"...It's still frightening. How could they have the temerity to ask people of the Krimyana faith to be candidates for human experimentation?"
The one who is making a half-disappointed sound is Loni from Posehay, who is making a don't-know-what sound. The first day of the Open Q&A session has ended without incident, and we have returned to the ship of the Heedata Empire. The sun is already setting, and looking out to sea, there is a magnificent view of the setting sun beyond the horizon.
"Perhaps a Seelenguter, who is into the Klimiana cult, would raise his hand without hesitation."
May mutters with sad eyes.
"That's why religion is so scary. It is so easy to decide to lay down one's life, and one can lay down one's life. Those who are willing to die are still good, but the most miserable are those who are forced to sacrifice in the name of God. If you don't die, your family will suffer, and if you live, you will suffer. There are some people who are put in such an environment that they have no choice but to raise their hands. You were right to interrupt the Pope."
I look at them all with my arms crossed as I speak. Everyone's faces are tense.
"d*mn that Pope...he was the one who raised his hand to do the experiment, but he ignored my Dwarves!
The one who was preoccupied and angry was Pitan, a member of the delegation of the Duchy of Niza.
"Well, I guess Klimiana didn't want more countries to be less influenced by the Klimiana religion."
His Highness Weiras is talking to us with a look of dismay on his face.
"But still, it's great to see that you have already secured those who have already been affected by the disease, Zhuang and Roni. I thought you would have secured at least one of each, but I never thought you would have secured fifteen."
I looked alternately at Chiwan and Roni as I spoke.
"No, it was surprisingly easy to find them."
"What? Zhuang, is that so?"
"Yes. The people who were involved in the examination in the beastmen village in Agartha, including Mei and Roni, conducted interviews when they examined the patients. They came from many different regions. I asked them if they had seen anyone with a case similar to Cirithrae, Geisha, or Leroyance. We received quite a lot of information. The disease is very characteristic, and it is very difficult to move if you have the disease. Based on this information, I investigated and found that fifteen people were suffering from each of the diseases.
"That's Posehay. I knew you were something else.
"Well, let me put it this way... Crimiana has a lot of knowledge, but she lacks experience by far. We at Posehay value knowledge, of course, but we also value experience. Otherwise, we will not be able to provide effective treatment when we meet patients in the field. Besides, without knowledge and experience, wisdom will not be born.
"Chi-wan...you've grown up."
"Please don't, Mr. Linos."
We laughed on the boat. At any rate, we were happy that today's question session had gone off without a hitch, and we prepared for the big day tomorrow. Tomorrow, we are going to bring in the sick as well as the bile of the mutts. And in the meantime, Crimiana will be providing the acid solution needed to make a special remedy.
"Well. Well then, let's go and secure the beasts for human experimentation..."
Once I'm outside the ship, I put up a ward that makes me invisible. Then, using the map, I go to the place where the guy labeled "bandit" is. It turns out to be a school.
"That's a good idea. Hiding in a school. Surely a school at night would be empty. On the other hand, you want to steal money from the school? No, no, no, does the school even have any money to begin with?"
With these words, I head for the hiding place of the bandits.
They were in a big classroom, taking a break. I lock them in a ward and take them out with it.
"There's a lot of them. Twenty-four? Well, okay. So we need a Cat-Beastman, a Dog-Beastman, and a Wolf-Beastman. Oh, there they are. What's with you guys? You're all cursed! You guys are really bad asses.
The bandits are yelling something, but we ignore it. I mechanically select my target beastmen.
"What the...? There are only six of them. Let's just get these guys for now.
We return to the ship with the six beastmen, leaving the rest trapped in the wards. There are four dog-beastmen and two cat-beastmen. As expected, this is not enough, so I move ahead of the others to the residence in the capital.
Soleil, are you home?
Yes. Can I help you?"
"Why don't you ask the spirits of the forest if they have any idea who the bad~dog-beastmen, cat-beastmen and wolf-beastmen are?"
"Eh~?"
Soleil was quite surprised, but soon began to tell the spirits what I wanted.
".... Wait a minute.... Well, there are two wolf-beastmen in Heedata and a dog-beastman in Kaluwalua..."
"Yeah, that's a place I've never been. I'll have to enlist the help of the Poseidonians.
Thus, with the help of the Poseidonians, I succeeded in securing the target cursed beastmen. They were all men, and they all looked bad. The captured men were transferred to a ship of the Heedata Empire and locked in the bottom of the ship.
"You will live with the ogre while he takes care of the sick for about two weeks. The ogre is a strong man and a voracious eater. Protect yourselves as best you can from being eaten. Live hard. I wish you good luck.
They were very cross with my short explanation, but I brushed it off and locked them up in the double warding.
After finishing the work, I, Mei, Chi-Wan, and Roni went into a room on the ship, and from there we were transferred to the residence in the capital. There, I suddenly became curious about the bile of the Seelenguter, so I asked Chi-wan about it.
"By the way, is the bile of the Seelenguter safe?"
"Yes. I'm having surgery tonight, so I'll take some samples then."
"You guys... you're going to be up all night tomorrow..."
I was surprised and Roni bowed her head.
No, the surgery itself is being handled by someone else. No, the surgery itself is being handled by someone else. We just need to collect the bile. So we'll have dinner tonight... well... dinner..."
"Oh, yeah. I'm glad to hear that. Then we'll serve dragon meat today, after what Roni did for us. Zhuang, Roni, you'll take care of me tomorrow.
""Yes.""
They both responded in very cheerful voices. When we entered the house, everyone had already finished their dinners, but they had left some for us. Today's meal was rice cooked with mushrooms like maitake mushrooms. I made a cutlet of dragon meat, thinking that it would not go well with meat. The rest of the menu consisted of salad, soup, and pumpkin stew, which was surprisingly delicious.
After the meal, Chi-Wan and Roni went off to some other place. I immediately went to the dining room, unfolded the note on a roll of paper, and scribbled it on another piece of paper.
"What is that, Mr. Linos?"
Ferris peeked at me with interest.
"Ah, this is it. The minutes of today's meeting.
"Gizilok?"
"This is a record of who said what in today's meeting. It's to avoid any "I told you so" later on."
"But this is just... weird symbols on it, right?"
Ferris looks at my note and wonders. Rico and May all look at the note.
"Linos... what is this pattern?"
"I don't know what the master is writing either."
Both Rico and Mei look at the note while holding their children, but they cannot read it at all.
"This is the first time I've seen these letters. What language is this?
"Gong, this is shorthand."
"Sokki, is it?
"Oh. It's a symbolic script that represents a person's spoken words. It's useful to know them, but I didn't think they'd come in handy here.
"Gosh, when did your husband learn to write like this?"
"Yeah, a long time ago."
I look at him with a distant look and recall a nostalgic, sweet and sour memory. When I was in high school, I watched a girl I loved taking notes in shorthand, and I studied too. We had a chance to talk and became good friends, but in the end, the love never bore fruit. Well, it ended in the usual way, with the other girl having a boyfriend.
"But this shorthand is surprisingly useful, you know? When I take notes of the MC at a live concert and transcribe them, my friend gets a kick out of it.
"Even if you're a fan of the club, you can't even remember my name? What is it?
"Oh, no, I'm talking about this one. Hahahahahaha..."
"I didn't know that they teach you such things in the Bartham family. No wonder the late Marquis of Batharm was so good at it.
Rico is strangely impressed. I smile again and cover it up.
"I've got this work to do, so I'll still be late. I'm going to be working on this, so I'm going to be late. Mato, I'm going to be late tonight, so why don't you take a bath with Rico and go to bed?
"Okay."
The plan was for me to sleep with Mato today, but I changed my plans and slept with Rico. I will thank Mato profusely next time.
Then I started to transcribe my notes and write the minutes of the meeting. Incidentally, Gon helped me with the copying of the finished minutes. In this world, there is no letterpress or woodblock printing, and everything is handwritten. Gon transcribed the minutes at an excellent speed without making a single mistake. Thanks to Gon, four copies of the minutes were ready by the time morning came. What an excellent white fox he is.
I take a two-hour nap and greet the morning. Before I knew it, Chi-wan and Roni from Posehay had returned to the house. They both seemed to have slept well, and Loni had a little bit of smoke in his eyes, but he did not say anything.
Breakfast consisted of sandwiches, salad and the dragon cutlet from yesterday. In addition to the cutlets, there were many other kinds of food: grilled tuna, tuna, fried eggs, ham, potato salad, etc.... If Rico and Peris put their all into it, they could make this much in no time. Naturally, the taste was at a level where they could open a restaurant right now.
Roni eats his sandwich silently and without expression. His ears are twitching, so he seems to be enjoying the taste. I pretend I didn't see him grab the last of the leftover dragon cutlets.
After the meal, we are transferred back to the cabin of the imperial ship. Chi-Wan and Roni have gone to pick up the sick, so they will be transferred later. I go to the cabin to sign the minutes. I'm going to sign the minutes in the cabin. You may not make any additions, corrections, or additions to the contents without my permission," I write in a plausible form.
When I went up to the deck with them, the carriage from Klimiana had just arrived.