Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Did I See It Wrong?
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Did I see it wrong?
"It's late, Ella. You're still awake?"
Erich tossed the question my way in his usual gentle tone.
I had no idea what was going on, but first things first—handle the important stuff.
"You know how Lavinia and I went around the shopping district on our own today, right?"
"Yeah. The knights reported it to me."
"We found rewishi feelers in a potion we bought from the Morten Trading Company's branch. I brought some back because I figured we should discuss it."
Erich and Florian both furrowed their brows at the same time.
I handed one potion vial each to Erich and Florian from the ones I'd brought.
"This foreign substance is a rewishi feeler?"
"Yeah. Lavinia confirmed it, so it's definite."
"And you got it from the Morten Trading Company?"
"Yep."
"What does it do?"
"According to the promotional lion doll, it makes you shed pounds fast if you take it after meals. The product's called Marcio Potion or something."
Erich wore the exact same expression as Grandfather, lost in thought.
He stood up and paced slowly before leaning on the edge of the desk and speaking.
"...Actually, while checking the ledgers from the past few years, I found something off. I was debating whether to bring it up with His Highness."
"What is it?"
"The imports of combat stimulants from the west have spiked this year."
Combat stimulants?
What were those?
I'd heard of military painkillers, but combat stimulants were new to me.
Catching my curiosity, Erich added an explanation.
"I've heard it's a drug with mild awakening effects. Apparently, just taking it lets you forget fear or anxiety for a bit and focus on the fight, so it's standard issue for new recruits."
"Why import that now? The war's over."
"That's why it struck me as odd. I figured at worst it was smuggling to foreign countries..."
The Dvayer County had always been passive about combat anyway.
Commerce was their main business.
Erich's assumption had solid logic behind it.
The problem was that the Morten Trading Company was mad enough about money to scheme something even bigger.
"Military combat stimulants?"
Florian muttered to himself, gripping the sofa armrest so hard that his tendons bulged.
He wasn't the type to show emotions dramatically.
Growing up together, he might let his guard down around me or Dietrich, but with others, he always kept an inscrutable facade.
Feeling his emotions surging in a way that was so uncharacteristic, I cautiously placed my hand on his arm.
Florian stared down at my hand motionlessly, and the tension slowly drained from his body.
"Do you know something about these combat stimulants?"
"I know... one person who's taken that drug."
"Who?"
Florian didn't answer that.
He just met my eyes for a moment.
The Emperor.
Instinctively, I knew who he meant.
If the person Florian knew was the Emperor, this wasn't something to discuss in front of Erich and Lavinia.
I turned to Erich and steered the conversation back to square one.
I had no clue why the Emperor would make that choice, but first, we needed to settle things on the Marcio Potion.
"Is the only suspicious part the increased purchase volume? That alone seems a bit shaky, doesn't it?"
Erich smoothly followed my change of topic.
What a thoughtful big brother.
"It lines up with the point where Morten Trading Company's profits skyrocketed after making Marcio Potion their flagship product."
"Meaning...?"
"To match the market volume with just rewishi fluids, they'd need at least a million of them. No two rewishi colonies could supply that."
Even for tiny magical beasts, a million was an insane number.
Super potions, rewishi, military combat stimulants.
Combining Erich's keywords with mine led to one conclusion.
The Morten Trading Company and Dvayer Count's family are diverting military medicine to make Marcio Potion.
For a diet aid with awakening effects, the western military combat stimulants would be far superior.
But there was one thing they lacked.
Addictiveness.
As a standard military drug, it'd be engineered to minimize addiction for safety.
So the reason to add rewishi fluid was simple.
Without addiction, people would stop buying Marcio Potion after losing weight, killing long-term profits.
They added it to hook users.
That Nina girl from earlier was probably thrashing around just to get her fix.
No way Erich or Florian hadn't pieced it together too.
"We need to send this drug to the ducal house."
Erich reached the conclusion first.
We all agreed.
"Head back to the ducal house first with the others, Ella."
But I couldn't agree to his next words.
"What about you, Erich?"
"I'll stay here and keep up the audit. There have to be double ledgers involved. I'll find them and..."
"You're going to handle something that dangerous alone?"
"It's my job, so I'll do it."
"You tell us to go because it's risky, but plan to stay behind solo? That doesn't make sense."
Erich fixed me with a cool gaze.
Did he think I'd back down?
I met his eyes without flinching. Erich sighed first and relented.
"No need to worry. I won't push too hard."
"Then what?"
"I'll just poke around for evidence moderately until the ducal investigation wraps up."
I pictured the foxlike Count Dvayer.
And the Dvayer Knight Order knights who'd glared at us guests to protect their territory's secrets.
This was probably their most guarded secret.
Diverting knight order-bound combat stimulants would tangle both sides' interests, so they'd hide it at all costs.
If Erich gets even close to the truth, they won't sit idle.
Truth be told, the count and knights tolerated Erich despite their wariness largely because of his younger siblings.
They wouldn't leave kids here if he uncovered a dangerous secret.
Especially not me.
Everyone knew how overprotective Dad and my brothers were of me.
Which meant the moment I left, they'd all watch Erich like hawks, scrutinizing his every move.
The ones left would be Erich—who couldn't use Divine Grace—and a handful of knights.
And even those elites were injured, so not at full strength.
"Ella, listen to me. I'll be careful so you don't worry."
"The second I leave, Count Dvayer won't stay quiet."
"I'll handle it somehow..."
"The baby's right."
Erich, who'd been trying to soothe me into heading back to the ducal house, shot Florian a chilling look.
"How many escort knights do you plan to send with us? At best, fifteen including the wounded?"
"What are you getting at?"
"If I were Count Dvayer, I'd dispatch the knight order the instant the carriage with the baby rolls out."
Florian, shaped by a brutal childhood, judged the situation coldly.
"You think His Grace and your father would sit still if that happened?"
"Who knows. Bandits infest the roads around prosperous territories..."
Erich hadn't had an easy upbringing either, but his life was worlds apart from Florian's.
To put it bluntly, Erich and I had grown up like flowers in a greenhouse compared to him.
Florian, who'd survived with the era's top noble house—the Southern Ducal family—as enemies, spoke firmly.
"We need to act like nothing's wrong, maintain the status quo, and quietly summon Sir Leopoldt and the Rommel Knight Order here."
Ignoring Erich's silence as our protector, Florian pressed on.