Alter-Drug

Chapter 4 - Humiliation

Melissa's gorgeous face exuded a dangerous aura.

Carl pretended to look really panicky and gulped before asking, "Kill… who?"

"My fiancé, Viscount Heath," said Melissa flippantly. "If nothing goes wrong, he should already be waiting for me at Eisen Castle."

Carl remained silent for some time before saying, "But… an aristocrat like that would be protected by formidable knights, right?"

"He might have some, but he doesn't need them. He's a knight himself, and he's actually a stage four Starlight Knight," said Melissa with a sigh. "Even Milton and Ralph combined are no match for him."

Carl's lips twitched violently. How could he be able to kill such a powerful man? It was better to turn this offer down right now.

Melissa's pretty eyes seemed able to read minds. "You, on the other hand, are an apothecary. The drugs you make can save a life, but they can also reap a life."

"Poison?" Carl thought of the formulas he remembered reading in the tattered notebook as well as the knowledge he had from breakthroughs in modern science on Earth and felt that this might actually work. "Ordinary poisons might not be enough to kill him, so I'd need a large amount of herbs and other ingredients, then conduct some tests and experiments in a secluded area."

"Sure," replied Melissa without hesitation. "Once we get to Eisen Castle, I will give you what you've asked for. As long as you can kill Heath, not only will I give you the formula for the secret drug, but I will also request for a portion of the secret drug from my family and give it to you."

"Thank you for your magnanimity, Your Ladyship. May you look youthful and beautiful forever."

Once they had reached an agreement, Carl thanked Melissa and excused himself.

When he walked out of the tent, he realized that everyone was staring at him.

Carl walked toward one of the fires where the knights were seated.

Milton asked him directly, "Why did you look for the Countess?"

Carl smiled and came up with a random reason. "I'm a subordinate, so it's only natural for me to greet and report to her, right? What's the issue here?"

Everyone rolled their eyes at him. Nobody would believe such a reason.

After engaging in some small talk, Carl asked casually, "Mr. Milton, I hope you won't find me rude, but could I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" asked Milton with a smile. "As long as it's not something I'm sworn to keep in secret, I'm happy to answer any questions."

Carl thought about how he should phrase the question, then asked, "Can you tell me, in concrete terms, exactly how powerful you currently are?"

"Wait, what? Well, about that…" Milton did not expect that question and laughed awkwardly. "That question isn't easy to answer…"

"What do you mean 'not easy to answer'?" said Ralph. "Milton is now a stage three Starlight Knight, so his punch carries at least 5,000 kilograms of weight behind it. As long as he has weapons and a horse, then even if an army surrounds him, he'll be able to get out of the scuffle in one piece."

"That's assuming there are no superhumans in that army," added Milton.

"What about a stage four Starlight Knight then?" Carl went on to ask. "If we take Mr. Milton as our point of reference, how many of him will it take to defeat a stage four Starlight Knight?"

Everyone immediately exchanged glances with a knowing look on their face.

Ralph answered the question seriously, "Every time a knight makes a breakthrough to the next stage, their strength will increase tremendously, and so will their fighting abilities. In general, when put together, the increase in impact from the increase in strength and boost in abilities is not just simple addition, it's rather multiplicative…"

Milton said, "Hea—I mean, a stage four Starlight Knight can defeat at least ten of me." It was obvious that Milton had guessed why Carl was asking about stage four Starlight Knights.

Ralph scoffed and said, "But of course, we're not afraid of him. If we're really cornered, we can always self-implode and bring him down along with us. He'd definitely get hurt if we did that."

That was equivalent to using one's bravest tone of voice to talk about the most cowardly of actions.

"Thanks for enlightening me." Carl had a good grasp of the supernatural power levels now.

When Milton was still a stage two Starlight Knight, his body could already withstand such a powerful poison for such a long time. Therefore, a stage four Starlight Knight would definitely have a body that could withstand even greater amounts of toxins, and it might be quite difficult to poison him to death.

In any case, it was definitely a good choice to treat this viscount as someone extremely dangerous and formidable.

……

Two days later, they finally emerged from Zwart Forest. 

As the company rode past the ever-present trees, they saw more villages and towns on both sides of the road. There were also more merchants traveling through these roads and the area was definitely more developed there.

The group continued down the same road at top speed until a majestic castle finally came into view in the evening.

From afar, Carl could see that this castle sat in between two mountains, so it was very difficult for invaders to access the fortification.

Ralph introduced the place with great pride, "That castle up ahead is Eisen Castle. Two centuries ago, this place was nothing but a tiny fishing village. The Grand Duke of the third generation of the Karolins started off as the second son of the family, a baron with this fishing village as his fief.

"He put in a lot of effort to manage the place and developed the area over ten years, turning the fishing village into a port and a flourishing business. After thinking long and hard, the Second Grand Duke finally decided to make him the Third Grand Duke."

"In short, this is one of the Karolins' most important territories."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Carl went into deep thought. If this castle was really this important and had become Melissa's fief, did that mean that Melissa's loss in power was merely temporary and she had the resources to rise again?

