Translator: AkazaTL
Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
Chapter 95: Taking the Stage (3)
It goes without saying that the body of a Lindworm is strong.
However, does their mind also possess durability befitting that body?
Observing the progress of the civil war, Alexar had this question.
And soon, focusing on this question, he embarked on the developnt of a weapon for Lindworms.
The weapon, completed after research, revealed its appearance to the world in the form of a ‘scent’.
The mind of a Lindworm was not as strong as its body, and especially they were weak against attacks causing ntal derangent including illusions.
After several trials and errors, Alexar succeeded in creating a psychotropic substance that was effective only on the Lindworm species.
Like that, after the weapon was used in actual combat, the Lindworm riders lost strength and collapsed like scarecrows.
‘Just like right now.’
Hein's mory of touching the Bahmut had reached last night before he knew it.
Last night, Hein mixed several reagents he had brought to make that chemical, and then placed the bottle containing the chemical on the window sill.
The scent harboring the drug rode the wind blowing during the night, flew all over the Imperial Palace, and even reached the pen where the Bahmuts were resting.
The effect matched exactly as expected.
The Bahmuts who opened their eyes the next morning were intoxicated by the hallucination brought by the scent, unable to raise their bodies and flailing.
In other words, the one who caused all this commotion was Hein, and inevitably, resolving this commotion was also too easy a task for him.
Didn't they say one who tied the knot must untie it?
What would be so difficult about untying what he himself had tied?
Hein, pretending to massage the Bahmuts, diligently applied the ‘stimulant’ he had applied to his hands beforehand around the noses and mouths of the Bahmuts.
Then,
Kuururuk-
The Bahmuts, who were unable to co to their senses just a mont ago, started to get up from their spots one by one.
“Oh my, oh my goodness!”
“Huh-uh, how did the guys who were like sick chickens just a mont ago!”
Gasps burst out continuously from the mouths of spectators who witnessed this surprising sight.
“Ha! Hey, Drak, are you watching?”
“……!”
Truly contrasting reactions burst out from Themia and Drak who were watching this scene.
While Themia's smile beca deeper, Drak's complexion had now gone beyond turning red to turning blue.
“This, this. If things turn out like this, Drak and the Draco Tail tribe have completely lost face.”
“That person called the Grand Duke of Reichart, it would be necessary to keep an eye on him in the future. He seems to have ford a connection with the 1st Prince, and his talent is also that abundant.”
“Co to think of it, didn't they say that Grand Duke Reichart single-handedly dealt with dozens of assassins who infiltrated the airship?”
“When you say Zodiac, I only thought of it as a countryside nation stuck in the northern corner, but how did such a talent pop out from such a country?”
Leaving behind the whispers of nobles containing reactions beyond expectation, Hein approached in front of Themia again.
“Now if you wait just a little longer, the physical condition of the Bahmuts will fully recover, so you will be able to proceed with the scheduled itinerary without setbacks.”
There was no need to worry even a little that the trick he used might be exposed.
In the first place, since the hallucinogen was made as a weapon exclusively for Lindworms, it only exerted extensive effects limited to the target, and there was no concern that other species including humans would cause side effects.
Also, with current magic engineering technology, detecting the chemicals he used was impossible.
Because for the manufacturing thod Hein used to reveal its appearance to this world, at least over ten years of ti was needed.
“Excellent, very excellent. Thanks to you, my plan to tour the capital riding a wagon pulled by lizards can proceed without setbacks.”
Themia, who was staring blankly at Hein, soon clapped his hands and praised the rit.
“The skill is so deceptive that soone looking might suspect like this. That you pulled a trick on the Bahmuts to make those guys into this state and appeared matching the timing perfectly.”
“If it is a suspicious person, one might think so at a glance. But if there is anyone who really thinks so, that would be a serious insult to Lord Drak's ability.”
Hein accepted Themia's dagger hidden inside the grinning expression with a calm expression.
“An insult to Drak?”
“If the Bahmuts' poor condition was due to soone's plot, Lord Drak would have noticed it imdiately.”
“Heh, Drak? Does that guy have such ability?”
“From the perspective of magic biology, when a problem occurs in a subject, judging whether the cause of the problem is due to an external factor itself is not that difficult a task. Even putting aside the issue of whether that cause can be treated.”
“Hmm, is that so? You an it’s like that?”
“If the problem that occurred to the Bahmuts was caused by an external factor, Lord Drak would have taken asures imdiately. However, he did not take any special asures because he judged it was not a physical problem.”
