[V9C14] The One Who Breaks the Balance
Translated by Jodas 9: Battle for the TowerWren shifted his tone dramatically as he spoke.
“We’re having this talk in secret because I don’t want Mr. Hütter to find out!”
“…Pyoeh? Why not?”
Rukiye seemed to have picked up on Wren’s intentions at this point. “I see… But that would mean…” She grumbled, forming deep creases on her brows.
Now that they’d come this far, they had to talk it out all the way through to the end. Wren steeled his resolve.
“If there’s a Monster hiding among the Apprentices, it’s almost certain they have collaborators as well. And that collaborator is most likely one of the Instructors.”
As a Monster, Tia had serious difficulties in the mana emission practice. If that was true, then shouldn’t it have been the case for the Werewolf hiding among the Apprentices as well? How did the Werewolf get through that exercise without issue?
Tia was able to succeed at emitting mana once she received the paper with high mana resistance
In all likelihood, the Werewolf had a sheet of that paper prepared for him. That would imply there was a collaborator who provided him with the paper.
…Of course, all of that deduction relied on the knowledge that Tia was a Monster. He couldn’t bring that fact up in front of Rukiye, so Wren muddied his words somewhat.
“If there’s a Monster pretending to be an Apprentice Mage, then I think they have to have someone supporting them. In that case, wouldn’t an instructor make sense?”
For the time being, it looked like that explanation was enough to get Rukiye on board.
As well as the reason why Hütter couldn’t be in this room.
“I get it. If you think of it that way, then Hütter is definitely the most suspicious. He only came to the Wedge Tower shortly before the entrance exam, after all.”
“I see… So that’s why you guys were having a late night party without telling us, I assume?”
Wren whirled around to face the door and went pale.
Watching them through a thin crack in the door were a pair of old fogies, one leaning over the other. It was Hütter and Otto.
Ever since Wren took a glance at Hütter’s notebook, Hütter had noticed Wren being unusually cautious of his gaze.
Nothing of particular importance was written on that notebook, but… Wren was an extremely clever boy. There was a chance he had figured out that Hütter was an imposter already.
Thus, when Wren snuck out from their room, he moved to sneak behind him. Unfortunately, however, Otto spotted him.
“Hey~, it looks like Wren was kinda sneaking out of the room, you know~? I was just thinking, if he was off to have a secret hookup with the girls, I should probably give him a warning as his Instructor, right?”
He had stammered those words out, leading to Otto offering to go together with him.
Otto probably assumed he was guarding Hütter. To the con man who’d rather act alone, it was an unwelcome act of kindness.
Thus, as he fretted over how best to smooth things over in case Wren said something about Hütter being a con man, the conversation took a weird turn.
When the theory of Gerald being the Werewolf popped up, he thought ‘Oh, I see~.’ Then, when he learned Gerald’s true identity, he was shocked.
The fact that Sevil referred to the Margrave of Warmberg as her ‘darling’ gave him a headache, then he was sincerely impressed when the group settled on the theory of Finn being the Werewolf. ‘Those guys are so smart, huh~’
After that came the kicker: the theory that Hütter was the Werewolf’s ally. It was a sloppy idea, but he had to admit the logic made a certain amount of sense.
If someone in the Guidance Office was working with the Monsters, then no matter how you looked at it, Hütter was suspicious. Sevil had told him the same thing earlier.
Hütter entered the room alongside Otto, then closed the door behind them.
“I heard your discussion. So you think Finn is the Werewolf and I’m his collaborator, huh?”
When you’re being suspected, panicking and denying it would only have the opposite effect.
For the record, Hütter wasn’t the Werewolf’s collaborator. There was no reason for him not to hold his head high.
“Looking at it objectively, I can see why you’d think I was suspicious… That in mind, I don’t mind if you continue suspecting me.”
All of the Apprentices made faces of surprise to Hütter’s statement.
Otto, his escort, also looked to be at a loss.
“Are you really okay with that, Mr. Hütter?”
“Well, it’s a fact that I am suspicious. I came to the Wedge Tower at almost the same time Finn took the entrance exam. Of course you’d suspect me. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that ‘Maybe this guy’s helping out the Werewolf~’”
In reality, he was a con man and a pawn of the Black Lion, but it seemed like no one had noticed that fact yet.
In that case, he just had to continue playing the role of the Dream Mage, Caspar Hütter.
Hütter spoke again, with the face of an adult suppressing his anguish.
“I myself had considered the possibility that the Werewolf had blended in among the Apprentices… Yet I wanted it to be untrue if at all possible.”
That was a lie.
“I am fully aware that I am suspected of collaborating with that Werewolf myself. That said, I would like to voice my own opinions on the matter.”
Finn was the Werewolf, and one of the Instructors was collaborating with him. If that was true, then there was one person he suspected most.
“The Werewolf’s collaborator hiding among the Guidance Office mages is…”
A battle between humans and Monsters, with the Wedge Tower as its stage. The battle raged on, with both sides evenly matched.
On the Wedge Tower’s side, Headmaster Möbius as well as the majority of the Extermination Office were out on expeditions, leaving them with less than half of their usual fighting strength. On the other hand, every single one of the Monsters with Crystal Rivets embedded in them were in a weakened state.
The commander of the Monsters in the air, the orange Harpy, tried to terrorize the humans with her mana-infused songs while boosting morale among the Monsters. However, Spiremaster Alto interfered with her choral magic.
The bird Monsters focused their attacks on the Third Spire: Water Bubble, from which the sounds of the piano and singing resounded, yet the artisans of the Management Office fended the Monsters off with their varied magical devices.
On top of that, Spiremaster Lowein of the Second Spire: Golden Needle rushed to Spiremaster Alto’s defense, skillfully fighting a defensive battle.
Numerous beast-like Monsters entered through the front gates broken down by the Primordial Beast, but the mages of the Extermination, Protection, and Investigation Offices coordinated to head them off.
Director Böll of the Protection Office gripped her sword and took to the front lines, supporting the mages who needed breathing room to chant their incantations. Director Diehl of the Investigation Office took note of the peculiarities of each Monster and skillfully mobilized his subordinates to strike at the enemy’s weaknesses.
Yet, one could say that the following two contributed the most for the human side:
One was the Apprentice Mage who stood alone against the Primordial Beast, Gerald Anker.
Even with the Crystal Rivet embedded, the Primordial Beast still held overwhelming strength that made it unrivaled as the strongest asset to the Monsters’ side. Gerald’s abilities were nowhere near equal to the Primordial Beast.
However, the Primordial Beast held great interest in this young swordsman, and was enjoying their battle. As a result, the Monsters’ greatest asset was held up by Gerald, a single boy, minimizing the damage the Beast could inflict.
Then, the other biggest contributor was the Extermination Office Director, Fritz Haydn.
With a greatsword in hand and flying around with flight magic, he managed to stop and take down almost all of the flying enemies by himself.
When fighting large enemies or enemies at close quarters, Haydn would swing his greatsword and occasionally break into diving speed with his flight magic, ensuring the heaviest possible cuts with the full weight of his greatsword.
Then, against enemies at medium and long distances, he would let out an arrow of lightning to attack from a distance. The unmatched precision of his long-range attacks was Haydn’s specialty. He was particularly proud of his tracking formulas, boasting an extremely high accuracy.
With Headmaster Möbius not present, Haydn, who showed no weakness either close up or at range, was doubtlessly the strongest warrior present at the Wedge Tower.
If anyone were in a position to witness the whole battle at once, they might have noticed that the area around the First Spire: White Smoke was unusually quiet.
The reason why Ella and Roswitha had been able to undo Agniol’s seal without much difficulty was because all of the mages of the White Smoke had been sound asleep at the time. Ella and Roswitha hadn’t noticed.
The First Spire: White Smoke’s Spiremaster Abel had left to visit the cell where Julius had been imprisoned, so even she hadn’t noticed the situation.
The culprit who poisoned the White Smoke’s mages with sleeping drugs to keep anyone from noticing stepped out onto the Spire’s roof and began to chant.
Bird Monsters cawed and cried as they flew about the skies, and one-by-one, arrows of lightning rained down on them, sending them careening into the ground. Outstanding precision. Even when the bird Monsters dodged, the arrows of lightning would smoothly and quickly follow after them, striking their prey with certainty every time. If their precision was remarkable, the speed they flew out was striking as well. His title of ‘The Lightning Mage’ wasn’t just for show.
A brief moment of focus. Light began to form around Haydn. Haydn’s target was the orange Harpy.
In sync with his spell, she activated her spell.
“Analysis complete.”
An arrow of lightning, completely identical to the one Haydn fired, blocked the path of Haydn’s arrow. With the sound of crackling sparks, a flower of lightning bloomed in the sky.
—The balance had been broken. In the Monsters’ favor.
His attack blocked, Haydn narrowed his eyes and searched for the culprit. His eyes screamed ‘I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it.’
The Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm raised a hand towards Haydn. Buried in her palm, and beneath her trademark short bangs, were Crystal Rivets.
“Come, Fritz. Try your best to kill me.”
Looking at each of his students, Hütter spoke.
“The Werewolf’s collaborator… is Ms. Röhm.”