My Magic Tools Are Selling Too Well

13 – Dark Red Gate (4)

The imperial capital, Felix, is crowded with overflowing crowds on weekends.

Except for weekend special lectures, this is because the academy is taking a day off without classes.

It’s only a student day off, so many people?

You may think, but this is not just the story of the students.

Since the establishment of the academy, a hero training institution, most aspirants who are selected as heroes go to the academy, graduate, and receive certification.

So most of the active-duty warriors were from the academy.

Of course, the life pattern of taking classes on weekdays and resting on weekends had no choice but to remain in the body.

Because of this, the weekend was not just students, but also warriors who went out to hunt monsters and explore dungeons, or warriors active in other countries.

“This is a man, a swarm of ants… It’s really far behind.”

“This is the part I really agree with, senior. There are already six people who hit me on the shoulder. I’m holding back in case you’re a warrior who’s good at punching, senior.”

On such a golden weekend, the three of us were walking down a street outside the ecliptic.

It’s not just Felix, it’s outside, so it feels like the warriors are more crowded.

The outskirts were where all the warriors returning from hunting, those who were just about to go to another city, and those who were doing business other than that gathered.

“Puppy grass. Show me the map one more time.”

“Yes, senior.”

[The intermediate antidote] did not work for the mother of morphine as we expected.

I drank the antidote and tested my magic the next day, but I felt nothing had changed.

In this case, the reason is one of two things.

It is a very high level of poison that can be solved only with [Advanced Antidote], or a poison with ‘special magic’ that cannot be cured with just a comprehensive antidote.

And we know from experience that the former is unlikely.

Poison of unknown ‘special magic’.

We were on our way to investigate the identity of this poison.

There is only one research site.

It was the magic stone factory that Morphine’s mother had worked for 10 years.

After breaking through the overflowing crowds and following the direction indicated on the map, I was able to arrive at a site with few people before I knew it.

It was a site that occupied a huge area alone among many rice fields that seemed to be used by the empire’s farmers.

“here… I guess that’s right.”

“This, this… ”

We couldn’t help but be embarrassed in front of the site.

From a distance, it had the appearance of an ordinary mana stone factory, but once inside, it was a completely ruined factory with no one working.

‘It’s been two years since Morphine’s mother passed away… So, does that mean the factory closed in two years?’

There were traces of the factory being operated everywhere.

The wagon carrying the mana stone and the stones that lost their power and were scattered here and there.

On one side, there were mountains of stones and shabby buildings piled up as if they had been poured out.

However, there was only a trace of people among them.

“Did you come to see the land?”

I turned my head at the voice I heard nearby.

A sharp-looking old man in a skimpy outfit stood holding some agricultural implements.

It seemed to be a farmer nearby.

“Oh, not that… Wasn’t there originally a magic stone factory here?”

The old man took a seat in the corner and sat down.

Then he gulped down the water as if he was thirsty.

“It was great. there are still Well, just by looking at it, it’s a mana stone factory.”

“however… ”

“Two years ago. The people who worked there got sick and all died. The owner of the factory hired a new person in a hurry, but no one wanted to do it because the rumors were already vicious. No matter how urgent the money, who would walk directly to the limb?”

So in the end, the workers could not be saved, and the factory was eventually closed.

The old man said so.

He got sick and died.

That is, of course, the people who worked in this factory.

All of them were in line with Morphine’s mother.

In other words, the poison mother suffered from was something that started in this factory.

Morphine, who was listening to the story, asked in an urgent voice.

“Are any of the people who worked in that factory still alive? Or even the family… !”

“I don’t know. I am a farmer who works here, how can I know the people who work in the factory. I heard that they all died after getting sick. Well, I heard that the church couldn’t cure it, so is there a way?”

After spitting out in a self-deprecating tone, the old man continued to drink water as if thirsty.

I could feel the morphine wailing next to me, so I restrained him as if telling me to calm down.

There was still more to ask of him.

“Old man. Then, besides the people who worked here, did any of the nearby farmers suffer from the unknown disease? It’s okay to see it yourself, and it’s okay to hear it.”

I approached the old man, put 1 gold in my pocket and asked.

Then the old man stopped drinking the water and straightened his posture.

After all, there is no one who is not kind in front of money.

whether old or young.

“Hmm, hmm. There aren’t any among the farmers… ”

“yes. If you know anything, feel free to tell me.”

“About a year ago… A party of warriors came here once.”

“A warrior party?”

“exactly. I don’t know the details because I only saw them from afar, but when I saw them entering the imperial capital Felix, they looked like warriors from outside.”

“Did those warriors do something here?”

“I don’t know. But when I saw it from afar, I looked around here for a while… It seemed to have gone right into the ecliptic… . The news came later. They are all dead.”

“… … !”

The moment I heard that, my mogol was relieved.

A party of warriors who visited this place contracted the disease and perished.

This is unexpected new information, but it was also dangerous information.

Not just those who worked at the factory, but anyone who visited the factory.

It meant that he could die from being poisoned by an unknown poison.

“So after that… This factory is called the factory of death, so even if everyone looks at it, they don’t want to see it. You seem to be an unfamiliar stranger, I came to inform you of that.”

After the story was over, the old man packed up his farming tools and went on his way.

A little silence came.

We came to the investigation with curiosity, but we were also in a dangerous situation.

In order to find the cause without hurting anyone, it was necessary to move a little more carefully.

“first… Let’s look around and check if there’s anything suspicious. Never touch them carelessly, just look them in the eye. Call me if you think you’ve found something. got it?”

“I understand, senior.”

“Yes, senior.”

The three of us decided to split up and look around the factory from the outside to the inside.

Morphine towards the building on the left, Delia towards the clearing on the right.

I went inside the building in front of the entrance and started exploring.

The mana stone factory was a factory that sorted and processed mana stones of various grades.

Among them, the main task is to disassemble the mana stone and grind it into powder.

Mana Stone Powder, used as a material for various experiments and alchemy, had a wide range of uses.

Of course, there was a lot of demand, and there was also a lot of supply.

I looked at the stones piled up like a mountain.

These stones were all magic stones.

I told my juniors not to touch it, but in fact, you have to bump it to see what kind of poison it is.

If the mana stone is the cause of the poison, you can find out the moment you touch it and respond to it.

And as long as I knew the identity of the poison, I was confident in manufacturing an antidote.

I picked up one of the rolling mana stones and tried to react.

And I found something strange.

‘Magic… doesn’t exist?’

The magic stones in the factory were all ordinary stones without magic.

It wasn’t just one.

All the stones I picked up after that were like that.

In other words, it meant that all normal mana stones with remaining mana had already been collected.

That was obviously strange.

Could he have afforded enough to take money from a place called the factory of death?

He acted so leisurely, but why did all the warriors’ parties he visited once die?

In other words, it was the same as saying that the cause of this poison was not the mana stone.

If this is the cause, the people collecting the mana stones would have been poisoned and collapsed.

‘then… … .’

The remaining causes have been narrowed down.

Cases in which humans become poisoned through a specific medium are limited.

Most commonly, breathing air sprayed with poison, touching objects with poison, or eating something containing poison.

There was no possibility of poisoned air.

If there was poison in the air, the old man I saw earlier would have already been poisoned to death.

And it wasn’t even poisonous objects.

I searched all the equipment around me that could cause it, including the mana stone, but there was no possibility of poison.

Then, there is only one remaining possibility.

“I’m a senior!! There is an unusually shaped well here!!”

It was ‘eating something poisonous’.