Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 90

Ninetieth Chapter

Divine Wisdom and Grimoire

Dante and his group’s horrible attack on the Second Magical Institute would no doubt go down in history as a tragedy. While the first days of the new year normally passed by in a hurry, these had been instead marked by a rare upheaval and unprecedented acts of violence that resulted in deaths of guards and teachers.

Fiends were one thing, but an attack by criminals was shocking. In the aftermath of the attack, the Institute took the mental health of its students very seriously and gave them a long vacation.

A majority of the students returned to their parents, and daily life at the Institute became more solemn. The number of security guards who were clearly from the military increased, and a bleak atmosphere weighed heavily over the Institute. The Institute’s liveliness was lost, and it now felt more like a military facility.

Meanwhile, the day after he took down Dante and returned to the Institute, Alus received a new report that the prisoners who had escaped from Trojan Prison had all been captured or eliminated.

After the battle, Alus had submitted the recovered Minerva to the military headquarters and given a simple report on the events before being released. The next day he’d received a bundle of reports including protocols, detailed reviews, and a compilation of the above-mentioned incident. But that was more or less how Alus’s behind-the-scenes work looked. This kind of dirty work wasn’t made public, and only a handful of people in the military were in the know. The truth was swept away into the dark river of state secrets.

Alus was currently living in a temporary residence, as his laboratory had been half destroyed. He sat down on a simple two-seat sofa and pulled over a similarly simple table to haphazardly put the reports on.

“I was worried about Lord Vizaist, but it seems that was unnecessary. It looks like the remnants of the escaped prisoners were taken down with minimal human casualties.”

The contents were plain, but the report attested to the current head of the Socalent family’s unparalleled information-gathering skills. What caught Alus’s eye was the report on the seemingly occult phenomenon of humans transforming into Fiends. The shocked students who had witnessed it had been given a strict gag order, but it was clear that wouldn’t be enough.

The official story was that the magic criminals had secretly brought Fiends into the Inner World. Regardless, an increased distrust in the military was inevitable, and the Alpha military had no choice but to announce that they’d sent out the rank 1 to quickly and thoroughly put an end to the situation.

Berwick still saw some criticism, but the other nations issued their own statements to back him up in order to conceal the mishap that had happened at the secret prison. Lilisha’s team had secretly dealt with the escaped prisoners who transformed into Human Fiends, but the phenomenon that Dante had spoken of had indeed happened in the Institute.

I suppose that is the bare minimum response. If it became known that humans were transformed into Fiends within the Inner World, there would be panic. The governor-general and all the nations were saved by the skin of their teeth. As expected of Lord Vizaist’s information control, Alus thought.

As for Vizaist...his daughter, Felinella, had been in a fight at the Institute against one of the key figures among the escaped prisoners, Mir Ostayka. The result had surprised even Alus: Felinella had disposed of Mir. Against a first-class criminal, she normally would have had her hands full simply escaping.

Alus would have liked to learn more, but he stopped reading whenever the report reached Felinella’s battle. It was hard to read. While the rest of Vizaist’s report was written in a matter-of-fact and intellectual tone, when it came to his daughter, it turned chaotic. Vizaist seemed torn between wanting to praise his daughter’s abilities and being ashamed about exposing his precious treasure to danger.

There was even a part where he wished a man strong enough to perfectly protect his daughter would establish a sincere and trusting relationship with her, like a true doting parent. Alus read it like he was asking for the tomboy to be taken under his protection, which was frankly just a pain.

I’d prefer not to pry into that. But I should at least go check up on her soon. 

Finally, Alus found a few handwritten pages of a memo that had been added to the report. They were from Governor-General Berwick and were about pending matters. First on the list was naturally the transformation into Human Fiends.

“Hmm...I agree that to look deeply into the Human Fiend transformation we’ll need to look into that high-purity Ambrosia. Well, Aferka is on the move, so I don’t need to touch on that. I have my own things to do, like preliminary investigations into the Four Books of Fegel.”

It was in the nature of a researcher to feel a little uplifted by having a mystery to pursue. Alus glanced at the safe and inwardly put together his future plans. Finally he checked the last paragraph in Berwick’s memo.

“The specifics aren’t explicitly written, but does that mean that Lettie went to investigate the Trojan Prison?” he pondered. “Well, it was apparently built at the consensus of all the nations, but that is certainly a drastic decision, although the response will be fast thanks to it.”

The instructions to investigate had reached Lettie as soon as the prison break had been discovered, but that meant that there’d been no political coordination between the nations. Although they had headed straight for the scene of the crime, Alpha wasn’t allowed to break into the site on their own, so the mission had to be covert. Alus didn’t think Lettie was well suited to the job, but it seemed to have paid off.

“Hmm. So there are signs that the auto-lock was cut and all cells were opened from the outside, huh?”

Alus knew that meant someone high up in the prison had directly assisted the breakout. The prison warden and vice-warden that Fanon and the others had mentioned immediately came to mind. While Alus didn’t know their motives, it made sense if they were connected to Dante.

“And a suspicious corpse of a woman in a white gown...?”

Based on the clothes, a doctor, a scientist, or a researcher? Though it wouldn’t make sense for anything but a doctor to be at the prison... They executed the provisional punishment there, didn’t they? thought Alus.

The provisional punishment drained mana from prisoners. If the prison had carried that out, it would need large-scale equipment to store the drained mana. It wouldn’t be strange for there to be personnel meant to maintain that.

Looking at the next description, Alus found a processed small half-burned photo instead of a detailed description. “Kwinska...head of the mana storage,” he read. The accompanying photocopy of the staff ID was very blurry.

“From the title, she seems to be an engineer, but she’s probably a researcher with connections to behind-the-scenes work.”

To some degree, Alus could instinctively understand a researcher who put their own curiosity ahead of ethics or appearance. Naturally, no normal researcher would work at a secret prison in the first place.

Alus had no interest in the dead, but since it had been attached to the report, he knew Lettie had seen it as a suspicious death. But the information attached was limited and the only conclusions Alus could reach were forced inferences. Alus switched gears and forced all information into his brain.

