Looking at Erasmus, who had already begun dying, Beatrice shook her head and began examining the state of his body.
Everything that Beatrice could get her hands on, from his exact fever to the speed at which his organs had begun failing, and in which order.
As such, after around half a minute, Erasmus finally died, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
Touching the forehead of the dead man, a faint frown appeared on Beatrice's face.
"The entirety of his brain was fried," mumbled Beatrice as she looked at Erasmus whilst touching her chin with her other hand.
A few moments after that, Beatrice released the restraints which tied Erasmus to the table before picking up his body and walking away.
...
Sometime later that day, in the former Steel Rat camp.
"So, what do you think happened here?" asked Jackson as he looked at the remains of the bandit camp, which had been wiped clean from the face of the earth.
If not for the fact that Jackson was completely certain that the Steel Rats had camped out here, he couldn't have possibly noticed the remains of the camp.
"I couldn't have been a rogue Royal Knight, they wouldn't be able to clean this place up so thoroughly after slaughtering the bandits," mumbled Leroy as he touched the ground with his fingers, slightly frowning.
Hearing this, Jackson nodded.
"Darius, what do you think?" asked Jackson as he continued examining the camp, but to his horror, he got no response.
Without warning, Jackson got up from the ground and turned around.
Looking at the burly middle-aged man, who had fallen unconscious on the ground, next to a puddle of water, Jackson's eyes widened.
But before Jackson could even do anything, Leroy suddenly sprinted towards the unconscious Darius, concern visible on his face.
"He's just unconscious," mumbled Leroy as he took Darius' pulse, breathing a sigh of relief in the process.
Hearing this, Jackson also breathed a sigh of relief, but that also didn't stop him from also coming next to Darius and taking his pulse.
At the same time, Leroy suddenly rose from the ground, staring at a nearby rat.
Without any warning, at a speed far beyond a normal human, Leroy sprinted to the rat before catching it.
Under Jackson's surprised eyes, Leroy sprinted back towards Darius with the rat in hand before stretching out his hand towards the small puddle of water.
Although the rat was trying its best to escape from Leroy's hand, and was in no position to drink water, as Leroy pushed it into the puddle, some water still managed to seem into its mouth.
The moment Leroy took the rat out of the water, the latter began slowing down.
And only a few moments after the rat had been taken out of the puddle, it had fallen unconscious as well, similar to Darius.
Seeing this, a huge frown appeared on Jackson's face.
"You take Darius back to the camp, I will deal with this," said Jackson as he picked up Darius' huge axe, which had fallen to the ground.
Seeing this, Leroy nodded.
"I understand," mumbled Leroy as he picked up the huge Darius, who weighed at least one hundred kilograms, and placed him over his shoulder before beginning to walk away.
At the same time, Jackson took out a small vial before filling it up with water from the puddle.
As he did so, thoughts swirled within Jackson's mind.
"Who in the world could create a medicine strong enough to knock out Darius?" mumbled Jackson, feeling at a loss for words at the moment.
Although Darius, alongside his brother Garen, were considered stupid by many of their comrades, nobody could deny the strength of their bodies.
Even if someone could create a medicine that could knock out a Grand Knight, Jackson doubted that it would be of any use against Darius.
After a few moments, Jackson picked up Darius' axe, which he had placed on the ground once again, and began shoveling some dirt over the puddle, covering it up.
A few moments after that, Jackson made his way out from the site of the former bandit camp and began walking back to his own campsite, oblivious to the figure standing on a nearby tree branch.
...
Looking at the man who was walking out of the former bandit camp, Beatrice faintly frowned.
"It's a good thing that I took some other precautions, but this could be somewhat troublesome," mumbled Beatrice as she stared at the vial in her hands.
A moment later, Beatrice poured out the contents of the vial before filling it up with some dirty water.
After that, Beatrice jumped down from the branch and began following Jackson.
...
"It's just some normal dirty water, it has no other effects," said a middle-aged man as he looked at his three subordinates.
Hearing this, the faces of Leroy, Jackson, and Darius changed.
"That can't be right, I remember drinking water from that puddle before falling unconscious!!" shouted Darius with a shocked look on his face.
Hearing the words of their comrade, both Leroy and Jackson felt their lips slightly twitch.
"Darius, is there a reason why you drank that water?" asked the middle-aged man as he looked at Darius, dread filling his eyes.
At this moment, the middle-aged man was hoping that Darius' reason was not too brain-dead, so that he would not have to punish him too much.
Hearing this, both Leroy and Jackson stared at Darius, using their eyes to beg him to lie.
Sadly though, Darius did not lie.
"I was thirsty, so I drank the water," said Darius, causing veins to appear on the forehead of all three men.
"Darius, did you not have fresh water in your backpack?" asked the middle-aged man, causing Darius to nod.
"Yea, but this was much more convenient, after all, I never got sick from drinking dirty puddle water in the past," said Darius, causing Leroy and Jackson to close their eyes.