Chapter 4: [Battle for the Relic (1)]
There was an organization known as [FAIR] that was based in the suburbs of San Francisco, California. Ostensibly, it was an organization that sought to protect its fellow citizens from the relentless persecution of Magicians by the Humanism movements — activists groups that put magicians under ostracism, as they held an arbitrary view that magic was an unnatural force for humans, and humans should live only with the forces of nature given to them by the heavens (or even God) — such as the Anti-Magic Movement against Magicians.
But as the obscure full name "Fighters Against Inferior Race" suggested, FAIR was a self-righteous, as well as militant, organization. Although it hadn't yet been brought under scrutiny by the judicial authorities, FAIR considered the non-magical "Majority" to be of an inferior race, and they were willing to resort to violence to protect their interests.
This aspect was the biggest difference between FAIR and FEHR. While, for the moment, FEHR was committed to legitimately fighting, FAIR, on the other hand, was always willing to use illegal means. This was the difference in stance between the representatives of the two organizations, Rena Fehr and Rocky Dean. It would be no exaggeration to describe FAIR as a group of magic supremacist extremists.
In the USNA, on May 11th, a beautiful woman of about 30 years old entered the office of the FAIR leader, Rocky Dean. His desk interposed this beautiful woman standing before him, with Dean seated in his chair that was simple, or rather, that emphasized practicality. The beautiful woman's name was Laura Simon, and she was his aide and mistress
"My Lord. We've compiled the results from our investigation regarding the location where the Original Relic was unearthed."
"Let's hear it."
Bringing his hand off the desk, Dean regarded Laura with visible and strong interest. Despite the lack of further prominent reaction, the report Laura had brought him was the information Dean placed first on his list of priorities at the moment.
"The Original Relic excavation site is at the foot of Mount Norikura, a three thousand meter high mountain located in the Chubu region of Japan. Here is the map."
Saying this, Laura holds out the electronic paper.
Dean zoomed in and out of the map displayed on the electronic tablet several times before placing the device on his desk and looking back at Laura.
"That's a long way from both the coastline and the airports……. Seems like it would be difficult to send our subordinates there."
"Well, partly because of the geography of the site, but even more so because the excavation site seems to be heavily guarded by the Japanese military."
"So, stealing there would be difficult?"
"I think so."
Although Laura's answer was under a reserved tone, it was a prompt reply that showed no pretense of thinking.
"Hmm…. did you find out anything about the raw materials of the Relic?"
Dean let out a sigh and changed the topic.
"It appears that there are multiple varieties of Relic that are made from differing materials. From what we currently know, it is jadeite. Its production site is in Itoigawa on the coast of the Sea of Japan."
"Jadeite?"
Dean tilted his head at Laura's answer.
"Considering the color of the Artificial Relic, I thought it was red agate."
The Artificial Relic's appearance was that of a reddish, transparent, and glossy gem. It was from a clearly different coloring than jadeite.
"As you may or may not know, pure jadeite is colorless. The Relic appears to be magically processed from green jadeite, extracting the compound that is the source of the pigment, and replacing it with infused mercury sulfide to form a magical circuit."
But after hearing Laura's explanation, Dean found it satisfying.
"Mercury sulfide? If I recall correctly, that's a magical component that is sometimes associated with the Philosopher's Stone, isn't it?"
And at the same time, he was highly intrigued by the material.
"Yes, that's right. In the Far East, as it is called cinnabar, or red earth, it had even more value as a magical component than in Europe."
"I see. So it's a combination of jadeite, said to have been more prized than gold in the ancient Far East, and mercury sulfide, which is highly valued as a magical component, huh……."
Dean sunk into his own thoughts.
Laura waited patiently in silence until her boss opened his mouth again.
"…….The production site 19 is in Itogawa, right? Mark that on the map, please."
Laura picked up the electronic tablet on the desk and used it.
"It's much more preferable than the base of Mt. Norikura from earlier……"
Dean's face turned into a scowl as he looked at the map that was handed to him again.
"My Lord, I believe that if we are going to attempt to recreate a Relic, then we should take the ancient artifacts that have been excavated and use them as material, rather than trying to use rough gemstones."
"……Is that so?"
Dean didn't ask, "Why?"
Laura Simon was a "Witch".
She has several abilities that were very distinct from that of modern Magicians and couldn't be rationally explained by magical theory.
Intuitive insight, Inspiration 20 was one of them, and Dean was well aware of that fact.
