The Nation of Merchants (3): The Scent of Father
I let out a long breath. “...Ha.”
I could instinctively sense that something had gone terribly wrong. It was the kind of gut feeling I’d picked up after getting dragged through countless disasters—an intuition that told me gears that should never have turned were now grinding together.
Guess I’ll start with emergency treatment.
I licked my lips to steady myself, then poured mana into the rune mandala.
The black stains clinging to the mother bear’s inner world
⟨ Rune of Purification ⟩
—Whiririric!
The dark spots melted away as if incinerated by my mana. The frenzied rage drained from the mother bear’s eyes.
“Bbbyuo! (Mom!)”
“Grrrrrrrr……”
Some wild instinct, perhaps? The cub noticed its mother’s mind had returned and immediately clung to her head. The mother bear—only her head free from the golem’s weight—licked her baby with her tongue. Then she turned those pitiful eyes toward me. She was asking to be released.
“Franc. She’s back to her senses.”
“Ah, okay!”
Franc, who had been soothing Hela, released the mana forming the golem.
—Rumble!
As the mound of earth collapsed, the mother bear rose and embraced her cub. I spoke with a heavy heart.
“Wauu. Worru ururururaau kaaoo. (Go. From now on, try not to attack humans even if you encounter them.)”
“Uuuu……”
The mother bear gave me a grateful look, then gently bit the scruff of her cub’s neck. Like a cat carrying her kitten, the bear pushed through the underbrush and disappeared back into the mountains. The way Larilura smiled—relieved yet somehow delighted—left a strong impression.
“...Huu.”
After seeing them off, I woke one of the thugs. Withdrawing the rune’s mana, I pressed the spear shaft—now crackling with Lightning Missile—against his neck.
Electric current surges through the spear shaft.
【Gagagagagagagagak!!】
The man jolted awake screaming from the electric shock. Sleep fled instantly; his mind would be crystal clear now. I watched his muscles lock up from the paralysis. Even conscious, he wouldn’t be able to try anything stupid.
【Wh-what the hell! What is this?!】
—Thud!
I slammed the spear tip right in front of his nose. He clamped his mouth shut. As a man who lived by violence, he seemed to grasp the situation immediately.
“Eyes open now? Your friends are all either dreaming in la-la land or dead. The guy you followed spilled everything and ran. Need any more explanation?”
【──Bullshit! There’s no way Lord Salgar would run!】
Since I’d confirmed the turbaned man’s corpse was missing, I fed him the lie. The masked thug gasped in shock.
“The organization’s name is Shadow’s Fang. You’re a bottom-feeder, and that Salgar guy was a candidate for executive. You were following orders from above to destroy the Worr Grass habitats. This mountain would’ve been the fifth. Correct?”
The thug’s eyes visible through the mask trembled. Because every word was true. No matter how tight-lipped, once you feed them a truth serum, they can’t resist.
“You brought fifteen guys. Must’ve been exhausting, tailing along like that.”
—Crackle.
When I sent current through the blade, the thug swallowed hard. He’d just been hit with an electric shock. Fear was clearly spiking.
“If your answers don’t satisfy me, I’ll wake the next one. If he’s useless, the one after that. There are still fourteen left who can answer in your place. Understand?”
【Yessir!! Ask me anything!!】
The mentally weak thug raised the white flag. He probably knew there was no chance of survival. Still, as a proper thug, he would have learned exactly how painful torture could be. And electric shocks were supposedly among the worst pain a human could experience.
“First, let’s see your face.”
I spoke as if it were casual, then swung the spear. My words sounded offhand, but this was the real point. There was nothing useful to hear from a lowly grunt, so I wanted to check if I recognized him.
—Slice!
With perfect distance control, I cut away only the mask. I frowned at the face beneath it.
“A security guard from the Blacksmiths Guild?”
The guards who had followed that Zoid guy—or whatever his name was—when he took the dwarf axeman away! This was one of them.
“What’s the connection between the Blacksmiths Guild and your organization or employer?”
【N-none at all! I had a clean criminal record, so I infiltrated the guild as a spy! They hire security based on ability alone!】
“A spy, huh? That sounds fancy. Was that also a job? Who else is embedded besides you?”
【Only me! Infiltrating was the organization’s decision!】
I furrowed my brow. It was good that he was confessing, but the information was too thin. Whether he was truly the only one or not, he would naturally claim no one else existed if it meant saving his own skin. Underground organizations valued loyalty and trust above life itself.
【I-it’s true! They check identities strictly, so the other members failed the paperwork check!】
The thug read my reaction with terrifying accuracy—his life was on the line, after all. His attitude showed he valued his own safety over loyalty. Excellent.
