With their plan set, Marcus and Mrazivý exited their room and headed to another restaurant.
They wanted to see if they would be served drinks that had been contaminated with the pseudo soul fragments once again.
If they did then they could likely find the source and link it back to whoever or whatever had created these elaborate surveillance devices.
Unfortunately, even when they ordered the same drink at a different location, they did not get served ones that had the pseudo soul fragments added to them.
'Not in this one either.' Marcus thought as he checked a drink at the sixth restaurant they had been to.
At this point the sun was already starting to set and they were running out of time to investigate this specific thread for the day.
Once the restaurants closed, they would be unable to order any more drinks and would have to wait until the next day.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I suppose that it is possible that only that one restaurant is where they are distributing them. We should go back and try again." Mrazivý suggested.
And with nothing better to do, Marcus agreed.
Soon enough, just as the sun was setting, they entered the same restaurant they had first visited and sat down.
Within just a few minutes their drinks that were identical to the ones that had been hiding the pseudo soul fragments arrived.
Holding his hand up to the glass, Marcus phased his hand through it and began searching for any spiritual anomalies.
'Nope, they are clear. There is nothing in either of our glasses.' Marcus said to Mrazivý with telepathy while shaking his head.
A deep frown fell over Mrazivý's face and Marcus recognized this look as the expression she wore when deep in thought.
While she racked her brain Marcus figured that he might as well enjoy the food and drinks they had ordered and despite having been infected earlier the same day showed no hesitation.
'I might as well let her do most of the thinking. I am actually okay with leaving this alone for now. For all we know this could be some sort of set up by the adventurers guild. They have a pretty sizable presence on the resort having an entire guildhall, and hundred of adventurers acting as guards. If they really are involved, stepping on their toes could lead us into a lot of trouble that we do not need.'
Naturally Marcus understood what was going on here could possibly be a looming danger, but it was more than likely not something they really needed to worry about.
Presumably the surveillance had been going on for several years, and so far, the world had not come to an end. It would be one thing if it was affecting them personally, but they had already cleansed themselves of the pseudo soul fragments and did not have to worry about being spied on.
They were not in any immediate danger and Marcus was not one to go looking for this kind of trouble with little reason.
Nevertheless, he realized why Mrazivý was so fervent, and was more than willing to help her out for as long as she wanted to keep pursuing what was going on.
'I think I know why we have not been infected again.' Mrazivý eventually said to Marcus with telepathy.
She then went on to theorize that the staff on the island did know what was going on and were actively implanting the pseudo soul fragments into all of the guests via their drinks.
'That is why we have not received anymore. They already believe that they got us and there is no need to infect us again. This also means that they probably cannot tell who is infect or not only that we already revied the pseudo soul fragments.'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm'It makes some sense, but it seems odd that no one has spilled the beans on this. We thoroughly researched the place before choosing it as our first destination on our honeymoon and there was not even a rumor about this. How would they be able to keep the entire staff from saying something? Or even just one of the guests overhearing something? Hiding something this large when so many people know about it is not easy.' Marcus responded.
This caused Mrazivý to form another contemplative frown and Marcus could almost picture the gears turning in her head.
Eventually she seemed to have another idea and she looked intently at one of the servers and Marcus saw her pupils become vertical slits like those of a dragon and her irises turned golden.
These were the tell-tale signs that she had activated her dragon eyes and was appraising the staff.
With quick motions she looked over every single resort staff member she could find, and her face twisted into more of a grimace after everyone.
His curiosity piqued; Marcus used his own appraisal skill on one of them but did not get anything back that was out of the ordinary.
All of them were within normal level ranges with those on the lower end being at least level nine and the highest level being fourteen.
None of their skills were anything special either and all of them came back as human.
If anything was strange, it was their names that were all just variation on the same general base names of John for the male staff and Jane for the female.
'Mraz, I am guessing that you got more than I did from the expression on your face. Mind sharing it with me.' Marcus asked once she was done using her dragon eyes on everyone in the vicinity.
'Yeah, it is just a bit shocking. Not a single one of the staff members working directly for the island are humans, or any naturally occurring race. Each and every one of them is a homunculus. They seem to have an item on them that makes them show up as human similar to how your False Status unique skill works. But there is no doubt that all of the employees that work directly for the resort are artificial lifeforms that were made by someone.'