Chapter 226 - Change Of Plans

Episode 219- Change of plans

"He. Will. Stay. With. Me." There was coldness in Eugene's voice which made everyone freeze in fear. No one dared say anything, not because they didn't want to but because they couldn't. They just now realized that if they ever hurt Con, Eugene would come after them and murder them without hesitation.

"...."

"Alright." Darius stepped up and agreed for Eugene in place of the bandits. Eugene turned to him but couldn't see his expression or who he was due to the hood covering her face. What she did recognize was the voice, and she knew immediately whose voice those belonged to. 

"Darius." Her voice was low, and chilly as she called out his name. The coldness that exuded from her made it seem like she would pounce him at any given moment. 

"I am here." He replied with a neutral yet at the same time amusing voice. 

Eugene fists clenched from under her robe. She wanted nothing but to punch the living hell out of this man. She was barely able to contain herself when Euria's words repeated in her head. In the end, she unclenched her fists and calmed herself down. She couldn't afford to ruin Euria's plan. 

Eugene and Con walked 'reluctantly' in the middle of the bandits back to the base. It was a far walk because Eugene and Con had run all the way to the entrance that they had come from yesterday night. The bandits were not in good condition considering they ran many hours to catch up to Eugene and Con, so just right before they reached the base, they decided to take a  break to rest. 

At this moment, the leader of the bandits walked out from the crowd along with Darius' allies from Occul Island. Every new face seemed to want to observe Eugene from a distance. Especially the leader who seemed unhappy. He looked very unwilling at the fact that they would have to escort Eugene and Con all the way to Lelips because the teleportation portal broke.

Eugene didn't bother caring about the leader and looked at Darius. She was glaring, staring, and observing Darius for a full 10 minutes before Darius himself reacted as he couldn't handle her burning gaze anymore. 

"Is there anything you need, Miss?"

"..." Eugene tilted her head. Her eyes were still staring at Darius but it was blank, rid of any emotions. After a few seconds, however, Eugene picked up a water gourd and threw it to Darius's chest. 

"Get me water." She said nonchalantly and turned away. Her attitude naturally irked and irritated the bandit's leader to no end and in the end, he started a fight. 

"You little twit. Who do you think you're giving an attitude to?!" The guy was glaring menacingly at Eugene as he condemned her.

Eugene didn't reply and straight-up ignored him. Though she didn't turn to look at him she could feel him fuming even more due to the heat that radiated off of him and heading directly to the crown of her head. 

"ARE YOU IGNORING-"

"Now now!" Darius stepped in to defuse the situation. He smiled gently at the bandit leader and at Eugene. His eyes stared at the bandit leader with a meaningful gaze as he tried to calm him down. 

"Getting water is nothing." He shook the water gourd in front of the bandit's leader's face, made sure he was not going to attempt anything while he was gone, and left. 

"Lucky twit." 

Eugene didn't respond and went into her own world by staring into the air. To be honest, she didn't know what hostage life would be like, however so far, it was easier than she thought. She wasn't doing anything and only had to walk for a bit and then sit for a while. She wasn't stressed and was grateful that the teleportation portal was destroyed. If she had been a hostage before the teleportal portal was destroyed, she would've been incredibly stressed due to the fact that she could've been shipped off just like that. 

Darius' allies and the bandit leader seemed to be talking about something and when they were done, everyone left but the bandit leader. 

"You have no one to protect you now." The bandit leader smiled eerily at her. 

Eugene turned towards him and stared at him blankly, "Why? You're going to hit me?"

The bandit leader's eyebrow raised up, "You're replying now that no one is here to protect you?" 

"...." Simply speaking… yes. She was only replying because there was no one to protect her. 

Unlike what Eugene thought, the bandit leader simply made her do laborious work. Hard labor work that would've been impossible for children to do, but was easy for Eugene. 

The bandit leader threatened to hit Con which was why Eugene had no choice but to commit to what the bandit leader called 'hard labor'. Eugene knew that his threats weren't mere words hence she had no choice but to work. After all, she still had to go back home with Con with all limbs instant. 

Hence, she began chopping wood. Aka, 'hard' labor. 

1 wood. 5 blocks of wood. 50 blocks of wood. 100 blocks of wood later. 

Woods. Woods. Woods. Nothing but chopping woods. Darius's allies and all the bandits had long come back and were enjoying watching Eugene chopping wood. The reason why it was so entertaining was that Eugene would chop one wood after the other in a blink of an eye as well as chopping it into perfect halves. It was a talent, a beautiful talent that not even Eugene knew she had.

The bandit leader snapped out of speechlessness after 10 minutes. He then quickly ordered for Eugene to head into the forest with his comrades to hunt for food. 

"Please don't report this to Sir Darius Miss." One of the bandits said very respectfully to her as she squatted down while picking up wild mushrooms. 

"Hn," Eugene replied back. 

"Really?!" The bandit stared at her with widened eyes. 

"Hn."

"Ah! Thank you! Thank you very much, Miss. You are very kind." The bandit was happy so he left her alone. 

'He wouldn't have any chance to tell anyone.' Eugene smiled as she picked up an herb she used all day today. When burned or made into incense, it makes one tired. When digested, it is lethal enough to kill a normal person. 

Her plans were to head to Lelips and go from there, but after observing her enemies for a while, she now found the chance to escape. There are around 100 enemies total. This amount would be an amount lethal to one or two people, but who said that she was only with two? Not to mention, the numbers of enemies will keep increasing as they go, which was why it was better off to escape now than when they got to Liasel. 

She smiled deeply as she picked up wild mushrooms, mixing around the poisonous sleeping herbs as she went on. Oh, numbing herbs? She added that to the mix. Oh, diarrhea herbs? That was good as well. No one suspected anything even when Eugene watched as the bandit cooked. When the bandit talked her out of it from reporting what happened to Darius, she knew from his words alone that this man was the weakest as well as new to the group. Hence she betted on this and she was right. The man has no knowledge on poisonous herbs or edible mushrooms whatsoever. 

Everyone ate the food the newbie made in peace. Of course, the food wasn't given to Eugene or Con because the bandit leader forbade them from eating. Because of his pettiness, he ended up choosing an option that would only kill his comrades and not his enemies. 

Were Eugene and Con lucky? Yes. But of course, it was obvious that they would not be allowed to eat from the start which was why Eugene even dared to attempt such a thing. Everyone, especially the bandit leader ate as if what he was eating was one of the most delicious foods he has ever eaten when suddenly on his last scoop, he noticed something incredibly wrong with his body. 

His body felt heavy, as if it was falling into an abyss, not to mention, there was a burning sensation on his chrysanthemum. 

Though his comrades didn't eat as fast as he did, they also felt the same effect. Well, they didn't feel the same effect, as one after the other, they began falling on the ground as their body went into a shock from having ingested all those poisonous herbs. 

Eugene stood up and got rid of her robe in an instant. Her clothes appeared very professional yet comfortable, as she wore something that was easy to move in. Well, something that was easy to kill in. Her grey hair danced along with the breeze as her lips curved up at the bandit leader. 

The bandit leader's bowl fell and he propped himself to his knees.