episode_0044

“Here is Calle.”

Laurent placed his hand on his forehead and gazed at the endless horizon stretching far away.

A faintly visible island could be seen across the horizon.

“Is that Breetum over there?”

“Yes, that’s Breetum.”

“It feels so close when you see it with your own eyes.”

“You’ve only seen the South Mediterranean before, how does it feel to be in the North Sea?”

“It’s a sea with a different charm than the Mediterranean.”

“That’s a pleasing answer.”

Seemingly satisfied with Laurent’s response, Rotose roughly ruffled Laurent’s hair.

“By the way, it’s been a while since we came.”

“I wonder if those guys are doing well.”

“Should we go meet them?”

“Yes, I told them to come find me if they ever come to Calle.”

Arames nodded at my words.

“Who are you talking about?”

Laurent, who heard our conversation, asked me.

“He’s a friend I met during the war, and he’s from Calle.”

“I see.”

“Shall we set off now? If you ask that friend for a drink, he’ll probably buy you one.”

“Didn’t we agree not to mention that incident with the rum…?”

At my teasing remark, Rotose blushed and mumbled.

“Let’s go meet him first.”

Upon arriving at the port, we hesitated in front of the numerous taverns.

“Does anyone remember which tavern that friend used to frequent?”

“I don’t know?”

I looked at Laurent, who knew the answer.

“Why are you looking at me?”

Turning to Arames this time, he shrugged.

“Let’s just go in anywhere.”

“I don’t want to drink rum.”

“Fine, you can have a different drink.”

I lightly brushed off Rotose’s sulking and entered a tavern that caught my eye.

“Huh?!”

A man sitting at the bar chugged a bottle of rum.

“Damn it…! Nothing ever goes right because of those damn addicts!”

He cursed loudly in the tavern and took another swig of his drink.

“You’ve come to the right place. Let me go first.”

Arames approached him first.

“This guy is still living for rum.”

“Who the hell touched my shoulder… Oh!!!”

Looking at Arames with drunken eyes, he was startled and jumped up from his seat.

Thud thud!

The wooden prosthetic leg attached to his right leg made a clattering sound as he stood up.

“Why is your leg…?”

“Oh… this? I got it cut off by a shark last time.”

Bingsong tapped the floor with his wooden leg.

“That’s a shame.”

“Why did you come alone? Where are Fernang and Rotose?”

“Fernang isn’t here, and Rotose is over there.”

Upon Arames’ words, Bingsong turned his head towards us.

“Who is this beauty?”

Bingsong widened his eyes and pointed at me.

“Oh, she’s working with us.”

“Oh…”

“Just a word of caution, she’s even dirtier in character than Fernang, so be careful not to provoke her recklessly.”

“Wow… she’s dirtier in character than Fernang… How are you guys working together?”

“And on top of that, she’s the daughter of Master Roan, so even if she stays quiet, you never know what Master Roan might do.”

Listening from afar, the conversation was quite absurd.

“Hmm… duly noted.”

Bingsong nodded and looked at my face before finishing his drink.

“Well… it’s my taste but…”

“I can’t believe this.”

Just as I was about to grab Bingsong’s head, Rotose grabbed my forearm.

He shook his head nervously.

“Phew… I understand.”

I calmed down and approached Bingsong with Rotose.

We used to be close, but now I had to pretend to be Fernang.

“Nice to meet you, I am Mari de Roanne.”

“Ah… Ah! Hello. I… you can call me Bingsong.”

“Nice to meet you, Bingsong.”

“Oh… yes!”

He bowed deeply to me.

“If you keep greeting me, it’s awkward, so let’s stop now.”

“Understood.”

“By the way, earlier you mentioned something about drugs, can you tell me about that?”

“Oh, that story still gives me a headache and a burning stomach, let me have a drink before I tell you.”

Bingsong gulped down the rum and then cleared his throat.

“Ugh… the smell of alcohol.”

As the pungent smell of alcohol emanated from Bingsong’s mouth, Laurent covered his nose and made a face.

“Ugh…! Nowadays, people in the port are all drugged up and not working.”

“Do you know what kind of drug it is?”

“Yes, I know very well. Recently, one of my friends started using that drug, and I had to intervene, but I remember that the drug I saw was orange.”

“It seems to be Orange Sapphire.”

“Yes, when I asked my friend what the drug was, he said it was Orange Sapphire.”

“Seems like Orange Sapphire is being distributed to the port cities and beyond.”

I stroked my smooth chin and pondered.

“By the way, where did all your money go, and are you just drinking and sighing here?”

“Oh… that’s…”

As Bingsong sighed deeply in response to Rotos’s question.

“I invested in a ship going east to bring spices and another ship going to the New Continent to bring back gold… but there’s been no news so far.”

“Oh…!”

Bingsong slapped his forehead and continued speaking, causing Rotos to sigh briefly.

“So, I bought a ship to trade and sent it to Breetum and Hispania, but it was all plundered by pirates!”

Tears welled up in Bingsong’s eyes as he spoke in a choked voice.

“Such a thing happened…”

“Even if I want to die now, I can’t because of my family, so I’m living like this.”

“This person… is this the time to be like this when you have a family.”

“Rotos… what should I do?”

“Today, I’ll buy the drinks. Look! Bring the drinks!”

Rotos sat next to Bingsong and started pouring the drinks.

Clank!

“You drink so naturally.”

I smacked Rotos on the back of his head.

“Look, Bingsong.”

“Yes, what is it?”

I took out a gold coin from my pocket and showed it to him.

“Stop drinking and help me out a bit, will you?”

“Oh! Of course!”

Whether he was looking at the gold coin or my chest, Bingsong swallowed hard and nodded.

“We are tracking Orange Sapphire.”

“Oh, finally the higher-ups are taking action.”

“So, we are moving secretly to stop the distribution of Orange Sapphire.”

“Oh… I see. But, can I talk about this?”

I smiled at his question.

“If it’s you, you can talk about it.”

He nodded slowly as he looked at my smiling face.

“So, since you’ve been here for a while, can you tell me how Orange Sapphire spread to Kale?”

“At first, there was a story about a guy who completely seduced a woman in a brothel, so insecure guys went to him and fed the drug to the prostitutes, boasting as if they were the ones who sent them.”

“And then?”

“That drug spread to all the prostitutes in the city, and the men who took the drug became addicted, violent, and stopped working.”

“Have you seen any strange people around that time? For example, people wearing black clothes with red patterns on them, riding horses to and from the Calle…”

“Yes, I have. I’ve seen people in the attire you mentioned riding horses on this Calle multiple times.”

“Surely.”

“Yes, they are the subordinates of Duke Orleang.”

“Then, Bingsung, are they still here?”

“Yes, they are still active in this area.”

I nodded in agreement to Laurent’s words.

“We are likely to encounter them while investigating here.”

“That’s the plan.”

I nodded in agreement to Laurent’s words.

“Bingsung, do you know who distributes the Orange Sapphire?”

“Yes, I do. Shall I guide you?”

“No time to waste. Let’s go quickly.”

I tossed a gold coin to Bingsung.

“Oh?! Thank you, miss!”

We followed Bingsung to find people dealing with narcotics.

#

We searched for the person distributing Orange Sapphire while wearing our robes’ hoods tightly.

The person distributing Orange Sapphire here was a wizard.

For some reason, this guy boldly set up a pharmacy on the first floor and distributed Orange Sapphire.

“Welcome, what brings you here? Stomach medicine is 5 francs, toothache medicine is 13 francs.”

He approached us as if we were ordinary pharmacy customers.

“No… more importantly, why did you come here, Bingsung?”

“These people asked me to find that for them.”

“Hmm… to find that…”

The wizard stroked his beard and stared at me intently.

“Even if you’re in a good mood, isn’t three at once a bit too much, miss? Haha!”

My temples throbbed at his words.

“Control yourself, Miss…!”

Laurent grabbed my arm, preventing me from lashing out at the wizard who insulted me.

“The medicine is a bit pricey… can you afford it?”

Arames showed him a gold coin in response to the wizard’s question.

“Oh… seems like you have enough for the medicine.”

The wizard made a rattling sound from the drawer containing herbs, then took out the Orange Sapphire and began weighing it.

“Hmm… how much do you want for the medicine?”

“Make it enough to lift her spirits.”

Arames said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Got it.”

After weighing the medicine, the wizard handed it to us.

“The crystals should be dissolved in alcohol before consumption, so be careful.”

The wizard warned us with a serious expression.

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

After getting the medicine, we left the pharmacy.

“He runs his business quite boldly.”

I removed my hood roughly.

“Let’s deal with that wizard tonight.”

I clenched my fist, determined to teach the wizard a lesson in my mind.