He didn't bother to say the words, ‘Isn’t that why he only whipped the Bahmuts thinking so?’.
“Hey, Drak. Is this true?”
“……It is so, Your Highness. As far as I examined, there was no problem with the Bahmuts' bodies.”
Even if Hein really pulled a trick on the Bahmuts, in the yard where things had co to this, he couldn't say that was the case.
Because if such a thing happened, he should have noticed that an abnormality occurred long ago and taken asures.
Since that would be the proper action to take as a Lindworm expert.
But Drak had already missed the timing, and it was obvious that bringing up the story here uselessly would only result in hearing ridicule.
Eventually, all Drak could do was affirm Hein's words with a face completely heated up.
“Then what is the reason those guys were groveling earlier?”
“I am guessing it to be a psychological factor. It often happens that large animals lose energy in an unfamiliar environnt after leaving their habitat. So I gave a massage so the Bahmuts could take rest, and stimulated with aura so blood circulation would be smooth.”
“Such a problem occurred due to such a simple cause? You an the solution was this easy?”
“I understand that clues to problems that look complex often co from very simple places, Your Highness.”
“Right. Got it. Thanks for the very good explanation. By the way, where did you learn sothing like this? As far as I know, Lindworms don't inhabit the Zodiac.”
“I know nothing regarding Lindworms, but I have studied a little about the physiology of large land monsters.”
“Is that so? Aha, so the information about large monsters you knew worked this ti too? That is truly a coincidental matter. Anyway, good work.”
Just looking at Themia's expression, it was difficult to judge whether he was fully convinced by Hein's explanation.
But since Drak, who would want to disparage Hein the most, said it like that, Themia also couldn't just grasp a fault recklessly anymore.
No, perhaps what the cause of the problem was, was a problem that wasn't important even a little in the first place.
What was important to him was,
“Ah, so summarizing your words, it ans our Lord Drak couldn't even examine the lizards' psychological state properly, and chattered about being an expert or whatever all this while when he couldn't even do a massage properly.”
“Y-Your Highness. That is not it but…….”
It was just that this situation where Drak suffered humiliation was rolling quite interestingly.
Eventually, the sparks of the incident flew to a part other than Hein's explanation.
“Why, do you have more to say? Self-proclaid expert sir who possesses insight worse than that of a layman?”
“Y-Your Highness. Please listen to my words. Your Highness, I an.”
Seeing Themia's eyes looking at him becoming colder and colder, Drak's expression turned pale.
Drak didn't know very many things about Themia.
But if there was one fact he knew for sure.
It was that he beca infinitely cold-hearted to people who disappointed him.
“Th-that. That is.”
Drak's gaze, wandering to find an exit, reached Hein who was watching this spectacle with an indifferent expression.
“Your Highness! I am aggrieved!”
Drak, who finally found a way for himself to survive, shouted raising his voice to the fullest.
“What do you an you are aggrieved?”
“The reason the Bahmuts recovered their senses is not because the asure that person took was effective, but because the ergency treatnt I took exerted effect a little late.”
“What?”
“I am aggrieved. Your Highness, the effort I exerted was stolen!”
Drak pointed at Hein with an expression of being fully aggrieved.
“I wondered what you were saying. Hey, Drak. It is ugly when a man has much jealousy.”
Despite the desperate protest, Themia's reaction was cold beyond asure.
But Drak hung onto Themia and Hein tenaciously like a water ghost who fell into water.
‘I can't back down here. If I fall out of the 1st Prince's favor here, it’s the end at that mont.’
If it were the usual Drak, he would never have dared to oppose Themia's words.
But right now, it wasn't a situation where Drak could back down either.
The reason he could live loudly even after committing nurous evil deeds within the tribe until now was because there was the 1st Prince's support.
But if he backed down while showing only such an incompetent appearance here?
‘The 1st Prince will cast aside and never look for again. Then my position within the tribe is also finished.’
The wrongs he committed in the tribe trusting the 1st Prince's favor were too many to count.
For Drak, whether dying or living, he had no choice but to hang onto Themia's trouser leg.
“Drak, I’m warning you, stop around here. Even if you chatter more here, only you will beco ugly.”
Perhaps disliking the appearance of Drak being clingy on a matter already finished, Themia's expression only beca colder and colder.
But for Drak, there was a trump card to overturn this situation.
“Your Highness, please permit to prove my grievance through a duel!”
To the trump card Drak threw, Themia showed the reaction exactly as Drak expected.
