188 – Your Mouth Is Black
In response to his greeting, Scarlett clapped her hands together. Sensing her unease, Evan smiled and changed the topic.
“Now that the maintenance seems to be settled, we need to supplement our personnel as well.”
“How will we do that?”
Scarlett asked, and Evan answered.
“We’re thinking of recruiting seniors.”
“Seniors?”
“Yes.”
Evan chuckled again.
“As you know, isn’t the Rubied the ship for the best of the elites? Including myself.”
“Yes, I know.”
“So, what I mean is that even before Captain took the Captain’s seat, the Rubied had many elites on board. And the Captain achieved the Captain’s position with an unbelievable feat. Of course, his lineage was impressive, but his skill was too exceptional.”
“Then?”
With a curious expression, Scarlett asked, and Evan continued.
“So, Captain became the Captain much faster than his peers, about ten years earlier. As a result… all the senior officers from the naval academy who were on board decided to leave the ship. They were talented individuals, but they didn’t want to serve under a captain much younger than them.”
“Then… what happened to them?”
“Well, they all returned to their families. Some of them even became senators.”
“I see…”
It was something she hadn’t known.
Evan continued.
“They left the Rubied due to their age, but they are all soldiers at heart. They won’t be relaxing at home in the face of the threat of war. Of course, they probably dislike taking orders from the Captain, but in times of crisis, it would be different.”
“That’s right. In times of crisis…”
Scarlett nodded.
The Canyon with the Ruse Falls was so peaceful that it was hard to believe it might become dangerous someday.
♔♔♔
Since the new people appeared at the Air Force base, accidents have been happening almost every day. When a small explosion occurred in the warehouse, people who were working on maintenance rushed out in a panic.
“Wow, we really almost died back there,” Pavel said, catching his breath.
From the beginning, the students had been voicing their opinions freely and trying out anything that came to mind, leading to both major and minor accidents.
Aisha spoke up, “Ah, I don’t know. Let’s take a break, rest up.”
As soon as she suggested resting, the students, who had been avoiding taking a break, immediately scattered to their rooms in the warehouse. Scarlett, feeling exhausted herself, headed toward her own room, and Aisha followed her, climbing the stairs. Aisha initiated the conversation.
“Scarlett, I was going to give you this, but you’ve been so busy that I couldn’t.”
“What is it?”
In response to Scarlett’s question, Aisha pulled out a small piece of wood from her pocket.
“I’m not sure if it’ll be effective… but this is from a flower in the Rubiaceae family. If you chew on it, you can find out if you’ve recently eaten a flower from the Rubiaceae family.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course, it has to be within the last six months.”
“What?”
Scarlett’s face showed disappointment.
“Six months… that’s a long time.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. Still, thank you.”
“Give it a chew. Even if it’s just a faint trace, it might show up.”
In response to Aisha’s suggestion, Scarlett glanced at the piece of wood for a moment before putting it into her mouth. She hesitated for a moment before asking with the wood in her mouth.
“What kind of trace?”
“Ahhhh, your mouth is all black!”
Scarlett was shocked by Aisha’s expression and quickly turned to look in the mirror. She covered her mouth with both hands in horror and then slowly lowered her hands to look in the mirror again.
Her entire mouth had turned completely black.
♔♔♔
“How did this happen…?”
“Well, it’s alright. It’s water-soluble, so you can rinse it away with water.”
Upon Aisha’s words, Scarlett rushed to the bathroom and rinsed her mouth several times. Just as she said, the black liquid was gone in no time.
When Scarlett exited the bathroom, Aisha asked, seeming quite puzzled.
“When did you take it?”
“It’s been over a year.”
“No way. This can’t possibly be from a year ago. It must be within the last three months.”
“But that’s not possible…”
In the meantime, Scarlett tried to recall if she had visited the royal police, but she couldn’t remember.
Frustrated, she asked Aisha.
“Aisha, do you happen to know who you sold that medicine to?”
“I’m sorry, but only Harold would know that. He handles the selling and the records.”
“I see.”
As Scarlett nodded, Aisha spoke again.
“Oh, Viktor Dumfelt might know too.”
Scarlett nodded in agreement. She thought about her visit to Viktor last month to inform him about Shirley’s existence, so she assumed he might have asked her about it.
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