Chapter 122
On a clear day, one month before Princess Tsetsilia visited the Kingdom of Ridill, Karina Bahl arrived at Helmfrid Korvitz’s workshop to find its master dancing with a blank expression.
It was hard to say whether thrusting his clenched fists skyward in turn and stomping his feet counted as dancing, but that was what it looked like to Karina—and Korvitz was certainly expressing his joy with his whole body.
Korvitz was a tall, slender man who had turned forty that year.
His steel-colored hair reached his back and was loosely tied, and he wore round glasses over his nervous-looking face.
He was dressed in work clothes with narrow sleeves, and flecks of thread clung to them everywhere. He must have been working right up until now.
A length of lace as white as fresh snow covered the worktable before Korvitz. Its delicate, beautiful floral pattern revealed, upon close inspection, magical formulae woven into every flower.
“Wahaha! Is that a new lace design? Let me see, let me see, let me see!”
When Karina cheerfully approached the worktable, Korvitz, who had been dancing for joy, widened his eyes and shouted at her.
“Don’t touch my 〈Adelheid〉 with those filthy hands!”
Karina shuddered like a cat being scolded and quickly raised both hands.
“I’m not touching it. I’m just looking, just looking. By the way, Korvitz-san, did you name another one of your creations?”
“What’s wrong with giving a name to the daughter I brought into the world with all my heart and soul?”
Korvitz was a genius artisan said to have no equal in the Empire when it came to lace and embroidery, but he had a habit of cherishing his creations as if they were his daughters.
He loved the lace he made so much that he hated to part with it, and if someone treated it carelessly, he would berate them until they were broken in spirit.
For instance, when the previous emperor’s mistress treated Korvitz’s lace carelessly, he flew into a rage, stormed over to her, and apparently cursed her out without mercy.
As a result, he earned the unbelievable distinction of being imprisoned for angering the previous emperor.
Though her field was different, Karina was an artisan too. But she felt little attachment or possessiveness toward the things she made.
To put it simply, she wasn’t very interested in how her creations were used. Of course, she was happy when people took good care of them.
In that respect, she and Korvitz found it rather difficult to understand each other.
“Is this 〈Adelheid〉-chan the one you’re giving to the Kingdom of Ridill?”
“No, 〈Virginia〉 has already been delivered. 〈Adelheid〉 is going to be a stole for Tsetsilia-sama.”
Korvitz gazed at the lace on the worktable—his 〈Adelheid〉-chan—and sighed in rapture.
“There is no woman in this country who suits lace better than Tsetsilia-sama. This delicate, lovely 〈Adelheid〉 is just right for the pure-hearted Silver Moon Princess. 〈Adelheid〉 must be happy to be going to Tsetsilia-sama.”
Korvitz’s love of lace was so deeply rooted that he described giving one of his creations to someone as “marrying it off.”
He was also a huge fan of Princess Tsetsilia. Apparently, whenever he saw her, ideas for new lace designs came pouring into his mind.
Above all, Tsetsilia treated Korvitz’s lace with great care. That must have pleased him.
“You’re right, it looks like it’d suit Tsetsilia-sama! Whoa, it’s so cuuute!”
“Oh, the petals are fairy wings, if you look closely. Well done. I commend you.”
The mutter from right behind her sounded like someone thinking aloud, but the voice carried clearly.
Karina spun around like a startled cat. A black-haired man stood behind her, arms crossed and grinning.
The man wore plain clothes, as though he were traveling incognito, but he couldn’t hide the aura of authority radiating from his entire body. He was Leonhardt, the Black Lion Emperor.
The instant Karina recognized him, she quickly exchanged a glance with Korvitz. It was time to show off the thing they had practiced so diligently.
After seeing Korvitz give a small nod, Karina quickly stepped in front of him.
Then Karina spread her feet a little wider than shoulder-width, thrust her right hand toward the ceiling, and shouted.
“Raise the red forge to the heavens, master craftsmen who carve the pinnacle of technology!”
