As the morning ray of light penetrated the estate, Teren passed through the streets swiftly. His leather shoes were trampled on the dark cobblestone road.
People were on and about to begin their day in the estate. Some women held their children's hands while holding bags, some women could be seen carrying stacks of clothes to put them in racks ready for the sun to dry them, children interacted with each other and chatted about. From time to time he would see farmers with their rugged clothes and weathered tools used for agriculture.
Most mortal professions in the estate were that of a farmer; they specialized in agriculture, livestock, clothing, hunting, and other manual labor. In exchange for this work, the Spring clan members would protect against foreign threats and provide them with lodging.
On the cobblestone road Spring clan members took on leisure chatter with their comrades, going to restaurants or moving along the crowd as they took on the morning glare.
Teren had quickly passed through the commercial area mixed in with the residential. The hotel he was overseeing today was located two short streets away from one of the main roads that led to the heart of the estate.
He quickly arrived at the main road going forward into the heart of the estate, coming through as he got closer to the Fang household he started to see less mortals and more Spring clan members.
A familiar street entered his view and he took a left turn in a few minutes he had arrived at the household. He opened the main door that contained intricate wood carvings, by just pushing the handle. Entering the main hall he heard sounds coming from his left, indicating that it came from the domestic hall. He quickly made his way and a scene greeted him.
Sarina, his maid, was laying on the sofa with a towel on her forehead. Her disposition looked severely odd, she was sweating continuously with her skin being as pale as the moon with hints of a yellow undertone, her breathing ragged with signs of pain.
By her side Kylina sat there from one of the chairs pulled out from the maids' dinner table. Her eyes were slightly red with clear tear marks that had dried on her cheeks, her expression clearly remarked that of worry.
Noticing the sounds coming from the main hall her face lit up slightly as she shouted: "Master Teren!"
Teren at the scene had his brows furrowed, revealing his wrinkles that came with his age, seeing Sarina he had only one thought on his mind: "Poison!"
Teren turned to Kylina and greeted with a nod before asking, "Where's Ralliere?"
Not delaying any second due to the gravity of the situation Kylina responded: "Master Ralliere is in the Madam Matron's room."
Teren quickened his footsteps into the domestic hall until he saw a room with its door opened, what greeted him first was his brother standing beside the Matron who was bed bound, having the same complexion as Sarina.
Ralliere turned around slightly, seeing Teren's complexed face.
"I've already called in a doctor, the bastard asked for twenty mana stones per person plus another fee for confidentiality. Also I've informed my oldest to come here to investigate this matter."
Approaching closer Teren replied in turn: "You think it's them?"
Ralliere cupped his right hand into his chin: "Highly likely, I'm sure you've heard that their young master lost to ours. It wouldn't be surprising if it was retaliation due to the timing, perhaps that old man seeing his precious gold fissured golden ticket beaten down by a silver fissure made his brain mush, and decided on this domineering strategy, as to say to not mess with them and declare their superiority now that they have gained an upper hand."
Teren now stood by side with Ralliere, his gaze upon the sickly matron, not putting his gaze away he asked: "Were the children harmed?"
Ralliere shook his head: "No, they are still soundly sleeping, but it won't be too late until they wake up and notice the situation. The Joto's wouldn't go so mad as to attack clan members."
Hearing this, Teren slowly exhaled through his nose washing away any worry he had towards the children.
"By the looks of it this is just mortal poison, although lethal when a certain time limit has been reached, it is still something a magician can deal with easily. If it's the Joto's this must be a warning. We can't rule out that it was an inside job either, or any third party. Regardless, this should be kept hidden and not out in the public eye."
Ralliere nodded: "I've patted down and searched the belongings of the two maids, Lisa and Kylina, they didn't have a trace of poison on them. Someone had poisoned the tea leaves that both Sarina and the Matron drank."
Although Ralliere didn't specialize in investigation, a seasoned magician had offensive, defensive, and investigative methods. He was confident in his methods to search for clues especially if the crime was committed by mortals, who had no magical methods to interfere with.
"A stealthy bastard could've snuck in and laid out the poison, seeing as the array didn't detect anything unusual… Wait, didn't the maids buy produce recently? It's possible that somebody didn't break in, they could've poisoned the produce as the maids were shopping with some methods it would be impossible for mortals to notice, or perhaps they had bribed and colluded with the seller to especially provide the poison goods to our personnel." Teren brought forth his own insight.
At the back of his mind he had another suspicion, but he didn't dare say it. Ralliere too had his own suspicions. What if one of the children or any other Fang relative planted the poison?
It couldn't be Kalser, as with his authority getting a simple maid fired was no issue, so killing one of them would be quite stupid, for it was revealed the Fang family reputation will take a dent. If their household was attacked how could they expect them to be protected at their inn's?
Other relatives such as Teren's other nephews who occasionally visited the house would fall into the same category as Kalser. That left the wives of the gentlemen, even with their mortal status, as wives they had certain clarity in such matters, and wouldn't result in such means if they disliked a maid out of petty reasons. The three children had grown alongside the maids, being close in age with some of them, if they disliked somebody they could've made it clear and fired that particular eyesore.
