Chapter 606: An Act Of Kindness?
Chapter 606: An Act Of Kindness?
"What? We are getting free healing potions?" an adventurer muttered in shock as the rumour spread through the caravan in an instant.
"Ohhhh! Now I understand why the City Lord of Tilgarth is known as a generous and good man!"
"Yeah, it’s not the first time he has helped us poor people."
Apparently, when the city lord heard the news about the caravan being ruthlessly attacked by beasts along the way, leaving many people injured, he decided to distribute healing potions to everyone to help them.
And this was not the first time people had been helped in this manner.
Many people had received stamina potions, mana potions, and speed potions from the city as gifts for coming there.
"Haha, no wonder God has gifted the city lord such a great secret realm and helped him prosper his territory."
"Yeah!"
People openly sang his praises, and Leo even saw Patric’s party visibly relieved at the news because healing their wounded bodies would have cost too much, making it difficult to profit from this escort mission.
Freebies? In this cruel world? Leo internally contemplated.
It was either that the city lord was truly a rare good man, or there was something else going on beneath the surface. It might have been a tactic to attract more people to his territory and boost the city’s economy, but Leo knew it was far from that.
Because he already had information that the entire city was rotten to the core under the demons’ influence.
In other words—
There is definitely something mixed in the potions... Leo inferred.
People eagerly waited to enter the city gates to receive the potions and heal their injuries. Even those who had looked nearly dead suddenly had life breathed back into them.
Slowly, one by one, people had their IDs checked and entered the city along with the caravan. They were then guided to the side by soldiers, where everyone was made to stand in a queue.
But unfortunately, to get the healing potions, everyone had to stand in line. Even a man whose legs were nearly destroyed forced himself, with the help of his companion, to remain in the queue just to receive a healing potion.
There was only one line and one window from which the healing potions were distributed.
Leo found it strange as he tried to figure out the situation while standing in line, forcing his entire body weight onto Lily and pretending he couldn’t even stand on his own. Lily, of course, pretended to struggle terribly as she continuously tried to support his weight.
It was strange because having soldiers distribute the potions individually would have been much faster and would have spared the severely injured people like Evan and Shreya the trouble of standing in line.
Not to mention, the guards around the adventurers’ queue even made sure everyone drank the potion the moment they received it.
The officials gave a simple, logical explanation—
They didn’t want any greedy soldier pocketing healing potions, and they made sure the adventurers consumed them immediately so they wouldn’t save them for later or try selling them, which would be a misuse of the city’s grace.
It wasn’t until Leo was only four people away from the counter that he felt a familiar aura behind the counter. Though hidden from view, he could clearly tell it was Lamar.
Leo tried using his [Spiritual Sense] to perceive what was happening inside.
It was then that he realised Lamar was secretly instructing the man behind the counter to hand out different potions depending on the person receiving them.
When it was Leo’s turn, he felt Lamar stop the man and tell him to switch the vial.
They are targeting specific people... Leo concluded as he and Lily drank the potion in front of everyone.
Leo and Lily had been observing other people of their strength level having their wounds healed; so they used their healing skills with the same intensity to close their injuries so it would appear as though the healing potion had worked.
They needed to do that because the healing potions were far too low-level to have any effect on their bodies. That also meant whatever had been mixed into the potion—according to the professor, most likely a sedative—would be equally useless against them.
Leo kept his [Spiritual Sense] active to sense more from inside the cabin.
And like he had guessed: the potion he and Lily received was one that was only rarely distributed to others—in other words, the adulterated potion.
Even Patric’s party received the adulterated potions. From Leo’s estimate, only around 20% of the people received them.
So they target only a few people to avoid raising suspicion... Leo thought.
Because if, out of the 130 people who remained alive, 100 suddenly collapsed, it would undoubtedly raise suspicion. But if only 20 or 30 collapsed, it could simply be blamed on overexertion before they entered the secret realm, followed by their deaths inside it.
Now I am curious how they secretly bring unconscious bodies out of the secret realm without getting noticed by other people...
It was the first time Leo and Lily were completely surrounded by enemies, yet instead of feeling anxious, they became more excited for the upcoming events.
After everyone had received their healing potions, the Varthi’s City Lord’s son addressed the crowd.
"I am truly grateful to all of you who helped me safely travel through that treacherous path and escorted me to Tilgarth. And of course, to those who died, you have my deepest condolences." He then gestured toward his twenty or so attendants.
"My men have seen and recorded all of your heroic deeds that helped the caravan safely reach its destination. Please visit your designated guilds tomorrow to receive your promised payment, along with additional rewards based on the contribution you made. And of course—" He pointed toward the six carriages filled with the fresh beasts hunted along the way.
"Go collect the hunts you killed."
People immediately rushed forward to claim their beast corpses. Though there were a few disputes over ownership, they were quickly resolved when the City Lord’s son’s attendants brought out their records.
As for Leo and many others, they had simply extracted the beast cores, crystals, and valuable organs to sell separately, then sold the corpses to the City Lord’s son. The payment for those would be included with the rewards they would receive the following day.
With that, people finally dispersed to explore the city and find an inn to rest as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon.