Chapter 2 — 감찰국
Part 2, Chapter 38
Inspectorate
‘It’s a bluff.’
Black clenched his fist.
With Chens gone, there was no way Elric had another card to play.
And he only had to look around to see it.
Public sentiment was on his side.
Thanks to Black’s question—had an imperial duke colluded with the Revolutionary Army?—the hearing chamber showed no sign of calming down.
The Chair tried to raise his voice and soothe them, but it did nothing.
That was how shocking Black’s words were.
People whispered to one another, the reporters’ pens flew faster than ever.
Sensing the advantage, the Lion Ducal House and the Inspectorate fixed razor-sharp glares on the Mage Tower’s delegation.
Which put the latter in disarray.
One misstep and they could be dragged down with Elric.
Only Elric and Guy remained perfectly calm.
A few from the Mage Tower, flustered, leaned toward Guy and whispered.
“What is the meaning of this! Colluding with the Revolutionary Army?”
“You never said anything like that!”
Despite their irritation, Guy merely lifted a finger to his lips as if it were nothing.
He was telling them to be quiet—he had a plan.
And the quiet pressure that bled off him made the intent unmistakable.
“…!”
“…!”
“Ahem!”
“If Lord Guy says so… ahem!”
“If the Head of House Neresta speaks, there must be a reason.”
The mages each cleared their throats and straightened in their seats.
Even in the midst of chaos, it showed just how firmly Guy usually held the Mage Tower’s reins.
‘Phew… What in the world is Father thinking…?’
Watching, Sean couldn’t help a small sigh.
Father seemed more and more like Elric.
In the past he would have coaxed and let things pass; now he crushed their spirits without a second thought.
And yet Sean still worried.
‘But really… what is he going to do now?’
He’d already guessed the other side would try to tie Elric to the Revolutionary Army.
Which was probably why Elric had spoken to Father, Guy, in private.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his friend, but not knowing the conclusion only made Sean all the more anxious.
Black raised his voice again.
“Well? Why did you try to stop us?”
By now the unease on his face had vanished without a trace.
He took Elric’s silence as a win.
Except—
Elric had been quiet to wait for “news.”
And that “news”—
‘It’s here.’
—had just arrived.
Clap!
Just as Black moved to press Elric again,
Elric suddenly began to applaud, and Black’s brow furrowed.
“You refuse to answer and instead you—?”
Boom!
A deafening blast, and something dropped from the ceiling to the floor beside Black.
“Kyaaa!”
“W-what the—?”
Perhaps because news of Chens’s death was still fresh, the audience and even the councilors jolted up from their seats in alarm.
All eyes swung to the thing at Black’s side.
And went cold.
A creature with warped horns and batlike wings.
A demonkin.
“Gasp! Th-that’s…!”
“A demon!”
“How could a demon be here!”
The chamber plunged into pandemonium.
Mages and knights shot to their feet, hands on hilts or weaving the first strands of spells.
Only Guy and the Golden Lion remained still.
At some point Elric had risen and was already strolling toward the demon with a leisurely expression.
“What…?”
“Duke of Mervinger! Do you know what’s going on here?”
People stared at Elric in shock.
Elric waved to calm them, voice easy.
“It’s all right, everyone. It’s all right.”
He pointed at the demon sprawled on the floor.
“As you can see, this isn’t a threat. And with me here, it won’t be able to try anything.”
Sure enough, the demon was hog-tied and unconscious.
When they recognized the runes etched into the restraints as mana-suppressing script, people finally exhaled in relief.
Above all, the Empire’s strongest—men like the Golden Lion and Guy—were in the room.
If it became dangerous, they would move first.
Even so, their hearts were still racing; as they forced themselves back into their seats, they couldn’t tear their eyes from the demon.
Many of them had lived through the Great Demon War in their youth.
And with Azazel’s recent upheaval, this was not something to shrug off.
Meanwhile—
No one noticed, but Black’s pupils were shaking violently.
‘N-no! How…!’
He had recognized the demon the instant it appeared.
Deputy Director Avern of his First Bureau—he’d triggered his sigils and attempted demonization.
‘If this goes on, we’re all dead.’
Whatever happened, the Inspectorate’s dealings with demons had to stay buried.
“Tch!”
Black flicked the pen in his grip straight at Avern.
Unseen. Silent.
Sssst—
But—
Clang!
A dagger came from nowhere and knocked it aside, and the assassination failed.
‘Damn it!’
Black cursed inwardly.
‘Who the hell—’
Before the thought was finished, a man dropped through the hole in the ceiling and landed lightly on the table.
“Y-you!”
“What a cheap little stunt.”
The man sneering at Black wore a wooden mask.
Nameless.
Recognizing him, Black’s fingertips trembled.
* * *
“That man—no way!”
“I-isn’t it?”
“Wooden mask… that hush of a presence… It’s him! Nameless!”
“Wasn’t he dragged off to the East? Why is he here…!”
Nameless, the assassin in the wooden mask.
Nobles and reporters who recognized him went rigid and shivered.
They remembered how vicious and infamous he was.
They said if he marked you, you might as well kill yourself.
He had even once walked straight into where the Fourth Prince Cromhel was and tried to kill him.
An assassin who didn’t even bother to mind the imperial family—how could you not be on edge?
But one question eclipsed all others in the chamber:
Why had a man who never showed himself in broad daylight appeared here?
With a demon, no less, subdued at his feet.
They didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
“My lord, reporting.”
Nameless walked up to Elric and bowed his head.
Elric accepted the report as if it were nothing and nodded.
Jaws dropped across the room.
‘So the rumor about him being bound to the East wasn’t just talk…!’
‘On top of the Azure Lion and the Crimson Lion, even Nameless… How strong is Mervinger now?’
‘And that’s counting the barbarians under his banner. Hah. I’m at a loss for words.’
At last they felt it in their bones.
Mervinger could no longer be dismissed as a fallen house.
“This is the one who killed the witness and material witness, Chens. The murder weapon is this. I should have kept a tighter guard… I apologize.”
Nameless handed over a dagger with both hands.
Elric took it and saw it: blood dried and flaking on the blade.
“Who is he?”
“Inspectorate, First Bureau.”
Nameless spoke softly, but somehow each word planted itself vividly in every ear.
Under the wooden mask, his gaze cut to Black.
He was clearly mocking him.
“Deputy Director Avern.”
“…!”
“…!”
“What are you saying, Duke of Mervinger!”
“Deputy Director of the First Bureau! Then he’s the subordinate of Lord Black over there!”
“Are you telling us there was a demon hiding inside the Inspectorate?”
The chamber was even more of a wreck than when the demon first appeared.
“F-false accusations!”
Pale-faced, Black shouted in panic.
Every eye turned to him.
“There is no such man in our First—!”
“Whether this man is Avern or not is something we can verify at once,” Elric said. “And the blood on this dagger—our forensics can easily confirm whether it matches the deceased Chens.”
Murmurs rippled.
Black felt like his guts were being scorched.
The tide had already swung to Elric.
If they began canvassing at Elric’s request, not only would it come out that the Inspectorate tried to eliminate a witness, but their collusion with demons would be exposed to the world.
Even before that, people were already whispering and shooting him suspicious looks.
They had read the room and decided Elric was telling the truth.
In that case, the rumor that Elric had sided with the Revolutionary Army would die quietly, and only the story of the Inspectorate’s collusion with demons would spread like wildfire.
‘Deny it! Somehow!’
Black resolved to weather it.
He wasn’t sure it was possible, but he had to.
If not, he—and the whole Inspectorate—were finished.
“Mervinger!”
Black glared at Elric, face twisted with rage.
“How dare you try to pin this on us!”
“What do you mean?”
“You drag in some random demon and try to force a story? Do we look that easy to you?”
“Do we?”
Elric toyed with the dagger as he spoke.
“Then let’s use a blood-eater scroll and compare the stains on this blade to the witness’s blood.”
“I refuse! With the likes of you, the evidence will surely be fabricated! I cannot—”
Listening, Nameless addressed Elric.
“My lord. We have a recording that shows the culprit came from the Inspectorate and even tried to assassinate the witness in secret.”
The Crimson Lion who came with him had filmed it covertly.
Nameless took a recording orb from his breast and set it playing.
Avern’s face bloomed in the light. He clearly killed Chens, then made for the window.
The image shifted to the next scene.
A standoff between Nameless and Avern. There, Avern triggered his sigils one after another and underwent demonization.
It was irrefutable.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Chair and audience alike, everyone was stunned into silence.
“Heh. What now?”
At Elric’s sneer, Black felt the world spin.
‘I-if this goes on—!’
Cornered, with no more room to wriggle, Black could only bite down on his lip.
No stratagem came to mind to break free.
Grasping at straws, he looked toward Cromhel.
But—
“…!”
Cromhel had long since turned away as if disgusted by the sight.
The Golden Lion at his side looked equally disinclined to pay any more attention.
In that instant,
the last traces of composure that Black had clung to shattered completely.
The Mage Who Devoured Talent