Chapter 88.
I stood in front of the third suspect"s workshop and took out the all-purpose key, Aloh.o.m.ora, that I had made before. Naturally, the door of the alchemy workshop was locked. I carefully put Aloh.o.m.ora into the keyhole and moved it around.
Chulkuk!
I heard the sound of the lock releasing, allowing the door to swing open. As expected, I went into the workshop without saying anything. I could feel several presences busying themselves in the workshop, so I decided to head in their direction.
There was a man who seemed to be the owner of the workshop. He was packing his bags in a hurry while talking to someone, "d.a.m.n it, d.a.m.n it! You never said we would have to run!”
The owner wore white clothes, which clearly marked him as an alchemist. He was addressing a gray-haired old man in a tailcoat, which made him resemble a butler.
The old man criticized the owner, "What are you talking about? Didn’t this happen because you didn’t do your job properly!"
The man protested at the unjustified remarks, "I did it right! I made it so he’d die as you requested!"
"Then why is he still alive?"
When the old man grew angry, the man pulled at his head. "I don"t know! d.a.m.n it, unless someone washed out his stomach as soon as the poison took effect, he couldn’t have survived!"
"Either way, he survived, and an unmelted horn was turned over to the court magicians. It may take some time to a.n.a.lyze the components, but it’d be better to run away now,” said the old man.
Horn! That"s a relief. I was worried that I was wrong about the suspects, but they just happened to be spilling everything.
"d.a.m.n, once the component a.n.a.lysis is complete, I won’t be free from suspicion either! If I flee now, I"ll probably be made out to be the criminal!"
"No, luckily, they said a civil servant trainee was caught as a suspect. If things go well, I think the trainee will be framed as the culprit.”
The alchemist was pleased with the old man"s words. "Is that true? Then why do we have to run away?”
The old man sighed, "Just in case. Don"t you like playing it safe, too? You have to think about the worst-case scenarios as well."
"That"s true, but....” The man trailed off, seeming displeased with having to run away.
The old man spoke, "Even if things go wrong, the master said he’d give you a new ident.i.ty. So don"t worry too much and pack your bags.”
The man"s dark expression brightened. I also smiled. Without even needing to search, I clearly saw ice troll blood, the digestive fluid of the giant Nepenthes, and the horn just go into the man"s luggage.
Those materials were rare and expensive. In particular, the blood of an ice troll was a super rare magic ingredient that I didn"t even have. Not needing to hear anymore, I quickly jumped out and hit the back of the man"s head without giving him time to react.
"Uhk!" The man fainted after suddenly being hit in the back of the head.
The old man became frightened at my sudden appearance. "Who, who are you!"
I smiled at the old man, who got into a fighting stance rather than trying to run away. They were truly a ridiculous pair. Who are you getting ready to fight?
"Huhuhu, just who are you trying to frame as the criminal?" I barreled between the old man"s arms and punched him lightly in the stomach.
"Keuok!" The old man"s stance and his abs were strong, as if he had trained them quite a bit.
He should have run away as soon as he saw me. Perhaps my appearance made him careless, and he believed he could overpower me.
I grabbed the crumbling old man by the collar and forced him upright.
I held the old man at eye level as his gaze blurred with pain. I looked into his eyes and smiled gracefully, "Don"t worry. You won"t remember me because all your memories will disappear."
There were many ways to erase memories, whether that be through physical means, magic, or drugs.
The old man nervously stared into my eyes. "What…!"
It was time for a behind-the-scenes interrogation. To put it another way, it was time to make him regret messing with me. Hahaha.
* * *
When the captain of the White Deer knights arrived at the reported scene, the building was surrounded by a ‘do not enter’ rope that prevented entry. From a distance, only a small amount of smoke could be seen coming out of the building, as it had been a while.
As he stepped over the ‘do not enter’ rope to go inside, a guard saluted him. "Salute!"
The captain raised his hand and headed straight to the tent in front of the building.
As he entered the tent, two subordinate knights saluted. "Salute!"
"What happened?”
When the captain asked about the situation, one of his subordinates explained, "Yes! We suspect that an accident occurred during an alchemy test in the workshop, and we are currently investigating."
"I heard there was an eyewitness who said that the vice-captain went in there. Did you check whether that’s true or not?"
"About that, I"m sorry. The smoke hasn"t cleared yet, so it"s going to be difficult to get inside."
The subordinate’s reply made his anger rise, but he suppressed it and continued, "I heard there were some people who collapsed trying to get in. How are their conditions?"
If the smoke were composed of a toxic substance, it would be dangerous to let the soldiers and knights enter, no matter how worried he was about the vice-captain.
"Yes, I can"t say for sure because the court magicians and the priests haven"t arrived yet, but I think they just fell asleep."
"Sleep? I heard from the report that it might be toxic.”
The subordinate answered with a perplexed look, "Those were our thoughts when we made the report because we were panicking. However, I used magic to check the physical condition of those afflicted, since they were speaking as if they were sleep talking.”
The captain glared at his subordinate. "You"re saying you filed the report without even knowing the exact situation.”
"I"m sorry."
"No, I"m glad it"s not a big deal.” He said, leaving the tent and standing in front of the building where smoke was still leaking out.
"Captain! It"s dangerous!"
"It"s alright." The captain beckoned his subordinates to back away and drew his sword.
After taking a deep breath, the captain injected mana into the sword and swung it toward the entrance of the building. Mana-infused wind from the captain"s sword entered the building and swept through the building"s interior. Then, the remaining sleeping gas inside the building was pushed out by the sword wind.
"Uek!" The knights and soldiers standing nearby withdrew to escape the smoke, and the captain ran into the building while holding his breath.
Inside the building, similar to an alchemy workshop, there was a large s.p.a.ce in the middle with several small rooms for storing magic ingredients. The captain headed straight to the source of the smoke.
At the smoke’s source were multiple collapsed people. There was a man who seemed to be the owner of the alchemy workshop, a bunch of men who looked like gangsters, and his subordinate, the vice-captain.
The vice-captain was lying with his hands gently placed together, wrapped in strange sacks as if he had been investigating the accident. He was about to move the vice-captain outside when he saw a note with writing on it and a flower in the vice-captain’s hand.
- Fell asleep here while fighting the drug offender.
Surprised by the note, he checked the vice-captain to see if he was breathing. He was relieved to see that the vice-captain was breathing properly. The sleeping portion of the note was not a metaphor; it literally meant that he fell asleep.
The captain was worried about the phrase ‘drug offender’ used in the note. He thought it over as he carried the vice-captain on his back. Thinking he couldn’t possibly be right, he opened the sacks surrounding the vice-captain and found white drugs in them.
Although the note provided insight into the situation, it did not make sense overall. The fainted gangsters around the vice-captain were drug offenders, and the vice-captain had been fighting against them.
The vice-captain had been a.s.signed to follow the trainee as he went to catch the culprit of Pelgrant’s poisoning. As such, why had he suddenly confronted a group of drug offenders? How come he didn’t see the trainee that was with the vice-captain?
He’d be able to hear the whole story once the vice-captain woke up. Sensing that his lungs were reaching their limit, the captain quickly left the building.
* * *
After interrogating the old man, I laid him beside the alchemist sprawled on the floor. The old man didn’t appear to have any external wounds or clues, but his mind would be in tatters. Well, the memory seems to have been erased properly, so I was sure it wouldn"t affect his daily life, but if he saw my face, there was a high chance that he’d start having convulsions.
It was a pretty intense interrogation, but I didn"t feel guilty when I thought of the old man"s past activities. On the contrary, I thought it was regrettable that I didn’t do more. The old man was the one who splashed muddy water at me previously. He was also Marquis Baltain’s butler, the one who used to take care of the dirty work.
The slave trade was prohibited by law. It was said that the old man was a.s.signed with finding victims to serve as human sacrifices for a witch, who had joined hands with the marquis. In addition, the old man used to offer young girls and boys to match the marquis’ s.e.xual preferences.
Marquis Baltain was very perverted trash, but the butler could stand his own as trash himself. Personally, I loathed the butler’s kind. They were a waste of time.
I took the written statement with a thumbprint to serve as a signature, as well as the old man’s wallet. Then I approached the alchemist who was with the old man. This was a funny guy too. According to the old man"s confession, the alchemist would have been disposed of if he had fled.
Even if Director Pelgrant pointed his finger at Marquis Baltain, he would require the culprit, the alchemist who was first found to be a reasonable suspect. Therefore, the old man was planning to get rid of the alchemist completely.
In a word, the previous display was just an act. In addition, the alchemist had done too much for Marquis Baltain, which meant he knew too many secrets. It also implied that his disposal was inevitable; it just happened to be now.
At first, he was forced to take these jobs because he needed money, but now he was someone who enjoyed poisoning innocent people. Therefore, I had no sympathy for him.
I raised the fainted alchemist’s hand and pressed his thumb under the old man"s on the written statement. Now he was also an accomplice to everything the old man had stated.
Even though he was innocent of slave trading and would be sentenced to death, it was none of my business. In any case, the attempted poisoning of Director Pelgrant by itself would be cause for the death penalty under imperial law.