Chapter 379
Chapter 379
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 379
>Chapter Title: For the Decullan
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Lamburg Grand Duchy.
Azure Pavilion.
Grand Duchess Iris sat at the table, reading a letter.
The sender was Jenion Academy's headmaster, Schwerz.
He had sent the letter a while ago after detecting movements from the Urbonga House, and this was the reply.
The letter began like this.
*To my dear disciple, Iris.*
The letter started with an uncharacteristic greeting, and its contents were far from pleasant for the Grand Duchess.
“In the end...”
There were various circumstances explained, but the core message could be summed up in one word.
“It's impossible, then.”
Her master, Schwerz, had refused the Grand Duchess's request.
No, it wasn't exactly a refusal.
According to the letter, her master had done his utmost to fulfill her request.
But what mattered was the result.
“...A failure, it seems.”
The request the Grand Duchess had made to her master Schwerz was simple.
Please connect me with the mage from the Hamern Great Forest.
The mage from the Hamern Great Forest was the enigmatic figure she had met several years ago when she ventured into the great forest at her master's behest.
A mysterious mage who possessed the "New Moon Token," which none of her fellow disciples had received.
- Won't that bring ruin to you and one grimoire noble house?
At the time, the Grand Duchess had proposed bringing him in as a "vassal."
And what was his response?
Right, that was it.
- If it's "one grimoire noble house"... does that mean there's no specific one in mind?
- Then how about I recommend one? The Decullans are a bunch of real bastards...
It was madness.
What was the Decullan House? Though grouped with the Urbonga as one of the noble houses, their power was incomparable.
And yet, to target the Decullans?
It was so absurd.
...Yes, he was a madman.
But now, on the eve of the decisive battle with the Urbonga House, what the Grand Duchess needed was exactly such a madman.
And yet.
“You can't locate him.”
The Grand Duchess pondered.
Could her master be lying? Was he deliberately hiding the mage's whereabouts?
That was the extent of the trust she had in her master.
Her perilous journey into the Hamern Great Forest had merely been for proper compensation.
...But such suspicions didn't last long.
'What good would it do?'
Whether her master's words were true or false, the situation was already ruined. There was nothing the Grand Duchess could do now.
Thus, she had no choice but to let go of her lingering hopes, when footsteps approached from outside the door soon after.
“Grand Duchess.”
“Come in.”
The one who entered was the blue-eyed vice-captain.
“What is it?”
“...Contact from Doppelganger.”
“From Doppelganger?”
A glint appeared in the Grand Duchess's eyes.
Who was Doppelganger?
One of her twelve vassals, tasked with infiltrating the Urbonga House.
The name came from the legendary monster, due to his innate gift and transformation magic.
And now, contact from him?
“Now that I think about it, today was the day. But contact already... did it go wrong?”
At the Grand Duchess's question, the vice-captain shook his head slowly.
“To give the result first, he hasn't even attempted infiltration yet.”
“...Not even attempted?”
“Yes. He said he planned to select a mercenary with a suitable identity after support ended and disguise himself as them...”
A wise choice.
The discernment stone was a simple artifact, but not easy to fool.
Better to pick one of the mercenaries hired after support and infiltrate in their guise—it was far more stable.
In any case, it hadn't gone wrong...
“What's the matter, then?”
“Well...”
The vice-captain trailed off, hesitating in his response.
His face looked extremely troubled... no, perplexed, so the Grand Duchess narrowed her eyes, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
“Speak freely.”
“...Our spy was caught.”
“...?”
The Grand Duchess tilted her head.
“...Our spy?”
“Yes. Apparently, information leaked, and the Urbonga side launched a massive manhunt...”
“What does that...”
The vice-captain added explanations, but the Grand Duchess remained confused.
“So, the Urbonga side caught a spy? One we sent? Into the Urbonga House?”
“Yes.”
“What does that...”
Seeing the Grand Duchess's reaction, now the vice-captain was the baffled one.
“May I ask why you're reacting like that?”
It didn't make sense.
Her reaction wasn't that of someone who had just heard their spy was caught.
However, instead of answering, the Grand Duchess posed a question.
“Did you send a spy?”
“...Pardon? No. After the war became imminent, we withdrew all our agents.”
“What about the others?”
“To my knowledge, no one sent spies.”
“Really?”
At the Grand Duchess's question, the vice-captain double-checked. Whether anyone had sent spies afterward.
After the war loomed, all intelligence operations went through him, and even recalling now, there were no reports of sending spies.
“Truly none. Why on earth...”
The vice-captain voiced his doubt at the Grand Duchess's incomprehensible reaction.
It wasn't long before the Grand Duchess spoke.
“I didn't send any spies either.”
“...Pardon?”
“There are no spies from our side in the Urbonga House right now.”
“What does that...”
The vice-captain had naturally assumed the Grand Duchess had sent one separately. Otherwise, there couldn't be a spy he didn't know about.
But she hadn't sent any?
“Then, the spy caught by the Urbonga side is...”
The vice-captain couldn't continue.
The Grand Duchess fell silent too.
Thus, the room filled with silence and bewilderment.
It was then that a vibration rang out.
Kieeeeng— ging—!
“Wait... ah, it's Doppelganger.”
“...Take it.”
The vice-captain pulled out the communication orb and activated it.
Ziiing—
As the light of the communication orb shifted, a voice soon followed.
[Is that the vice-captain?]
