Chapter 493 - 489: Poison

Ryder went inside the house that he had taken over as he started trying to prepare for his plan. 

Sitting inside the house, he started wondering, "To finish the Kingship Trial, I need to kill a hundred citizens of the Royal City and bring their heads back to the High Dukes. But that's impossible since they disappear after I kill them."

"Fortunately, they also gave me this badge. It will light up after I kill hundreds of citizens of the Royal City. Now I only need ninety-nine more," Ryder thought, smiling wryly. 

"I also need to get the next fragment after I finish this trial. That will mark the end of Rale's quest too. But first, this trial is more important. Ninety-nine more people," Ryder wondered as he rubbed his chin. 

"I do have my tricks, but that might not be feasible to use on so many people. The bracelet to make them unconscious also has limited use like many other items. So the work here is somewhat different. How could I make it easier and faster for me?" he wondered as he frowned. 

"Oh, right. That's it!" 

Suddenly Ryder's eyes lit up as he thought of something. 

"If I do this, I can kill them all in one stroke," he muttered as a smile formed on his face. 

"But first, I need to understand things more. What do these people like to eat? I need to make it but the least bit suspicious," he added as he stood up.

He started searching for something left and right inside the room he was sitting. 

"Come on. I need some money for this place. It would help if you had something hidden here. Let me see..." he asked himself, frowning. 

He searched the entire bedroom from top to bedroom, unable to find what could be described as money. 

He did find some weird things, though. Under the bed, the underwear of the woman was lying, which brought so many questions to Ryder's mind.

Just how did this get inside there? Could it be that the woman had forgotten it? 

"But she did wear one when she was leaving. I do remember seeing..." he muttered but realising what he was saying, he stopped abruptly. 

"Ahem, I mean I happened to coincidentally see. Janus, I'm sure you're listening. Don't think I'm a pervert! I'm innocent!"

He hadn't expected Janus' reply, but unfortunately, this was precisely when Janus finally answered. 

<Don't worry. Janus knows how much of a pervert host is. No explanation needed>

"You bastard! You're accusing me! I can hear it from your tone! Is this how you treat me after I let you delay my rewards for killing Luke?" Ryder asked as he frowned. 

<That's only pending for a few days because of some reasons. They will be given>

"But still, I didn't complain, did I? You were supposed to give right away after I finished killing him, but you said that you can't give rewards right now because of some risk in sending things to me at this time. I didn't ask twice, but here you are, accusing me of being a pervert," Ryder asked as he gave a hurtful look as if his heart was broken. 

"You break my heart, Janus! I didn't expect this from you!"

...

Back in the God Realm, Janus was sitting near the pond, watching the antics of Ryder. He didn't know if he should laugh or cry at this. In any case, it was amusing. 

Just as he was about to reply to Ryder, he stopped. Snapping his finger, he made the pond go back to normal. 

Behind him, a portal opened. 

He didn't even gaze back as if he knew who it was. It was his domain. No one could enter here without his permission in any case. 

"Godden of Life, what brought you here?" he asked the beautiful woman who stood behind him. 

The goddess of Life and Death cast a barrier surrounding them to protect their conversation. Janus also did the same to make it more secure n

"You consider me Goddess of Life, but you forget I'm the goddess of death as well. I know things that others won't. So tell me... Did you have a hand in the death of the Lord of Time?" she asked Janus. 

"Oh? That guy is dead? I'm shocked," Janus let out with a fake shock on his face. 

Finding his action to be obviously fake, the Goddess of Life and Death understood that he did have something to do with it. 

"Lord of Time was living in seclusion. He wasn't interfering in outside matters. So why did you decide to kill him? If I don't get any satisfactory answer, I'll kill you today. Enough of these games," Goddess of Life and Death asked Janus as she frowned. 

"I didn't do it. He did it," Janus answered calmly as he touched the pond with his finger lightly. 

The scene in the pond changed to reveal Ryder when he was completely awoken previously. It was from the time when he had come here to talk to Janus. 

The goddess of Time took a few steps forward to look inside the pond, only to fall in a daze. This guy... He had returned?

After a long pause, she finally collected her thoughts as she asked, "He returned? His powers are back? So he went to kill the Lord of Time in revenge for last time?" 

"Not entirely. Actually, the Lord of Time found him when he wasn't awake. He was about to be killed for that bracelet. So I played a little trick on the Lord of Time to make him revert Ryder's soul back to nihility to make sure the bracelet disappeared forever," Janus explained. 

"But when used that on a God whose soul is sleeping, it will..." The Goddess of Life muttered. 

"That's right. He woke up, and after that, he protected himself while making sure no one else found out because the power of the Lord of time couldn't keep his soul awaken for long. After killing him, he went back to his old self," Janus answered. 

"So he killed the Lord of Time in self-defense..." the Goddess of Life and Death muttered as she frowned. 

"That's right. You can only blame the Lord of Time for trying to kill him," Janus further added. 

...

"See? You ran away. You don't have a reply. You know I'm the most innocent person in existence," Ryder let out, not getting any reaction from Janus.

He continued his search throughout the house, widening his parameters to the other rooms since the bedroom didn't have the thing he needed. 

As he searched the other rooms, he did find a few black gold coins. From what he has understood previously, the black gold coins with the face of the previous Emperor were the most expensive.

"This should be enough to arrange a feast," Ryder thought as he gazed at the coins. He picked them up and continued his search to find as many as he could. 

By the time he ended his search, he had seven black gold coins in his hand. These seven coins were just expensive because of the image on them. It was even surprising to know that this guy possessed these seven.

He lived in this house which wasn't the best. So he didn't seem. How did he get them?

"The bribe from that woman? In any case, I don't have to worry about such things," he thought as he shook his head. He left the house and walked towards the market. It was early morning now, but most of the shops were already open by now.

He brought them to the restaurants and got some food packed. Since the food was enough for ninety people, he couldn't carry it alone. So he asked the restaurant to have it delivered to his home while paying a bit extra for this. 

The restaurant agreed. Since it was early morning, they weren't crowded. Instead, the staff was mostly free. 

They packed the food before they went to deliver it, following behind Ryder.

Reaching the house, Ryder opened the door and allowed them to place the packets of food inside. 

He closed the door after everything was delivered. 

"So much, and it cost less than one black gold coin. This thing is really expensive," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the rest of the coins in his pocket before he kept it back. 

"Alright. Food is here. Poison is here. All I need to do is mix the two. Invite the people for a feast. It'll be mission finished at one strike," Ryder muttered as he started taking the packets to the kitchen. 

He brought a packet of poison and mixed it in all food items. After preparing everything, he left his house to invite his neighbours, not knowing if it was going to work as he planned or a bit different. In any case, he knew that he could only give it a try. If he was successful, it was a win situation.