Korvitz, standing behind Karina, touched his glasses with his right hand, stretched his left arm straight out to the side, and raised his voice.
“The Four Red Stars that illuminate the Empire’s future!”
Karina kept the hand she had raised toward the ceiling open and brought it to her eye, peering through the gaps between her fingers.
At the same moment, Korvitz crossed both arms in front of his body.
“Bahl, the 〈Divine Eye〉!”
“Korvitz, the 〈Fairy’s Fingers〉!”
Finally, the two shouted their names in unison.
‘—We are the Empire’s Magical Cross, the Four Masters of the Blazing Heavens!’
One of Korvitz’s apprentices, who had happened to come by to collect the trash, quietly walked past the room with the look of someone who had just seen something he shouldn’t have.
But the Black Lion Emperor nodded with heartfelt satisfaction. “Indeed.”
“A powerful introduction, and a fine one. Your movements are crisp, too. But that pose seems to assume all four of you are present, doesn’t it? With only two, the balance is a little off.”
At the Black Lion Emperor’s observation, Korvitz bowed his head with utmost seriousness.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I’ll consider a performance suited to our numbers.”
“Hey, Korvitz-san. What if I stretch my hand to the right instead of up at that point? Then it’ll be symmetrical, and look really good, won’t it?”
“No, the difference in our arm lengths would throw off the balance. It wouldn’t be beautiful. How about we make use of our height difference, with me above and Karina below, to create a tall, vertical silhouette?”
“And, and, props! Lots of people still ask, ‘What even is the Empire’s Magical Cross, the Four Masters of the Blazing Heavens?’ If we held tools or spools of thread or something, wouldn’t it make us look more like a group of technicians?”
“Excellent idea. Let’s get right to choosing the props.”
“I’ll hold a chisel! It’d look cool if I held a few between my fingers, right?”
“Whatever you do, don’t drop them on my foot.”
The Empire’s Magical Cross, the Four Masters of the Blazing Heavens. It was an exceedingly fierce-sounding name, but in other words, they were a group of technicians directly serving the emperor.
Apparently, there had been some disagreement between the Black Lion Emperor and his attendants over the name, which didn’t sound much like a group of technicians. In the end, though, the emperor settled it with a single remark: “It sounds strong, so it’s good!”
No one could quite understand why he wanted his technicians to sound strong, but Karina was very pleased, saying, “It’s kind of cool, isn’t it!”
The Black Lion Emperor had also ordered them to come up with a signature line and pose for their introductions, and Karina had thrown herself into that with great enthusiasm, thinking, “It’s kind of cool, isn’t it!”
Incidentally, there were two other members of the Empire’s Magical Cross, the Four Masters of the Blazing Heavens, besides Karina and Korvitz.
Korvitz was surprisingly enthusiastic and gave his all to the performance and poses. The other two, on the other hand, were rather reluctant to participate in this kind of thing.
“By the way, Korvitz. The 〈Virginia〉 you made was truly magnificent. I commend you.”
“I am deeply honored by Your Majesty’s gracious words.”
Korvitz had been imprisoned under the previous emperor. He was devoted to the Black Lion Emperor, who had freed him and honored him with a position as a direct imperial artisan.
“I designed 〈Virginia〉 with Tsetsilia-sama’s wedding in mind. It brings out the bride’s pure beauty, while also being woven with the finest defensive barrier I can manage, so that it can protect her if villains reach for her. It resists both heat and cold, ensuring the bride’s comfort and happiness whether the wedding ceremony is held under the blazing sun or in the dead of winter. It is a masterpiece designed with her happiness and comfort above all else.”
Karina thought a bridal veil woven with a top-tier defensive barrier was a rather baffling creation, but artisans often developed mysterious obsessions that other people couldn’t understand.
“Indeed. It’s so fine that I almost regret making it a gift for the Kingdom of Ridill.”
“On that matter, Your Majesty, I would like to accompany 〈Virginia〉 to oversee the lace during its delivery. If my daughter is treated carelessly by some nobody, I will certainly strangle that nobody to death.”
At Korvitz’s request, the Black Lion Emperor curled his lips and furrowed his brow.
“Hmm, it would certainly be best for you to go yourself... But what about your deadlines? You have another job coming up, don’t you?”
“That is...”
Korvitz had many apprentices and was responsible for overseeing their work. It would be difficult for him to leave the country for several weeks.
Perhaps the safest option would be to send one of Korvitz’s trusted apprentices with the lace. As Karina quietly considered this, the Black Lion Emperor grinned as though he had just thought of something.
With a smile that mingled a hint of playfulness with his ferocity, the Black Lion Emperor looked at Karina instead of Korvitz.
“Karina, you’re free at the moment, aren’t you?”
Just as the Black Lion Emperor said, Karina had finished making a replica of the 〈Mirror of Bern〉 and was now whittling wood as a hobby while waiting for her next job.
Lately, her favorite pastime was carving minuscule magical formulae into the sides of thin wooden pieces.
When Karina instinctively straightened her back, the Black Lion Emperor announced in his powerful voice:
“Karina Bahl, the 〈Divine Eye〉! In the name of the Black Lion, I command you: infiltrate the Kingdom of Ridill’s treasury as a member of the Korvitz lace delivery team... and use your eyes to see the Kingdom of Ridill’s treasure, then recreate it!”
＊ ＊ ＊
Before Karina Bahl was recruited into the Empire’s Magical Cross, the Four Masters of the Blazing Heavens, she had worked as a counterfeiter at a certain workshop in the Empire.
The workshop master had been her benefactor, allowing her to work there even though he knew she was a woman. Karina was grateful just to have a job, so she made whatever he asked her to.
Her clients included people who were obviously important figures from within the country, as well as people from abroad.
The things Karina was commissioned to make varied widely: jewelry, works of art, sculptures. She never gave a thought to what they would be used for.
Karina was satisfied as long as she could make something to her own standards. She wasn’t very interested in how her creations were used.
Then, one day, after several years had passed, Karina was arrested for selling counterfeits while passing them off as genuine.
Karina had only made what she was asked to make, exactly as she was asked. It was the workshop master who sold the items, but the entire crime had been blamed on Karina alone.
So I was being tricked, she thought, but she felt no anger toward the workshop master.
Karina had been able to make whatever she wanted until she was satisfied. She even thought that, just for that, she was fortunate.
“I hear you’re the one who made this?”
The young man who suddenly appeared during her interrogation and thrust a ruby brooch at Karina was dressed in fine clothes.
His clothes were extremely fine, and he carried himself in a way that made it obvious at a glance that he was a noble.
Karina, sitting neatly in the interrogation room chair and swinging her legs, looked at the brooch thrust before her and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right. I made it.”
“It’s remarkably well made. I never expected you to reproduce even the tiny flaw in this inconspicuous part.”
“Wahaha! You noticed that? I had a hard time recreating how old the damage looked!”
The soldier present looked startled and tried to silence Karina, but the young man stopped him with a wave of his hand.
“Enough.”
“But...”
“Enough. I said it’s fine.”
After silencing the soldier, the man fixed his gaze on Karina.
His eyes were powerful and intense, impossible to look away from for some reason.
“Counterfeiter Karina Bahl. According to the investigation, you can accurately reproduce nearly any item after seeing it just once.”
“Yeah. I usually don’t forget patterns, colors, or shapes once I’ve seen them. Wahaha! But I do forget what people tell me a lot. I’ve lost count of how many times the workshop master scolded me for forgetting deadlines...”
The man listened to Karina chatter without interrupting. His expression even seemed to show some amusement.
“By the way, Karina Bahl. Do you know what this brooch is?”
“Nope. I don’t know, and I’m not interested.”
Karina was interested in the brooch’s color, shape, and design—things like that.
She wasn’t very interested in its history or monetary value.
