Chapter 112: The Price of Curiosity
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: The Price of Curiosity
Five minutes earlier.
Valdrova Castle, the library.
Mori was currently on duty. Her tasks included documenting and archiving records gathered from Hestia Village, providing legal advice, and managing access to the archives.
She was an A-grade talent that any organization would be desperate to recruit, but currently, she was nothing more than Echidna’s plaything.
-Lady Echidna.
“Yes? What is it?”
-Hugging me while I am working is inefficient. It has caused a 12% drop in my established work output.
A specific rule had been set for managing her: do not let her work efficiency drop by more than 15%.
To anyone else, that warning would have meant they should only bother her when absolutely necessary. However, Echidna—a witch starved for affection—interpreted it differently.
“Then that means I still have a 3% margin, right?”
Her mindset was to push it as close to the limit as possible, right up to 14.99%. But she wouldn't be a witch if she could manage even that properly. Echidna’s excitement intensified the moment she embraced Mori, and eventually, she let out a primal groan.
“Grrr, I can’t take it anymore!”
She buried her nose directly into the crown of Mori’s head.
“Inhale, inhale...”
-I advise you to stop.
“Hoooooo...”
-St—
“Snnnnniff!”
Thwack!
“Guh-ack!?”
A heavy blow landed squarely on Echidna’s philtrum while she was lost in the scent of Mori’s hair. Echidna’s body wobbled violently before she recoiled, slumped against the wall, and knocked a pile of books to the floor as she slid down.
“Waaaaah... That’s so mean. You didn’t have to use violence...”
Echidna clutched her face, tears welling in her eyes. Mori looked down at her with an expression that seemed strangely satisfied. She quickly scribbled something and showed it.
-The previous action has resulted in a 5% increase in work efficiency.
“Really? Do you have sadistic tendencies, Miss Mori? Do you want to become a witch too? I can’t allow you to become a witch!”
-I have no ego. Therefore, I cannot become a witch.
Mori returned to her work. Echidna stopped her antics and turned her attention back to reality. Books and documents were scattered across the floor. It was a complete mess.
“Ugh, why are there so many papers...?”
Knowing she would get a scolding if she left it like this, she began to tidy up. With a simple wave of her hand, the scattered books and documents rose into the air. As if rewinding time, the books slotted back into their places and the documents straightened themselves into neat piles.
“Who even reads these books anyway? They’re so boring... Huh?”
While tidying up by hand and grumbling, Echidna noticed something tucked inside a book. A piece of paper folded into a square caught her eye.
“This is...”
The texture alone was different from ordinary paper. It was magic parchment, capable of absorbing mana. Magic parchment hidden among ordinary documents—that fact alone was enough to pique Echidna’s curiosity.
Echidna unfolded the paper.
“A magic circle...?”
Her voice trailed off into a question.
“Is it?”
The hieroglyphs embedded within the circle were similar to the magic circles she often saw, but there were many awkward parts. There were more than a few points that didn't align with textbook principles.
As she studied it, a strange idea occurred to her. Despite the lingering pain in her face, she called out to Mori with a beaming smile as if nothing had happened.
“Mori-yaaaang~.”
Scritch, scratch.
Echidna held out the magic circle.
“Don’t be so cold and take a look at this. What kind of magic circle does this look like to you?”
Scritch, scratch.
“It looks like something Regent Ferda drew.”
Scritch—
Roll.
Mori’s eyes moved at the mention of Ferda’s name. She scanned the magic circle from top to bottom. After a few minutes of deep thought, Mori finally answered.
-I do not know.
“So even you don’t know, Miss Mori?”
-Yes. This magic circle does not exist among the records I possess.
“If it’s something even you don’t know...”
Echidna knew exactly what was inside Mori’s head: the Library of All Things, which recorded everything in existence. It contained the names of almost every magic known to humans and the Serdes Continent.
-There are three reasons why I might not know it. First, it is a magic not recorded on the Serdes Continent. Second, it is a magic too complex to be recorded in the languages of the Serdes Continent. Third, it is a magic created directly by the individual in question.
Thinking rationally, the third option was the most likely. A magic Ferda had created himself.
-Based on the form and shape, the third option seems most probable.
“Right. At a glance, it looks like nothing more than a drawing...”
That was what they called magic circles that couldn't be used. Mages who studied geometry would sometimes churn out magic circles hoping to get lucky, but only about one in ten thousand would actually work.
-Furthermore, this can hardly be called a magic circle. It lacks geometric elements, and its form is unclear.
“Exactly, right?”
Even magic circles that were dismissed as mere drawings usually made one wonder if they might work with enough research, but Ferda’s magic circle didn't even give that impression. Unlike precise and meticulous magic circles, this one was crude and inefficient in form.
-It is merely a drawing that resembles a non-functioning magic circle. That is my conclusion.
Mori reached her verdict. But Echidna felt differently. You only see as much as you know, and Echidna was knowledgeable enough to create runes. Therefore, she saw much more.
“This thing is functional.”
She could tell that this crude, inefficient magic circle actually worked. Mori turned her head and asked.
-Do you have evidence?
“Evidence... I don’t have any. It’s just a hunch...”
-Then there is no point in discussing it.
Mori weighed evidence based on the contents of the Library of All Things. Human intuition was not logical. It was a waste of time to respond to something illogical. Mori turned her attention away from the magic circle and resumed her work.
And so, the Q&A with Mori ended. Echidna felt a bit disappointed that the conversation was over, but she stared down at the parchment and muttered.
“How does this even work?”
Echidna questioned her own intuition. Tilting her head, she began to analyze it. She ran everything she knew through her mind. She began to peel back the veil, fitting the elements together one by one.
But strangely, the more she peeled back, the more a massive wall was revealed. It was a conundrum that could not be interpreted through logic or reason. It felt like an unsolvable theory, like the existence of Utopia or Mana Fatalism.
Echidna’s eyes sparkled. The fact that a mysterious, unknown power was dwelling within it excited her. That excitement drove her toward an impulse.
“Let’s dismantle it.”
Her curiosity eventually led to the idea of dismantling the magic circle. Dismantling a magic circle was a taboo act that should never be done without the creator’s consent. The thought that she might make Ferda angry crossed her mind, but she felt a desire so intense it overrode even that.
“...I’ll just touch it a little bit.”
Just a tiny bit. Touching a single rune shouldn't matter. In terms of importance, it would be like briefly taking out one small gear to look at it.
Despite her words, Echidna’s finger touched the rune at the center. The mana traces engraved on the paper were clearly transmitted to her finger. Echidna copied the rune she felt and manifested it above her hand.
Now, all she had to do was pull the rune apart and read the code. She didn't know then—that she would pay the price for her curiosity.
“Huh?”
In that instant, before the rune could even react, it melted and flowed into Echidna’s arm. She felt a sensation of backflow within her mana pathways.
“Wait, what?”
Echidna panicked. Though she made a sound like an innocent young lady, she responded quickly. Like the witch and skilled mage she was, she attempted to block the absorbing rune with a 5th Tier barrier spell.
“Wait, wait, wait!?”
But it didn't work. Her barrier spell blocked all magic effects of the 5th Tier and below. The fact that it didn't work meant the rune itself belonged to the 6th Tier or higher. That was impossible. The limit for runes that humans could create and handle was the 5th Tier.
“Gah... cough!!”
Echidna paid the price for her curiosity. There was no way to stop it.
* * *
“Explain the circumstances.”
Mori began to write down the facts she knew.
-Echidna was tampering with a rune drawn in a magic circle and was consumed by it.
“She was consumed by a rune she made herself?”
-She claimed it was a magic circle drawn by Lord Ferda.
“A magic circle I drew?”
Ferda frowned. He had a gut feeling that this was going to be a messy affair.
Even so, it makes no sense for Echidna to die from it...
Ferda had stored a few things, but none possessed the power to kill Echidna. Furthermore, it was impossible for her to be killed by a rune, which was her specialty. Ferda cast his gaze toward the floor to find out what it was. His eyes landed precisely on a spot among the cluttered books.
This is...
Ferda recognized that magic circle. It was one he had drawn back when he was confused because of his mana. It looked so complex and crude that he had made a copy and tucked it away somewhere.
She died because she touched this?
Ferda looked at the runes drawn in the magic circle. There were seven runes in total, and Echidna had touched one of them.
With just one rune?
Common sense said it was impossible. A 5th Circle witch—and a skilled one known as a Rune Maker at that—dying from one of Ferda’s runes.
“And? Did you see her die?”
-After touching the rune, she showed symptoms of respiratory distress and then simply vanished.
“Because of the rune?”
-I cannot be certain of that.
Mori made predictions based on her knowledge. Elements that only a mage could see were beyond her.
“It must have been a Circle Overload,” Ruri guessed.
It was a hypothesis that Ferda might have accepted as well. While it was an unheard-of concept at lower circles, it was a terrifying possibility that could never be ignored in the world of mages at the 5th Circle and above.
“That’s likely not it.”
“Why is that?”
“If a Circle Overload had occurred, Mori, who was caught in the blast, would be dead too.”
A Circle Overload literally meant the person became a bomb. No matter how much she cherished Mori, Mori couldn't have remained this safe. There had been a large vibration, but it had ended with just that.
Ferda’s deduction was as follows:
“Someone cast a spell.”
“If a magic circle had manifested, wouldn't she have said so?”
“Of course she would.”
A magic circle was something even Mori could see.
“But it’s a different story if it’s a witch who has been granted the name Philias.”
A blue light flickered in Ferda’s eyes. He began to see more than just the mundane.
“As I thought.”
Traces of mana remained in the spot where Echidna had been. However, those traces didn't just indicate the manifestation of mana. Ferda breathed magic into the faint form, giving it a vivid color. Ruri was shocked when she saw it.
It was in the shape of a rose.
“Is this rose-like thing the trace of mana?”
“It’s a mana signature that only high-tier mages can use.”
“Does that mean you know who it belongs to?”
Ferda nodded. It was a signature he could never forget.
“Lucy Philias.”
The First Witch. Only she left a signature like this. This meant she had intervened deep within this castle to take Echidna away. To facilitate that intervention, she had violently shaken the magic circles within the castle.
“Does that mean... she infiltrated from the outside? The castle’s barriers shouldn't allow this level of magic to be cast.”
“The magic circle was already planted inside her body. A tiny spark is enough to trigger it.”
All that was needed was a tiny spark to light the fuse, and Lucy Philias had intervened to provide that spark.
“Since it’s Philias, it’s undoubtedly a magic circle engraved by the Big Sister to recover the body.”
Killing a witch was tricky. They might keep a Life Vessel elsewhere or use a clone to keep their true body safe, but ultimately, they lived under the protection of the ‘Big Sister.’ If she could even penetrate a dragon’s ironclad nest, what kind of barrier could possibly stop her intrusion?
“Echidna is supposed to be an excommunicated witch; does that protection still apply?”
Unlike the others who hated men, Echidna loved them. She must have been excommunicated because their ideologies didn't align, so why would they bother recovering her body?
Ferda answered simply.
“What’s inside the head doesn't care about origins.”
Regardless of anything else, she was a Rune Maker, one of the rarest and most precious artisans on the continent. Ruri nodded as if that made sense.
“How persistent. Those witches.”
“It’s not just witches who are like that.”
Because I was the same.
Ferda couldn't take his eyes off the traces.
“Still, there is one thing I don't understand.”
“Is something bothering you?”
“It ended too cleanly.”
The only thing left behind was the rose-shaped trace. Other than that, nothing in the surroundings had been interfered with. That was why it was strange.
“A witch wouldn't end things this cleanly...”
“She barely managed to infiltrate; wouldn't it be difficult to leave anything else behind?”
Ruri’s point was valid, but Ferda refused to overlook it. After thinking it over, he asked Ruri.
“Has everyone in the castle been evacuated?”
“Yes. They’re probably standing in front of the inner castle gate like frightened meerkats.”
“Let’s go there.”
Ruri looked puzzled. Did he expect to find an answer among them?
Ferda looked at the people gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Among them, he saw Jed and Penelope, who were casually yawning.
“Jed Swallow.”
“Yes?”
Ferda beckoned him over with a flick of his finger. Jed walked over to his side with an expression full of annoyance.
“You were a gigolo, weren't you?”
“That’s right.”
“I assume you’ve been hitting on the women working in the inner castle too?”
“What?! Do I look like the kind of guy who can’t survive without a woman?”
Jed was indignant. At that, Ruri glared at him with a look of pure disgust.
“You are that kind of guy, aren't you? Every time I pass your room, the damn moaning never stops.”
“Huh? That was probably because of Je— mmmph!”
“Shut up. The adults are talking.”
“So, your answer?”
“...I’ve checked them out a bit.”
Jed scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Ignoring him, Ferda gestured toward the people gathered below the inner castle.
“Is there a woman among them you’ve never seen before?”
“Hey, even I’m not such a scoundrel that I’ve memorized the faces of every single woman in the inner castle—oh?”
“What is it?”
“There’s one girl whose face I don't know.”
Just one. There was a woman whose appearance had escaped Jed’s radar. In the direction Jed was pointing, an ordinary-looking woman was standing. She looked like a human with no distinguishing features, plain in every way.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve never seen her in this castle before.”
Jed was certain, and Ruri’s expression of disgust deepened. Ferda walked toward the group.
“The Regent is coming down!”
“Everyone, show your respect!”
Seeing Ferda descend, the people shouted and all dropped to their knees. Ferda’s eyes were fixed only on the woman Jed had pointed out. Ferda cut through the crowd and stood before her. Seeing Ferda’s feet in front of her, the woman looked up to greet him.
“Greetings to the Regent of Valdrova—”
Zip—!
The woman couldn't finish her greeting. Before she could, a single bead of mana formed at Ferda’s fingertip and pierced through her forehead.