Chapter 2 — 감찰국
Part 2, Chapter 34
Inspectorate
Sssshhhhh!
Assassins, now having closed the gap with Elric’s carriage, flung their grapnels.
Clack!
Hooks crashed onto the roof and bit deep.
In the same breath, the assassins vaulted onto the chains and sprinted forward.
Even on that pitching line, they moved with unnerving speed.
Swish-swish-swish!
In a blink their figures blurred, then reappeared pressing in on Elric.
“Die!”
Each assassin drove a hidden blade for one of Elric’s vitals.
But—
Ironbody Technique.
Manifest Tiger.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
“Graaagh!”
“Guhk!”
They were instantly countered and went tumbling off the carriage.
Elric didn’t stop. He seized one of the hooks lodged in the roof.
“【Freeze】.”
Crackle-crackle-crackle—
Frost spread from his grip, racing along the iron chain.
“Damn!”
An assassin about to vault onto it tried to drop away in a panic.
But the cold chased him down and seized his ankle.
Ch-ch-ch-chak!
“Gyaaaah!”
With a bone-crushing agony, the assassin screamed.
And that wasn’t the end.
The chill scoured through him in an instant, freezing him solid where he hung.
Crash!
He hit the cobbles and shattered to pieces.
“…!”
“…!”
The rest, seeing that, hurriedly severed their chains and pulled back. They’d decided melee was suicide.
Chak!
They immediately drew spears and hurled them at Elric.
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shook—
A storm of spears blotted the sky.
Each was an assassination artifact engraved with Explosion and Scatter magic.
On impact the shaft would burst, its shrapnel designed to maim the target.
“【Coil】.”
Of course, even that vanished as the shards were snatched up by the whirlwind Elric raised and slung back into the air.
No—Elric actually guided that vortex of shrapnel around and sent it sweeping back over the Ghost Citadel riders.
“【Rain down】!”
As his hand struck down, the shards crashed through them far more viciously than before.
Speed, durability, even frost added in—pure, destructive lethality.
Ratatatat—
Neigh! Neeeigh!
In an instant, the horses were riddled like rags and collapsed; the assassins, thrown, were pounded under flailing hooves.
Cold mist and ice fragments exploded in every direction. Between them flashed red spray and torn flesh—pure horror.
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
The Ghost Citadel—annihilated.
The Ghost Citadel had long carried a notorious name in the shadows, even before its status as a lower arm of the Inspectorate.
The shock to those watching could not help but be immense.
Everyone in Elric’s party came to the same conclusion.
Elric was already beyond what they could measure.
A superhuman.
Something that had stepped past the bounds of humanity—human, yet no longer merely human.
* * *
“Damn it! Fall back!”
As Elric had expected, it wasn’t long before the Ghost Citadel had no choice but to retreat after suffering devastating losses.
They had reached the Imperial Capital.
“…Thank goodness, they’re pulling away.”
Tasha, watching from inside the carriage, let out a breath of relief.
Even if Elric had driven the Ghost Citadel to the brink of ruin, his condition still wasn’t whole, and enemy reinforcements kept appearing from who-knew-where. His stamina was starting to run dry.
“You’re really going straight to our house?”
Elric set their destination as House Neresta.
“Yes. There’s something I need to tell the Patriarch.”
“I see. And this person…?”
Tasha trailed off, glancing at Elric’s side.
There sat Chens, face composed as if he’d resigned himself to everything.
“He’s the man I’m going to introduce to the Patriarch.”
Hearing that, Chens, despite his calm exterior, couldn’t straighten out the riptide inside.
Why in the world did I say that?
Even now he couldn’t fathom it. How could he, the Inspectorate’s Vice Director, even think of betraying the Imperial Family?
And yet to take it back now—
Kyuuu?
Kyuu?
For some reason, the way the dragons kept smacking their lips at him got under his skin.
More than anything, the Imperial Family had tried to have him killed. That was a fact.
Haa… whatever happens, happens.
The die was cast. There was no going back.
Mephisto clicked his tongue as Chens sighed.
Tsk, tsk. How pitiful. Anyone who ends up in Mervinger’s palm gets toyed with just like this. So it was with this king as well.
Toyed with? What are you talking about? I told him the truth.
And that’s how you use the Sigil of Temptation? Vile thing.
Plain persuasion could never have turned Chens—whose mind had been trained into loyal obedience to the Palace his entire life.
But add in Temptation, and the story changes. It lets you prod at the emotions sunk deep in his unconscious.
The desire to live.
The sense of betrayal toward the Imperial Family.
Elric had simply amplified those two.
Until the answer he wanted came out.
So what? It’s not like I lied.
Mephisto snorted a laugh.
Hah. Brazen, too. You take Lilith’s power and manage to be worse than Lilith herself.
What was that?
Nothing. Forget it.
* * *
It wasn’t long after entering the Imperial Capital that Elric and his party arrived at House Neresta.
Guards who saw the crest on the carriage swung the gate wide without delay.
“You’re here.”
When Elric stepped down, Shen—already informed—came out to greet him personally.
He led Elric toward the manor and asked,
“Man, why is it I never see you in the capital without something going wrong? And what happened to that carriage?”
“That? Nothing much.”
Elric waved it off, so blasé that Shen felt irritation prickle.
Nothing much, my ass! Anyone can see something huge went down!
“Hey, keep your voice down. You’re hurting my ears.”
“You little—!”
“And let’s be honest—do I look like someone who goes around getting beat up?”
Elric’s smug grin made Shen’s worry flare up and cool just as fast.
“Even so…”
Shen glanced back at the carriage Elric had ridden in.
As Neresta property, it bore multiple layers of protective magic.
And it still ended up like that—this wasn’t ordinary.
And sis looks drained, too.
The rumors had to be true.
“So you really crossed blades with the Golden Lion…!”
What’s the big deal? I lost anyway.
“You crazy bastard, seriously…! Of all people, you fought the ‘Golden Lion,’ and you ask what’s the big deal?”
From what he’d heard, Elric had done anything but ordinary, yet here he was acting like nothing had happened.
“Quit holding out on me and start talking. Why did that old fossil who never leaves his backwater suddenly show up…!”
Right then—
Kyuu?
From beneath the billow of Elric’s robe, the baby dragons popped their heads onto his shoulders.
“W-what is that…? A d-dragon?”
Shen’s eyes went wide.
The hatchlings nuzzled Elric but stared at Shen with bright, curious eyes.
“Oh, them? Cute, right?”
He’d known from Tasha’s letter that an ancient dragon had “hatched”… but seeing them in the flesh was another thing.
Wasn’t this smashing the scholarly consensus that ancient dragonkin would be aloof even as hatchlings?
Or maybe they only acted like this with Elric.
Elric, for his part, just scratched their chins like it was nothing.
Catching Shen’s expression, Elric smirked.
“Why do you have the exact same face as your sister?”
“This isn’t just us—anyone would… Ugh, forget it. I give up.”
The more he talked, the more his head hurt.
Shen decided to keep his mouth shut.
* * *
“You’ve come.”
Inside the manor.
Gai was waiting for them.
He was seated, perfectly still—
And yet the room felt as if it were filled with his presence.
As imposing as ever.
He’s reached an even higher state than when I last saw him. For a human, he’s impressively good.
Mephisto spoke up then, arms folded, studying Gai with clear approval.
Really?
Yes. He’s not quite at the level of the one we saw in Huilran… but he’s strong enough that this king would enjoy the bout if he challenged me.
For all his grumbling, that was recognition.
Come to think of it, just seeing him the first time stoked my fighting spirit.
And now he’s stronger?
Elric knew how much self-mutilating effort it took for those at that height to push further. He couldn’t help but be impressed.
He himself was stuck there now.
A plateau.
Elric wanted more. Much more.
“I hear the trip in was rough. You must be exhausted. Let’s eat first.”
The dining room was already set with a generous spread.
They finished a pleasant meal, and dessert was being served when—
“It sounds like you went through quite a bit in Huilran.”
Gai, enjoying his after-tea, set his cup down and looked to Elric.
“I heard you cut down Jasajah and kicked the Inspectorate’s nest while you were at it.”
Elric couldn’t help a start.
Even the Inspectorate business?
He’d expected Gai to know about Huilran. It had been too big to hide.
Same with the Golden Lion’s appearance—too much proof to cover up.
But the Inspectorate was different.
That had been fought under deep secrecy, and the subsequent pursuit no less so.
Impressive.
Elric couldn’t help admiring Neresta’s information network—no, the Tower’s eyes stretched across the world.
And the man wielding it all, Gai Neresta, was a formidable operator.
As an enemy, he could be even more troublesome than the Golden Lion.
Not that Elric had any desire to wrestle his friend’s father.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“I’m curious what possessed you to stir up all that. Will you share what’s in your heart?”
It made sense to ask.
Everything Elric had done flew in the face of the Imperial Family.
Deeds that could be called treason without stretching the definition.
But Elric didn’t regret a single step.
“I did what any person ought to do.”
“And the price for that is too great to bear alone, isn’t it?”
“Which brings me to this.”
Elric let his words trail, then offered a careful smile.
“I’d like your help.”
“Pff!”
Shen spat his coffee.
“Wh-what did you say?”
From his seat, it was absurd. On the face of it, Elric was asking them to join him in treason against the Imperial Family.
“Sorry.”
Shen realized a beat later this wasn’t his place to speak, and dipped his head to Gai.
Even then, he couldn’t stop cutting a sideways glare at Elric, as if to say he’d better have something solid.
Gai, meanwhile, was calm.
He even propped his chin and smiled faintly.
“It’s fine. So—how do you want me to help?”
“As you know, the Imperial expedition against Huilran wasn’t on the level.”
It had been political stagecraft to prop up Cromhel.
“On top of that, demons were in on it.”
“…Demons?”
For the first time, Gai’s face shifted.
He reacted to the word with clear disgust.
Of course he did. He’d been one of the heroes of the Great Demon War.
He was one of the Empire’s prime demon-haters.
“Do you understand just how dangerous what you’ve said is?”
His voice sank a shade deeper.
The pressure of it made Elric’s heart twitch.
He only nodded, steady.
“Of course.”
“Proof?”
“A witness.”
Elric’s smile drew a matching one from Gai.
“A trump card, then.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I captured the Inspectorate’s Vice Director.”
“…!”
For the first time, a twitch wrinkled Gai’s brow.
The Mage Who Devoured Talent