Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 635

18　King Klein’s Treatment Arc

19-22　Poison

“Jin, Minister of Industry Derait has said he wants to see you.”

Just before 3:00 pm, Princess Lieschen came to Jin’s room and informed him of this.

The Minister of Industry Derait Domus Hanks. He was the one in charge of everything concerned with agricultural products in the Klein Kingdom.

“It’s just about time for tea, so let’s all have tea together!”

Jin nodded at Hanna’s words. Elsa didn’t seem to have any objections either.

“Oh, I see. Then let’s go to my room.”

Jin and the others followed Princess Lieschen to her room.

Minister Derait was already waiting there.

“Ah, Lord Jin Nidou. I’m Derait Domus Hanks, and I’m Minister of Industry in this country.”

Derait Domus Hanks was in his late 40s, of medium build and height.

“I’m Jin. Nice to meet you.”

Following Jin, Elsa and Hanna also introduced themselves and sat down around the round table.

“Prepare some tea for us.”

“Yes, it’s already done.”

Upon hearing Princess Lieschen’s words, the maids poured the herbal tea that had been prepared in advance.

“Wow, it smells good.”

This time around, Jin could smell a scent of oranges from it.

Since he couldn’t take hot food and drinks very well, Jin didn’t drink right away, and instead turned to Minister Derait.

Derait took a sip of the herbal tea and began to speak.

“I had been meaning to ask you how to use the desiccant.”

“Oh, I see. That’s…”

“Kyaa!”

Jin’s words were interrupted by Hanna’s scream. At the same time, Jin heard the noise of something breaking, and got startled by it.

“W-What’s wrong, Hanna? …Ah, aaah…!”

Hanna, who was frolicking with Princess Lieschen, tried for them to have a toast with their cups of tea, and broke her cup in a fit of excitement.

As a result, Princess Lieschen’s cup was cracked, spilling most of its contents on the table, while Hanna’s cup shattered completely, and all of its tea fell on Hanna’s skirt, leaving a large stain.

“Hanna, Your Highness… you seem okay. …’Dry’, ‘Clean Up’.”

Elsa placed the cup of herbal tea she was about to drink on the table and proceeded to dry and clean everything up with her spells.

“Did you get burned?”

“No, I’m fine! Thanks, Big Sis Elsa.”

“Sorry to trouble you with this, Elsa.”

“No, don’t mention it.”

At the same time as Elsa’s answer…

“Uh, uhh…”

Minister Derait suddenly began to seem as if he was in pain.

“What’s wrong, Derait?”

In response to Princess Lieschen’s question, the Minister of Industry could only open and close his mouth. He doesn’t seem to be able to speak.

Even so, he made a gesture by pointing to his mouth with a trembling hand. Its meaning was clear.

“…Poison!?”

“Elsa!”

“Yes… ‘Entgiften’, ‘Heilverfahren’.“

Since Elsa didn’t know what kind of poison was used, she first focused on neutralizing the poison, and then on healing Derait’s poisoned body.

Her quick thinking saved Minister Derait’s life.

“…T-Thank you… You… saved me…”

Having recovered enough to speak, Derait thanked Elsa.

In the meantime, Jin analyzed everyone’s herbal tea.

“…Alkaloid?”

Even Jin didn’t know much more than that. After all, chemistry was outside of his area of expertise.

“Tia! Catch that maid!”

Princess Lieschen raised her voice.

“Yes, princess.”

“Huh? Huh?”

Tia restrained the maid, who seemed to have been taken completely by surprise, not knowing what was going on.

“Jin! Was there poison in the tea?”

“That’s right!”

Princess Lieschen picked up the tea caddy that was in her room.

“… I’ve never seen this container before.”

After muttering that, she handed it over to Jin.

“Could you take a look at it for me, Jin?”

Jin immediately used his “analyze” on the tea leaves inside the container. The result…

“…It’s the same. These tea leaves contain poison.”

It was likely that someone had mixed some poisonous leaves into the rest of the tea leaves.

“…I see. This is a serious matter… Someone is here!”