“...Yes, it's me.”
[The situation is unfolding strangely.]
The voice of Doppelganger from the orb sounded just as confused as the Grand Duchess and vice-captain.
But before asking the reason, there was something to clarify first.
“If it's not urgent, may I ask something first? There's something that doesn't sit right.”
[...? Go ahead.]
“The spy caught by the Urbonga side. Are you sure it's one of ours?”
After speaking, the vice-captain waited for Doppelganger's reply. The Grand Duchess also leaned in to listen to the orb.
It wasn't long before Doppelganger spoke.
[I was about to contact you about that. To confirm if the one caught by Urbonga really is one of ours. But from your reaction, it's not? Then... hmm. So that's true.]
Doppelganger's voice sounded genuinely perplexed.
The vice-captain pressed for an answer.
“Is something happening?”
[Of course. First... to cut to the conclusion, the intruder's backer has been revealed. But it's so unexpected.]
“Unexpected? Who?”
[That's... hmm.]
Doppelganger hesitated a moment before finally speaking.
And upon hearing it, not only the vice-captain but the Grand Duchess too couldn't hide her shock.
It was because the backer of the mysterious spy Doppelganger mentioned was utterly unforeseen.
[The Decullans.]
“...”
The Grand Duchess fell silent.
“...”
The vice-captain fell silent too.
At this moment, only one thought crossed both their minds.
...Why the Decullans?
* * *
Let's sort out the situation first.
‘A spy we didn't even send was caught in Urbonga. And that spy was actually a Decullan spy?’
The Decullans? Suddenly? Why?
It would have been more believable if the spy's backer was the barbarians of the Great Plains.
“Can you explain the details?”
[Grand Duchess, I didn't know you were there...]
“Skip the greetings and explain.”
[Yes, then...]
Doppelganger calmly recounted what he had seen and heard.
How much time passed like that?
“So.”
Tap, tap.
The Grand Duchess's fingers drummed the table.
From what she had heard, the situation was this.
“You were scouting near the registration desk to select a disguise target. Then, in the late afternoon, things suddenly got rowdy?”
[Yes, I didn't know the reason at the time. Later, I grabbed one of the emerging mercenaries and asked—he said a spy was caught. From the Lamburg Grand Duchy, no less.]
“So you infiltrated to grasp the situation?”
[It wasn't hard. Conveniently, a mercenary I was talking to had left his belongings inside... I went in and fetched them for him.]
In other words, he had stolen the appearance of the mercenary he was conversing with.
The Grand Duchess didn't ask what happened to that mercenary.
It wasn't important now.
“How did you learn the spy's identity was ‘Decullan’?”
[That's... hard to explain.]
“Hard?”
[Yes. I got inside, but didn't obtain much information. One odd thing was how composed the Urbon gas were in their response. Anyway, as I was leaving without much gain... there was a commotion. An explosion from inside.]
“Explosion?”
[Yes.]
The scene Doppelganger witnessed then was this.
...A sudden explosion.
Alarm magic blaring from all directions.
Urbonga mages flew toward the explosion site. Yes, "flew in" was the most fitting description.
Doppelganger took advantage of the chaos to approach the explosion site. It was possible because his transformation magic and stealth had both reached mastery. Of course, he wouldn't have dared without the ancient artifact aiding his stealth, but anyway.
When he arrived at the scene.
Doppelganger beheld a truly astonishing sight.
Mages collapsed from the explosion's aftermath.
Not just one or two.
Dozens.
...In other words, dozens of a grimoire noble house's elite mages lay toppled like trees swept by a typhoon.
Even for Doppelganger, one of the top troubleshooters who had seen countless sites, it was a first.
But what was even more astonishing was...
[I saw it clearly. The ‘Black Stone’ among those mages.]
Black Stone was one of Urbonga's five representative mages.
Like Decullan's Seven Mages or Blandoga's Nine Stars.
And yet...
[It was utterly wrecked. Completely, utterly.]
By now, Doppelganger's voice was trembling faintly.
Why wouldn't it?
In the heart of a noble house, their mages—and the house's representative mage—lay fallen. Even for Doppelganger, it was a shocking scene. No, precisely because he knew how terrifying the mages of a "noble house" were, it hit harder.
Recalling that moment, Doppelganger's eyes quivered faintly. It was then the Grand Duchess's voice came.
“...And then?”
[Ah, sorry. It was so unbelievable I got lost in it. ...Surprisingly, there was only one perpetrator. A masked mage.]
“Masked?”
[Yes.]
The masked mage tossed what appeared to be synthetic skin he had been wearing moments ago into the flames, gazing indifferently at the Black Stone mage. Then, he leaned down and whispered into the ear of the groaning Black Stone mage...
[‘For the Decullan.’]
“...”
[I heard it clearly. It was far, so faint, but my lip-reading is perfect.]
At Doppelganger's firm assertion, the Grand Duchess's eyes trembled faintly.
For a moment, she even thought.
Was Doppelganger toying with her right now?
What madman in the world infiltrates as a spy, gets caught, and proudly declares their affiliation?
‘Well, not shouted, but still.’
Anyway.
“Was that guy... really Decullan?”
[Absolutely. At first, I thought it might be some advanced psychological warfare you planned, Grand Duchess, but if not, the answer is clear.]
Contrary to the Grand Duchess's thoughts, Doppelganger seemed utterly convinced that the man was a Decullan mage.
...Completely convinced.