Chapter 188
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Do You Know What's Interesting?
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A bizarre house with doors made of chocolate, walls of crackers, and windows of glass candy.
In that place, a woman with dark crimson hair was weaving sugar threads spun by a cookie spider onto a spinning wheel, crafting clouds of cotton candy that she floated into the air.
Syr blinked.
"Baby, is that the kind of joke trending with your generation these days?"
"My generation ended ages ago. It wasn't trendy back then, and it sure isn't now. And stop calling me baby, you old hag."
"But that's such a random thing to say. Kids dying because of the London Great Barrier?"
Playing innocent.
Rimon inwardly clicked his tongue.
Random, she says.
Just looking at those intrigued eyes told him Syr already grasped the general situation.
But he didn't bother pointing it out.
There was no point getting tangled in a witch's signature wordplay—pretending not to know what she did, and feigning ignorance of what she didn't.
That's why Rimon had explained it so half-heartedly on purpose.
"Of course there's a connection. The ones who made the London Great Barrier were witches from the 27 Lineages of Magic."
"That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think? All they did was grease the wheels, at best."
"That's for old hags like you to know. Anyway, that's how the kids see it these days."
"Hmm... So that's why the killer targeted the 27 Lineages' children?"
As if she'd just pieced it together.
Syr nodded slowly.
She stopped the spinning wheel, extended a hand, and let the cookie spider crawl onto the back of it, a sly smile playing on her lips.
"To get rid of the Twilight Hour?"
If the citizens of London had heard that, anyone would have chuckled.
The Twilight Hour—from noon to one in the afternoon, when the fog enveloped everything between the tolling bells—was a curse rooted deep in the city's underbelly.
Even the saints invited by the Holy Alliance during the Demon God War had declared it impossible to lift.
Eradicating it was seen in London as the same as saying the sun would rise in the west—a joke.
But if one knew who was plotting it, no one would dare laugh.
Not Rimon, at least.
"Who knows. All I know is the Magic Lord is moving for that very reason right now."
Magic Lord Carl Amadeus.
Rimon frowned as he recalled what the man had told Rose—his goal of eliminating the 'Twilight Hour' in London.
Whether or not he was the strongest among the Lords, this was the genius hailed as the greatest.
He had the authority to make even the impossible seem like a 'maybe'—having decoded trash-tier magic skills and elevated them to top-class ones.
"Baby, if that's true, then that rude Magic Lord is a prime suspect."
"...Rude?"
Syr slipped the cookie spider crawling on the back of her hand between her slightly parted lips and crunched it down.
She licked the cookie crumbs from her lips and continued languidly.
"He's got talent, but no manners. Not content with being called the Magic Lord, he shamelessly trades on the 27 Lineages' name."
"Oh, right. Why'd you let that slide, anyway?"
"What can I do? I'd lose if we fought."
"Fair point."
Rimon sighed.
In this Iron Age, even he—a Sword Master—was treated like a relic, and the Seven Dragon Society barely held its status through money.
Witches with no real power couldn't stand against the top ten guilds.
Of course, if Syr stepped in, she could harass the Mages Guild without even fighting...
But this old hag wouldn't lift a finger for someone else's problem.
"Anyway, even if that rude guy's the killer, it wouldn't surprise me. He's hated us witches for a while."
"Why's that?"
"How should I know? It's not like we've never been persecuted for no reason."
"Not something you should be saying..., but anyway, we'll look into the Magic Lord more closely."
"Not cutting off his head right away?"
"He's just a suspect for now."
Rimon said flatly.
It couldn't be coincidence that witches started dying just as Carl moved to eliminate the Twilight Hour.
But they couldn't conclude he was the culprit.
At least the Azure Dragon Clan, the royals, and the Mages Guild's top brass knew of Carl's plans.
One of them might have seized the opportunity to scheme for their own gain.
Like the Liberation Brigade, with spies and lackeys planted everywhere.
Hmm, they might be tangled up in this too.
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
There was no solid proof of the Liberation Brigade's involvement, of course.
But considering how even Lee Cheongi had moved on their mere whispers in the past, they had plenty of potential as culprits here.
That's why he'd listed them third, after the Azure Dragon Clan and Mages Guild.
Too bad Claire's shown no movement on that end.
Tsking briefly at thoughts of Claire—who couldn't be distinguished as here for work or vacation, so leisurely was she—
Rimon suddenly asked something that occurred to him.
"By the way, old hag. How'd that favor go?"
"Oh, that? If I had to say, it's half and half."
Snap.
