Chapter 92
The flight magic of Lyns, a high-ranking wind spirit, creates a hemispherical barrier and moves along with it. In other words, it is like riding in an invisible carriage, which is why it can transport several people at once.
And now, inside the hemispherical barrier racing through the sky, Lewis Miller sat with one knee raised, silently reading a book.
To anyone watching from the outside, he was a strange man reading while floating in midair and traveling at high speed. Fortunately, no one nearby was using flight magic, so the only ones witnessing the sight were birds flying through the sky.
Even using Lyns's flight magic, it would take several hours to reach their destination. Lewis was busy and disliked wasting time, so he used the travel time for reading.
"That is quite an ominous-looking book, Lord Lewis. Whom do you intend to curse to death?"
Lyns maintained the flight barrier while facing forward, then turned his head all the way around to look at Lewis.
Lyns had apparently meant to imitate a human gesture, but to Lewis, it looked exactly like an owl rotating its head in a circle. In short, it was creepy.
"This is not a book of curses. Also, remember that when I dislike someone, I prefer to beat them senseless directly rather than bother with something as tedious as a curse."
"That book does not appear to be written in this country's language."
"It's an Imperial book, after all."
Lewis said this and flipped a page.
The book he was reading concerned medical magic, whose use was strictly restricted in this country. Though ordinary people were forbidden from taking this book out, he had taken it out under the authority of one of the Seven Sages.
"Lyns, you personally saw the assassin who infiltrated the chess tournament, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Did that assassin, who had been impersonating Eugene Pittman, use any sort of illusion magic?"
Lyns fell silent as though thinking. Then, while still holding his head turned backward, he managed the feat of shaking it from side to side.
"No. The assassin was a magic user, but did not use any sort of illusion magic."
The guards who captured the assassin had confirmed this as well, so there could be no mistake.
In the first place, illusion magic that showed illusions to people around you was extremely inefficient. Lewis could maintain one for several dozen seconds, but spending several hours continuously maintaining an illusion was virtually impossible with a human's magical reserves.
The only beings capable of impersonating someone else through illusion magic were high-ranking water spirits who specialized in that sort of magic.
But the assassin who murdered Eugene Pittman was not a spirit. The assassin was human.
Lewis held his finger against the page he was reading and adjusted his askew monocle as he murmured,
"The method that man used to impersonate Eugene Pittman... It was not a look-alike or a disguise, and it was not any sort of illusion magic. That leaves only one possibility... body manipulation magic."
Body manipulation magic was a technique that infused a human body with magical power to strengthen or alter it.
It was originally intended to heal damaged bodies, such as restoring altered organs to their proper forms. However, if it was possible to alter damaged organs and skin, then changing the shape of someone's face would not be impossible either.
However, body manipulation magic was considered forbidden magic—with one exception: a single country.
"Body manipulation magic was legalized for medical use in the Empire. If so, that assassin was most likely... an Imperial."
The attempted assassination of the second prince by Casey Grove using 〈Spiral Flame〉 involved the Kingdom of Randall, a small nation between the Kingdom of Ridill and the Empire.
And the Empire's shadow seemed to be lurking behind the assassin at the chess tournament.
Lewis had a certain concern regarding these two incidents, which had occurred within such a short period of time.
That was why he had come all the way to this bitterly cold northern land to confirm it.
The landscape below them was mottled with white. Around the royal capital, the weather was only cold and windy, but snow had already begun falling in this region.
And deep in the snowy mountains, far from any human settlement, an old convent could be seen in a somewhat open patch of land.
"Lord Lewis, I have thought of a groundbreaking landing method unique to this region. May I try it?"
Lewis frowned at Lyns's proposal and glared at the beautiful maid.
"You mean you want to dispel the flight magic in midair and use the snow as a cushion when you land?"
"Correct."
"Are you a child getting excited over the snow? Land safely."
"What a shame."
Lyns replied with a blank expression that showed not the slightest trace of disappointment, then slowly began to descend.
In front of their destination, the convent, a young nun could be seen gripping a shovel and diligently clearing away the snow.
Even when the nun saw Lewis descending from the sky, she did not cry out in surprise. She merely shaded her eyes with one hand and watched Lewis and Lyns.
Lewis landed quietly on the snow, returned the nun's gaze, and gave a faint smile. "Oh?"
"I was just thinking what an unflappable nun you were for not being surprised by flight magic... But it is you, isn't it?"
"Yes. Compared to the shock of seeing you spin around and crash into the ground, this is nothing."
The woman who thrust her shovel into the snow at her feet with a sharp crunch was the daughter of Count Bright—Casey Grove.
＊ ＊ ＊
The elderly nun in charge of the convent ordered Casey to show Lewis and the others around, then withdrew into the chapel as if she wanted nothing to do with them.
For the women who lived apart from the secular world, an outsider—especially a man like Lewis—was probably not a welcome guest.
The same seemed to be true for Casey. After showing Lewis and Lyns into the reception room, she began speaking without even offering them tea.
"So, what do you want? I think I've already told you just about everything I can."
In response to Casey's curt attitude, Lewis gave her a smile filled with the composure of a mature adult.
"I have something I need to confirm with you."
"No one from my household was involved in that attempted assassination. My father and I did it on our own."
"At least, that is what you believe... Your father, however, seems not to."
At Lewis's oblique words, Casey's lips twitched.
Lewis took a cloth bundle from inside his coat and gently spread it open on the table. Inside were fragments of red stone in a variety of sizes.
"You know what this is, don't you?"
"...The remains of the 〈Spiral Flame〉 I used."
Rather than answer that she was correct, Lewis smiled and continued speaking.
"Your father insists that he bought it from a traveling merchant, but I believe someone on Randall's side gave the 〈Spiral Flame〉 to your father."
"...You mean the people of Randall incited my father?"
"Do you know how much a 〈Spiral Flame〉 costs? Forgive me, but it is not something the Bright family, hardly a wealthy household, could easily afford."
Magical devices were extremely expensive. An 〈Spiral Flame〉 of such high quality was even more out of reach for the Bright family.
Why had Count Bright chosen an 〈Spiral Flame〉 when there were countless cheaper methods of assassination?
It was reasonable to conclude that someone had given the 〈Spiral Flame〉 to Count Bright and incited him.
Casey must have considered that possibility herself. She bit down on her lip with a grim expression, desperately swallowing her agitation so that she would not say anything to her father's disadvantage.
As he watched her earnest struggle, Lewis picked up one of the red stone fragments and held it up to the light.
"The 〈Spiral Flame〉 uses an extremely pure ruby. I had an expert appraise it, and they said it was almost certainly mined in Glokken."
"...Glokken?"
"You don't know it? It's a mine in the southeastern part of the Empire. The amount mined there is not particularly large, but it produces high-quality rubies ideal for use as materials in magical devices... However, the Empire exports almost none of the ore mined there, so obtaining it on the open market is difficult."
Lewis returned the red stone to the table with a soft clink. The sound rang unnaturally loudly in the convent's hushed silence.
Lewis narrowed his grayish-purple eyes and fixed his gaze on Casey.
"The 〈Spiral Flame〉 Count Bright entrusted to you was made in the Empire. Do you understand what that means?"
Casey paled at once. She was a clever girl.
With those words, she had realized a certain frightening possibility.
If the person who gave Count Bright the 〈Spiral Flame〉 was from Randall, then the question became where that person had acquired an Imperial-made 〈Spiral Flame〉.
That led to one hypothesis. Namely...
"There is a possibility that the Kingdom of Randall and the Empire are secretly working together."
A war between the Kingdom of Ridill and a coalition of the Empire and the Kingdom of Randall could very well break out. Casey had finally understood that as well.
Casey clenched her fists in her lap and lowered her head before speaking.
"...As far as I know, I have never once seen anyone who appeared to be from the Empire coming and going at our family estate. Everyone who did come and go was a Randall noble whose name even I knew."
"Has your father ever sent letters to the Empire?"
"...No."
"I see."
It would have been useful to obtain testimony regarding a connection to the Empire, but apparently things would not be that easy.
If the Empire and Randall were connected, it was obvious that the Empire, with its overwhelming national power, would be the master in that relationship. The minor nobles at the bottom of Randall's hierarchy might not even know about the connection between their country and the Empire.
There was no end to the possibilities if one started considering every "what if," but it would be wise to keep the Empire's shadow in mind at all times.
"It seems there is no more information I can wring from you. Since there is not even a cup of tea to be had, I shall be on my way."
As Lewis rose from his chair, Casey called out briefly, "Wait."
Lewis turned his eyes, devoid of interest, toward Casey. He was busy and disliked wasting time, and he certainly did not expect any further meaningful conversation with this girl.
"...Is Monica doing well?"
As expected, Casey had brought up a subject of no value whatsoever to Lewis.
"A less important topic than the weather. She seems to have crossed swords with an assassin recently, but she is perfectly hale."
At the mention of her fighting an assassin, Casey's eyes widened and she caught her breath.
"...Honestly, I still can't believe it. Monica... was one of the Seven Sages. She looked like an ordinary girl to me."
"The 〈Silent Witch〉, an ordinary girl?"
Lewis let out an involuntary laugh.
Even after seeing Monica use magic without incantations, Casey still failed to comprehend who Monica really was.
Lewis sat back down and gave her a cruelly beautiful sneer.
"Do you know about the 'Worgan's Black Dragon' incident from six months ago?"
"...Yes. The black dragon that appeared in Count Kelbeck's territory was driven away by the 〈Silent Witch〉... by Monica, wasn't it?"
Count Kelbeck's territory and Count Bright's were relatively close, so perhaps it had not felt like someone else's problem to her. The black dragon was the sort of creature that brought despair to the people.
The fire the black dragon breathed, 〈Blackfire〉, was an unnatural flame that could burn away even barriers created by magic.
Even Lewis, known as the Dragon Slayer, could not deal with such an opponent easily.
"I was the one who dragged the 〈Silent Witch〉 into hunting the black dragon, you know. That little brat was sobbing and bawling with snot running down her face, saying, 'It's scary! It's scary!'"
Casey looked at Lewis with exasperation as he casually confessed to such a cruel deed.
"...That's only natural. Anyone would be afraid of a black dragon."
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Yes, even I feel some fear. But what do you suppose the 〈Silent Witch〉 Monica Everett was afraid of?"
At the time, Monica had sobbed as she told Lewis,
"──'The Dragon Knights are scary. There are so many people I don't know. I'm scared.' ...That girl was not afraid of the black dragon in the slightest. What the Seven Sages' 〈Silent Witch〉 feared was the Dragon Knights who had come along on the hunt—the humans."
Even when Lewis whispered, "Funny, isn't it?" Casey merely stared at him in stunned silence.
Lewis looked at Casey with pity.
"That girl fears and hates humans from the bottom of her heart... That is why she can be as cruel as she pleases. She is a far more twisted and heartless witch than you imagine."
That was precisely why Lewis had chosen Monica as his collaborator for the second prince's protection detail.
"Do not expect any normal affection from that girl."
When Lewis told her this with a derisive chuckle, Casey pushed back her chair with a clatter and stood up.
Then she stomped out of the room and returned almost immediately, clutching a mug and a small parcel.
Casey set the mug of tea down in front of Lewis with a thud and thrust the paper parcel at him.
"I couldn't decide whether to give this to Monica, but your words made up my mind... Give it to her. You don't have to mention my name."
Lewis said, "Excuse me," then peered into the paper parcel and widened his eyes.
Casey glared at Lewis with sharp eyes. His words must have been particularly hard for her to stomach.
(...It would be easier for her if she simply hated the 〈Silent Witch〉.)
She was a foolish girl, and terribly softhearted.
Lewis secretly sighed and tucked the parcel into his coat.
Then, with an elegant gesture, he sipped the tea from the mug and said,
"I'll do at least as much work as this cup of tea is worth... By the way, do you have any sugar or jam?"