"Fortunately, two years ago, a Relic was unearthed that was only mid-processed, and it was on display at a nearby museum."
"So, since it's still mid-processed, thus having no magical effects, it's on display as a mere archaeological artifact, is that correct?"
What Laura had just told him was mentioned in the report, the one that Dean had read earlier, so he remembered it.
"Just as you said, sir."
"And the security is far weaker than the Relic's, I assume?"
"Precisely."
While watching Laura bow reverently, Dean quickly gathered his thoughts.
"So, shall we ask our friends in Japan to handle things?"
"I also think that would be the best course of action, sir."
Laura, once more, politely bowed her head and expressed her agreement with Dean's decision.
The Itoigawa region of the former Niigata Prefecture in the Chubu region of Japan was known as the oldest source of jadeite gemstone in the world as well as the oldest excavation site of processed jadeite in the world.
The jadeite magatama and its workshop were unearthed in the latter half of the twentieth century, and since then research has been ongoing until the present day, only interspersed with the World War III period. Two years ago, a new mid-processed piece of magatama was unearthed, believed to be from the Kofun period.
However, this was not the first time that a relic from the Kofun period had been found, and several similar objects had already been excavated, so, although it was valuable from an archaeological point of view, it wasn't deemed particularly special and was donated to a local museum.
Given such circumstances, the semi-processed magatama was put on exhibit at a local museum as if it had little to no monetary value. Collectors with a passion for ancient history might pay a reasonable price for them, but that was about it. The museum itself also had no special security system in place.
Still, it wasn't enough to accuse them of being careless. Just because they didn't take any special measures didn't mean that they were totally defenseless.
But as it turned out, the head of the museum's security had to resign from his post to shoulder the responsibility.
On the night of May 17, thieves broke into the aforementioned museum and took away the unearthed mid-processed jadeite magatama, without so much as a glance at the cash in the office.
On Wednesday, May 19, Ichijou Masaki, a student of Tokyo's Magic University, was summoned back to Kanazawa by his father, Ichijou Gouki, head of the Ichijou family of the Ten Master Clans. He was called back home with no prior warning, right in between his first and second classes at the Magic University, and although puzzled, he took the train back to Kanazawa without even having lunch.
His mother, Midori, greeted him wide-eyed when he suddenly appeared back home. Apparently, she hadn't been told by her husband that he had called their son home.
Seeing the look on his mother's face, Masaki was at his wits' end and simply thought, "This again…". This wasn't the first time that Gouki had been so cryptic.
"……Mom. Where is Oyaji 21 ?"
"In his study."
"Okay."
He only stopped to leave his belongings in his room, which was unchanged since his high school days, and headed straight for his father.
"Old man, I'm coming in."
"Masaki, I see you're finally back."
Gouki greeted Masaki, who had just walked into his study, with a look that said, "Took you long enough".
"Even after I came straight from college for this……."
"Mmm, is that so? So you haven't had lunch then, have you?"
"No, I did. I got something from the Trailer."
Cabinets were primarily for short distance transportation. Trailers, on the other hand, were larger-sized railcars that allowed passengers to stow their Cabinets and provide them with a spacious and relaxing space in order to eliminate the need to transfer when traveling long distances. Trailers were composed of two floors: the first floor was used to store the Cabinets, and the second floor was a free space for passengers to stretch their legs.
On the second floor, there was a simple restaurant and a store. Masaki, who had missed lunch at the university, had a quick meal — albeit it had been fast food — at the trailer restaurant.
"So what's the reason you called me all the way out here? Is it so delicate that you couldn't tell me by phone or mail?"
"I can't judge how important it may be at this stage."
"In other words, is it a case that might become highly confidential by some chance?"
"Yes, that's right."
"What is it about?"
Gouki assented to Masaki's request with a grunt, 'Mmm'."
However, at that point, the conversation was interrupted as Midori came in with some tea.
"Mom, if you had told me, I would have gone to get it."
"It's fine, don't worry. You've just arrived home from a long trip. But if you want something cold, you will have to get it yourself, okay?"
With that, Midori stepped out of the study.
"On the night before last…"
Not bothering to clear his throat or make any forced transition, Gouki promptly resumed their conversation.
"…an artifact from the Kofun period was stolen from a museum in Itoigawa."
"An artifact? What, exactly, was stolen?"
"It was a jadeite Magatama. A mid-processed piece, to be exact."
