Chapter 7
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 7: Raiding the Duke Estal Family
"What exactly is there?"
"To be precise, it's the 'Spirit Vessel of Rational Interference, the Ring of Words' stamped with my seal. I bestowed it as a token to my disciple 1,000 years ago......."
Eleanor stares at Yveline's receding back.
"It seems that child is her descendant."
"What kind of nonsense is that, really......."
"It is not a lie. I became convinced just now after seeing the grain of mana that child handles. It is indeed my disciple's lineage. Come, let's make an excuse like homework inspection and march to that Duke's residence."
My vision goes dark.
The Duke family's treasure vault?
Isn't that a place as heavily guarded as the Imperial Palace warehouse?
If a mere researcher with a rat's tail amount of mana goes in there and says, 'This 1,000-year-old item is ours, so hand it over'?
I would probably be physically disassembled by the Duke family's knights before I could even get near the treasure vault.
I waved my hands dismissively.
"Oh, I'm not going. Absolutely not."
In the first place, there is no proper way to set foot in that heavily guarded Duke family.
Even if I barge in with the excuse of homework inspection, there is no way they would welcome me.
"Ahem, look at this fellow? Do you think that ring is an ordinary accessory? It is a vessel containing the Primordial Truth that shaped the world."
As if tempting me, Eleanor lowered her voice.
"It allows the words you speak to become the law of the world and directly intervene in the flow of all things."
In an instant, a scene from an animation flashes through my head.
......Cursed Speech, Dragon Tongue, Kotodama (Spirit of Words)?
"Wait a minute. Don't tell me? Stuff like everyone stops if I say 'Don't move', and things explode if I say 'Explode'?"
"The principle is similar. Mana in this world takes shape reacting to the caster's will."
Eleanor continued.
"That ring assimilates your voice with the Song of All Things flowing at the base of the world. It suppresses or explodes the waves of causality with a single word."
Suddenly, my heart starts beating like crazy.
Eleanor is talking about magical Truths and Laws.
But from my perspective, this is no different from Admin Access to the system called the world.
To put it simply, a kind of Cheat.
It means I can forcibly fix physical laws through the medium of Kotodama without having to calculate complex formulas one by one.
On top of that, Eleanor delivered the finishing blow.
"Also, my Spirit Vessels are bastions that store mana. If we retrieve the ring, your insignificant mana vessel will overflow with the authority I left behind. Will you still give up?"
"..............."
Kotodama and an Auxiliary Mana Bank.
Physics student and researcher.
Furthermore, to an otaku, those words are very fatal.
The dream hardware that will realize the hypothesis that existed only in theory into reality is right there.
Sleeping in the Duke family's treasure vault that is within a stone's throw!
This is academic aspiration beyond possessiveness.
No, actually I just fucking want it.
"......Let's go. Let's do it. It's do or die."
"Ho, your eyes have changed. Indeed, you are the man I chose."
"Instead, absolutely watch your mouth in front of Yveline. The moment we get caught, we'll be treated as thieves and go straight to the guillotine."
"Don't worry. Am I not the body that endured the void with patience for a thousand years. My dignity is not that light."
I can trust you, right?
"Hmm...... well, let's trust for now."
Despite Eleanor's confident answer, anxiety does not go away.
Thievery.
It was then, when my last remaining conscience as a scholar was pricking me.
'......Wait, come to think of it.'
There was a thought that suddenly crossed my mind.
If it follows the progression of this novel
.
The Duke Estal family is destined to fall miserably later by the heroine Yuna.
But now the situation is different.
As long as I teach Yveline and overhaul her magic system physically.
She won't collapse vainly like in the original work.
In other words, it means I am deleting the destruction scenario of this family itself.
'Isn't it entirely thanks to me that the family doesn't get exterminated?'
If the price for saving a family destined for ruin and raising the Empire's best genius mage is merely one ring?
Isn't this a legitimate cost claim for survival, not thievery?
The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that this is a losing business for me.
"Right, this is a very fair trade."
"What are you thinking so insidiously? A fishy smile is spreading on your lips."
Eleanor asked, narrowing her eyes on my shoulder.
"Insidious? I was just designing a fair trade. Senior, when we go to the Duke's residence, you have to pinpoint the ring's location exactly."
"Don't worry. Since it's an object imbued with my energy, you will feel my heart beating just by getting near the treasure vault. By the way...... what do you intend to do if that child doesn't finish her homework?"
