บท 3: Chapter 3: How To Easily Get Kill Points

Turns out, Flame's older sister is just sick. I just had a dirty brain… curse you, brain!

But even then, I didn't bother with the siblings because I have much better things to do, like reading my precious books. But if I did go there, I was not knowledgeable in the art of medicine, so I am not going to be useful even if I come there. I just left them alone and hoped that Damon would come back sooner.

A few hours passed and it is now time for tonight's supper, but something was wrong. Normally I would get my name called by Damon whenever we eat, yet no one has called me.

"Mr. Damon, would my sister be all right?" I heard Flame's voice, full of worry. Right outside the opened door, I saw Damon passed by running while carrying Flare in his arms, with Flame following suit. They were in a rush but I didn't know why, so I immediately closed my book, stood up, and followed them.

Since I am still a toddler I can't walk faster or run, so I'm stuck with my baby-steps, hoping that I won't slip and fall.

When I finally caught up to them, I saw many of my fellow orphans gathering around Damon's room, they were also watching what's happening. I squeezed my way in, and since I am pretty small, I quickly got in.

When I entered the room, I saw Damon applying some herbs to Flare, who's currently bedridden in his bed, as he said, "Please work, please just work. Please, I can't have Flare die to this poison. No, not like this."

"AAAAAHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!"

Flare was unconscious, so I was surprised when she started screaming like crazy. Her skin started to become as red as her crimson hair, and she crazily flailed around, trying to get Damon away from her.

"Please cooperate with me, young Flare," He said, almost begging her to stop, "the poison has already spread across your body and if I can't treat you in 15 days, you'll die! Please, young Flare, stop flailing around!!" At the end he started shouting, out of worry maybe?

Then, something crazy happened, Flare's skin suddenly started releasing smoke and when Damon touched her, he got his fingertips burned after a slight sizzling noise erupted.

"Gah! The fireblossom flower is stronger than I thought, but she should be fine for now." He said after standing up to walk to the bathroom. He washed his hands with the water he saved in the large bucket he had, then he came out and looked at us, "You should all go back to your rooms, I'll handle this." He said.

I stayed, but the rest scurried away. I looked at him in the eyes, and asked, "Damon, what kind of poison affected her? Is it something you cannot cure?'

He kneeled to my height, and said, "To tell you the truth, Auguste, I don't know. You're a smart boy, so I'll tell you at least what this poison is. This poison is called 'the fireblossom flower' and it can only be found in the deepest parts of any big volcanoes, but it can only be found in the continents of Golden and Platinum. Researchers haven't been able to confirm as to why it can only grow there, but it's been proven that it's very lethal. But death is not something the fireblossom flower is looking for… no, it's torture."

I widened my eyes after realizing what kind of poison this is.

He glanced at Flare, and then turned his head to me again, "Every time someone tries to cure a victim of the fireblossom flower's poison, the victim will feel extreme amounts of pain. It's said that the pain felt by every victim feels like they are burning in hell. But this poison is also very expensive, even I cannot afford it. The only thing I'm wondering about is who poisoned Flare. Nobody in the village can afford something like the fireblossom flower, it must be someone from outside the village. But why would they do this?

Even while I'm still but a toddler, Damon knows that I'm very bright for my age. Not even three years old and already reading books? Have you seen anyone like that? No. I can also understand any material thrown at me faster than any of my peers, and even those that are older than me. Damon calls me a prodigy, a genius that only appears in every millennium, but, honestly, titles never impressed me anyway.

Then, as the older man was thinking who could do this, I said, "What if it has something to do with their biological family? You said that you found them on the streets 8 years ago, wandering around and eating out of the garbage cans. What if Flare ran away from her home back then because of something that happened in their house? What if their biological family has already found them and had sent an assassin to kill the two of them earlier this week?"

"While you make a good point, Auguste, we should also count other possibilities in. What if the one who poisoned Flare was after me all along? Anyway, for now, I'll go out to buy more pain killers. I'll ask the others to watch over her, you go back to your room, Auguste." He said after standing up and lifting me up.

"Eeeh, I don't want to! I don't want to! I want to come with you in the marketplace, Damon." I said, acting like a child.

"No, and no means no, Auguste. It's dangerous outside, albion soldiers are coming in and out of the village, looking for something, or someone." He said seriously.

Now that's a first. Soldiers wouldn't normally come to such a remote side of the continent, and when they do come, chaos would usually ensue. Is this somehow connected to Flare's condition? But how so? I just can't connect the two things together, but I have a gut feeling that they are somehow connected. Hmm, what to do?

I didn't know why at the time but I felt curious, curious about the two siblings. But, unknown to me, this curiosity would lead me into a deep rabbit hole.

'That shut him up. When he gets excited for things, he becomes like a child. In fact, I sometimes forget that he's just 2 years old. Silly me.' Damon thought while looking at Auguste having this deep look on his chubby face.

(Scene Change)

Damon put me back with the other children, along with me, in our room. He gave us some biscuits for dinner since he doesn't have much time to cook. Thankfully, the biscuits were delicious and large in numbers.

After a few hours or so, my fellow orphans fell asleep, leaving me awake.

Hey, tutorial bot, are insects considered kill points?

He responded almost instantly: [Yes, but killing 1 insect is only equal to 0.1 Kill Points, so it's not that profitable. But you live in a countryside and the insects here are plentiful in numbers]

While you're right, I have another more profitable way of getting large amounts of insects.

[And what is that exactly?]

You'll see… hehehe.

[You're just going to ask Damon to buy you the amount of insects you need, right?]

…

Damn it! Did you read my mind?

[Yes, I'm technically inside your head]

Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, I'll just tell you my exact plan. You see, insects are cheap to buy. 1 BN is enough to buy 10 Mantis, and if I can convince Damon to buy me 100 BN worth of insects, they I'm basically going to be overpowered as f*ck!

[Don't cuss, it's bad to cuss. Only I'm allowed to cuss between the two of us]

F*ck you! Who the f*ck are you anyway?

[Really? Are we going through this AGAIN?]

… Fine, fine. I'll stop cursing, just get your smelly breath away from me.

[How can I be smelly!? I'm literally IN YOUR HEAD!]

Oooh, someone has some insecurities.

[F*ck you, and I'll see you tomorrow!]

Hah, that's what I thought.

[That literally doesn't make any f*cking sense!]

(The Next Day)

The village doctor came in the morning after Damon visited his house. After checking up on Flare, even the village doctor couldn't do anything, deeming her current condition helpless. He left after discussing some things with Damon.

Meanwhile, here I am, sneaking into Damon's office to find something. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found the thing I'm looking for under the surface of the bottom right drawer. It was a black book, but I'm not dumb enough to be fooled by this.

I blushed as I read the contents of the book, "Hehehehe, this is just for my Plan B, in case Plan A fails." I said almost sinisterly.

As quick as possible, I sloppily ran away from the office to go back to my room. I saw some of my fellow orphans on the way, but they didn't mind the large book I was holding that's almost as big as my small body. They simply smiled and said things along the lines of "Ah, look at little brother, reading another book again" or, "Such a bright boy, I wish I was able to read at his age".

After I returned to the room, thankful that no was here, and hid the book behind my cabinet. This is just in case something happens.

"Hehehe, now it's time to enact Plan A. '' I rubbed my hands like a mastermind behind something big, but I'm just going to ask Damon for 100 BN.