At Karina’s breezy answer, the man chuckled in his throat.
“This is one of the treasures of Creving, sold off during the previous emperor’s reign. I made this scratch when I was a child, as a prank.”
Creving. Even Karina, who knew little about current affairs, knew that family name.
Above all, there was probably only one person in the Empire who referred to himself as “I” using the word “yo.”
“Karina Bahl. I grant you the title of 〈Divine Eye〉. Use your eyes and your skills for this Black Lion.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Inside the Kingdom of Ridill’s treasury, Karina’s eyes sparkled as she installed the glass case for displaying the Korvitz lace.
(Wahaha, amazing, amazing, amaaazing!)
Everything lined up in the dim display room was a national treasure of this country.
She couldn’t see the magical formulae engraved on them without getting closer, but Karina carefully etched even their designs into her memory.
If she were making counterfeits, she would really like to examine the backs and interiors as well, but that would be too much to ask.
(But I want to see more. I want to see, see, see, see, see!)
Fortunately, neither the treasury keeper nor the soldiers accompanying her scolded Karina as she nervously looked around. If anything, they watched her with kind eyes.
In that respect, too, the Black Lion Emperor had chosen the right person.
Karina Bahl was a first-rate technician, but she was softhearted, easy to trick, and, above all, a bit of a scatterbrain.
The Black Lion Emperor had once told her, “You’re the poster girl for our country’s klutzy geniuses.”
Still, she wondered whether other countries had their own “klutzy genius girls.” If they did, she would love to become friends with them.
Karina had grown up surrounded by technicians, so she hadn’t had many chances to get close to girls her own age.
(His Majesty told me that since I’m a klutz, I shouldn’t say anything unnecessary, and that I should usually pretend to be a maid so I wouldn’t stand out. But the mission’s going smoothly so far, right? Yeah, yeah.)
Apparently, the Kingdom of Ridill had some extraordinary mages called the Seven Sages.
They were the people the Black Lion Emperor had told her to watch out for.
He had said:
‘I ordered the sharp-minded 〈Barrier Mage〉 removed from the guards and assigned someone who seemed unlikely to scheme to Princess Tsetsilia’s security. Even so, better safe than sorry. Stay away from the Seven Sages.’
That was the gist of it, anyway.
(Let’s see, what was her name again... the Witch of Quiet? Silence? I haven’t seen the witch at all, so His Majesty was probably worrying over nothing.)
After carefully spreading the Korvitz lace inside the glass case, Karina checked the magical formulae engraved on it once more.
“All right, perfect. Next, I’ll check that this case isn’t interfering with any of the magical tools nearby.”
Having announced that, Karina gazed intently at the magical tools on display nearby.
This was her last chance to burn the treasury’s treasures into her memory.
Karina glanced toward the cases lined up on the opposite side from the Korvitz lace display, and her eyes sparkled at the item inside one of them.
(Th-this is an ancient magical artifact! Amazing, amazing, amazing!)
There were seven ancient magical artifacts still extant in the Kingdom of Ridill. Two of them were housed in this treasury.
Namely, the 〈Sunlight Sword Atlas〉 and 〈Gluttony Zoe〉.
Contrary to its name, the 〈Sunlight Sword Atlas〉 was a surprisingly plain, rugged sword. Even so, it had a weight that spoke of its long history.
Only a single diamond was set into its hilt. A complex magical formula that couldn’t be reproduced with modern magic was engraved inside it. Karina wished she could get a closer look, then turned her attention to the case beside it.
The other ancient magical artifact, 〈Gluttony Zoe〉, was a jeweled box.
It was a palm-sized jet-black box decorated with an assortment of jewels.
(...Huh?)
Karina frowned at the odd feeling that came over her.
The 〈Sunlight Sword Atlas〉 was plain and rugged, but it was unquestionably a genuine ancient magical artifact.
And yet...
(Why isn’t 〈Gluttony Zoe〉 the real thing?)