*

Gamay, the egg-headed man, watched from the trees as Amadeus got surrounded by eight men in shabby armors. He had been tasked to follow Amadeus by Theodore for a while.

Gamay was irked to be assigned such a menial task again in such a short time.

'First, it was killing the servant that saw Amadeus smiling at the corpse, and now this.'

"Now, kid. Leave the horse and the luggage, and we might let you live."

A large man who seemed to be the leader spoke gruffly. He had a greatsword tied to his back, seemingly not expecting a big fight to happen. The robbers slowly walked towards Amadeus.

"I do-don't have anything valuable!"

Amadeus stuttered while showing a panicked expression. Gamay commended his acting skills.

The leader shouted, "We will decide that. Now, get off your horse!"

"O-okay! Just don't kill me!"

Amadeus climbed down from the horse while the nearest bandit went towards the horse and roughly pushed Amadeus aside, then touched the suitcases.

"Oooh! Even the texture is high quality. Where'd you get this, kid?"

The bandit asked as he glanced towards Amadeus while touching the suitcase, trying to find a way to open it.

"It's mine. I didn't steal it!"

Amadeus acted like he was wrongly accused and backed away as if fearful. He stopped when he reached the back of the horse as all the bandits crowded toward the suitcase while one stood near Amadeus.

It was then.

Gamay could see Amadeus sending thin mana towards the horse's butt and slapping it. The horse immediately kicked reflexively, and the man was positioned perfectly to receive the full brunt. He flew off, incapacitated.

The others turned their heads towards Amadeus to see him holding a small red sphere, which exploded into red gas that immediately reached them.

Gamay could see the bandits trying to run towards Amadeus but falling in seconds, and Amadeus only had to walk two steps backward to avoid them.

Gamay thought Amadeus was pretty witty, gathering them all in one place and sending poisonous gas towards them to get rid of them in one swoop whilst protecting the horse with his aura.

The gas he used was probably the Red Daisy, a common flower that could incapacitate a grown man if ingested. Gamay thought it was a good use of minimal mana without getting himself dirty.

'On top of that, he probably wants to torture them. This will be an interesting sight.'

Gamay had a jovial expression. But to his surprise, Amadeus began to slit their throats one by one. It did not even seem like it was his first time killing, rather looking like a kid plucking flowers from a garden.

He then began to arrange all the corpses in a line, all facing upwards, except the one in the middle that was the leader of the bandits.

The clothes of the corpse was ripped open.

Amadeus suddenly turned his head to look in the northern direction, and Gamay followed his vision but did not see anything.

Gamay thought, 'Did he notice something that I didn't?'. Then he shook his head, 'Impossible.' He saw Amadeus turning his attention back to the corpse, carving something with his dagger. Gamay could not see it clearly due to his vantage point.

Then Gamay heard Amadeus murmur to himself,

"Wow, this corpse is truly beautiful."

Gamay would not have been able to hear it if not for his Awakened senses.

"Hahaha!"

Amadeus suddenly laughed out loud at the corpse then proceeded to lay the corpse facing downwards. Gamay had the thought that Amadeus had truly gone insane. Then he suddenly got up and climbed his horse, taking one more look at the lined-up corpses for a few seconds, and then left.

'Were we wrong? He did not act as we thought. Shouldn't he be doing more than this?'

Gamay prepared himself to follow Amadeus but stopped. He looked towards the corpses, 'I should probably make investigations for why he went off track.'

Gamay went towards the corpses and did a cursory glance, his attention ultimately drawn by the down-turned corpse. He went to the corpse and crouched down, then turned it up. The man's face was unnaturally pale. He saw words carved in the chest of the bandit leader.

'Camellia?'

Gamay then backed up and coughed violently into his hands.

*Cough* *Cough*

Gamay saw his hands covered in blood. He thought, 'Did he notice me? No, he was just that cautious.'

"Haha! So, he used that moment he looked towards the north as a distraction, putting the Camellia into the corpse's bloodstream. Smart move, kid."

Gamay coughed again.

*Cough*

More blood came out of his mouth, "Even I will need at least ten minutes of mana circulation to get rid of the toxins in my body." He looked towards the direction Amadeus went in but then sighed and sat down, his jovial expression still present. He even looked proud.

Twelve minutes later, Gamay got up and dusted himself off then wiped himself clean of his blood.

Amadeus was already far gone.

*

I knew that my father, him being the control freak that he was, would either send someone to follow me as a genuine lookout or as a test. Whatever it was, I did not want to have a tail.

The plant I used was a mutated strand of the White Camellia known as Lunar Camellia that I had in limited quantity, and it had no odor at all. It was also one of the most potent poisons I had, enough to kill a grown man a hundred times over. All the other antics were just used to get whoever was following me interested in the corpse.

Using it was a gamble, but it was a gamble I was willing to take. Putting it into the bloodstream gave me some time to make my escape until it got out into the air. But my biggest advantage was that I was probably severely underestimated.

I had no hope of matching up to any of my father's subordinates yet, but being underestimated put me at an advantage of pulling off something here and there. It was regretful that I could not use the bandits as I had wanted.

After leaving the scene, I immediately changed directions and went towards another town. I went towards one called Narfolt to the west.

'This will take me around three days.'

I rode till the sun went down and slept in a big grassy field. The horse grazing peacefully by my side and the countless stars shining above me made for a phenomenon I had never experienced before. It felt free.

'What kind of people will I meet in Narfolt?'

I fell asleep while wondering in my mind.

*

I arrived in Narfolt two days later, during the night.

The town was modest and bright from afar. I decided to let my horse graze without any pieces of equipment near the town, looking like a wild horse.

I carried my two suitcases and snuck in by climbing over the walls. It was easy to do for an Awakened.

I walked around the streets, looking at the nightlife that did not seem to be dying down anytime soon. I could see all kinds of people walking around.

First, I went towards an inn and went up to the desk. A homely woman was sitting on a chair. She looked at me with surprise visible on her face,

"Hello! Young sir, my name is Nancy. How may I help you?"

I smiled and replied, "My name is Jason. I would like to rent a room here if possible."

"Of course, would you be staying alone?"

"Yes, for the time being. My father is an adventurer and has gone to the Adventurer's guild to look for quests. He will probably be gone for a while."

She showed compassion in her eyes, "Oh! That type. But I guess you get to see lots of different places, huh?" Her eyes glittered towards the end.

I smiled embarrassedly, "I guess."

"Well. If you have nothing to do during the day, you can come down here and tell me about them. My life is so dreary being stuck in this town for so long, I will even treat you to some food." she winked.

I promised, "Of course. I will come tomorrow."

"Oh, I forgot. The room will be thirty silvers."

I passed her the amount then she continued, "The room will be at the end of the first floor."

She gave me a key and I went up to the room. The room itself was small but clean. I set down my suitcase and went towards the window and jumped down. I went towards places that looked like they had a lot of people.

'The taverns.'

I found a tavern after walking around for a few minutes. It was called The Garland, a beautiful name. I walked past it and stood in one corner. The night was dark, so I was barely visible even if one looked carefully.

I waited.

Thirty minutes later, a drunkard got thrown out of the tavern by two large men.

One of them shouted, "And don't ever come back here without having money again!"

The man who was thrown out rebutted, "As if I would ever want to come back here to taste your lukewarm alcohol!"

He got up and dusted himself clean, then showed his middle finger to the large men. They just glared at him and went inside, seeming like they wanted nothing to do with him.

"Yeah, you'd better go. Before I beat you the hell up! Fucking greedy bastards." he said as if he expected drinks to be free.

The man, too, turned around and walked off.

'Found you.'

****