172 It was all due to a glass of wine

Another week passes my fellows.

Enjoy this chapter.

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'In front of him, the world changed.'

'Everywhere he looked, patches of green and yellow covered the environment.'

'Those weren't just any markings, they were the clues he was looking for all this time.'

"Fingerprints…"

'Silver quickly closed his mouth, he didn't want to cause that much sound.'

They were everywhere, I just had to realize it.

Perhaps there are even better ways of tackling this problem, but due to the time...

Forget it, focus.

First…

There are mainly 2 types of vestiges.

'Silver floated near a small, clearer patch of fingerprints.'

One is slender, rigid, and small… It's definitely from her.

Those are marked with a green hue...

The other is more relaxed, larger, and erratic, they are marked with a yellow hue...

Those are Dionysus'.

So now… I just need to sort them out.

And find the appropriate path to solve this issue.

'With those fingerprints, together with his understanding of the people that used this place, Silver could perfectly recreate their movements based on the time each of those imprints were made.'

'Of course, some were old and almost vanishing, others were recent, and sometimes they were just so jumbled up there wasn't much he could do, no matter how much he tried.'

'Like near the door, the density of imprints was such that it was almost impossible to differentiate one from the other…'

'Since from what he understood, Dionysus came down here at least once every day…'

'From the fragrance lingering in the air, Silver came to the conclusion this place was also used as a brewing facility, and that was shown by the barrels stored all around, and the equipment on the side of the room.'

'It was very likely that Dionysus used this space as his personal laboratory, and if he asked around, there was even the chance other people knew this place aside from him and the girl.'

'After all, Dionysus' mask was lingering perfection, so how could he have such a glaring and obvious weakness being his own secret lab underneath his Familia home?'

'If he made it secret, and at the same time not, people would take it much better.'

'Since secrets often drag people's curiosity with them, open secrets do not.'

'If you share with people enough to satisfy it, they won't look for more and take what was shown to them as truth, and even if one or more people show some sort of curiosity, what will they find here?'

'Everything was carefully built so even if that were to happen, no one would find anything...'

"..."

I should be thankful that this place isn't cleaned that often, perhaps because very little dust actually accumulates inside this place.

There is dust covering some things, but it isn't that prominent...

Also, that in itself is already a clue.

But also a distraction…

/Shu Shu Shu…/

'As Silver raised his left hand, multiple apparitions took over every inch of this room.'

'Running around, performing actions…'

'As if someone had played multiple tapes at the same time, and put them on top of each other at high speeds.'

'They weren't very detailed, they lacked any form of facial features, clothes, and more.

'They were more akin to mannequins running around than people...'

'Silver couldn't recreate what they said to each other, much less what they were thinking or wearing.'

'But their actions, where they walked, how fast, where they touched… He could do so perfectly as long as he had enough leads.'

'At least as perfect as time gave him, it was obvious some things would be out of order, but he didn't need absolute perfection.'

'And that was enough for him to understand.'

'Since out of everything in front of him, he only needed a single path…'

"..."

It has to be one of these.

One of them… That is the thing I'm looking for.

…

/A few minutes later.../

'As time went on, and Silver analyzed each apparition, he started to remove those he was sure weren't the ones he was looking for.'

'Those that started with him entering the room, doing something, then leaving… Those were unnecessary, he classified them as part of his daily schedule.'

'He studied each path he took, why he took a bottle, where he brought it, and what he did with the bottle after.'

'And then…'

…

"Hm?..."

This one…

He takes the bottle and leaves the room.

I've seen a few like these, but this one was a tad different because he never came back.

Even when he drinks the bottle, Dionysus usually comes back with the bottle, putting it in his collection.

But this one… He never brought it.

'Before doing anything, Silver looked at the clock on his hand.'

Half an hour, I'm 10 minutes over my time…

And there are still a lot of paths to go over.

Should I bail out for today and continue tomorrow?

No… I don't know when an opportunity like this will reappear.

There are many times when he and her leave the Manor, but it's difficult to actively predict where they'll go, only today did I know where they were going, and when they'll likely return.

Above all… The Manor would always have a few dozen people inside, only today there were few.

And this is due to a simple reason…

There is a small event going on in a street nearby, nothing major as it seems to be something local, not being large enough to be called a festival, but something to enjoy nonetheless.

And considering how close they are, many people went there to visit, while a few stayed back, each with their own reasons.

"I actually wanted to go, but..."

Such an opportunity wouldn't appear again anytime soon.

"... Tsk."

I'll spend 10 more minutes here investigating, I'll then compile all of the paths he took and take the best.

If I find one type of wine he took out more than once, the chances of that being the one I'm looking for greatly increase.

Especially if I can confirm him taking it outside of the Manor.

And unless he was so paranoid as to create different labels for the same wine he makes...

I could try tracing his steps outside… But that is unlikely to end well.

Hundreds of people pass through there, and with natural phenomena like rain and snow, any footprint is long gone.

Unless I go directly to Daedalus street and look for his footprints there… But that would be like looking for a nail in a haystack.

I need to focus.

…

/10 Minutes later…/

'Silver left the secret room after making sure he had cleaned all of his tails.'

'He used his ability once again, this time, on the basement, and a completely new assortment of imprints appeared.'

'From only 2 people, now he had to traverse through 20, there were simply too many footprints here, together with the dents and trails of the boxes and barrels that were constantly being moved around and stored...'