Syr flicked her fingers.
One of the floating cotton candy clouds drifted down and stopped right in front of Rimon, presenting a small case.
Rimon immediately took the case and opened it.
His eyes narrowed at the contents.
"This is?"
"The successful half."
"...How do you 'succeed' and end up turning the bell into this?"
"Bells are outdated to begin with. Pinpointing targets by sound alone is iffy anyway."
"So you made it a smartphone?"
"Be grateful. It's custom-made—not just with enhanced tracking, but extra features too."
Rimon eyed the sleek smartphone in the case suspiciously for a moment.
Then he picked it up, and his brow twitched.
The screen lit up automatically upon touch, displaying concentric circles.
On the pitch-black screen, a single dot blinked in sync with occasional ripples, like...
"...A radar."
"What do you think? I applied some cutting-edge tech."
Rimon wore a subtle expression watching Syr puff up proudly, claiming magic had to keep up with trends.
He briefly wondered if tech from World War II could really be called cutting-edge.
But fortunately, the smartphone's functions didn't stop there.
"Try the camera mode. That'll make it clearer."
"Hmm?"
Intrigued, Rimon aimed the phone's camera in the direction of the radar's dot and snapped a photo.
He let out a short gasp of admiration.
A table made of a solid cake in one corner of the house.
When viewed through the smartphone, the violin hidden inside it appeared clearly on the screen, emanating a hazy glow like heat haze.
"Ho, this really is some high-tech stuff."
"Of course—who made it?"
"Fine, I admit it's impressive."
This time, Rimon agreed with Syr.
Not only had she repaired the broken bell, she'd remade it into a magic tool with radar and x-ray vision.
Something only a witch of her caliber could pull off.
"Two things to watch out for, though. First, don't rely too much on that radar. Accuracy drops if the target is hidden behind strong barriers or seals."
"That's fine. What's the second?"
"Try not to use the camera on people, if you can help it."
"Why? UV rays or something?"
"No, it sees through clothes too."
"...Take back what I said about impressive, you damn old hag."
"Why? It's every guy's dream gadget."
"That's for pervs."
Rimon barely resisted hurling the smartphone away and pocketed it instead.
Even using it on women was trouble, but if he accidentally aimed it at a guy...
His face twisted at the mere thought of the horrors.
But he couldn't smash the one tool that could find the Seven Arcs.
After a sigh,
Rimon pulled the Heartblack Violin from the split cake table and placed it in a box nearby, then asked,
"So, what about the violin investigation?"
"Regrettably, that part failed."
"...Even a witch like you couldn't find anything?"
"I did learn a few things. Just not the most important part."
"Like what?"
"First off, it's almost certain something unrelated to magic or skills is dwelling within this violin."
Syr said languidly.
Honestly, it was pretty meaningless info.
The bell for finding Seven Arcs already held special mysteries— if they were mere magic or skill products, he'd have been disappointed.
"The interesting part is that it's embedded in a form close to a seal."
"A seal?"
"Yeah. You know how powerful holy artifacts or magic tools are sometimes used as barriers to seal something inside? It was like that."
Rimon narrowed his eyes.
Having seen countless spells and tools, he understood what Syr found 'interesting.'
"In other words, the violin was just a 'vessel'—the real deal is what's inside?"
"Vessels rarely outvalue their contents. Especially if the vessel is a divine-grade magic tool."
"...Yeah, that's definitely interesting."
The Heartblack Violin was a masterpiece crafted over a saint's lifetime, cursed by Syr herself.
Cursed item aside, its embedded magic ranked among humanity's top ten treasures.
If even such a tool was mere container?
Whatever was inside, no wonder the Liberation Brigade chased it above all else.
"Just to confirm—did you learn anything about unlocking the contents or seal?"
"I told you, it was a failure."
"Hm, can't be helped then."
Rimon nodded.
Even without the key info, it confirmed Seven Arcs weren't ordinary magic tools.
That alone made entrusting the violin to Syr worthwhile.
...Speaking of, why's that idiot princess taking so long to report?
Rimon frowned, thinking of Aynsha, whom he'd tasked with investigating Muse's saint.
Given the Seven Dragon Society's intel network, he'd expected results sooner—no word yet.
Eh, probably off doing something stupid again.
As Rimon dismissed it as typical White Dragon Clan antics and wrapped up his thoughts,
Syr added, as if something had just occurred to her.
"Oh, and baby. There's one more interesting thing."
"What now?"
To the puzzled Rimon, Syr gave a meaningful smile.
"That violin has..."