Chapter 37: Chapter 37
Chapter 37 - A Life as Fleeting as a Fly
Magic Investigator Yuren turned his gaze toward Ferda.
There was suspicion in his eyes.
"I’m sorry to ask, Your Excellency the Regent, but may I inquire where you obtained this?"
Ferda answered.
"It was discovered in Count Consilus’s territory. I heard the outsider refused to reveal his identity to the very end, so the guards arrested him."
"That heretic..."
"He bit off his tongue and died before we could even torture him. We cremated the body immediately in case there was a spell that activated after death."
That was precisely why they had burned the unclaimed corpse.
"You handled it well. Those filthy Black Mages rarely stay dead peacefully, even after death."
The investigator clicked his tongue.
It was out of regret that they could no longer investigate the Demon Followers.
However, since the response had been flawless, there was nothing he could criticize.
"Still, the fact that someone capable of using Demon Language to this extent exists... It seems the Empire harbors someone far more dangerous than we expected."
"Is it that serious?"
Olivia asked, and Yuren nodded.
"Yes. Judging solely by the level of understanding shown in the writing, it was undoubtedly written by a Black Mage who has reached at least the Fifth Circle."
"How strong is someone at the Fifth Circle?"
"I am a Fifth-Circle Master Mage myself, but a Fifth-Circle Black Mage can essentially be regarded as a Sixth-Circle Arc Mage. They can draw upon the mana of Hell and wield it as their own."
"The Sixth Circle! Then they’re on par with the Grand Mage...!"
Indeed, most of the infamous Black Mages who had shaken the continent in the past—and those still doing so today—were only at the Fifth Circle.
By paying an enormous price, they typically gained power that surpassed even the Sixth Circle.
Just like the Shadow Arts grimoire I’ll eventually obtain.
Afraid someone might somehow read his thoughts, Ferda quickly pushed the idea aside.
"If we fail to move swiftly, the Empire will descend into great chaos."
"How terrible...!"
Olivia bit her lower lip in horror.
"But... A Black Mage of that caliber shouldn’t even be able to enter the Empire. How could someone like that possibly be inside the Empire?"
"That... I’m not entirely sure. No matter how good our security system is, it can never be perfect..."
Even the Magic Investigator tilted his head in confusion.
"Still... If one of their followers possessed this level of proficiency in Demon Language, we should have identified them long ago..."
The Empire’s surveillance system always prioritized eliminating the greatest threats first.
Smaller dangers might slip through, but if a Fifth-Circle Black Mage had entered the Empire, an emergency alarm would undoubtedly have been triggered.
He simply couldn’t understand why it hadn’t happened.
Naturally.
Because a mage of that caliber would never remain in the Imperial Capital.
A follower capable of using Demon Language this fluently would be far wiser to disguise themselves in a remote village than remain in the capital.
So where had the Demon Language written on that paper come from?
The answer was Mori.
Within her mind existed the Library of All Things, and among its countless records was even a dictionary of Demon Language.
She had simply translated it exactly as Ferda instructed.
The evidence may have been forged...
But the Demon Language itself was genuine.
And so was its content.
The Black Mages truly were hiding in the sewers.
And they were indeed preparing a terrorist attack against the Empire.
***
The Imperial underground sewer system was vast.
The First Emperor had devoted tremendous effort to constructing a capital worthy of the title of humanity’s greatest ruler, and the underground city was one of those achievements.
In fact, the underground was even more complex than the city above.
But construction projects rarely proceeded exactly as planned.
Take underground reservoirs built to prepare for floods, for example.
When they proved too expensive and the climate showed little risk of flooding, construction would simply be halted.
Instead of filling in the excavated areas, builders usually sealed them off behind walls and abandoned them.
The Imperial underground contained many such forgotten spaces.
The place Ferda knew was one of them.
A location gradually erased from the Empire’s maps.
A place eventually discovered by rats driven into the shadows as they searched for new shelter.
A gathering place for rebels preparing terrorist attacks against the capital.
Raids against enemies who revealed themselves openly were common.
But operations that ventured directly into the underground city, like today’s, were rare.
The Knights and the Imperial Magic Unit surrounded the location and prepared their ambush.
Everything had to be resolved quickly.
One mistake could result in casualties, and the moment casualties occurred, the Black Mages would drag everyone into a bloody quagmire.
The Magic Unit prepared Silence Magic and Concentration Disruption Magic.
Meanwhile, the knights stood ready to eliminate every mage whose spellcasting had been interrupted.
The workers advancing along the wall suddenly stopped and pointed ahead.
"It’s here. Beyond this wall is an opening large enough to break through."
"Good. Fall back, Howard."
"Yes, sir!"
A massive knight carrying a war hammer stepped before the wall.
Even beneath his plate armor and chain mail, his bulging muscles were obvious.
He swung the war hammer with tremendous force.
"Hah!"
BOOM!!
The wall collapsed in a single devastating strike.
"Ahhh!"
"W-What is that?!"
"What’s happening?!"
Panicked voices erupted from within.
And confusion was best answered with even greater confusion.
"In the name of Light!"
"In the name of His Imperial Majesty!"
"Long live His Imperial Majesty!"
"O Light!"
With thunderous battle cries, the knights charged inside.
The next sounds were screams.
"Aaaagh!"
"Aaaaaah!"
Men and women screamed alike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions echoed through the chamber.
Steel clashed.
Something tore apart with sickening force.
Ferda simply stood outside and waited.
Only the sounds of a fierce battle reached him, but he already knew who had won without needing to see it.
The commander of the assault force emerged first and reported to Magic Investigator Yuren and the Knight Commander.
"Reporting! The Knights suffered no casualties! Forty-five resisting enemies have been executed, and twelve have been captured alive."
"What about escapees?"
"One escaped, sir! Judging from the platform he stood on, he appeared to be the leader."
"You fools! How could you let the one person who absolutely couldn’t escape get away?! He may have been a Fifth-Circle mage!"
"My deepest apologies! However, he had to abandon all of his belongings while fleeing. He shouldn’t remain at large for long!"
"Fine. Forget it. What belongings were left behind?"
"They’ve been placed inside."
Quite a few knights were greedy when it came to valuables.
But no one dared touch the possessions of a Black Mage.
Even if they were priceless, if they carried a curse, it would be their own heads that rolled.
"I see. Then that’s good."
The Magic Investigator smiled with obvious relief.
"Excellent."
Having merely observed everything until now, Ferda finally stood.
"May I come inside as well?"
"Of course. This way."
As both the Regent and the informant, he deserved to be treated with the utmost respect.
Yuren stepped aside to clear the path, allowing Ferda to enter first.
The slaughter carried out by the knights lay before his eyes.
Ferda silently took in each corpse.
There are Black Mages among them... but most are simply poor people.
Makeshift tents sewn from worn cloth.
Pots and spoons so battered they barely retained their original shape.
People who had sided with the Black Mages simply because they couldn’t even secure a proper meal.
At the very least, the Black Mages had fed them.
Though they had their own reasons for doing so.
There was no soul more valuable than one who had found hope at the very bottom of despair.
Every one of these people had ultimately been destined to become sacrifices.
Stepping over the corpses, Ferda headed toward the leader’s room.
As befitted the leader of this underground reservoir hideout, it was comparatively well furnished, with magical equipment neatly arranged.
"There’s a forbidden grimoire here."
Yuren spoke as he looked at the book resting upon the desk.
Its cover, crafted from human skin, looked as though a soul trapped within the pages was screaming in agony.
The moment Ferda saw it, he recognized it.
Gamigin’s Necromancy.
Gamigin.
The Demon of Undeath and Legions.
This was one of the grimoires created for Necromancers through his magic.
The leader who had possessed this very book would eventually reach the Fifth Circle and launch a full-scale rebellion against the Empire.
But he fails.
Ferda recalled everything they had done.
When they began their rebellion, they piled corpses throughout the sewers and detonated them, plunging the city into chaos.
Countless people died.
The more who died, the larger the army of undead they raised to rampage through the city.
They were meant to sow the chaos that would bring the Empire to ruin.
But Ferda had never thought highly of them.
Above all else, they’re useless.
Using explosions to create corpses wasn’t a bad idea.
But their overall strategy was hopelessly naïve.
First, they severely underestimated the strength of the Imperial Knights.
Second, their attacks targeted ordinary civilians.
As a result, hatred toward the Demon Followers only deepened, and instead of dividing the people, it strengthened their unity.
In other words, the hammer they swung to shatter solidarity had only forged it into something stronger.
They’re better off not existing at all.
If they couldn’t weaken the Empire, then they served no purpose whatsoever.
That was why he had chosen to eliminate the source of trouble before it could grow.
"Reporting! What should we do with the captured Demon Followers?"
They were all starving.
Their spirits had been completely broken.
Each of them looked up at Yuren with desperate, pleading eyes.
But Yuren looked down upon them with nothing but disgust.
"Take the rest away. Escort them to the Imperial Palace Prison as though they were sacred treasures. The people must witness the fate of those who reject His Majesty’s Light and embrace Black Magic!"
"Yes, sir!"
Merciless judgment.
The impoverished prisoners flinched in terror and desperately begged Yuren for mercy.
"W-We never pledged ourselves to the demons! We were only starving!"
"Please... Just give us one more chance! In the name of the Light, have mercy...!"
"Silence! How dare heretics utter the name of the Light?!"
The man who had spoken was immediately struck.
"At least spare my child! Please, my lord!"
A woman holding a nursing infant cried out in desperation.
Yuren understood perfectly well.
These people were not true worshippers of demons.
Hunger had simply left them with no other choice.
"What are you all standing around for?! Drag them away!"
Yet the Empire had countless subjects.
There were more reasons to execute them than to spare them.
Lives as fleeting as flies.
If they were discovered, the knights would kill them.
Even if they remained with the Black Mages, they would eventually be killed by them anyway.
Swept away by overwhelming forces beyond their control, there was nothing Ferda could do for them.
The Magic Investigator smiled brightly, utterly indifferent to whatever fate awaited them.
In his hand was the necromancy grimoire.
Ordinarily, Black Magic grimoires were wrapped in golden silk before being transported according to strict containment procedures.
But Yuren did no such thing.
Instead, he gently stroked the human-skin cover, savoring its texture.
Then, noticing Ferda watching him, he awkwardly cleared his throat.
"I suppose that made me look like someone obsessed with Black Magic. Haha..."
"I did think so, to some extent."
"Haha, it’s embarrassing. I was simply happy to add another achievement to what had been a rather lacking record."
Realizing his mistake, he quickly wrapped the necromancy grimoire completely in silk.
Then he expressed his gratitude to Ferda.
"Thanks to Your Excellency the Regent’s report, the Empire’s citizens will be able to sleep peacefully once again tonight."
"Not at all. I only did it because it benefited me as well."
"Anything that benefits the Empire is a good thing. Haha!"
It was obvious he was trying to brush the matter aside.
"So, is there anything you can do for me?"
Ferda asked, his words carrying a hidden implication.
"Something I can do for you? Of course!"
Had it been anyone else, they would have been sent away with a reward or perhaps a threat.
But his counterpart was the Grand Duchess’s fiancé and the Regent.
Someone of that status deserved a reward befitting his position.
Yuren pondered for a moment before something came to mind.
"Come to think of it, Your Excellency is also a Mage, isn’t that right?"
"That’s correct."
"In that case, shouldn’t I take you somewhere that’s practically an amusement park for mages?"
The Magic Investigator made a suggestion.
"How about visiting the Sealed Vault?"
At last, the moment had come for Ferda to take the first step in his plan.
***
The Empire’s vaults were located beneath the Imperial Palace.
One had to pass countless guards and alarm spells to reach them, making it the most heavily secured place on the continent.
Had Ferda not been accompanying Magic Investigator Yuren, he would never have been able to set foot inside.
The keeper of the vault smiled upon seeing Yuren and saluted.
"Sir! Magic Investigator! Thank you for your hard work today."
"You’ve been working hard as always as well. We have confiscated items that need to be stored in the Sealed Vault. Record our entry."
"Understood. My apologies, but your companion is...?"
Standing beside Yuren was a young man with gray hair and blue eyes.
He stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back.
Yuren answered on his behalf.
"Ahem. This gentleman is the fiancé of the Grand Duchess of the Far East. Although he serves as Regent, he is also the one responsible for governing the Far Eastern Region."
"Ah... I see."
"So make sure you handle this appropriately. Understood?"
"Yes, of course. I’ll leave him out of the records."
Without writing anything down, he simply closed the ledger.
"What a remarkably flexible young man."
"Haha, naturally. You can’t survive in this line of work without being flexible. Besides..."
Yuren grinned as he continued.
"There’s nothing wrong with a little flexibility."
A short while later, Ferda and Yuren entered another chamber.
Before them stood a massive stone door with a crystal sphere embedded at its center.
"Do you know what this is? It’s called the Orb of Truth."
"Isn’t it the relic that only glows green when the person answers its questions truthfully?"
"Exactly. It’s a priceless artifact handed down since ancient times."
The crystal sphere sensed their presence and began glowing blue.
As though thoroughly accustomed to the process, Yuren walked over and placed his hand upon it.
The instant he did, a voice echoed throughout the chamber.
—Do you swear that you do not worship demons, nor follow their creed?
The heavy, majestic voice sounded like that of a god delivering judgment.
Yuren answered.
"I swear."
—Do you swear that your purpose for entering this vault is not motivated by personal desire?
"I swear."
—Do you swear your loyalty to the Empire?
"I swear."
The three questions came to an end, and mist swirled within the crystal.
A moment later, the blue light changed to green.
—Verification complete.
Yuren removed his hand from the orb and turned to Ferda.
"Would you place your hand here as well?"
"I have to do it too?"
Ferda asked despite already knowing the answer.
Pretending ignorance made his reaction appear more natural.
"Of course. No one may enter this chamber without being verified by the Orb of Oath. Unless..."
Yuren narrowed his eyes.
It was the same look he had given the Demon Followers.
"Is there something weighing on your conscience?"
Ferda shook his head.
"I’m simply a rather greedy man. I was wondering whether I might fail the second question."
"Haha, you needn’t worry. As long as you aren’t thinking, ’I’m absolutely taking something out of here,’ you’ll be fine."
Their methods were still crude, but undeniably effective.
I went through this myself in the past.
He had tried it three times.
Each time, the orb had glowed red, indicating failure.
In the end, he had simply smashed it and forced his way inside.
That was the kind of man Ferda was.
He was driven by personal desire.
And he held no loyalty whatsoever toward the Empire.
Even knowing that better than anyone, Ferda confidently placed his hand upon the Orb of Truth.
—Do you swear that you do not worship demons, nor follow their creed?
The solemn, authoritative voice pressed down upon Ferda like the weight of divine judgment.
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