Chapter 304
Chapter 304
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 304
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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Josephine Orléans.
She was the ancient human who had asked me about emotional magic earlier. If Josephine Orléans had succeeded in developing an occult magic formula, it would have been utterly useless in the era before magic. However, I had seen Grand Duke Maria turn an occult magic formula into "real magic." Starting from the artifact I duplicated with my unique ability and gave to Leo, the magic potions used for astral projection, the material-world projection artifacts—all of them had been realized from occult magic formulas.
If we assume that humans who thought to materialize occult formulas weren't limited to House Österreich-Este but existed in other families as well, then some of Éclat Littéraire's occult formulas might have been converted into their families' proprietary magic in the post-magic era. That was why I needed to know the fields those eight were truly achieving results in.
Narke leaned back on his arms, tilted his head, and looked up at me.
"Why did you suspect her?"
Why, indeed.
Out of the eight, Josephine Orléans was the only one who wanted the ability possessed by the thief in this theft incident.
The problematic ability she desired was "the ability to watch a loved one's every move without breaking the law." If her descendants had converted Orléans's occult magic formula into a real magic formula and continued developing it?
Setting aside the trivial details, the Orléans family clearly had advantages in this crime.
As I thought with Emmanuel, without physical evidence, divine power investigations of nobles rarely happen. Moreover, House Orléans was originally kin to the Bourbon royal family and the very ones who established the Third French Empire in the post-magic world. In other words, they were the current French imperial family. The Third French Republic didn't happen in the post-magic world.
Family secret techniques aren't known anywhere except the magic departments of each country, and as the imperial family, House Orléans has no obligation to report secrets to the French Magic Department. If records from when Orléans was a noble house remained, it might be different, but if the culprit really was from Orléans, this game remained absolutely advantageous to that family.
Anyway, if I said this, where would I even start explaining to Narke?
I pressed my hand to my face and sighed.
". . . Hoo. . ."
"If it's hard to talk about, you don't have to. I haven't read all your thoughts yet anyway, since I figured it'd make you uncomfortable."
". . . Thanks?"
I glanced up, and Narke was looking down at me with a soft smile. For some reason, I couldn't read the meaning behind that smile, so I tested it by saying once more,
"It's nice to have a friend who's considerate."
"Hm, no need to keep reading if you hate it."
"I didn't hate it. So, what's your take?"
"Orléans, huh. Not a German, then. France doesn't share a border with Austria, so. . . they could easily pass through Germany."
Narke closed his eyes in thought. I pulled out the investigation records, drew a line under the name of the most likely suspect in my mind, and handed it to him. My reasoning wasn't perfect, so I needed his verification. Narke stared through the paper before meeting my eyes and saying,
"I'm curious how you came to that guess, but it's worth checking out. It's from the info you brought, after all."
He wasn't saying that just because it was my info. And Orléans wasn't here, so he wasn't using Insight on them.
Right now, he was checking if my reasoning had any forced parts, and even if there were ambiguities, whether it was worth betting on by substituting his precognition ability into each "hunch." In the end, though he hadn't used his ability earlier, my brain had been rummaged through to some extent by that last question.
The moment I thought that, Narke burst into light laughter, turned his head, and cleared his throat.
Are you going to keep making it obvious that you're reading me?
". . . You asked."
Yeah. That's why I kept that thought inside. Anyway, thanks.
"No problem~"
"Thanks, but let's stick to words from now on. I feel like my temperature just dropped a degree."
"Got it."
Even so, Narke really seemed to have used his ability on me minimally, as he returned to the original topic with a question.
"The problem is, even if we want to investigate Orléans, it's realistically tough. How do we drag a French imperial family member in for questioning?"
"That's for the guy who assigned us this job."
"Huh?"
Narke rolled his eyes before bursting into laughter.
* * *
"Hmm."
Abraham puffed on his cigarette in front of me as he skimmed the report I'd brought.
The next day, I had investigated Josephine and House Orléans, then come to meet Abraham. Josephine became the Queen of Switzerland after the time I visited, but records showed she remained actively in touch with each Éclat Littéraire noble member until her death. The possibility that her occult passion was just a passing phase grew stronger.
But now wasn't the time to think about Josephine. Abraham smiled as he turned the page of the report.
". . . From this, we can speculate that the culprit or criminal organization has the ability to partially manipulate the magic applied to objects and systems, and that ability has critical limitations."
He read my report aloud.
In both thefts this time, the alarm and security magic on the objects were identically neutralized, so no one noticed the theft at the time it happened. And the magic on the missing objects was detected again near the border checkpoint. It was a story I'd heard from the start.
What did this mean? The culprit had an ability great for infiltrating somewhere, but it had limits or restrictions.
Abraham met my eyes and smiled.
"I was right to entrust this to Lord Nikolaus. I can't fathom why you think Orléans is behind this since the process isn't written down, but."
Exactly. Why would I write that? I couldn't even if I tried. I wouldn't tell him everything I investigated.
Even so, the process wasn't complicated for me, with the clues stacked up.
Why was the magic on the jewel detected again near the checkpoint? What could we learn from that fact?
First, the culprit's ability wasn't dismantling security magic. If it were, it would have cleanly removed it from House Österreich-Este's mansion onward, so there'd be no reason for the magic to be "detected near the checkpoint." Same for the holy relic. In other words, the culprit's ability left the system intact but exploited its vulnerabilities.
Second, so what exactly was the culprit's ability? To use a metaphor, anti-theft magic is like a pair of puzzle pieces. The magic on the storage and the magic on the object interlock like puzzle pieces, so moving the object triggers the alarm. The culprit probably created an extra set of puzzle magic and swapped them onto each piece and holder, making it seem like they were never separated.
['The ability to duplicate puzzle magic'—in other words, their special technique for neutralizing security magic.] The investigation bureau probably reached this far too. It seems simple at a glance, but why a special technique? . . . If anyone could duplicate puzzle magic, such security magic wouldn't have survived to this day.
Third, even exploiting that vulnerability, the ability isn't perfect. Why? If it were, they'd have kept it up near the checkpoint too—why couldn't they?
Now, back to the beginning. How did the culprit go around monasteries in Spain, the Vatican, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire doing the same thing? Interstate warps are impossible, so pass. Too wide a range for servants from those three places.
Here, we recall again that they're a master of neutralizing security magic. They didn't just use their special magic when stealing—they likely neutralized the barriers around each building on a magic level when entering the monastery, cathedral, and mansion. And since handling magic alone wouldn't avoid visual detection, they probably activated stealth-type magic alongside. Of course, they might have disguised as servants or clergy, but since we know what Josephine Orléans wanted, we can rule that out by now.
And judging from the security magic neutralization lifting only near the checkpoint—where the magic record was caught—those magics were likely a set, with stealth and neutralization operating simultaneously.
This was just speculation from the clues I gathered—not definitively right—but with the investigation bureau clueless and stomping around, it was worth verifying.
So why couldn't they use the ability at the border checkpoint? Did they really drop stealth to pass inspection like a normal person?
Yes. That's the answer.
"The official schedule of the French Emperor's nephew perfectly overlapped with the incident date."
At my words, Abraham replied indifferently, as if it were no new info.
"It was the French embassy's new building dedication ceremony."
"Exactly. No matter how good the ability, breaching a foreign border—packed with the world's top security tech—while stealthed would be technically and psychologically burdensome. It's far better to execute the deed when there's a reasonable shield to use. Even with inspections, they won't rummage through a foreign imperial's personal items one by one."
"Overlapping schedules. . . Normally, they'd call that a leap."
Abraham chuckled as if amused.
Of course, countless people entered and exited Austria-Hungary at that time. But I couldn't explain my entire thought process and evidence used. Even if we shared a common enemy in Pleroma now, he was still my enemy as long as he wanted me. I wouldn't overthink this part as always, but no reason not to be firm.
I ignored Abraham's eyes demanding explanation and pointed out,
"If you don't want to believe it, don't. And it's Ascanien, not Nikolaus, Your Highness."
". . ."
"You're surprised to call me by that name. There's no reason for Prussia—which has no more merits to bestow on Nikolaus—to use it."
"I'm curious how you reached that conclusion."
"I've known since before the Pentaron terror."
I meant the meeting after the basement incident. Abraham understood.
"Anyway, on the day, the Magic Minister ended up sending the letter, right? Clear violation of imperial order."
"Nothing special. Who didn't send one in that mess? Above all, I'm speaking to Your Highness, not the Minister."
"That was the greatest consideration I could show you. Still is."
Abraham replied with a gentle face, so I smiled back. No one said it directly, but we perfectly understood each other's words.
"Of course, His Imperial Majesty is sincerely different from me. What should Prussia make of Lord Nikolaus Ernst—who, no matter how high a post we offer, only cares about safety and settles for advisory roles? Naturally. . ."
Abraham exhaled smoke and said,
"Lord Nikolaus Ernst is thoroughly the dog of the Wittelsbachs, loyal to Bavaria. Prussia has no choice but to accept that will."
"Cliché."
"Isn't Lord Ascanien already aware and using it?"
". . ."
For example, by turning Ascanien into Prussia's own Nikolaus Ernst.
His insight—hitting the mark as if reading my thoughts in casual tone—was always impressive, no matter how often seen. Even though it was just human-honed skill, not his unique ability, it seemed transcendent at a glance.
He knew my strategy fully yet signaled he'd play along, so I had no reason to press. Abraham closed the report and said,
"So, I need to mull how to accept this sudden proposal to investigate a foreign imperial."
"As I said earlier, if you don't want to believe it, don't have to, Your Highness."
Abraham smiled unperturbed at my rudeness, snapped his fingers, and burned the report in the fireplace. Shocking to a third party, but not to us.
Without breaking eye contact with Abraham, I continued,
"You've already grasped that this report benefits you, Your Highness. Haven't you?"
Not just diplomatic normalization with Österreich-Este. That was a given.
So where exactly the gain?
By splitting the Pleroma stigma on the German Empire with France this time—it benefited the imperial family. Even without saying that far, Abraham met my eyes silently, smiled, and clasped his hands.
"Spot on. How could I let you go?"