"Let's wrap this up."
"H-He was attacked?!"
Dean Galond's roar filled the reception room.
When Siel and I first came to see him, he denied everything and claimed he had nothing to say.
But after we showed him his half-broken son, this was the result.
"These damned thugs! After everything I've done for them, they dare lay a hand on my son?! I'll personally—!"
"Did you just say 'everything I've done for them'?"
The moment I cut him off, Galond's heavy shoulders twitched.
"So it really is true that the Sky Magic Tower is connected to Falling Leaves."
"T-That's…!"
He couldn't exactly deny it now.
Not after I'd threatened to drag Cheleg to the Central Administration and make him confess everything.
"So? Is it not true?"
The culprit and the witness were both already in my hands.
A negotiation that had been decided from the very beginning.
Galond's fists trembled violently before his shoulders finally slumped in defeat.
"What is it you want, Young Master Klein?"
Galond collapsed heavily onto the reception room sofa as he spoke.
"It's simple."
I took a sip of the chilled fruit wine, preserved at the perfect temperature through preservation magic.
Then, with a leisurely smile, I spoke to him.
"Pin every crime on Duke Elfran."
"P-Pin it on him…?"
Galond asked blankly, unable to understand.
I gazed out the window as I answered.
Seriously, this damn Magic Tower.
No matter what else you said about it, the scenery really was incredible.
"The one who brought the Archimond Cult and Falling Leaves into Felician."
"The one who concealed their existence."
"Ghh…"
The head of a Magic Tower involved with a criminal organization.
If this became public, the Sky Magic Tower's prestige would collapse into the dirt.
"You just need to claim all of it was orchestrated by Elfran."
"…!"
Galond's eyes widened at that.
Elfran was already living like a recluse, and the rest were criminal organizations.
At this point, it'd be easy to pin even nonexistent crimes on him.
But then—
"No! Impossible! That's madness!"
After agonizing over it, Galond shook his head with a deathly pale face.
"If I betray them, I'm dead! You know exactly what kind of monsters they are!"
Hoo…
With a sigh, I floated the fruit wine glass into my hand and took another sip.
"Yes. I do."
Madmen who stitched together human corpses as a form of artistic expression.
They should never have joined hands with them in the first place.
"The moment you betray them, you'll probably disappear without a trace."
I didn't deny his fears.
If anything, I encouraged them.
"Exactly! Then how am I supposed to endure that and betray them—?!"
"If you refuse to betray them and continue protecting them…"
I cut him off and looked directly at him.
"You and your son Cheleg will both die."
"…!"
Galond silently stared at the empty glass for a long moment before slowly lifting his head.
"W-Why… Cheleg too…?"
"You transplanted a mana core into him using Elfran's technology, didn't you?"
The moment I brought up the truth Siel had told me, Galond visibly panicked.
'Only pure talent and intellect may open the gates of truth.'
I recalled the proverb of the Felician mages.
Artificially increasing mana capacity.
Maybe battle mage factions like Aylasis would tolerate it, but to the research mages of the Magic Towers, it was absolute taboo.
"If you refuse to betray them, House Aylasis will formally request an investigation from the homeland."
Siel nodded beside me, and Galond's face turned even paler.
"Choose, Galond Ran."
I gave him one final choice.
"Will you save your son with your own life… or die together with him?"
Either way, Galond himself would not survive.
"Ghhhh…"
His face twisted as if he might burst into tears at any second, and he sat frozen for a long time.
But only for a moment.
Hooo…
A deep sigh escaped him, followed by Galond's utterly exhausted voice.
"…Fine. I'll tell the Central Administration everything."
Then he looked at me desperately and pleaded:
"So please… don't let something like today happen to my son again…"
If things went wrong, both he and Cheleg would face endless assassination attempts.
That was what he was begging me to prevent.
"You don't need to worry about that."
As I said that, I pointed behind me with my thumb.
"I already sent someone ahead."
***
"Is that true?"
The underground waterways of Felician, built thousands of years ago, resembled a labyrinth.
Stray even slightly from the designated paths, and you'd become hopelessly lost.
Because of that, the deepest parts of the waterways had long since become dens for every kind of criminal hidden from the streets above.
"You're saying Young Master Klein attended the banquet?"
In one corner of those underground tunnels, Glek—the leader of the assassin organization Falling Leaves—raised an eyebrow at the informant's report.
"He clashed with the protected target. There was no danger to his life, but—"
"No, no, forget that brat."
Glek shook the liquor bottle in his hand, clearly uninterested in their supposed protection target.
"You're telling me he made contact with Lady Siel ? Is that true?"
Glek's unusually serious tone caused the informant to nod grimly.
"Fuck. We're screwed."
Muttering that, Glek hurled the bottle he was holding.
CRASH—!
"Pull every surveillance unit tailing Young Master Klein. Right now."
"E-Excuse me?!"
The great Falling Leaves abandoning a mission?
One of the organization members couldn't hold back his shock.
"We already completed the groundwork and pinpointed the location! Once we secure the hostage, everything will be over—!"
But before he could finish—
BAM—!
Glek's fist appeared before him in an instant and smashed directly into the man's face.
"Gghaaa…!"
