Chương 21: Chapter 20: Expelling the Venom

The Evomon Kaien had summoned was a Black Hydra. It was an ugly viper with three heads, flicking its red tongue and baring its fangs at Yuto. Green saliva dropped to the floor and ate into the marble floor with a hiss. The contract with the creature had not been based on affection and trust. Kaien had only created it to kill his father, Rufus. The poison that had been given to Rufus had been a mixture of the Black Hydra's poison with various other poisonous herbs, at least.

The raw venom of the Black Hydra was so powerful that it could melt the human body upon contact.

"Kill those rats! All of them!" Kaien screamed like a madman. The contract with the Black Hydra was the most conclusive proof of all that he had poisoned his father. But Kaien was not capable of logical thought, driven into a corner by the terror Yuto caused him. There would be no problems if every witness was killed. If someone investigated the deaths later, he could claim Rivian had wanted the seat of the head of the house and hired a sewer rat to do her dirty work. The dead could not speak.

If his father died, and so did his sister, then the only valid choice for the next lord of the house would be Kaien. The Black Hydra hissed. Each of its three heads flew at Yuto and Rivian, tongues flickering. A single one of its heads was large enough to swallow the body of the fourteen-year-old Yuto in one bite.

"Aaahh!" Rivian screamed, but Yuto didn't even budge. It was Flokiro who reacted. He didn't seem at all intimidated by the creature, even though it was many times bigger than he was. He leaped into the air and reached the center head of his opponent with a single jump. An incredible noise filled the hallway. Flokiro's tiny legs had struck the head. It looked quite unreal, as if it were all just an over-the-top act.

A snake head that could have filled the entire corridor crumpled as if it had been struck by a massive hammer, and slammed into the floor. The Black Hydra screamed in pain. While the other two heads hesitated, confused, Flokiro settled on the central head, and once again his feet crushed the skull with a loud noise.

"Yuto," Flokiro said. His eyes were gleaming as he glared at the other heads of the Black Hydra.

"Leave this one to me. It should be an Evomon who handles the Evomon," he said. His voice was that of a playful little boy, but the eyes were those of a fierce warrior. Even though he had just said he was an Evomon, just like the Black Hydra, there were differences in level between Evomon as well. This snake-like creature could not even think properly and drooled nastily all over the floor as it tried to harm Yuto. Flokiro was different. He growled and pushed harder into the skull of the snake underfoot.

The skull was already crushed and now it was completely destroyed. There was a splattering noise and dark blood splattered across the hallway. The blood was also venomous, and the marble hissed and melted away as it released a terrible stink. Flokiro was not affected by any of it.

"Yes," Yuto said with a nod. Flokiro was a warrior whom Yuto had fought alongside through many battles, someone whom Yuto was willing to acknowledge. Flokiro could butcher most Evomon even in his basic form, without having to evolve at all. Not only that, Flokiro had been clearing dungeon after dungeon in the two years that had passed since they had been reunited, and Yuto had shared his ether with him.

Most people who summoned an Evomon only did so when it was unavoidable, such as a battle, since keeping them around had a continual ether cost. But Yuto had never sent Flokiro back once in the last two years. Yuto was not just a fighter; he was also an expert when it came to Evomon contracts. He knew that a sincere relationship with an Evomon and plenty of trust would slowly decrease the amount of ether it took to maintain the summoned state.

It would be impossible to build that trust if ether was an issue, and the user did not try to summon the Evomon at all. An Evomon gave up its freedom to enter into a contract, and if that was the case, it was only right for humans to repay them in kind. It was through such recompense that an Evomon could grow and evolve. Evomon were already different in terms of strength and level on their own, but there could be differences in this level of trust as well.

Yuto focused his ether on the crest of his contract, which was on the back of his hand. The ether he injected made Flokiro's body glow. When it came to Evomon battles, Kaien was no opponent at all. Not only did he waste ether by doing nothing after summoning his Evomon, but he did not even know the basic method of sending more ether to the Evomon in battle. This wasn't surprising. The Black Hydra only existed for the creation of the poison, after all.

There was no such thing as trust in this contract-based relationship. The Black Hydra had gained cozy safety and good food in return for leaving the dangerous and wild environment it usually occupied. It had fed on dozens of living slaves so far, fed to it by Kaien. The remaining two heads hissed with wild anger. An enraged scream echoed through the corridor.

The head on the left opened its mouth to spew out green poison, and the one on the right moved toward Flokiro with shocking speed, like it was the tip of a whip. The two heads left no room for evasion, but Flokiro scoffed.

"Too slow." The ether he had received from Yuto had enhanced all of his abilities. The attacks of the Black Hydra had never been hard to evade in the first place, but now they felt like they were in slow motion. Flokiro's form disappeared in a streak of red. The venom split the air and melted nothing but the floor, and the attack of the right head struck the spot where Flokiro had been without hitting its target. Soon, there was a soft sound—Flokiro had landed. But not on the floor.

Flokiro was running along the wall.

"Wh-what the heck...?" Kaien shouted in disbelief. It wasn't possible. How was such a tiny Evomon able to move like that? It moved as if gravity did not exist, with an explosive acceleration that was surprising, given how small it was. Flokiro reached the left head in no time at all. The head panicked and tried to spit out more venom, but Flokiro moved faster than that. Flokiro's hand was surrounded by red light.

"Goodbye." There was an explosion as bright red flames from Flokiro's hand burned the head. It did not even scream. Soon enough, it fell to the floor limp, fully cooked. The creature hissed. Only the right head remained now. It had just realized something after losing two of its heads in the blink of an eye. This tiny fox was no prey. It was a predator far stronger than it was. An instinctive fear filled the Evomon's brain.

The one remaining head trembled and tried to back away, already having forgotten the orders of its master. It did not have any of the trust that would have allowed it to counter its instincts either. The only thing in its head was the desire to run. But Flokiro was merciless. His entire body glowed red now. Having leaped from the wall, he reached the right head in no time at all. A fist loaded with ether struck the creature's head, and it was not a simple punch.

The dense ether got inside the head and exploded within the skull. It went off like a bomb. Now the creature had no heads left at all. The massive body squirmed a few times and soon crumpled to the floor weakly. Moments later, it was dead, and it vanished in a cloud of dark smoke, leaving only a small Evostone behind. A heavy silence filled the corridor. Flokiro landed on the floor, wiped the dust off his front paws, and spun around to face Yuto.

"It's done, Yuto," he said. He was so adorable and calm right then that it was hard to believe that he had just butchered the massive monster. He smiled, swaying his tail from side to side, and Yuto grinned back at Flokiro.

"Well done," Yuto said. He walked over and held out his fist to Flokiro, and they bumped fists lightly.

"Kaien Marigold," Yuto said. His eyes moved to the man who had been standing in the corner and trembling violently. Kaien flinched and cowered.

"Do you still want to stop me?" Yuto asked.

"No... No...!" Kaien was too terrified to even speak properly. He had just witnessed his last-ditch attempt, the Black Hydra, being killed by a single fox. But it wasn't just that fox that scared Kaien, but Yuto himself. This young boy was supposed to be a nobody. Kaien had mocked him just moments ago as a sewer rat. But once he began to feel fear of Yuto, suddenly Yuto's presence seemed to grow out of control. The cold eyes almost seemed ready to swallow Kaien's soul. There were some noises from the staircase.

The guards who had been blocking it at Kaien's orders had been defeated.

"L-lady Rivian?" The guards who belatedly arrived widened their eyes in shock. The corridor was a mess after the wall of flame, the corrosive venom, and the destruction. Kaien's knights were mangled and spread out on the floor.

"My brother, he..." Rivian said with difficulty. She glared at her brother with nothing but disdain.

"He tried to poison my father. My father's illness is because of what he did."

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked the guards, shocked. Kaien screamed at them.

"N-no! I did no such thing. This is all a plot by Rivian—""Kaien," Yuto whispered. Intimidating energy flew out from Yuto's body and made Kaien's hair stand on end. He began to hiccup, not realizing that he had wet his pants.

"Acknowledge your crime," Yuto said. Kaien received the impression that Yuto was whispering right next to him. The terror was extreme, as if he had a dagger at his throat.

"I... I tried... to kill my father..." Kaien admitted. He couldn't take it anymore.

"I formed a contract with the Black Hydra... and created a poison. I mixed it into my father's food without him knowing, slowly poisoning him... I... I wanted to replace him..." His stammered confession changed the looks on the faces of the guards. They had not been bought out by him and had sworn loyalty to House Marigold. Rivian didn't even have to give an order. They raced to him with their spears and swords and arrested him.

"Rivian," Yuto said as Kaien was captured.

"Let's go to your father."

"Oh... right! Of course," Rivian said, pulling herself together. * The stench of rot filled the air in Rufus Marigold's bedroom. On a massive bed lay a middle-aged man who was nothing but a bag of bones. His skin was ashen, and there were black, squirming veins that jutted from the skin like worms. The poison had coiled around his heart and was slowly draining his ether. Rufus Marigold, the great merchant who once ruled commerce in Merchant City, was dying.

None of his former health was visible, and he was dying in a truly undignified state. Rivian fought to hold back her tears.

"Th-the antidote... It's going to work... right?" Rivian asked cautiously. They had exposed the plot, and she had heard that it was a new kind of poison based on the venom of the Black Hydra. If they had known the cause, a proper antidote should have been possible to create.

"Are you suggesting you don't trust me? After everything that just happened?" Yuto asked with a scoff. Rivian gave a startled jerk and shook her head.

"N-no, that's not what I meant... I was just worried about my father..."

"If I don't inspire confidence, why don't you see for yourself?" Yuto held out the antidote to her. She wouldn't be able to recognize it, but she had created it in her obsession with the cure in the previous life.

"No... It's all right," Rivian said hesitantly. She shook her head.

"I trust you."

"I'll say it again, Yuto. I trust you. You exposed my brother's evil plot. Not only did you protect me from him, you defeated him." Rivian pulled herself together and bowed to Yuto.

"I don't think there will be any issues with the antidote that you brought. As the daughter of Rufus Marigold, I plead with you to please save my father."

"That's why I came," Yuto said with a faint smile. It had been a long-standing regret of Rivian's that she had not been able to save her father. Now that Yuto had come back in time, Rivian would never have to hold that regret again. Kaien would not become the head of the family, and Rufus would remain alive. Yuto approached Rufus slowly.

"Help him sit up. He's going to spasm violently, so hold on to him," he said. Yuto could have used Void Hand for this, but he didn't bother. It was a kindness he was doing for Rivian, who had done her best to save her father so far.

"Y-yes!" Rivian did as she was told, pulling her father up with trembling hands. Her father's skin was burning hot and made her fingers flinch. Could that tiny vial really cure her father, who was so terribly ill? She was worried about this, but she bit her lip and said nothing. She did not know who this Yuto was exactly, but she was resolved to trust him. It was the only choice she had anyway, and there was an air about Yuto that made her trust him easily.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Yuto approached Rufus slowly and opened the vial without hesitation. The antidote that Rivian Marigold had created in the past life was not based on obsession and hunches alone. In that other world, Kaien had become lord of House Marigold, but Rivian had rebelled against him and taken the seat away from him with Yuto's help. Kaien had run away after that, eventually killing himself.

But one of his knights—Neil, the one Yuto had knocked down earlier—had confessed in response to torture overseen by Rivian. That gave her proof that the poisoning had been performed with the Black Hydra's poison. Rivian had done multiple experiments after that to make a cure and shared it with Yuto. Just as Rivian trusted the current Yuto now, Yuto had trusted Rivian in the past life. He didn't hesitate for a single moment and poured the antidote into Rufus's mouth.

The moment the liquid traveled down Rufus's throat, Rufus's limp body spasmed like that of a fish freshly caught. The dark veins all over his body expanded and pulsed as if they would burst, and a red and blue glow came from under the skin, as if two forces were at war.

"F-Father?! Yuto, are you sure about this?" Rivian screamed, throwing her arms around her father.

"The poison is leaving him. Hold on to him even more tightly if you don't want to ruin this, and inject him with your ether," Yuto said. She was confused, but she gripped her father's shoulders tightly and did as she was told. A light red ether surrounded her hands, and the warmth seeped into Rufus's body. Black smoke began to rise from Rufus's pores. A terrible smell, like that of flesh burning, filled the room.

The vicious venom of the Black Hydra that had been in Rufus's body, as well as the poison of various herbs, was being expelled from his body after being neutralized by the antidote.

"Aaaah!" Rufus let out a terrible scream. Rivian held her father tight, tears dripping from her eyes. She prayed that her father would live. After the intense fit passed, Rufus's body went limp; the only sounds to be heard inside the room were now his rapid breathing.

"F-Father?" Rivian asked, feeling her father's cheek with a shaky hand. Rufus's eyes fluttered rapidly, and slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes. The eyes, which had been so blackened that the whites of them would not show, were slowly recovering their clear appearance, and the ugly black veins were already gone. Her father, who had been so close to dying, had come back to life. It brought a smile to Rivian's face.

"M-my lord...!" The knights and servants who had been watching nervously exclaimed in joy and kneeled. Rivian sobbed and hugged her father.

"Father... Oh, Father!"

"R-Rivian?" Rufus rasped. The poison was gone now, but he had been ill for so long that his voice was weak. Good. Yuto sighed and backed away. The tragedy of the past life would not be repeated in this house. Rufus was not dead, and the house was safe. Yuto had achieved what he had come to. Rufus's mind was clear even though he had just escaped a long-lasting affliction. Even if he had no energy in him, he had once ruled over Merchant City as the lord of the house.

He quickly steeled his mind and began to figure out what was happening.

"What happened to me?" he asked. Rivian was the person who answered him. She informed him that he had been bedridden for months because of poisoning, extremely close to death all that time. She also informed him that it had been his son, of all people, who had been behind the poisoning.

"Ahh..." Rufus seemed to despair when he heard everything. It tormented him that his son had done such a thing to him. But he did not wallow in the emotion. He was the lord of the house before he was Kaien's father.

"So you saved me," Rufus said, watching Yuto after forcing his emotions to be still. He sat on the bed with Rivian's help and was weak, but he still had the dignity of a lord.

"Not only did you protect my life, but you guarded the honor of my house. You said your name was Yuto?"

"Yes," Yuto said with a slight bow. Rufus smiled faintly.

"Yuto. You did my house a great favor. I swear on my name and the honor of my house that I will give you anything you ask." It was a blank check from House Marigold itself, something anyone would be happy to receive in Merchant City. But Yuto shook his head without feeling.

"We can discuss that at a later point. There is something we have to check first," he said.

"Check?" Rufus asked.

"It's about Kaien Marigold." Yuto looked up, his eyes frosty and cold, and it made Rufus flinch. It wasn't just because of the mention of the son who had betrayed him. The boy's eyes were so sharp and powerful that they intimidated even Rufus, who had faced many strong and important men as the head of his family.

"Kaien Marigold is a useless man. I doubt that someone like him could have formed a contract with that Evomon on his own and created that complicated poison. Somebody was working with him." The Black Hydra did not travel in packs or mingle with the city folk. It was a wild Evomon, and dangerous. Not only that, it lived very far away from Merchant City. How had he found one and formed a contract with it? Not only that, there was no trust between him and the creature. Had he forced it into submission on his own?

It was difficult to think that this was possible. From what Yuto had seen, Kaien Marigold did not have the skill or the guts. Somebody else was involved, controlling Kaien from the shadows. Yuto had suspected something like this even before he returned to the past, but Kaien had killed himself while on the run, and it had been impossible to find out more. Rufus shut his eyes, lost in thought, but not for long. His son had done the unthinkable and attempted to poison his own father.

Rufus still loved his son, but he could not allow that love to cloud his judgment. He soon opened his eyes and nodded.

"I understand, but I am unable to move around at the moment and cannot interrogate my son directly. So Rivian, please go down to the dungeon with Yuto and question him."

"Yes. Yes, I will," Rivian said, nodding and pulling herself together. Rufus gazed at Rivian and Yuto with trust in his eyes.

"You're free to question him in whatever way you prefer, even if it involves torture. I give you every right," Rufus said. He intended to give Yuto, who had saved him, the maximum amount of trust. This boy with a mysterious air was not only his savior. Something about him made Rufus think he did not want to oppose him. Rufus trusted his instincts.

"Understood," Yuto said with a nod. He turned away and walked out of the room. Flokiro followed him, and Rivian hurried after him as well.

"L-let me show you the way to the dungeon," she said. It was unnecessary, to be honest, since Yuto had already visited this mansion in the past. But he nodded and followed her lead. There was no need to raise unnecessary suspicions. * The humid dungeon stank of mold and steel, unlike the ornate mansion above. Yuto followed Rivian down a set of stairs lit by flickering torches. Rivian was pale, but her eyes were determined.

"Lady Rivian?" asked a guard at the bottom of the stairs. He seemed confused for a moment, but bowed when he recognized her.

"I've come to see Kaien," she said icily. The guard turned away to show her to the cell right away. The dungeon already held the soldiers and knights who had done Kaien's bidding.

"This way," the guard said. At the far end of the corridor was a solitary cell with a heavy iron door. The guard handed them the keys and walked away. Yuto glanced inside and heard a scream. It was Kaien. The foolish voice made Yuto click his tongue, and Rivian also frowned as she unlocked the cell. Deep inside the dark cell was Kaien, looking disheveled, and lying on his stomach. Both his arms and legs were bound by heavy chains, and he stank of urine. He moaned, managing only to lift his head.

Then he cowered back. He had already witnessed Flokiro tear his Evomon apart with his bare paws and Yuto strike Neil down as if he were a housefly. It had embedded deep fear inside Kaien's head.

"L-let me out..." Kaien begged anyway, with a sad look on his face.

"I-I'm the eldest son of House Marigold... I don't deserve to be treated like this..."

"Kaien, don't you get it?" Rivian asked with a hateful look on her face. Kaien flinched.

"Rivian... Rivian. I can explain... This is all a misunderstanding. Please, just listen to what I have to say." He began to snivel and ramble, even though the questioning hadn't even begun. Yuto didn't know what to think. This fool had gotten it into his head to take control of his family. No wonder the house had been ruined so quickly in the past.

"Kaien," Yuto said. He moved past Rivian and strode toward him. Kaien shrieked, twisted, and tried to move back, but the weight of his chains prevented that.

"Answer my questions truthfully," Yuto said.

"Wh-what questions?" Yuto's foot struck Kaien in the chest. Kaien screamed and vomited. Yuto lifted his foot again, and this time pushed it softly down on Kaien's head. The sweaty and dusty face was now smeared against the smelly and disgusting vomit.

"No... No..." He felt as though his skull was about to break, and he squirmed against the pain. Yuto whispered in a frosty voice.

"The Black Hydra does not live near Merchant City. And you are not nearly strong enough to subdue one and force it to enter a contract with you."

"Ugh..."

"Who gave it to you?" Yuto leaned forward.

"Tell me who aided you."

"Th-that's..." Kaien's eyes filled with panic. He was now feeling a fear that was different from the sort Yuto gave him.

"I-I can't tell you that... All I can say is that it's all a misunderstanding..."