Eleanor asked, looking at the afterimage of Yveline who disappeared out the door.
"No way. She'll stay up all night to do it perfectly even for her pride. Originally, graduate students are tamed like that."
"......You, sometimes you seem more evil than me."
Leaving Eleanor's appalled voice behind, I packed my bag.
On the way to work at the lab.
The fresh morning air pierces my lungs, but my mood wasn't fresh at all.
I must have lost my reason for a moment yesterday, blinded by the performance of that cheat-level item called the Ring of Words.
Let's think calmly.
Infiltrating the treasure vault of the Duke's residence, the number one rank in the Empire, with the excuse of homework inspection?
This is a development where even a romance fantasy protagonist would get their serialization cancelled while attempting.
'What kind of homework inspection is an excuse to go to a Duke family. This isn't some elementary school.'
To thrust a childish idea that would only work on modern people to the Duke family, the greatest power in the Empire.
I didn't intend to do it with a sane mind.
What should I tell Yveline?
I came to look around the Duke family's treasure vault because I was so worried about your homework?
Perhaps, that smart villainess would report me straight to the security forces.
Eleanor, who was wriggling inside my bosom, rebuked me as if she read my inner thoughts.
"Ahem, what are you worrying so much about. Didn't I say she is the descendant of my disciple. Just knock on the door confidently and command them to hand over my Spirit Vessel!"
"Is that as easy as it sounds? do you know whose house the Duke family is? It's a place where if you set foot wrong, your head and body physically part ways, going beyond the spicy taste of class society, Senior."
Such an immature 10th Hierarchy Mage.
It might have worked a thousand years ago, but now it is strictly a class society.
I opened the lab door thinking I should come up with another plan.
As soon as I entered the lab, Director Barman came running towards me in a hurry.
'What is this. This ominous déjà vu.'
Whenever this guy came finding me sweating like this from the morning, bad things always happened.
"Oh my, Director. What is it again? You're even tense when you usually aren't."
When I asked, Director Barman grabbed my shoulders as if to crush them and shook me.
His pupils are trembling almost at the level of a spasm.
"He came...... He came personally to see you!"
"What came? Did a lunch delivery come? It's still morning."
"Is this the time for jokes! His Grace the Duke Estal came personally to see you! Please, I beg you, Rihan. Put some strength into those dead fish eyes today and be as polite as possible! Got it?"
"Yes? What does that mean...... Why would the Duke come here......."
"According to rumors, he is a madman crazy about magic. He's an eccentric person who physically disassembles the opponent on the spot if he doesn't like the research results! If you get on his bad side, you won't even be able to recover your bones, man!"
'Oh shit!'
Why would a person who is the head of a Duke family visit a laboratory like this without notice.
Is this his living room?
It's not some neighborhood convenience store.
At least give a hint so I can prepare.
My head got complicated.
Where would that fiery personality of Yveline have come from?
Of course, it came from her dad.
The saying 'Like father, like daughter' is used at times like this.
I remembered why the Duke Estal family fell in the romance fantasy novel
.
Yveline's evil deeds were also a problem, but the decisive blow was the Duke himself, the family head.
Wasn't the setting of this work that his desire for magical inquiry was so strong that he crossed the line and even touched black magic?
Eventually, that was discovered and the family disintegrated in mid-air.
Such a magic maniac came to find me personally?
The reason is obvious.
Just like Yveline, his purpose must be my physics theory.
"Alright, good! It's an opportunity to see directly how capable the descendant of my disciple is. How about asking for that ring as a bonus? While confidently revealing this lady's name!"
Eleanor inside my bosom is excited without grasping the situation.
'I told you revealing this lady's name has no meaning, you Senior.......'
Even I, teaching modern physics, am perfect for being treated as a heretic.
Revealing that a legendary mage who disappeared 1,000 years ago is parasitic in my body is no different from a suicide act.
I swallowed dry saliva and looked in the direction of the reception room the Director pointed to.
I was racking my brain on how to infiltrate the Duke's treasure vault.
But the owner of the treasure vault came to find me on his own feet?
There is a saying that crisis is opportunity.
I took a deep breath.
If it's a meeting I can't avoid anyway, a frontal breakthrough might be the fastest way.
"Phew...... Let's go. Let's just see his face."
I followed behind Director Barman.