Afterward, he followed the last instructions from Berwick and created a small flame to burn the reports. That was when a reserved voice called out to him from behind.

“Sir Alus, is your work done? I wanted to ask what I have to do for the right solution for this training.” Loki was meditating on top of a carpet with a magic formula drawn on it, and she had opened one eye to ask him this. This training method was somewhat experimental, but Alus believed that there would be an effect if it was continued long enough.

“What you have to do, huh? You sound quite uneasy for somebody who volunteered for this experiment,” he responded.

“Not at all! That’s not it... I was just distracted by that and those documents.” Loki’s panicked gaze drifted to a strange container by the wall.

It wasn’t the vessel itself that caught her interest but the core inside, soaked in special liquid chemicals. In fact, the room was littered with other valuable materials and experimental items procured on the way back from the Outer World. They were all things that normally required strict inspection before being allowed to be brought into the Inner World. And the core was the very best of them all.

That said, Loki had had a bitter experience using a core as a catalyst against Alus in the past, so she wasn’t in position to particularly comment on it.

“It’s off the record, but I did get the governor-general’s permission. I’ve brought back research material before too,” Alus responded.

“Isn’t that just because you were in the military?” asked Loki.

“Yes. Don’t worry. I’ve already processed it so that it won’t activate. I also got the governor-general to agree to a special reward for bringing back Minerva. It’s a give-and-take.”

Cores had minimal restrictions depending on their class. This core was B-class and only there because the Institute was currently on high alert. On the off chance that it did activate, it could be dealt with adequately at the moment.

“In light of me taking down Dante and to avoid further risk within the nation, the restrictions on my power have become a lot more lax,” said Alus. “That said, I don’t know how effective that core will be against you.”

“Effective?” asked Loki.

“That’s still a secret. Well, feel free to take a break,” said Alus.

“Okay.” Loki obediently took him up on his words, and after stretching, she gulped down a glass of water and watched Alus.

“That’s right. There was another interesting report. Fanon Trooper supposedly engaged with those escaped prisoners within Alpha and flashily destroyed those new AWRs of theirs, scattering parts all over the place. The intelligence operative just happened to see their squad hurriedly collecting the parts.”

“You mean those AWRs stolen from Clevideet? They were called Barbaros and Caligula, right?” asked Loki.

“Yeah. Looks like they wrapped up their job too,” said Alus. “And they were able to get an accurate copy of one of the parts. But seeing as they’re reluctant to share any information with me, the top brass must be quite interested in it.”

Most gun-type AWRs of the past had been unable to escape the idea of shooting live ammunition, making them ineffective in battles against Fiends. In order to further evolve gun-type AWRs, bullets containing magic had to be created or there was no point using them against Fiends. That was where research had stopped, Alus recalled.

“Every bullet would have to be used properly, and they lacked versatility. Not to mention that each bullet had to be engraved with a magic formula, so there shouldn’t have been any nation researching them any further,” Alus explained. “Incidentally, there were also experiments with engraving the gun itself with magic formulas, but technical problems kept it from working. But this new type finally broke through that wall. Once the gun can overcome the hurdles, it could be used not just with magic bullets but also as an traditional antipersonnel weapon.”

“You did passionately take apart one of those guns from the campus festival after all, Sir Alus,” Loki suggestively said.

“Yeah, I have some interest in it too. It would be even more convenient to use if it could assist in casting magic alongside its use of magic bullets. If the technical aspect has been overcome, it should be able to be mass-produced, but...”

“But?” Loki tilted her head.

“It’s a type of AWR we haven’t seen for quite a while. All the Magicmasters today are used to AWRs being long and conventional weapons. I wonder how many would be able to use it to a satisfying degree. And if Alpha were serious about pursuing Clevideet’s technology, they would need to start up a full-fledged project. But judging from the report, they didn’t get information on the most important part.”

Alus predicted that the top secret part was contained in the barrel of the gun. The ideal was to engrave a magic formula into both the magic bullet and the gun itself. And if it could be constructed so that the bullet could trace the barrel’s magic formula while it was being fired, that was all the better.

Alus definitely would have focused on the barrel. Although it seemed that the intelligence operative wasn’t able to copy that part.

“It seems Clevideet is rather advanced. To be honest, I thought that either Alpha, who has Sir Alus and some outstanding prodigies, or Rusalca with its comprehensive research and development enterprise were standing at the forefront when it came to AWR development,” said Loki.

Alus agreed with her assessment. Alpha had plenty of artisans that could make customized AWRs to order. Meanwhile, Rusalca had large AWR-making enterprises capable of mass production. Currently, Rusalca held half of the international AWR market.

“Clevideet is no doubt trailing when it comes to that field. Their ideas are mostly a bit different and their appearance rather eccentric. You saw what Fanon had, didn’t you? I’ve never seen an umbrella-type before.”

Indeed, Fanon’s AWR was rather astonishing. It was only Fanon’s own unique talent that allowed her to take full advantage of the umbrella and maximize the benefits of it being an umbrella-type AWR. Of course, Jean’s orb and Lettie’s rings were not exactly normal themselves. In fact, Singles as a whole seemed to have AWRs that stood out.

“Indeed. But in the end, the performance of the AWR isn’t as important as developing and refining the magic formulas, is it? Then Alpha has the biggest contributor!” Loki wasn’t actively trying to strain the interpretation to suit her own interest, but her attempt to excitedly praise Alus to the sky made him furrow his brow as he felt a little bashful.

Alus didn’t want to toot his own horn, but not too long ago, magic formulas had only been followed to a tee, not straying from their original purpose. He had changed that.

Researching magic formulas took patience and a lot of trial and error to see results.

That was why the best talent and most funds were usually allocated to that area. But Alus had researched magic formulas and developed a number of original methods of improvement all on his own.

His deep understanding of magic itself gave him an ability to think freely without being tied to existing concepts and to seek out the highest efficiency. He was also familiar with all sorts of magic regardless of attribute.

“Well, I do have some confidence in my contribution for the development of the attribute formula,” he said.

“You are too modest. Even with my new spell, Fire Ikazuchi, you are the only one who could modify a magic formula to such a degree, Sir Alus!”

So that was where she took the topic, Alus thought and smiled wryly. “Okay, okay. That’s enough. I am no match for you, who can use two vertices of thunder. You were able to properly restore a spell, so you deserve the praise.”

“Me?! Ha ha ha, please spare me, Sir Alus.” Loki shook her blushing, grinning face from side to side, holding her hands up as if to push away the excessive praise.

But Alus didn’t see it as flattery; very few Magicmasters could handle the eight vertices of thunder. Not only was finding the magic formulas difficult, Fire Ikazuchi was believed to be incomplete. If not for Loki’s suggestion to incorporate summoning magic, the restoration could have ended up as just an armchair theory.

Seeing as Alus hadn’t been able to recall the related memories after glimpsing into the Akashic Records, developing and restoring the vertex was exceedingly difficult. At the very least, Loki was exceptional when it came to intuition in that field. Alus was satisfied with Fire Ikazuchi.

Exasperated by how Loki was blushing and fiddling, Alus put an end to the bizarre atmosphere with them both praising each other. “Well, if it becomes possible to mass-produce that gun-type AWR, there’s a high possibility that the Magicmaster tactics will change completely.”

Even as he said so, it wouldn’t be clear what would happen until that future actually came to be. After all, it was equipment that Magicmasters entrusted their lives to, so there were plenty of hurdles to overcome, such as durability and versatility.

That said, once it was practical enough, the rest was up to preference. The more one masters their skills within a certain path, the better they become at expressing their ability with even crude tools. In fact, the form used didn’t really matter as long as they were competent. Single AWRs clearly demonstrated as much.

“So it wouldn’t be strange for there to appear more eccentrics and weirdos among more high-ranking Magicmasters,” said Alus.

“Do you think so?” Loki’s knife-type AWR was no exception, as she had several expensive AWRs, throwing and controlling them remotely, using them quite extravagantly.

“By the way, how many AWRs do you have, Loki?” he asked.

“I always have a hundred on me...and I regularly order more. Ah, I heard that you have an AWR workshop that you favor, so maybe I should order from there next time.”

She was likely talking about Budna’s workshop where Night Mist was made, but if she sent such a big order his way, he’d be liable to drop dead from overwork.

“Don’t do it. Besides, you have a special master knife that’s the linchpin of all of them, don’t you? That’s the only one you need to worry about, and you could leave the military to mass-produce the rest. I can look over the maintenance for the master knife related to Fire Ikazuchi.”

“I understand,” she said. Still, ordering more knife-type AWRs regularly was anything but cheap. Loki must have earned quite a lot while she was in the military.

Alus began checking the magic formula for Fire Ikazuchi engraved on her AWR. As he did, Loki returned to her meditation training. With Loki in the corner of his eye, Alus read the data of the AWR through the analyzer. At the same time he listed things he would need to do.

Look into Minerva.

Research the Four Books of Fegel.

Investigate the Human Fiend transformation.

Train Tesfia and Alice.

Hmm, all this said, I have gotten some understanding of Minerva. It’s the core of an ancient relic, and it seems like it’s true that it’s the progenitor of all AWRs. I’d like to study its unknown mechanisms some more, but I’ve already left it to the military headquarters. I wonder when I’ll get to take a look at it next. Alus thought. The words Dante had left behind on Minerva left an impression on him. Minerva...the moving fortress of God. Dante called it by quite the impressive name, but it must be a relic of ancient wisdom. I did tell Berwick, just in case. 

The authenticity of the information Alus provided could eventually be proven by the discovery of Minerva itself. The details were unknown, but its hidden location was somewhere in the Outer World...more accurately, somewhere close to where Alus had caught up to and fought Dante.

They only knew the general location, but Alpha was currently being rocked by multiple issues, namely Aferka’s murder plot of Cicelnia, escaped prisoners, the attack on the Institute, and the Human Fiends that had appeared there. And while it was at risk of being forgotten due to all the recent events, there was still the Tenbram between the Fable family and the Womruina family.

If a major ancient relic were discovered now, the situation could spin out of control. Knowing Berwick, Alus thought he likely wouldn’t start on that until the time was right.

Still, an ancient relic. The Four Books of Fegel have passages mentioning similar existences. Magical relics, so called Artifacts. 

Alus was already almost fully familiar with magic. Only a handful of experts could hope to surpass him in specific fields. Realizing that there was still more to learn made him somewhat happy.

But if Minerva had to be left for later, next on the list was the Four Books of Fegel. If he could research and understand them better, he might be able to understand something about his ultimate goal—himself, or rather his special ability. Special abilities were very different from the magic system in place. They were unexplainable to the modern study of magic, closer to the strange abilities from legends or fictional stories.

After inspecting Loki’s AWR, Alus fiddled around with the knife, polishing it and continuing to think.

There were two remaining tasks.

He’d already decided on his policy for the third. His expertise as a researcher might have been requested, but that was about it. The heads of the seven nations would have to think on the matter.

When it came to humans turning into Fiends, the first example of the phenomenon that came to mind was Godma Barhong... Alus recalled the maddened look of the man he’d crossed paths with regarding Alice.

Regardless of whether the high-purity illegal drug Ambrosia was involved, it wasn’t hard to imagine that the phenomenon was related to Godma’s research. By following that path, one might not just be able to strengthen their body but also handle magic in its complete state.

However...the researcher had abandoned his reason and drowned in the extraordinary power. Alus, who had watched Godma’s demise, felt an empty feeling wash over him. No matter how far he went in his research...he could never become someone else, and he was determined to walk down the endless path on his own.

Frankly...I’m not interested. 

So Alus moved on to the next and final task. In his mind, it was the one he wanted to avoid the most, so he thought about it reluctantly.

“Honestly, I’m not really eager about it.” Looking over at Loki in the middle of her training, Alus let out a sigh. As far as he could tell, his hypothesis was proven. The exceedingly pure mana around her was staying within Loki’s body. He quietly stood behind Loki and crouched down to put his hand on her back.

“Let your consciousness gradually fade... Try not to think about anything. Turn your focus to the source of your mana. I’ll take you the rest of the way,” Alus said, and a black mist seemed to form around him before dispersing into the atmosphere.

Shortly thereafter—

“Hah?!” Loki, who had entered a trance for a while, jumped, opened her eyes wide, and looked around.

Alus slowly removed his hand from her back. “Let’s leave it at this. Now we know that it’s possible. And we could use some Nox Somnia Grass as an induction substitute.”

“What is that?” Loki asked and wiped away the sweat that had gathered on her chin as she looked over her shoulder.

“It’s the scientific name, after all. You know the analgesic used for treating trauma and other things.”

“Ah, so-called Bitter Dew Grass? But that only grows in the wild in the Outer World. It’s forbidden to bring it back into the Inner World, isn’t it?” asked Loki.

“Yeah. Nox Somnia Grass shouldn’t pose any problems if used for medical or research purposes, but it’s still treated as a prohibited species for any delivery. Even purified secretions have a strict permit system.”

“Maybe it’s a remnant of the former aversion to things from the Outer World? As for plants, I heard they sometimes show a bizarre growth rate.”

“There’s that, but they’re also a rare plant even in the Outer World. Not many grow in the wild,” said Alus.

“It would be a problem if the prohibition was lifted and too many of them were gathered at the same time, wouldn’t it?”

Alus nodded. In fact, Nox Somnia Grass was one of the herbs Magicmasters valued the most.

“Yeah. But it’s true that it’s effective, so I’m sure all the nations have been harvesting small amounts in secret. I should have grabbed some while I was at it too.”

Loki sighed. Seeing Alus not care about the prohibition, she exasperatedly looked around the room. There was far too much loot from the Outer World in the room, even with the governor-general’s permission.

“Well, I’ll do something about the grass, so don’t worry about it. So how’d your training go?” Alus asked.

Loki fell silent for a moment as she felt the mana inside of her body. When she did, the surprise made her eyes open wide, and she put her hand over her mouth. She wanted Alus to explain, but she didn’t even properly comprehend what had happened to her.

“S-Sir Alus...! I-Is this a temporary thing?!”

Alus grinned, shook his head, and answered. “No.”

“Then is this the method that you use? Is that why you have so much mana?” she asked.

“I haven’t used it. Like I said, it was an experiment. I was just researching a question that’s been on my mind. I gained some ‘knowledge,’ so I decided to try it out,” Alus said.

“I don’t mind being a test subject, but...” she started. Alus kept himself from retorting and carefully observed her.

“The circulation of my mana has certainly improved,” said Loki.

“It won’t work without limit. It seems it doesn’t even have any effect unless the user’s mana capacity and mana control have reached a certain level,” said Alus.

If mana was blood, it didn’t matter how much more was added unless the blood vessels were long and thick, and stretched around the entire body.

“Do you mean that was why you always had me training my mana control?” Loki asked Alus, eyes sparkling in wonder.

But Alus gave her a curt answer. “You overestimate me. And, Loki, that is not as impressive as you think it is. Because the mana information becomes fixed upon maturation, it has next to no effect on Magicmasters who are fully grown. It may dramatically increase your potential as a Magicmaster, but there’s also a risk on top of the prerequisite. I figured that out earlier.”

“I-I see. But still, this discovery is—”

“Keep it a secret. I have no intention of teaching it to Tesfia and Alice,” Alus said.

“That’s... You are kidding, right?” Loki asked with a slight frown.

“No, I’m serious. Of course, that is only if they intend to stay on the level of a normal Magicmaster. It all depends on how far they want to go.”

Alus stopped talking and lightly shook his head as he started to clean up the test material. Loki swallowed her questions and helped him. The work got him thinking.

If they hadn’t gotten involved with him, they would have become full-fledged Magicmasters. They were rather excellent and could have followed the normal path of magic without deviating from a normal way of life.

But instead, Dante, a man more twisted than Fiends who was the embodiment of the irrationality and violence in the world had appeared. And the girls and the Institute had been caught up in the chaos of war.

The two girls had different personalities and qualities but were intelligent at heart. The reality that there is a world where being normal is far from enough had slammed into them with a storm of blood and violence.

Just like Alus had to become stronger in order to survive, they had been forced to realize that there are places they cannot reach by relying on a gentle breeze to push them along. It was a sight they wouldn’t normally have had to see while living life at the Institute. But a bloody wall had appeared before them that they shouldn’t have had to see.

“Who was it that told them that he would teach them how to fight in the Outer World...?” Alus asked with a sigh.

“Wouldn’t that be you, Sir Alus? Still, the situation has changed. So I’m sure that starting tomorrow, a completely different world will be reflected in their eyes,” answered Loki.

“I guess.” Alus felt that a world had come to an end.

If so, the hesitation that crawled up to those two was sure to be troublesome. When one person guided another, the teacher role tended to follow their own rule of thumb. But how could one convey the type of cold that chilled to the bone to someone who had never experienced the harsh winters of the arctic circle. It was as impossible as teaching someone the fear of being hunted.

Despite knowing that, Alus resolved himself. While he claimed to be guiding the two novice Magicmasters, he hadn’t noticed the sounds of two sets of footsteps approaching him from behind.

There are plenty of difficulties in store... Alus had thought similar things several times before, but the words had never felt as heavy as they did today.

Loki purposely called out to Alus in a cheerful and innocent way. “So how would you get your hands on that Nox Somnia Grass, Sir Alus?”

“Well, it’s not like I don’t have a lead. It’s a plant that has a lot of effects, so there should be people researching it in secret in any nation. The fastest way would be to look up likely candidates.”

“I see, then how about we go get some right away?” Loki acted calm, but the excitement was blatant on her face. Her red cheeks made it clear that she wanted to dash outside right now.

“Just so you know, it won’t have much effect on you anymore, and try to remember that it’s not some kind of training that anyone can do. One’s vessel for mana is what’s important,” Alus said just in case, hoping to rein Loki in a little.

