[ARC 1] Chapter 9 – The Deadliest Poison

She did not.

She had given him another slab of training. One so frightening, it made his stomach curl into a tight little ball.

His stomach remembered the pain of melting from the inside out. He was, of course, talking about his master’s cooking.

She placed a bowl of purple mud in front of him. Her arms were crossed, and shadows covered her face.

“Eat it.”

Remy’s lips quivered, as he grabbed her pants leg. “I don’t want to die. Please, don’t kill your only disciple.”

A reassuring hand gently clasped his shoulder. She gave him a smile a mother would make.

“Eat it. This is also your training,” she pointed to the bowl. “This is poison training.”

“It’s not fair.” Remy pulled on his face. “Your daughter threw me in the air. I had to fight a giant bird.”

“It’s fine.” She pointed to the corner of the room.

It was something he didn’t notice, but there she was, knocked out. A bowl of purple mud spilled all over the floor.

“You would do that to your own daughter?” Remy gasped.

“Remy.” His master sat down in the chair next to him. She took a spoonful of the purple mud as easily as if it were beef stew. “I have never been able to make real food. My gift and curse is cooking poison. No matter if I follow the directions, or whatever ingredients I use, it turns out to be poison. It’s why my party died, but it’s also why I was able to escape from the Big Lock Prison. It’s why I was able to buy this home after selling it to the assassin’s guild.”

“Hmmmm.” Remy rubbed his chin, narrowing his eyes at the poison. “You don’t say.”

“Here!”

She plunged the spoon of poison in his mouth. The effects were immediate. He gasped as his throat clenched closed. Blood dribbled from his nose, ears, eyes, and mouth like a faucet turned. Painful convulsions made him flounder on the floor like a fish and the edge of his vision was being consumed by the blackness of death.

His master watched him as she finished her serving. She opened her mouth, and the words came out slow and slurred.

“Suuuuuuurrrrrvvviiiiiiveeeee fooooooooooorrrr twweeeeeeeeeennnnnttttyy miiinnnnuuuuuttttess.”

Foam bubbled from his mouth. The pain overwhelmed him and threatened to cut the thread of consciousness. Still, Remy stayed conscious. Like she said, this was training.

He saw her smile and give a nod of approval. She threw her daughter over her shoulder and left the kitchen as he struggled to survive of the effects of the poison.

#

He survived the night, and by early morning when the sun was peaking through the hills, Remy was able to move. He scooped some of the poison mud in a couple of empty potion bottles that he had in his room.

A sinister smile spread across his face.

He couldn’t wait to sell this poison, to get enough gold to buy back his sword now.

He heard the wood creak and he froze with the vial in his hand. His head mechanically turned towards the sound.

“Oh, you’re awake.” His master walked in with a steaming coffee cup. She took a sip and taking in the scene and nodded understanding what was happening. “You can’t sell that in the market. No one will buy it, and if you try to sell it, the knights are going to arrest you and you’re going to have to fight more than the Dollmaster.”

“Shut up!” Remy yelled, slamming his fist to the table. “This is my reward for surviving that poison.”

“You want the poison as a reward for surviving training?” She arched an eyebrow at that. She walked around the table, and sat down. “You know, sure why not. This is also training. Show me what you’ll do with that poison. Go ahead and try to sell it. Go ahead and poison someone. Make sure you’re not caught though, or I’m going to give you another punishment.”

“Eh, really?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “This is suspicious. You never give me a reward.”

“Like I said. It’s training. I want to see what you do. Plus, I kind of feel sorry for you. To think that you took a beating from an adult Devil Bear.” She snickered at that. “You really more training.”

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“All I do is train.” He threw up his hands. “You should give me some slack. I did well considering the training.”

“No.” She took a sip, waving her index finger. “You made mistakes. First you allowed my daughter to throw you in the air, twice. Second, your movements were sluggish when you fought that bear in the pit fight, you missed many opportunities to counter the bear, but you allowed yourself to fear having your face carved out by its swipes. Third, you could have ended the fight with the bird when it neared the tree, but you weren’t paying attention, and had to wait another twenty minutes before you got low enough again.”

“I-I knew that.” He blinked. “If you were watching me, you could have helped me.”

“That’s your duty. Your duty is survival. I cannot save you on a whim all the time. It would only make you reliant on me. My duty is to ensure that you learn from your mistakes and allow you to grow as a Hero.”

Remy grabbed his face and shook his head. He sighed, and deflated down to the chair. He heard a creak, and then he stood up as Kanoa staggered in the kitchen, clearly under the aftereffects of the poison.

Her face was pale, and there were purple bags under her eyes.

“Good morning.” She looked to her mom. “Hey mom, why is there a-”

“Do you have something to say to my disciple here?” She cut her off and watched her as she made her way to the table.