Sweet Poison

We had come to the castle in the royal capital. Apparently, it would take some time to be granted an audience with His Majesty the King. But we had nothing to do, so we were bored.

At the princess's request, we were going to exterminate the rats breeding beneath the royal palace.

The rats in this world were ordinary-sized rats. They were probably what we would call sewer rats in Japan.

There was also a species called giant rats, but they were about the size of cats and were eaten as food.

They were sold in city markets, and I had eaten them too. The flavor was distinctive, but if nobody told you it was rat, you probably wouldn't know.

We all put on white protective suits and attached LED headlamps to our heads. As we descended the stairs underground, we eventually saw an iron grate.

This seemed to be where we were supposed to use the key the princess had given me. The rusty iron-grated door opened with a groan.

We continued down a long flight of stairs. The smell seeped through the gas masks attached to our protective suits. As expected, it reeked of fish.

It smelled even to me, so it should have been much worse for the beastfolk, with their sensitive noses... But for now, they didn't seem to mind.

This world had a Water Stone, a stone that purified water, but it didn't seem to be used here.

Apparently, there was a purification tank where the sewage flowed out from beneath the castle.

But the building had been constructed a very long time ago, and it was probably difficult to remodel its underground and install a purification tank inside the castle now.

"Anemone, are you all right?"

"Yeah. It smells, but I'm fine."

"You didn't have to come all the way down here..."

"I want to! I told you I was going adventuring with Kenichi!"

While we were talking, it seemed we had reached the bottom. As far as I could tell by shining my light around, the underground passages were made of stone too.

There was a depression in the middle of the underground passage, with wastewater flowing through it. It certainly smelled, but it wasn't as though the place was coated in thick, muddy sludge.

There were spiderwebs everywhere in the passage, but were there really spiders in this darkness? Still, I could see things moving here and there that looked like insects.

They were probably creatures resembling the cockroaches and camel crickets of my original world――perhaps the spiders fed on these insects.

Hmm, this scene really did look like an underground dungeon. But this wasn't the Castle of Cagliostro from the anime or anything――surely the place wasn't littered with bleached skeletons...

We went about twenty or thirty meters before having Anemone turn on a light.

Magic light produced no heat, so gas shouldn't be a problem.

"Anemone, make some light with magic."

"Okay. Light!"

A bluish-white light took the shape of a sphere and illuminated the underground passage.

For now, I checked for gas. How did I do that? With Shangri-La, of course.

When I searched the site, I found a methane gas detector for about 16,000 yen and bought it.

I tried it immediately, but there was no reaction to gas.

Magical light filled the stone passage.

But I had the feeling that something was writhing in that light. When I shone my headlamp over it, countless tiny points of light glittered back at me.

"Ugh! Don't tell me the entire floor of the passage is covered in rats?"

"Eeeek! What the nya is this?!"

Now I understood why the passage was so clean. These things must have eaten everything.

When I turned around, the passage behind us was already covered in writhing black rats.

"Boss! I can't count them, but there have to be more than a hundred, right?"

"Yeah, we're talking thousands."

"Anemone, don't use fire magic!"

"Okay!"

After replying, she clung to me.

"Waaah! They're crawling all over me, nya!" "Damn it! Get away!"

The beastfolk desperately tried to stomp and kick the rats away, but there were so many that it was hopeless.

It was a good thing we'd put on protective suits. Otherwise, we'd have been bitten all over by now.

"Damn, we have no choice! I'll drive them away with my magic!"

Anyway, no methane gas was detected.

I took firecrackers and a turbo lighter out of my Item Box, lit the firecrackers, and threw them.

Then a deafening explosion echoed through the underground passage.

"Eeeek!" "Too damn loud!"

The beastfolk reflexively covered their ears.

But perhaps the firecrackers had worked, because the rats vanished as though swept away by the tide.

"Phew! Looks like they worked."

"What do we do, Boss? Swords and bows won't do a damn thing against this many." "Yeah, nya."

"We'll use poison."

"Poison?"

I searched Shangri-La for rat poison. I had no idea which kind would work on rats from another world, so I decided to use several types.

For now, I bought thirty each of coumarin, bromadiolone, warfarin, and a liquid in glass bottles――ethylene glycol.

Everything except the ethylene glycol was solid and came in metal cans.

I also bought disposable plastic dishes for holding the liquid――100 for 3,000 yen.

There had apparently been rats resistant to rat poison in my original world, but that probably wouldn't be the case in another world.

"All right, take the lids off the metal tubes and scatter the poison inside around the area. Don't take off your gloves."

"Got it, nya." "You got it!"

The rats had begun gathering again, scurrying here and there, so I threw rat poison at them.

I had Anemone pour the ethylene glycol into the plastic dishes I had placed along the passage.

"Kenichi! Something smells sweet, nya! It smells good~" "It really does."

What they had noticed was the smell of the ethylene glycol.

"It smells sweet, and it actually tastes sweet if you lick it, but it's poison. Don't lick it under any circumstances! It'll kill you!"

"Nya!" "It's poison even though it's sweet? That's scary!"

Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol are poisonous to humans as well. They had even been used as illegal sweeteners, causing numerous deaths.

If people in this world learned that such a poison existed, it would be used for assassinations nonstop.

"Don't tell anyone about the sweet poison. People will definitely start using it for assassinations."

"Good grief, that's dangerous..." "How terrifying, nya!"

For now, we'd finished scattering poison nearby, so we moved on.

I took garbage bags out of my Item Box, divided the rat poison among us, and carried it around as we scattered it.

This underground passage was fairly wide and labyrinthine.

Since getting lost would be a disaster, I bought glow sticks from Shangri-La and placed them along the way as markers.

They apparently stayed lit all night, so they should give us more than enough light for as long as it took to scatter the poison.

"Putting on these suits really was the right decision. I haven't gotten very dirty, but without them we'd have been bitten all over by that swarm of rats."

"But this thing is hot and hard to breathe in." "Yeah, nya."

"You have a point... Anemone, can you use cooling magic?"

"I'll try――everyone, line up."

The three of us lined up side by side.

"Mmm... Refrigeration!"

Apparently, cooling magic was more difficult than warming magic.

"Oh! It's cooler! Amazing!" "Cool, nya~"

After that, Anemone used cooling magic on herself.

We took a break to cool off, but then another swarm of rats came rushing toward us.

"Boss, they've started gathering again."

"All right, I'll give them another dose."

When I threw more firecrackers into the swarm of rats, they fled into every gap and hole at incredible speed.

"This place probably carries rainwater too, so it would be in trouble if we got another downpour like the one that washed out the highway bridge."

"But it hardly ever rains that hard, Boss." "Yeah, nya."

We split up and placed rat poison and ethylene glycol on the floor. Thirty of each wasn't nearly enough, so we kept adding more.

We were going to fill the underground passages with rat poison――we were scattering it enthusiastically when...

The beastfolk reacted to something, their ears swiveling in circles.

"Kenichi! Something's coming, nya!" "Boss, Blackie is right."

When I shone the LED light into the depths of the passage, I saw something large and bright, like a red jewel. But there was no way there could be a jewel in a place like this.

What emerged in the light was a huge black rat that blocked the passage.

"It's a giant rat, nya!" "I've never seen one this damn big!"

Including its tail, it was probably over two meters long. I threw aside the garbage bag containing the rat poison, then took weapons and quivers out of my Item Box and tossed them to the beastfolk.

I also took out a polycarbonate tower shield and threw it to them.

"Anemone, cast Light above and behind us!"

"Okay. Light!"

With Anemone's magical light shining behind us, I took out a loaded crossbow and readied it.

Then I immediately fired at the rat's head.

"Squeee!"

I took the giant rat's charge on the polycarbonate shield. The tremendous impact sent me flying, but somehow I was all right.

In that opening, Myaree and Nyamena shot arrows from the side at the giant rat's body.

"Nyaa!" "Take that!"

"Squeee!"

The giant rat faltered. I immediately took a cutlass out of my Item Box and brought its sharp blade down on the rat's skull.

"Squeal!"

As the blade sank into the rat's head, the black, furry creature toppled over, thrashed its tail and legs, and soon stopped moving.

"Haaah..."

"Kenichi, are you all right?"

As Anemone's worried voice sounded beside me, I crouched down where I stood and took off the hood of my protective suit.

Then I let out a long sigh as though taking a deep breath. Exercising while wearing a gas mask made it hard to breathe.

The beastfolk seemed to be in the same condition, so they took off their hoods too. But once we removed our masks, the smell was overwhelming. It was enough to make my nose wrinkle.

If I could bring out Yu○bo, an enemy this size would be no problem, but there was no room for it in this narrow passage.

"Damn, nobody told me there'd be something like this."

"That princess really pulled one over on us, nya."

"Maybe this is why the Guild wouldn't take the job, but now that we've accepted it, there's nothing we can do."

I stored the giant rat's corpse in my Item Box. I didn't want to put something like this in there, but it couldn't be helped.

"There might still be more." "Yeah, nya."

"That's highly likely. Let's scatter the poison before the others gather."

I gave the beastfolk transparent bucklers and swords as well. In the end, we were fully armed.

We needed poison for giant rats too. I bought a large plastic washbasin from Shangri-La and filled it with ethylene glycol.

Now that we knew there were large enemies around, we stayed together as we moved.

We finished scattering poison along the main passages. Even if we left the side passages alone, the rats would come out if there was food.

The question was whether they would eat the poisoned bait.

We headed for the exit, collecting the glow sticks we'd placed as markers.

While scattering firecrackers to drive off the massive number of rats that gathered again, we reached the stairs leading up.

Then we climbed the stairs and locked the iron-grated door again.

The huge rat probably couldn't break through the iron grate――but the small rats could climb up these stairs too.

"It's so hot~!" "It's too hot, nya~"

"So hot~"

I helped Anemone take off her protective suit. We all removed our equipment and discarded the protective suits, drenched in sweat.

Since the protective suits were disposable, I sent them straight to the trash can on the status screen. I glanced at the watch I had kept in my pocket.

We'd apparently been down there for about four hours. It had felt like two...

"Anemone, did you get bitten anywhere?"

"I'm fine."

"What about Myaree and Nyamena?"

"Phew... I'm fine. But like you said, Boss, it was a good thing we wore these suits."

"If we'd been bitten by that many rats, we'd have been in serious trouble, nya."

"It was a horrible ordeal, but if the poison works, we'll make money without much effort."

"I've already had to work plenty hard..."

Nyamena complained, but facing more than a thousand rats and that huge monster was surely worse.

"I hope the poison works on that giant too."

"If it eats enough, it should work, right?" "Yeah, nya."

"Even if they eat the corpses of companions killed by the poison, the poison will still work through cannibalism."

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about that."

"Will the rats that eat those corpses die too, nya?"

"Yeah, they'll die too."

It worked the same way as the roach bait and boric acid balls sold for cockroaches.

But if the rats cannibalized each other and their numbers dropped, we'd get less money――still, that was far better than taking a dangerous gamble. It would be a disaster if we came down with some disease.

Since we were drenched in sweat, we returned to our base, drew water from the well, and poured it over ourselves.

Naturally, we were all completely naked. It was questionable whether we could bathe like that in the castle's rear garden, so I bought folding privacy screens.

Four brown panels were connected in a zigzag, and setting up three of them created a completely secluded space.

Each set cost about 8,000 yen.

"It's freezing!" "This water is way too cold!"

That's right, well water was cold.

"Anemone, if you're going to pour it over yourself, you should warm it a little with magic."

"I'm fine."

"We're fine too, nya~" "This is nothing."

The beastfolk poured water over themselves with gusto. For their sake, I took a table and jet heater out of my Item Box.

While Myaree and Nyamena dried their fur――I might as well start preparing dinner.

"Good work today."

Primula and Bell came out when I opened the door to the house.

"Yeah, it was incredible. If Primula had come with us, she would have fainted."

"What? Was it really that bad? The rats?"

"The numbers were bad enough, but there was also a huge one."

I took the giant rat out of my Item Box.

"Eeeek!"

Primula screamed and hid behind me, so I immediately put it back in my Item Box.

Bell seemed interested in the giant rat that had appeared before us, so I restrained her.

"Whoa, Bell. That wasn't food, all right?"

"Nyaa."

"Are there really rats this big? Even giant rats are smaller than that, aren't they?"

"Myaree and Nyamena said it was their first time seeing one too, so maybe it's a different species from giant rats――or perhaps it grew huge from eating such nutritious garbage from the castle..."

Nyamena, who had been drying her fur with the jet heater, joined the conversation.

"Figures, for a castle. Throwing food away would be unthinkable in our town." "Yeah, nya."

Was there really enough food to support a nest of so many rats? There had been plenty of insects too. Maybe they fed on those as well.

While we were talking, evening had fallen. Once the beastfolk finished drying their fur, we began preparing dinner.

We always ate curry, so I searched Shangri-La for something else. Then I found beef stew.

Beef stew, huh――I hadn't eaten it very often. The roux seemed to come in chocolate-like blocks, just like curry roux.

Basically, I could make soup, add the beef stew base, and be done――probably. One box cost about 300 yen.

I wanted meat, so I bought beef. I didn't need the fatty parts, so I bought thigh meat. It apparently cost 3,000 yen per kilogram, so I bought two kilograms.

I had the beastfolk peel potatoes with a peeler――but wait. Did beef stew normally have potatoes in it?

Well, whatever. Adding them wouldn't make it inedible.

"Anemone, bake some bread for us."

"Okay."

I cut the meat into chunks and fried it with onions.

There were two kilograms of it, so I had to keep at it. Once each batch was done, I put it into the pressure cooker along with the peeled potatoes.

Once the meat was cooked, I just had to add the beef stew roux and it would be finished――probably.

"Boss, is this different from the curry we usually have?"

"Wouldn't you like to eat something different once in a while?"

"Curry would be fine with me, nya."

"Me too!"

Hearing them say that made me lose confidence, but they'd said ordinary stew was delicious, so beef stew should be fine too.

Hayashi rice was another possibility. But that used demi-glace sauce too, so I thought it would taste similar to beef stew――though that might be cutting corners a bit.

Once the food was ready and I was setting out the tableware, the princess arrived. The brown-haired female knight who had been there that morning accompanied her as a guard.

"Kenichi, how goes the work?"

"Lilith-sama. Nobody told me there was anything like this down there."

I took the giant rat out of my Item Box.

"Oh! Just as I thought..."

"Judging by your reaction, you knew about it."

"Well, I'd heard about it."

"This isn't just rat extermination, so it's no wonder nobody at the Guild wanted to take it on."

I suspected some people had accepted the job, then abandoned it partway through after deciding it wasn't worth the trouble...

"Had I told you, you wouldn't have accepted the job either, would you?"

"In any case, the giant rats will cost extra. One gold coin per rat, please."

"Hmm..."

"If you won't pay, I'll abandon the job and run, just like the other adventurers."

"Fine. I'll pay, all right?"

She folded her arms and frowned reluctantly, but apparently had nobody else to rely on. They couldn't exactly send in the Knights' Order.

"Thank you."

"That aside, are there no other rats?"

"That will have to wait until tomorrow or later. Today was just an initial inspection, but there appeared to be more than a thousand rats writhing underground."

"A thousand?"

The female knight cried out, then quickly apologized for her rudeness.

If anything, her face looked a little pale――maybe she disliked rats.

"Goodness, I had heard there were many, but more than a thousand? So, can you exterminate them?"

"Well, we'll reduce their numbers as much as we can."

"Very well. I leave it to you."

"Thank you."

The conversation was over, but the princess walked straight over to the table and sat down.

I'd made extra food because I figured she might come today too. Besides, this princess had a big appetite.

"Knight-sama, why don't you join us?"

"What? I..."

"I don't mind. Don't be shy."

"In that case..."

The female knight took a seat, and we all ended up eating together.

The knight looked uncomfortable, but more flowers were always better――although I was the only man here.

"I've known Millette since we were young. We're practically sisters."

"Please, Your Highness, that is too great an honor."

"Since Lilith-sama is a woman, it is more convenient in many ways for her guard to be a woman as well."

"Exactly. That is why I appointed you as my guard."

I filled deep bowls with beef stew. Then I set out the bread Anemone had baked.

Since the princess had arrived, the beastfolk were sitting on the ground again, wolfing down their beef stew.

"Wow! This is delicious!" "It's good, nya!"

"Hmm――oh! What richness and thickness!"

"Delicious..."

The princess and the knight seemed to enjoy it too.

"I didn't use many spices in today's dish. What do you think of it, Anemone?"

"It's delicious!――But I like curry better."

"I see~"

As I thought, children preferred curry.

But the beastfolk and Bell, who was beside them, were behaving strangely. They were all staring at the same spot, their eyes darting about.

"What's wrong? Is something there?"

"I don't know, but I sense something..." "Nya."

I couldn't see anything. As I wondered what was going on, Primula called out to me.

"Kenichi, please teach me how to make this soup too."

"What? This? I think it takes an incredible amount of time to make from scratch. This was quick because I used a soup base, though."

"What is a soup base?"

I showed the princess the solid soup roux I had taken from my Item Box.

"Oh! Something made by drying and solidifying soup?"

"Adding flour and such makes it thicken, and drying it makes it solid."

"Your Highness, with this, you could have soup even when traveling far from home. Could it be used as rations for soldiers as well?"

"Indeed. Since it's dried, it won't spoil. Very well! I'll have this researched."

"Similar products have already been commercialized and are being sold in Dalia."

"Really?"

"Yes, by my wife's family's Marrow Trading Company."

Originally, it had been a granola-like imitation made by an old tool-shop owner, but sugar was expensive, so it had been made savory and sold as a food that turned into soup when dissolved in hot water.

"Oh! The Marrow Trading Company――that's the company that makes a vehicle called a draisine, isn't it?"

The princess had heard that Primula was a merchant, but apparently hadn't heard that she was the Marrow Trading Company's daughter.

"That is correct."

"Kenichi, don't you have a draisine in your Item Box?"

"I do, but it's sized for my wife, so Your Highness may not be able to reach the pedals――"

"I will decide that!"

"Is that all right with you, Primula?"

"Of course. It is an honor."

I took Primula's red draisine out of my Item Box.

"Oh! So this is it!"

For now, I got on it to demonstrate. It had no pedals, so I propelled it by pushing off the ground with my feet.

"Ohhh! It's fast! All right, lend it to me after dinner!"

Despite saying that, the princess had four refills of beef stew, apparently leaving her satisfied.

After dinner, the princess straddled the draisine, but as expected, her feet couldn't reach the ground.

"Push me from behind!"

"Your Highness, that's dangerous!"

The female knight shouted anxiously, apparently worried about her.

"I'll be fine! Kenichi, I want you to do it."

"Please don't behead me if you fall over."

"Why would I do that?"

That was the only image I had of royalty and nobility.

I pushed the draisine that the princess had climbed onto, her dress swirling around her. I thought she'd fall over immediately, but she mastered it in a single try.

"Oh! This is fast!"

After circling the flower beds and returning to our starting point, I was exhausted――I gave up.

"Haaah, haaah――Knight-sama, take over, please."

"Millette, you push!"

The female knight was clearly only going along because she had no choice, but since the princess was always like this, she seemed to have a hard time with it.

But the princess liked the draisine and announced that she wanted to buy it.

Primula agreed, so the sale was concluded――the price was five gold coins.

Since it was entirely handmade, after all. The unpainted model was apparently much cheaper.

But was it really all right to sell something Marrow-san had given his beloved daughter?

"If there is a buyer and there is something to sell, a merchant sells it."

Primula didn't seem bothered by it.

The princess apparently intended to use this draisine as a prototype and have the royal family's craftsmen make something similar.

As expected of the royal family. Their financial resources were on another level.