27 – To the Palace
-BAM!
A heavy pounding sound echoed through the study as a fist slammed down on the desk.
“Damn it!”
The luxurious study and the crude curse word didn’t quite fit.
The Duke of Gibson crumpled the letter in his hand, unable to contain his surprise and anger.
The royal decree he had received stated:
A magical explosion at the Royal Theater caused substantial damage.
The murder weapon was a sword-shaped artifact with an extremely high magical energy density.
Nobles of the kingdom are requested to provide humanitarian aid and assist in the search for the criminal.
The sword-shaped artifact mentioned in the letter was undoubtedly the one he had personally overseen the preparation of on the part of the Union of Nobles.
“The magic etched on it was definitely Dispel! Why the hell did it explode!?”
Could Viscount Hex have suddenly gone mad or turned traitor!?
‘No,’
Gibson shook his head.
There was no advantage to Viscount Hex in doing something like this. In fact, he didn’t even have a motive.
The Duke glanced at his personal butler with a smirk.
“Has anyone else touched the item before it was handed over to the courier?”
“No one.”
Then there’s only one possibility.
The magic was tampered with after it was handed over to the courier.
The only suspect that comes to mind then is one, the courier named John.
‘Could it have been him?’
John was a former assassin, all of his personal information undisclosed, but the Duke had a vague guess about his origin.
There was a single moment when, during a direct confrontation, the Duke had caught a trace of aristocratic maneuvers from John’s behavior.
He must be a descent of a fallen noble family.
‘Was he harboring a grudge against the kingdom and committed the terror?’
The motive is plausible if you think about it.
But the process is too contrived.
He wasn’t sure exactly when John became a courier, but the Duke first met him five years ago.
Did he endure for at least five years, doing the dirty work of the nobles for this one incident?
Moreover, this incident wasn’t something one could have foreseen.
Most importantly, he doesn’t possess any magic ability, so he would need to hire someone to carry out the task.
The Duke shook his head.
‘This is too implausible.’
“Master, sir.”
While pondering, the personal butler started to talk.
As the Duke looked at her, he could see her hesitation.
She was always confident and even arrogant, the reason why he employed her exclusively.
“Why the hesitation? Speak up.”
“Actually, there is an urgent report that wasn’t included in the royal broadcast.”
“What is it?”
Her tone was serious. The Duke became tense.
“A few hours ago, Duke Hux was urgently arrested in the royal palace as a suspect in the terror attack.”
“……”
The news that came to him was enough to send chills down the spine of even the prepared Duke.
His strength drained from his upper body; he sank deep into the back of his chair.
“How?”
That was the only word he could manage to spit out.
How on earth?
Hex, the Duke, the most outstanding mage in the kingdom. If he had set up the security, no one would be able to trace his tracks.
The point is, he would not be tailed.
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‘No, the real culprit even broke through that security and manipulated the magic.’
Who on earth then?
At least not anywhere in this kingdom….
‘No, no way… there’s just one person…’
The Duke Gibson thought of such existence and his heart nearly sank.
A master mage, known to be shrouded thoroughly in a veil and of the Black Dragon’s bloodline.
Sorcerer, Albert Anderson.
‘Could it be that old monster…’
Anderson is a royalist, in opposition with the noblemen’s coalition.
‘He has enough motive. But…’
Would he cause terror where his grandson and daughter-in-law are, just to keep the nobility in check?
Even this is too much of a leap.
‘My head hurts…’
All the guesses seemed far too dubious.
The only possible scenario left to consider was intervention by an unknown third party.
Duke Gibson asked the butler for confirmation.
“Have we found Hex Duke’s magic fingerprints from the artifact?”
Magic fingerprints.
Every magician leaves what is called a magic fingerprint, a unique trace of their magic use.
If it had been found at the scene, it is definite that someone has broken through the duke’s security magic.
“The fingerprint is still under investigation… but there is other evidence narrowing down the suspects.”
“Speak quickly.”
“The activated magic was a level five explosion spell.”
“What?!”
Duke Gibson had verified the extent of the damage from the royal letter.
Seeing the damage, the duke was sure a level 3 Fireball spell had been detonated.
But an Explosion spell!
A level 5 spell, widely known as the most powerful destructive magic.
In this kingdom, there’s officially only one person capable of using it.
It’s beyond the question of narrowing down suspects.
“How could this damage have been caused by the detonation of that spell!”
Even the officially recorded damage surpassed the limits of imagination for an ultimate attack spell.
He wouldn’t have been surprised if the entire audience in the theater had died.
The butler hesitated again.
‘There’s more…’
As terrifying as it was to hear more, the duke was in no position to escape.
“Speak up.”
“Prince Thomas Anderson deployed a large-scale defensive magic, greatly reducing the power of the explosion.”
As he peeled back the layers, a new despair was presented.
Duke Gibson rubbed his eyes with a hand, as if splashing cold water on his face.
“Good God…”
There are two effective ways to control a national disaster like this.
Both involve using people, classified as the ‘hero’ and the ‘villain’.
The ‘hero’ who brings hope to the hurting hearts of the people had already emerged.
And further more from the opposing royal faction.
So, what’s left is the ‘villain’ who will bear the brunt of the sorrow and anger.
Sometimes, the ‘villain’ can become a sacrificial lamb.
And the likely sacrifice this time was the Duke of Hex from the noble alliance.
‘Do I have to cut off the tail…’
As the leader of the power that splits the country, Duke Gibson could not afford to act only virtuously.
So far, he had used countless people as tools, discarding them if necessary.
Each time he dirtied his hands, he justified himself in the name of the kingdom.
However, the Duke of Hex was too big a piece to discard so easily.
The Duke’s residence. No, if just Hex Duke, a single individual, withdraws from the Noble Alliance, it would be a tremendous blow, enough to make one want to turn a blind eye to reality.
That’s how significant a level 5 magician’s defeat is.
“Hmm…”
Viscount Gibson took a deep breath and issued an order to his butler.
“Raise necessary funds for a contribution and dispatch a search party to the royal family. Also, request an audience with His Majesty.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Also, set up our own elite search group. It is upon us to find the culprits, by any means necessary.”
After the butler left, the Viscount rose and walked towards the window, admiring the view of the setting sun.
‘It’s ridiculous when I think about it’
Trying to manipulate the Royalist faction – an endeavor half in jest – backfired and caused him such trouble.
‘I suppose I have no choice but to meet them…’
The Royalists, who his mother and grandmother and several generations before had strenuously avoided.
He found himself faced with a situation where he had to converse with those people.
———————
“Tom, are you ready?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Maria led the way, followed by me, and Carol trailed behind us.
My recovery strength must have been quite remarkable, because I was able to get up and resume my activities just three days after the calamity.
Today, we’re off to the royal palace.
As soon as I had recovered, I received a request from the king of this country to pay him a visit.
A splendid carriage had been prepared at the main gate of the Duke’s mansion.
“I’ve never seen this kind of carriage before. But why do we need to ride such a flamboyant carriage when we could easily walk to the palace?”
“When high nobles enter the royal palace, it’s traditional and customary to ride the finest carriage they own.”
Maria generously explained in response to my curious question.
It seems like the carriage was brought from the ancestral territory of the Duke’s family.
‘Everywhere has its unnecessary traditions, it seems.’
Maria, Carol and I climbed into the carriage.
‘Damn…’
The inside of the carriage seemed to be at least twice as spacious as it had appeared from the outside.
‘Is this magic…’
This discrepancy was beyond just a shift of mood.
In the long, face-to-face seating, there appeared to be space for four persons each, hence, eight in total.
There was a table placed in the middle.
Maria and Carol sat side by side on one side of the table, while I sat alone on the opposite side.
“Hmm?”
I was surprised at what I discovered as soon as I took a seat.
On the table were a teapot and teacups.
Given that I had ridden in a carriage once before, the presence of these items was perplexing to me.
The carriage I had ridden the last time had negligible jitter, but it certainly wasn’t stable enough to allow for serene tea drinking.
However, deftly and with practiced hands, Carol proceeded to brew two cups of tea and set them in front of Maria and me.
Simultaneously, I heard the horses neighing outside.
The inertia of the carriage starting to move was palpable.
“Uh-oh…”
In a hurry, I reached for my teacup, but Maria was sitting back relaxedly.
“Uh…uh?”
Her teacup had not moved in the slightest.
The carriage rode as smoothly as if I were on a hoverboard, with no perturbation felt and even the inertia from acceleration felt extremely weak.
“This, what is this…”
My previous panicky reaction now felt incredibly embarrassing.
‘She decided not to warn me…’
Maria and even that Carol were looking at me with familiar expressions, the ones people wear when they play a prank.
Then all of a sudden,
“Surprised, are you? This is my creation. Heh heh heh”
“Damn it!”
The sudden presence and voice of the old man from nowhere next to me startled me into swearing.
“Hmm… I see involuntary exclamations don’t translate. Heh heh heh. But what does the damn it mean?”
Beside me sat the strange old man who had suddenly appeared.
Part of the lower body of the old man was still in the process of becoming visible.