059 Sounds of Ruin p.4

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"As expected of our Victor, you're so crafty. Are you sure you don't have that old man's blood in your veins?"

"Hm, stop it, Laubert. Else, I’ll kill you, damnit."

As my retainers exchanged heartwarming words, I hurried towards the lab.

"Uni, get me that."

"Yes. Master."

I held out my hand as we walked, and Uni handed me an item wrapped in a handkerchief. What emerged from inside was a tightly sealed test tube. The lid of the tube was tightly corked, and the inside was filled with a mysterious fluid, having an aura that seemed to repel the air itself.

This was it. I went all the way to the Volden to take this from my brother.

"It was worth all the elaborate preparations, wasn't it? I didn't expect them to do it from day one."

"Yes. It was sheer luck."

Or maybe I didn't have to go through all this trouble and can still retrieve it from him in the future...... Oh well. It's better for my mental health to know that the risk taken was rewarded.

As I lightly played with the object in my hand, Due peeked at me from the side with a stern look on his face.

"Is that the Count’s......?"

"What are you so embarrassed about? Ehh, I suppose it isn’t something that can be said out loud."

"It’s alright, nothing special anyways. ...Also, they had no idea at all right? There was the slightest chance that the poison detecting gear would have picked up on the drugs."

If it was his own, he should be used to seeing it all the time, but to conceal his shame, Due asked a series of questions.

But to think he would have such a wrong assumption.

"I didn't use any drugs. I just served them a ‘healthy’ meal. Hey, Uni?"

"Yes. A fish dish for an appetizer with Anguille. A soup of spotted turtle and sauce made from its blood. And the chocolates for dessert had a slight uplifting effect on mood."

She was a good cook so she could ramble in detail about the food. But even after hearing that, Due didn't seem to catch a clue on what she meant.

Can’t be helped huh? Guess I’ll explain further.

"You know, Due. Even the liquor you drink every night, if drunk excessively can be poisonous and cause death right?"

"Uh-huh."

"But it’s not like the poison detection amulets would react to alcohol. It's the same thing. It's not a poison or a medicine, but an ingredient that has effects on the body and mind. I just served them dishes made with that. There's nothing strange about it."

The bottom line was that the detection capability of their equipment was limited to highly poisonous materials. No matter how poisonous it was to drink in excess, if the equipment raised an alert every time a toast was being made, the liquor industry would be out of business.

In addition, there were many things that we consumed in our daily lives that could be poisonous if taken in excess. Salt, sugar, fat, and even water could cause lethal poisoning if taken in huge amounts in a short time. Even vitamins, which were generally considered to be good for the body, were said to be lethal to humans. At least in the quantities found in the internal organs of polar bears. That's not to say that we should be so concerned that we should react to ordinary food and water with, "Ah, poison!". I'm sure there are no mages out there who would manufacture such an equipment."

"The food Uni cooked for us that night was nothing more than a healthy meal that provided energy and improved blood circulation. Just that it might give a little too much energy and make you less patient than usual. Of course, I doubted that it would work on its own, so I brought in more ingredients than I needed and encouraged their cooks to cook with the same ingredients."

I don't know why I had to fully explain this obvious trick.

I blinked in annoyance, and Due frowned.

"......Are you in a bad mood right now, by any chance?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm feeling a little heavy thinking about what we're about to do."

As I said this, I played with the sample in my hand. Uni had extracted it from the laundry that morning.

This thing was anaerobic by nature and will die quickly in open air. With magic and elixirs, we were able to keep it alive for longer. We have to use it before it expires.

To be precise, it's not the executing of the plan itself that weighed me down, but the aftermath of it. It would certainly hurt my brother and the old fox Lavallee, while dealing no direct damage to us. However, the thought of all the trouble that would surely arise made me depressed.

"Well, okay. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way as soon as possible, shall we?"

"Yes. That would be good."

The reassuring voice from my attendant beside me gave me motivation to finish my uncomfortable work as quickly as possible.

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