Assassin's Chronicle

"This way, my lord," Marquis Djoser said with a bow.

"You’re too kind, Marquis Djoser," Christian said with a smile and walked into Marquis’ tent.

Marquis Djoser was about to head back to his own territory and was hosting a small feast. Other than Christian, he invited several other important figures. Except for Saul and Baery, Miorich, Shawn, Dalmatian and Steger all showed up. Even though they knew Anfey and Marquis were not on friendly terms, Marquis was a nobleman and it was better to keep him happy.

After a few cups of wine, Christian asked, "Marquis Djoser, why are you leaving so suddenly? Is something wrong back home?" Djoser’s territory was next to Violet City and Christian wanted to find out why he was going back.

"I don’t want to leave," Marquis said, shaking his head. "I saw with my own two eyes how bright the Empire’s future is. I wish I could stay here and witness more, but I am old now, my Lord. My body cannot handle the pace of a military camp anymore."

"It is a shame," Christian sighed.

Marquis nodded. "It really is, but I must accept the reality." He picked up the wine bottle and filled Christian’s cup. "As I said, I’m old now. I don’t have a lot of time left. The Crown will take my territory after my death. There’s nothing left for me to do. This is all the work of fate." He sighed and lowered his gaze.

Christian glanced at Marquis and picked up the cup. Just as he was about to drink the wine, he was interrupted by a bellow. "Hold up!"

The two guards outside the tent stumbled inside. A few seconds later, Anfey marched into the tent as well. He walked up to Christian and grabbed the cup full of wine. He raised it to his face and narrowed his eyes.

"I do not recall inviting you, Lord Anfey," Marquis Djoser said coldly and stood up.

"Anfey, what are you doing here?" Christian asked and stood up as well. He had wanted to talk to Anfey about Marquis’ invitation, but he had not been able to find him.

Anfey ignored both of them. He dipped a finger into the wine and sniffed it. Then, he turned and called, "Ye, find me a pony."

"Yes, sir," Ye replied loudly outside the tent.

"What is the meaning of this?" Marquis Djoser asked angrily.

Anfey’s action had stalled the entire feast. Everyone was waiting for what happened next. Djoser couldn’t have been stupid enough to try to poison Christian, could he? Why would he have poisoned Christian anyway?

A few minutes later, Ye returned to the tent with a pony. Anfey grabbed the pony and fed the entire cup of wine to the small horse. It only took a few minutes for the pony to fall to the ground with a whine. It jerked around for a few moments and fell still.

"Want to say anything?" Anfey asked.

Djoser and Christian stared at the dead pony with wide eyes. Miorich narrowed his eyes and slammed a fist onto the table. "How dare you?" he asked loudly.

"No," Djoser said as if waking from a trance. "It’s not what it seems."

"Ye," Anfey said, "bring the witness here."

Ye appeared with one of Djoser’s servants. He stumbled into the tent and knelt down on the ground. "I didn’t know anything about this, my Lord! You have to believe me. I didn’t know anything!"

"Tell me what you said earlier," Anfey said.

"I said Lord Jacob and Lord Djoser were speaking yesterday," the servant said. "Lord Jacob said he wanted to make a potion that makes people stronger, but instead he made a strange poison. Lord Jacob came to Lord Djoser asking if he had any raw materials."

"Keep talking."

"Then, Lord Djoser became really excited, he..."

"Nonsense!" Djoser interrupted the servant angrily. He lunged towards him but was stopped by Ye’s men.

Anfey snorted. "Lord Jacob, please come in."

Djoser’s face paled when he heard Jacob’s name, and he fell to the ground.

Jacob walked into the tent and nodded at Anfey.

"Lord Jacob, does this servant speak the truth?"

Jacob nodded. "I did make a strange poison a few days ago," he said. "The poison will work thirty days after being consumed and is very hard to detect. Marquis was very interested in it. I had no use for it and, since he was so interested, I gave it to him."

"Can you tell me if the poison is present in this wine?" Anfey asked, handing the bottle to Jacob. Jacob raised the bottle to his face and sniffed its contents.

"There is poison in this wine, alright," he said.

"Take him away," Anfey said, pointing at Marquis.

Djoser suddenly jumped up from the ground. He pointed at Anfey and began to scream curses. None of the mercenaries were able to stop him. They had to stuff a ball of cloth into his mouth to silence him.

"Lord Miorich, I will take him and the evidence," Anfey said, grabbing the wine bottle and cup.

"I’ll handle this," Miorich said after a moment of hesitation.

"Christian, have any men gone through his place?" Anfey asked. "See if there is anything suspicious. I want you there when we interrogate him."

Christian nodded.

Anfey followed Djoser and the mercenaries into the tent of inspectors. Djoser glared at Anfey, but Anfey ignored his gaze.

Anfey sat down on a chair in front of Djoser and waved his hand. A mercenary hurried over and removed the cloth from Djoser’s mouth. "Did you really think there is a poison that works exactly thirty days after it is consumed?" Anfey asked mockingly.

Djoser froze. "What do you mean?"

Anfey raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. "It’s a nice wine," he said. "How long have you had it?"

"I..."

"Jacob never gave you anything poisonous," Anfey said. "Do you want to try it?"

Djoser watched him with wide eyes. He knew nothing about poisons and Jacob was an authority when it came to them. Of course, Djoser believed Jacob.

"I know you tricked two servants into drinking this," Anfey said. "You only used it because they lived, right?"

Djoser laughed but did not say anything.

"Why are you laughing?"

"If there’s no poison in there, what can you do to me? I am a nobleman!" Djoser said. He caught Anfey’s eyes and his voice died down.

Anfey sighed and shook his head. He found a small vial in his dimensional ring and dumped its content into the bottle. "Now there is poison."

"Jacob’s with you!"

"You just realized this?" Anfey asked with wide eyes, as if surprised.

Edy pushed into the tent and nodded at Anfey. "Are we starting now?"

"No," Anfey said. "We’ll wait for Christian. Remember everything I told you?" he asked.

Edy nodded.

"Good," Anfey said. He turned to Djoser and said, "Let me introduce you. This is Lord Edy. He is a necromancer and is excellent at interrogation. By the time he’s done with you, we will know everything we need to know."

"My lord," Ye called. A few moments later, Christian and Ozzic walked into the tent. Christian was frowning.

"Djoser," he said. "Why did you try to poison me?"

"He won’t say anything," Edy said as he grabbed Djoser. "Allow me. I promise you I can give you a satisfying answer."