We Talked To Ms. Isabelle
“Welcome… Ah, it’s just you. What do you want?”
“It’s about the glass sphere I asked you to inspect the other day. Did you learn anything from it?”
“Ah, that thing. Yes, it was rather impressive, it was. Something the average magic user would not be able to make.”
I had Leo wait outside as we entered. And the same old woman we saw last time…Ms. Isabelle, was sitting there.
Sebastian then asked her about the glass sphere. It seemed like she had already finished inspecting it.
She sounded quite impressed with it.
“What can you tell us?”
“Now, wait a minute. I’ll put on some tea first. …I think this will be a long talk. So sit down.”
Ms. Isabelle stopped Sebastian, who wanted to hear about it as soon as possible, and she got up to get some tea.
I did catch her glancing at me as she left. It seemed that she realized that the glass sphere wasn’t the only reason we were here.
Aside from Sebastian, elderly men and women in this world seemed to be very wise and perceptive…or maybe it was just me.
“Now, about the glass sphere.”
Ms. Isabelle began to talk after she had poured the tea and sat down again.
“While it is impressive, as I’ve mentioned…it is also dangerous. If used by someone ignorant, it could lead to a great disaster.”
After studying it, Ms. Isabelle had determined that it was very dangerous.
Someone who was ignorant… Well, the merchants had not been ignorant, and look what happened… So she was definitely right about it being dangerous.
“Once the glass sphere is placed somewhere, it begins to gather magic energy. The magic energy that is found in nature. There is no place that does not have this energy. Understand?”
Sebastian was nodding at her explanation.
I had heard that there was magic energy within humans, but I didn’t know about it being in nature.
But since Sebastian was following just fine, I didn’t want to interrupt her, and so I kept silent.
…Besides, Sebastian would gladly explain it to me later.
“It gathers magic energy and then amplifies the source of the illness within the sphere. After all, the source of the illness can be found in the air as well. And by using the magic energy as a medium, it can make the amplified illness…envelop nearby food or drinks.”
“Not humans directly?”
“Not directly, no. This is only speculation, but I think that the magic energy within people interferes with it. But once you eat or drink something that has been affected by the energy and illness from the sphere…”
“Then the person would become sick…”
“Yes. But it is worse, because those who become sick can then spread it to other people. Because the source of the illness continues to increase.”
“I see… So that’s why.”
While I still didn’t know all the details of how it worked, what she was saying was in line with what I had expected.
The glass sphere was used to infect the wine.
And people who drank the wine became sick… And then it would spread from person to person…explosively fast.
Thankfully, no one had become sick in Range village after that. However, as there was a lot of traffic in and out of Ractos, it would likely continue to spread for some time.
Thinking this, I was glad that I told them of simple preventive measures like washing hands and mouths.
“The frightening thing is that there is no way to check if food or drink has been infected. It could happen without you knowing, and so you eat it and spread the disease… You cannot stop it.”
“Even magic detection won’t work?”
“It’s not the kind of energy that human senses can detect. You would have to use a magic tool for that. …And will you really check all the food and drink with a magic tool?”
“…That would be difficult.”
So, once it was mixed with food or drink, there was no way for a person to detect it.
I myself had not been able to sense anything from the wine.
And it was not very realistic to use magic tools to check everything, when so many people were eating and drinking.
Such magic tools would be expensive, and there was likely not even enough to go around.
…It made it all the more impressive that Leo was able to tell the wine apart.
“You were right to place it in a sealed box when bringing it to me. While it wouldn’t affect anyone directly, if there was any food nearby, it could have led to quite a disaster.”
“Indeed. We do not want it to spread any further. Mr. Takumi made the right decision.”
“Yes. You were the one who saw that there was something wrong with the sphere… When bringing it to me, Phillip said that you warned him to keep it away from other things as much as possible.”
I had thought it was suspicious, but it was Leo who confirmed it…
And since I knew about pathogenic organisms, it seemed best to keep it isolated… But people didn’t know about such things in this world.
“So we know what the sphere does. I will leave the disposing of it to you… Please make sure that it isn’t misused.”
“Very well. While it may be an impressive magic tool, its use could lead to grave consequences.”
Sebastian decided to let Ms. Isabelle deal with the glass sphere.
As she was a specialist, she would not use it to do anything wrong.
He clearly had a lot of trust in her.
“Also…I believe Phillip also brought some wine…?”
“Ah, that. I thought it was a gift at first, and almost drank it.”
Sebastian had sent a small barrel with Phillip.
And inside was some of the infected wine that Leo had sniffed out. Had she accidentally drank it, then Ms. Isabelle would have become sick as well…
While she would have been healed with some Ramogi, it would not have been too pleasant for her.