Upon hearing Gouki's answer, Masaki frowned dubiously.
"A Magatama……. Is it really that valuable?"
"It was thought that, other than a precious archaeological artifact, it had no further value."
Masaki's suspicions weren't entirely off the mark. As Gouki's answer hinted at a deeper meaning.
"It was thought that?"
"An examination of the scene revealed that magic was used in the theft."
"So the thief is a Magician!?"
"I had someone from the house investigate it yesterday. There's no doubt about it."
"I see……."
Masaki's voice was heavy with disappointment. Not all magicians were born virtuous. Still, he felt a sense of bitterness at the thought of all magicians suffering yet more prejudice because of a handful of criminals.
"But that's not the point. While it's unfortunate that crimes committed by Magicians are not that uncommon, I would not call you back over something of that magnitude."
The fact that it wasn't uncommon was, unfortunately, true.
"Then, what's the issue?"
Masaki's mind switched gears.
After ascertaining this, Gouki also returned to the subject at hand.
"When I found out about the involvement of a Magician, I looked again into the stolen Magatama. If it's only worth its weight as a mere archaeological relic, then I imagine it would be difficult to cash in on it."
"Indeed……."
"As it turns out, the Magatama was something that was being processed into a Relic."
"A Relic? Don't tell me, like those Relics that preserve magic sequences?"
Masaki exclaimed in astonishment.
But he was jumping to conclusions.
"We don't actually know of its intended properties 22 ."
But then, Masaki probably wouldn't be the only person in the field of magic 23 who would be so under the impression of the artificial Relic used in the Stellar Reactor that they would equate 'Relic' with a tool for preserving magic sequences.
"……but it's a Relic with some kind of magical effect, right?"
"That's for sure."
Pulling himself together, Masaki raised a suspicion which Gouki immediately confirmed.
Masaki sank into silence for a while. Apparently, taking some time to digest the information he was just given.
The Ichijou family was in charge of the oversight of the Hokuriku region, which included Itoigawa. So, if a magician stole something of magical value from a public facility, it was certainly a matter that the Ichijou family of the Ten Master Clans couldn't afford to leave unattended.
And if it happened to have a Relic involved, it was imperative to be careful about information management. Then, it was only natural that he would be called back out of the blue, Masaki thought.
"……So, what am I supposed to do?"
"The stolen Magatama in question had no magical effect of its own, despite its magical value. And I doubt the criminal would be satisfied with just that."
Gouki's line wasn't quite a direct reply, but it was enough of an answer for Masaki.
"You think they're going after other sacred relics? And, do you want me to prevent that?"
"It isn't limited to sacred relics. It could be an artifact that was in process into becoming a sacred relic, just like this one. Right now, I have people looking into possible targets for the criminal."
Gouki didn't quite confirm Masaki's guess, but neither did he deny it.
"Then I guess I won't come into play until after that investigation is over……."
"Yes, that's the plan. Go back to Tokyo for the time being and be prepared for when your turn comes."
Masaki firmly took Gouki's instructions into consideration.
"……By the way, if I'm allowed to go back to Tokyo, considering how sensitive this case might be, why didn't you just have me use the Magic Association's encrypted line for the Ten Master Clans?"
When Masaki casually asked, Gouki just grunted, "Mmm……" and didn't answer.
A hastily arranged online meeting between the Ten Master Clans was held the next day.
[So, Ichijou-dono. The main topic, please.]
This conference was held at the request of Ichijou Gouki, who wished to "share information". After a brief greeting, Futatsugi Mai, the oldest member present, urged Gouki to share his information.
"Let's get right to it."
Stopping the preamble with that, Gouki got to the point as prompted.
"On the night of the 17th, a group of Magicians broke into a museum in Itoigawa, in the former Niigata Prefecture, and took away an item from the exhibition. The stolen article is an archeological artifact from the Kofun period: A mid-processed Magatama."
[A Magatama from the Kofun period, you say?]
The first reaction came from the head of the Itsuwa family, Itsuwa Isami.
[Is that Magatama of any value to us?]
The head of the Saegusa family, Saegusa Kouichi, followed with his own question.
"None, or so we were led to believe. That's why it was on display in an ordinary museum."
[And that evaluation proved to be mistaken?]
Yatsushiro Raizou entered the conversation at this point.
"When it became clear that the theft was the work of a magician, I had the theft investigated again. It seems that the Magatama that was stolen had been on its way to be processed into a Relic."