Lieschen summoned a soldier, briefly explained the situation, and ordered him to report to the Chancellor.

After watching the soldier hastily leave the room, the princess checked on the Minister of Industry.

“…Derait, how are you feeling?”

The Minister of Industry answered feebly.

“…Still… not very… well, but… the numbness… seems to be gone…”

“I see. Thank you. Elsa.”

Jin, on the other hand, was angry. He realized once again that this poison had threatened not only himself, but Elsa, Hanna, and Princess Lieschen as well.

Jin had dodged the poison thanks to his inability to hot drinks that well, while Hanna’s accident caused both her tea and the princess’ to spill, and Elsa was about to take a sip herself but instead put her cup down to tend to Hanna.

Hadn’t the culprit’s intentions been thwarted by such a strike of luck, it would be safe to assume that everyone in the room would have ingested that poison by now.

“…I won’t forgive them.”

Jin’s insides were burning with anger and filled with nothing but the intention to find those responsible for trying to drag himself, Elsa, Liese, and even the innocent Hanna into this.

“I-I don’t know anything! I-It’s true, I swear!!”

The maid who was being restrained by Tia appealed while crying.

At that moment, Prince Arthur, Chancellor Powell, Captain of the Klein Kingdom’s royal guard Jessica Norton, and two female knights arrived on the scene.

“Your Highness! Did you say poison!?”

“Liese! Are you okay? What about our guests!?”

“Your Highness! Are you safe!?”

The three of them were relieved to see that Princess Lieschen, Jin, and Elsa were safe. Next, they all frowned as they looked toward Minister Derait, who was lying on the floor.

“…Who did this?”

Even the mild-mannered Prince Arthur was visibly angry.

“The first one to drink that tea was Derait, and in a way, you could say it saved everyone else.”, said the chancellor with a sorrowful face.

Indeed, since Elsa, who excelled in healing magic, was safe, Derait’s life was saved as well.

“…The leaves in this tea caddy are mixed with poisonous plants. Was it mixed in later, or did someone bring it here knowing it was poisoned?”

Jin handed the tea caddy he was holding to the chancellor.

“…Let’s find out as quickly as possible.”

“First of all, let’s interrogate all of the servants, including the maids who work in the royal villa.”, said Prince Arthur as he grimaced.

Jessica Norton heard these words and gave instructions to her subordinate female knights. The female knights nodded and hurriedly left the room.

“But who… and for what purpose…”

“… I’m pretty sure that Minister Derait wasn’t the intended target here. Either Liese, or Miss Elsa…”

The chancellor and Prince Arthur were analyzing the situation to try to determine the culprit’s identity.

Jin faced the maid Tia was restraining.

“When did you bring that tea caddy?”

The maid was crying and seemed to be very afraid, but she managed to answer Jin’s question.

“Uhhh… I just used the tea that was there in the princess’ room…”

Both her eyes and nose were pouring their contents all over her face.

“Ah… Um… I… I’m going to get the death penalty, right…?”

Anyone who’s found guilty of trying to poison a member of the royal family, a minister, and guests of the state, will definitely not escape being punished with the highest penalty. Crying with anxiety, the maid begged Jin for an answer.

Although Jin was angry, he wasn’t so foolish as to misjudge.

He asked Tia to take the maid to the corner of the room. Such an instruction didn’t require the princess’ confirmation as far as Tia was concerned, so she carried it away immediately.

“Ah… Um…”

It seemed that this had made the maid feel even more uneasy, as she then began to tremble.

“H-Help… S-Somebody…!”

Jin always carried a Magi Crystal in his pocket.

This was so that he would be able to create one of several Magic Tools – such as a Mana Bomb – in case of emergency.

First of all, Jin put up a Barrier.

This spell, which wards off all physical phenomena outside of its range, had the risk of suffocating those inside due to the lack of oxygen if kept up for a long time, but at the same time, it also had the advantage of blocking air vibrations, such as voices and other sounds.

“…Please stay still… ‘Transinfo (Level 4) (Mild).”

Using his Magi Crystal, Jin began reading the maid’s memories thoroughly.