Everything pointed to not be them, but everything could be ruled out if the Fang family had created a fellow who liked to kill for amusement, and decided to implicate these maids who nobody would bat an eye for. Such a thought sent Ralliere and Teren chills down their spine. They didn't choose to dwell too much in such thoughts, keeping their suspicions outside the family.
Ralliere closed his eyes: "The more I think about it, the more I get a headache from this, we'll have to rely on my oldest to pinpoint the suspect, even if the suspects were to be the Joto's there would be nothing that we could do legally about this."
No matter who it was, it was quite an astute plan to deal with the Fang household maids. Firstly the life or death of mortals does not matter in the clan's eyes, mortals were just livestock that could be replaced. Why would somebody be persecuted over the death of cattle? Secondly, attacking the maids who were situated where the Fang patriarch lived was quite a heavy blow to Teren and in turn the Fang family, if it was any other mortal under him that worked on his business it could be overlooked as they weren't under his constant watch, but these maids in a sense were.
Even if the culprit was found, would the Fang's reveal it and say to the world: "Somebody intruded over my house and attempted to murder personnel right under my nose!" The answer was no. This was what frustrated Teren the most; he was a compassionate man who cared for his workers regardless if they were mere mortals. Furthermore, it was an act that left a message behind, for the poison was of the mortal grade and not magical.
Even if there were other possible culprits in his heart he suspected the same fools who had made things difficult for him and his family.
"I will not take this lightly, Mortez Joto!" Teren mentally said to himself.
Ralliere turned to the door: "It seems that our helping hand has arrived."
Teren slightly eased his brows, turning the same way Ralliere did. "The two of them it seems."
As a guarding method it was common for houses to have a defensive array implanted on the periphery of the house, to distinguish guests and evil doers; as owners with access to the array, they could roughly perceive the locations of those who had entered the array.
Teren quickened his steps and approached the open door: "Let's not stand on ceremony."
Ralliere quickly followed behind as they approached the hall.
As they made their way, Kylina looked at Sarina's constitution that was deteriorating, worrying about her friend of many years. She couldn't bear the sight of her suffering any second, every minute or so with a towel she would wipe her accumulated sweat, taking care of Sarina diligently. If there was anything she could do, she would do it.
It came to a shock to her that Master Ralliere said not to eat or drink anything, for Sarina and the Matron had been poisoned by some unknown concoction.
"Am I going to fall ill at any second and become extremely sickly? I don't want to… I don't!" The poisoning and being close to death brought extreme fright to the delicate Kylina. It had been several minutes since Sarina and the Matron fell ill, but she still couldn't shake up the fear that dwells within her. This whole situation made her hands involuntarily shake, and her body temperature to slightly drop.
Unfortunately, even with such a tragedy the world didn't stop. Despite the situation, Lisa tactfully made Kylina in charge of taking care of Sarina while she tended breakfast for the young masters; they would soon wake up to attend the academy.
As the second most senior maid, Lisa showed her great capability even in such a pressing situation, of course she was concerned, but being concerned couldn't help at all. Doing housework made her cope with the incident.
She busied herself with work, and hoped for the best.
"With the masters present this should be resolved!" Lisa tried to wash away any doubts and trust in the masters, as they weren't normal, but were magicians who held extraordinary means that a simple mortal like her couldn't comprehend.
She decided to stop thinking, with a chef's knife at hand, she began to dice some vegetables as the pot was heated.
Teren reached out for the main door, opening it with his right hand and two figures emerged from his vision.
To the left was an old man close to his fitness, with a severely receded hairline, paired up with bizarrely long brows that reached to his nose, he was a man of short stature, with two golden pins on his green robe indicating that he was a 2nd-circle magician.
Opposite stood a youth no older than twenty-five, he adorned his long hair in a bun at the top of his head with an accessory, he had sharp eyes that paired well with his sharp facial features. Overall giving him a cold aura to him. Likewise the older gentleman, his robe contained two golden pins.
Teren didn't have time for pleasantries, as soon as he opened the door he said, "Follow me."
The old man didn't mind, he knew that the situation was urgent, why would there be such a need for useless greetings.
As for the youth, he took at Ralliere before coming into the household, before passing through the main hall and into the domestic where he saw the familiar maid he had seen before laying on the sofa with a sickly complexion.
Without any word he activated his investigative spell to inspect the surroundings. Leaving the company of three, to inspect for clues that might have lingered.
The old gentleman looked at Sarina: "Is this young lass the one in need of treatment, it looks to be a mortal grade poison. It shouldn't take long, at most five minutes to purge all the toxins within her body."
Teren added: "There's two in need of treatment."
"No problem, I'll treat this one first." The old man said as he approached the bed bound Sarina and the worried looking Kylina who was looking at him with anticipation.
From the inner pocket of his robe he took out a small glass bottle that was roughly half the size of a palm, he took out a round greenish pill, about the size of a fingernail, holding it with his right hand. He approached Kylina and said, "Young miss give this to the other patient, feed her this pill, this should make her condition halt and improve, for the time being, as I focus on recuperating this young one."
Kylina got up, slightly bowed and received the pill with two hands before blurting out: "Thank you, Master doctor." She gracefully received the pill and strode towards the matron's quarter.
With the chair now vacant, the old man didn't stand during the ceremony and sat down. He turned upside down the glass bottle to take out another pill ready to begin the treatment.