[A Relic, you say!? And such a thing was on display in a public museum?]
The head of the Mitsui family, Mitsuiya Gen, responded to Gouki's answer by raising his voice.
"The Magatama displayed in the museum didn't possess any magical power whatsoever."
Under normal circumstances, it would be Gouki's role to be the one raising his voice in this fashion. But today, he was the one under questioning. So, he answered Mitsuya Gen's question in a particularly calm tone.
"So it was in a primed state 24 , prior to the imparting of the magic, right?".
"I suppose that is the case."
Gouki nodded broadly at the words of Shippou Takumi, the head of the Shippou family, to a degree that seemed almost exaggerated.
[Does Ichijou-dono expect more thefts?]
Asked the head of the Mutsuzuka family, Mutsuzuka Atsuko.
"I believe so."
Gouki nodded at this question as well.
[Incidentally, Ichijou-dono. Do we know anything about the whereabouts or the identity of the thieves?]
The question came from Juumonji Katsuto, the head of the Juumonji family, alumnus of First High and a fresh graduate of the Magic University.
"In a manner of speaking, I offered to cooperate with the police, but they refused."
Gouki, who had maintained a calm demeanor until now, twisted his face in annoyance.
[We can't impose our cooperation. At this point, he's just a thief, and we will have to leave it to the police…… So, Ichijou-dono, what are your thoughts regarding future actions?]
Placating Gouki, Mai then proceeded to ask him what his next steps were.
"I'm having people looking into places where similar excavated articles to the stolen items are stored. As soon as I know, I shall share the information I have."
[I'll investigate on my end as well. I'll notify you of the results as soon as I can.]
The offer was made by Saegusa Kouichi.
"I would appreciate it very much."
Gouki bowed his head before the monitor.
With no further statements, the online meeting was over.
Standing up from the front of the now turned off camera and swinging his stiff neck around, Gouki then realized that the head of the Yotsuba family, Yotsuba Maya, had not asked any sort of question or expressed any opinions whatsoever. However, he didn't let that weigh on his mind, assuming that "she probably just didn't get a chance to speak".
An air shuttle service by way of small VTOLs connected the Yotsuba family's private facilities in the western district of Miyakijima — or the Miyakijima branch of the Yotsuba family, as it should have been called — to the Magian Company headquarters in Machida. Instead of a single aircraft making the round trip, two VTOLs flew simultaneously, one from Miyakijima and the other from Machida. There were four scheduled flights a day, starting at 8:00, 11:00, 15:00, and 17:00.
However, this wasn't the only means of transportation for the Yotsuba family, as they owned a heliport under their legal name a short distance away from the Kobuchizawa station in the former Yamanashi Prefecture, which they often used to get to Miyakijima from the main house.
May 20, 4:30 p.m. A VTOL arrived at the old airport in the northern part of the island, instead of the giant mega-float [Western Pacific Ocean Airport] on the southeast coast, and had departed from the very same heliport near Kobuchizawa.
Tatsuya, who was working on the improvement of the artificial Relic [Magistore] in the laboratory of one of the Yotsuba family private facilities, looked up at the ringing intercom.
[Tatsuya-sama, is this a good time?]
Immediately after pressing the answer button, Tatsuya found his personal butler, Hanabishi Hyougo, bowing on the monitor as he asked that.
"Yes, no problem. Did something come up?"
He was actually in the middle of some cumbersome calculations, but he was in no particular hurry, so Tatsuya urged Hyougo to go ahead and tell him what he wanted.
"Tsukuba Yuuka-sama is here to see you."
The Tsukuba family was one of the seven Yotsuba branch families, with Yuuka being its heir. At the present time, she worked at the main house's laboratory as a skilled user of powerful Mental Interference type magic.
"Yuuka-san? Where is she now?"
"She had some luggage, so she's in the conference room on the first floor waiting for you, sir."
"I understand. I'll head there right away."
Despite her favorable attitude towards Tatsuya, among the members of the Yotsuba family, she was hardly completely on his side. Either for her competence or her political power, Yuuka wasn't someone that he could afford to take lightly.
Tatsuya shut down the terminal he was using to draft the molecular magic circle that the artificial Relic would use and headed from the basement lab to the first floor.
"Yuuka-san."
"Tatsuya-san, long time no see."