“Duel?”
Themia's expression, which was only hardening stiffly, brightened in an instant.
“That is so. Your Highness, please permit to regain my honor through a duel!”
Not missing that mont, Drak drove a wedge once more.
Of course, Drak himself knew that his remark to determine right and wrong through a duel was far-fetched.
Because if one was a person capable of normal thinking, it was self-evident that a duel leading to sword fighting was irrelevant to determining whose rit it was to recover the Bahmuts' condition.
But Themia is a person far from ‘normal thinking’.
“Hey, Drak says he is the thief who stole his rit, what do you think?”
“I have my own thoughts, but I do not wish to engage in an absurd argunt over such a matter in front of Your Highness.”
“Aha, so you’ll co out like that? The noble Grand Duke of Zodiac dislikes such shabby argunts?”
Themia turned his gaze with a smile as if inciting Drak.
“You heard? The dignified Grand Duke over there says he hates mixing words with a vulgar excuse-maker like you?”
“It is a lie! If he had nothing to hide in the first place, why would he show such a servile attitude?”
Drak, as if responding to Themia's expectation, raised the level of provocation towards Hein.
“He is rely an ignorant bumpkin from a countryside corner of the continent in the first place. If an ignorant bumpkin isn't keeping his mouth shut because his liver is trembling trying to speak nonsense in front of Your Highness, what else would it be?”
If one were to nitpick, the national power of Zodiac and the Draco Tribal Alliance is at a similar level.
In other words, Drak insulting Hein and Zodiac was sothing where he had to shoulder quite a large political burden as well.
But Drak, driven to the edge of a cliff, had no leisure to consider such political terrain.
“Judging by that person's servile behavior, it is clear that the country called Zodiac is also a den of cowards.”
He was just raising the level of provocation more and more to sohow drag Hein to the dueling ground.
‘If I can just drag that greenhorn to the dueling ground and smash him, I can recover the 1st Prince's trust again. Because to Themia, this crazy guy, entertainnt that makes him fun would be a much more important issue than the truth about the Bahmuts.’
Did he judge that the atmosphere had ripened sufficiently by now?
“Drak, you are my guest who ca upon receiving my invitation. In other words, it ans if you, who already showed an ugly appearance, act even more disgracefully here, even I will suffer utter sha. And I don't know if you know, but the Grand Duke's sword over there is quite sharp.”
Themia grabbed Drak's hair stretching in all directions, and making eye contact with him, asked.
“Are you confident you can do really well?”
“Of course, Your Highness! If you just give a chance, I will kick that coward's ass, and make him have no choice but to confess what wrong he committed!”
“Good.”
Themia's gaze, torn long to the left and right, now left Drak and headed to Hein.
“Hey, Grand Duke. I tried persuading, but sohow this friend Drak doesn't look like he has thoughts of bending the claim that you are a thief. If we leave this friend chattering like this, I feel the honor of you and your country will suffer serious damage. What should be done about this matter?”
“……What does Your Highness wish for to do?”
“? There is only one thing I wish for.”
Is the current situation which flowed into a ss this enjoyable?
Themia eventually couldn't hold back the laughter bursting out and ended up bursting into laughter covering his mouth with his right hand.
“I want our Grand Duke to regain the lost honor. If you wish for that, I can provide the stage as much as you want.”
Now everyone in this place could know.
Since the situation had co to this, Hein could not avoid the duel.
Because if he backed down here, he would beco a coward who watched idly as the honor of himself and his motherland was tarnished in fear of Drak's spear.
“…….”
Hein, standing in the middle of this vortex, closed his eyes.
And inside his heart…….
‘Since this unravels too easily, I’m starting to feel disappointed.’
He burst into big laughter.
The 1st Prince, a lunatic crazy for pleasure, and the red-haired stupid boar too.
How could they move according to his will so easily?
That Drak would be unreasonable if driven to the defensive, and that the 1st Prince would fall for that unreasonableness and cause a sword fight, he had already anticipated it all.
He just created the situation according to the script planned in advance, but before he knew it, the developnt of the story was flowing exactly as he wanted.
In the first place, he had no intention of ending the show at this level.
Since he risked standing out after a long ti, shouldn't he catch at least one boar to make the balance sheet match?
‘I have to show at least this much so the onlookers over there will have stories to chatter about even after going ho.’
Hein spoke with the calst voice possible, worrying that laughter might leak out.
“I will respond to the opportunity Your Highness gave.”
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