Chapter 38: Pill

His overly intimate action seemed to have angered the nearby guards that were protecting the princess. They did not expect the outsider to be so blatant and frivolous towards the holy princess, especially with them closeby at her side.

Immediately, several of the guards raised their weapons at Venn, stopping just inches apart at his neck, staring at him with malicious intents. If it was not for the princess ordering them not to kill the insolent man in front of them, they would have shredded him apart like a lifeless paper doll.

Tension had infiltrated every corner of the room at a sudden notice. Nobody dared to move an inch. Everyone was nervously waiting for Princess Ysera's order, including Venn.

The moment Venn noticed that the guards had turned hostile towards him, he knew that he had crossed the line with his action. He wanted to act confident in front of the Princess as he was sent by Lilith whom they addressed as their lord. However, he wrongly estimated the level of control Lilith had over the Oni clan.

Relationship between a vassal clan and their lord differed greatly. Not all behave the same. While they might have pledged allegiance to Lilith, it could be possible for them to betray Lilith as well.

Relationships do not last forever. Nothing is constant in life except self-interests. Venn finally understood the saying that he had read in the past, but it might have been too late. 

Fortunately for Venn, instead of killing him, the princess stopped the guards from killing Venn by gesturing with her right palm and continued their conversation as though nothing happened.

With a smile, she inched closer towards Venn along his finger. "How can I trust you?" 

Faced with Ysera's question, Venn knew that he was out of danger. While the guards wanted his life for his action, the princess knew that there was nothing to gain for the Oni Clan by killing Venn.

"You can have my head and hang it anywhere you like if I fail to defeat the goblins within ten days." Bolstered with his guess, Venn answered sincerely with his life on the line. If he fails to complete Lilith's mission, he would be mercilessly hunted by the blood serpents either way so there wasn't any difference to him.

"Words are cheap. Everyone's life is at stake here. If that's all you have to say, then I'm disappointed." Princess Ysera rebutted despite hearing Venn's sincere promise. As if to mock him, she moved away from Venn while shaking her head as well.

"Then what do you want me to do to gain your trust?" Venn replied, visibly frustrated, he had no idea he had fallen into a trap. 

"Eat this. And I will trust you." 

Princess Ysera slided a tiny wooden square box across the table towards Venn.

Venn opened the tiny box with caution. As he did so, a purple round pill was revealed sitting squarely inside the cushion within the box.

Holding and focusing his view on the pill, a notification sounded in his mind.

[Ding]

[Unknown Purple Pill]

[An unknown pill. The effect after consuming the pill is unknown.]

[Ding]

[Pill identified through the knowledge of the user. Wisdom increased by 2 points. (+2 CHA)]

[Seven Orifices Bleeding Pill]

[A poisonous pill. After consuming, the user will bleed internally to death from the seven orifices and die a painful death, ten days later. Useful in assassination attempt.]

[Poison can be cured with the consumption of the blood congruent pill.]

"What is this pill?" Venn asked Princess Ysera, even though he knew what the pill was. He had a bad feeling about what she was about to say.

"The seven orifices bleeding pill. You will bleed to death internally ten days after consuming the pill and die a horrible death. The only way you can be saved is by consuming the antidote before the deadline. Actions speak louder than words. If you want to gain my trust, then you will need to prove it to me."

"Why is it that every female NPCs that I have met is trying to kill me?"

Venn lamented after hearing Princess Ysera's explanation.

He had read about the pill in the books before. Moreover, he knew about a certain infamous incident that had happened surrounding the seven orifices bleeding pill as well.

There wasn't even any need to spend time searching about the information regarding the pill within his memory as the incident was so ridiculous that it had deeply ingrained in his memory.

In the past, someone had posted a thread about finding a bunch of unknown pills in a mysterious ruin and proceeded to consume them. In the beginning, everything was perfect as the various pills granted various effects to him such as permanent increase in agility, strength and many more.

However, without knowing the effect of the remaining pills, he accidentally consumed one of the seven orifices bleeding pills as well. After getting the notification that his in-game avatar will die a permanent death after ten days if he did not consume the antidote, he started posting on the forum for help as there wasn't any clue to what could cure the poison.

As expected, little paid attention to such a dubious post. Even after the promise of rewards, no significant progress was made and the post sunk into the ocean without making so much of a tiny splash in the water.

At the point of despair, the person started giving the pill to important NPCs and guild leaders as gifts. By poisoning them, he believed they would spend all their resources to find the antidote as well. And he was right.

By mixing the pill with other pills with powerful effects, he avoided suspicion and managed to poison a lot of important figures through showing the beneficial effects to their underlings. Oftentimes, to curry favour of their bosses, those underlings would spend money to buy the pills and offer it to their respective guild leaders.