He couldn’t help but worry about the future. But he still felt that the grass was necessary, so he decided to head to the person who owed him the most. Leaving his temporary abode behind, Alus reached the half-destroyed main building.

Imposing-looking Magicmasters were still stationed there. There were also figures that looked like parts of surveying teams working behind areas cordoned off by yellow tape. Their numbers had been reduced, but Alus couldn’t help but wonder how long this scene would continue.

The buildings still bore the scars of the attacks.

“I hope it can be fixed with some repair work,” said Loki.

The training grounds had seen damage as well and looked like they would need even larger-scale repairs. Unfamiliar materials were brought into the facility where students used to engage in friendly competitions.

Military personnel gave Alus suspicious glances as he looked around. Yet when he looked back, they would drop their eyes and return a salute.

Alus’s existence might no longer be a taboo subject, but there were still people who shrank from the eerie presence of the sixteen-year-old rank 1. And since he was always in the Outer World, there were still plenty of soldiers who didn’t know what he looked like.

The treatment almost felt nostalgic to him.

Alus and Loki headed for the principal’s office. Sisty’s room had fortunately avoided any damage, so he didn’t need to show any restraint as he knocked on the door.

“Hello, Principal,” Alus gave his ordinary greeting.

Without even waiting for a reply, Alus and Loki stepped inside. Sisty had deep, dark bags under eyes and she resentfully glared at Alus with dull eyes.

“Alus...as you can see I have a lot to do,” the principal said.

Alus wanted to ask her just who had brought back Minerva, an item she had failed to protect, but he knew that the students had been taken hostage. The decision to hand Minerva over to the attackers, even if only temporary, had been a painful one made with the resolve to accept all responsibility.

Sisty had been willing to give up her position and lose face to protect her students. In the end, there were students among the dead, but it was the bare minimum for the situation.

Alus smiled wryly and decided to just be mildly sarcastic. “Still, I’m quite tired after all this. It seems you are too. Would you like to brag about how tired you are?”

Glancing at her desk, he saw piles of papers spread across it. They interfered with the virtual screens, making it all seem rather inefficient.

“Ha ha... If you want an energy drink I have some over there,” Sisty said with a dry smile as she pointed to a corner of the room.

Like she said, there was a box of energy drinks stuffed into the corner. And upon closer inspection, Alus noticed empty containers scattered about in the corner as well.

“I haven’t slept for three days,” she said.

“I see even our excellent principal has weakened. That’s all the more convenient.” Alus grinned wickedly when Loki prodded him in the side with her elbow.

“Principal Sisty, you should ventilate this room a little. You wouldn’t want to ruin your body...” With a smile befitting a goddess, Loki opened the windows. “Your body is important. You’ll need to show more care. And I believe there is something you need to do first.”

Sisty turned her tired eyes to Loki and slumped down in her chair with a sigh. “That smile is scarier than Alus’s. What might that be, Ms. Loki?”

Instead of getting right to the point, Loki walked behind the principal and began massaging her shoulders.

To think, Loki was kissing ass. Alus had to wonder just what she was plotting as he watched the routine with cold eyes.

“Oh, your shoulders are very stiff,” said Loki.

“What? Well, I suppose. It has been so busy...really. Mmmm.”

Letting her shoulders get massaged, Sisty closed her eyes and relaxed. And Loki didn’t miss her opportunity.

“I can imagine. You are one of the most important people in Alpha, after all. You’re a former Single with skills that are still able to put up a good fight against active-duty Magicmasters. Furthermore, you have beauty anyone would be envious of. What woman wouldn’t dream of such beautiful skin?”

It was obvious flattery to Alus, but Sisty flashed the girl a big smile. “Oh my, I’m not that beautiful... You are very good, Ms. Loki. Your strength is just perfect.”

Loki replied to Sisty’s smile with a grin of her own. “It is an honor to hear you say that. I am under your care and guidance.”

“Oh, you are one of my students now, there’s no need to be so formal. Besides, it is my job to watch over my students.”

An uncomfortably harmonious atmosphere filled the dark room. Alus began to wonder where Loki had picked up her hidden massage talent as well as the skill to curry favor with people of authority.

As Alus pondered that, Loki saw that the time had come and unconsciously allowed the smile of a predator to creep up to her lips. “By the way, Principal Sisty,” she said.

“Yes, what might it be...ah!”

At the same time, Loki pushed a pressure point on Sisty’s soldier and deepened her smile.

“It’s about the repairs on the research building where Sir Alus’s laboratory is. At present, it seems that the document submissions are still in limbo. I don’t believe that the amazing principal of the great Second Magical Institute would put off thanking the biggest contributor to saving the day.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted completely as Loki continued her assault on Sisty’s pressure points.

“Ow, that hurts! D-Don’t worry, Ms. Loki! Of course I am planning on prioritizing that. I mean it. Not there!” Sisty’s face trembled like she’d been electrocuted, and she shouted, “D-Don’t worry, Ms. Loki! I-I was just thinking about the repair work! I’ll handle it, right after this!”

“I see. I’m glad to hear it,” Loki said, taking her hands off Sisty’s shoulders and retreating back to Alus’s side.

Sisty pushed the piles of paperwork aside and collapsed on her desk. With a weakened tone, she squeezed out a “Th-Thank you...”

Alus would’ve preferred to wait for more appropriate timing to ask Sisty to repay the favor. But in the end, the IOU card was used on something small, like repairing the research building.

Well, it was just a matter of priority so he left it at that. Besides, it was still hard to say that they were now even. It might have lost some effectiveness, but he should still be able to squeeze out a little more out of this card.

Alus made a rough estimate in his mind.

“Sorry it’s not a bigger gesture, but thank you too, Alus.” A little bit of life returned to Sisty’s haggard face as she thanked Alus.

“It would be a problem for me too if you were to step down,” said Alus. “There were casualties among the students too, but it seems you made it through by the skin of your teeth. That aside, I didn’t see the hyena out today.”

