34
Chapter 34
"......What did you just say."
The man with a cigar in his mouth murmured.
His tone was no different from usual.
However, the attendant knew.
That it was proof that this man, the Second Prince of the Empire, had reached the limits of his patience.
Naturally, the attendant's legs began to tremble violently.
It was to be expected, in a way.
In this current situation.
It was blatantly obvious where the Second Prince's fury would be directed.
"The plan has failed.... Black Fang did it again......."
The attendant could not continue speaking.
His throat hurt.
He couldn't breathe.
"...How displeasing."
A massive bloodlust radiated out.
A sinister aura, impossible to consider human, poured out of him.
An intensity that an ordinary body like the attendant's could never withstand.
However, the attendant said nothing.
He couldn't possibly say anything.
To that Prince, people were merely tools.
Everyone except himself was nothing more than a tool that could be swapped out whenever he pleased.
If he offended him even in the slightest, not only the attendant himself, but his entire family would be doomed.
In the end, the attendant thrashed in pain, holding back his screams for quite a while... before finally being released.
Leaving the pale-faced attendant collapsed on the floor behind him, the man once again puffed on his cigar and fell into thought.
'......Where on earth did the information leak from.'
He simply couldn't understand it.
Where exactly did the information about this raid leak from.
Security was perfect.
Yet, Black Fang effortlessly ruined his plans once again, right before his eyes.
He didn't know how they did it, but they annihilated the troops he sent right there on the spot.
'A coincidence...... no, it isn't. That's impossible.'
That they coincidentally happened to be at the Black Market, and that they coincidentally killed all the troops he sent?
That's complete nonsense.
How could such an absurd thing happen.
Foolish people tend to dismiss their failures, caused by their own lack of ability, as mere coincidences.
Someone standing above others should never take such a sickening attitude. They must acknowledge what went wrong and correct it.
The man firmly believed this.
'As expected, they are definitely not to be underestimated.'
Even though he had silenced them with a Mana Oath, they still found out about this plan.
They must have some sort of means to gather information.
An ingenious method that he would absolutely never be able to detect.
The man took out the Holy Grail from the subspace.
Its quality was low compared to the previous one.
The 3rd Secret Cathedral, a place where kidnapped children were locked up and turned into machines that could do nothing but recite prayers.
Unlike the previous Holy Grail, which used children with genuine faith as ingredients. This one was made using unqualified children.
But.... even so, a Holy Grail was a Holy Grail.
The fact that it was an item created by using over a thousand lives as ingredients remained unchanged.
'It didn't work last time, but.......'
He wasn't clumsy enough to make the same mistake twice.
He deduced that the Leader of Black Fang must have some way to evade the Holy Grail's power.
If so.... he just needed to change the target a little.
As long as it didn't directly harm the Leader of Black Fang, there was a possibility the Holy Grail would work.
"Tell me how they obtain their information."
Along with those words, a dreadful scream echoed out.
Well, it was just a minor side effect.
In the process of turning children into prayer-reciting machines, minor torture was inevitable.
In a Holy Grail made by gathering souls, it was natural for their resentment to accumulate.
However, it didn't matter much.
The evil grudges contained within would be purified by the engravings inscribed by the Priests of the Holy See.
Once again, the Holy Grail radiated a brilliant light.
A smile spread across the man's lips.
A distinctly different reaction from last time.
The meaning of this was clear.
It worked.
It was worth investing such precious resources.
He would finally be able to find out.
The clue to that utterly unidentifiable organization.
The brilliant light emanating from the Holy Grail slowly began to take the shape of letters. Before long, the answer to the man's question surfaced there.
And...... the man's face was dyed with confusion.
It was only natural, in a way.
Because what floated before his eyes right now were completely incomprehensible letters.
[Bone and Blood Minor Gallery]
"What in the world is this......."
Words whose meaning he couldn't grasp at all.
Was it some sort of Incantation?
But even if it was, he had never heard of an Incantation with such a name.
Even among the Forbidden Spells that had been erased for the safety of the Imperial Family, he had never seen such words.
What in the world was that even supposed to mean in the first place.
Bone and Blood?
Minor?
Gallery?
He couldn't figure out the meaning between the words at all.
The man gritted his teeth.
Holy Grails were limited. It was not something he could afford to waste like this.
There was only one Holy Grail left in his possession right now.
There was still plenty of time left until the next supply of Holy Grails from his contract with the Holy See.
But.......
Regardless, the Holy Grail had activated.
That fact was driving the man crazy.
If only it hadn't activated, he wouldn't have been left with any regrets.
However, the Holy Grail had definitely worked.
That was a clear answer to the man's question.
He simply hadn't understood the answer.
......It was time to make a decisive gamble.
'That is highly likely the name of some organization.'
It was an obvious conclusion.
If it wasn't an Incantation, the only other possibility was that it was a proper noun referring to an organization.
If so... there might be a rat.
A rat that was cooperating with Black Fang through some method and leaking information.
"Tell me the members and the number of personnel in that organization."
That was why the man had used the last Holy Grail in his possession.
And.......
Before long, bizarre circles started appearing like crazy in front of the man. Among them, there was nothing that even remotely looked like a person's name.
Occasionally, completely incomprehensible and strange characters were simply mixed in between the circles.
An utterly incomprehensible situation.
However, that was just the beginning.
'......What in the world is this.'
The man's expression hardened.
It was only natural, in a way.
The number of members.
It had far exceeded the limits of what the man could logically comprehend.
'What kind of intelligence organization in the world operates with over 100,000 members?'
Security for this plan had been maintained extremely thoroughly.
To the extent that the Second Prince himself could confidently boast that he had been completely flawless.
Yet that security had been thoroughly mocked by an intelligence organization.
By a bizarre intelligence organization of such a massive scale that its true identity had never been discovered even once.
The man felt like he was going to go crazy right then and there.
Just dealing with Black Fang alone was already overwhelming.
For another bizarre group to pop up on top of that... there was nothing more terrifying than this.
'Just what the hell is up with those Black Fang bastards.......'
Ever since they showed up, nothing had gone right.
He absolutely had to retrieve the Artifacts this time.
The Empire's facilities that operated using the Hero's corpse. Their operation required the mystique contained within the Artifacts.
But, somehow knowing about it, those bastards had stolen every single Artifact that was in the Black Market.
From the information leak to persistently sabotaging his plans.
There was a limit to how much he could tolerate.
The man ground his teeth together.......
Taking a deep breath, he somehow managed to calm his mind.
He wasn't so soft that he would crumble over something like this.
Thoroughly educated in the ways of a ruler.
As someone who stood above others, the man quickly gathered his wits and viewed the situation with a rational gaze.
'There's no use dwelling on the past.'
Right now... it was time to launch a counterattack.
Fortunately, he had already prepared a scheme for this very purpose.
He hadn't ordered the Knights to capture a Noble brat at the Black Market and kill them in the most gruesome way possible for nothing.
It would be reported through the Imperial Newspaper as a crime committed by Black Fang.
The sight of a young child, a Noble child at that, brutally massacred.
In a situation where a few ungrateful bastards who had forgotten the Empire's grace were weighing Black Fang against the Empire, there were few perfect solutions like this.
Public opinion would completely turn around with this.
'Sure, this time might have been my defeat.'
But he had no intention of just taking losses.
Thinking that, the Second Prince smiled.
*****
'It's a bit underwhelming.'
Looking at the statement, I couldn't help but think so.
I had shaken off that psychopathic girl from earlier, and now all that was left was to leisurely board the train and head back.
However, it continued to bother me.
How should I put it.... it lacked a bit of impact.
'As expected, it's a bit disappointing without a video.'
The fake Black Fang members were definitely Knights of the Empire.
If you thought about it, they had massacred their own citizens, and Nobles at that.
It bothered me to just pass over such great material without mentioning it.
Because of that, I pondered for a moment before... calling Ciel.
Of course, there was no video to use as evidence.
The Imperial Knights weren't idiots.
In a situation where they were disguising themselves as Black Fang, there was no way they would carry anything that could expose their identities.
But.......
'What does that matter?'
If we needed evidence, we could just make some.
This was a statement from a terrorist organization in the first place.
There was no need to care about things like journalism.
"Could you prepare some Illusion Magic for me?"
In this current situation.
There was only one thing I needed to do.
...It was time to spread some fake news throughout the Empire.