[V10C7] Well Done, You Asked About Something You Didn’t Know!
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con ManEven while Hütter’s mind was occupied with thoughts of pigeons, Abel’s lecture on Ancient Magical Artifacts continued.
“Next, the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Ignatius, the Severer.’ …A sword that inflicts incurable wounds on Monsters. It doesn’t insist on itself very strongly, so it’s not terribly picky about its wielder. It consumes mana, however, so I would advise those individuals with limited mana reserves to refrain from touching it.
At present, this ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ appeared to be by far the easiest to use.
It had the ability to inflict incurable wounds on Monsters — Considering that they would be fighting against Greater types, they would want to retrieve this thing no matter what.
“Finally, there is ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools.’ In addition to manipulating all varieties of sealing barrier, it can also seal Monsters in books and control them. The seals can be used with an incredible degree of precision, and it is possible to designate unsealing formulas on an individual basis.”
Sealing formulas were somewhat of a bewildering topic. Hütter had done his best to learn even the tip of that particular iceberg.
Designating unsealing formulas on an individual basis essentially meant that you could set a ‘password’ or ‘key’ to each and every seal. Anyone with the password would be able to undo the seal, but at the same time, should the contractor who knows the password die, it would become impossible to undo.
The late Director Linke had placed just such a seal on one part of ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’
(Assistant Headmaster Miriam had forcibly interfered with ‘Chariclea’ to restore the wall. Then, Director Linke placed a seal on it, preventing it from dispelling the wall. However, ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ is an Ancient Magical Artifact itself. Three days would be enough for it to smash the seal with brute force… or something like that.)
‘Despina, the Chain of Fools’ could be thought of as a highly practical device with a wide spread of capabilities.
Precisely because of that, it could pose a serious threat if Monsters were to make use of it.
“‘Despina, the Chain of Fools’ demands that its contractors have the ability to make contact with the Abyss.”
As he listened to Abel’s explanation, Hütter had a thought.
He could raise his hand here and ask “Wait, what does it mean to make contact with the Abyss?” but he was pretty sure everyone would think he was an idiot.
Yet, there was one soul brave enough to raise his hand: it was Wren.
“Um… What does it mean to make contact with the Abyss? Does it have anything to do with Shamans?”
Nice going, pretty boy! Thank you, thank you so much.
Abel assumed a thoughtful pose in response to Wren’s question.
“The ability to make contact with the Abyss is related in part to the very root of a Shaman’s powers. Therefore, the Wedge Tower has long invited members of the Schwarzenberg Family and passed part of those techniques through the generations. The only ones who can use it in the form of curses are members of the Schwarzenberg Family. That said…”
As he thought, Sophie was a valuable asset to the Wedge Tower.
Hütter found it curious that, despite that, Sophie wasn’t present at this meeting.
Abel directed the conversation back on track.
“As it stands, it would be fine to assume that the only ones who are capable of using ‘Despina, the Chain of Fools’ would be Assistant Headmaster Miriam and the Apprentice Sophie.”
‘Ah, I see, I see.’ Hütter nodded as he tried to straighten out which artifacts could be used by whom in his mind.
‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ — For all intents and purposes, only Fiene.
‘Ignatius, the Severer’ — Anyone could. However, it consumes mana.
‘Despina, the Chain of Fools’ — Assistant Headmaster Miriam and Sophie.
‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam’ — Saint Helena.
As he should have anticipated, Ancient Magical Artifacts tended to be picky about their wielders.
While it might be preferable to a Monster being able to use it against them, it did put them it quite the tight spot.
Just to make sure, Hütter raised his hand.
“Excuse me, I’m aware that I am an outsider here, but will you permit me to speak?”
“I’ve heard of your talents, Instructor Hütter. Please, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.”
Lowein gave his approval on the spot. His quick response made things a lot easier.
Hütter nonetheless gave the impression of hesitation as he began to speak.
“While I am in no position to speak on this subject… considering the possibility that Monsters have already crossed the wall, I was wondering if it would be best to seek the support of His Majesty the Emperor and some nearby lords.”
“I’ve already asked. But I doubt they’ll make it in time.”
‘I see, so Spiremaster Lowein has been taking some matters into his own hands, huh?’ Hütter concluded.
At the very least, he doubted that Lowein had received Spiremaster Abel’s permission. Abel was glaring at Lowein with a cold gaze.
(Old Man Lowein is a brutish warrior kind of guy, so he’s quick to make up his mind at times like this. But if he only tried to reach out yesterday or today… Well, yeah, of course no one’s gonna make it in time.)
In the first place, the Wedge Tower had always refused outside influence up to and including the Emperor himself. As a consequence, it was easy to imagine that pleas from help to outsiders would not be transmitted seamlessly.
It would take a day just to get the message out.
Then, several days to confirm the veracity of the message that Monsters, that had been thought long extinct, had attacked.
After that, they would still want at least a week to get their troops assembled.
…In fact, a certain man had already gone around to get the ball rolling on that process.
That man was Caspar Hütter. Or, more accurately, the third-rate con man Smoke Fox.
However, Poppo Four, who held the results of that effort, was nowhere to be seen. He had no idea if his negotiations had actually borne fruit or not.
Lowein looked around at everyone in the room.
“We now have no choice but to take back the Wedge Tower by ourselves. And on that note, about our enemy’s forces…”
For a brief moment, Lowein glanced at Sevil and the others — at the Apprentices.
Just that alone was enough for Hütter to deduce what Lowein wanted to say, so he decided to take the lead.
“Could it perhaps be that Ms. Röhm has betrayed us? And Finn Nohl was a Monster who had infiltrated the Wedge Tower. His true identity being the black Werewolf that appeared during the entrance exam.”
Everyone stared at Hütter in shock.
Guidance Office Director Hegelich couldn’t hide the trembling in his voice as he asked Hütter:
“So you noticed, you… Since when…?”
“I had only considered it as a possibility. The one who caught on to the events as they unfolded and made the right deductions was my student…”
Hütter directed his gaze towards Wren.
“This kid, Wren Bayer.”
As far as Hütter was concerned, it was only after seeing that Röhm was absent and the way Director Böll broke into tears that he was convinced that Wren’s theory was correct. That was it.
He figured there was no harm in selling up Wren’s abilities here. If people’s opinion of Wren went up, so too would their opinion of Hütter.
Winning over people’s trust in situations like this was a con man’s specialty.
As expected, everyone in the room was looking at him with clear shock and astonishment.
“You’re exactly right,” Lowein growled.
“The Guidance Office’s Anneliese Röhm as well as the Apprentice Finn Nohl have been deemed traitors. Finn Nohl is a Werewolf. Anneliese Röhm is human, but she has aligned herself with the Monsters and seems to have provided support to Finn Nohl during his infiltration.”
Extermination Office Director Böll and Protection Office Director Haydn, who were close to Röhm, both winced.
Guidance Office Director Hegelich slumped over with a deeply pained face.
All three of them must be in a tough spot thanks to this. Röhm was both Haydn and Böll’s most precious friend, and Hegelich’s subordinate. Hegelich also saw Finn as his student.
Hegelich tried to suppress the pain in his voice as he spoke up.
“Röhm… I suppose we should refer to her as ‘the Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm’ now. The Hundred-Eyes Witch utilizes extremely advanced detection and reconnaissance magecraft. With those, she can sense the activation of our magic and knock it down with a precise attack… She is a powerful mage in fights against other mages. I myself was done in by her methods.”
Hegelich looked to be the most injured out of everyone in the meeting hall.
His face and hands in particular were in rough shape. Almost half of his face was covered in bandages, and it looked like it would be hard for him to move both of his hands.
“The Hundred-Eyes Witch had crystal shards embedded into her forehead and palms. I assume that those crystals probably enabled her to control mana despite the damage to her mana organs.”
There they were once again: crystal shards.
If you put them in a Monster, they could operate over a wider area in a weakened state.
If you put them in a human, then a person with damaged mana organs could control mana.
‘Who in the world made such a convenient item?’ Hütter wondered.
(For some reason, the idea doesn’t sound very Monster-like… It feels like the work of some real rotten bastard who’s got a good understanding of human psychology.)