Enforcement (5)
"We've been waiting for you. Where shall we take you?"
Over the vast magic circle blazing with light, the court mages in robes embroidered with the imperial crest bowed their heads and asked.
"S-Spatial teleportation magic…!"
At the sight of them, Rhea sucked in a sharp breath and stammered.
"First time seeing it?"
"Ah. Yes. W-Well, of course? Spatial teleportation is something only the really high-ranking people get to use, isn't it?"
"Wrong. In the capital, even the highest nobles would lose their heads if they used spatial teleportation magic without authorization. Only those who have received His Majesty the Emperor's personal leave may use this circle."
"Huh? Then that means…"
"That's right. This may be an unofficial operation, but we are currently carrying out our official duties under the august command of His Majesty the Emperor."
At my explanation, Rhea looked back and forth between Marien and me, her face gone paper-white.
I merely shrugged, as if it were nothing of consequence. For some reason, though, Marien was glaring at Rhea with a look that said she was ready to start a brawl at any second.
I wondered if something had happened between the two of them that I didn't know about. But that wasn't what mattered right now.
I turned back to Marien, who was still grinding her teeth, and spoke again.
"Marien. What's the intelligence so far?"
"We've confirmed that Viscount Farrington slipped out of the city on the day of the incident. Agents are tracking him now. But Count Bran and that unidentified mage…"
"Then the odds are high those two joined forces. With that mage's spatial teleportation, they could have gotten out of the capital without leaving a trail."
"I think so as well. The problem is that no one knows where they went."
"Isn't it obvious? The Kingdom Coalition, where else?"
"That's what we expect, but if that's the case, isn't it likely they've already crossed the border?"
Marien let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping, her expression deadly serious.
I shook my head and clicked my tongue.
"No matter how skilled a mage is, you can't just chain spatial teleportation like that without consequence. If that were possible, the Imperial House wouldn't have poured a fortune into building this circle in the first place."
"That's true, but…"
"Besides, spatial teleportation requires not only precise coordinates, but also a secured destination. One wrong move and you could drop yourself off a cliff. There's a reason it's high-tier magic."
"You're saying he set up designated points in advance?"
"Exactly. Mages are, by nature, creatures who prepare for everything. They don't tolerate even a hair's breadth of error, so that's how they usually cast spatial teleportation."
Spatial teleportation was a spell used only by a tiny handful of high-tier mages. It demanded computational work almost like a computer's—operations impossible for an ordinary human—and so its difficulty was nightmarish. That was why they prepared fixed points at specific locations beforehand. On top of that, the mana cost was absurd, which meant there was a hard limit on how far you could travel in a single jump.
In other words, even if the man were the greatest mage in the Empire, the chance he had already crossed the border was close to zero.
And more than that, there was one other reason I was certain they were still inside the Empire.
"Do you really think Count Bran would try to defect empty-handed?"
That was it. A man who called himself a count was never going to flee with light pockets and nothing to his name. Abandoning every privilege he had enjoyed as a noble and a count was already galling and humiliating enough—imagine doing it without money on top of that.
Most people might think, Better to roll in a dung heap in this world than die. But a man like him would rather die than live as a beggar over there.
"You're saying there's another hidden cache?"
The moment I finished, Marien's eyes lit up as she asked back.
It was the obvious question—hardly worth asking—and I nodded.
"There's bound to be another cache that even the ones we've already caught don't know about. One only Count Bran himself knows. He'll grab every last scrap of wealth he can from there, then head for the border."
"Then where does Senior intend to catch him?"
"Unless you've got a pair of legs sturdy enough to cross the mountain range, there's only one road that leads to the Coalition."
"Ah—don't tell me…!"
Marien finally seemed to catch on. Then again, after an explanation that thorough, if she still hadn't figured it out, she must have won her agent post in a card game.
I smirked at her, then shifted my gaze to the court mage managing the circle.
"The Empire's northernmost point. Bernheim Fortress, if you please."
"Hah! Nobles are all the same, aren't they? Even at a time like this, money's that important?"
In the hidden cache, Count Bran and his family were frantically scooping up gold and jewels. Watching from behind with his arms folded, Kairun grumbled under his breath.
"I'm already dead on my feet, and for that scrap of coin he wants me here, then there—what a damn circus."
"Don't talk like that. Do you even understand how much money it takes to get you the thing I promised?"
"I understand. That's why I'm stuck babysitting you and your family through this idiotic farce."
"Ghk! We're almost done. Just wait a little longer."
"Ugh. Do you have any idea how much blood spatial teleportation wrings out of a person? No matter how I run the numbers, this job doesn't pay."
"I'll make sure you get everything you want. All you have to do is get us safely to the Coalition."
Half out of his mind, Count Bran tore through the cache with his hair flying wild. Dignity forgotten, he crawled on his knees, sweeping up coin purses and jewel boxes without discrimination. His breathing grew harsher by the second; cold sweat no longer merely ran—it poured. And still his hands never stopped moving.
"Damn it, damn it! There has to be more! This isn't enough!"
When his pockets were full, he swept the room with crazed eyes—then hiked up his own underclothes and stuffed gold coins inside. The rest of the family followed suit, each of them packing coins into their undergarments.
"Heh. Completely unhinged. There's a madman here worse than me."
Faced with a scene of greed beyond words, Kairun recoiled and stuck out his tongue in disgust.
How much time passed like that? At last Count Bran and his family waddled up to Kairun, their bodies swollen and stuffed. Their eyes still clung greedily to the gold and jewels they hadn't managed to take.
"It's fine. We'll send someone later for whatever's left."
Smacking his lips, Count Bran shook his head hard and seized his family.
"Now get us to the Coalition at once."
"Oh, please. Looking like that?"
"We're traveling by spatial teleportation anyway…"
"Exactly. Spatial teleportation can get you to the border. But after that—how do you plan to reach the Coalition? With bodies like those, you won't even make it over a single mountain."
For a moment that was all. Then Kairun's mockery hit home, and Count Bran nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What did you say? Listen here! You promised to take us all the way to the Coalition!"
"No, I said I'd take you to the border! When did I ever say I'd take you to the Coalition? Delusion is free, sure, but this is too much even for that."
"It's the same thing! How are we supposed to cross those brutal northern mountains?!"
"You think spatial teleportation is some spell you can just throw around whenever you feel like it? The Coalition isn't in range! One bad drop and you land who-knows-where and die!"
"Th-That's…!"
"Hah. What kind of idiot is this? I figured a count would at least have a working brain. If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've found someone else."
Kairun's face twisted. Seeing it, Count Bran flinched and stumbled backward.
"I-If I don't make it into the Coalition, you won't get what you want either!"
"I could just kill the lot of you right here and take the gold myself."
"Ha! If that were possible, you'd have done it already."
"Don't flatter yourself. I've got far too much on my plate, so I farm the work out to trash like you. But if you keep piling on demands, I may have to rethink that arrangement."
"If we die, all the time and effort you've spent goes to waste. Is that truly what you want? Fine! Then I won't make any more unreasonable demands."
"This, then that. What exactly are you proposing?"
Killing intent began to rise off Kairun in earnest. Count Bran faced it head-on, biting his lip hard as he forced the words out.
"Bernheim Fortress. Just help us pass through there safely. We'll handle the rest ourselves."