43. Episode 4: Investigating the Cause of Bee Deaths

“Are you… Master Ricardo Vinder?”

The village head looked back and forth several times between the letter of introduction I handed him and my face. The letter stated that I was the developer of the beekeeping method. There was likely a gap between that and a sixteen-year-old kid. I’ve told the villagers dispatched from Leyria to basically keep quiet about me, after all.

Since I have a mandate from the Lord, I decided to press on.

“I heard that bees are dying in large numbers specifically in the hives placed on the east side of the village. I trust no one has consumed the honey harvested there?”

“Yes. However, before we received the instructions, well… a child from the village… No, no problems occurred. They only licked what was on their finger. They’re perfectly fine today,” the village head said, looking embarrassed.

At the very least, it didn’t seem to be a poison that worked in small amounts. I felt a little relieved, but I need to consider long-term effects. This involves safety; I must be as cautious as possible.

“So, is a solution possible? The village has high hopes for this project.”

“At the very worst, I will introduce plants that serve as nectar sources.”

If it’s Chinese milk vetch (astragalus), it will grow quickly as long as seeds are sown. I explained that during the trial phase, if costs increased, I would bear half the expense. For the rest, I explained my conditions wouldn’t change: repayment could be made in actual honey once full-scale production began.

“Therefore, please make sure to report any abnormalities accurately in the future.”

“Understood.”

The village head nodded deeply with a look of obvious relief. It’s hard to get people to try new things without this kind of guarantee. A posture of sharing risk is important. Above all, it would be disastrous if they hid inconvenient information. This business trip has a much bigger meaning than just getting honey production on track.

“Now then, show me the animals that died after eating the bees.”

The village head led me to a relatively large house in the village. He said it was the residence of the villagers dispatched from Leyria. I see, the part about “having high hopes” was true.

“Let’s see, I believe the name was…”

I rehearsed the information of the person I was about to meet in my mind. Pedro was the third son of a farming family in Leyria Village. An eccentric who was the first to volunteer for a mission away from the village.

Apparently, he had been patrolling the hives until just now. Good response; any abnormality is a big deal, and it’s effective for calming the villagers’ anxieties.

“Master Ricardo. It’s this.”

In what used to be a shed next to the house, I was shown the carcass of a bird about the size of a pigeon. Several had apparently died a short distance from the hives. It had already been confirmed that bees were found inside their stomachs. Well done.

“It’s only birds. Have no other animals died? Frogs, lizards… mice?”

“Only bird carcasses were found. Actually, a dog in the village nibbled on a dead bird, but it seemed fine.”

Valuable information. It affects bees and birds, but not mammals? Or perhaps the effect is just weak. It’s also curious that damage is appearing in two completely different species: bees and birds.

“That’s helpful. Tomorrow, I’ll look at the actual hives.”

I had a lot to think about, but I was impressed by Pedro’s response, which was much more solid than expected. The room prepared for me was on the second floor of the village head’s house. You could call it VIP treatment.

“If the dog and the human—a child at that—were safe, then there’s no need to worry that much… However, the combination of honeybees and birds is still bothering me. I believe there was a pesticide like that.”

I muttered while lying on a bed made of straw covered with cloth.

Was it Fenthion? I remembered it having toxicity for a wide range of animals from insects to mammals, but being particularly potent against honeybees and birds. I doubt that exact substance exists in this world. However, it’s common for plants to produce toxins to prevent being eaten by animals.

It’s possible that a chemical substance—a so-called alkaloid—traveled through the food chain from plants to bees and then to birds. This is even more likely given that honeybees, by nature, gather nectar from flowers blooming in the same location. If by any chance it’s a chemical similar to Fenthion, it’s harmful to humans too. I’ve heard there are people who use it for suicide because it’s a nervous system poison.

“Also, the problem is the potency.”

The question of whether a substance is “toxic” in a strict sense is meaningless.

To put it extremely, every substance taken into the body, including food, is a poison. Carbon dioxide is a toxic gas that suffocates humans, yet it exists in a certain amount in the atmosphere. The “lethal dose of water” is a famous trivia fact. Even spices—that stimulation is a warning telling you not to eat it.

Therefore, poison is a balance between the effect per unit amount and the concentration at which it exists.

I have no intention of trying it, but if you dilute a lethal dose of poison a hundred times and drink it once a day for a year, there’s a high possibility you won’t die. Of course, there are chemicals that aren’t processed by the body and accumulate, and cases like salt where overconsumption over decades leads to serious illness, so one cannot be careless.

“By the way, how is life here?”

The next morning, I asked while heading toward the hives in question.

“Hahaha, for that talk to come a day later is just like you, Young Master.”

Pedro laughed in an amused way.

“To be honest, it suits my nature better than farm work. Well, this recent matter did give me a bit of a chill. Mainly when I heard that the Young Master was flying over here.”

“No, please be on guard for something else there.”

Unlike me, even if he possesses high-level skills for asking about recent events as a conversation starter, he is still an outsider to this village. If rumors spread that he was spreading poison, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be beaten by the mob.

As we approached the hives, I put on protective gear—essentially three layers of netting draped over my head—and followed behind Pedro. With this world’s silk-reeling technology, it’s quite heavy. Should I use something thinner and finer just for the eyes? I’ll think about it later.

“It’s this hive.”

“I see. They’re dead.”

About ten bees were lying in front of the hive. One of them was still twitching and convulsing. Bees that die inside the hive should be thrown outside. For a single day’s death count, it is certainly high, but it’s only a small fraction of the total hive. Should I be happy that the poison’s effect is limited, or worried that the analysis will be difficult?

“First, let’s investigate what’s different between these dead bees and the living ones.”

When I said that, Pedro expertly placed a net over the hive entrance and caught about ten returning bees. I took out the magnifying glass I borrowed from Fursey—a super high-end item, by the way—and began observing.

“Nothing looks different… What do you think, from the perspective of someone who always looks at bees?”

I handed over the magnifying glass.

“Let’s see, to my eyes there’s no difference eith—… no, wait a moment.”

Pedro pointed to the leg of a dying, convulsing bee.

“Isn’t the color here strange?”

“Is it? To me it doesn’t look… no, it certainly is a bit different.”

I stared at the dead bee. Honeybees have “pollen baskets” (pollen balls) on their legs. The living bees had normal yellow balls. The balls on that bee were a slightly bluish yellow. It was a level you wouldn’t notice unless you were paying close attention. As a result of co-evolution with pollinating insects, pollen is mostly yellow regardless of the plant, so this is rare.

Just then, a bee attempting to return to the hive fell to the ground. I brought it under the magnifying glass. Indeed, there was a difference in hue.

“That’s right. What bees get from plants isn’t just nectar; it’s pollen too.”

I remembered monkshood (aconite). It’s famous as a poison in period dramas; the entire plant, even the pollen, is toxic. Nectar mixed with that pollen becomes poisonous.

“Pollen?”

Pedro tilted his head.

“For a bee, nectar is like bread, and pollen is like meat.”

The comparison to milt (shirako) might be more accurate. By the way, in my old world, it was sold as a health food called “bee pollen.” I don’t know the effects.

“However, if that’s the case… can we look inside the hive?”

“Understood.”

Pedro expertly removed part of the outer frame of the hive; inside were wooden frames lined up. This wooden frame idea is the heart of modern beekeeping, but let’s set that aside. I stared into the hexagonal holes.

“Just as I thought. In this section and this section, the larvae are dead.”

Larvae grow by eating pollen. If pollen is the cause, they receive more damage from the toxin than the adults. Of course, many types of poison only affect adults, but this doesn’t seem to be that type.

“In other words, this colored pollen is the poison.”

“Yes. Now, as for the source of this pollen… the fact that bees are only dying in this hive means that plant should only be around here. Is there anything special about the surrounding terrain?”

“Hmm, if you’re talking about differences from other spots, it’s just that there’s a small shrub over there.”

“Let’s go look.”

A vine-like plant was tangled around the shrub, bearing purple flowers. My feet stopped for a second at the poisonous-looking color. Even with monkshood, there’s no harm just from approaching the flower. Or rather, if it were that powerful, it wouldn’t be strange if dead birds were lying all around. Even if pollen is the cause, the dead birds ate a large amount of pollen that the honeybees had packed together all at once.

I’m wearing gloves, so I should be fine. I plucked an stamen from deep inside the five petals. I took out a piece of white paper and pressed it. Yellow pollen adhered to it. Looking through the magnifying glass, it was faintly bluish.

“There’s likely no mistake. Let’s actually feed it to a bird. Help me gather the pollen. Also, I’ll take one of these plants back.”

“Collecting poison, huh? Haha.”

Pedro made a face, but he helped me properly.

“Just as I thought.”

“A hit?”

The next day, we confirmed a dead bird at the location where we had placed breadcrumbs sprinkled with the pollen.

“Does that mean the honey from hives where the bees with this pollen aren’t dying is safe?”

“Yes. Now we have a standard for judgment.”

In reality, even the honey from that hive likely contains only a very small amount of toxic substances. It might be at a level where overconsumption of salt is more harmful.

However, even knowing it might be a needless worry, Fenthion won’t leave my head. Regarding safety management, I want to do everything I can. In this world where information transmission is slow, once a story about “poison” spreads, it would take decades to overturn it.

Pedro explained to the village head not to set up hives toward the shrub, and that beekeeping could be resumed by checking the color of the pollen balls if many bees were dying.

“Oh, that grass? I’ve heard from my grandfather that it has a bird-repelling effect,” the village head said, providing further confirmation.

“That settled much faster than I expected,” I said after the village head slapped Pedro on the shoulder and left.

“Honestly, I’m impressed by your wisdom, Young Master.”

“No, it’s thanks to Pedro, who is so into bees that he found such a slight color difference.”

Besides, I was lucky this time. There was an easy-to-understand standard like the color of the pollen. Still, looking at his relationship with the village head just now, Pedro might have reached the answer eventually. It’s a reassuring thought.

“I’ll have to give a special bonus once the resolution is confirmed.”

“Don’t say that; you went through the trouble of coming all the way here…”

“Don’t you need enough income to start a household?”

“No, haha…”

I teased Pedro, who seems to be close with one of the village girls.

“There’s no need to worry. This is an important matter for the company as well.”

In addition to Pedro’s own achievement, it’s important to make the organization one that doesn’t hide dangerous signs when they are discovered. It’s an instance I’d like passed down as a legend of the beekeeping industry.

“Next, just to be sure, I’ll take one of these plants back and investigate it in the Royal Capital.”

“See, the Young Master is way more of a perfectionist.”

Pedro laughed. I simply have knowledge from a different world; if I didn’t know about toxins that specifically affect bees and birds, there’s a possibility I wouldn’t have cared.

If I cooperate with Fursey and Dargan, we might find something out. I might even end up developing this world’s first pesticide.

End of 43