【All the security guards at the Blacksmiths Guild have clean identities and no criminal records! Ah! B-but the security vice-captain! Vice-captain Zoid Twostas is a bit different!】
“...Twostas?”
That was the merchant group that had risen to the top of our suspect list.
【Yes! Zoid Twostas is the half-brother of the current Twostas Association Leader!】
“Is Zoid Twostas a half-dwarf? Or is the association leader human?”
【Both are quarter-dwarves!!】
“Quarter-dwarf? Ah, right. A quarter.”
I’d wondered what nonsense he was spouting. So Zoid’s grandfather or grandmother must have been a dwarf. That explained why he was shorter than he looked despite appearing mostly human.
I continued the interrogation.
“So? What makes him different?”
【Zoid cut ties with his older brother, the Twostas Association Leader, and left the city. He only returned after ten years!】
“Does that make him trustworthy? Or the opposite?”
【Opinions are split! Some say he can be trusted, others suspect he might have been planted by the Twostas Association as a bribe or spy!】
The terrible image the Twostas Merchant Group had among Hremar’s craftsmen was obvious just from Hela’s reaction.
Even if he cut ties and left, we can’t take it at face value.
He might have spent those ten years outside for the sake of the association before returning. Without seeing what he was hiding inside, we couldn’t know.
“But that’s not exactly information worthy of calling yourself a spy. Anything else?”
【W-well……】
“Doesn’t look like it.”
I tore cloth from one of the corpses and placed it over the thug’s face.
—Swish.
I poured the dark-blue powder into a camping dish, mixed it with water created through Water Creation, and soaked the cloth.
Water-soluble black dye
Induces uncontrollable rage when absorbed
The thug with the covered face trembled in terror.
【T-teacher? What are you going to do?】
“Why the hell would I be your teacher, you bastard?”
I was done with this guy. I sprinkled the powder that had driven the mother bear berserk onto the cloth covering his face after dissolving it in water.
【Mmmph?!】
“Let’s have our friend take some medicine for a bit. I’m curious whether it works on people too.”
It wasn’t mere curiosity—it was something I absolutely needed to confirm. I had turned the thug into a clinical trial subject. Left like this, the powder would be absorbed through his nose and mouth and show its effects.
I dusted off my hands and approached Hela.
“Hela.”
“Ah… I’m sorry, Franc’s husband. I’ve been so irritable lately because of deadlines and lack of sleep.”
Hela apologized first, assuming I was about to scold her. But that wasn’t why I approached.
“No. That might not be the reason.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Please take a look at this powder. Do you know what it’s made of?”
“Powder? I’m not very familiar with poisons…”
Hela frowned as she accepted the pouch. She didn’t seem to recognize the dark-blue powder.
“Huuuuu.”
Still, she seemed determined to examine it with her abilities. Hela placed the powder in her palm, rubbed it, and blew on it, separating the blue particles by texture and weight.
“...Huh?”
Her eyes widened at the remaining black powder. Startled, she asked me,
“A bowl! Do you have a bowl and water?”
“This should work if it’s all right.”
When I handed her the prepared bowl and water, Hela left only a tiny amount of liquid and poured in the black powder.
—Stir, stir.
When she mixed it with her finger, the powder dissolved like paint. It was water-soluble.
“...There’s no mistake.”
As a member of the Tailors Guild, Hela turned deathly pale the moment she saw the color and cried out.
“This is Furnace Oak Soot!”
“...So it is.”
I couldn’t feel any joy at being right. I pressed my throbbing temples.
“──This charcoal appears to be a substance that steals away the ability to regulate anger from any living creature that inhales it.”
The charcoal powder used as a cheap dye in Nidavellir! When accumulated in the body, it was a toxic substance that triggered rage.
So that’s what it was.
The dwarf who had suddenly gone berserk and thrown his axe at the Blacksmiths Guild. Hela, who had grown so excited while carving fruit that she—uncharacteristically for a dwarf—cut her own finger. This powder was what had done it to them.
The axe-wielding dwarf had acted as if he couldn’t obtain the more expensive Worr Grass dye. In other words, he had used this Furnace Oak Soot whenever he needed to dye something black. The same went for Hela—she had even mentioned using it often.
The side effects of this powder are similar to those of Beast Regression.
Mental derangement that makes one unable to control their own anger! It was eerily similar to the symptoms I suffered. Even the fact that mana triggered the symptoms matched perfectly.
If this had been a chemical narcotic that affected the brain, I wouldn’t have been able to cure the mother bear. The Thurs rune wasn’t suited for treating chemical substances. Therefore, this powder’s effect could be classified as a curse.
“W-wait, senior. What does that mean? Are you saying that merchant group sold the charcoal powder as dye even though they knew about the side effects?”
“It’s not a side effect. They lied and sold charcoal that originally had this effect by claiming it was just dye.”
