The Escape

As soon as Han took a sip of the tea, the atmosphere in the room changed. 

"Hahahaha…you useless piece of trash. I have been lenient on you for too long, but you lost my silver coins," laughed the Herbalist. He took his half-drunk teacup and poured It on Han's head. 

The tea dripped down Han's body wetting his hair and clothes. 

"Do you like the taste of the tea?" said the Herbalist chuckling as he looked at Han's stupefied expression. 

'W-what is going on? Just a second ago he was smiling at me and now he has such a menacing expression on his face. The way he looks at me…it seems like he hated the predecessor,' thought Han as he sat frozen. 

"What is with that expression? Are you wondering why I am treating you like this now? Gosh, you have no idea how long I have been waiting to do this and finally get rid of you. The reason I made you my assistant was so that you could do my chores, but you lost my silver coins and that was the limit, I should have just gotten rid of you before," said the Herbalist with his bloodshot eyes as he pointed toward Han accusing him. 

"What did you put in the tea!" exclaimed Han sensing the danger. He squirmed towards the door in hopes of getting out of the tight storage room. 

"The effects should be kicking in about now," said The Herbalist calmly as he looked at Han. 

Before Han could reach the doorknob to open the door, he threw up blood. 'What did he do to me?' he thought as he fell to the ground feeling helpless. 

"How bloody…This is my invention the Phantom, it is a new poison I made by mixing in deadly toxic plants and herbs. Though I must say thank you for your contribution, you helped me know if my poison was effective or not. "Now no one can stop my plans," said the Herbalist smirking as he looked at a vial of purple liquid in his hands. 

'How nostalgic…I can only blame myself for this. I tried trusting a human being again. You would think my experience would help me. Even though I got a new chance, it ended up like this again' reminisced Han as he felt life draining out of him. 'I think this is it,' His eyes were turning dead before a blue screen gleamed in it. 

Meanwhile, The Herbalist went to his room. He looked at a large painting of a ship that was hanging on the wall. He took down the painting revealing a compartment underneath. He pried open the compartment and took out a case. Grabbing the case, he closed the compartment and hung the painting back. Putting the case on a table he opened it. The case had several purple-colored vials in it. 

"My precious don't worry sooner or later you will go where you belong and help the people of this world," said the Herbalist with a horrific smile. 

Calming himself down, The Herbalist closed the bag. "It's about time we start the plans." He walked to the entrance and as he was about to leave through the door he stopped. He looked back and said, "It's goodbye now, my servant Han it was nice spending time with you while you were here." He chuckled and with a satisfied smile, he left the cabin. 

In Han's Room. 

[He is gone Host, you may relax now] a mechanical voice resounded in Han's head.

Han sighed a sigh of relief. "Thank God, he left. Though the comment he passed before leaving gave me chills," he shuddered just thinking about it. "Now can you tell me what you are," said Han curious. 

The Blue screen Han saw on the verge of his death said [Connecting…] so he did not know what this creature was, he needed to know if it was hostile or not. 

[No, not yet. I am sensing danger in this place, so I suggest you escape from here immediately and do not forget to take some items to increase the chance of your survival]. 

'When you say it like that it makes me seem incompetent,' thought Han awkwardly. 

[Is not it a fact, you are incompetent] 

"Can you read my mind?" questioned Han, not surprised whatsoever. He had gotten immune to it by now. 

[Yes, Host] 

"Great. A creature who can read my mind and expel all the poison from my body. Let us just get to work and gather the predecessor's belongings from that stand," said Han as he stood up and walked towards the stand. 

The stand had 3 drawers. Han opened the 1st drawer and found a book in it. He opened the 2nd drawer and found a necklace that had a stone embedded in it. He opened the 3rd drawer and found a pile of papers, some ripped and some not. 

"I will keep the book and the necklace since they might have been important for the predecessor. I do not know about the ripped-up papers though, they just seem like trash. Let us not take it," said Han as he collected the items. 

[I suggest you look at the pile of papers. There might be something interesting in it]. 

Han paused when he heard the voice. "If you're saying to look then I will" He sighed and looked through the pile of papers. All of them were mostly ripped apart or shredded. But there was one piece of paper that was intact. 

"Oh, look. I found one piece of paper. Though I cannot open it up for some reason. Am I that weak?" questioned Han holding the piece of paper. He struggled to open the note up. 

[A seal is preventing it from opening] 

"Seal?" questioned Han. He was oblivious to any type of knowledge in this world. This made him realize he needed to learn more information about where he is currently. 

[I will explain everything to the Host thoroughly when the Host escapes this place. There is a reason I am requesting you to hurry]. 

Han groaned. "I got it. You will not tell me anything. Though I wonder what is about to happen in this place." 'Ok, I am starting to get anxious now. We should leave this place quickly,' he thought. 

Han looked at the 3 items on the floor and grabbed them. He reached the entrance hurriedly ready to go out. "Wait…my clothes are still wet. What should I wear? I remember seeing a robe in the room." 

The next moment, Han went into the storage room and grabbed the long grey robe that was hooked to the wall. "Another thing I am lacking is money. I cannot survive outside if I do not have it." He contemplated hard thinking for a solution. 

[I have detected a few silver coins in a room down the hallway] 

"Great!" exclaimed Han. He followed the creature's instructions and arrived in the master's room. "Thank god, the master isn't here right now, or I would have died again," he got goosebumps just thinking about it. 

Han searched every corner of the room and yet he could not find any coins. "Are you sure it's in here?" He doubted the creature. 

[Affirmative. I have analyzed the room's patterns and found a false tile underneath the office table]. 

"How convenient," said Han. 'This feature is amazing I wonder who the creature is, but I have to escape from here after getting the money,' he thought. 

Han immediately went near the large emerald office table. He moved it aside and started knocking on several tiles to find a false tile. By knocking on the tile, you know if it is hollow or not, and if it is hollow then it is a false tile. 

After 5 minutes, Han found the false tile. He put the tile away and saw a large pouch of coins in it. He immediately grabbed the pouch and opened it, the shine of silver coins shone in Han's eyes. 

[Analyzing the pouch…There are 36 silver coins available] 

Han gasped. From his memories, he knew how large of an amount of money it was. Gulping he grabbed the coins and his belongings and while wearing the long grey hooded robe he hurriedly left the cabin. 

As soon as Han stepped out of the cabin, he calmed himself down and walked towards the village. 

[The Host needs to hurry I detect familiar footsteps from the opposite side. 90% chance that It is the Host's master]. 

Hearing this, Han was scared. His breathing became heavy, but he ran towards the village as fast as he could, not looking back even though his body was not fully cured yet from the poison.