Joshua defended the emperor for numerous decades after he became the emperor's sword. His life came under threat hundreds, if not thousands, of times; each time was unique in its own way. Pursued by the continent's finest guild of assassins, backstabbed by a trusted subordinate…

Poison was, of course, among them. There were probably hundreds or thousands of different kinds of poison out there, but Joshua was confident that few people had come across as many poisons as he had.

Joshua was never one to rely on his subordinates when he could be taking the initiative. By the time one of his subordinates had killed one person, Joshua had killed ten, twenty, or more. His aggressiveness left his body a wreck on the inside and outside. He was always on the front lines, meeting the enemy's blows head-on. He survived through all of that and emerged as the country’s sword.

‘It's Gari.’ Joshua let out a chuckle. Gari's greatest strength was its subtlety; it gradually drained its victims rather than melting their...