161. Cause and effect 2
“Assassination?”
“Do you have any suggestions? Like someone who might have a grudge against old Harvey.”
As long as Harvey is anti-Wismel faction, if you investigate this attempted assassination case, you will definitely be able to uncover the background behind the Wismel Church.
“Well… there are too many people who might have a grudge against Master.”
“How many?”
“About 45% of Trakoti residents hate Master.”
“Oh, but I still have 55% left.”
“The other 55% have never met Master.”
“It’s trash beyond imagination.”
The problem was that Harvey was so trash that he had too many people he could have a grudge against.
Right now, the branch manager of the Adventurers Guild was grinding his teeth at Harvey.
‘Actually, it’s not that there aren’t any suspicious guys… But first, let’s try to figure out the cause of the poisoning step by step.’
Considering Harvey’s physical condition and the timing of the onset of symptoms, the time of poisoning was approximately three weeks ago.
“Could you tell us about the guests or places Mr. Ziggs Harvey has visited in the past three weeks?”
“Master hasn’t taken a single step since the studio became like this.”
“Not even a step?”
It turns out that Harvey, after his students were taken away by Pengrill, was stuck in a studio making dolls.
Of course, no one came.
“Is that why you didn’t even know about Tracotti’s situation?”
“I think there is no chance that he was poisoned from the outside.”
If Harvey hasn’t been out in over a month, this workshop is the only place you can poison him.
“If it happened in the workshop… Maybe the rice was poisoned?”
“It’s a fairly common assassination method.”
Lecacothecin is a deadly poison that can be poisoned not only by ingestion or administration, but also by contact with the skin.
It is a poison with a long incubation period and a slow effect, so it is usually killed by mixing it with drinks or food.
“Who usually brings tea and meals to Mr. Ziggs and Mr. Harvey?”
“That guy must be the culprit!”
“I usually bring them.”
“ah.”
The table went silent for a moment at Ziggs’ remark.
Kim Ho-jeong secretly turned off [God’s Communication] and asked.
“…Could that guy be the culprit?”
“It won’t be.”
Lecacothecin is a very expensive poison and is not available in the Pitsta Lake area.
Ziggs, who has never been out of the lake, is not an item worth acquiring.
“More than anything else, the remaining puppeteers in the workshop, including that guy, are madmen who like the work of old Harvey.”
How crazy these guys are, they take turns taking turns to save Harvey, who has to take medicine every 3 hours.
If they were going to kill Harvey, they’d have been dead long ago.
“Then who the hell is the culprit?”
“It must be an outsider.”
“Uh maybe…”
Rebecca, who had been silent the whole time, spoke out with a pale face.
“Maybe Pengrill Spencer… is the culprit.”
“There is a point.”
He is one of Harvey’s few guests, has the means to obtain lecacothecin, and is not on good terms with Harvey.
‘Above all, he’s related to the Wismel Church.’
The time when Pengrill left the doll workshop and established the Spencer workshop is similar to the time when an unknown religious group appeared in Tracotti.
On top of that, both groups had one thing in common: they both wanted to get rid of the doll workshop and hated Camar.
“If one overlaps, it’s a coincidence, but if two or three overlap, it’s not a coincidence, it’s inevitable.”
“Then is he the real culprit?”
“As a matter of fact, I have a few questions.”
First of all, the incubation period of typical lecacothecin poisoning patients is 1 to 2 months, but Harvey showed symptoms in only 3 weeks.
That means they were exposed to a large amount of poison in a short period of time.
“To be able to do that, you have to eat or administer poison every single day.”
“Every single day…”
“But Pengrill never gets a chance to poison Old Harvey.”
Pengrill visited Harvey often, but not every day.
And even if he did, he had never touched Harvey or fed him anything.
“Because Lecacothecin is a poison that cannot be poisoned unless it comes into contact with the body, it is impossible for Harvey to dislike it while trembling.”
“Then did you say that you controlled the puppet?”
“A master puppeteer would quickly see through and disassemble a suspicious doll.”
It is certain that Pengril is involved in this matter.
However, there was no way to know how the large amount of poison was contacted every day.
“If Pengrill was the real culprit, he would have ordered someone else to poison him… Are there any more customers at Ziggs Workshop?”
“Except for Pengrill, there will be only adventurers.”
“Are there only adventurers?”
Kang Seung-hyun, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, jumped up from his seat.
“Mr. Ziggs, I’m sure old Harvey was making dolls out of the clay the adventurers brought, right?”
“Ah yes. We get the soil we use ourselves, but Master makes dolls using the soil that adventurers collect.”
“Where is the soil kept?”
“I’ll store it in Master’s exclusive material warehouse.”
“Guide me right away.”
Kang Seung-hyun headed to the doll workshop material warehouse.
In the meantime, the soil brought by adventurers was piled up in the corner of the warehouse.
“…Don’t Mr. Ziggs or the others touch this dirt?”
“yes. Master hates it.”
