

  What should I think of the man? He was the one giving out drinks; if there was anybody who′d have an easy time poisoning the two of them, it would be him, after their drinking the day before yesterday. Then again, they′d both drunk a lot, so if it were him, he'd have had an easy time killing them. Had he not tried to kill them? Had he simply not been able to kill them, maybe? I continued that thought further. If Simon was the intended victim, then he'd have been killed before Emily, by sheer difference in bodymass to poison, so even if she was to be spared, it would have been easy. Further, Simon seemed to know and or be fond enough of the barkeeper to not mind a comment about his ear at the very least.

  ?

  I made my decision. “The two of them were poisoned.”, I told him, and his eyes widened. Acting or actual worry?

  ?

  “That's horrible.”, he said. “Simon came here for ages. Anytime he's here, he- he′s a good customer. Is there anything I can do?”

  ?

  I rolled the idea in my head. “I'll approach you if anything comes up.” I took a few steps before I stopped. “Do you have any charcoal?”

  ?

  The man looked taken aback. “What?”

  ?

  “Charcoal.”, I repeated. “Do you have any?”

  ?

  “What do you-”

  ?

  “DO YOU HAVE IT OR NOT? THERE ARE TWO LIVES ON THE LINE HERE.”

  ?

  The man stepped back, Simon flinched, and I could hear Rebecca stop what she was doing. The entire tavern, at this point just us, the barkeeper, and a janitor, stopped and stared at me.

  ?

  I pushed past the silent man and rushed up the stairs.

  ?

  As I walked past her, Rebecca looked at me differently. I pushed the door open and laid Simon on one of the beds.

  ?

  “Rebecca.”, I asked. “Do we have any charcoal?”

  ?

  Rebecca almost dropped Emily onto the bed before quickly shaking her head.

  ?

  “Can you tell me what they were poisoned with?”, I asked.

  ?

  Rebecca leaned over Emily and sniffed at her. “I can't tell. ” she quickly said. “I never smelled anything like this before.”

  ?

  I pressed my lips together as my heart raced in panic. Did charcoal even help after this long? It had been over a day since the suspected time after all. There wasn't anything left in the stomach, was there? I shook my head. Anything was better than nothing. I looked up at Rebecca:

  ?

  She was clearly just as unsure as I was; it was best to get her out and her mind on other things.

  ?

  “Rebecca, I need you to pick up some activated charcoal, or regular one if that isnt a thing.”, I said. “The more porous the better. At least two handfuls.” I looked back at Simon before adding, “Oh, and chunk size won't matter, we′re gonna crush it into a powder anyway.”

  ?

  Rebecca hesitated for a moment before rushing out. I felt two more pairs of eyes on me. “Robin, Nico, do either of you know anything about poison?”, I asked. “If there′s a Core that would help out with poison resistance, that would be great. While Robin was still thinking, Nico already shook his head. “Ok, then you go get me some drinking water for the two. Water, nothing else, ok?”, I quickly added. Nico nodded and rushed out as well. I'd need the water to help them with the charcoal, and anything floating in their blood would…. when had they been poisoned? The day before yesterday? Maybe yesterday, while they slept off their drinking? Today at breakfast?” And with what had they been- I rubbed my head, I felt so helpless. Even more than usual. No wonder my thoughts circled uselessly.

  ?

  Simons' breathing grew weaker, though his heart beat so fast I could feel it through his chest. What if they had been injected with something? I turned to Robin. “Check Emily′s body for anything that could show she was injected with something, a bite, a beesting, if there is anything like that, I wanna know, got it?”, I told her. Robin did not hesitate before rushing to Emily's side.

  ?

  “Forgive me, Simon.”, I whispered as I began opening his tunic.

  ?

  “The fact that they′d broken down now and not earlier should mean it happened today, right?” I told myself as I slipped Simon out of his tunic. His body was wiry, dense, and hairy, in the manner a particularly hairy human man might've been, though covered in a variety of scars.

  ?

  “Or is it just a slow-acting poison?”

  ?

  I looked over Simon's body, apologizing again as I removed his belt to check his lower body. But I found no sign of any pierced skin, or indeed anything that could be seen as an injection wound. “Not gonna turn around, don't wanna see, did you find anything, Robin?”, I asked out loud. Robin whistled in response.

