Lucrative Medical Practices

Michael shrugs while leaning back slightly under the young man's gaze, "I mean, I've noticed a few people like that, but most shop keepers seem alright." he pauses, "Do you have any idea why this might be happening? If people are being controlled then it must have a purpose, right?"

The man quickly nods, "It must be the nobles! They want to control everything, even our lives! They are not happy with just ruling over us!"

...

Yeah, Michael didn't think that was likely. While he hated nobles, he didn't think they'd start mind-controlling the entire population. Willing slaves were probably more effective than mindless ones. "What about your father? Does he do anything he hadn't before?"

"Yes!-... Sort of. He doesn't act like he used to, and he's started exercising despite his age, using our savings to eat more... He's even started practising sword fighting again! There's definitely something wrong!"

Michael nods, still having no idea what's happening, "Ah, thanks for the information I guess. Good luck with your father, I hope you knock some senses into him." he says as he begins to leave.

The young man waves him off, "Don't worry, I'm going to take my father out of this damned city if it's the last thing I do!"

Michael walks away while in deep thought, still keeping an eye out for any kind of herbalist. The fact that people had noticed the same strange indifference among the population that he had was worrying, to say the least, as it meant it was far more widespread than he'd anticipated.

He refused to accept that Cromwell was responsible as if the man was able to so easily control the city, Michael had little to no chance of ever getting revenge. Not only that, if the Ring of Andvari was so powerful, what other artifacts were in this world?

Regardless, he'd investigate it once he'd secured some poisons... Speaking of which, he'd spotted a stall owned by an elderly woman that had many herbs decorating it, strangely coloured garlic bulbs hanging from the top, vines lined with malicious-looking black and red berries, and one plant that occasionally snatches flies out of the air...

"Er, hello?" he asks the old lady, wondering if she was asleep or not. "I'm looking to buy some poisons to get rid of some monsters. Do you have anything like that?"

...

He doesn't get a response, and so shrugs, leaning over to the desk to give the woman prod to wake her up... Only for her to grab his wrist and prick him with one of the plants on the desk of the stall.

"Oi! What the fuck!?" he exclaims as he pulls away, glaring at the wound that was slowly turning purple. "Are you fucking crazy?" he growls, not knowing what she'd just poisoned him with.

The woman cackles, "You wanted poison right? I'm just giving you a taster, no point buying it without trying it, right!?"

He scowls at her, "That would be fucking great, if the poison I needed was injected and not eaten!"

...

The woman pouts her lips with only exacerbates her wrinkles, "Is that so?... My apologies... Here, would you like to try this one instead?" she asks, presenting a hand filled with yellow-speckled green leaves.

"Woman! I don't want to take the poison for god's sake! I want to buy it! If I wanted to try my luck I'd have gone into the woods and eaten whatever plant I came across until I found the right one. Now give me an antidote to whatever you just poisoned me with!" he exclaims, a crowd slowly gathering around the stall. Though, Michael could only grimace at the comments he was getting from the crowd.

"Heh, that lady got another one, figured everyone would know to steer clear after the tenth death."

"I mean, it's a good tactic though. Poison them and then make them pay for the cure, you think this kid's gonna be the eleventh one to go?"

...

The woman holds out her hand towards Michae with a not-so-toothy grin, "Antidote is ten gold. Pay up, boyo."

...

Michael crosses his arms, "You know you can only get away with this because it's the black market, right?"

She nods, hand still extended.

"So you know, if I cut your head off here and now, no one would care, right?" he asks, hand dropping to the hilt of his sword, causing the old lady to retrieve her hand.

"But you would die too without the cure!" she exclaims, her expression still making it out as if she'd won. But that quickly fades when Michael just shrugs nonchalantly. Unbeknownst to her, he was confident in surviving regardless of if he got the cure or not, Dark Pact would see to it.

"That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make I guess." he states as he starts walking around the stall, drawing his sword.

"WAIT! Wait, wait, wait!" I'll give it to you, just leave me alone!" she says, retrieving a small vial from an inner pocket of her robe and presenting it to him.

Was this another trap? Maybe? But he doubted she'd risk her life on it. "If this is another poison, I'm going to cut your arms off first." he states, uncorking it and downing it, ready to use Dark Pact if he feels even a single thing wrong.

...

Fortunately, the purple around the poisoned wound fades away as if it never existed. Michael nods to himself, sheathing his weapon and looking to the crowd. "I'm looking to buy some poison to deal with some orcs attacking my farm, anyone know anywhere I can buy it without getting poisoned?" he points a thumb at the woman's stall.

"Yeah, I probably got what you need. Sounded like you were gonna hide it in some food or somethin' right?" a tubby middle-aged man says and eventually leads Michael to his own stall. Again, Michael's nose wrinkled at the stench of fish, but his attention is easily drawn towards a small fish the man was now holding out to him.

"This is what I'ma sell to you-DON'T TOUCH IT!" he bellows when Michael attempt to prod it with a curious finger, "Didn't your Ma' ever tell you to not touch things you don't know about! Brimir-damned!"