“Major General Morwald? With that flabby body of his, there’s no way he would lead the field operations every day. I haven’t seen him since the first day. And you’re the one who managed to take back Minerva. Everyone is really grateful, you know,” Sisty said.

“Well, you’re welcome. Still, he’s a crafty one. I can’t imagine that he would let this opportunity slip by. He is probably plotting to pull an ally of Governor-General Berwick from her position,” said Alus.

“I’m sure you already know, but the issue about responsibility for Minerva is being negotiated behind the scenes. Now I owe Berwick and Vizaist even more,” said Sisty.

They’re playing all sorts of cards here, including the crisis near Balmes, Fanon Trooper’s illegal trespassing, Iblis’s delayed response to the prison break from the Trojan Prison, and their friendly relations with Rusalca... They’re even getting Cicelnia involved. 

Alus didn’t know the details of the behind-the-scenes politics, but he could guess at the general outline. And there was one more thing, though Alus wasn’t personally interested in it.

“And it’s the Human Fiend transformation that will be essential in those negotiations?” he asked.

“Yes, that will probably be the biggest agenda in the next international conference.” Sisty nodded with a wily smile.

“Well, even if it’s kept hidden from the public, it would be dishonest not to share with the other nations. The groundwork would need to be laid and information fed out in bits to avoid attacks from Hydrange and other nations that Alpha has little connection to. As a result, the responsibility for Minerva appears to be small in comparison to the bigger issue at hand...or at least that’s what they’re attempting, isn’t it? So not even Morwald can object to what’s been decided between nations.”

“Well done. That’s a perfect answer,” Sisty said with a broad smile.

Alus sighed and said, “So it’s just a fixed game, then. But this is Morwald we’re talking about. He’s an old fool completely immersed in this kind of political theater and authoritarianism. He doesn’t have the youthful grace to just step down, and he also seems to lack a good sense for when to pull out.”

“That’s true. When it comes to ties to Morwald, you are more problematic than I am. I only know that he’s involved in the affair between the Fable family’s Tesfia and the Womruina family’s delinquent son,” said Sisty.

“You mean the Tenbram. You mean he’s going to interfere?” asked Alus.

“That old fool’s main pillar of support is the old noble faction. He’s particularly close to the Womruinas. They are in bed with each other. They’d need to be forced apart.”

Even Alus was sick of Morwald. In addition to being top brass, he’d been interfering with Alus ever since he’d joined the military under Berwick’s wing. He was not just Vizaist’s political enemy who’d risen up to nobility through merit, but also Berwick’s.

“Ah, that’s right, Alus. I have something interesting to tell you about one of the escaped prisoners who infiltrated the Institute, Mir Ostayka. Are you curious?” asked Sisty.

Mir was a magical criminal from the fourth layer, and Alus had heard that it had been Felinella to defeat her.

“From the sounds of it, she was the only one who infiltrated the Institute before the attack,” said Alus.

“...You’re not cute at all. That’s right. I actually got my hands on the letter of invitation that Mir had when she appeared at the Institute.”

“That’s bold for an escaped prisoner. And it was fake, wasn’t it?”

“That’s true, but there was a clue in it,” said Sisty. “The ink on this letter of introduction is a little special, you see. It seems to have come from the black market, but I found out where it originated. It comes from a special chemical factory that a certain noble, who shall remain unnamed, holds special interest in. The very same noble happened to own the abandoned villa that the escaped prisoners temporarily used as a hideout.”

“Oh, and what is that noble’s name?” asked Alus.

An evil grin appeared on Sisty’s face. “Womruina.”

That alone made all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

“I see. I guessed that someone inside of Alpha had helped the escaped prisoners. That would probably also be...?”

“Of course, the Womruinas are publicly denying it, and we have no clear evidence. On top of that, they’re nobles related to former royalty, so we can’t do any large-scale investigations. Even if they’re cornered, they could just sacrifice a butler or someone, claiming that they were using the prestige of the family for nefarious purposes. They also have so many shared interests and connections that shield them that it’s difficult for any investigation to reach them.”

Sisty seemed well informed of the situation, probably in large part thanks to the kind of behind-the-scenes information that put her in debt to Vizaist.

There was also plenty of information on the Womruina family’s shady business coming in from Lilisha. Although there was no conclusive evidence, if they continued to slip up, their foothold might eventually crumble.

Alus thought seeing the former royalty fall from their privileged situation would be quite amusing. If they could use that to cancel the Tenbram, that’d be nice. Troublesome things going away by themselves was always welcome.

But things were unlikely to go that well, and Loki was quick to voice her concern. “That single faked letter of invitation is not good enough for evidence. As they’re criminals, they might just have used stolen goods. Still, that’s pretty naive for a seasoned criminal. Why didn’t she dispose of the letter of introduction once she successfully infiltrated the Institute?”

“It must have been used to ensure that Womruina wouldn’t betray them. Which is all the more likely if Mir was a hardcore magical criminal. Without any sense of morals of their own, they could never trust anyone else,” said Alus, who had gotten some insight in how criminals acted in his battles against Kurama. He understood the minds of serious criminals far better than Sisty or Loki. “I think it’s clear that the Womruina family has a connection to the escaped criminals. Even if they did, there’s still no chance that Dante and Mir fully trusted Womruina. No experienced criminal would be that naive. Of course, Womruina would likewise be quick to cut them off as soon as their presence became detrimental to them. It’s a relationship where both sides used each other.”

“I see, that sounds like something villains would do,” Loki said, nodding.

“I don’t know what Dante’s final goal was, but Mir might have been smarter about going about things. So if Womruina tried to cut them off, she would have a card to make them play to her tune instead. It would also be helpful if she were to get caught by Alpha. If she hinted at releasing that, she would have negotiation material with both Alpha and Womruina,” said Alus.

Sisty let out a heavy sigh. “I think I understand. They live in a world where betrayal is normal, so it must be a habit.”

“That’s a good way to understand it,” said Alus. “Well, it’s not like I wanted to become familiar with how they think and behave.”

“I would prefer not to know the circumstances of the underworld,” said Sisty with her face in her palm, looking melancholic. “I don’t have any intentions of poking my nose into that kind of business, but even the Inner World has gotten dangerous lately. Perhaps we’ve let too much poison build up in the shadow of all the peacefulness.”

“It’s a good thing you’re on Berwick’s side. Morwald and the others in the old regime are loaded on a sinking ship together with their corrupt practices. They can’t sail out to sea, so they’re stuck roaming a swamp until they sink of their own accord,” said Alus.

“Well said. But I haven’t clearly indicated what faction I am a part of.”

“I thought that you would be part of Governor-General Berwick’s faction, Principal,” Loki said in surprise.

But Sisty tilted her head. “Well, we’re kind of stuck together so that’s often how it looks. But as an educator, I want to stay neutral without pandering to either side. Well, I’m sure that Berwick is still better at leading the military though.”

Even though she had long ago left the world of political strife, Sisty was still unable to completely free herself from her past ties. Someone like Sisty, whose tales are almost legendary, was bound to have a fair share of hardships.

“I see. I suppose those are complex adult circumstances... It’s difficult to make everyone’s position clear. By the way, whose side do you think the ruler is on? Wouldn’t she be the most influential of them all?”

There was no clear answer to Loki’s question, as both Alus and Sisty had a scowl on their faces.

“She did appoint Berwick to governor-general, so she’s not against the current military administration,” said Sisty. “Moreover, in Alpha the ruler and the military are politically separated. The only authority that the ruler has over the military is to appoint and dismiss the governor-general. That’s why Cicelnia made such a dangerous gamble reforming Aferka into her personal forces.”

Sisty then looked to Alus as if to say that he was more knowledgeable about Cicelnia. He reluctantly opened his mouth. “Yeah. Cicelnia’s unlikely to oppose Berwick. But she’s both a prodigy and a natural calamity. For those who follow her, she is always like a cursed meteor that could plummet from the sky when you least expect it. That’s why the wiser the noble, the more carefully they observe the ruler’s moves. She’s liable to get anyone involved, friend or foe.”

Even Alus had been caught up in the Aferka business very recently. Cicelnia was a living goddess of beauty, with plenty of adherents, but at the same time, if a Lady Cicelnia Victim Club were made, it would probably fill up fast.

In a manner of speaking, the current supporters of the aristocracy were nothing but a bunch of fools clinging to titles that had become nothing more than decorations. They were just barely scraping by on what was left in the bottom of the barrel.

In particular, the way they coveted the authority to hire Magicmasters was not much different from ants swarming around a piece of candy. That was why the scum were so politically inclined. Political power and military strength were always equal, and very few rulers were as skilled as Cicelnia at manipulating the reins of both.

Hearing Alus’s evaluation, Loki let out an exasperated sigh. “There’s no end to Sir Alus’s problems. What a troublesome ruler.”

“You got that right! And now she’s got Aferka as her pawns,” said Sisty. “Jeez. Still, they were a big help with the Human Fiends that appeared in the Institute.”

“Ah, you mean the escaped prisoners that transformed,” said Loki. “If I recall, Aferka not only disposed of them in secret but is also looking into the suspected source, Ambrosia.”

“Lady Cicelnia has finally gotten her hands on not just authority but military might. She’s even got dirt on me,” lamented Sisty. “I’m sure she’ll demand something outrageous eventually using the carrot and stick. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.”

“Well, Lilisha is still attending the Institute. We can only hope that the close relationship between the educational and political worlds will give way for a rewarding future,” Alus said, giving lip service.

As long as Cicelnia’s attention was on herself, Sisty was probably safe from any disasters. And in the realm of close relationships, the give-and-take between Alus and Berwick had gone on for so long he couldn’t keep count.

An inseparable relationship— No it goes beyond that by now... thought Alus.

That’s just how it was. His relationship with the Witch before him was not too different either. It might not have been on the same level, but Alus wondered about his relationship with Tesfia, Alice, and Lilisha. Alus sank deeper into his thought before realizing it would be a quagmire.

He raised his head and called out to the still-troubled Sisty with an understanding voice, “Let’s just leave it at that. It’s a waste to think about it.”

“You’re right. It really is a waste,” Sisty replied calmly.

But Alus’s words weren’t just for her; they were also for himself. There were things in the world that were pointless to think about. Especially those that concerned Cicelnia’s intentions. Being able to give up thinking about things that would never lead to anything was another important lesson of life. Or at least that was how Alus decided to forcibly interpret it.

“Well, now that we’ve come this far, you’ll need to protect your seat as principal no matter the cost. As reluctant as I might be, I’ll lend you a hand,” said Alus. “Cicelnia owes me too...probably.”

“Couldn’t you sound a little more reliable? No matter. Rather than hoping for help from the powers above, I’ll quietly wait for the time of judgment while sorting through these piles of paper and bookshelves,” Sisty said, sounding negligent. “Speaking of books, what happened to the Four Books of Fegel? There’s also information about Minerva. Do you know anything, Alus?”

Sisty turned her curiosity as a Magicmaster directly at Alus.

He had known the question was coming. Alus snapped his fingers and set up a barrier to shut off sound. He was on guard for bugs, and it showed how important what he was about to say was.

“Regarding the Four Books of Fegel, I only know about one book. Simply put, it’s not a prophetic book; it’s filled with yet-unknown knowledge. It’s more or less what I imagined.”

“I knew it! So what’s written in it?!” Sisty’s exhaustion from these past few days was blown away as she excitedly leaned forward. Her excitement for it was probably due to her intellectual appetite for knowledge as a Magicmaster.

“I’ve only briefly analyzed the page on Minerva. I haven’t touched the other sections yet. And the information that can be read in the first place is transferred into the brain as an image, so you can’t carefully examine it as it’s impossible to take a picture let alone copy. Not only is it difficult to share between people, the information in one book is too fragmentary. It’s impossible to decipher all of it.”

Even with Alus’s knowledge, he could only decipher a portion of it. And even with all of humanity’s knowledge, only a few pages could be deciphered.

The Akashic Records will likely be the key to deciphering it. The knowledge within it goes far beyond what humanity has, Alus thought.

Alus continued to speak with Sisty, albeit somewhat fed up by her curiosity. “It’s still of interest to me, so I intend to thoroughly research it someday.”

“I see. That’s a shame. I at least wanted to know why Dante was after Minerva. He clearly had an objective in mind,” the principal said.

“I found out what it was. If you don’t mind hearing what I told Berwick, I could give you a summary.”

“Oh, now that makes me happy. You trust me as much as Berwick. And you’re right, there’s no adult around you that you can trust more than me. So you can count on me in the future too, you know.”

“If you’re being serious, I’m going home. Well, I scratch your back, you scratch mine. In exchange for the information, you’ll owe me a favor in the future, okay?”

“I-I know,” she said. “I’ll start by hearing one thing you have to say, if it’s something I can do.”

“One thing, huh? Fine, I’ll keep my expectations high. Minerva is supposedly the power source of an ancient structure called an Ark. Although I don’t know all the details.”

Sisty blinked repeatedly. “I see,” she said. She didn’t seem particularly surprised. Of course, she was neither a historian nor an archaeologist, so that couldn’t be helped.

“That would explain the massive energy hidden within it. But what was Dante planning to do with that?” she asked.

“If we take him at his word, he was planning to get his hands on that Ark and do something,” said Alus.

“So perhaps some fighting power to wage war on the seven nations?” Sisty asked, but something about that didn’t sit right with Alus.

There was that profound gesture Dante had shown at his death...his trembling finger hadn’t been pointed at the seven nations but in the opposite direction: the horizon of the Outer World.

Then there had been the peculiar magic Dante had used, which Alus had never seen. It had seemed similar to attribute-less magic, but to Alus it looked like he was controlling gravity itself. And Alus had gotten the distinct impression that magic was being enhanced beyond normal magic through the presence of Minerva.

Regardless, it was clear that Dante had touched the Four Books of Fegel and read their contents. And that was the third book, which was currently in Alus’s possession.

“Who knows. He certainly had the air of a violent combat junkie, but it felt like there was more to him than that. It didn’t seem like he had the resentment to just want to go to war, nor was he some mindless butcher. In short, I doubt it was that simple.”

Alus recalled Dante mentioning the qualifications to take a seat. Just what had he meant by that?

He’d been talking about them both being seat holders or something, that they both had the qualification. If that concerned a common point shared by both Dante and Alus, then...

It probably refers to someone who has read a portion of the Four Books of Fegel... That’s all I can figure out right now.

“Alus...?” Sisty’s puzzled voice brought Alus back to reality, and he shook his head once.

“We don’t know what Dante was after, so let’s put that to the side for now. It’d probably be best to leave the rest, like the Human Fiend transformation, to the military. Neither you nor I have the time for that,” said Alus.

“Phew, that’s true. Then story time is over. Now I need to get back to work, so you two better leave too.” Sisty tried to stand up, but Alus stopped her.

“Hold up. I almost forgot about why we came.”

“Oh come on... I already have enough on my plate.” Sisty had tried to avoid the topic by taking advantage of the unexpectedly long discussion, so now she frowned like a little girl.

“Principal, you haven’t forgotten about your promise have you?” asked the rank 1 Magicmaster.

“Ugh! Y-You’re using it already? Shouldn’t you save the right to make the Institute’s principal do one thing you want for a better moment? You’re young, so I’m sure there are nights when you’d want to feel the presence of an adult woman. I wouldn’t mind going on a dinner date.”

Sisty wiggled her hips to emphasize her voluptuous body, to which Loki spoke up with a stiff expression and cold smile. “That’s far too cheap, Principal. Even a hundred times wouldn’t be worth it to Sir Alus.”

“Huh, cheap... Are my womanly wiles really worth that little?”

Age aside, Sisty was a flawless beauty...and Loki’s strict judgment came as quite a shock to her. She looked down at her body with a serious expression and pondered if her skin was no longer as firm, among other things.

Without so much as a hint of sympathy, Alus quickly cut to the chase. “Sorry to interrupt your distress, but...please give me some Nox Somnia Grass.”

“Oh, what’s that? Why do you think I would have something like that?”

“Oh, you don’t have any?” he asked.

“Tsk...fine, yes I do have some. How did you know?” asked Sisty.

“It’s said that Nox Somnia Grass is not just good for your health but also contains components with cosmetic benefits. Knowing your interest in that field, I was certain you would be trying it.”

“Ahh, now you’ve gone and exposed my beauty maintenance trade secret. So how many roots do you want?”

“Roots? I only need the blade...” said Alus.

“Ah?! Pretend you didn’t hear that, then!”

Alus was fine as long as he got what he wanted. He had no interest in getting involved with something unnecessary. But Loki listened in closely.

Eternal youth was a concept that had captivated women since ancient times, and the closest to achieving it was Sisty Nexophia. Of course, her vast amounts of mana played an overwhelming part in that, so normal women couldn’t hope to get the same results—plus they would need more ingredients than just Nox Somnia Grass.

“Sir Alus, the principal is being generous, so let’s take the grass, roots and all,” said Loki.

“Hey, those are valuable! So I’ll let you have just the leaves... So do you want them dried out? Or some left as is? What will you be using them for?” asked Sisty.

“We’ll take some dried out in that case,” said Alus.

“So you’re using them for aroma, then? They do smell pretty good. How much do you need?”

“I’d like to burn it in my room, so could you give me enough to last for ten minutes in a smaller aroma lamp?” answered Alus.

“That’s fine. I’ve got a decent stock of leaves, so take some extra with you,” Sisty said and went into the room in the back of her study. She came back out with a large number of small bags. The bags were filled with white, dry grass that looked suspicious.

“I’m impressed you managed to bring that much in. You’re not selling it in secret, are you?” asked Alus.

“Of course not. It’s for personal use! So what are you going to burn it for? Did you finally wake up to your desires and plan to bring a girl over?”

Alus took the bags and investigated the grass. Once he was satisfied with its quality he answered. “Well, I’ll start with bringing over two. Although the goal will be training.”