The blow crushed his nose completely.
Blood dripped steadily from the man's collapsed face.
"I'll overlook your insolence this once. Giving that order is making me feel sick enough already."
After saying that, Glek roughly uncorked another liquor bottle from a wooden barrel.
Even he looked humiliated by this decision, his face twisted in frustration.
Gulp—
Downing liquor stronger than thirty proof in a single breath, Glek swirled the empty bottle in his hand and asked:
"Do you know why Lady Siel came to Felician?"
Top-secret information known only to him.
Pointing at the gathered members before him, Glek spoke.
"The corpse-cleaners in the deep levels. You know who they're working with, right?"
At those words, several executives nodded.
Corpse-cleaners.
A nickname referring to the Archimond Cult, the organization that coexisted with them.
"Elfran."
One of the executives answered.
Glek let out a long sigh before continuing.
"Why do you think the Empire's greatest mage is working with those corpse-cleaning bastards?"
At that question, silence briefly fell over the room.
"Did he lose a power struggle within the family?"
"We heard the elder faction has been making suspicious moves. Maybe they pushed Lady Siel forward and—"
The executives continued throwing out theories tied to Imperial politics, but Glek shook his head.
"Siel La Aylasis. That woman is the reason."
The executives' expressions grew even stranger.
"What do you mean?"
"You're saying Duke Aylasis hid himself because of that woman?"
Without answering immediately, Glek leaned back into the creaking wooden chair.
"Then the information was true after all."
"That Lady Siel defeated the Duke in a one-on-one magic duel…"
Glek nodded at their words.
Not anger.
Fear.
The kind of gaze one used not for a human being, but for an inhuman monster.
"And what do you think was the very first thing she did after taking control of the family?"
As he spoke, Glek tossed today's Imperial newspaper onto the floor.
[Collapse of the Aylasis Ducal Estate.]
[Most members of House Aylasis attending the banquet at the time were killed.]
[Some survivors are currently receiving treatment…]
[The Imperial Investigation Bureau has launched an inquiry into the incident…]
Day after day, Imperial newspapers were obsessed with reporting the tragedy that had struck Aylasis.
"…Don't tell me she caused the collapse?"
The one who asked in an uneasy voice was an executive who had worked beside Glek for over ten years.
"Yeah."
Clicking his tongue, Glek nodded.
"That crazy bitch buried the elders plotting against her alive beneath the entire building."
"…!"
"T-That's insane…"
The executives trailed off in disbelief.
Was it because the act itself was cruel?
No.
Falling Leaves was a group of murderers infamous for brutality.
That wasn't what shocked them.
What stunned them was the fact that she had accomplished something seemingly impossible.
"All members of House Aylasis are battle mages."
"How could someone possibly kill people like that…?"
Glek could only shake his head.
No traces of magic.
No lingering spell formations.
A perfect crime.
"If a monster like that is standing beside him, then Young Master Klein is already beyond our reach."
Glek added quietly:
"We're moving to the next phase of the operation. We'll have no choice but to target him on the return route with the Sacred Relic—"
But the moment he reached that point—
"Aw, man. I waited all this time for nothing."
A young girl's voice echoed through the deep underground tunnels—
a voice that should never have been heard in a place like this.
Shhk!
Shiiing—!
The assassins instantly drew their weapons and scanned the surroundings in alarm.
But all they saw were damp stone walls and thick shadows.
The owner of the unfamiliar voice was nowhere to be seen.
"W-What was that just now…?"
One of the members had just begun speaking—
"Hellooo?"
The voice came from the center of the chamber they used as a hideout.
The assassins immediately struck toward the source of the voice.
SHHK—!
The sounds of slicing and explosions tore the unfamiliar figure to pieces.
"Damn it! Someone led a tail back to the hideout—!"
"Which idiot was it?! I'll twist your neck off right now—!"
Glek, already on edge, finally exploded in fury.
But only for a moment.
"Aw, come on! Young Master gave me these clothes! What if they get ruined?!"
A young girl dressed in a maid outfit shouted at them with puffed cheeks.
"What the hell is that?"
"Isn't she the girl beside Young Master Klein…?"
They barely had time to process the unbelievable sight before Arin casually brushed toxic fluid from her clothes and spoke.
"Young Master told me to pass along a message!"
Young Master.
Meaning the one who sent this girl was Klein Leinrant.
"He said he already got everything he wanted, so it's about time to wrap things up here!"
Wrap things up?
What did that mean?
The assassins of Falling Leaves had only just begun wondering that when—
"AAAAAAAH?!"
One of the executives suddenly screamed.
What entered his vision was the darkness pooling throughout the chamber.
Countless eyes and mouths writhed within the surging shadows.
"Hehe!"
Ruuuumble…!
The living shadows spread out, devouring the space around them.
The assassins wildly swung their weapons at the darkness—
But all they felt was helplessness.
"Well then, I delivered the message!"
The girl smiled brightly after finishing her task.
At some point, the entire chamber had become flooded with shadows pouring from beneath her skirt.
And in the very next moment—
"Thank you for the meaaaal~!"
With the girl's cheerful cry, the shadows filling the chamber lunged at Falling Leaves.
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