Chapter 2 — 감찰국
Part 2, Chapter 35
Inspectorate
When Elric looked back, Chens, who’d been waiting outside, entered the dining room with a formal bow.
“I am Chens, former Deputy Director of the Inspectorate’s Sixth Bureau. It’s an honor to meet you, my lord.”
“Likewise.”
Gai only dipped his chin, but no one present thought it rude.
Without so much as glancing at Chens, who was watching him with a tense face, Gai asked Elric:
“How did you end up bringing a Deputy Director of the Inspectorate here?”
“By chance, really.”
Gai snorted at Elric’s answer.
He turned his head back to Chens.
“Tell me what you know.”
“Before that, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
He wanted to make a deal.
It was a move that hadn’t been agreed upon with Elric at all—pure impulse.
Even so, Chens showed the will to push through, undaunted by the silent pressure Gai exuded.
“If you’ve served as a Deputy Director, you know better than anyone the power of testimony. You’ll want protection from the imperial family, a new identity, and gold enough for several lifetimes. If possible, exile to the United Kingdoms as well.”
“Y-yes….”
Chens felt as if his mind had been read clean through, wearing the look of a man who’d just seen a ghost.
Gai only nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“If that’s your worth, you’ll be paid in full—no haggling.”
It was a promise from none other than the head of House Neresta and master of the Mage Tower.
Only then did color return to Chens’s face.
.
.
“…and that’s how the attack on Hyillan was ordered, with assassins from the Ghost Castle thrown into the mix. As for the Ghost Castle, it has long been…”
Chens drew a long breath and continued in a low voice.
“It was birthed by the Inspectorate’s First Bureau working hand in hand with Consort Diana… Lilith.”
All the while Chens spoke, Gai idly tapped his finger against the table.
When the explanation ended, he finally opened his mouth.
“The pretext is solid.”
If that was the truth, helping Elric posed no problem at all.
It wasn’t an act against the imperial family.
On the contrary, it was for the empire.
Cutting out the rot within the court, and flushing out the demonkin lurking like cockroaches.
And in the process, House Neresta and the Mage Tower would secure an even steadier footing.
The thirty-year stalemate with the Lion Ducal House might finally tilt their way.
“But that doesn’t mean I can help you unconditionally. What’s in it for us if we back you?”
Elric smiled at Gai’s question.
He’d expected it.
Naturally, the answer was already prepared.
To some it might sound like a pipe dream, but to the man before him, it could be a shockingly persuasive lure.
“How about the seat of the Golden Lion?”
In that instant—
Tap…!
The fingers that had been drumming on the table stopped.
“The Golden Lion… hm.”
Gai’s eyes gleamed as he murmured.
Seeing that, Elric was sure.
As expected. There’s no way it wouldn’t tempt him.
Was this not the man who sat atop the Tower and led House Neresta’s resurgence?
Money, fame, attainment—he had it all. The one thing that could still stir him, perhaps the only thing—
To be the strongest under heaven.
And the Golden Lion’s seat of the age was the one position that could make that goal real.
How could he not bite?
Gai met Elric’s gaze and grinned.
“That is… quite alluring.”
“I thought you’d feel that way.”
Elric answered with a smile of his own.
Watching from the side, Sean sighed inwardly.
Ahh! Of all people… I never imagined Father and this guy would hit it off this well.
It was truly lamentable.
* * *
It didn’t take long for rumors to swirl through the Imperial Capital.
“You hear the news?”
“What news?”
“That the Inspectorate and the Jasaja plotted against Hyillan.”
“Hyillan? Isn’t that a dump full of scum anyway? So what?”
“Hey, man. The imperial court tried to kill innocent people—how is that not a big deal?”
“Come on. You think the court went mad enough to murder the blameless?”
“I’m telling you, it’s real! And Mervinger supposedly has the proof.”
“Mervinger… does?”
“Yeah! So now the Tower’s teamed up with them and is calling for a hearing with the First Bureau Chief. The capital is in an uproar!”
“Hah! Sounds louder than an uproar.”
“Total bedlam. If it’s true, the imperial family loses face like you wouldn’t believe. And that’s not all—what about the Lion Ducal House the Jasaja belong to?”
Sparks were flying toward both the imperial family and the Lion Ducal House.
Hearing the reports, Black, Chief of the Inspectorate’s First Bureau, pressed his forehead with one hand, deep in thought.
“It’s spread that far already?”
Avern, his deputy, nodded heavily, watching his chief’s expression.
“Yes. We tried to rein in the rumors, but… we failed.”
Black’s face hardened. Avern added, almost apologetically:
“…There must be other hands behind it.”
“Neresta and the Rhinegang Merchants’ Consortium. Who else.”
Black’s tone said he already knew, so why bother spelling it out.
Anyone who dealt in information knew Mervinger and Neresta were in league.
And recently Trang—revealed to hail from the Hyung Clan—had taken the helm of the Rhinegang Merchants’ Consortium.
If the Mage Tower and one of the Five Great Merchant Lords put their backs into it, the Inspectorate couldn’t possibly stop the spread.
Soon the chatter would roll through every corner of the capital, inching into the sunlight and waiting for its moment.
In other words, it would be made public.
For the head of the Inspectorate to be dragged by men of the open day—there was no greater humiliation.
“The hearing? I suppose we can’t stop that either?”
“It… seems unlikely. More than Neresta, the Tower is aggressively steering public opinion….”
Neresta had moved, yes, but the Tower had another reason to push this hard.
To seize on a flaw of the Jasaja—the Golden Lion’s hound—and clip the Lion Ducal House’s wings.
The Tower and the Lion Ducal House had been at odds longer than anyone could remember among the empire’s four great pillars.
“What do we do…?”
Black sank into long deliberation.
Avern held his breath, waiting for what would come next.
At length—
“…We’ve no choice.”
Black rose slowly, decision made.
“As it stands, we draw first.”
“Sir? What are you—”
Avern gaped at the order that followed.
“Go to the court and inform them: we accept the hearing request. The date is—tonight.”
“…!”
* * *
That night, in front of the Council’s Changsa.
Shff shff shff—
“Quit shoving!”
“What, you want us to sit on our hands in the back?”
A sea of reporters jammed the approach to the building where the hearing would be held, firing away with their cameras.
If anyone so much as stepped out of a carriage, shutters snapped; if anything moved, a herd surged after it.
And that wasn’t all.
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Some reporters hammered away at their keys, transcribing every snatch of chatter around them.
There might be something worth printing in there.
How would the hearing end?
Had the Inspectorate blundered trying to curry favor with Cromhel?
Or was Cromhel cutting off a tail?
Speculation ran wild; even reporters from the same paper were red in the face, arguing at the top of their lungs.
“Who schedules a hearing this last-minute?”
“Exactly. I thought it’d take at least a few weeks.”
The frenzy owed much to the date the Inspectorate announced.
Contrary to expectations—given how sensitive the subject was—the hearing had been set for the same day.
Even so, the reporters agreed on one thing.
“The Inspectorate’s holding something.”
Otherwise they wouldn’t be this brazen.
Whether that hand was good or bad, they’d only know when the cards were shown.
In the midst of it—
“Hey, hey! Someone’s here!”
A carriage with a lavish crest rolled up.
Even at a glance you knew it held a high personage. The sigil set in the door drew every eye.
Click! Click! Click!
No one had stepped out yet and still shutters went off from all sides.
Clack!
The door swung open, and first to step out was Gai, lord of House Neresta.
Following him came the Mage Tower’s Six Stars.
They were the apex of imperial mages, and the crowd couldn’t help but gasp at their commanding presence.
Click! Click! Click!
The chorus of shutters swelled even louder.
The flashes and the unending clatter were dizzying even if you stood still.
“My lord! A word on the current situation!”
“Some say House Neresta egged Mervinger on. Is that true?”
“….”
Gai ignored the barrage of questions, standing impassive.
Beside him, Sean and Tasha looked taut with nerves.
This is… no joke.
Tasha swallowed dryly. Even when she’d been hailed as House Neresta’s prodigy and the talk of the town, it hadn’t been like this.
Not that the comparison even made sense.
Sean, who had no such experience at all, was sweating cold.
Then a reporter suddenly thrust a question at him.
“Young Lord of Neresta, rumor has it Elric Mervinger—known to be a close friend of yours—is involved in this plot of rebellion. What do you say to that?”
“…!”
Sean was about to demand what nonsense that was when—
Screech!
The carriage that followed rolled to a stop.
Compared to the one before, it was unassuming to a fault. But the crest at its center focused every gaze.
“Mervinger!”
“It’s Mervinger! The lord of the mage-blooded house is here!”
Clack!
The door swung wide and someone stepped out slowly.
Gleaming blond hair caught the eye first, then jewel-bright green eyes.
Elric Mervinger.
He had no attendants—not even a single page—but the reporters were struck dumb by the grace that flowed off him.
It wasn’t the feral image from his battle photos; he wore the clean, courtly dress of a noble—unmistakable at a glance.
The ease and style befitting the Duke of Chanseong suited him perfectly.
Seizing the rare tableau, the reporters’ fingers flew over their shutters.
Phew.
Elric himself was about ready to crawl out of his skin from how uncomfortable the clothes were.
“Hahahaha! A pearl necklace on a pig!”
And right beside his ear, Mephisto laughed without pause, poking fun.
“A barbarian like you, dressed like this. Truly, live long enough and you see it all.”
[Keep talking if you want me to gag you until the hearing’s over.]
Elric betrayed none of it.
He simply held his head high and swept the crowd with a steady gaze.
“Let’s go.”
Leaving a suddenly quiet Mephisto in his wake, he headed inside with Gai.
“There are rumors Mervinger is part of a rebellion! Are you actually planning to revolt?”
“Sir Sean! As his closest friend, what do you think of what Mervinger has done?”
“My lord…!”
“Your Grace, a word—!”
Questions flew, but the Tower’s mages formed a human curtain and blocked them.
Even then, the reporters showed no sign of calming down.
Screech.
Not until another carriage rolled up moments later.
The Wizard Who Devoured Talent