System vs Rebirth

"Noel?!"

Noel clicked his tongue and said with a pale face. "I'm fine. Wait a bit."

He could feel that the toxin efficacy gradually decreased from his body. If he continued this way, he should be able to recover. Even though the poison could sever the connection between him and the spirit, the poison couldn't stop Ardagan from doing his job.

After all, Ardagan was a living spirit. Unlike Heisk who could only remain in the Spirit Seal, Ardagan had its physical form.

Ardagan used this chance to burn all the toxin. The process took a few minutes before Noel took a deep breath to calm his fuzziness.

"This is quite dangerous." Noel muttered while furrowing his eyebrows.

"Noel, what happened to you? Why did you drink it?"

"That's not important. I have to tell you something. I'm going to drink this again and pretend to be drugged. Meanwhile, you're going to follow whoever takes my body because it'll surely lead to the end place."

"Drugged?"

"Yeah. There are three drugs: one for numbing my body, one for making me unconscious, and one for severing the connection to my Spirit, stopping me from using the Spiritual Energy. That's why this is gonna be dangerous."

"Severing the connection to your Spirit and stopping you from using the Spiritual Energy?" Anna dropped her jaw to the ground as if she realized something. She asked, "Is that related to Fagant Leaf?"

"How do you know?" Noel was dumbfounded once again.

Anna's expression became serious as she thought, 'Fagant Leaf Incident. It caused the collapse of Marquis Laplace's territory. There was a territory war between Marquis Laplace and Earl Anderson and it was said that Marquis Laplace couldn't do anything against him because his soldiers had no power left to defend themselves.

'After a while, this incident was called Fagant Leaf Incident because Fagant Leaf was found in the alcohol the soldiers drank when they celebrated a small victory. Then, is this truly a territory war instead of the Supreme Devil Organization?'

Anna contemplated for a moment on how to address this issue to Noel. After a while, she began to explain, "Do you know there is a dispute between Marquis Laplace and Earl Anderson?"

"Is this related to it?"

"Yes. Fagant Leaf was supposed to be extinct five hundred years ago. No, it could be said that they were forced to go extinct because of their dangerous characteristic."

"Extinct…" Noel understood the reason why Ardagan recognized it. He came from a thousand years ago, so he must have recognized this herb when traveling with his ancestor. Still, the fact that the extinct herb would make another appearance again meant something was suspicious here. "Who has the herb now? Since we're in the Marquis Laplace's territory, is it him?"

"No. I believe it's Earl Anderson. He has been suspicious for a while because he hasn't done anything during the past three years. Unless you're a noble who doesn't care anything about your territory, you will do something for better or worse."

"Interesting." Noel narrowed his eyes and noticed something. "So, it's not related to the Supreme Devil Organization?"

"I don't know now. I'm afraid I have been mistaken."

"Say, don't you think this is a bit too suspicious?"

"What do you mean?"

"Earl Anderson is the supporter of the current royal family while Marquis Laplace leans to the third prince, right?"

"!!!" Anna widened her eyes in shock. Noel's hints truly gave everything she needed to connect them. "Then, are you telling me that the Royal Family is the one…"

"No, it could also be the other way around just to make the Royal Family look bad. Hence, I'm going to drink this again and infiltrate their base of operation. I want you to do something else for me."

"What is it?"

"Follow me and get some help."

"…" Anna fell silent, worried about him. At the same time, this case might be far more dangerous than they could imagine. So, they needed some help.

Shale had mentioned that there was a branch of the Demon Banner Army one city away from him. If she rushed right now, she could return to this city within half a day.

"So, what do you think?" Noel asked.

"I can go back here within twelve hours. I'll immediately leave to get some help after I confirm where you're going."

Noel smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Alright. I should be able to buy that much time."

"I understand." Anna sighed.

Noel then grabbed the alcohol and used Heisk power to purify this drink. After that, he grabbed two glasses from the drawer and poured the drink for two.

He forced the unconscious Melia to drink slowly. She didn't have to drink the whole thing, since some was enough to get rid some of the suspicion. Meanwhile, Noel also drunk a bit, which didn't have any impact to his body.

Noel then laid down Melia at the edge of the bed while he also sat down on it, preparing to lie down.

Anna opened the window again to leave.

However, Noel looked at her for a while as if he had some thoughts. Noel knew that it was impossible for him to reach the neighboring town within six hours. It meant Anna was preparing to use her full strength to go back and forth. It would put a strain on her body, but she dared to do it because of him.

Noel couldn't help but say, "Anna. Thanks. I'm glad that I went with you in this mission."

Anna's body trembled when she heard that. She almost slipped from the window.

When she turned her head, she saw Noel have started pretending to be unconscious, hiding his embarrassment from saying all those words. However, that statement put a smile on Anna's face.

No matter how hard she tried to contain that smile, it wouldn't leave her face.

Anna leaped to the top of the building next door while observing Noel's movement from the window. She felt a bit more excited in this mission that she couldn't help but say, "I'm fired up."