The last time he had seen Yuuka was in early April, which, in Tatsuya's opinion, wasn't long enough to call it a "long time". To Yuuka, however, who was used to working with the same faces every day at the main house, it indeed must have felt like a long time.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Tatsuya didn't try to compare their differences in perception, and simply offered an apology as his greeting.
"I'm sorry that I didn't call you beforehand, I know this is a bit sudden."
Yuuka's "I'm sorry" wasn't exactly heartfelt.
Of course, just like Yuuka, Tatsuya naturally didn't care about such things at all.
"Yuuka-san. What business brings you here?"
"I'm here on an errand for Toushu-sama 25 . I came to deliver a package and a message from her."
"Thank you very much for that. Is it in that baggage?"
Tatsuya turned his attention to the large coffin-sized container that was brought to the corner of the conference room.
"Yes. I'm sure you know what to expect, but please do confirm it."
Tatsuya and Yuuka walked up to the container together.
Yuuka took out a remote control key to unlock the container.
Tatsuya opened the lid as she urged him to with her eyes. With a gentle touch on its surface, the container opened automatically.
"Is this… a combat gynoid multi-role type 2100?"
Within the container was a woman-shaped combat robot that was deactivated at the moment.
"You are correct. To recognize it at first glance, you're as knowledgeable as ever."
Yuuka showed a reasonable amount of surprise when Tatsuya was able to guess the model number. "reasonable" because she had the assumption that being Tatsuya, he would probably know something about this military robot.
"How did she get a hold of the state-of-the-art model?"
This gynoid (female-shaped android)'s model '2100' indicated that it was a model of 2100, that being, the latest; this year's model. Unlike the non-humanoid type of combat robot, the humanoid type was intended for use by the police as well as the military, but the latest models were still supplied first to the National Defense Forces. So, Tatsuya's comment had relevance.
"Since it's for making something that wouldn't be easily replaceable, she arranged for the latest model."
"That makes sense."
The service life of androids, whether they were combat or non-combat type, was considered to be ten years. Depending on the usage, they may reach their mechanical limits even earlier.
Pixie, the frame that hosted the Parasite serving Tatsuya, had been in operation for five years now. Although it was only halfway through its service life, the fuel cells were already starting to show signs of deterioration. That said, the actuators in its legs were already replaced, due to damage from being used beyond their original design. Combat gynoids used all-solid-state batteries instead of fuel cells, and even though their power mechanisms were designed to be robust enough for combat use, they would reach their mechanical limits before a human life expectancy.
Being a machine, it could be just a matter of replacing anything that stopped working. When it comes to the vessel of the Parasite, things don't work quite smoothly. Although not impossible, transferring the main body of the Parasite from one frame to the other required a considerable amount of effort. Besides, the plan was to use this model to operate in Takachiho at an altitude of 6,400 kilometers above the surface. An overhaul wouldn't be easy. It was a matter of course to choose something that could be used for a long time.
Beside Tatsuya, Yuuka gave a small nod, bending down and reaching into the corner of the container to pick up a small, tightly-packed box, and presented it to Tatsuya.
"And here's the aforementioned item."
Tatsuya made no attempt to open the box. He already knew what was inside. It was one of the Parasites that Fumiya had sealed into a doll on this island three years ago in July.
Tatsuya returned the small box to the container and closed the lid. He didn’t lock it with the key, rather, he disabled the semi-automatic locking mechanism. The container was going to be shipped into space that evening. The Parasite and the gynoid were the materials Minoru would use to create the Parasite Doll. It would be a big problem if the contents were scattered around by some accident.
"This is good, just as I asked. Now, what would be the message?"
"Yuuka-sama. Please, have a seat."
After Tatsuya's words, Hyougo offered Yuuka a seat.
Yuuka took up his offer and sat down in the chair that he pulled out.
Tatsuya pulled out his own chair and sat in front of her.
"An interim Master Clans conference was held online this morning."
"What was discussed there?"
Tatsuya knew that the matter of the Magian Society and Company might be brought up at the Master Clans meeting. Still, if it was going to be on the agenda, he would have been made privy to it. There were no other major incidents of his knowledge that would call for one. If anything, it could be the recent attempted theft of the artificial Relic by the foreign magic supremacist extremist group FAIR, of which Tatsuya was an involved party himself, but even in that case, it was highly unlikely that Tatsuya wouldn't have been informed of the meeting in advance.
"It was regarding the theft by some mageists in Itoigawa."
"I don't think mageist crimes are that uncommon to require a Master Clans meeting for every one of them."
"If it was just a simple theft."
Tatsuya frowned at Yuuka's meaningful tone.
"What was stolen?"
"A Magatama from the Kofun period that was on display at a museum. A mid-processed jadeite one, to be precise."
"……And it was considered that it may possibly be material for a Relic?"
Yuuka rounded her eyes at Tatsuya's guess.
"Very correct! As expected of a Relic expert!"
Yuuka's voice dropped its serious tone at that point.
"It's not like I'm an expert or anything."
"There's no need for modesty between us, you know. No one knows Relics better than you, who has managed to crack its mysteries and successfully replicate it."
"I just made a replica of the original, that's all."
Yuuka's eyes narrowed as she heard that, and she glared at Tatsuya as if to say, "You can't fool me".
"Then wouldn't that be false advertising? You call it an artificial Relic, but the original Relic was a magical tool made by human hands. Your artificial Relic is a reproduction of the original using modern manufacturing methods. So, therefore, it might be able to outperform the Original. Am I wrong?"
"Let's get back to the topic."
So Tatsuya offered, not due to embarrassment, but due to the bother that it would bring.
"Ok, I understand."
Realizing the digression, Yuuka returned to her business mode and then nodded in agreement.
"Is there any clue as to who was the culprit?"
Tatsuya asked her after Yuuka finished explaining the situation.
"No, it seems that wasn't that much of a point of mention at the Master Clans conference."
"You already told me the results of the Master Clans conference."
Yuuka let out a light sigh upon Tatsuya's scrutiny.
"……I was not instructed to tell you that much, though."
"But it's not like you were prohibited either, right?"
In essence, Tatsuya was asking her not of what the Ichijou family had reported at the Master Clans meeting, but about what the Yotsuba family had discovered so far.
"Well, I indeed wasn't prohibited from doing so……."
Yuuka waved her head in a small motion as if to shake off a headache.
"……This information wasn't confirmed. Do you still want it?"
"I don't mind. Please go ahead."
Yuuka's appeal that she didn't want to talk about it failed to convince Tatsuya.
"There's a high probability that the group responsible is the New Humanity Front."
Yuuka did her best to express she had no choice in the matter in her voice, but disclosed the information Tatsuya was seeking in the end.
"New Humanity Front being that outlawed magic supremacist extremist organization in Japan?"
'New Humanity Front', a magical supremacist group. Not as in a "new breed of humans'', but rather an "advanced human race". It stands for an "evolved human race". As their name implies, they consider magians to be an evolved form of humanity.
This ideology wasn't exclusive to the New Humanity Front, FEHR (Fighters for the Evolution of the Human Race) and FAIR (Fighters Against Inferior Race) also shared it.
"Yes. It seems that they are in a cooperative relationship with FAIR, who targeted the artificial Relic the other day."
Yuuka confirmed Tatsuya's statement, topping it off with another piece of information he was unaware of.
"They are allies with FAIR, huh……"
"Yeah. It seems that the organization was originally formed as an attempt to create a Japanese branch of FEHR."
This explanation was at odds with Tatsuya's assessment of the matter.
"I don't think FEHR has enough power to branch out into Japan as of yet."
This was a question in the form of a rebuttal by him.
"It wasn't founded by FEHR's leader — a group of Japanese Magicians who sympathize with her ideas formed it on their own."
Yuuka's answer brought a new set of questions to Tatsuya's mind.
"Then, why are they working with FAIR and not FEHR?"
"Many of the members of the New Humanity Front had the belief that the use of illegitimate force is unavoidable if it is to counter the unlawful anti-magic movement. FEHR's leader, Rena Fehr, however, has so far remained committed to non-violence. So, it seems that the New Humanity Front has grown tired of this idea and has switched from FEHR to FAIR."
"I see."
Sounds plausible, Tatsuya thought.
"So, Toushu-sama 26 thinks that the theft of the Relic's materials this time is part of a series of incidents instigated by the same mastermind behind the last incident, right?"
"That's right."
Yuuka nodded at Tatsuya's guess and then added a message she wasn't meant to deliver today.
"Toushu-sama said that 'depending on how things go, Tatsuya-san may have to lend a hand'."
"Yuuka-san, please pass on to Haha-ue that 'I understand'."
To the members within the Yotsuba family — and, of course, to the outside world — it was established that Tatsuya was Maya's biological son. Tatsuya's answer was in consideration of that.
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