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  ?

  “One note, yes; two notes no.”, I said, and only a few seconds later, Robin gave two notes. “Ok, good, then you can dress her again, no need to let this get awkward. I forced Simon's clothes back onto him. As I put his belt back on, it caught onto my wrist, snagging against the-

  ?

  The viper band. I opened my status screen.

  ?

  Protection against Natural Poison and Venom Lvl. 1

  ?

  Protection. Not immunity, not healing from… and only natural ones too. I took the band off,

  ?

  “This might not do much. This might not do anything.”, I whispered to myself as I looked between Simon and Emily.

  ?

  Who to try the band on? Would Simon want his daughter saved first? I hoped, assumed so from everything I had seen and heard of the guy. For all his mistakes, he didn't seem like a bad father. But I didn't know if it would work, hell, it might do more damage if it wasn't a natural poison.

  ?

  Simon's body was smaller; it should affect him faster, right? The band should be able to clear his body earlier if it could clear him out at all.

  ?

  I placed the band around his wrist, only for it to shrink until it fit. I let out a sigh and sank down. “Now we can ju-” I let out a scream as Rebecca tapped my shoulder. “You startled me.”

  ?

  “Sorry.”, Rebecca said. She handed me the charcoal. “Is this good?” I took the coal. “I have no clue.”, I said, as I crushed it between my fingers. Nico had returned at some point, but apparently stayed quiet.

  ?

  I placed the crushed dust into Simon's mouth and poured water down his throat before I stepped over to Emily and did the same.

  ?

  “What now?”, Rebecca asked. As the adrenaline left my body, I could feel my head emptying.

  ?

  “I have no clue if this did anything.”, I admitted. “I might just have done all this for nothing, or maybe it saved their lives. They might recover, and all I did was useless, and everything in between.

  ?

  “Is there anything I can do?”, Rebecca asked.

  ?

  “If I knew what to do, I'd be doing it right now.”, I answered as I felt all tension go from my body. “Watch over them. If something changes, tell them.”

  ?

  “Tell them?”

  ?

  “ Me. Tell me.”, I said. There went my concentration.

  ?

  As my thoughts flared in all directions, I felt myself crave caffeine. I hadn't had any in weeks now, and I thought I'd been freed of it, since as far as I knew, Henry hadn't been consuming it, but in my old life, there had been no surface I worked on that wasn't covered in cans.

  ?

  “Something for energy..”, I said. “I could do with some coffee. Espresso.. Is caffeine a thing here?” I took a shuddering breath. “After some sleepless nights, I mixed two espressos and a full coffee with as much milk and sugar as the cup could fit. It tasted like burnt hair, but it kept me halfway awake. And my brain feels like it's giving out any moment now.” I slapped my cheeks. “Focus.”, another deep breath.” Focus.”

  ?

  “I could get you a stimulant.”, Rebecca offered. “Some of the cheaper stamina potions feel like you don't need sleep anymore.”

  ?

  I looked up at her. “I appreciate the thought, but-”

  ?

  Simon began coughing, his face convulsed, before he stopped coughing and started gagging, his face twisting as he attempted to push something out of his throat, his fingers clawing at the skin. I stepped behind him, pressed a fist on his sternum, and pulled with all my might. I could hear half of a gasp as air escaped his throat. I bent over him, grabbed my fist tighter, and pushed into his sternum again. A couple of seconds and pushes later, a black mass fell to the ground, and Simon took a deep, desperate breath.

  ?

  The small black mass hardened into an egg-like shape before it managed to hit the ground, landing with a hard knock.

  ?

  Simon′s eyes cleared up almost immediately after. “What happened to Emily?”, he asked, voice weak but not as shaky as it had been before. How coherent had he been in his state?

  ?

  I took the viper band from him. "She's breathing; we weren't sure what the band would do, so we tried it out on you.”

  ?

  Simon simply nodded. “In case something went wrong. I'd have asked for that.”, he said and stumbled, with Robin's help, towards his daughter. He took her hand. “How long-“

  ?

  “When we came down, you were somewhat coherent.”, I said as I placed the band around Emily's wrist.

  ?

