Loot from the Black Mages' Pocket

The abundant loot came from the black mages' pockets. I spent a full hour underground inspecting the warehouse supplies. I examined everything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with meticulous focus, hunting for any missing items or signs of embezzlement. As expected, the Blue Tower's warehouse had plenty of problems. I found discrepancies between raw material quantities and usage costs, and I even uncovered a secret compartment cleverly hidden in a corner of the warehouse, stuffed with materials that had been siphoned off.

Thanks to this, the Blue Tower was going to be noisy for a while. But a large-scale housecleaning would only make the place healthier in the long run. With a satisfied expression, I looked at the exhausted administrative staff.

"I worked at the Northern Adventurer Guild for a few years. So I have a pretty good idea of what makes an organization run smoothly."

Now that the audit was officially over, the tension drained from everyone. They let out sighs of relief. While the administrative staff wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads and came to their own conclusions, I glanced at the Ruin siblings, who had completed their secret mission like ghosts and were now vanishing like assassins. Then I stepped out of the Blue Tower.

Shouts echoed from behind us.

The rear was getting noisy, but the corruption issue was something they would have to handle themselves. I'd already warned them that if any problems arose during a future surprise audit, their sponsorship funds would be cut. That threat would make them move like dogs with their tails on fire.

We left the Blue Tower at a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leisurely pace and met up with the Ruin siblings, who had been waiting at the entrance.

"Thanks to you two, the investigation went much smoother than expected."

The siblings smiled brightly as they reported that the investigation was complete. No one would ever guess they had just slipped past heavy surveillance and looted internal documents like professional thieves. I answered with a light shrug of my shoulders and headed toward the café we had agreed to meet at beforehand.

The rest of the group—excluding Shinshia and the Ruin siblings, who had infiltrated the Blue Tower—were already waiting there. The moment I reached their table, Neon and Shinshia cast illusion magic to conceal our information and erected a solid barrier so no sound or energy could leak out. Since this was a city full of mages, such security measures were fairly common, and the people nearby paid us no attention.

"The prime suspect we had in mind, Robert, was just a corrupt mage. The real collaborator is Cipherian, one of the injured parties."

"The black mage organization he cooperated with is different from the one the Blue Tower fought against."

What a mess. If they were capable of summoning a demon into the middle realm, that meant they were a fairly powerful group. And there wasn't just one—there were several. I couldn't even begin to guess how many problems had been festering in the shadows of the Central region. The scale was growing larger by the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠minute, and I could only click my tongue in disbelief.

"It's a relief that the Holy Kingdom has been normalized. At least that's one piece of good news in all this misfortune."

"It was always the duty of the priests who believe in the gods to care for the weak, after all."

If the Holy Kingdom, which had been rotting from within, hadn't been restored, the situation would be far worse than it is now. The mass purge of corrupt priests and the rise of competent, honest ones to the forefront had calmed the public sentiment that had been on the verge of exploding. If not for that, several Central nations might have already erupted in massive uprisings.

"Discovering Neon at that time was a stroke of luck for the Central region."

"Yeah. I never imagined ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the information I passed on would cause this much of a ripple."

Neon scratched his head, finally realizing just how much impact his information had created. He hadn't expected the ones operating in the shadows of the Holy Kingdom to move with such precision. Nor had he expected that a few inquisitors could resolve even those shadows. Now he understood why they had tried so hard to prevent rumors related to the Holy Kingdom from spreading to other regions.

"If you're referring to Torso, the inquisitor in charge of the North, he is currently staying in the Holy Kingdom along with his interrogators. It seems the situation in the Central region is far more serious..."

I nodded in understanding at Harne's—the Holy Kingdom's Saintess—words. In the North, survival came first. If anyone openly committed heresy and weakened their defenses, the monsters would notice instantly and come knocking politely at the door. Heresy simply couldn't take root there. So it made sense that the Northern branch of the Inquisition had moved its operations to the Central region.

With the Inquisition present, there probably wouldn't be any major problems. Luna noticed that the topic had drifted elsewhere and clapped her hands lightly to regain everyone's attention.

"He's called the Snake. He belongs to the Flame of Doom."

Neon made a face of pure disgust at Luna's words. Since the Snake had apparently been his former superior back in his old workplace, he must have known quite a bit. When we all turned our eyes to him, he immediately began explaining.

"The Snake is a black mage in charge of research for the Flame of Doom. He's in a rivalry with the Crow, but he's treated as a perpetual second-in-command. A rather unfortunate executive, really."

"The last time I saw him, he was a 6th-circle master. He was knocking on the door of the 7th circle, so right now he's probably at the entry level of Gold-rank... or maybe he's already reached 7th circle."

For a mage who focused on research, that was quite high. The Rhinoceros I'd met at the academy had seemed like he'd be lucky to reach mid-Silver at best. Well, everyone had their own specialties. That must be why they became executives.

Having no particular interest in the internal structure of the Flame of Doom's leadership, I simply listened carefully to the Ruin siblings' story.

"This time, the Flame of Doom had left a few materials with the Blue Tower for temporary safekeeping."

"They seemed to be ingredients absolutely necessary for an important project the Flame of Doom is working on."

"So we brought them!"

The siblings proudly pulled the materials out of their subspace pouch. Inside the pouch, ingredients radiating a brilliant aura revealed their presence. If we hadn't taken security measures, the people in the café would have noticed immediately.

"The Phoenix Feather of the divine beast and a branch from the World Tree!"

"Holy shit."

When I saw the feather flickering with flames in mid-air and the branch radiating a soft green energy, a curse slipped out before I could stop it. Why the hell were these things here?

"They were secretly hidden materials, so the security focused more on preventing energy leakage than physical detection. It wasn't too difficult to obtain them."

"There were some fairly sophisticated security spells, but thanks to Shinshia stepping in, we resolved them quickly."

I stared at the Ruin siblings with an incredulous expression. Selling just one of these would easily cover the cost of building the mobile nest that Adela wanted so badly—and still leave plenty left over. I felt a little bad saying it, but even though the Blue Tower was a fairly influential power, there was no way they had the resources to possess two materials of this caliber.

"Yeah. He's probably in hibernation right now, preparing to undergo metamorphosis into a Half-Dragon."

These materials would be more than enough to help even a Half-Dragon. If this fact became known, the Empire would drool over them, and the Elf Kingdom would foam at the mouth.

"Probably. Otherwise, there's no way materials of this level would be in the Blue Tower."

Since those three were the imperial family members who had built major factions within the Empire, they would almost certainly fight over it. But this fact would never become public knowledge.

Ruin grinned brightly, and I grinned right back. Of course we were keeping them for ourselves. Items of this caliber weren't easy to come by. Having grown up together, our thoughts aligned perfectly without needing words.

When Luna handed over the materials, I took them immediately and placed them into my inventory. The faint energy that had been leaking from the pouch vanished completely. The others watching let out sounds of admiration.

"I'm making good use of it in all sorts of ways."

With the security issue resolved, all that remained was distributing the loot and preparing for the Snake's inevitable rage once he realized what had happened. Since these were materials absolutely necessary for an important experiment within the Flame of Doom, pursuit was guaranteed to follow. I began outlining a plan to set a trap and wipe them out in one fell swoop, then focused on the loot distribution.

Since they had been extraordinary even as children, finding items secretly hidden in a warehouse that only elders could access would have been child's play for them. But if the items weren't officially recorded in the warehouse ledger, they weren't my concern. The elders who had secretly lined their own pockets would shed tears of blood, but that was their own fault. We moved on.

The important items were the Phoenix Feather and the World Tree Branch.

At the Ruin siblings' refreshing suggestion, I didn't hesitate. I reached into my inventory and pulled out one of the items. What I held in my hand was the World Tree Branch, radiating soft green energy.

Ruin looked puzzled, but I simply answered with a sly grin. Ever since the siblings had shown us the branch, a certain sprout in my Water Realm had been expressing its desire very strongly. It was practically throwing a tantrum, demanding I give it to him immediately, making it hard for me to even concentrate on the conversation.