Episode 19

Everyone, including the victims who had been in beds at the isolation facility, regained consciousness. Some would surely need time before a full recovery, but for now, one chapter had closed.

“Is it correct to assume the curse issue has been resolved…?”

“That’s how it stands. We do need to survey all of Apion, but for now let’s start with what we can do.”

“Ciel-sama used holy arts… You finally did it!”

Luke and the others heard the whole story from Ciel. He sighed inwardly at her continuing recklessness, but decided that all’s well that ends well.

“…An impromptu Unison Link. Is something like that even possible?”

“I can’t say for certain, but if it’s Zeke, I can imagine him pulling it off…”

“I’m not sure we can even call it a Unison Link. But it’s thanks to his aid that we’re here now.”

Since linking up with Zeke, she understood how to wield her power as if she held it in her hands. After restoring her mana with a potion, she tried chanting Angel Heal—one of the holy arts—and it activated without a hitch.

The patients who had been debilitated and in serious condition perked up at once. Its absolute efficacy caused a small commotion in the isolation facility.

“And the suspect still hasn’t been caught. We need to secure him to uncover the truth. I’m sure Zeke-san will find some lead for us.”

“From how he sounded, I think he went after them… I just hope he doesn’t overdo it.”

Their views differed slightly. Knowing Zeke well, Luke doubted he would stop at merely finding a lead. He worried it wouldn’t be strange if Zeke captured the culprit and even resorted to torture.

“…? Golton, you’re noisy.”

“…Not me. Sounds like it’s from outside the building. Maybe those fools from the response headquarters are here.”

“—!? Brat, you… you actually did it, didn’t you!?”

“What are you squawking about? You’re an eyesore—shut your mouth.”

Outside, a large crowd had gathered. They were the ones from the response headquarters and the isolation facility who had regained consciousness. Most of them had gone pale.

“L-like hell I’ll shut up! What are you thinking, freezing someone solid!? Have you lost your mind!?”

“That’s my line. Are you in your right mind? If your head’s broken, don’t come out of the isolation facility. You’re a nuisance.”

Yun and the others who rushed over trembled with fear, while Yan and the others who had just woken still couldn’t accurately grasp the situation. And the man shouting—a soldier named Mauve—was facing off against the boy.

“‘Nuisance,’ you say!? That’s what you call people who were comatose from a plague!?”

“Are you stupid? It wasn’t a plague. The cause was a curse.”

“—!? A curse!? That’s even worse!”

From the flow of conversation, a shared understanding took root. They didn’t know the particulars, but the ice statue standing near the black-haired boy… seemed to be something made by freezing a person.

“Turn him back right now! This won’t be tolerated!”

“I don’t need your permission.”

The two kept talking past each other.

Mauve the soldier tried to overawe him, but the boy seemed completely unruffled.

“What’s going on here?”

“…A rally?”

Ciel and her group joined them. They widened their eyes at the size of the crowd, then turned their gaze to the apparent center of the commotion—there stood the ice statue and Zeke, composed and unperturbed.

“Zeke, just to check… what is that? And when did you get back?”

“As you can see. The ringleader of the curse uproar… no, the perpetrator, has been captured. …Looks like our experience in the Lagias Dungeon paid off… irritating though that is.”

“The perpetrator!? We never heard— Don’t tell me you killed him for that?”

“You really are useless. How are we supposed to get information if we don’t make him talk?”

He explained, almost annoyed, that he hadn’t killed the man. He had put him into a suspended state and restrained him.

“He’s… really alive?”

“If you doubt it, try kicking this over. …If he dies, that’ll prove he was alive, won’t it?”

“W-why would I ever do thaaaat—!!”

Mauve couldn’t help shouting at the outrageous remark.

These two… might actually be a good match. Ciel looked almost envious.

“Lagias, what do you intend to do with that so-called perpetrator?”

“Hmph. He’ll make a fine gift for you people of the ducal house.”

Golton breathed a sigh of relief at his ready willingness to hand over custody. He had braced himself for excessive demands, but that worry proved unfounded… at least for now.

“…In that case, everyone, let’s convene once to discuss what happened. We also need to confirm Apion’s path forward.”

“That concludes the account of events.”

They gathered in a room used for meetings in Apion and held a discussion.

Present were the three from the ducal house with Ciel, the two with Zeke who had cooperated as contractors, and the townspeople who could move now—mainly those from the response headquarters.

“…To think it wasn’t a plague but damage from a curse. It seems a lot happened after I lost consciousness.”

The lord and Apion’s official representative weren’t present. They were convalescing in the isolation facility as a precaution. Yan and Yun attended in their stead.

“It can’t be helped… given the extent of the damage. I don’t think Apion alone could have handled it.”

“We cannot thank you enough.”

Yan offered words of gratitude, but Yun and some others in the response headquarters wore stiff expressions.

“We’ve already restrained the one believed to be the perpetrator, but it’s hard to think he acted alone. There may be a large organization lurking behind him.”

Going forward, there would likely be a full investigation by the kingdom. She also said they would push for support toward Apion’s restoration.

Golton dabbed at his eyes, moved by a stately resolve unthinkable from the Ciel of before—Stille, for her part, was slightly put off by it.

“Thank you both as well… for everything.”

“I didn’t do anything. I just don’t really understand why Apion was targeted. …Zeke, did the culprit say anything?”

“No idea. It’s the ducal house’s job to dig that up. …I’ve prepared the table this far for you. Don’t think you can get away with ‘we found nothing.’”

The damage from the curse was immense, but the fact they had captured a suspect was paramount. In that sense, Zeke stood beside Ciel as a principal achiever.

“…Lagias, how many times must I tell you? Fix your attitude.”

“Hah. There are others who should be correcting their attitude first, don’t you think?”

Zeke stared at Yun and the others with a face full of contempt.

“In a way, I’m impressed… by how thick-skinned you are. After all that denial, you’ve got the nerve to sit here.”

It had been Yun—who had taken over from Yan—whom Luke approached for cooperation on countermeasures against the curse. He’d given a variety of reasons, but in short, he’d rebuffed them to avoid taking responsibility.

“I told you, didn’t I… the value of that woman. If you’d just humbled yourselves and flattered her, you might have forged a connection with the ducal house.”

They had harshly dismissed Ciel, but that wasn’t the point. For Hiroto, he held a grudge precisely because they hadn’t cooperated, leaving him no choice but to act.

“From here on, she will become important not just to the ducal house… but to the kingdom. And you lot—looked like you were having great fun running her down.”

They wanted to argue that they had done no such thing, but an oppressive air choked off their words. Golton and the others glaring daggers didn’t help.

“I wonder who’ll be made to take responsibility? …You look like you’ve got something to say. Is it ‘what about you’? …Me, I don’t care who it is. If they come at me, I crush them.”

It was outrageous, but Luke felt an aura from Zeke that said he could do exactly that. He worried that Zeke might be half serious.

“What are you even talking abo— Yun!? What did you do!?”

“Shut up, former chief. I’m talking to the current one.”

Yun and those around him paled. They all understood.

Even if her position was special, Ciel was still of the ducal house. Picking a fight with a ducal house—tantamount to royal blood—wasn’t something they could excuse now that the emergency had passed.

“The ducal house acted as the kingdom’s representative and petitioned the Adventurers Association. They even dragged in someone from another domain… me, a son of the House of Lagias. You grasp what that means, yes?”

Normally, he would avoid bringing the Lagias name to the fore. It was like exposing his own weak point to the other side—But now, that was fine.

He did bear a grudge, but Ciel was here as well. She had done more than enough in a bewildering situation. So he figured he was entitled to seek a return.

“B-but… if we don’t understand the situation—”

“Don’t care. That’s your problem. You called us for aid. And she has delivered results. …This isn’t charity.”

Hiroto planned to leverage the ducal name. He intended to squeeze out compensation as future operating funds.

Overusing the Lagias name might bring trouble later, but this time he could put the ducal house out front. With Ciel as the public face, things could proceed without exposing himself to danger.

A calculating mindset, to say the least.

“So you are Lagias, which means you truly are the Lagias lord. …I knew something was off! A child in a place like this!”

“Stop it! …Everyone, my foolish younger brother is confused. For now, let us—”

Zeke laughed at the frantic display.

“I see—then it’s simple. I’ll arrest all of you as insurgents. I feel like the perpetrator… let slip something about you.”

He barked the threat to shut down any interference.

The mood froze over. —Literally, the room turned icy, and a thin film of ice formed over the water pitcher.

“Yun! What have you really done!? Explain yourself at once!”

“Pathetic… Go cry to the Etra lord, still sick in bed.”

In several senses, the meeting devolved into chaos. Some people fainted from Zeke’s intimidation; Golton and the others gleefully moved to restrain members of the response headquarters; Ciel desperately stopped them.

Hiroto had only meant to scare them—he hadn’t imagined they would actually go through with it—and he was appalled. Luke, too, was taken aback by Zeke’s impassive, aloof demeanor.

“That was really exhausting…”

Ciel sighed, looking a little worn out.

The scene had changed—now it was only Ciel and a group of five including Luke. Zeke had been about to leave Apion, saying he had no further business here, and they stopped him.

“Hmph. It’s hard work when your subordinates are fools.”

Ciel shot Zeke a resentful look. She was growing less and less reserved.

“You were the very picture of a villain. …Where are you headed in the future, anyway? Plotting world conquest?”

This isn’t funny, Hiroto laughed to himself.

“That… sounds fun, actually. When that day comes, allow me to assist.”

“…”

Everyone understood he was joking, but Hiroto went blank inside. Not funny at all. If such a thing happened, a zombie corps would be born that would keep recovering forever as long as it lived.

“We truly can’t thank you enough this time. To both of you—”

“Spare me. I don’t need pointless preambles.”

“…Heh. You haven’t changed.”

Ciel didn’t believe Zeke had thrown his weight around without reason. She understood his behavior during the meeting as being out of consideration for her—Hiroto felt that was a spectacular misunderstanding.

She had always been denied. That was why Zeke’s words were more precious and special to her than anything.

“Very well… I’ll be brief. I’ll report to my house that we resolved this thanks to your cooperation.”

“Do as you like. But also deliver a message to your half-brother—If he has business with me, he can come in person.”

The three with Ciel stared in shock.

“Did you think I didn’t know? The true face behind the Astera Ducal House—the intelligence service that supports the nation from the shadows.”

“…Wait, Zeke. I don’t want to hear that.”

“Listen. You’ll be involved sooner or later. …The reason the request came to us this time was to probe my identity, and if necessary, to quietly eliminate me… something like that. And that elimination list included that woman.”

This is absurd—this time it was Luke’s turn to be shocked.

“Zeke, did you cooperate knowing all that?”

“I told you there was no need to accept the job. …I’m not accepting complaints now.”

“Ahh, why is it that you… always, always…”

Ciel offered a wry, sympathetic smile: never a dull moment, is it?

“Lagias… So you had that much resolve. In that case, I’ve nothing to add.”

“…We should eliminate him after all.”

For some reason, Golton gave Zeke a thumbs-up. Stille shot him killing intent.
The scene was chaos. No end in sight.

“…Hey, your two subordinates are out of their minds. —Astera woman, a word of advice.”

The air tightened. All eyes turned to Zeke.

“Whatever the process, you proved your value. The ducal house and the kingdom will have no choice but to acknowledge you.”

Thinking back on everything, it was unimaginable—but if Zeke said it, she decided to believe it.

“When your station changes, the people around you change too… like they’ve gone mad. You can go mad with them, or stick to yourself. In the end, it’s on you.”

Everyone was drawn in by his words, which felt like he saw the future.

“There’ll be things you, small as you are, cannot handle. When that happens… seek out the Sage.”

“…The Sage? …!? The retired Granz Folt!? I’d heard he said he’d found a promising youth… don’t tell me—!?”

Granz was one of the Kingdom of Diabalet’s foremost magi and a national hero, the leading authority any mage would know.

“If his position—or yours—gets in the way… rely on Luke.”

“Me? Why is that…?”

“…You’re going to become a knight, aren’t you? Nothing odd about it.”

Having said what he meant to say, Zeke fell silent. —It had gotten quite long, but as Hiroto, what he wanted was simple: party members should stick together.

“…Understood. I’ll etch that into my heart. And… I look forward to the day we meet again.”

(I never imagined that Ciel—the ‘defective one’—would truly master holy arts.)

When he received reports of the mysterious coma incidents, the first idea that came to mind was Ciel’s appointment.

She had the qualifications more than anyone, yet could not use holy arts. Because this had become a national embarrassment, this man—Ciel’s half-brother—devised the present scheme.

Without dirtying their hands, they could dispose of Ciel, convey the urgency of the situation to the crown, and use it as a pretext to dispatch a holy arts user.

A noble sacrifice would be made, and the holy cleric who inherited that will would save a provincial city.

(As a script, it wasn’t bad. But the result was the opposite.)

He could have dismissed it as a desperate lie to survive, but since she had demonstrated holy arts before his eyes, he couldn’t brush it aside.

(There are plenty of witnesses. And… her power was quite advanced. She might one day be top class.)

He could recognize the abnormality precisely because he himself handled holy arts.

(I need to change a lot of plans. …And Zeke Lagias.)

If he took Ciel’s story at face value, Zeke was aware of their side’s existence. He had seized information only key figures of the nation should know. For the Astera Ducal House, it was a blunder.

(Identifying the curse, triggering Ciel’s awakening, even capturing a suspect… all Lagias’s achievements.)

From previous investigations, the Lagias lord should have been incompetent and mired in corruption. —Had he simply been disguising himself well?

(…No, that’s unlikely. It makes more sense to think Zeke Lagias is an outlier.)

Razor-sharp mind, overwhelming combat power. And since he had their side’s information, they couldn’t easily dispose of him.

“What shall we do, Lord Aktor?”

“Looking into it, he seems acquainted with Lord Granz as well. …Now then, what to do.”

(Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to pull him over to our side.)

Running his fingers through his hair flecked with silver, Aktor stared ahead.