90. Good News and Better News
90. Good News and Better News
"...This code name Monghwan—what the hell does he do?"
"I don't know either. The informant who passed this along said they don't know what this Monghwan person does, either."
"Is the informant Ophelia Blumin?"
Because I'd tossed out the name of the Information Guild's head so casually, Silina's gaze shifted to Pina.
Only for a moment, though. She nodded in confirmation.
"Right. Ophelia Blumin. Even the person who heads the Information Guild said she couldn't trace the source of this information. Which is why its reliability is low."
"Does it even make sense not to know who brought the information?"
"I agree. But what can you do? Apparently she woke up in the morning and the information was just sitting on her desk."
"...And so she brought it straight to you?"
"Right. She even defied the Cartel's orders and came to me. She's an obedient little scout dog. So you can't kill her."
"How did she get it into the academy?"
"Ophelia Blumin is a Puppeteer, you know. Not just any Puppeteer, either—one who handles bizarre creature-like things. Among her puppets, there's an animal-type puppet that can deliver information to places like this. This time it was a cat."
"...Ha."
My throat felt tight, and an unpleasant sensation rolled through it like grains of sand.
A collateral branch that had apparently made some kind of deal with a Black Wizard.
Honestly, in that day and age, whether you made deals with Black Wizards, screwed them, or whatever else—it didn't matter at all.
Black Wizards had integrated into society quite well.
Even then, if you stepped outside and looked up, the Black Magic Tower called Gan drifted through the Imperial Capital's sky, so there was nothing more to say.
Black Wizards committing crimes?
Black Wizards aren't the only ones who commit crimes.
When I looked into the statistics, I actually found that the crime rate among Black Wizards was lower.
Whether they were careful because they knew their own image, or whether—unlike my suspicions—their Ideal had genuinely changed, I couldn't say.
But in that world, people said the neighbor next door was more dangerous than a Black Wizard.
So then, how should I think about this, how should I judge it, how should I accept it, and in what direction should I act?
Should I tear them apart for daring to deal with a Black Wizard while bearing the name of Eustetia?
Was it right to tear apart the collateral branch solely because they dealt with a Black Wizard, when even the Empire employed Black Wizards and they had blended into society?
If I chose the former, I needed evidence.
If I acted first and then tried to find proof that they had done something profane, only to come up empty, everyone in Eustetia's main line—myself included—would be completely fucked.
If I chose the latter? I felt like shit.
And this situation would definitely grow bigger and become irritatingly troublesome.
"The source isn't certain... is what you're saying."
As Silina had said, this information wasn't reliable.
I couldn't know what this code-named Monghwan bastard did, and I couldn't judge whether what that bastard saw was true.
And even if it was true—what they traded, what business took them to the Black Magic Tower floating in the sky, and why the Black Magic Tower granted them entry.
I couldn't know any of it.
But I could make my own guesses about the contents of the deal.
A Eustetia collateral branch that made a deal with a Black Wizard.
Before thinking about what they had given, what they had received was what mattered.
Black Wizards were indeed the sort who valued compensation more than any other humans, but that compensation was not ordinary.
Usually, Black Wizards didn't desire material things.
Things invisible to the eye.
For example, their own amusement, chaos in the world, or things mainly taken to score points with their master.
Simply put, they receive the right to ask a favor.
So before thinking about what the collateral branch had handed over as payment, what they had received was what mattered.
So then, what did they receive?
That would connect to the reason that Shivria bitch was running wild then.
I recalled the air that bitch carried around her.
The sheer nerve of treating me, a member of the main line, like shit and not even showing her face once even though the head of House Eustetia had come.
The former could be explained simply as her not liking me, a member of the main line.
But the latter?
For anyone bearing the name of Eustetia, that was something they must never do, no matter what.
Ignoring the head of the house.
In other words, ignoring everything about Eustetia.
That was no different from attempting rebellion.
The Eustetia Knight Order, rivaling the Imperial Knight Order.
Nameless, whose fame and infamy resound worldwide.
She was attempting rebellion against Eustetia, which commanded both of those.
What could she be relying on to do that?
Is there a way to defeat the Eustetia Knight Order and Nameless?
Is there a group stronger than Nameless and the Knight Order backing them?
As if.
He's never stated it outright, but the Kerion I saw was at least Tier 7.
Which meant the leader of Nameless was at least Tier 7.
That meant the leader was definitely Tier 8.
The single fact that someone who had reached Tier 7 was in Nameless raised the organization's value exponentially.
And it didn't end there—a person who had reached Tier 8 belonged to it.
The group led by that Tier 8 person was Nameless.
Tier 8.
In Circles, 9th Circle.
A person who reached Tier 8 had transcended humanity and become a completed existence.
Such a Tier 8 could face entire groups alone.
To put it bluntly.
A person who had reached Tier 8 could plausibly force mutual destruction even against the Eustetia Knight Order and Nameless alone.
Maybe they could even annihilate everyone and survive.
Being able to do such inhuman things without batting an eye was what Tier 8 meant.
There was no way such Tier 8s were numerous on the continent.
Just looking at the Six Pillars of the Empire explains it.
The world revered them, and those hailed as the next Heroes were widely known to be Tier 8 as well.
That was what Tier 8 meant.
So then, they have someone who can kill such a person—the leader of Nameless—as their backer?
That's absurd.
Then let me think of another method.
A way for the collateral branch to win without facing the Knight Order and Nameless.
And, in the past.
A method mainly used by Black Wizards and Demonized Humans who moved under the orders of Demons, including the Demons themselves.
It's simple.
Sowing discord and collapsing them from within.
What could there be to sow discord among Eustetia and the people who follow Eustetia?
I already knew the answer.
That the blood of a Hero did not flow through Eustetia's bloodline.
That Eustetia was not descended from a Hero.
Shivria Eustetia.
Hesilia Eustetia.
The collateral branch rising against Eustetia.
They received that information from a Black Wizard.
Then, the payment?
The collapse of Eustetia.
Dragging the Hero's name through the mud.
Arisa Eustetia's name.
Destroying everything she achieved.
Then why the hell are they pulling something like this?
No.
There was no need to think about this.
Their reasons didn't matter.
What mattered right then was this:
I had to grit my teeth and hold back the rage—the urge to round up every last one of these bitch-ass bastards who had planned this and beat them to death.
"...Ha."
"How about relaxing your expression a little?"
Meanwhile, Silina was sipping tea with a serene face, as if my reaction were amusing.
"Keep that up a little longer and Pina might stop breathing and die."
"Hey, you want to go a round with me?"
"No."
"Why not? You kept wanting to."
"If we do it now, would I be anything more than a target for your venting?"
Pfft—Silina snorted.
"Speaking of which, you really are something. To even think of using an Imperial Princess as an outlet for your anger."
"Yeah. You're right. So if you don't want to get your ass kicked, stop poking and sit still."
"Speak a little more prettily, won't you?"
"Fuck off."
"...Good heavens."
Silina's eyes went wide.
Only for a moment, though. She shook her head and let out a sigh.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"About what?"
"This situation."
Just as I was about to say I was agonizing over how to tear these motherfucking bitches apart.
I felt something strange.
"Why is your face like that?"
Clink—Silina set down her teacup and wore a peculiar smile.
"I'll help you."
"...Ha?"
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Silina.
"Right. That's right... There's still something I haven't heard from you. This information about the snake—did you hear it from Ophelia?"
"It wasn't Ophelia. And it wasn't passed on from anyone, either. The thing about the snake—no. To be precise, the information about what's beneath the Imperial Capital is something I learned by commissioning another source myself. And this information isn't something you were the first to uncover. Someone else had already claimed it earlier."
When I received the information from Ophelia.
I had felt something odd about how neatly organized the information already was.
Because it had a tidiness as if it had already been delivered to someone once.
And didn't Ophelia say it too?
That what I took was a copy.
But that just stopped at seeming odd.
I figured the Information Guild called [Uranos] simply worked that thoroughly.
But there was someone who wanted this information before me?
And.
"Why were you trying to dig up that kind of information?"
"Anton de Hermann."
I asked for the reason, and she said a name.
And the name of the First Prince, at that.
I blinked and stared at Silina.
"Anton de Hermann knows this information too."
"What does that have to do with you knowing that information?"
"Don't you find it strange that Anton knows this information? Maybe the person who tried to kill me after summoning Demons to the Imperial Capital was Anton de Hermann."
"What kind of question is that? Do you have a recorder running or something? Are you trying to bury me for imperial defamation the moment I answer that it's suspicious?"
"If being unable to trust people like that is an illness, then it's an illness. You can speak your mind freely. Or shall I go first?"
Heh heh—Silina laughed, lifted her teacup, and slowly swirled it as she spoke in a low voice.
"I'm going to kill Anton."