If You Devour Poison / Doku wo Kurawaba Sara Made

Chapter 12: In the Basement

Built around 400 years ago, the Asbal family’s mansion boasted an expansive basement, and from then on, the mansion was known as the “The Prime Minister’s House.” The treasury under the mansion hid the vast fortune the Asbal family had amassed over many generations. Moreover, the wealth was all in the form of gold bars that were both easy to carry and did not depreciate in value.
In the game’s original story, the heroine received Thomas’ help, and, accompanied by Sigurd, opened the gates to the treasury... There was even a scene showing their dumbstruck reaction upon seeing the golden light emitted from the overflowing wealth included in the game.
And now, that very basement was the one I was leading them to.

“Sigurd. This mansion was built 400 years ago. Do you know what was happening in the Palcemith Kingdom at the time?”

As I went down the stairs leading to the basement with a candlestick in hand, I asked Sigurd a question. He thought for a moment and then answered, “The Langede war.” His answer was completely correct.

“You’re right. The Palcemith Kingdom is protected by His Grace Kharis’ blessings. Blessed with a mild climate, we never get plagues and our harvests are abundant too. However, our neighbors who did not get the same blessings could not stomach that. The kingdom of Langede to the west of Palcemith was in particularly dire straits.”
“Four hundred years ago, it was hit by a severe cold snap. Crops throughout the continent were damaged by the chill, and food supplies ran short. Records state that around a third of Langede’s population died at that time.”

Jolga continued from where I left off, and I nodded.

“The impoverished Langede was left with no options. Of course, after the damage to their crops, Langede received aid from Palcemith. But as Jolga said, that year, all of the Yugena continent had been hit by the massive cold spell. Langede wasn’t the only impoverished nation; other countries were affected as well. We couldn’t show Legande any favor. As a result, Langede was driven to the point where they had no way to survive other than taking over Palcemith.”
“And so they waged war against the Palcemith Kingdom. It’s a famous tale. Even I know of it.”
“In terms of national power, Palcemith was superior in all aspects. We predicted the war would be a walk in the park. But as the war waged, the results weren’t what we expected.”
“...For the enemy, it was life or death.”

Jolga muttered under his breath.

“That’s right. They had no means other than that to survive… The soldiers of Langede, driven to such a point, were frighteningly powerful. Eventually, the superior Palcemith did emerge victorious, and we expanded our territory by annexing Langede. But the scars from the battle ran deep.”

This history was something every child in Palcemith knew. In the thousand-year history of Palcemith, this war had been the hardest fought. Though Palcemith has had constant disputes with countries other than Langede, this was the only one to shake the country.
While conversing, we reached the basement.
I took the master key from Thomas and handed the candlestick to Jolga. I flipped the lock over so Sigurd could see the way I unlocked the door, teaching him the order in which to insert the key into the three keyholes as I showed him the angle each needed to be turned to.

“This lock is of a special make. If one attempts to open it with anything other than the master key, the keyholes themselves will close. It’s the same if you mess up the sequence. Thomas, Sigurd, watch carefully.”
“As you will.”
“...Understood.”

After receiving an affirmation from the pair, I opened the doors to the basement.

“...”
“...This is… the basement.”
“It’s wide…”

The first thing to greet their sight was a space that could be called the entrance to the basement. It was a square room furnished with a two-seater sofa and a table. Other than the door that led us in, there was a door each on the other three walls. I urged Sigurd to open the doors in a counterclockwise direction one by one, starting with the one on my right, and check inside each one.
Behind the first door was a wide, open space with three double beds covered in white sheets.