Roko spent the next few days going through the supplies, using his spell to seek out and dispose of every poisoned food supply they had. As he would later explain to Azimuth, Nessus wasn't the result of an illness but a poison that had contaminated their recent food supplies in such small micro-doses that no one even registered them. It wasn't just their latest food supplies either, every supply of food after the ones obtained by Roko's reunion operation contained contaminated food. The message was clear. This was Sirius' first real attack against them.
"I'm still not sure I believe it." Azimuth had said in surprise, "The old strain of Nessus was an illness that wracked all of Mulapin on both sides. I can't imagine Sirius would poison his own people too..."
"Have you ever seen a sick person from Muldingirmus?"
"Well...no..."
"Then it's all just a facade." Roko replied, "Sirius has the people of Muldingirmus pretending to be sick as well in order to better sell the illusion of an illness. The truth is that the food coming from him is poisoned and the ones providing them are under Sirius' thumb. Those that are not are being fed lies by their own peers to continue the farce."
"Okay Roko but what do we do about it now?" Azimuth asked.
"...I'm not an expert on poisons."
"I didn't take you for one."
"But I know someone who might be."
"Are they also a princess?"
"..."
"Greetings. My apologies for arriving during such grim times. My name is Kaguya. I've come to assist the rebellion."
"She's your poison expert?" Azimuth frowned.
"I have...experiences with poison before." Kaguya smiled pleasantly.
"Okay but drinking poison once or twice is different than being an expert."
"My experience runs deeper than that, I assure you." Kaguya laughed gently, "And Roko has already sent me some details on this Nessus poison. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think there was anything I could do."
"Well if you're so confident, I'll leave you to it." Azimuth sighed, "I'm busy scrambling to get rid of our recent food supplies and sourcing new ones. If we can't trust our allies in Muldingirmus then that makes things very difficult for us."
"Don't worry. Just leave it to us." Roko replied, "We'll get to the bottom of this."
"Please do soon." Azimuth sighed.
As soon as Azimuth was gone, Roko turned to Kaguya, "What do you have?"
"This Nessus poison is a modified snake venom." Kaguya handed Roko a folder of papers she had prepared. "From the symptoms you've told me about, I'm assuming Tafosuranus Polykefalis. Certainly a rare breed of poison to get. Even in the black market, it'd be rare to find the base poison. I can't imagine where this modified poison came from. I'm assuming a custom made one created by Sirius himself."
"That's what I was thinking." Roko nodded, "But the most pressing matter is finding a cure. Can you do that?"
"Antidotes from normal Polykefalis poison are available and I've procured some." Kaguya motioned for Mikado to place down a heavy set box onto the table, "But I'm not sure how effective they will be against this modified strain. Maybe they can help relieve the symptoms a little but a full cure might take some research. And we can't do that without a sample of the full poison in question."
"In other words...an attack on Sirius himself." Roko nodded.
"Not necessarily." Kaguya shook her head, "Sirius himself couldn't give out these poisoned food personally. Everyone would notice. He'd have to do so through an accomplice."
"So we attack the accomplice." Mikado said.
"An accomplice..." Roko mused, "I'd like to find some evidence to link Sirius back to this crime so we can prosecute him but that's probably not possible is it?"
"If Sirius is as tricky as they say he is, then probably not." Kaguya agreed, "I doubt we'd even be able to find a paper trail back to him supplying the poison. But he won't care about his accomplice. And if everything is being done outside of Sirius' house that means this accomplice will be the one poisoning the food as well as distributing them so they'd have to have a sample we can steal."
"Stealing is one thing." Roko crossed his arms, "But I'd like to burn down that business for assisting in this travesty."
"That's fair." Kaguya smiled, "This is a rebellion after all. No one would question you if you did that."
"Then our first order of business is find this accomplice." Roko nodded, "I'll look through our list of accomplices on the Muldingirmus side and investigate their backgrounds."
"I'll do what I can to find a cure but this isn't really my field of expertise." Kaguya sighed, "If I could find a field to farm on, I could start growing medicinal herbs to help out."
"There's an overgrown training grounds behind Fort M83 that you can use." Roko said, "Feel free to use it. The rebellion base down here already has a pretty well stocked training grounds so we don't need another one."
"Much obliged, Roko." Kaguya smiled, "That should help us greatly. Always thinking ahead, you are."
"It just worked out that way." Roko shrugged, "It'll still take time for you to finish setting up the field so it might not be the best time for farming."
"I'll have Mikado do the preparations while I work on the cure." Kaguya shrugged, "But we all know we're relying on you to find that associate."
"I can only hope there's only one." Roko sighed.
Roko's resources were limited with much of the rebellion left in beds. He didn't have the ties to investigate this short list of Muldingirmus collaborators directly. They had names and an invoice but for the safety of their collaborators, their contributions were all bunched together without names as to who provided what. Roko understood that this might be the only way they could've gotten people from Muldingirmus to provide supplies for them but it was no less frustrating. It wasn't an ideal situation but it wasn't impossible. Thankfully, they hadn't thrown out all the contaminated food at once, simply quarantined them for now. So he could take stock of what was sent to them that was poisoned and see if there was a pattern to follow. Unfortunately, the poisoned food seemed to vary in products, from greens to meats to even eggs and milk. There wasn't a clear and obvious pattern which did make it slightly easier for Roko. For one, he could cross out the specialty suppliers. Companies that were specialized in high quality meats or milks were probably safe. They wouldn't step so far out of their expertise to provide such a wide variety and high quantity of supplies as this associate did.
That still left nearly half the list to go through. People who were basically high end grocers that had the stock that this associate provided. Cutting down that list wasn't easy. Roko had to go through the branded products the grocers were providing. Apples from this farm, meat from this butcher, so on and so forth. By compiling a list of the branded products the associate had access to and were distributing, Roko could start crossing off names that used different suppliers or did not have ALL the brands that the associate had provided.
And there was still at least five names that could be their potential poisoner. And Roko was running out of ideas. The remaining candidates had too much in common to easily separate. So Roko tried the opposite. He tried finding what was unique about the poisoned shipment. Something wholly unique that none of the other providers could have given. And he might've found something. Each grocer had a signature product they were proud to stock. Claims of the best fruits in the business or the most fresh vegetables in the country. These were products that the grocers themselves uniquely sourced that were not a generic brand. Their own "advantage" over the competitors. This associate...had none of them. Obviously. A famous brand among the poisoned foods would oust them immediately. But even if they had refrained from identifying themselves so easily, their absence could be tracked down. Each grocer naturally had a surplus of their key products, making them the first items they would probably provide. There was only ONE business that had a signature product that wasn't provided among the supplies given to the Earthbounds.
"Lichas' Retail?" Helena frowned, "These are the bastards poisoning us?"
"That's what I'm thinking." Roko nodded, "Granted, the reasoning's a bit flimsy but I think it's worth investigating."
"I wish I could come with you." Momo coughed, "But we're all kinda indisposed currently. Sorry."
"It's fine. You all take your time recovering. I've got Kaguya to help me out. And if I have to, I'll bring Aranea along."
"Aranea, do you best for us." Momo gave the small girl a thumbs up.
Aranea looked nervous about it but nodded, albeit a bit weakly.
"Please take me with you."
The curtain to Hirudo's bed opened and the sickly man looked at Roko with firm eyes, "I've managed to avoid the poison since my diet is pretty strictly monitored so I'm completely fine to join in."
"...With the numbers we have, I'd appreciate your assistance." Roko accepted, "I just hope you don't die on us on the way there."
"Haha. If Kajou's not going to be there I think I can be of great help."
"Is that it?" Melia asked, "Kaguya, Mikado, you, Aranea and Hirudo? That's not a confidence boosting line up. Especially when you're going into the heart of Muldingirmus."
"It'll be a low profile mission. More espionage than an attack. Though I might still burn down their supplies once I find the poison."
"Justice must be dealt out." Helena laughed weakly, "Man, I really wish I could come with you."
"Just focus on recovery." Roko sighed, "There's plenty of other chances to go to war."
"I really want that war." Momo moaned.
"I really want that war too." Helena chuckled, "Though not as much as Momo probably."
"Normal people don't usually want war." Melia remarked, "Especially princesses."
"Maybe for Helena it is." Momo smirked.
"Regardless, this is a covert operation." Roko sighed, "This will need a separate skillset than normal."
"Oh yeah? Like what kind?"
"There we go. I've got disguises ready for all of us." Kaguya plopped a box full of clothes on the table, "Though most of the disguise will be determined by your own behavior."
"Half a disguise is the confidence to fit in huh?" Roko picked up a black shirt from the box, "That makes sense."
"Exactly." Kaguya smiled, "You get it Roko."
"Umm...these aren't exactly what I expected when I heard there were going to be disguises." Hirudo coughed as he picked out a straw hat from the box, "I thought we would be in suits or something."
"That's what normal people would assume." Kaguya smirked, "But this will be a nightly operation so we won't need to be in suits. The clothes I've picked out are ones that I've chosen after analyzing the fashion trends in Muldingirmus. These aren't the exact same but they're close enough to not warrant a second glance."
"No...wigs or...masks or..."
"The only one who'd need a wig or mask is Roko." Kaguya shrugged, "As the new head of the rebellion, I'm sure Sirius already knows your face if the entire Muldingirmus police force doesn't."
"Well hopefully we won't have to run into the police force while we're there." Roko sighed, "I don't think their patrols are too heavy from what I've read from the reports."
"All the easier for us then." Kaguya said, "If I had more time, I would come up with identities or a cover story but I'm sure we can improvise that."
"Would my-" Hirudo coughed again, "-condition be detrimental to this mission?"
"Certainly, I can't deny the possibility that you'll cough at the most inopportune moments." Kaguya sighed, "But as we need all the firepower we can get right now, I'll overlook it. I just ask you try to keep it quiet when we're out there but I'm sure we can handle it."
"Many thanks for your grace, your highness." Hirudo bowed.
"You need not give me so much honors, Hirudo. I'm just happy to help."
"Then..." Roko picked up a scarf and wrapped it around his neck, "Shall we get going?"
That late night, in a quiet Muldingirmus, a pothole near Minchir opened up and a few inconspicuous figures shuffled out of it. A pair of young men, a young woman, a sickly man and a child popped out, quickly adjusting their clothes to smooth them back out from their journey.
"Alright, it seems like we're in the clear." Kaguya said, "Honestly, getting into Muldingirmus quietly was the hardest part of the mission."
"Then where's this Lichas' Retail that we're looking for?"
"Pretty close to Min al Az'al." Roko replied, taking out a map he had drawn for this mission, "Figures the work would be outsourced to someone literally close to Sirius."
"Anything we should watch out for?" Mikado asked as he replaced the manhole over their infiltration point.
"Just our own ignorance." Roko sighed, "I couldn't dig up much information on the business or it's factory and structure in such short time. Regardless to say, once we get there, we'll be going in blind."
"Then let's get going before the night grows too old." Hirudo nodded.
And with that, the group began sneaking through the streets of their enemies. There were the odd patrols of guardsmen that were patrolling the streets but Kaguya was remarkably able to navigate around them just by spotting them or hearing them a few blocks in advance. It didn't matter if they were spotted. It didn't matter if they were blatantly turning around a corner to escape the guards that were looking at them. The importance was looking like they belonged there. That alone carried them quite far. That is not to say there were not anybody else in the streets that night. A few other civilians were walking around in the moonlight, chattering lightly though even they were quite mindful of the guards' presence. If Roko had to guess, it was exactly for the reason Kaguya gave the one time they were stopped by guards.
"We're on our way to a business meeting."
The guards were still a bit dubious on Kaguya's story, especially when they looked at their sword carrying "bodyguard" Hirudo. Still, this time of night was usually where discreet business deals usually took place between their populace. As nice as their half of the city was, there would always be conflict on the markets and sneaky deals made in the shadows. After claiming to be heading to a business that was adjacent to Lichas' Retail, they seemed to finally pass the guards' scrutiny. The two seeming to particularly enjoy greeting the shy Aranea. Perhaps they thought there was no way they would bring a child with them to do something nefarious.
"We're here." Kaguya announced as they stopped outside the Lichas' Retail headquarters, "Roko and I will take a preliminary look around the premises' outer defenses and we'll move on from there. Look natural while we're gone."
And with that, the two left the rest of the group in front of a vending machine.
"Some corn soup, sir Mikado?" Hirudo asked.
"No, I'll just take a melon soda." Mikado said as he put some coins in the vending machine.
"Ah, I knew I should've bought some coins with me." Hirudo sighed.
"I've got enough for both of us. You wanted corn soup?"
"Actually, some hot red bean soup sounds nice right about now."
"Alright." Mikado said, buying the drink before turning to Aranea, "Do you want anything, Aranea?"
Aranea looked up at the machine curiously, almost amazed at it, having never seen a machine like this before.
"Do you want anything?" Mikado repeated.
Aranea reached her hands up, still a bit too short to hit the buttons.
"Oh. Alright." Mikado bent down and picked up Aranea, holding her up so she could see all the options.
As the young girl gazed at all the colorful options, she reached out and tried pressing one of the buttons.
"That's alcohol. You can't have that."
Aranea pressed another button.
"Vanilla coke? Is that too sweet for you?"
Aranea pressed the button again.
"Eh. What do I care?"
And so Mikado put Aranea back down and bought the vanilla coke for her, Aranea quickly popping the door to the vending machine open to pull her drink out.
With everyone rehydrated, the three stood there for a moment in silence enjoying their drink.
"So uh...sir Mikado?"
"You can drop the sir part. I don't mind."
"Yes well, are you going to be okay without any armor and weapons?" Hirudo asked, "I noticed you didn't bring any weapon along even though you're a knight."
"Weapons can be procured on site." Mikado explained, "Every good warrior knows how to improvise. Armor won't be a problem so long as I keep it in mind to dodge most of the attacks."
"I see..."
"That being said, I don't believe we will need to worry much about opposition here." Mikado remarked, "There doesn't seem to be many guards around, inside and outside the compounds."
"Then what are we checking for?"
"Magical security measures. Tripwires. Traps of all sorts."
"Of which there seems to be none of any variety." Kaguya said as she and Roko returned from circling the complex, "Oh? Did we miss out on some refreshments?"
"I bought you some coconut water." Mikado said, tossing the drink to Kaguya.
"Ah good. Nothing like some nice refreshing harmless coconut water." Kaguya smiled.
"What about me?" Roko asked.
"What do you want?" Mikado gestured to the machine.
"Do they have milk tea?"
"No. You invented milk tea, remember?"
"I didn't invent-" Roko sighed, "Nevermind, I'll just have some cream soda."
"Best they got is vanilla coke."
"I'll take it."
"Aranea got vanilla coke too."
"Like father like daughter." Kaguya smiled.
"Goddammit." Roko scowled.