Now then, Saki of the Jin Family had previously submitted a request to Laojun:
"I want you to obtain the medicinal herb used in the euphoriant."
This was information unknown even to the current Elder—formerly known as No. 700672—who had once served as a servant to the Origin Clan.
Furthermore, the magi-brain Testa, built by the Origin Clan, possessed no data regarding it either.
Regarding this fact, Jin, the Jin Family, and Laojun came to the following conclusion:
"The Origin Clan did not see fit to grant all information to a single magi-brain."
At the same time, they had also refrained from providing a complete, one-hundred-percent disclosure of information to their servants.
"It is difficult to deduce what advantage they found in keeping information dispersed," Laojun remarked.
After all, the mentality of the Origin Clan seemed to differ considerably from that of present-day Arsians.
Be that as it may, if they were to develop countermeasures against the euphoriant, the more information they had, the better. Hence Saki's request at the very beginning.
"First, we shall conduct an investigation using the Peeper."
Laojun began investigating the medicinal herb using the usual Peeper.
The starting point was the euphoriant manufacturing plant discovered by the Shinobi Squad.
According to information from the Elder, the euphoriant was made from clean water, the medicinal herb, and free ether. In other words, by investigating the manufacturing plant, they would be able to learn what kind of plant the medicinal herb actually was.
Laojun continued observing the manufacturing plant for about an hour.
What became clear from that observation was that the medicinal herb was a fairly small plant... to put it bluntly, a sprout.
"It is like... bean sprouts."
Sprouts refers to germinated shoots, also known as sprouted vegetables.
In a narrower sense, it refers to plants germinated in the dark and allowed to grow leggy—stretched out, pale, and spindly.
Soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, black matpe sprouts, and others were widely distributed.
In any case, leguminous plants appeared to be well-suited for sprouting, though broccoli sprouts and kaiware daikon belonged to the crucifer family.
"In other words, they are cultivated indoors somewhere and transported here... most likely," Laojun concluded.
"If they are sprouts, they are likely grown indoors, so it is only natural that they would be difficult to discover."
Even so, wishing to determine what kind of plant these sprouts came from, Laojun reached another conclusion.
"We need to obtain seeds."
In other words, this was where the Shinobi Squad came in.
Since Shinobi 1 was to concentrate on the Magi-Brain Re-education Operation, Laojun decided that five units—Shinobi 6 through 10—would carry out the search.
"Understood."
The five units immediately set about the investigation.
〈If we keep watch on the manufacturing plant, we should simply follow whoever brings the herbs when they are carried in.〉
That was their initial thought.
However, even after staking out the area for three hours, no one appeared carrying the medicinal herb.
The manufacturing plant did not stop either, continuing to churn out the euphoriant drop by sluggish drop.
〈Could it be that that is the source of the medicinal herb?〉
The black grains that had initially been judged as "raw materials" when the plant was first discovered.
〈The source... in other words, seeds.〉
If that were the case, they were being brought in from somewhere once a day.
〈Perhaps they are being germinated inside the manufacturing plant.〉
The manufacturing plant was about the size of a single elementary school classroom.
It was large enough that having an internal section dedicated to cultivating sprouts was entirely feasible.
Therefore, they waited for the items judged to be materials to be brought in.
After waiting for about half a day, the moment arrived.
It was a dedicated golem. Shinobi 9 and 10 were tasked with trailing it.
The golem's movements were sluggish. It was clearly poorly maintained.
〈It looks like it will break down in the near future.〉
While it might not happen today or tomorrow, its stiff movements indicated that it would certainly stop functioning within ten years.
Moving jerkily, the golem entered a room a short distance from the manufacturing plant and ceased operating.
It was not broken; it seemed to be a temporary pause until its next scheduled task.
〈In other words, this room is the destination.〉
The room had bright Ether Lights embedded in the ceiling, which seemingly served the function of sun lamps.
And on the floor sat nearly fifty planters, cultivating plants roughly thirty centimeters tall.
〈This is the true nature of the medicinal herb. We need to find seeds somehow and...〉
That did not prove difficult at all.
Scattered across the floor were numerous spilled seeds.
To a human-sized being, it would have been a negligible amount, but to the five-centimeter-tall Shinobi 9 and 10, it was more than enough.
The two units swiftly gathered the seeds scattered on the floor.
In about twenty seconds, they obtained roughly fifty seeds. Since the seeds were about one millimeter in diameter, to Shinobi 9 and 10, they were roughly the size of ping-pong balls.
〈This should suffice.〉
By sowing and cultivating these seeds, they would be able to obtain far more. Then they could simply sprout them for research.
Given that they were capable of being grown as sprouts, their germination rate ought to be high.
〈Let us leave this room before someone discovers us.〉
Shinobi 9 and 10 quickly slipped out of the seed cultivation chamber.
〈To send this to Hourai Island, shall we use the Warp Gate built into the aircraft on standby 5,000 meters above?〉
Thereupon, the two units relocated using the transporter and dispatched the seeds to Hourai Island.
This took place on the seventh of August.
Laojun obtained the seeds of the plant believed to be the medicinal herb.
"We have finally obtained the seeds....Let us have Topaz cultivate these."
With that, Laojun summoned Topaz Leader, one of the 5-Color Maids in charge of agriculture on Hourai Island.
"I am to cultivate these seeds, correct?"
"Yes. The cultivation techniques are unknown. The germination rate is also unknown, but it should not be too terrible."
"I wonder about that."
However, Topaz Leader did not share that optimism.
"What do you mean?"
"With seeds, the more time that passes after harvesting, the lower the germination rate becomes. Out of these roughly fifty seeds, we will be fortunate if about half of them sprout."
"I see, understood. In that case, I shall leave it to you and your team, Topaz-san."
"Understood."
Thus, preparations to develop countermeasures against the euphoriant steadily progressed.