The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 44: Hunting Snakes and Brewing Poisons

Victor moved fast through the forests, following the black fate thread he was tracking with his skill, He activated it earlier when he spotted Jacob at the mansion.

He stayed away from the highways to avoid any security cameras, and kept on going for half an hour until he reached a faraway community, he quickly felt the thread’s connection getting stronger.

Jacob was nearby, he could feel it.

He activated his disguise skill, and soon turned into a tall youth, with a pretty face, sword-like eyebrows, and purplish red long hair, arranged in a ponytail. Then out of the forest.

He smiled as he saw his reflection on a nearby storefront window. Now let’s continue.

If Nick saw him like that he would think that this was the man who ordered him to kill Victor.

He didn’t hide anymore but didn’t show himself either, just walked as if he was trying to hide, making sure to be captured only on a few faraway cameras, and avoiding the obvious ones.

And soon he reached an abandoned apartment building. He went in silently after checking that there was no one is around, then went upstairs to the fifth story where the thread stopped pointing up, when he reached a certain apartment he sneaked in silently with his disguise skill, He could easily find the strings and cans that were probably put there by Jacob to warn him of intruders. But with Victor’s experience, he was able to walk silently until he saw Jacob sitting in a room inside cleaning a gun with a little smile.

Victor sneaked behind him and struck him hard on the neck. Killing him in just one move. That’s how you deal with poisonous snakes. No need for pointless chatter.

As he killed them he could feel the black fate thread he locked with his skill, snap and his skill was free again. But there was an additional reward, he felt as if that black treads energy were added to his own fate. He will have to investigate this later, but for now, he has more pressing issues.

He quickly searched the body but found nothing of importance, just a passport and a plane ticket to another country.

Victor quickly took those and burned them, as they would implicate Aria.

She would be in a problem anyway though as this idiot was her uncle, and if her secret was discovered, it would lead to her death, so he have to give her a better position in the family to protect her.

He searched the apartment for some big garbage bags, but found nothing and could only roll Jacob in a tattered rug he found in an adjacent apartment.

He took him and went out heading to the forest, where he threw him inside a hole he found earlier. Then covered him with a thin layer of dirt. He made sure that the corpse would be found easily.

Then he hid again and changed his look into a middle-aged man, then returned to the downtown and headed into a storage building. He was going to check on Nick's keys.

In the first two storage compartments, there was a lot of cash, stacked in black bags. Victor didn’t touch them, as he will not need them. And when the family traces Nick’s movement they would probably be discovered.

As for the last one, it contained some documents, cards and identity papers. So he took those and put them in his bag then left the building and went to a nearby train station after changing his shape, where he rented a storage box and put the things he took from Nick in it, but kept the the ring and the vial on him.

The mansion would be thoroughly searched by the family’s investigators, so he needs to keep those things away for now.

The next step was changing himself into a red-haired woman in a black dress.

The disguise skill can be used in two ways, the first affects how he reflects light and sound, so if someone touches him he would realize there is something wrong. But for everyone looking and the security cameras, he was now an ugly woman with big breasts.

As for the second way, It can create an illusion of a thing's existence, and Victor has to be near it, or it would only last for a few hours.

He went to a nearby post office and wrote a letter to be delivered in the morning in two days.

“A young master shouldn’t be doing such thankless things, I would need to form my secret organization soon,” He thought,

Although Lily can hide her presence, she lacks the experience of doing a complex task. And she would be probably suspected by the family, so he had to keep her in the dark.

With the fieldwork finished for tonight. he went back to the Mansion. The trip took him 2 hours, as he had to be very careful not to be spotted.

It was close to 11.00 pm when he entered his room through the window he left open earlier, he quickly took off his muddy clothes and went into the bath to clean all the dirt off him. Then he changed into silky pajamas and sat down on his desk, writing a note on a white piece of paper, Then he folded it and put it in an envelope with the words “read and destroy” finely written on it. This would be left for Lily just in case.

“Now, the situation has changed, so I need to prepare.” he thought as he hesitated for a moment then called Aria’s phone.

She answered immediately,

““Good evening young master, what can I do for you.”” she said in a cold voice.

“Were you already awake, or did I wake you up,” he asked,

““Does it matter?””

“Not really, For the trip tomorrow I would need you to come with me.”

““I can’t do that, I don’t have time to play…””

“That was not a question, but order as a family heir. And wear hiking clothes, we might need to go into the forest. Be here at 7.00, and bring another van, some friends are coming too.” He said and hangup not waiting for her to answer or hang up on him.

She likes to argue, but would never defy an official order.

And he was doing this for her own good. The actions he took today would make some events unfold a couple of years earlier. But that was not necessarily a bad thing, he just needs to be ready.

“Now to do some cooking.” He thought,

…

When he reached downstairs he met Lily has just come from the outside,

“Young master, the Mansion is clean. There were no bombs or surveillance.”, she said.

“The twins and Hilda?” he asked.

“They took Hilda to her room in the Servant building, they would be spending the night there with her.” She said.

“Good,” he said, “Now go sleep, that’s an order. I need you at your full strength tomorrow, I still need to prepare a few things for tomorrow’s trip.” He said to her.

Lily who was looking forward to sleeping with her young master was a little dejected, but she knew that after today’s events there would be some problems. And she needed her strength tomorrow, So after nodding her head, she went to her room to sleep.

Victor looked at her leaving and smiled, He should pamper her more. But not now as he had some dirty things to do..

…

Looking through the packages that were near the door, Victor quickly located the things he bought in the market earlier.

There were many items, so he sorted them out, and quickly found the brown bag he was looking for. So he took it and went to the kitchen. “Time to do some brewing,” He thought.

After closing the Kitchen door, he unpacked the bag on a table, In it, there were 9 dried Herbs.

He quickly separated them into two groups. One contained 6 including The Black Rose petals and the other had 3 herbs.

Then he took out a normal little white herb he picked earlier from the woods. This is a very common herb, but it has some very nasty effects when combined with the Black rose petals.

This medicine by itself is a traditional one, it is commonly used by women giving birth. But what many didn’t know is that this medicine has two kinds of components, the first ones are to increase the birth contractions to aid the birth, while the others are to ease the pain and relax the muscles.

Victor smiled as he put herbs in separate pots then added the white herb to the first pot and added a healing pill with the second one. The first is the poison and the second is the cure. He filled the pots with water and put them on the stove, He will let them simmer in boiling water for a while, he would need them to be concentrated.

Although Victor never really practiced alchemy, he lived alone for a long time and read many secrets, so preparing a simple recipe like this was an easy matter for him.

With that, he got out and locked the kitchen door, then returned to the entrance where the rest of the packs were.

He bought many things today and they needed to be packed for tomorrow, so carried them to his room and began to pack up.

First, he took out a big hiking backpack and put a hiking and a climbing kit and medical kit in it, then a little pickaxe and the little chalice he bought from the antique store. In addition to some dried foods. He didn’t know how long would it take.

Then he prepared two additional smaller bags for the twins and Lily.

It took him nearly an hour to return to the kitchen and check on his work, which was mostly done. So he quickly fished two small plastic jars and filed them with the watery medicine he brewed. Then cleaned the pots leaving no evidence.

After he took the jars back to his room and packed them, He looked at the clock to find it was 1.00 am, so he decided to sleep. He might not get another chance to have a good sleep in a while.