A few moments later, he threw this idea out.

When the group neared the castle, they saw that the castle gates were shut fast. Soldiers stood along the walls, ready to defend the castle against any intruders.

Ralph instantly flew into a rage. "How dare you! The honorable Countess Melissa Karolin has arrived! Aren't you going to open the gates and fall on your knees to welcome her?"

After he made that shout, some squires raised their flags to reveal the emblem of the Karolin family on them.

The soldiers standing along the wall seemed a little confused as well.

However, after their commanders barked at them, the soldiers resumed their positions in silence again.

Something was very wrong here. Carl pondered the situation and realized that the other party was asserting their authority over Melissa.

It now seemed like Melissa's identity didn't mean much to Eisen Castle.

No matter how loudly Ralph continued to shout at the people guarding the castle, nobody paid him any attention and remained completely silent. Ralph was so angry that his face was all red and his eyes were bloodshot. He raised his long sword and yelled, "Milton!"

"Here!" Milton came forward and raised his spear as well.

"Come with me! We're going to kill our way in!"

Both men gave a low shout and a glow covered their bodies. Six faint stars with their many points appeared behind them and flickered brightly.

They exchanged glances and charged toward the castle gates.

At the same time, all the other squires left two knights behind to guard Melissa's carriage, ran to join Ralph and Milton and arranged themselves in a formation ready to fight.

There were only a few dozen of them, but they looked as fearsome as an army of a thousand men.

A murderous wrath filled the air.

Carl's heart was pounding wildly even as he was part of the group that was being protected. This was the first time he was going to see a medieval war with his very own eyes.

Just then, a few brilliant stars flew up from the walls of the castle.

The stars shone as brightly as the sun, and the most brilliant set of all was a set of four stars, which also exuded the highest level of authority.

More than a dozen knights appeared along the wall.

The one leading them was a tall and fairly handsome young man.

There were four stars behind him and he had a sword in hand as he looked down at Melissa's little army and threatened them, "Ralph! Milton! Are you here to lead a rebellion?"

"Viscount Heath!" Ralph pulled his horse back. Even though he was lower in rank to Heath, the knight did not back down at all. "Countess Melissa has arrived! Aren't you going to send someone out to receive her?"

"Hello Melissa. It's been a long time." Heath's icy voice suddenly became very gentle.

Everyone turned to look at the opulent horse carriage behind them. The curtains remained drawn and there was no response whatsoever.

Heath cleared his throat and explained in a loud voice, "Melissa, it's not that I don't want to open the gates to welcome you and your entourage in. It's just that the port has been attacked by pirates recently, so for the safety of the castle, I have declared that the castle gates are to remain shut to anybody, regardless of who it is, for the time being. It was my own decree, so if even I failed to abide by it, how could I expect my subordinates to abide by my orders? What do you think?"

His expression was earnest as he went on, "And I'm sure that as the owner of Eisen Castle, you will be able to understand why I'm doing this, won't you, Melissa?"

"Why, you…!" Ralph was furious and wished he could fling an ax at the man. How could Heath come up with such a lofty excuse to keep them out? Heath was obviously trying to make things difficult for Melissa in front of everybody else.

Heath raised both arms and continued speaking very unapologetically, "This lockdown will be lifted tomorrow morning. Once it's lifted, I will command the residents to throw a lavish banquet to welcome the owner of the castle home."

What an irony. Melissa was the owner of the castle, but she was not even allowed to enter her own house. How could she possibly stay in this place as the governor of this territory?

This was like a slap in the face. Heath was deliberately trying to humiliate Melissa.

Carl was really puzzled now. What great feud existed between these two? One was trying to kill her fiancé, while the other was embarrassing his fiancée in public. These two clearly hated each other to the bone.

Things had come to a standstill, so Melissa finally made a decision. "Let's go. We'll go to Tulip Manor."

"But…Your Ladyship!" Ralph had an indignant look on his face. He did not want to have to leave just like that.

"Let's go." Melissa's tone of voice left no room for negotiation. "If we continue to stay here, we will only continue to be humiliated."

"Yes, Your Ladyship." Ralph beat his chest with one fist angrily and the solid armor instantly dented in from the impact.

Everyone else left the castle with bowed heads, gritted teeth and a heart filled with fury.

A few-kilometer trip later, the group arrived at a beautiful estate that was next to a mountain and a river.

Over here, there was no problem at all. The gates to the estate were opened immediately and a group of maidservants fell on their knees respectfully on both sides of the road to welcome Melissa's carriage in. The place was probably Melissa's private property.

Once inside the manor, each person was allocated a place to stay.

Carl had received pretty good treatment, since he had gotten a room all to himself. The chamber had a decent bed with soft blankets, plus it was clean and even smelled like a flowery field basked in sunshine.

He had been traveling for days and it was hard to sleep soundly while camping in the wild, since dangers lurked everywhere. He was really exhausted, both mentally and physically, so he fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow.