Chapter 253 – Merchants Land (3)
“… Under.”
I could intuitively sense that something was going wrong.
This was similar to the inspiration I got while getting caught up in a lot of trouble, but to be precise, it felt like gears that couldn’t turn were meshed together.
‘Let’s start with first aid.’
He licked his lips to calm himself down and infused mana into the mandala of runes.
─Whiriririk!
The sunspots that had stuck to the mother bear’s inner world melted away like burning in my mana. The mother bear’s eyes, which were filled with anger, lost their strength.
“Bye! (Mom!)”
“Rumble…”
Is it a wild persimmon? The bear cub clung to its head as if it had noticed that its mother’s mind had returned.
The mother bear, who was crushed by his golem and only his head was free, licked her cub with her tongue. Then he gave me a pitiful look. I guess it means release.
“Franc. This guy has come back to his senses.”
“Ah, yes!”
Fran calmed Hella-san and released the mana that made up the golem.
─Rumble! When the mound collapsed, the mother bear got up and held her cub. I said in a confused mood.
“Wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. (Go. From now on, if you can meet a human, don’t attack them.)”
“Ooh ooh…”
The mother bear gave a grateful glance and bit the cub’s neck lightly.
The bear, biting its own child like a cat, made its way back to the mountain through the bushes. It was impressive that Ralilura was smiling as if she was relieved and happy.
“… Whoa.”
I saw them off and woke up one of the bullies.
While reaping the rune’s mana, he brought the spear that spilled 〈 Lightning Missiles and 〉 to his neck.
[Gagagakgagagagagagagagagagagaga!!]
He woke up and screamed at the electric poultice. I must have been awake and awake.
I could see my muscles stiffening as I was paralyzed by the current. Even if he wakes up, it will be impossible to do wrong.
【What, what, what! What! What?!】
─Quack!!
I put a spear in front of the talking guy. The guy covered his mouth. Like a guy who lives on violence, he seemed to have grasped the situation with that.
【Are your eyes open? All your friends have either gone to dreamland or died. The guy you followed also blew all the information and ran away. Need more explanation?]
【–That’s a lie! There’s no way Salgar-sama ran away!]
It was confirmed that the turban man’s body was not visible, so when the hood was removed, the bully wearing a mask became the flagship.
【The name of the organization is Fang of Shadow. You are at the bottom of the organization, and Salgar is a candidate for executive positions. Following the order from above, he is working on destroying the native place of Worrpool, and if he destroys the native place of this mountain, it will be the 5th. Am I right?】
Yangachi’s eyes peeking out from the mask trembled. Probably because everything is true. Even if you have a heavy cub, you can’t get stuck.
【They brought 15 people. It was a lot of hard work.]
─Pazuzuzu. Yangachi swallowed saliva as current passed through the blade. He had just been given an electric shock. It must have been a heightened sense of fear.
【If you are not satisfied with your answer, wake up the next one. If that guy doesn’t help either, he’s the next one. There are still fourteen people left to answer the questions for you. Do you understand?】
【Yes!! Ask me anything!]
Yangachi, who has weak mentality, raised the white flag.
This bastard knows he has no chance of surviving.
Still, if he was a gangster, he would have learned how painful torture can be. In addition, electric poultices are said to be one of the greatest pains that humans can experience.
【Let’s look at the face first.】
I swung the spear as if it were flowing words.
He said it like it was nothing, but the main point was this way. I didn’t want to hear anything from the lower end kid, so I thought of checking where I saw this guy.
─Suddenly!
With excellent spacing control, only the mask was cut. I frowned at the face beneath it.
【Blacksmith Guild Security Guard?】
The guards who took the dwarf ax man after the man who said he was a Zoid or something!
This guy was one of them.
【What relationship does the blacksmith guild have with your organization or client?】
【Ah, no relationship! I had no criminal record, so I was infiltrating that guild as a spy! That’s because the guards will accept it if they can!]
[Spy. That’s grand. Was that also a request? Who else is infiltrating besides you?]
【It’s just me! It was also the organization’s doctor that I infiltrated!]
I frowned. It’s good to be honest, but it’s because the content was very poor.
Wouldn’t you rather stab him that there is no one other than himself, whether it’s really just this guy or not?
Since the shadowy organization does not rely on the law, it was a law that valued loyalty and trust over life.
【I really am! Other than me, the other members of the organization have dropped out of the papers because the identification is like a knife!]
Yangachi caught my reaction like a ghost as much as his life was at stake. He was more concerned with his own comfort than trust. Very good.
[The Blacksmith Guild’s security guards are all those with clear identities and criminal records! Ah! Ha, but the commander of the guards! Only the security unit commander, Zoid Tustas, is a little different!]
【… Two Stars?]
That’s the name of a business that has risen as a suspect among us.
【That’s right! Zoid Two Stars is the half-brother of the current President of Two Stars!]
[Was Zoid Two Stars also a half? Or is the company president a human?]
【Both are half of half!!】
[Half of the harp? Ah. Quarter.]
What bullshit did I say again?
Perhaps Zoid’s grandfather or grandmother was a dwarf. For some reason, he was a bit short for something that looked like a human. I continued to ask questions.
【Therefore? What’s different about him?]
【It is said that Zoid disowned his older brother, the president of Tustars, and left the city, only to return 10 years later!】
[Are you sincere? Are you saying it’s not?]
【Opinions are divided! If there is an opinion that it can be trusted, there is also an opinion that it may be a person hired by Two Stars Co. As a bribe or a spy!]
It was clear from Hella-san’s reaction that the image of Tustas Firm was a mess to Hremar’s artisans.
‘Even if I resigned and went out, I can’t believe it straight away.’
He might have been out for 10 years for a business meeting and then came back. You wouldn’t know what he was hiding inside if he didn’t see it.
【But it’s not enough information to call yourself a spy. Anything else?]
【That, that’s…】
【It doesn’t seem to exist.】
I tore off the cloth from the corpse and placed it on his face.
─Shoot it. I poured the blue-black powder into my camping utensils and put it in water made with 〈 Water Creation 〉. The bully, whose face was covered, trembled in fear.
【Sir, sir? What are you trying to do?]
【Why am I your sensei, fuck you.】
I watched all the balls with this guy. I mixed the powder with water to make the mother bear go wild and sprinkled the cloth over her face.
【Ughhh?!】
【My friend, let’s take some medicine for a while. I wonder if this works for humans as well.]
It was a question I needed to know rather than curious about.
That’s how the bully was made a clinical trial subject. If you leave it in that state, the powder will be absorbed through your nose and mouth, and it will show the effect.
I shook my hands and approached Hella.
“Hella.”
“Ah… I’m sorry, Fran’s husband. I keep getting nervous these days due to deadlines and lack of sleep.”
Ms. Hella apologized as if she knew what I was about to say. But that wasn’t my point.
“Nope. That may not be the reason.”
“Uh? What?”
“Please look at this powder. Do you know what the ingredients are?”
“Powder? I don’t know much about poison…”
Ms. Hella, who took her medicine stick, made an impression of her. She didn’t seem to recognize what the dark blue powder was.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
Still, as if she was thinking of finding out as much as she could, Mr. Hella put her powder on her palm and rubbed her hand or blown away the blue powder with difference in thickness and weight.
“… What?”
Ms. Hella’s eyes widened when she saw the remaining black powder. She was startled and asked me.
“That bowl! Do you have a bowl and water?”
“If you’re okay with this, use it.”
She held out a bowl and water prepared in advance, and Mr. Hella poured black powder into it, leaving very little water.
-Wheeze-whee-jeok.
As she stirred with her fingers, the powder dissolved into the water like paint. The powder itself was water soluble.
“… It must be.”
Hella, a member of the sewing guild, saw the color and cried out because her complexion turned blue.
“This is kiln oak charcoal powder!”
“… Is that so?”
I couldn’t be happier that I got it right.
I pressed my throbbing temple.
“—This charcoal seems to be a substance that takes away the ability to control anger from creatures that inhale it.”
Charcoal powder is said to be used as a cheap dye in Nidavellir!
The powder was a toxic substance that, when accumulated in the body, caused anger in the creature.
‘Is that why?’
A Dwarf who threw an ax at the blacksmith guild.
Ms. Hella, who in excitement cut some of her fruit and, unbeknownst to a dwarf, even cut her finger.
It was this powder that made them that way.
The ax dwarf acted as if he couldn’t find the warp dye because it was expensive. In other words, he used this kiln oak charcoal to dye things black.
Miss Hella has nothing to say. Because she even says that she wears it often.
‘The side effects of this powder are similar to those of Beast Return.’
The insanity of being unable to handle her own wrath!
It was very similar to what I was experiencing.
‘Even the symptoms caused by mana are the same.’
If this was a chemical brain drug, I wouldn’t be able to cure the mother bear. Because the rune of ᚦ(Thurs) is not suitable for chemical treatment.
Therefore, it seemed that the effect of this powder could be classified as a curse.
“Now, wait a minute, sir. So what? Are you saying that the company sold charcoal powder as dye even after knowing all the side effects?”
“It is not a side effect. Originally, they sold it under the illusion that charcoal with this effect could be used as a dye.”
Grinding a red clown mushroom to produce red was no different from selling it in paint.
People who directly touch the dye are natural, and people who use clothes or furniture dyed with this charcoal must have been adversely affected.
“… 20 years.”
Mr. Hella muttered in disbelief.
“People have been using this charcoal since I started this job. The Tustas Company has been deceiving the people of Nidavellir for at least 20 years!!”
“Hella. Stay still.”
She took her shoulder in indignation and unfolded the rune of ᚦ (Thurs).
A dark spot also existed in Hella’s inner world. I burned it with mana, but her anger didn’t seem to subside.
It has to be. That black spot is Mr. Hella’s anger.
The side effect of charcoal and beast return was that it made it difficult to control the anger, not forcefully injecting the anger that was not there.
That’s why the people of Nidavellir probably didn’t feel uncomfortable with their anger. Just like I didn’t know about the side effects of Beast Return until I ran out of control.
‘Ambit, but it’s impossible to imitate Odin like me…’
Perhaps the prejudice that dwarves have violent personalities was due to the hysteria of the artisans who used that charcoal.
What if people with artistic temperament lose control of their anger?
I’m going to go crazy Imagine that every time your boss or subordinate fucks up, all your complaints come out of your mouth, or your fist flies right in their faces.
Among those who have a lot of powder absorption, there will be people who are unable to live in society.
“It’s clear that the company has maliciously covered up the facts.”
There is no suspect other than Tustars Sanghoe.
They hired people to dig into the native place of war pool, which would become their rival. In addition, he even abused the effect of charcoal as a means.
It was for this reason that he fed the mother bear a mixture of charcoal powder and some kind of blue powder–probably the effect of speeding up the effect–to make it look like a wild animal’s work.
【Kuaaaaagh
At that time, the bully I applied the medicine to jumped up and screamed.
He moved well, as if his paralyzed muscles were covered with anger.
─Tattatat! A bully who throws the cloth off his face and runs away. Excited, he didn’t pay attention to running and swears at us with his fingers.
【Goodbye, you fucking bastards!! Organizational retribution awaits you!! Stay trembling and wait day and night for the moment when a knife is stabbed in your stomach, you bastards!!]
【Who sent it?】
Even if you send them anyway, gangsters, a subcontractor for fucking rice, won’t be a threat.
But there’s no reason we should let him live. I naturally thought Fran would throw the knife, but for some reason Fran didn’t move.
“Can I catch that person?”
Instead, Rari Lura fired her long needle from Linglingi 3.5’s mouth.
─Push-shoo-shoot! Yangachi fell with a long needle stuck in his leg.
【Quaaaaa!! Aaaaa!! A bitch like a dog!!!]
【I’m busy, so keep your mouth shut.】
I sprayed him with sleeping gas to shut him up, but Yangachi didn’t even go to sleep. His eyebrows furrowed.
‘… The medicinal effect is greater than I thought.’
Does it sharpen consciousness like narcotic drugs? But I never thought it would withstand the interference of sleep magic.
The real purpose of the charcoal powder might be something like that. A doping agent that excites the body before a fight.
─Pajijijik!!
He destroyed Yangachi with 〈 arrows of lightning. He’s not even worth living for what he does. He was the lowest of the group, incomparable to the real threat, the Two Stars Company.
‘… There’s no reason for us to fight against that firm.’
It was true.
I’m sorry to the people of Nidavellir, but I don’t think we have any obligation to fight against that company.
Of course, I had the idea to find out what kind of person the lord was and inform him. A sane person would use his hand.
I plan to spread the news to wizard guilds and universities outside the city.
In a situation like this, you have to make a big deal out of it.
It is a short thought to hope that the military irregularities will be resolved by complaining to the company commander and platoon commander. Likewise, the problem would be solved by knowing the crimes of the Tustars Company throughout the world.
Still, we were under no obligation to observe the process or take the reins.
Because the effect of that dye on us is someone else’s business.
“… Mr Hella. Please lend me that dye too.”
It was then. Fran took the bowl in which the dye was dissolved from Mr. Hella.
No, that’s how I expressed it because the bean pod was written on Fran, whom I love.
If there had been anyone else, he would have said that Fran snatched the bowl from Mr. Hella.
It was such an effortless movement.
“──Fran?”
“… Wait a minute. It’ll take a while. It’s because I care about the smell.”
What a smell. If it was Fran’s five senses, she would be able to sense it even if she was far away.
But why do you want to check the scent by dipping it into your hand?
My head gave the answer in a split second.
── Because Fran hoped that she was wrong.
I had a foreboding feeling that a huge cogwheel had started to mesh somewhere.
It felt like something that had been prepared for a long time was about to move.
Some might call it destiny.
“… It’s your father’s smell, Nor.”
Fran said, the expression disappearing from her face.
“This smell… It’s the smell of my deceased father.”
──The moment I heard that story.
The evil deeds of a certain firm secretly working in Nidavellir are no longer someone else’s business to me.
