Ch.287Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

After fighting a demon and spending the night with Lucia, a protest suddenly broke out. Though “commotion” would be a more fitting word than protest.

A collective movement initiated by magicians.

But thinking about it carefully, something seems odd.

Collective actions, regardless of their cause, tend to have a certain direction. Whether it’s anger or demands, there’s usually something people collectively sympathize with.

From that perspective, the behavior the magicians are displaying now doesn’t make sense.

Rather than staging a protest or riot, they seem more like people who panicked and fled. The disorderly, unstructured nature of it all gives the impression of people swept up in the atmosphere.

Honestly, I still don’t know for certain what caused the magicians to riot, but…

“What happened over the past two days?”

“I thought you might know something, Sir.”

“Well… let’s move somewhere else to talk first.”

Today, I felt like I might finally understand the reason.

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

“It’s because of the rumors.”

Inside the now-quiet building. While the internal troops and military police assigned to guard duty secured the perimeter, we moved to a small office.

After drawing the curtains and taking a seat, Francesca began speaking in a subdued voice. It was a hoarse sound, as if her throat was cracked.

“Rumors?”

“The day before yesterday at dawn, several magicians working in a nearby city saw, heard, and felt certain things.”

She, who always dealt with people with an air of dignity, showed an unusually tired expression.

“Gunshots, strange cries, shouts. The sound of weapons clashing and shockwaves rising from underground. Clear sensations of divine power and ominous energy of unknown origin. These are what magicians commonly reported feeling from yesterday evening until dawn.”

“……”

“And at daybreak, a group of clergy emerging from underground.”

Her posture was rigid, her chin raised, with fatigue dripping through despite the caffeine.

“Do you happen to know anything about this?”

Leaning back against the chair, I bluntly replied.

“Know? I was there.”

I told Francesca everything that happened that night.

The demon encountered in the underground cavity, Lucia’s exorcism, Muspel summoned from hell, the necromancer who appeared in the middle, Veronica and the Inquisition arriving at the critical moment, the fierce battle, the necromancer’s death, and the buried demon.

Francesca listened to the story with a serious expression.

“Hmm… so that’s what happened?”

“Yes.”

“A demon and a necromancer… this was no ordinary incident.”

According to her testimony, the Tower magicians working in the city that night detected the battle taking place underground.

The battle was so intense that even ordinary citizens felt its aftermath, so naturally, magicians with more developed senses couldn’t help but notice the suspicious movements underground.

The problem is that the Tower magicians saw a group of clergy emerging from underground at daybreak.

With the Imperial battle mage and Magic Department investigator being murdered, and the Grand Duke allowing the Inquisition to investigate, the North was already in an unsettling state. When clergy suddenly poured out of the sewers at dawn, they must have looked like conspirators to the magicians.

“No wonder the Inquisition forces suddenly mobilized. You have no idea how uneasy that made the Tower people. The magicians who first witnessed it in the city said they thought demons were attacking from underground because the ground kept collapsing.”

“Was it that bad?”

“It felt like walking on thin ice.”

Francesca muttered as if making a light complaint, then pointed her finger toward the door.

“You saw those magicians who ran out of the building earlier, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“They’re the senior members of the schools who command the magicians dispatched to the North. Elders? Seniors? Executives? I’m not sure how to explain it, but you can understand them as people in such positions.”

Francesca explained why the school seniors had come to her. Magicians who witnessed the previous night’s incident had spread rumors, and they came to learn the specific circumstances.

Of course, besides those gentlemen, all sorts of magic practitioners flocked in—officials, magicians who heard rumors, anxious visitors, passing magicians—turning everything into chaos.

“They were all so frightened they didn’t know what to do. Some said we should go to a safe place, others that we should return to the Tower. Some even suggested calling back the magic battalions fighting on the front lines, while others demanded an imperial investigation.”

“That’s not very realistic.”

“They probably know that themselves. But what can they do? They’re scared, so they have to do something.”

All kinds of suspicions ran rampant.

In the end, the suspicions and doubts proved to be unfounded, but in a sense, this is the worst situation.

There’s no evidence that a necromancer appeared. There are witnesses, but those who can testify are all clergy of the Order. The Tower magicians, who distrust the Order, will ignore the Order’s claims regardless of who says what, and will likely scrutinize even the evidence to the end. Suspicion tends to lead to more suspicion.

Francesca was well aware of this.

“I understand the situation. Now we need to find evidence to calm people down.”

Her long legs crossed.

Placing her leg on her thigh, Francesca assumed a posture with her hand supporting her chin.

“If it was a necromancer, they were likely a magician. An exile? Or from the Ivory Tower? Maybe even the Tower. Were there any distinguishing features? Like which school their magic resembled, or if they had a noticeable color of magical power.”

“I don’t remember any magic besides the curse they cast on Lucia, but I recall their magical power was green.”

“Green? There are quite a few magicians registered with the Tower who handle green magical power…”

Tap. Tap.

Her slender fingers drummed on the table.

The rhythmic movement maintained a fairly fast pace, as if representing her anxious mind, and showed no signs of slowing down as time passed.

Francesca couldn’t hide her complex feelings. Everyone knows that most necromancers come from magical backgrounds. Necromancers, treated as terrorists in any country, let alone by the Order, are one of the disgraces of the magical community.

“A curse, so the Witchcraft School? Since witchcraft is close to voodoo, that’s not an unreasonable guess. Did you say the necromancer was consumed by the demon?”

“Yes, they turned into something like a mummy.”

“Hmm… I don’t know much about necromancers, but that seems a bit strange. Even a demon shouldn’t be able to directly absorb a necromancer’s soul if they’re contracting parties.”

“Well, maybe they got scammed in the contract.”

When I shrugged my shoulders, Francesca’s eyes narrowed.

“In the current situation, the surest way to calm the confusion is to secure the necromancer’s body. An even better method would be to capture the demon directly, but…”

Her tired, weak voice concluded.

“Well, both options are realistically difficult.”

Whether alive or dead, pulling up a demon buried dozens, perhaps hundreds of meters underground is an extremely difficult task.

By the same logic, retrieving the necromancer’s body buried beside it would be just as challenging.

“Couldn’t we easily dig it up by mobilizing magicians?”

“I’m not sure. Depending on the situation at the site, it might be unreasonable in this mid-winter environment where frostbite cases are occurring even with layers of clothing. It’s not a job that can be finished in an hour or two. Moreover, there’s a risk of collapsing nearby buildings or underground waterways.”

Francesca began contemplating how to calm the situation by combining magical knowledge, field conditions, and information gathered so far.

Sitting across from her and quietly listening to her explanation, I asked one question.

“About the necromancer’s body.”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Does it have to be the entire body?”

I was asking whether a complete body was necessary for people to be convinced, whether for examination or for show.

Francesca shook her head.

“No. Strictly speaking, having an intact body would be convenient for an autopsy, but we don’t necessarily need a complete body as evidence.”

“Then how about this size?”

“What size are you referring to?”

I grasped my right wrist below with my left hand.

“A wrist about this size.”

“Hmm…”

Francesca’s eyes narrowed. As if gauging the size, she was lost in thought for a while before suddenly speaking.

“Well, a piece that size should allow for at least some tests.”

“Really? Then we don’t need to call magicians to dig up the ground.”

“What? What do you mean?”

To Francesca, who asked with a puzzled tone, I scratched the back of my head and answered.

“I cut off the wrist.”

“Whose wrist are you talking about?”

“The necromancer’s wrist.”

“…Where did you get that from?”

“I cut it off the body.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Francesca looked at me as if I were mentally ill, but I didn’t mind.

Whatever works, right?

*

The necromancer’s wrist, which I had stored deep in the hotel freezer, was handed over to Francesca.

Strangely, the necromancer’s wrist showed no signs of decay. Even considering it was kept in a freezer during winter, it was quite remarkable.

“I’m planning to gather the school executives and secretariat staff to observe the examination. The Imperial Magic Department will conduct the tests.”

“What about the Inquisition? They’re part of the joint investigation team; won’t there be talk?”

“If it’s proven to be a necromancer’s body, there will be no more room for doubt.”

As she said, presenting the necromancer’s wrist as evidence had a definite effect.

The examination conducted by the Imperial Magic Department, in the presence of Tower magicians and Order clergy, was successfully completed.

The Imperial Magic Department used new equipment brought from the imperial capital Petrograd to conduct the tests and successfully detected a large amount of dark magic-related magical power from the necromancer’s wrist.

From that moment, the magicians who had been claiming the Inquisition was plotting something had to shut their mouths.

After all, necromancers, along with exiles, were unforgivable entities in the magical community.

If they carelessly spread unfounded rumors and ended up with strange accusations, they might have their brains split open by Tower security under the pretext of mental contamination tests, or be eternally confined in the infamous Crystal Prison.

Anyway, now the justification had shifted to the Inquisition.

Instead of monitoring the movements of anxious magicians who couldn’t even grasp the situation, I decided to do something more productive.

“About that necromancer. Has their identity been determined?”

“No. Since they’re in a mummified state, fingerprinting is difficult. The Magic Department has asked other investigative agencies for help, but fingerprint analysis and magical trace testing don’t look easy.”

Unfortunately, identifying the necromancer seems a distant prospect.

True to this area’s backward forensic techniques, the Magic Department failed to collect fingerprints from the mummified hand, and also failed to secure magical traces remaining in the body.

I heard that even when they ran tests, no results came back because the magical power had significantly deteriorated.

For now, I decided to leave this part to the imperial investigation agencies.

“How about trusting and waiting? They’re people who are known for handling things properly.”

“I know the imperial folks’ skills well, but seeing how they’ve been acting lately, I’m not very confident…”

“Still, try to trust them once. Who knows? They might discover something you missed.”

It wasn’t just because Francesca, one of the chief supervisors of the Tower’s dispatched personnel, suggested trusting the Imperial Magic Department’s abilities; similar sentiments came from the Order’s side as well, which is why I decided to trust them.

“Veronica. What do you mean I should just leave it to the Imperial Magic Department?”

Veronica replied in a blunt tone from the other end of the phone.

-‘What else can you do besides trusting the Magic Department, Major? What can you do besides sitting and twiddling your thumbs?’

“No, why are you saying it like…”

-‘Shut up and come to the cathedral. I told you to rest in bed, but you’re out working again? More importantly, when did you even sneak out? The holy knights at the main gate say they never saw you leave.’

With both sides pressuring me like this, I had no choice.

-‘Come and get treatment. Why are you wandering around, neglecting yourself? Who knows what strange complications might arise? You have no fear.’

In the end, I had no choice but to hand over the necromancer’s wrist to the Imperial Magic Department.

Although I didn’t fully trust them, there was no other option at the moment, so this was the best course of action.

And so, leaving behind the magicians agitated by the necromancer’s appearance, the clergy watching with suspicious eyes, and the soldiers showing their discomfort as if carrying a bomb that could explode at any moment.

I returned to St. Basilius Cathedral.

To where Lucia and Veronica were waiting.

*

The cathedral was as quiet as if nothing had happened.

Believers coming to pray, priests conducting mass, monks sweeping the courtyard, holy knights standing guard.

The scene was no different from usual, but today my footsteps felt particularly heavy as I climbed the stairs leading to the cathedral.

“……”

After slowly climbing the stairs, I opened the cathedral door and entered.

A priest standing near the door recognized me and greeted me.

“Hello, brother. Are you returning from somewhere?”

“Ah, yes. I had some business…”

“I see. Please come in.”

The priest smiled brightly and pointed to the corridor.

“Saint Veronica is waiting for you.”

Looking at the priest leading the way, I took a deep breath.

A corridor paved with white marble.

With the feeling of walking to a slaughterhouse, I finally calmed my trembling heart and moved my reluctant feet forward.