"You still don't get it, do you?" Yuto sucked his teeth and cast Void Hand. A dark hand appeared at Yuto's back and gripped Kaien's arm. There was a nasty crunch as Kaien's arm twisted. Kaien screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Are you scared of reprisal from someone who isn't even here?" Yuto asked. Kaien groaned.

"I guess you don't fear me, then, even though I'm right here in front of you." Yuto scoffed and moved the other Void Hand. Kaien yelled and tried to get away, but there was no point in trying. Soon it grabbed the left arm and snapped it like it was a twig. The whites of his eyes showed, but Kaien could not lose consciousness, though he would have preferred it. Rivian approached with a pale face and held out her hand to her brother. Her ether healed him, bringing his mind back from the edge of unconsciousness.

"Ugh... No..." His pain was clear, but he could not pass out, even if he wanted to, and it nearly drove him out of his mind. The Void Hands that had snapped his bones now grabbed his legs.

"If you want to continue with your nonsense, you will leave me no option but to make you want to tell me the truth. This time, it won't be as clean as it was with your arms," Yuto whispered, patting Kaien's head.

"I'll start with your toes. I'll snap them one by one. If you don't give in, I'll move on to your calf bones, then your thighs. Then it'll be your ribs. Once I run out of bones to break, I will pluck out your eyes." Yuto was not bluffing, of course. The Void Hands pulled off the shoes and gripped a pinkie toe.

"My only role today is to question you. It will be your father, whom you tried to kill, who will pass judgment on you." Kaien's eyes widened. Maybe his father would take pity on him. Right now, such pointless hope was all he had to lean on.

"A-all right. I'll tell you, so please, take these hands away..."

"I see you still don't understand. You're not in a position to request anything of me at all." The Void Hand broke the small toe. Spittle flew out of his mouth, and he shook his head from side to side.

"Aaah! Aaah! I-it was the merchants! Black market merchants!" Kaien screamed. Yuto's eyes flashed.

"Merchants?"

"Th-they wanted to expand into Merchant City... He asked for my full support once I became head of my family... A-and to turn a blind eye to his business..." Kaien gasped, tears streaming down his face.

"If I agreed... he would help me replace my father... by creating a poison nobody could detect! Then he made me form a contract with a Black Hydra." Yuto figured out the truth immediately. The black market merchant, wanting to do business in Merchant City, had plotted with Kaien. He had even made the young man form a contract with the Evomon which was not strictly necessary to ensure that Kaien would never betray him. And through this partnership, Kaien had fed Rufus the Dark Death Toxin.

"I... didn't want to do it. It was all the black market merchant's plan. He even brought me the food for the Black Hydra..."

"The food?" Yuto asked.

"S-slaves. Human slaves. The Black Hydra only eats humans..." A Void Hand moved, breaking all of Kaien's toes at once—in fact, crushing his feet. Kaien shrieked. Yuto watched him with eyes full of hatred. In his previous life, it had been illegal to use slaves at all, because he had abolished slavery within Velkyne while he was its prince. But even in that world, slaves had been traded in secret. It was because of the black market, created by a certain Eclipse in the dark corners of every major city.

In this current world, slavery did exist. The trades that had been performed in the dark were now done confidently in the open. But even in this world, slaves were just used for labor, not fed to Evomon. That was treating them like livestock, ignoring the rights given to slaves by law. The details provided by Kaien clued Yuto in as to who was behind this.

"I... I only did what they wanted..." Kaien said, sobbing.

"What the black market merchants wanted... and their master desired..." The moment he said these words, a tattoo shaped like a black chain appeared around his neck. The chain tightened and squeezed. He screamed. Blood spurted from his mouth like a fountain. The tattoo had already burst his carotid artery and crushed his airway, but it didn't stop. Soon there was a nasty breaking noise, and his head lolled strangely to the side. He had said something he shouldn't have, and for that reason, he had been executed.

Rivian screamed, and Yuto's eyes turned cold. His suspicion had just been confirmed. He knew the master of the black market merchants, the ruler of every black market in existence. It's the Broker. He thought of the name of that Eclipse and ground his teeth.