The day after seeing Vieille and the others off, a meeting was held in the morning in Linos' office in Agartha. In the midst of a huge pile of documents, Rinos, Mei, Zhuang, and Roni, with Rinos at the head of the group, gathered around and argued over their opinions.
The topic of discussion was the possibility of dogs being the cause of the disease, which Rinos had pointed out the other day when he evaluated a patient of Kirisuray.
"At the moment, we are still in the process of investigating, but in the three countries of Agartha, Hydata and Niza, we found about 700 families with dogs," he said. Some of them were aristocratic families, and there were eight families that refused to be surveyed, but in the other families that cooperated in the survey, there were no cases of chilislei at all."
May reports apologetically. Linos looks at May, shaking his head.
"No, May doesn't have to worry about it. It's okay. If it doesn't work, we'll think of something else.
Hearing his voice, Roni opens her mouth.
"I've been doing some research on the Dog-Beastmen, just to be sure. As Mei mentioned earlier, of the three countries, it goes without saying that Agartha has the largest number of Canine and Waeldreorigers. I have surveyed about two thousand Canine and Wesen living in Agartha and found no cases of infection, and none of their acquaintances have been infected with Cirithrae.
"I see..."
"By the way..."
Chi-wan opens his mouth.
"Of the six patients affected by Kirisurae, four lived in the surrounding countries of Sandanj. As King Sandanji once told me, that country has had an epidemic of Cirithulei before. It is also a fact that the rate of this disease is higher than in other countries. It might be a good idea to conduct a careful investigation in the country of Sandanj."
As I listen to his explanation, Roni pulls out the relevant patient data from a pile of documents, opens the relevant section and shows it to me. I am amazed at how often I get a good guess. Just when I was thinking that this is a very efficient database, May opens her mouth.
"I would like to go to the country of Sandanj to do some research. Perhaps King Sandanji will allow me to do so. It's just..."
May's eyes go down there. Of course she does. The king has feelings for her. He won't attack her, but he will touch her, kiss her... and s*xually harass her. And moreover, she has to be prepared for some kind of seduction every day.
"Well, fortunately or unfortunately, May has not yet been released from her status as a criminal slave. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, May has not yet been released from her criminal slave status, so she will never belong to King Sandanji. But it's not good for her mental health to be subjected to daily s*xual and verbal abuse."
Then I cross my arms and think. Then I decided to write a letter to King Sandanji to discuss the matter with him, and I sat down at my desk to write with my pen.
"I've got a good idea. If King Sandanji gives me permission, I'll put up a ward to make Mei look like Posehay. I will also write in the letter that the Poseidonians will be sent to investigate.
With these words, I completed the letter and handed it to Chi-wan. He then transferred to Posehay, who had experience in transferring to Sandanj, to give it to him.
"...I am sorry. Master."
"Fine. May has nothing to apologize for. I can't let you take her away from me. Alyria will be sad. More than anything, I'll miss having her on top of me.
"Master..."
May's face is turning red.
"Oh... oh, hon."
Loni is clearing his throat. Oh no, no, no, I forgot Roni was there.
"Too much is poison.
Loni's scholarly sermon was enough to make me cringe.
A few moments later, Chi-Wan came into the office with one of the Poseidonians.
"Master Linos, I have been in Sandanj, my name is Lasseeth. Please make your acquaintance.
Lasseese bowed as he was introduced by Ziwan. He is a man of a certain age with a smart-looking face.
"I have brought the letter of Mr. Linos to King Sandanji. The king was very pleased and said he would be happy to receive your letter.
"Is that all?"
"That's all... what do you mean?"
"Did King Sandanji say anything else?"
"Oh... yeah... I was wondering if Mr. Meirias was coming.
"I knew it."
I laugh my head off.
"When we go to Sandanj, I'll put up a ward so that Mei can see Posehay. She probably won't find out, but.... Yeah, May will know me by my name. We'll have to think of a name..."
"Maytherma would be fine."
Loni interjects. I slap my knee and laugh.
"I see. Mr. Maysama. Let's see what King Sandanji looks like. Ha-ha-ha! Ziwan, Roni, Lasseeth. Take care of May, will you? And no overtime. Please try to leave the office on time, okay?"
"Finish work at eighteen o'clock. Roni has a particular tendency to extend his hours."
"... Yes, sir, thank you."
With that, the three Posehay men and May were transferred to the Institute of Medicine.
In the evening, I had a new visitor in my office. It was a man named Yawasa, who ran a bun shop. He liked the zenzai I served at a soup kitchen when I came to Agartha, and served it in his store. It tasted good, and I liked it so much that I taught him how to make anko (red bean paste), and I also taught him about steamed buns. He showed his enthusiasm for research and made a wonderful bun. Now it has become a specialty of this restaurant, and I am a regular customer.
"Hey, Yawasa, what's up?
Hey, I brought your order.
"Yeah? I don't remember ordering anything.
"Yes. It's not from Mr. Linos. Uh... yes, a young girl named Vieille asked me to deliver this to Mr. Rinos..."
Yawasa presents me with a box she was carrying. When I looked inside, I found a large number of buns.
There are a hundred in the box. I've already paid for them.... But still, he ordered a hundred steamed buns and left immediately after paying for them. It's a lot of money for a little girl... He only told me his name, but was he a nobleman of some sort?
Well, something like that.
I see... I see... Hey, I'll be looking forward to working with you. Thank you very much.
With that, Yawasa left his office.
I took the buns delivered to me and returned to my residence in the capital. Rico was surprised to see the number of buns.
"Well, what's this number of buns...?"
"Oh, it's a gift from the Church of Klimiana."
"The Church of Crimiana... No way.
"No, I don't think it's poisoned."
"But..."
Rico looks at the bun weirdly. Meanwhile, Ferris and Gon and the others are looking at it with delight. They can't wait to eat it.
"Dinner will be ready soon. You can have it after dinner. And please bring them to the princess. And, Ruara, go to Garubbi and make an offering to Tori-chan.
"Yes, sir."
I understand.
With that, they walked out into the backyard. Some time later, Mei, Mato and the others came home for dinner, and afterwards they all ate steamed buns for dessert.
"That's still weird, though. Why do they have steamed buns?"
Rico mutters while looking at the steamed buns.
"Maybe they want me to know about Crimiana's information network."
"Information network?"
"Yeah. I know that my favorite food is buns, that I know their favorite store, and that there are about a hundred people who serve near me, including my family members. I guess it's a warning that with Crimiana's network of information, it's nothing to know about my private life."
"One bun, that's all it takes..."
"This is clearly a challenge from Klimiana. There's more, Rico. I have a feeling there's more to it than that.
"What do you mean behind the scenes?"
"If I eat all these buns by myself... I'll die, right? . . that's what I mean."
"Huh? I don't understand."
"Only for the red bean paste... assassination."
"Linos..."
Rico is nodding his head in disappointment. I don't care and put the bun in my mouth. It's good. The red bean paste tastes really good. I ate three more buns and opened my mouth.