Chapter 58

【 Rebellion Organization: Rhaineus 】

Green liquid splashed onto my face, my hands, and around my neck.

It was only a few drops, but the effect appeared immediately.

“Ah……”

I could feel the muscles where the liquid had splattered start to stiffen, and soon I couldn’t feel the muscles all over my body.

“…Ha.”

It wasn’t just my muscles that stiffened—breathing itself gradually became difficult.

Before I realized it, I collapsed forward.

There was no strength left in my legs.

No, even the sensation in my legs itself was slowly disappearing.

“Gideon!”

When I fell, Lisa caught me with a startled voice.

It was the first time I’d ever seen her look so panicked.

“Lady Lisa…….”

“Are you okay?! What’s happening to you?”

“Hurry… stop them……. Ugh.”

Even though I had been hit by the special poison used by the Rhaineus organization, I had already prepared a countermeasure for it.

The feeling of my entire body stiffening and the difficulty of breathing were terrifying, but I quickly forced my mind to stay sharp.

“That… carriage… stop it…….”

I pointed to the carriage charging toward us.

It would’ve been ideal if Lisa could smash the carriage away with her greatsword, but she had already dropped it while catching me.

She seemed to realize it as well, glancing once between the charging carriage and me before saying—

“Hold on tight.”

She lifted me up and leapt to the side.

Thanks to that, we avoided colliding head-on with the carriage.

But that also meant the carriage carrying Team 3’s leader passed us by without a scratch.

“Good! Hey, Team 3! Retreat! Don’t get caught and head back!”

“Damn it……”

I tried to get up, but my body felt as heavy as stone.

And above all, I couldn’t feel anything.

It was my own body, yet it didn’t feel like it belonged to me.

“Damn.”

Lisa looked toward the carriage and the green-masked group escaping, then turned her head back to me.

“Gideon, don’t lose consciousness. I’ll bring the healers. Just hold on a little longer.”

“Lady Lisa. Listen to me… ah…”

Even my neck was stiffening; my voice came out weaker and weaker.

At best, I could only manage the bare minimum of words.

‘Calm down. I expected someone might get poisoned by this.’

That’s why I’d already made an antidote for it.

The antidote should be safely stored back in my dorm room.

‘But come to think of it… why did I take the poison in her place? If Lisa had been the one to get hit, I could’ve just given her the antidote and solved everything easily.’

Thinking about it rationally again, I couldn’t understand why I’d taken the poison for her.

It was like my body had moved on its own the moment Lisa seemed to be in danger.

‘…I really have changed a lot.’

If it were the old me, I would’ve just run away to save myself.

But after experiencing so many things in this world, something inside me had shifted.

‘I didn’t want to see Lisa get hurt.’

It seemed I had grown quite attached to her.

More than I’d realized.

Once this incident was over, I wanted to have a proper conversation with her—just the two of us.

But regardless, that would have to wait until later.

“The girl’s kidnapping… rebellion organization Rhaineus… hideout… southeast, beneath the Gryph Cliff Cave……”

I forced out the words with difficulty.

Even if I couldn’t say anything else, this much I had to deliver for sure.

The Rhaineus organization had to be stopped from resurrecting that massive hawk.

I trusted that Lisa would understand exactly why I was saying this.

“The poison… antidote is……”

I was going to say that the antidote was in my dorm—specifically, inside my bag.

But I couldn’t get those last words out.

Even my throat had lost all strength.

‘…Damn it.’

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

All I needed to do was tell her where the antidote was.

But since I couldn’t even manage that, I had a bad feeling everything was about to go wrong.

‘This poison kills a person in about twelve hours… will I be fine?’

I’d left the antidote in my room so it wouldn’t get damaged during battle, but I hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.

I never imagined I’d be the one poisoned.

Honestly, I thought if anyone got hit, it would be someone else.

I knew this poison well and had always been careful around it.

I was cautious to the end, but I didn’t think I’d go down this easily.

“Gideon, stay with me! Gideon! Gideon!”

Strength slowly drained from my body, and my consciousness began to fade with it.

I tried desperately to say where the antidote was, but no sound came out at all.

The last thing I saw was Lisa’s near-teary face and then, I lost consciousness.

—

“Luke.”

About an hour later.

The news that there had been an attempted kidnapping of Lysquare Academy students spread quickly, and when it turned out that one of the kidnappings had actually succeeded, chaos erupted.

After assessing the situation, the teachers contacted the Skedum Guard to report the incident.

While all that was happening, Lisa waited in the hotel lobby where the first-year students were staying.

As teachers and students alike panicked, she sat quietly in her chair.

When Luke finally appeared, she shot up from her seat and hurried toward him.

“How’s Gideon?”

“…There’s no point lying to you, is there?”

“You know me well.”

“Ha… It’s not good.”

Lisa trembled slightly at his reply, but she kept her expression as calm as she could.

“How bad is it?”

“The poison that got Gideon—it’s… according to the healers, an ancient toxin that disappeared hundreds of years ago. It doesn’t even have a name left. Its effect is to gradually shut down every organ in the body.”

