The Trade with the Marte Family
One thousand five hundred victims.
Estimated damages reached five trillion Cram.
When potential losses were included, the total climbed to two trillion. This was the crowning achievement of the Capital Defense Command's raid on the Jacob Department Store fraud ring and their illegal soul-trading stock operation.
Empire citizens seethed with rage at the shameless behavior of Jacob's crew.
Meanwhile, television stations and journalists churned out tear-jerking content starring the victims of that horrific crime. Those elf women who endured the Jacob gang's torment. How far will the fall of the elven social elite go?
Cheap, eye-rolling content that made everyone wrinkle their noses.
On the other side, imperial bureaucrats scrambled to prepare every possible measure against future incidents so they wouldn't become targets of the furious citizens. From now on, blood certification is no longer required.
The declaration of the stock trading chief.
Instead, they had crafted an alternative.
A magic certification device that verified identity through complex magic circuits by generating each person's unique Magical Signature.
The principle was to extract each user's personal magic power pattern, create a unique key through quantum magic encryption, combine it with biometrics and magic power information, and then run a real-time integrity check inside the fortified magic system with a multi-layered security structure.
Of course, blood certification was still demanded at the very first registration and issuance of the device, since it remained the most perfect method of personal identification. I express my deepest gratitude to the first-grade inspector of the Capital Defense Command, who prevented further damage from spreading.
That was the official statement from the stock trading division.
And.
After months of drifting without even catching the tiniest thread of a clue, the Elf Guardian Autonomous Prefecture Police Department, which had been handling the long-running chain disappearance of elf women, finally issued an official statement. Respectable citizens of the Gilorian Empire,
Thanks to the resolution of this case, the full truth behind the long-standing mystery of the chain disappearance of elf women has finally been revealed.
The Elf Guardian Autonomous Prefecture Police Department will form a victim support team and do its utmost to aid the victims' recovery, while also operating psychological counseling and rehabilitation programs.
We also promise to provide the necessary legal and economic support to those who suffered collateral damage.
Most importantly, without the selfless effort and superb investigative skills of the first-grade inspector of the Capital Defense Command who played a decisive role in solving this case, the damage would still be spreading.
Once again, from the bottom of my heart, I express my deepest gratitude to the first-grade inspector of the Capital Defense Command. ЖΨΨЖ
I cut out the newspaper pages where the statement had been printed and pasted them beside my pillow on the bed. Especially the well-written sections, I underlined them in red.
The massive disappearance of elf women had, in fact, been caught in our net, but nobody needed to know the full background of the case.
The Capital Defense Command had decided not to disclose my name.
That is, the name of the savior of this case and its protagonist, me, Zeo Blood, would remain private.
Still, they had released a short statement saying that a competent first-grade inspector with high public sympathy and loyalty had been the catalyst in solving the case.
That part perfectly matched my request and the Capital Defense Command's needs.
If they were interested, they could receive plenty from the monster containment problem, which was already getting tiresome.
But the empire citizens were not satisfied with known information.
They were obsessed with finding new clues.
I had gathered every single letter addressed to me that the Capital Defense Command's publicity department had sent after my activities were recorded in their articles.
Note that the number of recommendations beside each ID recorded how many people agreed with that letter. Truth-Seeking Alliance [20,000 recommendations]. The inspector's real identity—please reveal it for the citizens' right to know. Elven High [5,847 recommendations].
My cousin works at the Capital Defense Command... The inspector is truly legendary. They say his face is myth-level. Can I disclose the name? Magic Master 99 [1,581 recommendations].
I heard a rumor that he fought fifty black mages and won. Please reveal his identity. Secret Agent X [9,892 recommendations].
That inspector is supposedly of dragon blood. The identity will be revealed soon. Gilorian Loyalist [99,561 recommendations].
I passed by the scene that day and saw a massive black flame dragon flying across the sky. If needed, I can send evidence photos. Magic Researcher [99,561 recommendations].
That day I saw a knight in black armor engraved with rune patterns riding a black flame dragon. It was clear as day. Good Hunter [112 recommendations].
It was the guild's number-one rank before he was scouted into the Capital Defense Command. The brotherhood... I can't tell you the name even if I want to.
Hmm... These letters look like they were written by someone with a screw loose. They were based on facts but full of exaggerated nonsense without context.
Even. Gilorian News [6,122 recommendations].
My house cat that night looked out the window, then suddenly started speaking in runes. "The return of the ancient dragon bloodline has begun, meow."
Who is this dragon-blooded inspector? Prophet of the Future [17 recommendations].
A person with dragon blood will save the empire. The Truth [4,862 recommendations].
What is the inspector's gender? I want to write a novel and need reference material. T_T
From empty fantasies to delusional rants, the rumors would spread and multiply like wildfire.
Among them, the one that caught my interest was. Gilorian Journal [38 recommendations]. [Exclusive] The first-grade inspector of the Capital Defense Command matches the "Lord of Darkness" who appears in ancient prophecies.
The ID belonged to Gilorian Journal.
According to the publicity department, every article about me always mentioned the ancient prophecy.
One employee from the publicity team had grown so angry at the ominous word "Lord of Darkness" that he had quietly asked whether I intended to sue for defamation.
That person would be the one I would meet the moment I revealed my identity.
Whether he was a patient lost in grandiose delusions or someone holding the secret key that had fallen into the Gilorian Empire I was chasing.
I mentally replayed the scene from that day.
Noris's secret warehouse.
Hundreds of soul-trapping orbs.
And.
The unfamiliar souls Nora had mentioned at the scene.
They must be earthlings.
Only autopsy could determine whether an earthling was a heretic.
That was why interrogations of heretics were conducted by torture until they confessed, with no other methods available.
Confessing to being a heretic and being executed was their final act of conscience after deciding that enduring the cruel torture was better than death?
But Nora, this woman could determine whether a soul was a heretic just by its texture.
For me, that was an unimaginable threat to survival.
To survive the immediate danger, I needed concrete facts.
I stored them in my memory and moved on to the rest of the letters.
Every single one was useless.
While absurd information spread like wildfire, I was watching the suspicious man pacing outside the window.
One week after the case was solved, a certain man began loitering near my house.
A short, thin man with unusually hollow cheeks and a face that looked downright sinister.
He was covert but so blatant in his surveillance that he clearly made surveillance his main job.
Extremely regular pattern—fifty minutes of surveillance followed by ten minutes of rest.
And he sat on the sunlit bench that offered the best view from my house.
...
Whoever his client was, he did not seem to have enough money.
People who were paid high salaries usually had some professional ethics and sense of responsibility.
I drew the blackout curtains after seeing the surveillance pattern outside the window.
“Do I have to move again?”
It was time.
To keep my identity hidden, I moved every so often.
I never stayed in one place for more than two years.
Moreover, to avoid any suspicion that my residence was being tracked, I chose varied locations.
Sometimes right in the center of Clovan City.
Sometimes in a remote, sparsely populated area.
Right now I lived in an old house in the old downtown district, fifteen minutes from my office.
The facilities were shabby, but the insulation was good, so I was fairly satisfied.
Moreover, the elevated location of the residence made it ideal for spotting anyone watching me.
Either way, I needed to prepare a new residence, and this time I would switch to a high-end residential area where the pattern had to change, so I would need a large sum of money.
I contacted Chief Frida.
“Has the reward for resolving the monster containment case been confirmed?” - I did my fair share of work.
The Capital Defense Command had accepted my generous suggestion. - You know? Even one percent of the treatment profit is fifty billion Cram just based on the current estimate. I know.
Thank you for entrusting me with it.
Chief Frida never forgot her own contributions.
Expressing gratitude was not difficult. - However, since the amount is so huge, a lump-sum payment is difficult. It will be paid in installments over six months.
Even installments meant a large sum.
And there would be negotiations for the contract fee for this case as well.
Most importantly, there was a precious item obtained from this case.
The Elf Bone Artifact.
The original powerful red light had faded as the souls trapped inside the red crystal embedded in the center were released, but the artifact was still the artifact.
I had never held an item obtained during an investigation before, but an artifact that bound souls was a different matter.
My only soul that had come to the Gilorian Empire.
Right now, I was completely different from my flesh and body of Earth times.
I kept the personality and memories of that era, but my body and constitution had been completely reconstructed.
This artifact that could trap souls and steal only the flesh would become my research subject.
Chief Frida was reluctant but agreed when I expressed my first greed for the trophy of the case.
She set conditions, as expected of her. - In exchange, you will handle the trial of Noris Molton.
I would own the artifact in exchange for handling the trial of Noris Molton.
Of course, I swore not to use it for improper purposes—such as trapping souls in the artifact—and if I did, it would be confiscated by the Capital Defense Command and the Imperial Magic Tower with additional magic.
This was the result I had obtained as the prosecutor, Zeo Blood.
And as the individual, Zeo Blood, I had achieved the result of enrolling Eric, Evan, and Emily in school.
With Chief Frida's recommendation letter, I received enrollment permits for two prestigious private schools in Clovan City.
The ridiculously expensive tuition fees were covered by scholarships run by the Dresmond Foundation.
However, I had wanted to place Emily, who showed outstanding magical talent, as a trainee student at the Imperial Magic Tower, but the silent opposition of the Marte family, the real power behind the Imperial Magic Tower, had prevented it.
Instead, I enrolled her in a magic-specialized school. Thank you.
Nora Marte, locked in the detention center, bowed her head and expressed her gratitude to me.
I visited the detention center to see her.
Her interrogation was still ongoing, so she was being held there as a suspect.
In the meantime, I offered legal consultation and updated her on the children's news.
Despite being detained in the center, her complexion had improved noticeably compared to before. By the way, did the tower director meet with you?
Nora asked.
It seemed she referred to her father as "tower director" as an official title.
That was a telling sign of the strained mother-daughter relationship. A few days ago, he called me first.
Of course, it had not been out of goodwill.
The short, thin man with the unnaturally hollow cheeks and sinister face was the surveillance agent hired by the tower director.
No one knew why someone with money would attach such a sloppy surveillance agent.
But the man who had revealed my identity did not run or lie; instead, he delivered the tower director's message to me.
Clearly, the surveillance agent had been set up to be caught.
Following the message, I entered the Imperial Magic Tower at exactly one hour before midnight.
That is, at eleven o'clock at night.
Using the brief moment when the security guard at the front gate was replaced and off his guard, I slipped inside.
The director of the Imperial Magic Tower himself opened the door. It is late at night to visit. I apologize.
Balzac Marte.
Director of the Imperial Magic Tower and father of Nora Marte.
Balzac took me straight through his private elevator and, without anyone knowing, secretly to his private study. First, I would like to express my gratitude for saving my daughter.
He served me the traditional Marte family tea prepared only for the rare guests of the Imperial Magic Tower.
Moonlight Herb grown only on the ancient elven hills of Silvermist Hill.
The most luxurious tea in existence, harvested only once every thousand years on nights when the full moon shone the brightest, and the existing quantity was extremely limited.
Balzac poured Silvermist tea into the cup.
A faint blue light rose like mist, carrying an eerie, mysterious aroma.
It helped with fatigue recovery and mental stability, raised the drinker's affinity with magic, and most importantly, created a faint moonlight aura upon consumption.
I watched the faint moonlight aura spreading around Balzac as I drank the tea.
I too could see the faint moonlight aura being generated around me. After three consumptions, persistent aura is generated.
I should never drink it three or more times. Anyone would notice.
But why was this aura invisible on Nora?
Instead of asking, I looked at Balzac with eyes filled with questions.
Balzac slowly drank the tea from his lips hidden beneath his lush white beard.
And then, as if he already knew my intent, he spoke in a low voice. Nora has become an existence I can never reach, like moonlight.
He continued slowly. When Nora was young, she was the brightest child of all. But now, like a shadow that rejects light, she rejects everything of the Marte family.
His voice grew deeper as he quietly uttered. Our Marte family officially disowned Nora. She, as you already know, touched what she should not have touched and is receiving the price for it.
For him, was Nora a painful kind of love?
A heavy, heavy denial that hurt to think about but that I had no choice but to love. I see.
There was nothing else I could add to that. Therefore, the Marte family and the Imperial Magic Tower have no intention of making any comment on this matter.
I understood.
The Marte family, which valued the honor of the family, had taken a completely understandable step. Instead, as Balzac Marte personally, I express my gratitude to you.
He bowed his head with his hand on his forehead in the traditional expression of highest respect for elves and greeted me.
Then he turned and took out an old storage box from the desk drawer.
The box made of blue light wood bore the Marte family crest. This is an imprint of the Moonlight Guardian known only to a few within our family.
When he opened the box, faint moonlight seeped out.
Inside were a ring made of pure white mithril and moonlight crystal.
Inside the central crystal, magic power swirled like mist, and above it, the Marte family crest—a crescent moon—was exquisitely carved.
But in my eyes, ancient rune characters engraved inside the ring came into view. Unkerührbare Costvarkeit.
An untouchable treasure... If anyone can use this power correctly, it would be you.
According to Balzac's explanation, this imprint protected the wearer with moonlight power and amplified magic power.
Because of that, it was even stronger at night, and it could also make the wearer translucent like moonlight and hide.
Most importantly. It can ignore the magic wards of the Marte family.
The magic wards of the Marte family.
The foundation of the empire's wards and the magic used in the empire's reinforced facilities.
The successor of that magic art looked at me with eyes shaken by grief.