Ch.91The Final Stratagem – 4

“No… this can’t be… this can’t be happening… How could I…”

Words began pouring from Laura’s mouth like machine gun fire. Most of them were so fast and low that they were nearly impossible to understand.

Even the few words I could barely make out were things like “That’s impossible” and “How could I,” which provided absolutely no context for what was happening.

After muttering something frantically for quite some time, Laura reached for the notebook. The motion seemed almost trance-like.

I quietly handed over the notebook. Laura took it with trembling hands, opened it, and began reading through it page by page with great care. She was reading blank pages with nothing written on them.

Her expression was far too serious to dismiss this as mere insanity. She looked so genuinely absorbed that I couldn’t possibly think she was just flipping through blank pages.

‘Could there be something only visible to her?’

I tried using magic and manipulating mana without interfering, but the pages still appeared completely blank to my eyes. Meanwhile, Laura continued to stare intently at the notebook.

“…Your Highness?”

“Kuh, aagh…!”

“Your Highness?!”

About halfway through the notebook, Laura clutched her head and let out a pain-filled groan. I quickly caught her body as she began to collapse.

“Ugh…! Aaaagh…!”

The pain seemed to intensify as Laura thrashed about. Her entire body shook more violently than when she had been excited by the pheromones. Yet through it all, she absolutely refused to let go of the notebook.

As a temporary measure, I set up a barrier around us and used healing magic. Green light seeped into her body, but her convulsions didn’t subside at all.

Wondering if it might be something else, I tried using magic to dispel status ailments. There was no change. Laura was still writhing in pain.

If neither healing magic nor status ailment dispelling worked, I had no idea what kind of situation this was.

“Kuh, ugh…”

While I was desperately searching for a solution, Laura finally lost consciousness, unable to endure the pain any longer. Even then, she still clutched the notebook.

I placed my finger under her nose. Thankfully, she was still breathing. I carefully lifted her body and laid her on the bed. Her face was drenched in sweat, evidence of how intense the pain had been in that brief moment.

I tried to remove the notebook but gave up when I saw how tightly her fingers were clenched around it.

‘What on earth is this?’

To me, it was just an empty notebook with nothing written in it, but was it something different for Laura? With her in this state, I couldn’t ask.

“I’m back… Huh? What are you doing?”

As I was wiping the sweat from Laura’s forehead, Io bounded into the room and tilted her head curiously at the sight of us. The timing was truly impeccable.

At least she didn’t seem to have any strange misunderstandings, so that was fortunate, I suppose.

“Perfect timing. Could you come closer?”

“Huh?”

Though confused, Io dutifully followed my instruction.

“Can you see any text inside this?”

I carefully opened the corner of the notebook. Io stood on the bed in an awkward posture, as if reluctant to touch the empire’s first in line for succession, and craned her neck to peer at the corner.

“No. I don’t see anything. It’s just blank paper, isn’t it?”

“…So it seems.”

If Io also saw blank paper, there might be special magic that only Laura could perceive. It seemed the best option would be to ask her when she woke up.

“What is this that you’re so concerned about?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out by asking you.”

“…Huh?”

“Don’t try to learn any more. This concerns the person lying here.”

Startled, Io jumped back like a cat frightened by a cucumber. Her head nodded vigorously, desperately.

“Did you get a reply?”

“Well… I did get an answer, but…”

Her words trailed off with an awkward laugh.

“They said they’ve finished preparations, so we can come right away.”

Laura still hadn’t opened her eyes by the time we left the room.

I didn’t dare wake her, as I couldn’t guarantee what might happen afterward, so I had to be content with setting up an active defensive magic circle to protect her. Someone might come looking for her while I was gone.

Naturally, this meant I had to go to the Magicians’ Association alone, which we had planned to visit together.

As soon as Io heard “Magicians’ Association,” she showed an extremely violent rejection, leaving only a request to hire her services again before fleeing at lightning speed.

“Stop. Are you Mira Crate?”

When I arrived at the Magicians’ Association building, a woman smoking at the entrance stopped me. She crushed her cigarette under her foot and approached.

“That’s right.”

“That’s right? Your answers are rather short. I’ve probably lived three times longer than you, Mr. Traitor.”

Mr. Traitor, huh. Seems the rumors have started to spread.

Well, it doesn’t really matter. She’ll be denying that statement with her own mouth soon enough.

“Why would I speak formally to you?”

“…Ha. Are you saying you’re a better magician than me?”

Since ancient times, all magic towers have shared one philosophy: regardless of age or position, the one who wields magic better stands above the rest.

Considering what I’m about to do, speaking informally shouldn’t be a problem.

“I like your spirit. I approve.”

The magician glared at me with hostile eyes, then suddenly changed her expression to a smile and patted my shoulder.

“Right, someone who summoned all of us should have that kind of confidence. I would’ve been disappointed if you were just some coward with nothing to back it up. Let’s go in. I’ll show you the way.”

—CRACK!

As the magician turned around smiling, wings and a tail burst through her robe. Not only that, but both her arms had transformed into something resembling a dragon’s forelegs.

After looking over her body, the magician clicked her tongue.

“Damn, should’ve kept smoking. One favor—can I smoke? Well, strictly speaking it’s not tobacco, just a mixture of herbs.”

“By all means. I don’t mind.”

“Thanks, man. These uptight bastards, I keep telling them it’s not tobacco…”

Even while grumbling about her colleagues, a cigarette emerged from her robe pocket and placed itself in her mouth. With a sizzle, it spontaneously ignited, emitting light and heat.

The wings, tail, and transformed forelegs protruding through her robe gradually subsided. The magician took a deep inhale of smoke and turned to me.

“You’re not surprised seeing me like this?”

“I know what it is. It’s a side effect from failing to research dragon transformation magic, right?”

“More precisely, I half-succeeded and ended up like this. I did transform into a dragon, but couldn’t control it. My body kept trying to change on its own. I’d die if I maintained the transformation for just 30 seconds, yet my body keeps trying to become a dragon. What choice did I have but to suppress it with drugs? I have too many unfinished experiments to die now.”

The magician cackled as she spoke.

“But I must be famous, huh? Even academy students like you know about me. Or did you just study more than others?”

I know because I heard it from Priscilla. She was just a character mentioned in passing during an episode, but if you hear something over a hundred times, you naturally remember it.

The other party didn’t seem to expect an answer anyway, so the conversation ended there. We arrived at the grand presentation hall without another word, and the magician entered first via teleportation, saying she would be looking forward to it.

‘I should go in too.’

—BANG!

I flung the door open forcefully. The gazes of the magicians inside snapped toward me. The masters of magic towers erected throughout the empire were staring at me with eyes both cold and hot.

The cold gazes represented distrust, while the hot ones showed expectation. The ratio was roughly half and half.

“So you really came, Mira Crate. I heard you were detained in the imperial palace with the crown prince on charges of treason.”

An elderly man sitting in the front row stroked his beard as he looked me over.

“If I couldn’t break through that, I wouldn’t have been able to summon all of you here.”

“…Oh?”

While the old man narrowed his eyes, I quickly counted the number of magicians. There were 53. The empire has 50 magic towers, and only tower masters can participate in this meeting, yet there were 3 extra people.

This meant that Grand Magicians were attending in disguise. Given their status, the others knew but couldn’t stop them.

Who else could enter this place besides Grand Magicians? Even the Emperor can’t enter the Magicians’ Association building freely. He wouldn’t know what might happen to him if he did.

These people are truly capable of that and more.

“Before we start, is anyone missing?”

Despite my casual informal speech, no one pointed it out.

Instead, their eyes narrowed further. They were going to judge much more strictly whether I had the ability to back up my attitude.

“Anyone who didn’t come after reading what was in that letter doesn’t deserve to be called a magician. I dropped all my research to come here.”

A woman sitting in the front row with both legs propped up on the desk spoke lazily. Her loose dress revealed much of what was underneath, but neither she nor the surrounding magicians paid any attention to it.

“So hurry up and start, kiddo. I’m dying of curiosity even now.”

“Perfect. I actually needed audience participation for this presentation, and you can help.”

“Tell me.”

The woman tilted her chin.

“I need to see some blood. Would you prefer to inflict a wound or receive one?”

“My, what a naughty boy. Asking a lady such questions. Alright, I’ll tell you. I obviously prefer to be the one inflicting.”

“Then attack me. Somewhere visually effective, but not fatal.”

There was no further questioning. The moment the woman snapped her fingers, my left arm was completely severed. The arm, cut from the shoulder, rolled on the floor as blood gushed like a fountain from the wound.

‘…Come to think of it, this is the third time my left arm has been cut off?’

Somehow it had become a particularly ill-fated limb.

“I was going to go for the right arm, but you looked right-handed, so I chose the left. Sorry if I was wrong.”

The woman didn’t even blink at the blood flowing before her eyes.

In fact, everyone present reacted the same way. Including me. It hurt, but it was a level of pain I could easily endure.

“You’re right, I am right-handed, so that’s fine.”

My calm attitude seemed to deepen their curiosity, as the watching magicians leaned forward slightly. I asked the woman another question.

“Just to be sure, you didn’t just make it look like you cut it, right?”

“This is the first time someone with a severed arm has asked if I only pretended to cut it. You’re not right in the head, are you?”

Being told I wasn’t right in the head by someone from the Magicians’ Association left me feeling a bit sour as I continued.

“This magic requires absolute confirmation. Your answer?”

“On the honor of the Red Tower, I really cut it off. Satisfied now? Hurry up and move to the next step.”

“That’s more like it.”

I picked up my severed left arm and used healing magic on it.

“…!!!!!!”

When light of a color that people of this world would never see in their lifetime emanated from my hand, the woman sprang up from her seat with bulging eyes.

The other 52 did the same. Without a single exception. From the moment the green light leaked out, not a single person remained seated.

To demonstrate that the arm had been perfectly reattached, I rotated my shoulder in circles as I spoke.

“Anyone want to experience this firsthand?”

With those words, 53 fountains of blood erupted simultaneously.