IARMDH - Chapter 79



“Hmm.”

Late fee coupon.

It's not bad. Sometimes I don't have enough money to buy raw materials for incense because of the debt I have to pay to Smith every month. So I can't take more than a certain amount of large orders.

'Now that I've established a connection with the royal family, I'm sure orders will come in from them soon.'

Cain made a subtle remark. The Empress was said to have been upset when she heard that the Emperor had sent only a dress as a reward for her service and said that she would at least use Judith's incense at the imperial banquet.

A few dozen candles won't be enough to fill the Imperial Banquet Hall. There will be orders for at least a hundred.

The problem is that there is not enough money to purchase that much incense raw materials, but this can be solved if you have overdue coupons.

Since I could buy the materials with the money I was paying off my debt, there were no late fees, so it was a gain for me, not a loss. But I was a businesswoman. Since ancient times, a businesswoman has to get as much as I can in a situation like this.

“Ugh.”

As if that wasn't enough, I took a deep breath and pretended to be troubled.

“Next time you need someone, I’ll help you out for free.”

Smith cut it off firmly, saying that even if Brother Luhmann dies, it won't be more than that. Smith's subordinates will come in handy someday.

I reached out my hand to Smith.

“Good deal, son.”

“I feel like I’ve done a losing business.”

Smith took my hand. Erne stuck out his tongue at the sight.

'He's really cute. Looking at that face, I can't believe he's my son. My son would never look like that...'

Erne flinched as he followed his thoughts that were passing by without a second thought. My son? He had never even imagined that he had a son or daughter of his own in his life.

And who would have imagined a son with? Erne licked his lips in absurd and absurd shock. No one could hear his thoughts here, but his face felt hot for no reason.

“If you learn anything new, please share it with us right away.”

Fortunately, Judith was busy dealing with Smith. And so was Smith.

“Oh, and Mr. Luhmann.”

It was cumbersome to call them Big Luhmann and Little Lukman separately, so Judith just called them all Luhmann.

“I’ll send you some ointment to apply through someone. It’ll relieve the itchiness a bit.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

"Thanks."

Big Luhmann and Little Luhmann looked quite impressed.

***

Judith and Erne headed straight for the Marquis of Mosley. If there were any nobles who had bought nourishing creams, oils, and arthritis medicine, the police would surely have been notified.

When he went to see Cain, he found that he too was troubled by the same problem.

“Even Sir Henry was hit? This is it.”

The bags under his eyes were even more sunken than when the Roam gang broke out of prison.

“There’s chaos. Bring him in right away.”

When the Roam gang escaped from prison, the only one who harassed them was the Emperor. But now, many nobles were harassing him.

A young lady about to get married, a knight who retired honorably but suffered from arthritis, the Emperor's godmother who suffered from knee pain, etc.

The numerous victims and their families and acquaintances were in chaos.

“They say a certain young lady tried to fall into the lake.”

A sixteen-year-old girl about to become a debutante tried to take her own life because her skin had changed so horribly.

“This is a full-on emergency. It looks like not only the police but also the Imperial Knights will need to be mobilized.”

The Imperial Knights would not normally get involved in such matters. Their job is to protect the Emperor and defend the country. They were not mobilized to catch a single fraudster.

But this time, there was nothing that could be done. In order for a country to run, there must be bureaucrats and some of them suffered from the side effects themselves, while the rest of them suffered from the side effects of their family, friends, and acquaintances.

So there was no way Cain could do his job properly.

“I heard that the commander of the 1st Division also took that arthritis medicine.”

“Tsk, that old man should have retired a long time ago. At that age, he’s trying to stay active, but his body isn’t listening to him. So he’s trying to solve it with medication, so what’s the use?”

Erne let out a sneer. Erne and the captain of the 1st Knights were enemies. After returning from the war, Erne was first assigned to the 1st Knights. And he was cut that day.

The captain of the 1st Knights saw Erne's un-knightly attitude and immediately realized that he had a weak constitution. It was a disaster that occurred because the captain of the 1st Knights was a person who valued character more than swordsmanship.

From then on, Erne had been calling the commander of the 1st Division old man, old man, old woman, and grandpa.

“You call the most respected knight in the empire an old man?”

In fact, if it weren't for the last rebellion, the commander of the 1st Division would have retired. However, his retirement was delayed due to the rebellion being dealt with.

“What are the side effects of arthritis medication?”

“They say that after just two days of using it, even people who couldn’t straighten their knees were able to run around. But as soon as they stopped taking the medicine, the pain started again, and it was much worse than before.”

With even the commander of the 1st Knights being like this, the palace was in chaos.

“So, did you find out anything?”

“The degree of illusion. Oh, Erne, are you after those guys too?”

“They say that you need to know the ingredients for cosmetics to make a cure. Right now, someone in our mansion is on the verge of taking their own life.”

Henry is a man who is obsessed with his appearance more than anything else. He is the man who puts oil on his hair and washes his face with melted snow while camping in the snowy mountains of the North on the battlefield.

But now that his face has become like that, it's obvious that he'll become a wreck if he doesn't get treatment and go back to how he was before.

“Anyway, just wait a minute. I’ve gathered the testimonies and drawn up a montage to put on the wanted poster. A copy will arrive soon. Oh, and.”

Cain snapped his fingers as if a sudden memory had occurred to him.

“I saw a similar report about two months ago. It’s a small fiefdom, a week south of here, called the Bardi Viscounty.”

So he didn't pay much attention to it. Moreover, at that time, Cain was so focused on catching Roam that he didn't take seriously the report of the skin disease spreading.

“Can I make an excuse?”

"No."

Cain ignored Erne's answer and continued making excuses, knowing that such an answer would come naturally.

“There were already closed incident reports, so they were just passed over. The reports came after those guys ran off after making a killing there.”

“So was there any information in the report?”

“The information about them is similar to what I found out now, but there was also some different information. It said that people who use cosmetics and suffer from side effects show symptoms when they are not treated properly.”

One thing that is fortunate here is that there is no danger to life.

“There was only one person whose skin returned to its original state after using cosmetics just once.”

So, for people like Henry who have been applying nourishing cream for a long time, their skin will not return to how it used to be.

“Does that mean Henry has to keep living with the mud flowing out of him?”

“No, it seems to be getting better. But the skin... is cracking and hardening like tree bark.”

Erne let out a short sigh. The Luhmann brothers may not know, but Henry was someone who could never live with skin like that.

“What are the side effects of arthritis medication?”

“I guess there was no arthritis medicine back then. All they talked about was nutritional creams.”

Erne and Judith returned to the mansion holding a wanted poster with the men's descriptions drawn on it.

“How is Sir Henry?”

“He doesn’t even speak anymore.”

Judith looked at the room where Henry was staying with a pitiful look in response to Beichi's answer, who had been taking care of Henry all day.

“Have you found any information about cosmetic ingredients?”

“Not yet. But many people are helping us, so we’ll figure it out soon.”

It absolutely has to be that way.

***

It wasn't until two days later that Erne and Judith heard from Smith.

They are said to have stayed in a guesthouse in the slums until four days ago before leaving for the north.

Smith sent an urgent message to his acquaintances in the north, asking them to keep an eye on the men. Soon, information came back that one of them had deposited several knives in the blacksmith's shop.

Smith gave Judith and Erne the address to go to, as they might get scared and run away if Smith did it himself.

He even told me to ask my acquaintances if they needed someone.

“I’ll go alone.”

“Come with me, Erne. They’ll be very cautious around here.”

They're in the middle of a big scam and then running away.

“If the two of us go together, we’ll just look like a couple traveling up north, so it won’t be suspicious if we approach them.”

Judith's opinion made a lot of sense. Erne thought about it for a moment and then decided to take her with him.

Since he was planning to just quietly monitor the situation anyway, nothing too dangerous was likely to happen.

As soon as they had decided, they headed north to the forge. They did not take the Marquis of Mosley or the police with them.

Their top priority was not to wipe out the guys but to uncover the identity of the cosmetics ingredient as quickly as possible.

***

Erne and Judith waited for them, pretending to buy swords at the blacksmith shop in the underworld.

In the meantime, a man who looked similar to the person in question came and took the knife he had left behind.

“Isn’t that a kitchen knife?”

It wasn't a longsword, a dagger, or a sword, it was a kitchen knife. A kitchen knife is used for cooking. Are they even more ignorant?

Just when Erne was wondering if he had brought Judith for nothing, Judith moved before him.

“Erne, follow me quickly.”

Erne and Judith followed secretly.

He quickly bought some food and drinks and moved on. The place he arrived at was none other than a cemetery.

“...That kid, he didn’t come to visit the grave, did he?”


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