It is already midnight, and the children are already resting in their room. Now, Argo is sitting with Vanda, waiting for Gavin to come back from his investigation. A few seconds later, the demon popped up from the shadow before kneeling down in front of Argo.
"My Lord."
"Sit, Gavin," Argo replied. "Tell me, what is the causality of Vanda's accidental poison?" He ignored the grimace expression from the elf.
"About two-thirds of the population in the city died, My Lord." Gavin started his report. "Only about one-third of the population is still alive, and half of them are from the Musia Kingdom fraction. But with how strong the defensive wards surrounding their territory, I doubt any of them noticed how almost all of the population of the city were just wiped out in one night."
Argo nodded his head, trying to process what Gavin just said.
"What about the other half? What is their condition?"
"It is pretty bad, My Lord. Almost all of them fell ill and don't have enough strength to move their body. If there is nothing done for them, they would die in the next day."
Argo hummed for a moment, trying to think about what to do before he pulled out a stack of potions from his storage space.
"Do you know what it is?"
Gavin shook his head immediately. Alchemy is not his strong point, after all. When Ara turned his head to Vanda, the elf frowned for a moment, trying to analyze the potion in front of her before she shook her head too.
"I don't know about it either. Can you tell us?"
"This.." Argo shakes one of the potions in front of him. "Is a truth potion. It is one of my new creations before I went into the new world fifty years ago that would make interrogation easier and less bloody. And it would act like a hallucination, knocking you off so you wouldn't even realize that you have been interrogated in the first place. Do you know what I want to do with this?"
He could hear the gasp coming from Vanda. However, his head is still on Gavin, waiting for the demon to answer his question.
"You want me to find out why they are in this city in the first place," Gavin answered after spending a few seconds thinking. "If they are a murderer or have done something cruel, let them die in agony. But if the reason why they are here is stupid like insulting someone from the noble family or falsely accused of a crime they have never done before, you want me to bring them here."
"Bingo!" Argo smiles, happy that Gavin catches his intention immediately. "Just so you know, only five drops of the potions will work, so with all of this, you will have enough for the entire city."
"Yes, My Lord! I will begin my work right now!"
And right after that, the demon disappeared once again, leaving Argo and Vanda alone in the room.
"Big brother…" Vanda looked at him hesitantly. "How effective your truth potion is?"
Argo raised his eyebrows slightly, having an idea why his little sister asked the question.
"Well, if you want to know, even I can only resist the effect after three minutes of getting dosed by it, so I would say it is quite strong."
Vanda's eyes looked like they would pop out of their sockets as she just realized how strong it is. She knows her big brother is immune to almost all poison in the world, so hearing him saying he couldn't resist his own potion is kinda mind-blowing right now.
"Do you think you can give me some?" She asked again, giving him a quite hopeful expression.
"You want to investigate who is the one who supports Suran?"
"Yes." Vanda nodded at his question. "His operation is quite big, so it must be one of the elders who support his movement. I want to find out who is the elders who sold their people and why would they do that. Do you think you can give me some?"
"Sure." Argo shrugged, causing a sigh of relief to come out of Vanda's mouth. "And when will you go back to the Jade Forest?"
Vanda pondered for a moment before she answered,
"Maybe a week from now. I want to create some bond with Vera so the moment we meet again, we wouldn't be strangers."
"Good." Argo nodded his head. "At least you would be able to help me clean this city before you go."
"Speaking of this city, what is your next plan?" Vanda asked with a curious expression.
"Well, first, I need to find out what to do about the fraction from the Musia Kingdom," Argo answered. "Even though I could just wipe them out from this world in one night, if I learned anything about my experience going to another world, it would be that I need to prepare anything when unexpected things happened. If I disappeared again after I wiped out all of the Musia Kingdom fraction, they would be a pain in the ass later."
Vanda giggled slightly at his crass language.
"Other than that, I also need to start training the kids. They would be the pillar of this city in the future, so I need to start their education now, even if it is a bit too late for Ara."
