Entropy's Servant

Chapter 47 - Poison

Hello everyone, Astaroth here.
Betraying someone is such a stupid idea, isn't it?
If you fail, you've doomed yourself.
And yet, if you succeed, you've proven that you're potentially disloyal, thereby also dooming yourself.
Really, there're no positive outcomes to be had.

I looked at Tempest with half-lidded eyes. "... Why, exactly, do you wish to do such a thing?" I asked, trying to pull my hand free.

She refused to let go. "I have reason to believe you have been cursed, Master," she said, instead pulling my wrist closer to her. "Please hold still." I faintly registered the sound of a number of drakonids gulping.

"Hmph," I snorted, "fine. Do as you will."

She muttered an incantation faster than I would've thought possible, and soon, a magic circle had formed around my wrist. "[Identify Magic]," she said, activating the spell.

Her facial expression revealed her suspicions had been correct.

"[Curse of Languidity], [Curse of Sluggishness], [Curse of Restlessness], [Blessing to Sleepless Folk]..." She raised her face to look at mine, rather than at my wrist. "In more ways than one, I am surprised you are still standing, Master."

I looked at her in silence for several seconds. "So?" I asked after she remained motionless for a while. "Can you trace them to a source, or undo them?"

"I already know the source," she said. "One moment, Master." Once again, she muttered something, although it took a little longer than this time. The resulting magic circle covered the floor of the entire room, shining softly with purple light.

"[Area Dispel]," Tempest said.

The light shattered with a 'crack' as if it was made of glass, taking the magic circle with it--and any other currently active magic in its area of effect. In other words, every single spell in the room lost its effect and fell to pieces.

For one, I could feel the curses that had been cast on me were lifted. It was a weight both off my shoulders and off my mind, and finally realised how bad an idea it was to fight all the drakonid council at once while I was still tired.

Well, given I was no longer tired, I was now also confident I could handle them in my current state.

Perhaps more interesting, however, was the fact that at least half the drakonids had their horns halved in size and their confidence wiped off their faces. I blinked a few times. "You... You were using illusion magic to make your horns look bigger and to look more confident?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow and narrowing my other eye.

Not a single drakonid met my gaze head-on.

"Charlotte," I said, extending an arm to her. "Examine my physical condition."

"As you command, Milord," she responded, a sly smile on her face as she took her knife and rolled up my sleeve.

"Tempest. Which fool made the mistake of cursing me?"

"I located the necessary items to enact these curses in a number of the drakonids' tents, Master," she said, pointing loosely towards them. "My leading hypothesis is that they used the items either from a distance or while Master was sleeping."

"I see, I see," I said, narrowing my eyes and cocking my head back. "Well, as it turns out, they were rather willing to make an arrangement with me, no?"

"Milord, I have purified the poison in your bloodstream," Charlotte said, rolling my sleeve back into place. "There appeared to be several poisons, all commonly administered through food."