Ch.256Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

On the day the Duke’s letter was delivered to Lucia and each department.

The Empire, the Church, the Magic Tower, and various governments fell into deep contemplation.

Massacred battle mages, magical investigation officers, and soldiers.

Monsters from the Moritani continent attacking the rift.

Four inquisitors killed while carrying out some operation.

Secret movements of the Papal Office.

The imperial government not even sending a common letter of protest and the imperial family maintaining silence.

Letters bearing the seal of the reclusive Duke.

Although the events in the north were not known to the public, those with functioning eyes and ears—those who should know—noticed that something was seriously amiss.

Not only the Church and the Empire, who were directly involved, but even the mages and clergy dispatched to the north, and even foreign armies, had noticed the strangeness.

The situation in the north was developing at a breathless pace, and those entangled with the north were on high alert, fearing what might happen next.

A situation where the phrase “on the brink of explosion” fit perfectly.

All incidents stemmed from a simple question posed by mages dispatched from the Magic Tower.

“Why did the Duke send a letter to the Church while keeping us in the dark?”

Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

After the undead corpses, the Archbishop’s letter, and the Duke’s letter were delivered, events progressed smoothly like flowing water.

Numerous government departments, including the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Magic, formed task forces, and an investigation team was organized under the Ministry of Magic.

Legally, the administrative and judicial rights of the north belonged to the Military Government Command, but the person who actually governed the north was the Duke. The Duke had imperial blood flowing through her veins, and in the Kiyen Empire, members of the imperial family were above the law, making this possible.

Of course, the fact that she was the current Emperor’s aunt and a Grand Mage who had participated in the war between the Church and the Magic Tower a hundred years ago also had some influence. Even under martial law, where basic rights were restricted, the military dared not infringe upon the Duke’s political standing and actual power, built on bloodline and achievements.

The Duke’s intention was simple.

‘If the Empire’s Ministry of Magic and Ministry of Defense cooperate, I will allow the forces of the Inquisition, including exorcist priests, to freely conduct investigations in the north.’

Considering that she had participated in the war a hundred years ago, lost countless comrades under the blade of the Inquisition, and still harbored those grudges even now,

Allowing the Inquisition forces to enter her territory and conduct ‘investigations’ was truly a remarkable display of magnanimity.

When the Duke’s permission, which everyone thought would be impossible, was granted, the Empire and the Church immediately gathered personnel and dispatched them to the north. So far, so good.

However, the problem arose from a place we never expected.

“…What did you just say?”

“As I said, I request that you persuade His Grace the Duke to reconsider the decision.”

The mage from the Magic Tower said.

“We cannot understand the intention of His Grace the Duke, who bypassed the Magic Tower’s Mage Corps and Secretariat, and sent a letter to the Church allowing the Inquisition forces to conduct investigations in the north.”

The mage’s words gave me an instant headache.

Whatever had happened, it seems the rumor had spread widely among the mages dispatched to the north—the fact that the Duke and Lucia had directly exchanged letters.

As I rubbed my throbbing head, the mage continued in a dry voice.

“Therefore, I earnestly request that you persuade His Grace the Duke to change his mind.”

“……”

“Administrator.”

A pair of violet eyes reminiscent of pansies moved slowly.

It was a plain gaze, devoid of any passionate emotion born of anger, or cold detachment, or anything else.

“What you just said sounds like you’re suggesting that the Duke made a wrong decision.”

The Duke is not merely a royal or a mage.

She is someone who participated in and distinguished herself in the war a hundred years ago, which mages call the ‘Independence War’ or ‘Liberation War.’ She was also born of the Kiyen Imperial bloodline and was the sister of the previous Emperor.

She is a giant in the magical world who stood shoulder to shoulder with the founders of the Ranieri family, known as descendants of Grand Mages, and the founder of the Risidike family, and she systematically established magic, which had been secretly and cautiously passed down by word of mouth, developing it into a scholarly discipline.

No, even calling her a scholar is insufficient. Grand Mages are people who stand in a position incomparable to those who merely live as scholars.

To them, a Grand Mage is a prophet who delivers messages, a pioneer who walked the thorny path ahead of everyone else.

Her eyelids lowered, and the pansies disappeared. A subdued voice pierced through the silence.

“Of course, the Duke is human and can make mistakes, but…”

Her purple eyes, gleaming with a cold light, narrowed.

“Do you think you have the authority to question the Duke’s judgment?”

“……”

“Don’t you think so, Lord Martinez?”

In response to the rebuke, Juan Pablo Martinez, the head delegate from the Magic Tower Secretariat, shook his head.

“If that’s how it sounded to you, there’s nothing I can do, but I hope you’ll understand our situation with an open mind.”

“……”

“It’s the Inquisition. Is it even conceivable that the Duke, who knows better than anyone what they’ve done, would allow inquisitors to investigate?”

Francesca’s head tilted slightly.

I couldn’t see her expression clearly from here, but her complexion didn’t seem too bad. Martinez began to explain to Francesca.

It was a businesslike tone, as if delivering just the facts, without a trace of emotion.

“All mages are confused by this decision.”

“What does that mean?”

“As you know, the recent situation here can hardly be called peaceful. Many mages have been killed, and clergy from the Church have been identified as suspects.”

“The official investigation results haven’t been released yet, Lord Martinez. Mind your words.”

“Regardless of the facts, what matters is that people think that way. To mages who suspect clergy of murder, the decision made by His Grace the Duke is like pouring oil on a burning house.”

Though he didn’t add any further explanation, I could clearly see how the situation was unfolding.

The mages from the Magic Tower, dispatched to the rift after receiving a support request from the defense unit, witnessed a murder. They saw the bodies of imperial battle mages butchered in a secluded mountain valley.

The mages immediately pointed to the clergy as suspects.

Because holy knights were near the battle mages who had been stabbed to death. The first to discover the bodies was also a clergyman moving with the holy knights, and decisively, divine energy was detected from the bodies.

It seems the mages dispatched to the rift had been running their mouths. Generally, conspiracy theories and false rumors tend to be exaggerated or inflated, so it wouldn’t be surprising if some strange rumors were circulating among the Magic Tower mages.

For reference, the person who had participated in the autopsy, examining the bodies with the naked eye, was none other than Juan Pablo Martinez, who was now conversing with Francesca over there.

“Lady Ranieri.”

“Speak.”

“Please, turn the Duke’s heart.”

Martinez said. Unlike his businesslike attitude that had been devoid of emotion until now, he spoke with a voice that showed slight variations in pitch.

The mage appealed to the descendant of a Grand Mage.

“Like Lord Risidike, you are a descendant of a great mage. Throughout the Magic Tower and the Ivory Tower, only the Tower Master, the Oracle committee members, and direct descendants of the great families have the qualification to speak with His Grace the Duke. With Lord Risidike at the front lines, you are the only mage who can see His Grace the Duke.”

Martinez bowed. Francesca’s gaze lingered on the crown of his head before moving elsewhere.

“…Tsk.”

Seeming to understand the situation, Francesca clicked her tongue in displeasure.

“What did the Oracle say?”

“The committee members and the Tower Master said they respect His Grace the Duke’s decision.”

“Then isn’t that the end of it?”

Francesca briefly stared at Martinez before shifting her gaze to some documents.

“The Oracle has no objection to the Duke’s judgment, and the Empire hasn’t issued any particular stance either. From what I know, even the Military Government Command, which was delegated administrative and judicial rights from the city government, didn’t oppose the decision. In this situation, for mages to be rebelling…”

“……”

“Isn’t that quite strange?”

“Please understand that everyone is trembling with anxiety.”

Another businesslike explanation was added.

“In the first place, didn’t His Grace the Duke send a letter to the Church before us?”

“……”

Francesca didn’t answer.

She was rarely talkative.

Martinez tried to explain in detail how the Magic Tower mages in the north were being agitated, what their anxieties stemmed from, and why the Inquisition forces should no longer be allowed into the north, but,

“That’s enough.”

Francesca raised her hand, cutting off Martinez’s words.

“That’s enough. Lord Martinez, please leave now. Make sure strange rumors don’t spread, and just control the mages so they don’t cause trouble.”

“Lady Ranieri. But I cannot understand His Grace the Duke’s decision-“

“Does the Duke need to receive understanding from others when making a judgment?”

The mage’s mouth closed.

A cold voice continued.

[Don’t cross the line any further, my lord. This is not advice, but a warning.]

[…I understand.]

Martinez bowed deeply and left Francesca’s office.

As the sound of shoes on the wooden floor echoed from both sides, and finally the door closed.

-Click.

I stopped the recording, took off my headset, and placed it next to the eavesdropping equipment.

*

People think that eavesdropping and surveillance are very difficult tasks.

But eavesdropping is not as difficult as people think.

The advancement of technology has put smartphones in everyone’s hands, and at some point, people began carrying around the essence of all their information in one hand.

Email addresses, phone numbers, IDs and passwords, location information, payment details, social media and messengers, photos, biometric information, and more.

Smartphones are literally like walking safes, and if you crack just one smartphone, all kinds of information pour out—that’s the reality. If you suck up all the information in a phone and access its microphone and camera, an intelligence officer can easily transform a smartphone into video surveillance equipment and an eavesdropping device.

This work doesn’t require any complicated technology. You just need to buy a smartphone hacking tool made by Israeli or Italian private companies.

If someone carries a smartphone with encryption functions like government officials do, you might need to put in a little more effort, but even then, if you send a well-crafted text or email, you can crack it within a minute.

Of course, if you’re in a neighborhood without smartphones or working for an intelligence agency without such technology, you can’t easily conduct eavesdropping operations this way.

Unfortunately, in my case, it was both.

“Administrator, did your talk go well?”

As I leaned against the office door and asked how it went, Francesca responded in a curt tone.

“Why are you asking when you were monitoring?”

“Come on… Monitoring? Someone might misunderstand if they hear that.”

“Enough. Quickly take away those things you’ve set up over there.”

I retrieved the eavesdropping and video surveillance equipment I had installed in Francesca’s office.

The first small magical recording device placed in a flowerpot with an angle to see the door, the second recording device inserted into a hole in a palm-sized box. The eavesdropping devices attached under the chair and inside the magical lamp.

Finally, after retrieving the equipment hidden under the desk and stuffing it into my bag, I plopped down in front of Francesca.

“Things are getting really complicated. I never dreamed the Magic Tower people would make such a fuss.”

I blurted out with a grinning face, and Francesca groaned.

“I know. I didn’t expect such resistance either.”

The influence wielded by descendants of great Grand Mages in magical society is immense. This is because Grand Mages were the ones who liberated oppressed mages and led the way for magic to be established as a proper academic discipline.

But now, mages are rebelling against a decision made by the Duke, who stood shoulder to shoulder with legendary Grand Mages—not just a distant descendant of a Grand Mage like Francesca.

“More precisely, they’re being agitated…”

“Well, that’s not the important part.”

Francesca rubbed her forehead and let out a long sigh.

“The fact that mages are being agitated is a problem, Officer.”

“Yes, it is. But what’s really important is why the mages are being agitated, isn’t it?”

“That’s true…”

I stepped in to organize the situation. I analyzed the cause of the mages’ uproar by combining the information leaked by Martinez and what Francesca knew.

“Mages who heard rumors from those who directly witnessed the battle mages’ bodies at the rift suspect the clergy of the murder.

Meanwhile, they heard that people from the Inquisition, whom they were already uncomfortable facing, were coming in droves.

But it turns out that the Grand Mage herself directly allowed the Inquisition forces to set foot in the north and even permitted them to conduct investigations throughout the northern region. All while bypassing the Magic Tower mages.

Is this why the mages are agitated?”

“…I suppose that’s right.”

Francesca agreed, seemingly disgusted and not wanting to think about it anymore.

I rested my chin on one hand and reconsidered the current situation.

And I came to this conclusion.

“It’s a mess.”

I questioned Francesca.

“Are mages always this temperamental? Who do they think they are, asking to overturn a decision made by a Grand Mage? And they don’t even have the courage to do it themselves, so they whisper among themselves and then pass it off to a civil servant to report to you. Is this how people at the Magic Tower think? It’s quite different from what I knew.”

“Why are you questioning me? I was just sitting here.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm.”

My voice came out sounding accusatory because I was a bit dumbfounded. I apologized, saying that wasn’t my intention, and Francesca, being magnanimous, accepted my apology.

Leaning back in her chair, Francesca answered my question with a faint sigh.

“They definitely don’t usually act like this. It seems the agitation is greater than expected.”

“But does that justify acting like this? The Duke personally sent a letter to Lucia, and the Oracle said they respect the Duke’s judgment. This is insubordination, isn’t it?”

“That’s why it’s a problem. Because people who know what that means are acting this way.”

“Hmm.”

“Maybe the situation is worse than we thought. After all, battle mages of different nationalities were killed without being able to resist…”

“They feel their lives are threatened?”

“Probably. With unfortunate incidents piling up on the battlefield, everyone seems to be on edge.”

I asked a question to Francesca, who was muttering as if in soliloquy.

“So, what do you plan to do?”

“The easiest way is to persuade the mages belonging to the three major schools and suppress the resistance. Since the mainstream of the Magic Tower consists of the Elemental School, the Sorcery School, and the Astrology School. The minor schools would naturally follow the flow of the three major schools. Or we could just ignore it altogether.”

The fact that she’s not implementing the easiest method despite its availability means one thing.

That method can’t be used right now.

“But the situation isn’t one that can be resolved by ignoring it. And it’s uncertain whether persuading the three major schools would be effective.”

“Try to find a way. We can’t just leave it like this, can we?”

“Of course not. I’ll talk to Lord Evangelos first. We need to discuss and prepare countermeasures before the situation becomes serious.”

“Understood. Do you need anything else?”

“I’m just asking, but you’re not planning to plant another bug in my office, are you?”

“Of course not.”

I answered with a bright smile.

I was planning to plant the bug directly on Francesca’s body, not in her office, so I wasn’t lying.

While Francesca was scheduling a meeting with Evangelos Risidike, the commander of the Magic Tower’s Mage Corps, for a smooth resolution of the situation, I gathered my things and prepared to leave the room.

And just before leaving.

“Oh, right.”

With my hand on the doorknob, I made one request to Francesca.

“Administrator. About those rumors spreading among the Magic Tower people. About what happened at the rift, and how the Duke sent a letter to Lucia, and all that.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Could you find out who started spreading those rumors first?”

“I can. It might take some time, but why?”

“No, just…”

I smacked my lips.

“It’s nothing serious. Just a suspicion…”

“Yes.”

“I’m wondering if someone might be deliberately spreading rumors.”