It was no different from grinding up bright red toadstools, claiming they produced red pigment, and selling them as paint. Not only the people who handled the dye directly, but anyone who used furniture or wore clothes dyed with this charcoal would suffer harmful effects.
“...Twenty years.”
Hela muttered in disbelief.
“People have been using this charcoal ever since I started this work. The Twostas Merchant Group has been deceiving the people of Nidavellir for over twenty years!!”
“Hela, please calm down.”
I grasped her trembling shoulders and activated the Thurs rune. Black spots existed in her inner world as well. I burned them away with mana, but her anger didn’t seem to subside. That made sense. Those black spots represented the anger she already carried. The charcoal and the side effects of Beast Regression didn’t forcibly inject nonexistent rage—they simply made it impossible to control the anger that was already there. That was why the people of Nidavellir never felt strange about their own fury. Just as I hadn’t known about the side effects of Beast Regression until I went berserk.
Still, imitating Odin like I do would probably be impossible for them…
Perhaps the prejudice that dwarves had violent personalities originated from the hysteria of craftsmen who used this charcoal. If people with artistic temperaments suddenly lost the ability to control their anger? They would go mad. Imagine every complaint toward a terrible boss or subordinate spilling out, or your fist flying at their face on its own. Among those who absorbed large amounts of the powder, some would find normal social life impossible.
“At any rate, it’s clear that merchant group has been deliberately concealing the truth.”
There were no other suspects besides the Twostas Merchant Group. They had sent people to ravage the Worr Grass habitats that could compete with them. They had even abused the charcoal’s effects to do it. That was why they had mixed the charcoal powder with some blue powder—probably something to accelerate the effect—and fed it to the mother bear to make it look like the work of wild animals.
【Kwaaaaaaaaah──!!】
At that moment, the thug I had applied the powder to sprang up screaming. His paralyzed muscles moved as if the rage had overwritten everything.
—Tap tap tap!
The thug threw off the cloth covering his face and tried to flee. Too excited to focus on running, he flipped us off as he ran.
【See you later, you fucking bastards!! The organization will take revenge on you!! Just wait in terror for the day a knife slides into your gut while you sleep, you sons of bitches!!】
“Who said we’re letting you go?”
Even if we did, a subcontracted gang of organized thugs posed no real threat. Besides, we had no reason to spare him. I naturally assumed Franc would throw her knife, but for some reason she remained still.
“Shall I catch him?”
Instead, Larilura had Ringling Model 3.5 fire a needle from its mouth.
—Shoosh!
The thug collapsed as a needle pierced his leg.
【Gyaaaaah!! Aaaaaaaaah──!! You bitch!!!】
“We’re busy, so shut your mouth.”
I sprayed sleeping gas to silence him, but the thug didn’t fall asleep. I frowned.
…The effect is stronger than I thought.
Did it sharpen the mind like a stimulant? To think it could even resist sleep magic. Perhaps that was the charcoal’s true purpose—a doping agent to excite the body before battle.
Unleashed without incantation.
—Crackle!
I electrocuted the thug with a silent Lightning Missile. Looking at his behavior, he wasn’t worth keeping alive. He was merely a bottom-feeder in a group that couldn’t compare to the real threat—the Twostas Merchant Group.
…Though we don’t exactly have a reason to clash with that group.
It was true. As sorry as I felt for the people of Nidavellir, we had no obligation to fight their corporation. Of course, I planned to check what kind of person the lord was and spread the information. If he was decent, I would lend a hand. I also intended to scatter the news to the Mages Guild and universities outside the city. This kind of incident needed to be blown up big if anything was going to be resolved properly. Hoping to solve military corruption by complaining to a company commander or platoon leader was naïve. Likewise, the Twostas Merchant Group’s crimes would only be resolved if the whole world learned of them.
Still, we had no duty to watch over that process or hold the reins. The effects of that dye were someone else’s problem.
“...Hela. Please lend me that dye as well.”
It was then. Franc took the bowl containing the dissolved dye from Hela. No—that was how I described it because I was blinded by love for Franc. If it had been anyone else, I would have said Franc snatched the bowl from Hela. Her movements showed that little composure.
“──Franc?”
“...Just a moment. It’ll only take a moment. The smell is bothering me.”
The smell? With Franc’s senses, she should have been able to detect it from a distance. So why was she deliberately dipping her finger in to check the scent?
My mind supplied the answer in an instant.
──Franc was hoping her suspicion was wrong.
I felt an ominous premonition, as if a massive gear that had been prepared long ago was finally beginning to turn. It felt like something readied in the distant past was only now starting to move. Some might call it fate.
Franc’s face had gone completely blank.
The moment I heard those words, the evil deeds of a certain merchant group lurking in Nidavellir were no longer someone else’s business to me.