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Chapter 316

“By the way, aren’t you surprised?”

“Ugh… about what?”

“No, I mean, here I am saying I’ll neutralize the Hydra’s poison.”

“That’s… well, you’re just that kind of person.”

What was the point of saying more.

Seeing Meryl unable to hide her nausea, I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To the medical site where the patients are. Since I’ve found a way to heal without side effects, it’s time to actually test it.”

Of course, before that, I’d have to consult with Lilia Berner.

Luckily, Marquis Veolas hadn’t tried to interfere with my actions.

From his perspective, as long as I wasn’t inciting anything, he had no reason to meddle.

“If the Marquis just keeps doing things the way he has, there won’t be much trouble. He’s desperate to catch us for requesting imperial emergency support over what he thinks is nothing.”

“As long as they don’t cross the line, I won’t bother either.”

“Don’t worry. You’re my guest, so even Marquis Veolas won’t dare touch you. I’ll make sure of that.”

She might seem meek, but Melissa’s friend was still her friend.

If Lilia hadn’t stopped me, I had honestly considered cracking his skull.

But now that it was past, there was no profit in stirring up trouble with an imperial marquis’s household.

“Anyway, is it good news?”

“I have a sample antidote.”

I showed her a small vial in my hand.

“An antidote… can it really neutralize the Hydra’s poison?”

“Most people don’t believe it.”

“If I’ve decided to believe, I’ll see it through. Even if I have bad memories…”

At her bitter tone, I smiled faintly.

“I already tested it for safety, so I plan to administer it to a few of the worst patients—with their consent.”

“I’ll be the first to try it.”

She looked me straight in the eye.

“It could go wrong.”

“As a noble, I see it as my duty of noblesse oblige. Besides, if there were really such a risk, I don’t think you’d even have suggested it.”

“Here you go.”

Without hesitation, she downed the vial I gave her.

“But… what’s it made of?”

“The deadly venom that melted the Hydra in an instant.”

“Cough!!!”

At my words, she spat the liquid back out, covering her mouth, her eyes shaking.

“Yo… you’re joking, right?”

“It’s true. Normally, you’d be dead already, dissolved before you even knew why.”

“Why on earth would you even carry something so vile?!”

I didn’t tell her that I had the poison within me.

Her face paled at my words.

“But that’s just in general. The one you drank was modified—it harms nothing in the human body, but destroys everything else. I made a few errors since my standards are different, but at worst you’d only get a splitting headache. Nothing more.”

Side effects only appeared if they manifested.

For Lilia, they didn’t.

“Ah…”

The effect was already showing; her expression grew strange.

“It’s… hard to put into words.”

The antidote didn’t just target Hydra poison—it erased everything except the human’s natural state.

“After taking it, you won’t be able to use mana for about a day.”

“Mana…?”

“Yes, it’s not some convenient tool that just sniffs out poison.”

“Oh. My headache is gone.”

At that, Lilia’s eyes widened.

“Good heavens… so quickly…”

The abrupt disappearance must have been striking.

She stood up and moved around.

Though startled that her mana reserves had been wiped clean, she was delighted at how light her body felt.

“So then… we can distribute this antidote?”

“Strictly speaking, it won’t work much until the Hydra itself is dead.”

This antidote didn’t create antibodies in the body.

It was more like formatting a computer. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on nοvelfire.net

Serqet had helped a great deal with it.

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If I’d done it the usual way, people would have been crippled for a week from its toxicity.

Still, better than dying.

I glanced at the poison spirit nibbling sweets that Lilia had nervously offered.

“This is important—may I check carefully how your condition changed?”

“Of course. So… am I cured now?”

“For the moment. You won’t relapse for a day or two. After the Hydra is killed, we’ll spread the antidote.”

“That will require a massive amount.”

“Yes, but don’t worry. For now, let’s watch for a few days.”

So two more days slipped by.

But not in vain.

“It’s incredible! After the initial strangeness, I feel completely refreshed.”

She seemed utterly convinced now.

“Then… let’s distribute the antidote…”

“No. Each dose takes three hours to make. What I’ve stockpiled is enough for maybe twenty people.”

“Is… is it money? I’ll pay! If it can save the people—”

“No, money isn’t the issue. Did you forget?”

“What?”

“Until the Hydra is dead, the antidote won’t last. They’ll relapse.”

“Then what should we do…”

“There are a few patients whose condition is severe.”

A rare few whose constitution clashed terribly with the poison.

“We’ll treat them first to buy time, and meanwhile, hunt the Hydra.”

“Then we’ll send the knights—”

“No. If they go, they’ll all die. I’ll bring back the remains after the hunt. Just wait.”

At my words, she lowered her head.

“Why… why are you going so far…”

“In return.”

I said firmly.

“Yes?”

“May I claim ownership of the Hydra?”

“Of course! Naturally!”

“Then let’s go to the medical site. We know it works on you, but we must see how others respond.”

Soon, word spread through the fief: unlike Marquis Veolas, who couldn’t treat a single patient, a young man named Leon had healed the dying in an instant.

And the rumor reached Veolas’s ears.

* * *

“Ughhh… my lord… can I really survive?”

“Of course! Be grateful that I, a noble, am treating you at all! How dare you doubt me!”

“S-sorry.”

“Do you know how many years I served in the Imperial Medical Department?! I can diagnose at a glance! Yours is just a bad cold!”

Normally, he’d never treat a commoner.

But to find evidence, he had to check personally.

Still, none of it made sense.

Every symptom looked like a mere cold.

Enough to accuse Berner County of overreacting.

But…

‘The contagion is far too fast. And no treatment helps.’

At first, he blamed hygiene.

But no.

Something was wrong.

“Did you hear? In the other medical tents, a young noble cured people like they were washed clean.”

“What? Then we must see it too.”

“They say he’s starting with the critical patients.”

Hearing the noisy crowd, the Marquis scowled.

“Silence! This is a sickroom! Get out, you rabble!”

He shouted, then turned to his guard, Kashiv.

“Shall I confirm?”

“Bring me one who claims to be cured.”

The swordmaster quickly obeyed.

It was someone who should have been on death’s door.

The Marquis remembered—such cases were fatal, incurable.

Yet—

“Yes. I’m fine now!”

“Hmph! What would a peasant know!”

Still, as he examined the man, he found nothing wrong.

“May I go now…?”

The Marquis stared at his own hands in silence.

“Leave.”

Kashiv dismissed the man instead.

“Well?”

“The symptoms are gone. This… this makes no sense.”

For that illness, nine out of ten died.

Even royals of the empire had perished to it.

But now it was gone.

Not just the cold—the man’s body was cleansed, as if scrubbed out from within.

So the Berner County’s “outbreak” really was traces of the Hydra’s ancient venom?

He had come thinking they exaggerated, hoping to catch them out.

This… was not how it should have gone.

If true, he had to seize all antidote stocks and destroy them.

The plague must be dismissed as nothing.

His eyes gleamed dangerously.

“Kashiv.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll help me with a task.”

* * *

“We’ve found it.”

“Really? Where?”

“Here, on the map.”

“Hand it over.”

I passed Meryl another vial.

“This is…”

“An antidote. This time with almost no side effects.”

“Shall I take it now?”

“Well, it works best after the Hydra is dead. But even now it won’t hurt. If the poison returns, as long as we slay it first, the symptoms will fade on their own.”

She carefully tucked the vial away.

“And purifying the whole fief?”

“That’s all of it.”

I pointed to a large container nearby.

Inside, a clear liquid shimmered.

“That’s several days’ work. Enough to purify the entire fief.”

“So this is the antidote…”

“Yes. But that’s all of it. If it’s destroyed, we’re finished. In two more days, the people will start dying in droves.”

Her face went pale.

“It mustn’t… be destroyed.”

“Exactly. And be careful—it’ll explode if mishandled.”

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