Chapter 275: Cause and effect (2)
"So, you want to trace the killers by their poison?" I looked suspiciously at the group of assassins in front of us.
"Exactly, all poisons leave traces. And if they were killed by magic, it will be even easier to trace them," Serzen sipped his tea calmly while we waited for contact with our associates, "all guilds have their own style of assassination, and many have their ways of silencing witnesses."
"And your guild too?"
"Hmm, not entirely. Each of us has our own killing style, but we gather all known knowledge and share it within the guild. We resort to particularly sophisticated methods only when absolutely necessary."
"And are you sure you can identify any poison by its effects?"
"Of course, that's our job. We study all known types of poisons, from dangerous animals and plants to spells, even if we can't directly use magic."
"Oh, and maybe you could tell him about THAT case?" Tain nudged his comrade with his elbow.
"Do you think it's worth it?"
"I just want to see if they can guess."
"And what is it about?" Rizel gave a suspicious look to the assassin and thief.
"Hmm, there's a necromancer here, maybe we should test them," the master assassin said mysteriously, "I did mention exotic methods of assassination, right? Let me tell you about one contract, and you'll try to guess how we did it."
This happened about three years ago in the southwestern regions of Verania. Six villages were under the rule of a very cruel and greedy nobleman.
His castle was not far from the border, and as long as he provided protection to the kingdom, his actions were overlooked. He had gathered around him about fifty strong mercenaries, mostly former criminals who didn't shy away from dark deeds. Numerous robberies, murders, and rapes became the norm in those lands. People tried to seek help from the authorities, but they were directed to the local ruler, who dealt harshly with the dissatisfied.
At the beginning of winter, young girls from the villages began to disappear en masse, and the villagers finally decided to hire assassins.
It was not an easy task: a fortified castle, a gang of cutthroats, and hostages. Moreover, the peasants could only afford to hire three assassins.
But we took the job. The nobleman himself was obsessed with security to the point of madness, so he didn't trust anyone. The servants entered the castle only to prepare food and clean the rooms, and no one was allowed to stay overnight. Only the master of the castle and his guards. Any intruder was killed on the spot.
But on the eve of the grand celebration of the solstice, a banquet was being prepared, and the culinary abilities of the local commoners were insufficient. For the feast, the nobleman summoned chefs from the nearest city to prepare the banquet. Everything was planned in advance: the food, decorations, flowers, furniture, and entertainment. And once again, all the hired servants were under constant surveillance, although we managed to find out that all twelve abducted girls were still alive and held in the castle's dungeon.
Later, we found out that the feudal lord did not let anyone into the castle at night for a reason. He was very interested in black magic and, in particular, prolonging his life. The girls were needed for a major sacrifice. He promised his cutthroats inhuman power in exchange for their help, and they gladly assisted him.
The ritual was scheduled for the night after the banquet, and we had to act quickly and carefully. There was no time to kill them one by one, and the disappearance of a couple of guards would make the others strengthen security.
We decided to kill everyone at the banquet, but the problem remained with the nobleman himself. Despite pretending to be close to his people, he always locked himself in his room during dinner to prevent anyone from poisoning him or approaching him. The fact that he was also a decent magician only worsened the situation. But everything went smoothly; after preparing the hall, all the hired servants, along with the three intruders who had infiltrated their ranks, left the castle.
By morning, the peasants found only the emaciated bodies of the warriors and the nobleman himself locked in his room. The bodies seemed to have lain there for not just one year, yet the girls in the dungeon were unharmed. Subsequent investigators couldn't make sense of the case, and upon finding books on demonology in the lord's hiding places, they chose to burn the accursed place.
"So we fulfilled the contract, and no one ever found out what happened in that castle."
"Well, do you have any theories?" Tain was too excited for such a grim story. "I must admit I was surprised when he told me about the 'method.'"
"Hmm, it's apparent that you and the group of servants added something to the banquet," Rizel thoughtfully scratched her chin. "Poisoning... it would be difficult with so many people, the poison would affect them differently."
"And the castle's owner ordered his food from a different place," the head of the assassins smirked.
"Then you must have poisoned him while he was in the hall with everyone," I imagined the scene in my mind. Killing them all simultaneously was nearly impossible; the poison had to be slow-acting, effective, and infect them all at a certain moment to avoid harming the hostages.
