CH 175

Words : 962 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

The Wine Was The Cause “Our wine is dangerous… I don’t know what you mean, but if that’s what you wish, Mr. Takumi. Very well. I will call the others and have some barrels brought out.” “Thank you. I’m sorry for the trouble.” “Mr. Takumi, what’s going on? What is wrong with the wine?” Mr. Hannes was very proud of the wine that his village produced. And so it could not be pleasant to hear this. Still, because it was me who was asking, he agreed, which I was grateful for. Phillip was still holding the cup in one hand as he looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Phillip. I’m sure you know all about that malicious store in Ractos.” “Yes. Sebastian has told me a lot… What about it?” “I believe that they are somehow related to the illness. And I think I might know how they did it.” “You do!?” “It’s thanks to Leo. I doubt that humans would have realized on their own.” Was it just a feeling or perhaps also a smell… But Leo had reacted to the glass sphere as well as the wine. And thanks to that, I had been able to connect the dots in my head. Now I just needed to wait for Mr. Hannes to bring the wine, and I could be sure. It was all thanks to Leo. As I waited for Mr. Hannes, I explained to Phillip about the sphere and illness, which also helped me organize my thoughts. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” While I talked to Phillip and praised Leo, Mr. Hannes came with several other villagers. They brought five barrels. Each was being rolled by two or three people. As they were high enough to reach a person’s chest, they must weigh hundreds of kilograms if full. As carrying them would be difficult, it was best to just roll them. “Thank you, Mr. Hannes.” “So, Mr. Takumi. We brought the barrels. What will you do now?” “Uhh, I will have Leo smell them.” “Smell… And what will that tell you?” “Leo is sensitive to bad smells and presences. So she will know if something is wrong.” I said, and then Leo walked up to the barrels. “Very well. Fetch something to pour the wine…” “Wait a minute. I’ll have Leo smell it like this first. Go on, Leo.” “Wuff.” Mr. Hannes was going to pour the wine into a cup first, but I stopped him. I wasn’t actually sure if the wooden barrels would interfere, but I wanted to know. And if she couldn’t do it, then I would have them pour it into a cup. “Wou…wuff. Wuff. Wuff…wuff-wuff.” Leo obeyed and slowly pushed her nose towards the barrels and started to sniff them. The other villagers stepped back and watched so that they wouldn’t get in her way. “Grau!!” After sniffing the first two, Leo approached the third and then barked once. It looked like I was right. “Leo. What about the other barrels?” “Wuff… Wou. Grau!” The fourth was fine, but she barked again with the fifth. So the third and fifth barrels were suspicious. “Wuff-wuff. Wou-grau-grau!” “Hmm.” “What did Leo say?” After sniffing all of them, Leo told me what she had sensed. Phillip, who was watching, was very curious about what she had said. “Uhh, the third and fifth barrels have the same smell and feel as the sphere and the wine that Phillip is holding. In other words…” “It feels just like the sickness that is spreading in the town…?” “That’s it. Mr. Hannes. Is there something different about those two barrels?” I told them what Leo had sensed after smelling them. My guess had been correct, and the barrels of wine had the smell of disease. Well, only two of them… But why…? “The third and fifth are much younger than the others. The other three were stored near the back and have rested for many years. Much like the ones we served during the feast.” So the wine I had drunk last night was from the back of the storage house. That was why Leo hadn’t reacted to it. “Younger wine… And where are those barrels kept?” “Near the entrance. We keep the older ones near the back. Both the taste and smell change with age… We send both to Ractos as separate products.” “I see… And that sphere was kept near the entrance?” “Yes, that’s right.” After hearing this, I was completely convinced of it. Mr. Hannes was still holding the glass sphere as he answered. “Thank you, Leo. It’s because of you that it all makes sense now.” “Wuff-wuff.” “But, what does it mean?” “Won’t you explain it to us, Mr. Takumi?” As I thanked Leo and petted her, Mr. Hannes and Phillip begged me to explain it to them. While many thoughts had gone through my head, I had to explain it to them or they wouldn’t understand. “Uhh, well. Some of this is speculation, but… I will start with the cause of the illness.” I moved away from Leo and faced Mr. Hannes and Phillip as I talked. “As you well know, Phillip, there is a store in Ractos that is selling diluted medicine and herbs.” “Yes.” “The store that I nearly bought from.” “Indeed. That store opened in Ractos a little over a month ago.” “A little over a month…” That was when Mr. Hannes realized that the store had opened at nearly the same time as the merchant had brought him the glass sphere.

CH 175

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