"What do you think will be the path the kids would choose?" Vanda asked curiously.
"I would train Ara to be a knight," Argo answered with an absolute tone. "He has a sharp mind and his instinct is quite scary for his age. But what convinced me the most is how he managed to kill one of Suran's knights before I saved him from the Were. Being able to do that with a small knife is not something any normal nine years old boy can do. He is a natural fighter, and with a little training, I believe he can be amazing as a knight."
Vanda nodded at his explanation, has already heard about Ara's condition before she met him.
"I would also train him how to be a leader," Argo added, startling Vanda for a moment. "He has the charisma to do that, and his ability to analyze the situation in front of him accurately is one of the reasons why he can be trained to be a leader. And the fact that all the kids listen to him also helps me convince myself to do it. He is a natural-born leader. The only thing I would need to teach him is about decision-making, and he would be alright."
"Wow…" Vanda has her mouth gaped. "I don't know you are thinking of him so highly, big brother."
"Well, you would also think the same if you put effort into getting to know him instead of having your eyes on his little sister anytime." He shrugged, causing a blush on the elf's cheeks. "As for Vera, I would train her the same way I do to you, my elven method."
Hearing what Argo just said, Vanda almost choked as her face turned pale gradually.
"A-Are you sure it is necessary, big brother?" She spluttered in panic, triggering a smirk on Argo's face.
"Of course, it is necessary. It helped you become a powerful elf, right? Why are you against it?"
"Well, it is because your training will either make her strong or kill her in the process." She muttered lowly.
"Hmm? You say something, Vanda?"
"Nothing, big brother!"
"I thought so.." He nodded his head. "You can also help me with her education, I guess. Like teaching her anything about the elven race such as their tradition, their government structure, their people, and their magic. Well, not just her, you can help me teach all the children about the elven race. God knows they would need it in the future."
Vanda pondered for a moment before she replied hesitantly,
"I will think about it, big brother."
It is not like she didn't want to teach the children at all. But her main concern, for now, is to bring Vera back to the Jade Forest. But with her big brother here, she couldn't do that unless the girl goes willingly, and she needs to create some sort of bond with the girl to make it happen.
"Good enough for me." Argo nodded his head. "As for the three other children, I will need to see if they have an affinity toward mana or not. If yes, I can train them to be a mage. But if not, I will have to see where their talents lay to. It would take some time, I guess."
"Hmmm…" Vanda put her palm on her chin, trying to process what Argo just said to her. "Is there anything I can help?" She finally asked after spending a few seconds in silence. In her thought, it would be better to help Argo and gain his favor rather than planning behind his back to snatch Vera from his grasp.
"If you can go out to the Musia Kingdom, buy me some vegetable seeds like potatoes, corn, and something like that. While I still have the food supply that I bought from the Earth, it would run out in the next month, especially considering the people Gavin will bring later. I need to start making my own food supply here."
Vanda nodded, putting it in her mind.
"I can do it this morning. But what about the money?"
Argo took another stack of potions from his space storage as the answer.
"This is body strengthening potion that could help apprentice level knight to go to the next level in a week. There are about thirty potions here, so you can sell it to the nearest military base you find. And if they are interested or suspicious about me, just say it is from a wandering alchemist that you meet when you cross Meteor City. My alchemist skill would be our main income source right now."
"I understand." Vanda nodded.
"Also, if you find any professionals who don't have a job, offer them a chance to work here. I don't care if it is a cook or even a janitor, as long as they know what they are doing, just offer them a job here. If you need to, you can spread my name as a wandering alchemist to help you pique their interests. But do it discreetly. We need a lot of people to make this city habitable right now."
Vanda nodded once again, trying to process what Argo just ordered her to do.
"And as for now.." Argo takes a look at the windows, looking at the sun who is just barely peeking at the horizon. "As for now, I need to prepare this area to become habitable for the people Gavin will bring. Let's start to work!"