"The girls remained unharmed? And the peasants who arrived in the morning too?"
"None of them were harmed."
"If it weren't a poison, I fear I don't know of any toxins capable of dehydrating bodies so quickly," Rizel was also lost in thought.
"It couldn't have been a poison," I pondered the possibilities, as there were ways to kill like this. "It reminds me of natural predators. Spiders inject digestive enzymes and drink their prey."
"Getting warmer."
"But to kill so many people, there must have been a large number of them. It was something else killing in the same way," I thought of what they had placed besides the food, musicians, furnishings, and... "flowers".
In the tropical forests, there were also predatory plants that fed on small animals and insects, but who knows what they could grow into.
"Which specific flowers did you supply for the celebration?" I looked at the rather smirking assassin.
"Bloody vine, one of the most vile creations of the plant world, isn't it?" a voice from the crystal in my pocket interrupted our conversation.
"Does someone else know about this rare plant?" the assassin turned to the person on the other end of the continent.
"I'm also a necromancer, and in my time, this plant was much more common in the oases of Leran," an image of a young woman with light gray skin appeared over the crystal. "I hoped it had been eradicated by now."
"Not entirely, there are still two oases where people are forbidden to enter, and that's where this predatory plant grows."
"So, what is it?"
"A very rare and dangerous rose that only blooms during the three longest nights of the year. Its flowers release poisonous spores that germinate when they enter the bodies of animals. Quickly draining the blood of their victims, they grow into new vines. The spores perish under sunlight, that's why they bloom so infrequently. Fortunately for us, they scheduled the banquet on the same day."
"So, the flowers bloomed in the banquet hall after all the servants had already left, and the feudal lord came down to greet his cronies."
"We burned the bodies before the vines could sprout, so no traces of the crime remained."
"Cruel, but justified."
"Hmm, young man, it seems you are not burdened with bright and virtuous principles," a mischievous glint flashed in Serzena's eyes. "Aren't you interested in well-paying work?"
"Well, not really for now."
"I won't rush you for an answer."
"Alright, let's get in touch with everyone," I placed the crystal in the center of the table and pronounced the words written on it to contact Kurone.
Soon, images of all the guild members appeared above it.
"Krito, it looks like this thing really works," Katrina carefully examined the crystal.
"Yes, but it's hard for me to maintain contact, don't linger," Kurone's voice came from a distance from the stone.
"What kind of dark room do you have there?"
"They're in my chamber," Aileen sat in handcuffs a couple of meters away from the crystal. "Cunning, you copied my crystal?"
"Not entirely, but I took the general principles from it."
"I'm sorry, can you use this to connect to another part of the world?" the crystal displayed the person speaking at the moment, with a black mantle covering their face.
"Yes, magic is complex, it's better not to abuse it. But this way, you can take a look at the bodies of the assassins."
"So, I'm not the only one who decided to check what caused their deaths," Reines, along with the others, was in a bright room in the depths of the castle.
"You don't have to examine all the bodies, only those who died suddenly during questioning."
"I know, I know, the other bodies didn't pique our interest. But this is much more intriguing."
"Do you know your poisons well?"
"Don't worry, I'm pretty familiar with poisons. Let's see now," Reines' image disappeared and soon reappeared, but there were a few drops of blood on her claw. "Hmm, how strange."
The necromancer licked the blood off her claws and pondered, scratching her chin.
"I don't understand anything," Reines disappeared from view again.
"Lady Reines, they are just corpses!"
"Quiet there, I'm just checking something," a sound like a thin knife cutting through the air, and the necromancer reappeared with a knife smeared in blood. "It's the same for all of them... Even in the blood channels near the kidneys, there are no traces left."
"Um, are you... trying their blood?" the assassin looked at the image with undisguised disgust.
"And so what? It's the most reliable method, poisons don't affect me anyway. But it didn't give me anything; there's no poison in their blood and no traces. I checked the organs where some remnants of poison decomposition could be found, but found nothing there as well."
"Can we trust your judgment? Wouldn't it be more reliable to conduct a few real tests?"
"Hah? I see that someone here doesn't take me seriously at all, but whatever. There's no time for tests, this method is the most reliable. And I'm waiting for your suggestions on how it's possible to kill a person without poison."
Everyone fell into thought for a moment.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone