Weiss And Leopin (9)

Weiss and Leopin questioned Corone.

According to her, after Leopin had been beaten by the kidnappers in the chapel courtyard, they had apparently forced him to eat a purple mushroom.

Corone had watched the scene from within the chapel’s bushes.

Afterward, Leopin, who had lost consciousness, was loaded onto the kidnappers’ carriage, carried away, and thrown out onto the main street.

After hearing the whole story, Weiss took his usual pose with a “Hmm.”

“It appears that purple mushroom is the cause of Leopin losing his memory.”

“But even if that’s true, why did they go out of their way to carry me to the main street before dumping me? If I’d lost my memory, they could have just left me in the courtyard…”

“There are two possibilities. By separating Leopin from the chapel, which was the crime scene, they may have strengthened the effect of the memory loss. They likely thought that if Leopin came to at the crime scene, that could serve as a trigger and make his memories more likely to return. And the other possibility is that when I found Leopin, you were half-dead. If they left you abandoned at the deserted chapel, they may have thought Leopin would die. Even in the slums, if it becomes murder, the guards will have no choice but to move.”

“I see…!”

Leopin was impressed by Weiss’s brilliant deduction, as always.

However, his expression soon clouded over.

“But that alone doesn’t give us any clue, does it…”

When Leopin became depressed, Corone also looked sad.

“I’m sorry, Big Brother Leopin…”

“There is no need to apologize, Corone-san.”

“Huh?” Leopin and Corone raised their faces.

There stood Weiss, spreading both arms as though all mysteries had been solved.

“Thank you…! You have brought us the greatest clue…!”

After that, Weiss and Leopin parted with Corone, boarded a shared carriage leaving from the town’s main gate, and headed for the neighboring town.

As they swayed inside the carriage running along the road, Leopin asked.

“Hey, Weiss, what are we going to do in the neighboring town?”

“Our greatest clue right now is the purple mushroom. What comes to mind when you think of mushrooms?”

“Mushrooms…? Umm, autumn flavors, poison…?”

“Then what comes to mind when you think of poison?”

“Well, potions and… Ah, maybe alchemy…!?”

“Exactly. There is a famous alchemist in the neighboring town. They may know something about the purple mushroom.”

“I hear alchemists use mushrooms a lot, so they might know, but… Even if we investigate the mushroom, won’t it fail to give us a clue for searching for the kidnapped Kanoko…?”

“Well, leave it to me.”

They quickly found the alchemist’s location.

Everyone in town knew it, and they said the alchemist was doing business in a large tent set up in the central plaza.

When they went there, it was closed for the day.

They tried calling from outside, but there was no answer.

An ordinary person would have given up for the day and visited again another time, but…

Weiss and Leopin twisted their bodies through a gap in the tent and slipped inside.

The place they emerged into seemed to be a workshop, and smoke of suspicious colors filled the inside.

From beyond the smoke, a woman’s voice came.

“Nfufu, it has been a while since mischievous children came in.”

When they strained their eyes, they could see a small figure sitting at a work desk beyond the smoke.

“I thought I had punished them all, but to think there were still some left… Nfufu, come here.”

The figure beckoned with a suspicious gesture like a fox spirit.

Weiss and Leopin, though wary, followed the invitation and approached the work desk.

There was a small person wearing foreign clothing.

Judging by her build, she seemed to be an elementary school student like them, but because she wore a veil deeply over her head, her face could not be seen.

Her lips, colored with burning rouge, were so bewitching that she did not seem to be the same age as them.

Combined with her composed atmosphere, she had the air not of a girl, but already of a woman.

The woman turned toward Weiss and let out a suggestive “Ahan…”

“Young masters often visit this place, but you are the first child to sneak in.”

“Unfortunately, I have not come to whisper love to you. I simply have something I want to ask.”

The woman silently tilted her head.

“Do you know of a mushroom that makes people lose their memories when they eat it? It is purple.”

“Of course I know. I am familiar with mushrooms and men.”

“I would like you to tell me what that mushroom is called.”

“Nfufu, then I will tell you a place where you can learn anything except matters between men and women. It is called a library.”

“No, even if I looked it up in a library, I would probably only learn its name and properties. I want to know where it grows.”

“Oh, is that so? In that case…”

Leopin had been silently watching the exchange from behind Weiss, but at last, he seemed unable to endure it and cut in.

“Please, don’t be coy and just tell us! We’re in a hurry! A girl is…!”

Weiss turned around and hissed, “Shh!”

“Do not reveal our intentions. She will take advantage of it. Do not rush…”

From behind the two of them came a sweet sigh of “Nfuu.”

“Really, you make me sound so bad… But it is true that you must not rush…

You have to enjoy this kind of bargaining… Right?”

“Leopin, leave this to me.”

After saying that, Weiss faced the woman again.

“We are investigating that mushroom. We will compensate you. How much do you want?”

Then the woman let out a languid sigh.

As though to say he had missed the mark.

“Ahfuu… To an alchemist, information on the habitat of materials is the same as the location of moles on one’s body.

Only the man to whom she has opened her heart may know where they are…

And yet you ask with money…”

“What should we do? What will make you open your heart?”

“Anh, let me see…”

The woman placed her manicured fingertip against her lips and made a show of thinking.

Before long, she took two bottles from the shelf behind her.

“Nfufu, it is a riddle,” she smiled, placing them on the work desk.

One contained a purple liquid, and the other contained a green liquid.

“The purple potion is a potion made using the mushroom you asked about.

It is used for things like mental treatment, and when you drink it, you lose your memories.”

“…What is the green potion?”

In response to Weiss’s question, the woman took out something like a fruit.

It was about the size of a grape and was green.

“It is a potion made using this ‘Scentfruit.’ Scentfruit has a strong aroma and is often used in perfume. What is on the desk right now is a concentrated version. If you drink it by mistake, you will be bedridden for about half a year.”

The woman smiled with her rouge lips like a crescent moon.

“Nfufu. If you drink down either one of them, I will tell you about the mushroom. Of course, I will tell only the man who drinks it down, softly and privately, okay?”