Poisoner

Chapter 5

The successive blows left Count Raymond deeply disappointed in his son. Yet after his disappointment, he worked even harder.

Don't misunderstand. He no longer had the heart to waste effort on such a talentless idiot of a son. Instead, the count directed his "hard work" toward his beautiful countess.

Since this son was already useless, he was destined to be incapable of inheriting the family or carrying it forward. So... he had to work hard and have another son!

A month of diligent sowing in the countess's bed finally bore fruit. Before long, the countess was pregnant again, and in the winter of the following year, Count Raymond got his wish: a second son.

While the entire count's estate celebrated this happy occasion, Du Wei remained in his room, diligently reading the hard-won books on "magical pharmacology."

Thank heavens, Mage Clark's final words before leaving had still proven effective. Thinking, What could possibly get any worse?, the count simply allowed his idiot son to study magical pharmacology.

For nearly several whole months, the count had no interest in visiting the son who had utterly disappointed him. Even the countess, who had once been loving toward Du Wei, had to reduce her visits because of her pregnancy and impending delivery.

The day after his mother gave birth to his younger brother, a servant led Du Wei to the count's room, where he visited his weak mother after childbirth and his little brother.

It was clear that the count was very satisfied. Like the Roland Family tradition, this newborn son cried loudly and powerfully. Though he had only just been born, one could already tell that he would grow up strong and healthy.

Count Raymond had no interest in even looking at this useless son again. After a perfunctory greeting, he waved him away. Though the countess lying in bed felt somewhat distressed, the newborn's cries happened to draw away her attention.

Du Wei quietly withdrew. Behind him were the count's satisfied laughter and the infant's cries. Though his heart had long gone numb, Du Wei still could not help feeling a trace of loss.

He reminded himself inwardly, Don't let your imagination run wild. You're not from this world. He isn't your father... and she... she isn't either...

Thinking of that stormy night, when this beautiful woman had knelt bitterly before the goddess's statue all night for his sake, Du Wei felt a pang of sorrow and shook his head hard.

Trying to banish the distracting thoughts from his mind, Du Wei could only turn all his attention to studying.

There was no denying that Du Wei remained extremely interested in this world's magic. Although Mage Clark had determined that he had no talent, Du Wei, unwilling to accept it, still clung to a faint hope. And naturally, the count's estate possessed a considerable collection of books, many of them related to magic.

After reading numerous books, Du Wei had to admit that Mage Clark was right: he truly had no talent for becoming a mage. Even if he sat there for an entire day and night, he could not sense the slightest fluctuation of magical elements. Once, he had even fallen asleep without realizing it.

Still unwilling to give up until he reached the Yellow River, Du Wei shifted his efforts to the "magical potion-making" Mage Clark had mentioned.

Because, it seemed, magical potion-making was also a kind of magic. And potion makers could barely be considered a kind of mage. Though only after asking the servants did Du Wei learn what status this so-called "kind of mage" actually held in the eyes of people in this world.

In this world, people might say that potion makers were a kind of mage, and even the Magic Association had publicly confirmed it in black and white. But in reality, people's true thoughts were: "This counts as being a mage?"

Magical pharmacology, as the name implied, was the study of how to concoct various magical potions.

After hearing enough about it, Du Wei came up with a fitting comparison. If it were compared to the medical field in his previous world, then true mages were like doctors from every department in a hospital. Potion makers... at best, they were little nurses assisting the doctors. Though both worked in the same hospital, the nurses' status and income were far inferior to those of real doctors.

Yet after studying it carefully, Du Wei developed a great interest in magical pharmacology!

To him, it was an entirely fresh field.

For example... how could the eyeballs of a Dorog Jumping Frog, combined with Purple Wormwood, be made into a potion that temporarily rendered someone mute? Or how could the saliva of a Stafen Sword-Ruler Dragon, mixed with clover and the liver of a Keke Triangular-Scale Fish, be ground into a powder that turned people to stone?

Or take a substance extracted from Fire-Scale Grass. Once dried and crushed into powder, it could be scattered anywhere to instantly cause combustion!