  “Last thing I remember was drinking with Emilio and Emily.”

  ?

  “The barkeeper?”

  ?

  “Yeah.”

  ?

  “That was the day before yesterday.”, I said as the band grew just enough to close around Emily's wrist. Simon's face fell.

  ?

  “The day before yesterday?”

  ?

  “Yes.”

  ?

  “As in the day before the day before today.”

  ?

  “That is a definition you could use.”

  ?

  “When did we lose that day?”

  ?

  Both of us were interrupted by Rebecca. “That ball.“ She had picked up the black ball Simon had choked up with a handkerchief and her gauntlets. “It stinks of whatever wrecked you two.?” She held it before her face, studying it. “I wonder what's in there.”

  ?

  “If it goes as it did with you, Simon, Emily will soon choke up a ball like this.”, I explained. “Do you know why someone would try to kill you? Or you two?”

  ?

  “Apart from us being demihumans and me being a merchant?”, Simon asked. His eyes were glued to Emily′s throat as if he expected her to start choking at any moment, only stopping to gently stroke some hair out of her face.

  ?

  I looked at Rebecca, who was still studying the ball. I wished for some coffee, even though I couldn't stomach the stuff. “How selfish-”, I whispered. “-how arrogant would I be to think that this might be another attack because of me?”

  ?

  Rebecca′s ears twitched. She gave the question a moment before whispering back. “I wouldn't say it's impossible. Though it could just be a random attack too.”

  ?

  “Hoping it's the latter.”, I said. When she raised her eyebrows, I quickly added. “I'd prefer not to be the reason the two of them were poisoned.” Rebecca nodded.

  ?

  “So what next?”, I asked into the room. “Do we figure out who did this, do we just run off, what's next?”

  ?

  Nobody answered me.

  ?

  “Then I say we try finding it out. No matter who did it, if they figure out Simon and Emily are still alive, who knows what they′ll do next?”

  ?

  First, I needed to make sure the barkeeper wasn't the culprit. Though it would′ve made my work exceptionally easier if he was. I went to Rebecca's and my room, grabbed some of the remaining charcoal and crushed it. The black powder fell into a small white handkerchief. I took the powder, some string, and a Moonstone.

  ?

  Time to bluff.

  ?

  Holding my ingredients, I sat at the bar. I leaned on a hand and looked at the bartender who was still in the process of wiping the counter, presumably tying into a primordial bartender-ness shared across all space and time. “Do you have any ideas what might've been used to poison Simon and Emily?”, I asked straight up. “Neither of them have managed to get up.”, I lied.

  ?

  He froze before slowly looking up at me. Then his face turned red. “Are you accusing me o-”

  ?

  I raised a hand. “I'm not accusing anybody of anything. I just asked a question. Do you have any idea what might have been used?”

  ?

  The red tone on his face did not die down in the slightest.

  ?

  I placed the handkerchief onto the counter. “Look, I don't think you did it, so I'm gonna use a little spell to prove it before getting the authorities involved.”

  ?

  He stared at the dust and everything involved. I gripped the Moonstone. “Just a little dwarvish ritual to prove you′re truly innocent.”, I said.

  ?

  “Repeat after me.”, I said. “I did not poison Simon and Emily, Simon or Emily, Simon, but both came to harm, Emily, but both came to harm or any other configuration in which I was knowingly putting another person into a situation in which my food or beverages would cause them harm other than those connected to regular alcohol consumption.”

  ?

  After a few moments of hesitation, he repeated my words. I held my hand directly over the middle of the cloth, with the string around my wrist.

  “Keep this close at all times. When I open the bag tomorrow, the powder will be white if you told the truth or stay black if you haven't.”

  ?

  I said: “Lagerregal./Storage rack”, activating the [Simple Transportation Magic]

  ?

  Now, where could I start the investigation?

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Basic Core Technique]  Lvl. 1

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Basic Healing Magic][Determine Value]

  [Filth to Food]

  [Ignite]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death]

  [Simple Transportation Magic]

  [Trigger]

  On Wednesday, Ill post a short chapter regarding demihumans, as promised. The story will continue on Friday!

  Ratings, Comments, Follows, and Favorites would be appreciated! Thank you in advance.