I accepted Eduard-oniisama’s request for cooperation almost immediately.
To that end, I asked him to spill everything without hiding anything, and I also decided to confess everything.
If I were to fight the Golden Wolf seriously, I couldn’t keep secrets from my friends.
And I suggested to my brother to get help from as many people as he can, not just me.
☆
The next night.
The people involved in the series of incidents gathered in the reference room of the Association of Mysterious Story Collectors.
Starting from the people involved last night: me, Chloe, Eduard-oniisama, and Harlan.
And Beatrice, who is as likely to be a victim as much as I am.
Klaus, Auguste, and Harold, who have been very involved in my life.
Brad and Actorius-sensei, who share a lot of information with my brother.
Tirnanog, who will be introduced in this discussion, and last but not least, Palug.
By the time I arrived at the reference room, everyone was already present and I took my seat in the chair I had brought in the day before.
Then, the evening gathering of these twelve people commenced.
The organizer, Eduard-oniisama, stepped forward in front of everyone and straightened his posture.
“Thank you for joining us tonight. The purpose of this time is to help each other by sharing information and knowledge in order to overcome certain… difficulties we are currently facing. We ask for your cooperation.”
Once my brother finished his brief speech and bowed his head, a round of applause rose from the audience.
“Starting tonight, all conversations in this room will be recorded. If you have any questions you would like to ask later, please direct it to me.”
With that said, my brother placed a Historio Electrum on the side table next to the sofa.
It may have already started recording.
“Everyone in attendance this evening must disclose all secrets. If you are not in agreement, you may rise now.”
I waited for a while, but no one stood up.
“It seems everyone is in agreement. Then, let’s start with Sir Harlan. That will be the quickest way to explain the series of incidents and the beginning of the causes that influenced the outcomes we have faced.”
Prompted by my brother, Harlan stood up.
And that night, the first confession began.
☆
The Margrave of Urs, Harlan Lucanrant, took off his mask and looked around.
Upon seeing his face, everyone, apart from those present last night, drew a sharp breath.
“Well, I’m sure you are surprised to see my face.”
Harlan had a much cleaner look than last night.
He smiled and began his explanation of what happened so far.
About how he became a vampire hunter when he met Sigríður and Bort.
Bort’s death.
And how the Werewolf Massacre Incident caused him to kill a relative of the former royal family in the North.
About being forced to kill Sigríður in exchange for Claude’s capture.
Hiding Chloe.
Claude’s escape from his long-term imprisonment.
Entering the academy in search of clues.
And about the kidnapping case on All Souls Day, his attempt to duplicate this reference room, and the rebellion of the Military Order of Útför.
“…That’s why I have no choice.”
Harlan looked down and smiled self-deprecatingly, only the corner of his mouth in an upturn.
“Just how can I help him…no, I haven’t even been able to find the reason Claude-sama became that kind of monster, nor the reason behind such violence.”
“Sir Harlan, let me talk about that. From here on, it’s my turn to confess.”
Eduard-oniisama closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them once more.
“Let’s see…for me, I guess the beginning was when I inherited the wands from my mother.”
My older brother’s story which I knew nothing about begun.
He told us about the memories of his childhood with mother and Brad, his childhood friend.
About the reason he became interested in mysteries.
His enrollment in Lindis, his encounter with Actorius-sensei and Claude.
A tale of brilliant adventures and friendships during his boyhood era.
And then, about mother’s sudden death.
The legacy inherited from mother, along with the complicated and mysterious life of mother behind it.
“Who was my mother? And what exactly did she live to fight against? Before I knew it, I was following the same path as her. Then, that incident happened.”
A violent incident in Lindis Magic Academy that occurred shortly before the Werewolf Massacre Incident.
It was the case where three boys were assaulted and tortured in the morgue of the headless prince.
The name of the criminal who ran away after the crime was Claude Lucanrant.
—And the names of the victims were Eduard Aurelia, Brad Clochydd, and Elric Actorius.
I remember hearing about the incident from Lièvre.
The people involved were my brother and his friends.
After that, the victims of that incident spoke in turn about that day.
Claude seemed to have investigated the morgue of the headless prince in advance via Dolores, the artificial spirit.
On the day of the incident, he drew Eduard-oniisama’s interest with the kind of stories and tricks my brother seems to like, for example, by casually showing him a certain diary with hidden characters in it, and called him out to the basement.
Actorius-sensei fainted due to a sudden hit.
And the basement was relocated and sealed off using the corpse of the Golden Wolf Prince.
“I regained consciousness as Brad evacuated to the labyrinth and Eduard was tortured by Claude.”
Actorius-sensei fought Claude to protect my brother.
The two of them exchanged blows inside that room.
Claude too, delivered some terrifyingly vicious blows, constantly regenerating and reinforcing himself.
“Claude enjoyed our fight due to actually having damaged himself in the process, but he looked sad. