Chapter 235

The letters discovered today were A, E, E, G, L, L, N, S.

The letters I had received previously were T, A, S.

And….

Amid the screams of the rats devouring each other, I slowly picked up one match. It was the only match without an alphabet on the cut surface. It seemed like the end had been slightly cut off.

Instead of an alphabet, there were holes in that stick.

Four from the top, then a pause and two, another pause and five.

‘4, 2, 5… huh.’

Were the numbers themselves a code, or was it a code that needed decoding again?

If the latter, then D, B, E from the front. The fourth, second, fifth letters in order. It was a classic and representative interpretation method.

Or perhaps, as it was a match, I should look at the periodic table. In that case, Be, He, B in the order of 4, 2, 5.

‘beheb.’

Beheben. To correct. To remove…. It could be interpreted as a verb around that meaning, and it wasn’t a bad word to use from a cult’s perspective. Though there were two blind spots.

If not that….

‘Hm.’

“This came to me, right.”

Heike’s words cut off my thoughts.

I had already found the answer anyway.

I unconsciously relaxed the smile I had been wearing and muttered.

“You can’t exactly say that.”

Since it had started coming from the day after Heike and I discussed it.

However, it seemed clearly related to Heike as well. If not, the matches would have been delivered in my name, not Heike’s.

I wrapped the match in mana and carefully lifted it. When I shifted my attention from the match to elsewhere, I could feel the musty basement smell and the scent of blood and pus piercing my nose.

Unknown machine boxes, controllers, and wires were scattered on the shelves.

There were about thirty cages around. The cages were packed with rats stepping on each other, and roughly counting, it seemed about fifty per cage.

‘1,500.’

A laugh escaped.

What would happen if this was released at the VIP lodging the day before Pentalon? Or, if all these numerous rats were released into the stadium on Pentalon day.

The games would all be halted, and half of the 150,000 spectators attending the opening ceremony would berserk. Perhaps they even matched the number.

Moreover, these rats wouldn’t just bite the people inside but would quickly spread throughout Berlin. To Brandenburg, across all of Prussia, and if not caught in time, it wouldn’t stop there but spread across the entire empire. From the corpses of dead rats, contaminated drugs and Vitriol would flow out, polluting the land and water.

‘…Is this their Pentalon terror plan? It’s a decent plan.’

It wasn’t very complicated, but it was clean and classic at the same time.

Especially since magical beasts had been a social issue until last year, vigilance seemed heightened, but from this year, with more serious human berserk incidents occurring, interest in magical beasts had dropped even more than before.

‘The area everyone thinks is guarded is actually the safest.’

Well thought out.

Of course, there were a few blind spots here too, so I had no intention of confirming the judgment.

I tapped the artifact and called the investigator on the ground.

“Detective.”

[Yes. Go ahead.]

“Could you check the occupations of the two who just berserked?”

[Occupations…?]

“Yes. As quickly as possible, please.”

I brightly lit the place with mana flames, then spotted a clipboard scattered on a side table far away and approached it. Each sheet of paper had some execution plan by date, but in the middle, it seemed coffee had been spilled, making it impossible to know what was written.

That said, it wasn’t like there was no way. I opened the page with particularly frayed ends and checked the date written at the top.

[2/24] [Saturday]

Saturday.

It was the day of the Pentalon opening ceremony.

What had they planned to execute at the opening ceremony?

As I thought earlier, their plan was clear.

While reading the mostly smudged execution plan, I spoke into the artifact.

“I’ve discovered the Pentalon terror plan.”

*  *  *

“I’m glad you’re safe. I apologize for showing you an unpleasant sight.”

7 PM.

The chairman of the Imperial Mages’ Association put on a deliberately regretful face and personally greeted the high school division students of the French Academy.

Antoine Gramont and the delegation had been moved to the chairman’s residence of the Imperial Mages’ Association, far from the hotel.

Since Tis Hotel in Brandenburg had been sealed for safety reasons, it was selected as a temporary residence and temporary countermeasures meeting place until a new VIP lodging was arranged.

Mathieu, who had come upon hearing the news, shook his head.

“No. The children are safe, so no problem, but I’m only worried about the well-being of the victimized casualties. I sincerely pray that the empire can escape this tribulation as soon as possible.”

“Thank you.”

Antoine Gramont glanced at his peers looking around the residence, then furrowed his brows again and lowered his head.

The chairman must have been no ordinary rich person, as he owned an endless house in Brandenburg.

Thanks to the mana lights placed everywhere, the garden’s appearance was splendid. While everyone’s eyes were stolen by the vast garden and the building interior decorated in a chapel style, Antoine Gramont still couldn’t relax his stiff face.

He knew his peers were subtly gauging his mood, but he had no intention of calming his temper.

Until noon, it had clearly been a day no different from yesterday, but the situation had flipped in an instant.

No matter how low-risk the berserker, without the help of the two from Eszett, they would have been helplessly caught and died. The danger level of a berserker was just a difficulty to convey easily to the handling mage; it didn’t mean the berserker had no killing risk.

In the end, what remained from today’s incident was this fact alone.

He owed his life to Askanian, whom he had been checking and scratching all day.

None of his peers seemed to think they owed a debt, but to Gramont, the fact that he had been saved by someone he had subtly considered a rival came much larger.

As soon as they entered the meeting room prepared for countermeasures reporting, Eszett’s Askanian and Ainsidel, who were already seated, came into view.

“See you again.”

Askanian waved his hand upon seeing Gramont. Gramont glared at him with eyes that had been sharp all along and sat down. Instead of showing displeasure, Askanian just shrugged his shoulders.

“…The incident was completely concluded at 6:25, and from reporting to post-processing, it was handled by Lucas Askanian, Eszett deputy leader. The Vitriol concentration in the air of the area is currently 1.8%, a level where breathing poses no health risk. The water quality also had no issues. Both berserkers were affected by contact with contaminated rats, and no further damage occurred from this. Additionally, there was no direct attack on the barrier of Tis Hotel, but….”

After that, announcements from the investigation bureau and mages affiliated with the Imperial Central Hospital followed.

After 30 minutes, the end was slowly in sight. At some point, the association chairman himself had come out and was introducing obvious countermeasures to the French delegation and government officials.

“…To prevent recurrence, we will swiftly establish a quarantine system and announce it by tomorrow. Additionally, we have assigned Eszett member Narce Farnese, a mage capable of using divine power, and two direct priests of His Majesty the Emperor to the French delegation. Finally, Eszett deputy leader Lucas Askanian and member Heike Ainsidel, please come forward.”

The two from Eszett came forward without particular expressions.

“You two have truly done a great deed. On behalf of the empire, I offer a formal, albeit brief, thanks.”

A senior far above—not just in level but the association chairman— even nodded his head while greeting a mage who had just been appointed to the imperial family. Askanian and Ainsidel shook hands with him while wearing proper smiles. Ceremonially and naturally, all mages except Gramont clapped their hands.

“Now, since there will be a meeting, we will move seats. The lodging for the VIPs has been decided to be moved to the old crown prince palace in Berlin. Since preparations are not yet complete, please wait a bit here. You may look around anywhere inside this building.”

As the guidance ended, numerous mages including Askanian rose from their seats and began going out.

The chairman’s servant approached and said he would escort them outside, but Gramont just sat without answering.

About an hour passed.

When he had been sitting alone for a while without responding to anyone’s words, the door opened.

“You haven’t left yet? Your friends are outside sightseeing.”

Antoine Gramont silently raised only his eyes to look at the other party.

Askanian, standing in front of him, was wearing ceremonial robes for audience with the emperor and looking down at him. The moment he met the pupils that seemed even redder shadowed, Askanian said.

“Now that you’ve confirmed directly, you’re probably not curious anymore.”

“…….”

‘Confirmed directly’. What he meant was clear.

It was true that he had scratched hoping Askanian would understand his intention throughout the tour, but with the situation like this, he wished he hadn’t noticed. However, he clearly knew what Gramont had said and wanted all along.

“Or do you still want to face off directly? Then at least get permission.”

At those words, Gramont furrowed his brows.

After coming out of the banquet, representative Mathieu Aubigny had said to us about Askanian, ‘I didn’t talk long, but he’s not a student whose entry as first place is greatly suspicious.’

Those words weren’t wrong. Mathieu Aubigny was someone who had stood in the pulpit in France for over ten years, so he should have believed those words.

Even setting aside having skills and mana worthy of the imperial family—it was definitely exceptional, and he didn’t want to think about it again—Askanian was a mage completely adept in actual combat. He didn’t know how that was possible when not even two weeks had passed since Eszett’s launch.

Since Gramont himself was superior to others, he could easily grasp what abilities the opponent had.

Due to the reflected light, Askanian’s pink pupils, now seeming even transparent, stared at Gramont’s eyes, then slowly lowered.

“There’s no answer. I’m fully willing to accept, but has your intention disappeared now?”

“…….”

Then, after seeing that scene earlier, did it seem like intention would remain? He clearly saw what attitude I had, yet what was the intention of saying this?

Askanian’s mouth corners rose. His pupils leisurely scanned Gramont’s crumpled face.

“If so, I’ll bravely request, risking disciplinary action, to the top of the high school division of Academy Puissance, the Imperial Academy of the French Third Empire. Would you allocate just 10 minutes of Your Excellency’s time to spar with me?”

“…….”

A polite and soft tone without any trace of mockery. However, it was clear that it was words openly scratching. His expression, with his head tilted crookedly while looking at him, held an utterly leisurely smile.

It must have been so amusing that he had frozen like an idiot without doing anything earlier. He couldn’t refute even though he knew everything. His heartbeat pounded madly at Gramont’s eardrums. It was irritating to have his face, surely reddened to bursting with anger, scrutinized.

He knew.

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