Chapter 79
TL/Editor: raei
Proofreader: Pickhead7
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: None.
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Unmasking a wizard who has concealed their identity is no easy task.
Wizards are versatile beings.
Take Ian, for example, who had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. It was common for other wizards to hide a trick or two of their own.
Most wizards did not hide their identities since there was no benefit to doing so.
Revealing oneself as a wizard usually garnered all sorts of respect.
On the other hand, pretending not to be one and mingling among the commoners could result in being stabbed without a word of protest.
After all, wizards are human too and can be sent to the afterlife with a stab from a drunkard's knife.
But now, Ian had to deal with a wizard who was hiding their identity.
And this wizard was believed to be under the protection of nobility.
"Let's start with security measures."
Before falling for the same trick again, Ian took precautions in advance.
He dispersed birds to create a surveillance network and asked for the nobles' cooperation to strengthen the guard.
Since the assassin was a threat to the entire castle's security, the ladies were more than willing to cooperate.
"Until this is over, the three of us will sleep together."
"...?"
Belenka volunteered for close protection, though her definition of 'close' was a bit too literal for comfort.
Ian was content with moving to a room without windows.
But Belenka brought Kira along, deciding that all three of them should sleep together.
Ian said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"It's unusual for men and women to share a bed..."
Belenka tilted her head in confusion.
"Share a bed? What are you talking about?"
"..."
This is Confucianism.
A doctrine that encourages the separation of men and women.
The barbaric people of Western fantasy knew nothing of Confucius's teachings. That's why they have such a different sense of distance.
"Nonsense again. You spouting nonsense isn't new."
"Are you sure it's okay to sleep with a man?"
After finally understanding Ian's point (with some translation issues), Belenka blushed slightly and became irritated.
"Come on! Just skip over that kind of thing! If I were to ask you how you feel about sharing a bed with a grown women, how would you feel?"
"Ah..."
Now that he thought about it, that made sense.
Belenka had moved to sleep in the same place to protect her colleague and employer, so emphasizing the issue of gender was unnecessary.
Ian readily apologized.
"Sorry."
Belenka snorted and asked Kira.
"Kira, you're okay with it, right?"
Kira responded with her characteristic haughtiness.
"Of course. It's rather exciting, isn't it?"
Despite the cumbersome process, the security measures were effective.
There were no further assassination attempts.
In fact, when Ian started to actively search for the culprit, it felt as if they were avoiding him.
Feeling the enemy's hesitation, Ian became even more proactive in his investigation.
"Assassins. Monsters. And a Baron."
He saw connections between the different incidents.
The assassin was a trained monster, and the enemy raiding the villages led a pack of dire wolves as a werewolf.
"A summoner who actively controls monsters."
The wizard who attacked Ian made one critical mistake.
He failed to recognize Ian's summoning ability.
The enemy probably thought Ian was surely a practitioner of dark magic, which was correct.
Ian was indeed a user of dark magic.
But they likely never dreamed Ian was also versed in various types of magic, with summoning being his strongest.
Ian had a wealth of knowledge in summoning magic.
Based on that knowledge, he pursued the summoner.
'Assassins and werewolves are both monsters... So?'
Ian thought calmly.
If he speculated that the summoner was doing someone's dirty work with monsters... Would that be too far-fetched?
'The possibility is there.'
Ian decided to push forward with the clues he had.
The key lay with the Baron's two wives.
Days later, Ian sent messages to both wives in turn.
The message was to come to the Baron's bedroom.
---
---
Lady Serena visited the Baron's room alone.
As soon as she opened the door, a crow greeted her with a loud caw.
"?"
Looking around in confusion, she saw nothing unusual except for the crow.
However, Lady Serena was soon startled.
A young man with black hair.
Ian Eredith Raven had appeared before her at some point.
"What, what's this?!"
Lady Serena was genuinely surprised to see Ian.
Wasn't there no one here just a moment ago?
Unbeknownst to Lady Serena, this was a form of deception.
After first drawing her attention with the crow, Oberon, Ian, who had been hiding in the shadows, walked out.
"It's nothing serious. Just a simple test."
"...A test?"
Ian shrugged and explained.
"I had Oberon say a phrase. If you were a wizard, it would've elicited a response from you. But it seems you didn't understand Oberon."
"What phrase? Was it an insult?"
Lady Serena squinted her eyes.
No matter if it was a crow that delivered the message, if the content was an insult, it was enough to upset anyone.
Ian calmly replied.
"It was about preparing to confess to the heavens."
"...Excuse me?"
"Look behind you."
Following Ian's direction, Serena turned around and froze.
Behind her, a knight in black armor, Belenka, was emerging from a wardrobe with a crossbow in hand.
Lady Serena trembled and said.
"Are you... going to kill me?"
Ian almost laughed at the absurdity.
"Why would I kill you? That was just a precaution. If you were a wizard about to cause trouble, she was supposed to shoot."
"..."
Lady Serena belatedly understood Ian's strategy.
The idea was to first throw a chilling sentence via Oberon, and if she understood and turned around, Belenka, hidden in the wardrobe, would shoot with the crossbow.
It was a trap a summoner would surely fall into.
As mentioned, this was a test.
However, despite understanding the situation, Lady Serena was furious.
"I can't believe you'd do this in the Baron's bedroom!"
"You were the one who gave me access."
"I told you to treat the Baron, not to concoct schemes!"
"Yes. I wanted to simply treat the Baron too. But without setting a trap, it was impossible to save him."
"What do you mean..."
"If I told you the person who attacked me is the same person who targeted the Baron, would you believe me?"
Ian explained calmly.
"I've pieced together several clues and hypothesized that a summoner brought down the Baron. It's still a hypothesis that we need to confirm. That's why we brought you here."
"..."
"I plan to seek cooperation from Lady Catherine as well."
Lady Serena glared at Ian, gripping her hands tightly.
"As I've said before, I have no reason to harm the Baron. I love him, and my son is set to inherit the title!"
"I understand. I didn't think you had any reason to harm the Baron either. But..."
"But?"
"To be honest, my trust in this world has significantly diminished..."
"???"
Lady Serena blinked, unable to understand Ian's words.
What world? Trust? What is he talking about?
Belenka coughed to get attention.
"Ian."
"Ah. Sorry. So, I don't know everything about the world, and I thought you might have some hidden circumstances. Perhaps related to your youthful appearance and its secrets..."
"Are you flattering me now?"
"It's not flattery but sincerity. You still look as if you're in the bloom of youth. No, not just in bloom, you are a flower, Lady Serena."
Lady Serena reflexively smiled, forgetting that she had just been threatened with murder.
As a matter of fact, this was inevitable.
There was no woman in the world who can simply ignore a compliment about her appearance.
Especially in an era without developed media and a lack of stimulation.
Modern people, marinated in all sorts of trivial content on the internet, might just laugh off even the most sappy flattery, but for people from this world, even light flattery felt deeply moving.
Ian was just spouting nonsense as if it were a joke.
Take a look at community forums or YouTube comments.
The kind of nonsense Ian was going on about would be forgotten and moved on from in a second.
However, Lady Serena was quite pleased with Ian's flattery.
To the point where Belenka found it ridiculous.
"Ian. Did you come here to commit adultery?"
"No, what kind of terrible accusation is that!"
What! How dare you utter such vile NTR (cuckoldry) nonsense in front of us!
Ian was a staunch believer in true love.
A contrived love story was better than a well-crafted NTR tale, a fact even recorded in ancient texts.
NTR is horrifying enough, but with a married woman?
The Baron, if he were awake, would be shocked!
"Isn't it disrespectful to speak of such things in front of the sleeping Baron!"
"...And what about you, spewing such nonsense in front of the Baron?"
"Oh. That's true."
Come to think of it, this was the Baron's bedroom.
Ian had no excuse if the Baron actually woke up.
Anyway.
"Be honest! Lady Serena! Why do you look so young!"
"Well, even if you ask me..."
"Is it some kind of magic? You must have a secret I don't know about! Are you in collusion with a wizard!"
"There's no such thing! What can I do if I was born this way!"
"Don't lie! There's no explaining your appearance without magic!"
Lady Serena blushed.
Looking at her, she indeed seemed like a woman in her mid-twenties.
"Stop teasing me!"
"Do I look like I'm teasing? This is a serious investigation! Just tell me! What's the secret of your face?! How do you still maintain such a youthful appearance!"
"Ugh...!"
Belenka glared at Ian with cold eyes.
It was definitely something they needed to know, but...
Why did it seem like he was flirting?!
Belenka scoffed at Ian, who teased the lady with all sorts of bizarre words.
She wished the Baron would wake up and end this.
---
---
After the interrogation, Ian acknowledged Lady Serena's innocence.
It wasn't a strong suspicion from the start.
He doubted her only because this was a fantasy world.
In fact, this world wasn't one where rational deduction played a big role.
It directly violated the rule from detective fiction: "Do not introduce a Chinese character[1]."
Here, "Chinese" referred to "a person who performs mysterious magic."
It was a western perspective that anything unknown from the East was considered mystical.
Given that magic could pop up unexpectedly in this world, Ian suspected Lady Serena might be hiding something...
But the investigation showed she was innocent.
Lady Serena had worked to drive out monsters and maintain order in the castle while the Baron was incapacitated.
She had no motive to harm the Baron, as she said.
The only mystery, her youthful appearance... turned out to be natural.
Lady Serena was not the culprit working with a wizard.
She promised to spare no support in saving the Baron.
That left only one person.
'Lady Catherine.'
Reflecting on it, Lady Serena had always claimed Catherine was suspicious.
She couldn't understand how a woman from a shepherd background became the Baron's wife overnight.
Could Lady Catherine really be involved with magic?
Or was it all just a coincidence?
"Mr. Wizard, did you call for me?"
In the dark room, Ian opened his eyes.
Lady Catherine, too, had come to the Baron's room alone.
It was the most secure place in the castle, so she felt no need to be cautious.
Like with Lady Serena, Ian tested Lady Catherine's magical abilities.
The result?
Lady Catherine didn't understand a word Oberon said.
Meaning, Lady Catherine was not a wizard either.
So then...
"Mr. Wizard? This crow..."
"He's like a friend to me. His name is Oberon."
"Oberon, ma'am!"
"!!!"
Lady Catherine was startled when the crow spoke human words.
While it's true that traveling jesters could train birds to speak, the depth seemed different when a wizard did it.
"Can you, a wizard, handle animals?"
"Rather than handling, I converse with them. I can summon, after all."
Ian gently stroked Oberon.
The crow made a purring sound, just like a chicken would.
Engrossed in petting Oberon, Ian failed to notice Lady Catherine's eyes wavering.
"So... Mr. Wizard. Besides this crow, are there other summoned creatures in this room?"
Ian stopped petting Oberon.
"What do you mean..."
Suddenly, Catherine stepped closer to Ian.
Belenka aimed her crossbow, but Ian raised his hand to stop her.
Unseen by Belenka, Ian could see it.
The fear and pain in Catherine's trembling eyes.
"...No. There were a few bugs hiding, but Oberon took care of them all."
As soon as Ian finished speaking,
Catherine shivered and whispered,
"There are more summons in this room besides this crow, Mr. Wizard."
"Where are they?"
Catherine answered,
"One is with me, and the other, inside him."
"..."
"We don't have much time... Please... Help us... Mr. Wizard..."
Ian realized then.
Catherine wasn't a patron of a wizard.
She was a victim, ensnared by one.
---
[1. raei: Ronald Knox's "Ten Commandments" (or "Decalogue") for writing detective stories... one is "No Chinaman must figure in the story." LOLOL, this was in 1929. There was a big stereotype that regarded the East as a source of mystery or inexplicable elements.]
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