The Iudex's day off

Chapter 25 - Will you trust me?

Wriothesely's POV

 So...

 Let's rewind a bit.

 I got some tea from an unknown sender.

 The leaves had been watered with Primordial Seawater during their growth as such they held its properties to a certain extent, though, according to Neuvillette, they could not be used to kill. The most the tea or any other plant grown in such a way could do was make you be unable to move your body for a while. It couldn't even make you pass out fully

 It could have been from the same guy who usually sends me tea, but there was no proof of it either.

 The first thing I wanted to do was call Timeo in for questioning, followed by the receptionist who receives the packages, but Neuvillette stopped me.

 "If you were to receive such a gift, what would your first reaction be." He asked.

 "To drink it, of course."

 What else would you do when receiving tea?

 "And is this common knowledge within the Fortress?"

 "I would think so?"

 But why?

 Wait...

 "Are you perhaps thinking..."

 "Yes, likely." 

 Hahaha!

 This is...

 "That would be entertaining. That, or a waste of time." I laughed.

 "Well then, would you like to waste some time with me, Your Grace?"

 "Anytime."

 Why not?

 Nothing bad can happen from sitting around for a bit.

 Nothing.

 Bad.

 Can.

 ...

 "What?"

 "How would you feel about losing the use of your body for a little while?" Neuvillette repeated his question.

 "You want me to drink the tea?"

 Instantly, he started frowning and pushed the cup slightly further away from me.

 "Absolutely not. I was just going to relax your muscles for a while."

 "And that would do the trick?" I asked skeptically.

 It did.

 It definitely did the trick.

 Neuvillette only had to touch the spot between my eyebrows a single time for me to powerlessly drop back into my chair.

 "Here. You can just pinch this to undo it."

 He placed a small marble into my hand, and with some difficulty, I managed to nod.

 "It would start working right around now. If I were the someone trying to kill you using this method, I would wait another ten minutes before showing up."

 "And if no one comes?"

 "For a normal person, the effects should last for about three hours. For you, I reckon you would feel the effects fade away in just one. Let's give them some leeway and wait two hours. If no one comes by that time, we can move on to the next step of the investigation."