“Y-Your Majesty! Your condition — fully recovered!?”
“Aye, Count Balsa. As you see, no trouble at all. We caused you worry, it seems.”
The king answered the toad — who had come bursting into the great dining hall — with perfect composure, and ostentatiously thumped his chest.
“Is… that so. Hahaha, well, well. Most reassuring…”
Sweating profusely, plastering on a strained smile, the count rubbed his hands together. The king watched him with cold eyes. Ah — the king’s caught on too. That this guy’s the one.
“For a moment we thought it was over, but Lord Touya here cleared the poison in an instant. We are fortunate. It was a near thing.”
At the king’s words, the bald count turned his hatred-filled glare on me. Hey, hey — could you BE more obvious? Honestly, I can’t think of a culprit besides this guy.
“So, Touya-san. With everyone gathered, what do you intend?”
Charlotte-san, the jade-haired court mage with the golden staff, asked me.
Assembled in the great dining hall: His Majesty, Princess Yumina, Queen Yuelle, Duke Ortlinde, General Leon, Charlotte-san, Doctor Raul, Origa-san, and Count Balsa.
I had everyone stand, and addressed them all.
“As you all know, His Majesty was poisoned. The scene was this dining hall. The room is preserved as it was. Well — the food’s gone cold, but. Now, regarding the culprit behind this assassination attempt…”
I gave it a long, deliberate pause, then opened my mouth.
“The culprit is among us.”
I always wanted to say that line!
A stir went through the room; Origa-san’s color shifted. Her fox ears stood pertly upright; her eyes pleaded no, not me. I get it.
Watching her go pale, the corners of Count Balsa’s mouth — standing right next to her — turned up.
Whoa, total “perfect, just as planned” face. He was looking at Origa-san so he didn’t notice, but everyone else in the room was looking at the bald count with an isn’t it you? gaze. Everyone but Origa-san already knows the culprit, basically.
“First — this poisoned wine.”
I held up the bottle of wine the General had brought.
“This is, no question, the wine Origa-san gifted?”
“I-it is what I gifted, but I would never put poison—”
“Silence! You mere beastfolk! To still play the innocent — the shamelessness—!?”
While the toad ugly-mouthed Origa-san, I tilted the wine bottle and chugged it straight, in one go.
Underage, but it’s fine, right? It’s another world!
“Mm — good!”
I slammed the bottle down on the table, bang. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the flavor much. I’m a minor!
I looked around — everyone was staring at me, jaws hanging open.
“L-Lord Touya!? A-are you all right!?”
“I’m fine, General. Or rather — there was no poison in this wine to begin with.”
“What!?”
While the rest of them held question marks above their heads, the count’s face was streaming sweat in a way that wasn’t normal. Sweating, sweating.
“Now then — what I have here is a wine of rare make, by special methods. Crafted in the far east, the highest grade I’m aware of.”
I took the cheap wine I’d prepped — labeled “bo-jo-le-nu-bo” in hiragana — and, for the appearance of luxury, poured it into the empty wine glass on the table that nobody was sitting at.
“This wine will identify the culprit.”
I held the wine glass up to the chandelier, letting prismatic light dance through it. Then I stepped away from the table to the others, and offered it to the General.
“Would you try a sip?”
The General eyed it dubiously, but downed it and emptied the glass.
“How’s the taste?”
“Mn! This is splendid! Never tasted the like before! Excellent! Count, won’t you have some too?”
Aaa, woodenly delivered. The General had — as I’d directed — turned the conversation to the count.
“Eh? A-ah, then…”
The count nodded; in front of him, I picked up the glass at the head of the table — the one set at the king’s seat — and began pouring wine into it. His color changed.
“I’d very much value the count’s impressions of the flavor.”
“N-no, I—!”
“Now, now.”
I caught the count as he tried to back away and forced the wine-filled glass into his hand.
“Come now, just down it.”
I beamed at him. But greasy sweat pouring, the count wouldn’t bring the glass to his lips no matter how long I waited.
“What’s wrong, Count? Won’t you drink?”
“H-no, that, I —!”
At the king’s words, his eyes darted everywhere; the hand holding the glass trembled in fine shudders. Whoa — can’t have him drop the glass.
”…You can’t drink? Then, with respect, allow me to help.”
“Wha—!? Mph! Gugh—!?”
I took the glass from him and forced it into the count’s mouth. Sputtering, he reflexively swallowed some — and his face went pure stricken.
“Gh! Gah! GAAAH! H-help! The poison! The poison’s spreading! I’ll die! I’ll diiiiieee!”
The toad seized his throat and writhed across the floor. Face contorted, arms shaking, twisting and rolling in agony.
Wow. People can really do this much from pure suggestion.
“Guuuhh! P-pain! The poison! The poiiiison! H-help —!”
“Yeah, you can stop. That glass — that’s a brand-new glass.”
“I-I’m dyiiiing… what?”
Count Balsa froze, dumbfounded, and stopped writhing. He sat up and gingerly rubbed his throat.
”…I’m fine.”
“You’d think so. It was just a cheap wine, after all. I apologize for forcing it on you. But—”
A beat, then I asked the heart of it.
“Why did you think there was poison in it?”
“Gh!?”
The count’s expression froze. Just like that. This man had now fully shown his hand. Panicked over a poison that wasn’t even there, and writhed over having drunk it. Someone with no foreknowledge would never react that way. Slipped right out of him.
”…What does this mean?”
The Duke turned to me.
“The poison wasn’t in the wine Origa-san gifted. It was coated on the king’s glass.”
“On the glass…? Ah — that’s why no poison was detected from the wine.”
“I can use a spell that detects poison — I knew right away. The actual hand was probably the cook or a server, somewhere in there. The remaining question was how to corner the mastermind, the true culprit… but it ended up shockingly easy.”
Honestly, no matter how you looked at it, the culprit could only be this guy. I’d just been thinking about how to pin him so he couldn’t wriggle out — but it was so quick I felt almost let down.
It was a stock trick (if you can even call it a trick). Even without me, someone would’ve put it together fast.
Eh — but I wanted to play detective once. Just once.
”…Tch!”
The toad bolted for the door at full sprint. Real bad sport. In the end, this man was incompetent and reckless — the classic small-time crook with a big self-image. And yet, by his stupid plan the king nearly died — so the crime is a heavy one.
“Slip.”
“Whoa-aagh!?”
Crash! — the count tumbled, hitting the back of his head solidly on the floor.
“You—!”
And there, like every bit of resentment built up so far compressed into one motion, Origa-san’s vicious kick landed dead-on in his stomach, and he lost consciousness. Ooh, looked painful.