The only problem was that, among the names of those animals and plants—especially things like "jumping frogs," "sword-ruler dragons," "Keke Triangular-Scale Fish," and "Fire-Scale Grass"—nine out of ten were things Du Wei had never even heard of.

Like what?

This was practically another world's chemical system!

Du Wei had never imagined that magic could be explained this way!

Potions that made people mute, potions that turned people to stone, potions that caused combustion... interesting, wasn't it?

To Du Wei, the profession of potion maker was actually more like that of a physician. The difference was that physicians saved people, while potion makers were better at producing poisons that harmed them.

What Du Wei did not know was that this thought happened to match this world's evaluation of magical potion makers: poisoners.

Days passed one by one. Du Wei remained immersed in magical pharmacology. However, his knowledge could still only remain theoretical, on the pages of books. After all, the many strange and unusual raw materials mentioned in magical pharmacology could not be found even in the estate of the Roland Family, a noble and wealthy household.

Only the laboratories of true mages stocked such materials. And in the field of magic, potion makers were usually assistants and errand-runners for those real mages.

Moreover, even if he was the count's son, no one dared provide such dangerous magical ingredients to a child so young!

Six years passed without notice. During those six years, Du Wei's younger brother grew up robustly. Compared with idiot Du Wei, this child named Gabri was far more like a typical descendant of the Roland Family.

Du Wei's younger brother had been healthy and lively since childhood. At six years old, he had already begun training under Alpha, the captain of the guards and a swordsman. It was said that the captain thought highly of the count's second son. Nearly everyone in the estate regarded him as the future hope of the Roland Family! And the count had clearly poured all his affection into his second son. He had even decided that in another two years, when Gabri turned eight, he would formally teach him the Roland Family's inherited martial arts and battle aura!

The servants' affection, the captain's praise, his father's concern— even the tutor hired to teach him the basics believed that the count's second son was highly gifted. It was even said that, for the family's future, the count had decided to form a marriage alliance with a certain family in the Imperial Capital and arrange a distinguished match for his son, who was only six years old!

Outside of all this, Du Wei, the eldest son of the family, was forgotten in a corner.

The count rarely saw his eldest son even once a month. Only the countess would often come secretly to visit him. Sometimes at night, she would come barefoot in her nightclothes to Du Wei's room, hold her pitiful child, sing him lullabies, and coax him to sleep.

Only at such times would Du Wei's heart soften. Sometimes, he had to pretend to be asleep to escape moments that made him want to cry. More often than not, the countess's tears and sighs accompanied him into sleep.

Finally, when Du Wei was thirteen and his younger brother Gabri was seven, news arrived. It was also the count's final decision!

Beginning next year, he would personally teach Gabri martial arts and the Roland Family's inherited ultimate techniques. At the same time, Count Raymond had made a marriage agreement with the empire's Minister of Finance. The two families, allies in the political arena, would deepen their cooperation through this marriage, and Gabri's future wife would be the granddaughter of the current Minister of Finance of the Empire, who was nine years old!

In fact, there were also rumors that this marriage had been arranged long ago! It had supposedly been decided even before Gabri was born! Only, the one originally meant to marry the finance minister's daughter had been Du Wei! But now Du Wei was considered a hopeless idiot, so the marriage alliance bearing the responsibility of the two families' union had been transferred to his younger brother, the genius Gabri!

As for Du Wei...

On a dark and windy night, he left the Imperial Capital in a carriage. His destination was the Roland Family's territory in Kote Province in the southern part of the empire! The public announcement was that "Young Master Du Wei, now thirteen and nearing adulthood, would go to the family territory to oversee the family business."

But in truth, Du Wei understood clearly: he had been banished.

Overseeing the family business? That was nothing but a joke. Everyone knew that the family's important enterprises were in the Imperial Capital, the empire's political center! And the businesses in the family territory... those farmlands? Those farmers? Those taxes? A few stewards were all that was needed to handle them!

In fact, Du Wei had received definite news that he would likely leave the count's estate for good and live in some rural ancestral residence in the southern Kote Province! And... without the count's summons, he could forget about returning to the Imperial Capital for the rest of his life!

Everyone understood that the title of "heir to the Roland Family" had been transferred from Du Wei to his seven-year-old genius brother.

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