Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 77

After the Rain

“Extraordinary! Simply Extraordinary!”

Eleanora’s Master jumped up and down and clapped his hands in excitement.

“Master. H-how did she do this? Did she use some kind of ancient magic? The blowback should have been immense! How can she still be standing?!” she asked questions rapidly in belligerence.

“Gelanor! Explain what she did!” the Prince barked out at Eleanora’s old Master. In normal situation, he would have smacked him around until he cried uncle. But he was far too busy for that right now.

“She used something very precious, I bet! No one can do something like this with magic alone. It must have cost the Faith dearly to allow her to do this! Permanent increase to the status regardless of level. It is nothing sort of a miracle!” the old wizard took off his robe with incredible speed, leaving his fat and jolly belly out without a care in the word. She opened his mouth towards the sky and drank the rainwater with relish.

“Master! W – w - what are you doing?” Eleanora said in bewilderment.

“Gelanor! You old coot!” King Gerard cried out when he saw the fat wizard jumping around like a child in the rain. “Put your clothes on, damn you! You are embarrassing everyone! You are embarrassing Calendia!”

“Screw that!” The old, bearded wizard took off his pointy hat and held it aloft to gather the rainwater. “Come on, girl. What are you waiting for? Gather the water! Dump the potions in your Item Ring if you have to! This is a once in a lifetime chance! Those stinking old farts back in the tower will have a field day with this!!”

“O – oh, right!”

In contrast to the excitable wizard and his apprentice, the Queen of Calendia gathered the rainwater in her hands and elegantly drank it as she gave prayer to Junnaveil.

Beside her, King Gerard anxiously looked upon the newly ordained Allenca Viandros before sitting back. One question appeared in the King’s head. And it was this. To be able to change the weather where even out most accomplished wizard could not do without spending many precious resources. Is she hiding something else? Does the Church have something else beyond this miraculous magic?

The same question appeared in the minds of the foreign dignitaries and Nobles. Many expressions could be seen on their faces. Some showed happiness. Some amazement. But most were blank. Unsure how to react to this unforeseeable miracle.

The last ones were from the Nobles of Calendia - who even though they also enjoyed Junnaveil’s blessings - were less than cheery. These were those who saw her as nuisance, who saw her as a thing to be manipulated. They covered their feeling with hollow smiles and silence.

But for one Hero in that gathering of highborn people, the only thing that now filled his head was…

Can this water heal Hannah?

“A light rain, enough to wet the clothes. Not enough to drench us,” the beastfolk boy remarked. At the same time puzzled and amazed. “But the effect! How is this even possible?!”

“So, this is what you call a Supreme Level Magic?” Connie asked Illumca ignoring the freaked out Martell.

“Yes. A type of Magic that only very few people in this world could invoke.” Illumca grunted as she climbed onto the roof of the belltower and let the rain fell on her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the light rain. “It was said that my tribe used to have a similar type of magic. Passed down by word of mouth from Chief to Chief. But it was lost many generations ago.”

She felt her body getting warmer and she ran her fingers through her silvery hair.

“The droplets…they are warm, like sunlight.”

“With the current weather, it should feel cold. Yet it didn’t. How mindboggling,” she followed Illumca up to the rooftop and stood there, overlooking the dancing citizen. “Looks like I have to rethink my view on magic in this world.”

“By the way, do you feel a change in your body, Connie?”

“Unfortunately, nothing.”

Does it mean that my body is rejecting it? Or is it because I am a foreigner in this world’s law?

As he was pondering this, the ever-curious Yao-er and the young Chen poked their heads out of Connie’s collar. The little silkworm leapt onto Illumca’s shoulder and enjoyed the rain.

Chen reached out a tentacle to touch the rain, but as soon as a droplet fell onto it, the tentacle began to lose its purple color and began returning to blue It quickly cut that part of the body off with another tentacle and hid inside Connie, trembling.

Connie, who saw the reaction watched as the cut off part of the tentacle fell to the floor and melted into a puddle. She crouched and dipped her finger into the puddle and gave that finger a little sniff.

She made a rare expression which puzzled Martell. “What is it?”

“The rainwater neutralized the poison in Chen’s body,” Connie said, eyebrows furrowed with a thought.

“I see. this is not a simple strengthening rain, but also a cure-all,” then she let out a happy laugh. “Hahahah! Amusing! How incredibly amusing! Simple poison would be powerless under something so powerful! Why, she is the perfect deterrent against me!”

“Why are you laughing, Mistress? If what you said is correct, then she is a danger to us!” Martell said with apparent concern. “And it looks to me that she has quite a bit of interest in you.”

“Do you think so?” Connie clapped her hands together in a sudden realization. “Oh, that’s right!”

She took out empty bottles and jars from her Item Ring and spread them out on rooftop. “Help me fill these containers with the rainwater you two! This is going to be a good ingredient for your cultivation! Who knows, perhaps I might even be able to derive unique poisons using them!”

While the 3 were opening the containers, Illumca suddenly had a thought that chilled her back.

“Connie. If this rain is as you say – a cure-all, will this be enough to destroy your plan with the Hero and that…sow?” Illumca asked with spite.

“Oho, an eye for the details, Illumca?” she said appreciatively while uncorking a jar. “You are getting better at this.”

“W-well as an assassin, I need to be good at remembering details,” a blush appeared on the dark elf’s supple cheeks.

“Heh, you don’t have to be concerned with the Hero,” she paused to put the jar back. “Oh, perhaps the rain would heal her spine if she managed to get the water on her,” she raised a finger, emphasizing the importance of the words she was about to say. “But that is not a problem. The promise remains. You see, the Promise Binding Pill is not a poison. It is essentially a “seed” encased in metal infused with a bit of my will. Unless they drank acid or similar potion strong enough to burn through the casing, they would never be able to destroy it. Even if they did, the acid would burn through their stomach first.”

“And the sow? The Black Widow’s Plight was poison, right?”

“…Now that one’s tricky,” Connie answered before a thought came into her mind. “Can you open your eyepatch for me?”

“Alright. Turn away, Martell,” she said before doing as she was requested.

“Hmm…if the rain is at the level of an Elixir, it would have healed your eye. Yet it didn’t.”

“I do not want it healed,” the dark elf said as he hid her scarred eye behind her eyepatch once again. “Not until I find the target of my revenge.”

“As you should. But let’s get back on our last thought for a moment. It appears to me that we need to check back on my dear stepmother. See if her crotch still burns with desire. Can I leave that to you?”

“My pleasure,” lllumca replied. A smile blooming on her beautiful face.

A few blocks from the belltower, at a rather secluded the corner of a street, Akula sighed with a tinge of regret. She had gone out early to have her usual run, only to be swept away by the throng of people who came out to watch the Maiden of Water.

Her body, too big for Courandhel, could not move as well as she wanted. She was also afraid of crushing the weaker humans and so she had to resign to standing where she was, away from the crowd.

But even then, with the many people still gathering in the main street, it was only a matter of time that someone bumped into her.

Thud!

Akula looked down and saw a boy sitting on the road, a red bump on his forehead.

“A - are you okay? Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“WAAA!!!” the boy cried out loudly, tears and snot leaking out of his eyes and nose.

A couple of husband and wife who seemed to be his parents ran forward and stood before him protectively.

“Y-you! How could you do that to a child?!”

“I - I didn’t do anything,” Akula said, rather unsurprised by the look on their faces. The faces of fear and disgust. She was used to the stares.

Being in a country filled with people who saw Beastfolks as a race of slaves notwithstanding.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble – “

“I - I’ll call the Knights on you!”

“I really didn’t do anything!”

While she was troubled on how to react to the rapidly escalating problem, she heard a voice calling out to them. “Ah, hello.”

An unfamiliar man appeared as if out of thin air. He had black hair and white skin. A rare thing in the Kingdom of Calendia. He was dressed in all violet and black leather belts crisscrossing his wait and chest. An odd curved sword strapped on his waist.

“Please don’t mind my friend here. She is new in the city,” this newcomer came forward and put a friendly hand on the mother of the boy. “Let’s let bygones be bygones. The Ceremony is still ongoing, right? Wouldn’t want to miss the Maiden. Isn’t that right?”

The mother took one look at him and blushed. “Er – yes…yes, exactly. Don’t wanna miss the Ceremony!”

“W – wait, but - ?!” The husband was about to complain but was quickly dragged away by the wife. But not before the wife asked him if she would meet him again.

“If it happens, it happens.”

As soon as he said that, he turned towards the troubled Tonsulde and gave her a toothy grin.

His grin revealed teeth that were a bit too white and a bit too straight. His handsome appearance a bit too symmetrical and rather too flawless. When he bent forward to offer his hand, his eyes expressed in them an interest in her too solicitous to be a casual encounter.

“This is how your people do this, if I’m not mistaken?” his voice was calming, sweet like warm honey. But for some reason, a part of her rejected him at some level, making her unab;e to accept the gesture.

“Oh, was I a bit too forward? Sorry. I just saw you having a bit of trouble and I cannot help but be a bit nosy.”

“No. That was a big help. Thank…you.”

“No biggie. By the way, are you lost?”

“No, I’m fine,” she answered, her legs was trying to make her leave. There was something about him. Something wrong.

“Are you…lost?” the man repeated the question again, a bit impatiently now.

“No, I’m…yes…no…I am…” Akula began to lose focus, she felt nauseous. “…Yes.”

“Would you like to come with us? What am I saying, of course you’d want to,” he said quickly as if he could not imagine a scenario where she would refuse his invitation.

He gestured with a dramatic movement of the hand towards 3 figures who were standing a bit out of sight. She noticed that they all had rather feminine curves. “Come meet my party members, I’m sure you’ll get along splendidly.”

Being a prideful warrior, Akula should have felt annoyed by the forceful gesture even if it was done in kindness. Strangely, she felt none of that. In fact, she gradually felt that he was quite attractive.

She had never felt like this towards men. Especially weak human male that she could crush beneath her hooves.

And yet…she could see herself standing beside this man. A Tonsulde. A partner. A companion. Ooh, my head…

Akula tried to focus, but her head was filled with his voice. So sweet, so gentle, so…nice.

“Come on now. Wouldn’t want to miss the Ball, eh? We have to get cleaned up. And I am extremely filthy after the subjugation quests,” the man winked suggestively. “Among other things,”

“Ah, yes. We didn’t get acquainted yet. What’s your name?”

“It’s…Akula Altanghazar.”

“Hmm. Is that your name, now? This is a bit different than I anticipated,” he murmured to himself. Then he noticed that the Centaur was looking at him oddly. “Sorry, don’t mind me. Just a stray thought.”

“It is very nice to meet you, Akula. My name is Kurosaki Yuuji,” the man said as he patted his chest. Still smiling that flawless smile. Then he bowed with an exaggerated movement of the arm, this gesture the very image of a gentleman.

“Please…take care of me.”