The Method Empire Conference
The conference chamber of the Magic Tower Grand Hall.
Dwight stepped through the entrance to attend the mage leadership council.
Only mages of 7 Circle and above were permitted at this gathering, which convened twice a year to decide the empire's most pressing affairs.
Neatly combed blond hair. Eyes like sapphires.
The moment Dwight walked in, the faces of the female mages — including the 7 Circle mage Petursha — flushed a soft pink. Dwight himself, however, took the seat prepared for him with a heavy, sunken expression. He already knew the questions that would come raining down on him from this chair.
The chairperson struck the gavel and declared the session open.
"I hereby call the forty-sixth Method Empire Conference to order."
Bang. Bang.
Secretary Leto laid out the agenda.
"This assembly has been convened to prepare for the large-scale war with the witches that is soon to come. As for the current situation: the regions within the empire where witches have taken root have expanded nearly fivefold compared to five years ago. Until now, we have pursued coexistence and mutual prosperity, and have largely chosen to look the other way."
Leto brought a photograph up on the monitor.
"Tensions between the witches and the empire entered a critical phase on the twenty-fifth of last month — when, under Double Crown's leadership, the Central Intelligence Bureau, the Emergency Response Headquarters, and Heil Lake were all detonated. Word is spreading among the witches that this bombing marks the start of a full-scale war. If any of the committee members have something to say on the matter, please speak freely."
The 8 Circle elder Durahan raised his voice in a sharp, prickly tone.
"Isn't this all because that Double Crown went and stirred up trouble for no good reason? We were living in peace, not touching each other — and he went and picked a scab until it bled!"
The 7 Circle mage Petursha countered gently.
"That would be easier to accept if the witches' recent movements hadn't been so unsettling. The Three Hundredth Legion at Heil Lake had already established a powerful mana field beneath the water's surface and was jamming communications."
The 8 Circle mage Dupin agreed.
"She's right. It was only after the witches began jamming our signals that the empire itself started treating the matter with real seriousness."
Durahan looked unconvinced.
"Just how bad was this signal jamming that it's caused all this uproar?"
Dupin filled in the details.
"They amplified a powerful magnetic field inside the lake and caused mass die-offs of fish in the rivers and seas. They interfered with the sound waves the fish use to communicate with one another — in short, they blew the fishes' brains out. How can we possibly guarantee the same thing won't happen to human beings?"
Petursha added her voice.
"Exactly. Cases have already come to light of regional witches actively networking, growing their power, forming alliances, and attacking imperial citizens."
Durahan clicked his tongue.
"This is what we get for being so obsessed with catching villains that we neglected the danger the witches posed. And as if to mock this very Magic Tower, the Villain Alliance has solidified into a more formidable force than ever. We've reached the point where Double Crown is being called a hero — that says it all."
Dupin turned toward Dwight.
"What exactly has the Emergency Response Headquarters been doing all this time? You talk about rounding up every last villain and establishing peace in the empire — and yet that scoundrel is out there dating like a civilian and leading a witch hunt?"
The conference chamber went cold, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over the room. The mages who knew Dwight was the other party in that very relationship exchanged uneasy glances.
Dupin pressed on without pause.
"An officer of the Emergency Response Headquarters — the very body charged with catching villains — is out front and center having a romance. That says everything, doesn't it? Do you even intend to catch any villains at all?"
It was a blatant shot aimed squarely at Jeffbery.
"That is…"
Dwight's pupils slid slowly to one side. When he opened his mouth, tension rippled through the chamber.
"The Emergency Response Headquarters does not interfere in the private lives of its team members."
He continued.
"As you are all aware, we have taken the position that Double Crown has not committed crimes serious enough to warrant his arrest, and so we have been unable to move rashly. You all know this. Public opinion has been flowing in his favor ever since his contribution to the bombing of those government facilities."
Secretary Leto backed him up.
"I believe Double Crown requires a separate discussion of his own. Everyone, please look here."
Leto played a video on the monitor. On the screen, a list of the witches Double Crown had hunted over the years scrolled past, intercut with combat footage captured on CCTV.
Watching Double Crown subdue a witch in a single stroke, a flicker of admiration crossed the mages' faces. Magic circles no one could have imagined erupted one after another. When he slipped free of a crisis with sheer cleverness, sighs of wonder escaped here and there around the room.
Is that even possible? — that was the feeling.
Leto paused the footage and spoke.
"Double Crown has been meticulously countering the witches for years already. To claim he attacked them simply for the sake of hunting would be to ignore the fact that every last one of their strongholds sat astride a major vital point of the empire."
Durahan's expression turned grave.
"Are you saying the witches were trying to seize the mana ley lines that run through the continent — and that Double Crown knew in advance and stopped them?"
"Hard as it is to believe, yes."
At Leto's words, a heavy silence settled over the chamber.
Petursha spoke aloud.
"If this is true, then as mages we cannot hold our heads high. Hasn't Double Crown been doing the work that mages themselves should have been doing?"
Dwight opened his mouth.
"The Emergency Response Headquarters may need to reconsider its position on Double Crown. The identity he presents is that of a villain — but as you can see, his actual activities are far closer to work done on behalf of the empire."
Petursha said,
"I hear Double Crown's motive for all of this is Jeffbery Shut. Do you agree with that assessment?"
Dwight swept a hand through his hair.
"Whether I agree or not, the situation is unfolding as it is, and I cannot deny that Jeffbery Shut stands at the center of it. If we reduce their relationship to nothing more than a forbidden romance between a villain and a mage, it will do nothing to solve the problem. Whatever else is true, Jeffbery Shut has been a powerful driving force behind every one of Double Crown's activities."
The corner of Petursha's mouth curved upward.
"Then the empire ought to make moderate use of that obsession of his!"
After the conference ended, the look on Dwight's face as he left was bleak.
He had known that speaking for the Emergency Response Headquarters was part of his role — but he had never expected to find himself defending Jeffbery and Double Crown's relationship with his own mouth. And yet he could not simply bury an obvious truth.
Above all, the crushing sense of defeat at having failed to subdue Double Crown weighed on him. The image of Jeffbery walking toward Double Crown right before his eyes refused to leave him.
You know exactly how to hurt me, Jeffbery. Once you've clawed me raw like that — does it make your heart feel any lighter?
When he had returned half-dead after defeating the Witch of the Four Seasons, Jeffbery had nursed him with absolute devotion. She had exhausted every method she knew to treat him while he lay unconscious, and in the end she had brought him back to life.
But when Dwight realized that every last one of those acts had sprung from guilt, he had despaired. Looking down at Jeffbery as she clung to his pant leg, he had spoken coldly.
Guilt is not love.
Betrayal and the tangled feelings he held for her had slammed the door of his heart shut. From that day on, he had always been the one clawing at Jeffbery.
"So this is what it feels like when you're on the receiving end."
Dwight gave a bitter smile and slipped out of the corridor.
I was waiting for Jeffbery in the garden of her mansion.
She had said she had something to show me today.
Covering my eyes with both her hands, she sat me down in a garden chair and spoke. The way she brimmed with anticipation was adorable.
"On the count of three, open them!"
"Okay."
I wanted to peek through half-lidded eyes, but I held back.
"Ready… one, two… two and a half. Three!"
When I opened my eyes, a strawberry cheese cake sat in front of me.
My chest tightened at the sight of it. It was the same cake she had always made back when she was nursing Dwight — sitting by the bedside of a man who never woke. She had fed him that cake spoonful by spoonful, but he had never tasted it.
Among the readers, comments had poured in begging for Dwight to recover already so he could finally enjoy that cake. But when Dwight actually woke up, he had taken the cake Jeffbery brought him and thrown it on the floor.
Jeffbery had cried.
I had cried then, too.
When I said nothing, Jeffbery asked me, a little anxious,
"Why…? Do you not like it?"
I looked up at her with shining eyes.
"It's far too generous a gift for a villain!"
A smile rose to the corners of Jeffbery's lips.