Sometimes, My Genius is Almost Frightening

It had been four days, and while walking throughout the mansion, the both of them had seen nothing. All they saw were people busying themselves with tasks, and nobody especially important.

Apparently, the manor was busier than before, but they were only told so by Croft Axiom, owner of the manor. Joe had gone to Amelia's room for a quick gathering.

He had sat down on a chair before speaking. "So, it's been four days, and nothing has happened. We haven't seen Croft's daughter, nor the one she loves. Should we just ask to see them?"

They had learned most of the layout of the manor. It had four floors, with the two of them living on the second floor. Croft lived on the third floor, which mostly had business things. They didn't head up there much as there weren't many people there. The fourth floor was forbidden however.

Amelia contemplated for a second, before replying uncertainly. "I don't think that's a good idea. He may assume we're indirectly suspecting him, so we should try to probe where she lives from him?"

Joe asked a sudden question. "Actually, if there's a daughter, where's the mother? We've already seen the patriarch, so where's his wife?"

"Perhaps she's dead. Either that, or she's not around here."

Joe shrugged. "I guess so. Anyways, we should find an opportunity to talk to him and probe."

Amelia nodded. "I'll request an audience."

Upon her nod, Joe felt it was about time for him to leave. He headed back to his room after closing the door.

Returning to his room, Joe checked on his spine once more. It seemed he could now fight. His spine had healed enough to allow it. The green matter substituting his bone was slowly decreasing, as real bone overtook it.

Joe was not completely idle in this time. He practiced his magic alone in his room. He could now dual cast much faster. An example would be his rock gauntlets covered in flames.

He could also cast much quicker from his practice. The fight he fought several days ago helped him improve quickly.

In his room, Joe quickly turned to practice to pass the time, and it was now evening. It was then, he heard a knock on the door. When Joe got up to open it, he saw a head pop into his field of vision.

"Hey. I talked to Croft."

Joe was surprised. "You did it without me?!"

He put on a face as though he had been grievously betrayed. Amelia responded casually while walking inside and sitting down. Joe followed her.

"Well, yes. I did it without you because I thought you might mess up something."

Joe sighed with a forlorn face before speaking again. "Well, what did you learn?"

Amelia took a few seconds to summarize what she learned. Basically, by asking some mundane questions about Croft's family and their living conditions, she learned they lived on the fourth floor.

"Well, it was pretty obvious. We haven't seen any of his family, and the fourth floor is the only one we haven't been to yet."

"Yes, which is why I'm planning to head up tonight to see if there's anybody who looks like our murder suspect."

Joe sighed. "Well, you do that. I'm feeling pretty useless just sitting around, so let me know when you need help."

Amelia nodded before striding out of the room.

…

Croft Axiom was currently striding toward the kitchen. It was late afternoon, and he was silently smirking to himself while walking in the empty hallway.

From the moment Amelia began to probe him, he knew that Amelia suspected him and his family. However, he felt it was natural, as he was the one who did it.

'It's only natural for a competent detective to suspect a criminal right?'

His thoughts showed for themselves how he thought things would go down.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He was nearing the corner, and he heard someone nearby. He quickly wiped the smirk off his face before showing an amicable smile. It was a servant. Once she passed by, Croft quickly began to double-check his plan with a serious face.

First, he would replace the salt with an odorless, crystallized poison, making it nearly indistinguishable from salt. The poison was in his pocket, in a container looking just like a salt shaker from the kitchen.

Second, the food would be served to the Wizards, and once they ate the food, they would soon die from the effects of the poison.

Third, to absolve him and his family from blame, he would quickly pin the blame on the chefs, and name them assassins hired by the murderer.

After re-affirming his confidence in his plan, he nodded to himself. He walked with a confident stride toward the kitchen.

'Sometimes, my genius is... almost frightening.'

…

It was now evening, soon after Amelia had left the room. A servant had come inside, bringing Joe some food for dinner. He seemed to spot a glow of light on the fish filet.

He ignored it however, and took large bites as the food was quite delicious. After several mouthfuls, Joe suddenly felt something. He was suddenly out of breath.

His legs began to wobble, as they gave in, and he fell to the ground.

'What... What is this?!'

He began to feel a great pain in his stomach. The pain slowly began to spread throughout his whole body, a sign of the poison dissolving into his bloodstream.

'Poison?! Why? How do I stop it?!'

Joe quickly racked his brains to try to find a solution. His limbs were quickly losing strength as he came up with something.

'I'll make myself vomit like in those movies!'

Even though he had never done it before, he could try. He shoved his fingers into his throat as the gag reflux made him vomit.

The pain slowly faded away, but he could still barely move.

'I need to get away from here... If the food was poisoned, they're probably in with the Axiom family. I need to get out of here!'

Joe didn't know much about information gathering, but he knew how to preserve himself. However, with the current condition of his body, it would be hard for him to make a clean getaway.

'Think! How can I regain more mobility?! Magic! I should use magic! But how?'

Joe quickly contemplated. Fire magic couldn't help him, and nor could air magic. Earth wouldn't be useful inside the body, and nature-type magic wouldn't be useful in dispelling poison. Water magic was the only thing that might be able to help.

Joe quickly looked inside his body. He tried to sense the water elements inside him, and the outlines of his bloodstream were found.

He sensed the blood flowing within him. He noticed slight gaps in his bloodstream. It was likely where the poison was. Joe could much more easily cast magic since the pain had lessened since then.

He gathered the contaminated blood all over his body onto his right hand's fingertips.

'What's the use of this! Sure, I've isolated the poisoned blood, but what now? I need to get it out... Yes...'

Joe brain quickly went into overdrive as he attempted to look for a sharp object. His body was slightly pained, but was mostly numb. He crawled his way over to the plate that contained the fish dish he was eating.

He tried to use his hands to shatter the plate, but it was of no use. The plate didn't break underneath his weakened arms.

Joe was slowly losing control of the isolated blood gathered at his fingertips. He was resisting his own body by keeping the blood there by force.

'What do I do?! The plate won't break and I'm sure to lose control of the poisoned blood soon. Wait, if I lose control and stop isolating it, will I die?! Will it further contaminate my bloodstream and I'll die a slow death?!'

Joe's train of thought began to divert further and further away from his main goal when he suddenly remembered something.

'Wait a minute, I can just make a sharp rock to cut myself with! Damn it!'

Joe began dual casting, summoning earth whilst also controlling water. His control continued to slip away as he shaped the rock's sharp edge.

Seconds later, it was finally done. It was a small rock with a sharp and pointed edge. Joe manipulated it into his hands, as he picked up the rock and made a small incision on his right hand's fingers with his left hand.

Joe went hard at work, dispersing the rock he had created and setting his full focus on forcing the contaminated blood out of his bloodstream through the cut he just made.

In several more seconds, he was done, but blood continued to flow out of his small wounds. Joe clenched his fist.

He was out of immediate danger, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still had to escape.

Minutes passed, and Joe began to recover feeling in his body. The effects of the poison had worn off, and the source was gone. He could move again.