Non-prosecution.

The gazes of Elias, seated at the far end of the Hohenzollern section, and Leo, in the Bavaria section on the left, sharpened.

It was only natural, as the success or failure of this meeting would determine whether our class’s professor could return.

Only the Crown Prince, who had maintained a subtle smile throughout, tilted her head and laughed. Her hand reached for Adelbert beside her, pulling him close by the shoulder. Adelbert looked utterly frozen.

“This proposal is based on the Investigation Bureau’s officially recognized findings and represents their judgment. However, I clarify that the final decision on the disposition lies with the prosecution and His Majesty the Emperor. I will now outline the investigation process in order. A week ago, I visited the Imperial Second Academy to investigate the attempted murder of royals. At that time, by His Majesty’s command, Imperial Priest Eric Frey and His Highness Prince Adelbert Hohenzollern, who participated in the investigation, can testify to my interrogation.”

I pointed at them.

No objections came yet. It wasn’t the time for that.

“Divine power interrogation revealed that neither suspect knew they had visited the victims’ rooms or the dormitory at the time of the incident. Since the prosecution conducted the same method, please refer to page 7 of the report distributed earlier.”

The sound of pages turning echoed.

An aide flipped the Emperor’s report and displayed it before him.

“The suspects couldn’t recall their crimes, the buildings, or locations they visited, but reacted to whether they’d heard the specific warp coordinates of the victims’ rooms. His Highness the Prince can directly testify to this.”

Adelbert, previously stiff, stood and spoke in a dignified voice, as if nothing had happened.

“It’s true. I personally witnessed Sir Ernst conduct the interrogation in this manner.”

“Esteemed attendees, what possibilities come to mind regarding this?”

“…”

“They don’t know where they went, but they remember hearing warp coordinates. How could this happen? Has anyone speculated?”

No one spoke.

Their minds were likely consumed with thoughts of Abraham.

In truth, this is inexplicable without Abraham’s ability.

“If someone injected commands into their minds without their awareness, this could occur. It’s an almost supernatural ability, but considering magic is a field not fully explained, it’s worth exploring. In fact, we now know something incomprehensible by our standards happened to former Deputy Minister Marco Schreiber.”

The Crown Prince’s golden eyes met mine.

I stared into those captivating eyes and continued.

“You might ask if divine power could have erased their memories, but there are no divine power mages at the Imperial Second Academy, and external access was strictly restricted at the time. The estimated time of Professor Johannes Ron’s crime is between 10 a.m. and noon on January 26, but there’s no record of the suspect leaving, and he was immediately called to an emergency meeting at midnight, providing a clear alibi against divine power manipulation.”

Investigation Bureau members nodded, marking something on their papers.

“At the time, I—”

“Hold on.”

I turned toward the voice. The Crown Prince held up a hand, signaling to stop.

“Speak, Your Highness.”

“I’d like clarity on the alibi of the suspect Stefan Traut.”

She looked at me with a faint smile.

“I understand lumping the two cases together due to shared location and similarities, but as this concerns the Empire’s safety, please answer thoroughly.”

“…”

I looked at her silently, then spoke calmly.

“If divine power had influenced them, the coordinates would’ve been erased from their minds as well, Your Highness.”

“Hm.”

The Crown Prince stroked her chin and nodded.

Her leisurely, almost languid voice echoed through the vast space.

“Clear. You’re saying there’s no need to leave only the coordinates. But… what if, for a perfect crime, they erased key details but didn’t think to erase the coordinates?”

“…”

“I know your capabilities, Sir. But assuming other mages are as skilled as you because of your competence would be a mistake. Your questions and derived answers were logically sound, but another mage manipulating the suspects’ minds might not have anticipated such questions or logic.”

Some investigators nodded.

It seemed plausible to them.

Yes, the Crown Prince’s question is sharp. It’s a legitimate question.

Though her intent isn’t.

“In short, you might have overestimated the opponent’s reasoning. Can you rule out that possibility?”

“…It’s extremely unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out.”

“Then? You didn’t come here without considering this scenario, did you, Your Excellency?”

So, this is how she’ll block me.

No, not block.

She’s testing my limits under the guise of Hohenzollern safety.

Whether it’s my ability’s limits or my patience, we’ll see.

I nodded.

“Very well. I’ll explain. The Adelbert Hohenzollern berserk incident occurred on January 17, and the Elias Hohenzollern incident a week later, on the morning of January 24. Thus, we must check for records of Professor Stefan Traut leaving campus between 6 a.m. on January 24, after supervising the second exam, and January 26, when the Askanian warp incident occurred.”

I pulled up the faculty’s gate access records and displayed them large in the air.

“There’s one record during that period. The purpose was purchasing supplies.”

“Assistants and staff exist for such tasks. Why did a professor go personally?”

“The reason is unknown.”

“Of course. Sir, even if he bought supplies, he might’ve met a divine power mage while out. What do you think?”

The investigators now looked at me, not their reports.

She’s right.

Tracking Traut’s outing is impossible.

It’s long past, and if his mind was truly wiped, we can’t extract from Traut whether he met a divine power mage.

But if I can’t clarify this, the fact that the professors reacted only to warp coordinates loses its significant link to Abraham’s flaw, opening the possibility of another perpetrator.

So, what to do?

“…That’s entirely possible. As Your Highness says, we can’t know what the suspect did or who he met outside the record in this situation.”

“Hm.”

When I conceded, Elias and Leo looked at me. The Crown Prince still wore an unreadable smile.

“Then let’s do this, Your Highness. Across the Empire, there are 93 divine power mages, including myself, with 24 capable of erasing memories—half Hohenzollern, half Wittelsbach.”

If she asks about something untraceable, this is the only response.

I paused, then turned to Leo, who was listening intently.

“Dear Leonard Wittelsbach, Crown Prince of Bavaria. I know this is near-state-secret-level investigation, but to provide a clear answer to Your Highness’s question for His Majesty and the esteemed officials here, I request permission to fully investigate the activities of the 12 specially designated Wittelsbach priests over the past month.”

“…”

The corner of Leo’s mouth twitched slightly. I don’t know what prompted that reaction, but he soon nodded with a relaxed smile.

“Permission granted. Proceed as you wish.”

I wondered earlier what to do.

It’s not hard.

Approach it inversely.

If Traut met a divine power mage who erased his crime’s traces?

The memory of meeting Traut would remain in that mage’s mind.

‘24 out of 100 million.’

There’s no reason we can’t investigate that.

I saw the Crown Prince slowly twist her lips.

Not a mocking or flustered expression. She was enjoying this.

Whatever. The defeat in this moment is hers.

I smiled and looked at the Hohenzollern family.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness. If you permit a full investigation of Prussia’s 12 specially designated priests, I can provide a clear answer.”

Why is the defeat hers?

Because this crime *is* Abraham’s.

Even investigating all 24, no divine power mage who instigated Traut’s crime and erased his memory will appear.

In other words, by asking, the Crown Prince solidified that this is her crime.

“Hahaha…”

The Crown Prince let out a clear laugh.

The Emperor’s expression clearly said, “The Crown Prince’s question is valid, but why investigate further?” So, she answered my request on his behalf.

“Very well. We’ll investigate this separately after the meeting. But since we’ve confirmed Your Excellency’s sound logic, proceed for now.”

I enjoyed watching her dress up a defeat as no defeat.

I offered a polite thank you and continued.

“Now, moving on. I investigated whether any changes or issues occurred with the suspects and confirmed with the Academy’s Faculty Management Director that an unscheduled health checkup was conducted in the second week of January. Director.”

When I called, the Faculty Management Director stood with a tense face.

“Can you describe the situation as it was?”

“Yes… Well… On January 7, the Imperial Central Hospital proposed an unscheduled checkup to monitor faculty health. It was conducted on January 10.”

“Good. January 10. That’s one week before His Highness Prince Adelbert was harmed. I searched the hospital and found a clue to resolve the earlier question. This is data received from the Investigation Bureau.”

I displayed a file labeled “1/10 Imperial Second Academy Checkup Records” in the air.

Then, I opened the magic power test section on the next page.

Among dense text, only two fields were conspicuously blank.

“As you can see, only the blood test fields for the two suspects are empty.”

“…”

“I judged this is not unrelated to the earlier question. The disappearance of the suspects’ blood and the ‘berserk’ risk to two Hohenzollern students led me to suspect Pleroma involvement. Senator Alexander Kluger provided significant help here.”

At my words, the Pleroma senator stood.

Alexander Kluger, leveraging his Pleroma position, supplied Pleroma information to the imperial family, securing his standing as a pro-Emperor politician.

He sells approved information with the cult’s permission, maintaining his place in both groups.

Since Pleroma keeps most information secret, verification in this field is slow. Senators like Kluger or Werner Strauch have long leaked minor Pleroma details, later proven true, making them reliable sources.

His statements themselves are evidence.

Alexander Kluger began with a grave expression.

“Pleroma is an antichrist cult aiming to resurrect people for eternal life at their whim. They use an ability called ‘Mission’ to quickly convince their clergy of their fanatic ideology, an ability from a mage named Gregorio, who is Abraham, existing since Pleroma’s founding.”

To speak of his own group like that—surviving as a spy must require this level of nerve.

“According to my informants, Gregorio drinks the blood of Mission recipients. So, when His Excellency Ernst asked if the blood loss incident was linked to Pleroma, I immediately knew it was Abraham’s doing. It matches how Abraham issues Missions.”

Most investigators nodded, jotting something down.

But one—the Police Bureau Chief—held up a hand to pause.

“Who provided the information?”

All eyes turned to the senator.

Unfazed, likely used to such questions, he maintained a serious facade.

“As always, it’s difficult to say. I have informants spying within Pleroma, and I can only say I got the information from them. Naming them would identify them, making it impossible to track Pleroma’s movements.”

“Ah.”

All eyes returned to the center.

It sounded like Elias, but it wasn’t him.

The Crown Prince let out a short, intrigued sigh and laughed.

“Well said. Senator Alexander Kluger has long contributed to our Empire’s safety, and his informants have provided accurate information for the past five years. Revealing their names and identities would feed the Pleromas lurking around us. Let’s avoid such shortsighted methods.”

Kluger bowed slightly in gratitude, but as he raised his head, the Crown Prince addressed me.

“Your Excellency Ernst, prove Senator Alexander Kluger’s innocence here and now.”

“…”

“…Pardon?”

The senator, unsure what he’d heard, asked again. His face drained of color.

Understandably.

The Crown Prince is demanding I use divine power.

“I-I’ve always, for the past five years…”

“Senator.”

When I called, he looked at me with desperate eyes, pleading not to do anything. His agitation was visible even in the dim light.

Using divine power would kill him.

The Crown Prince knows he’s Pleroma and what magic is on him. She’s doing this to undermine my credibility.

‘Why?’

Since my abilities can’t be rationally explained, I must rearrange sequences and fabricate sources to make my findings convincing, as I’m doing now.

Unable to flaw my logic, she’s exposing that I’m using Pleroma. His death alone would prove his affiliation.

“…I’ll go.”

I can’t refuse her order.

I stepped out of the light, approaching the seats. The senator backed away, terrified. I stepped on his shoe to stop him and grabbed his shoulder.

His near-death reaction might backfire, but I had no choice. I snapped my fingers, drew my wand, and aimed.

—Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction…

“Argh…!”

Before he could finish screaming, his eyes lost focus. I sat him down before he collapsed, and silence filled the space. All eyes were on us.

I spoke slowly, maintaining steady magic power.

“Senator, everything you’ve said here must be true. Can you swear to it?”

He nodded slowly.

‘Good.’

That’s enough.

Cold sweat dripped from using magic and divine power simultaneously. I quickly withdrew my wand.

“…Hrk…! Hrk! What just…!”

The senator thrashed as if seizing, staggering.

He gasped, staring at me with wild, dilated eyes.

How could he be alive? His expression asked that.

Instead of answering, I looked at the Crown Prince and Emperor and said,

“The senator is innocent, and his testimony is reliable. Your Majesty, may I continue the presentation?”

The Emperor nodded to proceed.

The Crown Prince, as if witnessing something even more astonishing, watched with gleaming eyes behind a calm smile, her gaze fixed on me.

‘Must be fascinating.’

A man who should’ve exploded didn’t.

Sorry for thwarting your plan again.

The senator couldn’t die to begin with.

I’d previously subjugated his core, overlaying my magic power to manipulate it at will.

I’d just adjusted the flow of my magic power in his body. Before his core could react to divine power and explode, my magic absorbed Pleroma’s curse magic, buying time.

Of course, lingering longer would’ve killed him. My magic wasn’t an antidote, just a buffer. Once depleted, the curse would’ve spread.

The Crown Prince’s sabotage was clever, but…

It’s over.

Then, she clasped her hands and said,

“Your Excellency.”

“Speak.”

“Let’s meet briefly after this. I have something for you.”

Her voice was unusual, as if distracted, piercing something, not fully present.

Leo and Elias’s gazes turned to her.

Elias, naturally sour-faced since she spoke, was expected, but even Leo, sensing something off, looked at her probingly.

“I will.”

I answered readily.

“Now, the final point. I hypothesized Abraham interfered with the professors’ minds and interrogated 69 mid-level or higher employees from Primrose Path’s 23 establishments, with seven imperial priests.”

“I swear there’s no issue with His Excellency Nicolaus Ernst’s interrogations or records.”

A leading divine power mage stood and spoke.

I opened the testimony record page and displayed it magically.

“From 7 p.m. yesterday to 3 a.m. today, we found consistent points. Most said they received ‘direct mental commands’ from Primrose Path’s ‘Chairman,’ but didn’t know who the Chairman was or ever met them.”

I looked up, scanning the audience.

“Receiving a Mission from someone they never met. Similar to how the professors, staying only at school, received commands.”

Investigators nodded seriously. This time, the Crown Prince’s aide spoke.

“Isn’t it established that Abraham’s Mission requires interaction? Yet the suspects stayed at school. If Abraham used Marco’s body then… how could Abraham and the suspects interact?”

“Indeed, that’s curious.”

Someone from the prosecution agreed.

‘Hm.’

This is a low-quality question.

Though likely thrown to trip me, it’s clear the Crown Prince’s questions were far superior.

As expected, she just smiled, as if thinking, “What kind of question is that?”

I explained slowly, in a softer tone than before.

“Unlike blood, interaction can be achieved through another’s body with mere words. If that were an issue because it wasn’t Abraham’s body, he wouldn’t have gone around as Marco to gain consent, would he?”

“Ah, I see. Understood.”

“So, I had investigators review the suspects’ past conversations. Gloria Klein, the dormitory operations staff arrested for accessing classified coordinates, had unusually frequent talks with the professors. She’s also known as an Abraham victim.”

The Police Bureau Chief asked,

“Couldn’t she just be sociable?”

“Which is why she was either another of Abraham’s targets or Abraham personally exercised sociability through her.”

I looked into the Crown Prince’s eyes and continued.

“One of the two.”

“Hm.”

“With this, the basis for my non-prosecution proposal is complete. If there are no further questions, I’ll conclude here.”

No one spoke.

The Crown Prince smiled, satisfied.

She’d have no grounds to nitpick now.

‘Though separately…’

She’s definitely Abraham.

To fulfill her “looking forward to it” like this—laughable.

Ironically, her questions and attempts boosted my credibility. A crisis is an opportunity. She didn’t expect it to backfire, but sorry.

The Crown Prince, half-resigned, half-amused, looked at the Emperor beside her.

“Your Majesty, it’s time to make a decision.”

The Emperor silently raised a hand to signal a pause.

Several prosecutors stood.

A soundproofing spell formed between their seats and me, and after a while, I heard the meeting was over. I returned to my seat.

The Emperor, silent and seated throughout, stepped to the podium where I’d stood.

He slowly surveyed us and spoke in a grave voice,

“Regarding the Prussian Investigation Bureau’s non-prosecution proposal for this case, our Empire…”

* * *

I warped to the prosecution detention center with Leo’s help.

After brief procedures, we moved to the visitation room.

Clank—Creak—

The heavy iron door slid open, and I saw a mage escorted by two guards. Leo, noticing his darkened eyes, unconsciously furrowed his brow.

I slowly approached.

“Professor.”

The mage looked up at me.

The incident must’ve been a shock; his face had changed unrecognizably in a week.

“Your Excellency Ernst?”

“You recognize me.”

“How could I not?”

He gave a faint, resigned smile.

As an individual, he couldn’t not know me. I’m essentially the one who had him detained.

But his gaze held no resentment. The unbelievable incident of nearly endangering a student with his own hands, coupled with a week of grueling investigation over unrecallable events, must’ve exhausted him.

Noticing Leo beside me, the professor’s expression brightened slightly as he acknowledged him.

“And… Student Leonard. Are our class students doing well?”

“They’re waiting for your return, Professor.”

The professor closed his mouth, unsure what to say. Proving innocence was tough, so it’s understandable.

I shifted my gaze from Leo, who looked at him with a heavy expression, and opened the envelope I’d brought.

“There’s something you need to know, so I came to deliver it personally.”

A crisp white paper with a red seal was presented to him.

Even as I held it out, he stared blankly at me, then slowly fixed his gaze on the desk after a while.

“…!”

His eyes widened.

“His Majesty has ordered non-prosecution.”

He jerked his head up, looking between me and Leo.

His expression showed disbelief. I smiled at his face.

“You can return to school now, Professor.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep