Ch.47Luid’s Incident Log (3)

Amelia left the mansion late at night. She was going to investigate a case that had been giving her headaches recently.

“…Ruide?”

Amelia looked behind her. Ruide was following her, hugging a large book.

“…Why are you following me?”

“Just because.”

“It’s late. You should be in bed now.”

“I slept a lot this morning, so I’m not sleepy.”

Amelia gently stroked Ruide’s head.

But she spoke firmly.

“No.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Ruide said with an expressionless face.

“We’re just going in the same direction.”

“……”

Amelia looked at Ruide with suspicious eyes.

‘I don’t think that’s true.’

But she had no grounds to refuse.

She started walking for now.

After about 10 minutes, Amelia suddenly stopped.

Ruide, who had been following behind her, bumped into her waist.

“Really, no.”

Amelia turned around and matched Ruide’s eye level. She grabbed his shoulders and said.

“It’s dangerous too.”

Ruide was genuinely puzzled.

“Me??”

“……”

Amelia couldn’t argue with that.

But this was a separate issue.

-Still, Ruide isn’t old enough to see such things.

She remembered what Irene had said.

“Ruide, I can’t work properly when you’re around. And remember what I said yesterday? This is my succession test.”

Amelia tried to persuade him nicely.

Ruide simply showed her his diary.

“I’m going to write in my diary.”

“…Huh?”

“You gave me permission yesterday. To write in my diary.”

“Ah, no, that’s…”

“Should I tell mom? That you deliberately reported late yesterday.”

Amelia had reported late that Ruide wasn’t going to the North. It was a petty revenge.

Amelia’s body flinched. She narrowed her eyes.

“That’s playing dirty, isn’t it?”

“Then don’t interfere.”

“Interfering is…”

Amelia saw Ruide’s stubborn gaze and dropped her shoulders. Once Ruide became stubborn, there was no breaking it.

“Fine. But you have to listen to what I say, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“And if you get sleepy, make sure to tell me.”

Ruide nodded.

**

Amelia deliberately headed to the training ground. She couldn’t take Ruide to a crime scene.

In truth, there was nothing she could do even if she went to the scene. They had examined every speck of dust but found nothing.

‘I might as well clear my head.’

She hadn’t been able to train at all recently. Not just her, but all her members.

Complaints were slowly rising. How long would they have to keep doing this meaningless task?

It was time for some release. Amelia walked to the open space where her members were gathered.

“Oh, Captain? Who’s this cute little one?”

“Watch your language, Irina. This is my brother.”

“Yeah, I can see that. You look exactly alike.”

Irina crouched in front of Ruide and tried to pat his head. Amelia blocked her arm with a wary look.

“What do you think you’re touching?”

“So stingy, Amelia.”

Irina got up, pouting and grumbling. Ruide blinked as he looked up at Irina.

“She’s the Second Princess, Ruide. No need to greet her.”

Amelia introduced her curtly.

Ruide looked up at Irina and thought.

‘Her breasts are huge.’

It was an honest observation.

“Wow! Is this the fairy of Dellin I’ve heard so much about?”

“So incredibly cute.”

“What’s with the Captain? She always refused when we asked to see him.”

Amelia lowered her stance and placed her hand on her sword handle, facing those who were approaching Ruide with curious faces.

“One step closer and I’ll cut you. Everyone return to your positions.”

“Come on, don’t be so stingy. Let me hold him just once.”

Irina rushed in suddenly. Amelia pushed her with her shoulder. Irina was pushed back significantly. Amelia spread her arms wide.

Ruide touched his lips and thought.

‘That’s a shame.’

“Rui, stay right behind me.”

After speaking kindly to Ruide, Amelia’s eyes blazed.

‘How dare these beasts look at him like that??’

Princess or not, she would protect Ruide.

That was her only goal today.

“We’ll take a break from the investigation today and train instead. Practice on your own, and I’ll correct your form. No distractions allowed. Let me repeat this because it’s important. I will not forgive any distractions, especially bothering my brother.”

**

The members of the swordsmanship club were swinging their swords at a proper distance. Everyone’s expression was serious.

Learning swordsmanship from a Windsor was nothing short of a blessing. Everyone thought they were lucky, so they really enjoyed the practice time.

Ruide sat down in a suitable spot and opened his diary.

‘As expected, sister Ame is not to be trifled with.’

Ruide wanted to use his future knowledge and thinking skills to solve the case. He needed to find the culprit quickly, if only for Amelia’s health.

But his hand holding the pen wouldn’t move. How could he deduce anything without information? All Ruide knew was that young children were suddenly disappearing.

At that moment, his eyes met with Gilbert, who was swinging his sword with a haggard look. Gilbert bowed his head slightly.

Ruide patted the spot next to him. Puzzled, Gilbert spoke to Amelia.

Amelia heard what he said, glared, then looked at Ruide and smiled brightly. Ruide patted the spot next to him again.

Amelia made a sour face and nodded to Gilbert. Gilbert ran over.

“Huff, huff. What can I do for you?”

He was panting, probably from training.

“Sir Gilbert looks tired.”

“Pardon…?”

“You should rest. Sit here.”

In fact, Gilbert had only slept about two hours over the past two days and was on the verge of collapse.

So Gilbert didn’t refuse and sat down next to Ruide. Ruide handed him a baguette with sleepy eyes.

“Eat this.”

“Thank you. I was just getting hungry.”

Gilbert took a bite. He could immediately tell it was good bread.

“Now tell me about the kidnapping case.”

“*cough*!”

Gilbert choked. Ruide took out a cup, filled it with water, and gave it to him.

After gulping it down, Gilbert pounded his chest.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine.”

Gilbert was sweating profusely.

He knew that Amelia didn’t want Ruide interfering with this case.

“Tell me.”

“Well…”

Ruide helped Gilbert make his choice.

“I wrote you a recommendation letter, let you rest, and gave you bread, but all you’ve given me is one chicken skewer.”

“……”

“I should tell my sister.”

Ruide tried to get up. Gilbert hurriedly said.

“I-I’ll tell you.”

Ruide grinned. The plan was a success.

Gilbert spoke in a small voice.

“But please keep it a secret from the Captain that I told you.”

“Got it.”

Gilbert glanced at Amelia before starting to speak. Amelia was currently checking Irina’s form.

She looked very focused. It seemed safe for now. Feeling somewhat relieved, he looked at Ruide and spoke.

“…The case first occurred in the slums. There were reports of children living there disappearing.”

Ruide nodded.

“At least 10, at most 20 children. Since children disappearing from the slums isn’t unusual, we couldn’t determine the exact number.”

Ruide recalled that the academy was quite far from the slums.

“A week later, another child disappeared. This time not from the slums, but from the nearest city. That’s when the case was assigned to us. And children have been steadily disappearing, one per week.”

Gilbert rubbed his face.

Self-loathing was evident on his face.

“There was nothing left behind. No evidence, no witnesses, no objects. The whereabouts of the missing children were completely unknown, making it impossible to find them.”

Ruide tried to recall if there had been a similar case in the original story, but he didn’t think there was.

“And about two weeks ago… a 9-year-old girl went missing near the academy.”

This was the medieval era. Various crimes were common. But the problem was that the crime occurred near the academy.

Even in modern times, areas around schools have good security. The same was true for the empire with its one and only academy. Infrastructure was concentrated there.

The fact that someone disappeared could lead to quite serious problems.

“Again, we couldn’t find any evidence, not even a thread. Fortunately, there have been no more disappearances since then, but who knows. We can’t just leave it alone unless we find the culprit. That’s all there is to it.”

“Where exactly did the child disappear from?”

“We don’t know that either. There was no evidence or testimony. It’s very strange. All we can do… is search blindly. At least for now.”

Gilbert felt extremely frustrated.

“Even in any case, some evidence is usually left behind. But this case… it’s like trying to grasp smoke. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

Ruide suddenly said.

“The culprit is a mage.”

“Pardon?”

Ruide wrote in his diary. Like before, not in Korean, but in the imperial language.

[A mage between 7th and 8th rank, likely in their 70s or older.]

“How can you be so sure? I only repeated that there was no evidence.”

Gilbert was more than puzzled; he was dumbfounded.

But this was coming from a genius who had even given a magic presentation at such a young age.

Of course, he couldn’t just ignore it.

“Process of elimination.”

“Pardon?”

“The fact that they disappeared in succession means there’s a definite purpose. We can rule out impulsive crimes.”

“…Yes.”

“Leaving no trace means it’s not an ordinary person, right? So we can rule out civilians too. That leaves two possibilities. Someone skilled with a sword, or someone skilled with magic.”

“Yes.”

“Based on this, we can guess the culprit’s motive.”

Gilbert’s pupils trembled as he watched Ruide speak without the slightest hesitation.

“There might be several possibilities, but I think there are two main ones. Either someone who wants to show off a perfect crime, or someone who wants to use young children for something.”

Ruide’s voice lowered.

“The former is less likely. If they wanted to show off, they would have left traces. Like taunting. There weren’t even such traces, right?”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

Gilbert gulped.

Just from a simple explanation of the situation, the young boy in front of him was getting to the root of a case they hadn’t even been able to find a clue for.

“Then it must be the latter. What could someone gain from young children? Within my common sense, one thing comes to mind immediately. Mana.”

“…Mana?”

“Yes. It’s theoretically possible. A method for a mage who has hit their limit to increase their mana. Among them, the most efficient way is to extract mana from talented young children. For this to be possible, they would need to be at least 7th rank, have stagnated growth, and have a strong desire to advance. They wouldn’t be above 8th rank. From 9th rank, they’re called grand mages.”

“…!”

Gilbert’s eyes filled with shock.

He hadn’t thought such a thing was possible at all.

“Young children have more mana than ordinary adults. If you abandon your humanity, it’s one of the first methods you might try. Not everyone can do it, though.”

Ruide looked at Gilbert.

“At first, they kidnapped children from the slums without much concern. In the slums, no one would care if a few children went missing. But soon they would have realized the efficiency was decreasing. Children without talent can’t yield much mana extraction. They wouldn’t be satisfied. So the culprit became bolder. The closer you get to the center of the system, the higher the chance of encountering talented children, so they got closer and closer. Therefore, the culprit’s final target is likely the academy.”

Ruide paused briefly and began writing what should be investigated first.

Gilbert’s expression was frozen.

He was ashamed. He had prided himself on his investigative skills, but the boy in front of him had listened briefly and come up with the most plausible solution.

Moreover, if the method was difficult, that would be one thing, but after hearing it, he lamented why he hadn’t thought of it himself.

“I never realized it could be such a simple method…”

“It’s natural because Gilbert doesn’t know much about mages. And usually, any problem seems easy once you know the answer.”

After finishing writing, Ruide tore off that part of the paper and handed it to Gilbert.

Gilbert received it respectfully.

“I will definitely try to solve this as soon as possible.”

‘This should be enough for them to solve it on their own.’

Amelia didn’t want him to get involved. So, this was as far as he could go.

Amelia was capable. If the direction was correct, she would be able to solve the case quickly.

Ruide gazed at Amelia in the distance, diligently correcting her members’ postures.

“Solve it quickly and let our sister rest.”

Night had passed, and a quiet dawn was approaching.

It was a time when everyone was asleep, but their swords didn’t waver in the slightest.

Ruide thought that people working hard for something were truly admirable.