'But he persevered, following his path without distractions.'

'After sorting out all of the paths, he went after the trails around the house.'

'It was difficult to follow them past a certain point though, the Manor was regularly cleaned, and at least half 100 people walked around these corridors frequently...'

'But Silver was a bit lucky as one of the paths he was following was very recent, being only 4 or so days old, so the footprints were still there...'

'Bellow a few dozen others...'

'In the end, as he expected, the ones he had chosen to follow all took the same path, and that was outside.'

It has to be this.

Dionysus took the same wine 3 times in periodic frames of time, around a month between each.

This correlates with their new recruitments.

'Silver started to go over this Mad God's plan... At least a small portion of this convoluted web he weaved around the city.'

Dionysus uses the wine to control Penia, by getting her drunk together with his own children.

This effectively renders her incapable of acting by herself, turning her into a puppet.

Pretty much, the Dionysus Familia is a ruse as there are no Children under him.

You may think that is a chore, but Gods can update each other's Status, although, forcefully moving someone into your Familia is impossible.

The Gods from both sides need to agree in order for such a thing to happen...

Albeit honestly, this is quite a one-sided ordeal.

If the Gods agree to exchange their Children, what can the Children do?

Of course, it's not like the blessing is a shackle people can't run from, people can leave... Or try.

Anyway, as long as he keeps their Status hidden, no one would realize it unless they used the Status thief in any of them.

And to confirm everything I knew, a few days ago, I did capture one of them and used Status Thief...

More precisely, I invaded the house of a Low-Level Familia member, drugged him, and proceeded to check the mark on his back.

And it was the same mark as that of Penia according to the Guild's records.

This effectively turns his Familia into someone else's problem, and in the end, they are nothing but a scapegoat.

One he's ready to abandon anytime... Or use to his heart's content.

Regardless, my time is running out.

'Silver went back to the hidden basement, taking a look at the wine that was most likely what he was looking for.'

Out of my options, this one is the one that falls most neatly in place.

'But one possibility rang in his mind... It could still be a trick.'

'A lie...'

If this is still one of his failsafe... Then I'll consider myself the loser.

Otherwise… It's time to act.

"Sigh…"

Sometimes I consider, should I just kill him?

Despite all of the consequences, if I were to end his life right here, the problems that would arise would still be lower than the ones he's planning to cause.

But it would also make a lot of things harder to predict…

Ironically, leaving him alive allows for a better understanding of Evilus' movements.

And at the same time, it prevents those under him from going berserk.

'Silver vanished.'

…

/Later that day…/

/Creak!/

"My shoulder's hurt… Give me a massage." Ishtar exclaimed as she entered her room

What a tiryng day.

The 3rd day of my investigation, yet nothing has come out...

Apart from a few juicy things, what I want is yet...

'She frowned, but just for a moment, quickly recovering.'

It's just the third day, Orario is massive...

But some people are already starting to move.

"..."

'From the shadows, 2 buff men appeared, waiting for her to take a seat on the couch.'

'While they gave her a massage, Ishtar grabbed her empty crystal glass of wine, shaking it.'

'That was enough for the buff men to understand what they should do.'

/POP!/

'One of them popped the wine open, grabbing the cork in the air with precision and speed.'

/Shaa…/

'He poured her the wine, its fragrance now spreading across the room.'

/Sniff…/

"This smell… How nice." She said as her cheeks blushed

'Ishtar was immediately attracted to this wine, and she took a look at the bottle.'

"Hmm… I don't recognize the brand… Who bought this?"

It's definitely a divine wine, but who made it?

It doesn't look like Soma's?...

My, what a surprise...

""...""

'Despite her question, the two buff guys remained silent, it was obvious, they didn't know.'

"Hm…"

'Yet Ishtar said nothing, she obviously understood that they were nothing but handymen, she was merely speaking with herself.'

'They weren't supposed to talk in the first place.'

The smell is so attractive…

If the taste is just as good… Then wouldn't it be better than Soma's?

Way better in fact?

'She loved her wine just like she loved a good fuc… Night of sleep.'

'So she brought the chalice to her slender lips…'

"!"

MY!

'And she immediately fell in love with it.'

/GULP!/

'So she drank it all at once, licking her lips of everything.'

'She wasn't elegant about it, she didn't try to taste it properly, she just wanted to drown herself in this tasty... Wine.'

'She was thoroughly intoxicated with it.'

"Pour me another!"

/Shaa…/

'And so it began, Ishtar's downfall.'

'The moment she took the wine glass into her hands… That was when it all went down.'

"..."

'From far away, standing on top of a tall house in the middle of the entertainment district, a man invisible to the naked eye observed Ishtar's actions with a silent and cold gaze.'

'As time passed with Ishtar falling further and further into hysteria and drunk pleasures, albeit his eyes didn't change, inside, the man smiled.'

It works.

Checkmate.

/Vanish…/

'And then, the man disappeared, leaving behind only a pair of footprints on the roof, a pair that quickly disappeared under the "wind"…'

'If in the future they ask what led Ishtar into her downfall… One person will say…'

"It was all due to a glass of wine."

'While drinking a bottle of wine of his own.'

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Notes

The chapter was rather small, I wanted to add more, but I honestly didn't know how.

That's all for now.