“There is so much soil, are you the only one using it? Anyway, personality…”
“Then, the only person who came into contact with this soil is Harvey.”
Kang Seung-hyeon looked at the soil stored in the warehouse.
At first glance, it is an ordinary lump of dirt scattered throughout the Red Forest.
[Observation Eye]
However, when [Observation Eye] is activated,
[Soil brought from the Red Forest.]
[This soil is contaminated.]
[It is better not to touch it.]
[Gets ‘Poisoned’ when in contact.]
[ Lecacothecin is mixed in.]
I was able to know the true identity of this soil.
‘I knew it would be like this.’
All the soil the adventurers brought was contaminated with lecacothecin.
In other words, the reason why Harvey was poisoned was because he made a doll using contaminated soil.
‘Because lecacothecin is a poison that can be poisoned even if it comes into contact with the skin.’
Since it was made without a break every day, a huge amount of poison must have been absorbed into the body.
“Hmm, the soil is contaminated?”
“Aren’t we supposed to get out of here?”
“I can’t believe it…”
The three who heard the story flinched and stepped back. Of course, if you don’t touch the soil directly, there will be no problem, but you can’t help but feel bad.
“Mr. Ziggs, inform the elders about this incident and move all the dolls you have made so far to the warehouse and dispose of them.”
“I see.”
“If anyone has come into contact with dolls or soil, please let me know right away. Even if you don’t have symptoms, you’re probably a lecacothecin poisoning patient.”
The fortunate thing was that there were no dolls sold externally because the workshop situation was not good right now.
‘For some reason, the recovery was slow even with the treatment.’
Harvey continued to make dolls while on medication.
He would have been exposed to lecacothecin each time, so he was not treated.
“I can’t believe the adventurers were the culprits…”
“How deep the grudge could have been…”
The two muttered as they looked at the warehouse.
However, Seunghyun Kang shook his head and said.
“There’s no way an ordinary adventurer could get this much poison.”
Of course, the real culprit in this case is different.
“It looks like Fengrill used the adventurers to deliver the contaminated soil to Harvey.”
This way, Harvey would be able to poison him without the risk of being found out and without needing direct access.
“Then why did you visit the elder… to check your physical condition?”
“I guess.”
“Why so why…”
Rebecca murmured with a devastated face.
“The reason should be heard from the person concerned.”
Of course, in order to do that, he had to find an adventurer who cooperated with Pengril.
“Mr. Ziggs, are there any records of the adventurers who brought the soil?”
“there is. Master said to keep a record of who brings more and more soil.”
“Dirty personality is so helpful.”
Kang Seung-hyun looked at the documents that Ziggs had brought.
Over the past three weeks, I have found the names of many of the most visited adventurers who have brought soil.
‘found.’
His name is Lit.
He was the only adventurer who visited the doll workshop without missing a single day.
“Ah, this man… He is an adventurer who just left the workshop!”
“just now?”
“yes. I brought soil today too.”
Ziggs showed the sack with a grim expression.
Just in case, when [Eye of Observation] was activated,
[This soil is contaminated.]
[Lecacothecin is mixed in.]
A warning message appeared without fail.
With this, it became clear that he was an ally of Pengrill.
“I can catch up if I leave now.”
“Let’s go now!”
“Come along, Mr. Ziggs. We don’t know this guy’s face.”
“All right.”
Kang Seung-hyun and his party immediately ran out of the warehouse and ran out of the studio.
– “I found it. That person.”
Fortunately, the boy hadn’t gone far.
I was leisurely walking around the workshop and eating snacks.
“excuse me.”
“huh? what?”
“Did the adventurer just dig this soil in our workshop?”
“But why?”
“Poisonous substances were detected in this…”
The moment Ziggs said this,
“Fuck!”
The guy pushed Lit and started to run away.
“Where are you going?”
At that moment, Kang Seung-hyun, who had been hiding behind him, jumped out.
“Kuk!”
“I have something to tell you, please give me some time.”
“Move! If you don’t want to get lost!”
Lit pulled out the sword from his waist and ran towards Kang Seung-hyeon.
Kang!
Then, Kang Seung-Hyun took out his Silver Glory to block the sword he wielded and
[Summons Freea’s crossbow.]
Rejoice!
I summoned my crossbow and hit him on the head.
“Keep!”
[Fria’s bond bag]
[Generates an earthen arrow.]
Pabababak!
After that, I pulled the trigger and rammed an earthen arrow into his ankle,
turning
the earthen arrow into a sharp bone spike. The relatively soft soil turned into sharp bones and burrowed into his body, causing him to scream in pain.
“Aaaagh!”
“Are you in the mood to talk now?”
“Save me! I just did what I was told!”
“Let’s go somewhere quiet first.”
Kang Seung-hyeon took Lit and disappeared into an alley inside the workshop street.
After that, Lit’s screams were heard for about five minutes.
“How is it?”
“I got this from him.”
Kang Seung-hyeon returned and took out a key.
“They say it’s the key to the secret storage room at Spencer’s workshop.”