“Then… does that mean he’ll die?”

“If he isn’t detoxified within about twelve hours, his life could be in danger.”

Lisa’s body began to tremble.

“What about the antidote method?”

“…There isn’t one.”

“What?”

“Even the healers… don’t know.”

Luke spoke with a sigh, and Lisa trembled again.

“There are almost no records left of that poison, so no one knows how to cure it. They barely managed to figure out what it does. Apparently, it can be cured with Tantalr, that universal remedy… but you know how rare that is.”

“Wouldn’t there be at least one person in this city who sells it?”

“I’m not sure. Tantalr is such a rare potion that finding it won’t be easy. And even if you do, you’d need at least two thousand gold coins just to maybe buy a bottle.”

“…Then does that mean Gideon will just slowly die over the next twelve hours?”

“The only faint hope left is that the organization itself might have an antidote.”

Luke’s face, however, looked uncertain.

“Since they carry the poison, it’s possible they have the antidote as well… but I can’t be sure. They might just have the poison.”

“Can I get more information about that organization?”

“I just heard from Jason earlier. It’s a group called Rhaineus. They’re a rebel force that the Empire crushed decades ago, but apparently, they weren’t completely eradicated.”

Lisa bit her lip slightly and asked in a calm voice.

“What’s their purpose? I heard they kidnapped a third-year girl.”

“About that, even the Hawkbat Family doesn’t know. For now, they’re investigating, so we’ll just have to wait……”

“Wait?”

Lisa’s voice rose slightly.

At the same time, her blue eyes turned a shade redder.

“Gideon’s about to die, and you’re telling me to wait? What if he really dies while we’re waiting?”

“Lisa, we’re doing everything we can. But first, we have to figure out where that group ran off to. It’s not easy. Even after interrogating the captured members, we’re not getting any useful answers… so until the Hawkbat Family finds something, we have no choice but to wait.”

“You mean, where they ran off to……”

“Why? Do you know something?”

“…No.”

“You have a habit of touching your thumbnail when you lie.”

At Luke’s words, Lisa flinched and clenched her fist.

Seeing that, Luke scratched his head and then nodded.

“Alright, I’ll take that as a no. But Lisa—whatever happens, don’t do anything stupid, understood?”

“…Don’t worry.”

“Alright. Anyway, you said you wanted to see Gideon?”

“Would that be okay?”

“Personally, I think it’s better if you don’t, but I can’t stop you. Second floor, second room on the left. I’ll call for you if we need your help, so please stay in the hotel if you can.”

“Yes, understood.”

After Lisa’s answer, Luke left the hotel.

Lisa, who remained in the lobby for a moment, soon headed toward Gideon’s room.

“…Ah.”

Because the healers had already been there, the room was a mess of medicine bottles and bandages.

But none of that entered Lisa’s eyes.

Her gaze was fixed solely on Gideon, lying in bed.

“……”

Lisa stared at Gideon in silence.

He was breathing painfully.

His shirt had been unbuttoned, allowing her to see the state of his skin.

“…It’s rotting.”

Large patches of Gideon’s body had turned a dark green, nearly black.

It looked like he was decaying.

Upon seeing that, Lisa collapsed to the floor.

“This is my fault. He saved me……”

She recalled the image of him leaping in front of her without hesitation.

“Every time… I’m always the one being helped.”

The last time, she’d been able to suppress her rampage thanks to Gideon.

And this time, she hadn’t been hurt because of him again.

“Yet I… couldn’t help him in any way.”

Lisa lowered her head in silence for a while, then slowly stood up.

Her eyes had now turned completely red.

“This time, I’ll save you. I’ll kill them all and somehow save you.”

Ever since Gideon had collapsed, Lisa had been barely holding onto her sanity.

It felt like she could explode at any moment, but she endured for Gideon’s sake.

Now, seeing him dying before her eyes, that thin thread of reason snapped.

Gideon—the first person who had shared blood with her.

Her fury toward those who harmed him consumed her completely.

“Yes. I’ll kill them all myself. I won’t take anyone’s help. I’ll do it with my own hands. That’s the only way.”

The place Gideon mentioned before losing consciousness—Gryph Cliff.

Lisa knew exactly where it was. According to Gideon’s words,

‘That’s their hideout.’

She had deliberately kept that information from Luke.

Because she wanted to destroy Rhaineus with her own hands.

Her rage against those who hurt Gideon clouded her judgment.

“Just wait a little longer, Gideon. I’ll kill them all and save you somehow. I’ll save you… and make sure you never get hurt again.”

Lisa gently stroked Gideon’s cold face.

Then, she picked up her greatsword from beside the door and walked out of the hotel.

Her crimson eyes gleamed with unmistakable madness.

After Lisa left Gideon’s room—

“Woof?”

A small Hellhound peeked its head out from Gideon’s shadow.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

After checking on Gideon’s condition, Siri slipped out from the shadow and scurried under the bed.

She turned her head, scanning the surroundings—

“Woof!”

The small Hellhound dashed straight toward Gideon’s bag.

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