24. A Lucky Day
24. A Lucky Day
"Special Professor Adelia, this is..."
"It's all true."
Adelia Baros, the Special Professor of Black Magic, held out to Sedil what she had investigated over the past fifteen days.
"The Labyrinth that the young ladies of House Eustetia and House Verheigen entered was not one created by the academy. It was created through the Authority of Labyrinth of Sloth, the Legion Commander of Ge Vihenum."
As Sedil read the documents Adelia had handed over, a chill Mana rose around him.
"The one thing I can call fortunate is that the person who created that Labyrinth had a low Realm, so its completeness was lacking. Of course, its danger was still on an entirely different level from the academy's Labyrinth."
"According to your report, it appears to have been planned as much as a month in advance. Is there any evidence?"
Sedil could not easily believe Adelia's words.
How could he trust someone who spoke respectfully of Labyrinth—the Demon King's underling and a Legion Commander of the Demons?
Moreover, Adelia was a Black Wizard.
The only person who could readily believe what someone like her said would be another Black Wizard.
But, thinking rationally, it was also true that this was a situation in which he had no choice but to trust Adelia's words.
She was one of the candidates for the next master of the Black Magic Tower.
And not just any candidate, but the one with the strongest reputation among them. Her testimony had also uncovered traces of black magic that even Sedil, an 8th Circle Archwizard, had failed to find.
"You need only look at the last page. Traces of the Black Wizard the Empire is currently pursuing were found. They used a very filthy method."
"This is..."
"Yes. It is exactly what you are thinking, Dean."
In Sedil's narrowed eyes, a single photograph was visible.
"Three months ago, the second son of Baron Uraka's family withdrew from the academy. After that, rumors also spread that his whereabouts were unknown. However, Baron Uraka's family didn't seem to pay much attention to the rumors, so it passed quietly. Five days ago, he was found in that state."
In a mansion in the Imperial Capital.
A corpse facing the academy, its belly split open and its entrails laid out.
Both eyeballs hung from the belly skin, arranged as though looking down at the entrails, and the limbs and entrails were twisted strangely.
The body was so badly damaged that it was impossible to tell when he had died or how he had died, and maggots were swarming around it.
A strange Magic Circle beginning at his back had been worked large enough to fill the wide room, and all of it was drawn in blood.
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a grisly murder, but Sedil immediately recognized the pattern.
The Magic Circle drawn in blood was an inversion of the Labyrinth-creation Magic Circle produced by the Green Magic Tower.
Because the hanging entrails and twisted limbs had been arranged in exactly the same shape as the Entrance Exam Labyrinth.
"Baron Uraka appears to know nothing. I don't know whether he's pretending or truly knows nothing, but we could arrest him if we wanted. At best, though, we'd only be grabbing a severed tail."
Sedil, who had been reading the documents while listening to Adelia, slowly raised his head.
His eyes were turned toward Adelia, but he was not looking at her.
It was not a memory of the present, but of the past.
He was replaying the words Eliarnes Eustetia had spoken when she came out after finishing the exam.
-You won't need us to prove this separately too, will you? If necessary, I'll even swear on my Mana, but I think responsibility should be addressed for the retest caused by 'the academy's accident.'
-Well, since I'm young, someone from my family will probably come in person to ask about it.
-Anyway, that's how it went. And I'd like you to keep what happened today—the special admission—a secret.
-Well... there are various troublesome reasons. It's a bit much to explain here, so please.
"So she was asking that all of this be kept secret..."
She had known.
Eliarnes Eustetia had already known.
He could not know what had happened inside, but she, the person directly involved, could not have been unaware.
Because the academy-made Labyrinth and the real Labyrinth were worlds apart.
Was that why Eliarnes's expression had hardened the moment she came out of the Labyrinth?
"Huh..."
Then why had she asked for secrecy?
Because she suspected the professors.
She must have thought that there was a Black Wizard's informant among the professors.
And if the academy, having learned all this, moved—if House Eustetia moved.
If Nameless stepped in.
As Adelia had said, the real culprit who had extracted information from somewhere would surely cut off their tail and flee.
Was that why Lady Eliarnes had asked for secrecy? To prevent that?
Had she acted while seeing several moves ahead at only seventeen years old?
Even so, it was too dangerous.
Even if she had slain a basilisk in a real Labyrinth and escaped in only four hours, she was still a mere girl of seventeen.
Stella Verheigen was likewise.
"This is..."
Sedil closed his eyes, chewing over his own shortcomings.
"...Special Professor Adelia. Who knows about this right now?"
"Only me and you, Dean. Although... the person concerned may already know."
"Be that as it may, you already know that they were caught up in the special admission—no, in the incident. I have no memory of telling you."
Adelia, receiving Sedil's sharp gaze, giggled and opened her eyes alluringly.
"Well, me... I just have very good eyes."
Red pupils glistened between her slightly parted eyelids.
"So. What will you do, Dean?"
"Right. As for this matter——"
The moment Sedil opened his mouth after a long silence.
A massive barrier unfolded around the dean's office. It caught the movement of the air and blocked the flow of sound, preventing the conversation from leaking out.
Then, a moment later, when Sedil's words ended.
"Oh my... That's a fine method."
Adelia was already gone. And in her place, only a black crow's feather remained.
"At times like this, I resented being dean. I couldn't act directly."
Still, as long as he occupied the dean's seat, he would do as much as possible before the entrance ceremony.
With that thought, Sedil quietly left the dean's office.
*****
"Hmm... my lady, they say there's no book like that."
[No information found for 'The Wizard of the Hero Party'.]
I frowned at the words that appeared on the screen.
"Then search for things about Archwizards for me."
"Yep."
Tap-tap-tap-tap—After answering lightly, Eurasia began tapping away at the letters displayed on the screen with incredible speed.
Search. Search. Search.
After a few seconds of searching based on key words from what I had said, Eurasia beamed and pointed at the screen.
"These are the ones with the most overlap, apparently!"
"Oh..."
Several kinds of books were displayed on the screen.
"I've already checked all the locations, so shall we head out right away?"
"Uh... yeah. Sure. Thanks."
"Hehe. It was nothing, really. You could have easily done it all by yourself!"
"...No. If it weren't for you, Eurasia, I would've smashed that thing. Might've gotten kicked out for cursing."
"Oh! Then you'll have to stay by my side all the time?"
"No need to go that far. I can just learn."
Eurasia giggled at my words, linked her arm through mine, and started walking forward.
"Let's start with the closest one!"
I started walking, half-dragged along by her.
"I keep saying it, but it really is huge."
"Right?"
Eurasia and I admired the endless shelves and the books that filled every inch of them.
I'd heard rumors that the Imperial Capital's library was large, but I hadn't known it was this huge.
No, "large" isn't enough.
It's enormous.
Enormous, and then enormous again.
Without the kiosk we just used, it's so enormous that finding a single book would have taken an entire day.
I really would've been in trouble without Eurasia.
"Hmm... B94. It says it's somewhere around here..."
Eventually, Eurasia stopped walking and began looking for the book we had searched for.
"What's the title?"
"The History of Archwizards!"
"A, A, Archwiz... history... Ah, here it is. Found it."
I pulled out a book with a navy cover and purple vertical lines.
Maybe because it was recently published, the cover was stiff and glossy.
The title was.
[The History of Archwizards, Volume II]
"What? Volume II? There's a first volume too?"
"Huh? Yeah, you're right. There wasn't a separate first volume."
"Hmm, let's just read this one for now."
I tucked it under my arm and moved to find the next book.
"Ah, give it to me. I'll carry it."
"No. You've got drinks in both hands."
"I can still carry it!"
"You said if you spill it, we'll be fined. Never mind. Where's the next book?"
"Hmm... The next book is in C34: 'The House That Produced Archwizards'!"
The C34 Eurasia mentioned could be seen far off in the distance, blurry.
One, two, three...
We had to pass at least forty rows.
It really is spacious.
I'd thought my father's study was enormous, but compared to this, it's smaller than a bathroom.
Four hundred years ago, paper was so expensive that books were the exclusive property of nobles. It's fascinating that now, regardless of status, people can read all kinds of books.
-After I catch the Demon King, I'm going to build a library.
-A library? There's already one in the Imperial Palace.
-No. Not that one. I mean a library that commoners like us can enter freely. And the size—yes. About the size of this Legion Commander's castle would be suitable.
-Why don't you just say you'll turn the Imperial Palace into a library? And wouldn't filling a space that big with nothing but books cost a shit-ton of money?
-Ronan. Once we catch the Demon King, we'll have so much money it'll rot and crumble. Do you think we couldn't build a measly library? I'm going to build a gambling hall in the Holy Kingdom. It would be good to sell alcohol too. There's nothing as fun as taking money from bastards who've drunk themselves unconscious. Haa... my hands are already shaking.
-That's withdrawal, you crazy bitch.
-I'm going to build orphanages in the Imperial Capital. About thirty or so would be about right.
-Orphanages are nice, but what if the kids who grow up there turn out like us?
-Ah! Then I'll build a house where we can all live together! The Imperial Capital is too hectic, so somewhere on the outskirts with good air!
-You'll be living there alone.
-Whaaat?! We have to live together! Then what about you, Ronan? What do you want to do when you get rich?
-Hmm, I—
"Here, my lady, say ahh—"
While I was lost in old memories, a straw was thrust in front of my lips.
"Ah, no, I'm fine. I'll drink when we sit down later."
"By the time you find the books, the ice will melt and it'll get watery."
"It's fine."
"Aww, I can't allow that! Here, say ahh—"
Poke—poke—the pink straw kept poking my lips, so I had no choice but to open my mouth.
"...Ahh—nom—"
Suck suck—
"Hehe, want to try mine this time too?"
"Gulp... I'm not drinking it."
"Mine's tasty too..."
"I don't like sour things."
Suck suck—
I drank the iced chocolate Eurasia handed me as we walked to the shelf with the next book.
And then.
"Huh?"
There, with pink hair—
"Aren't you Lady Eliarnes Eustetia?"
I came face-to-face with a woman who had a somewhat vicious look about her.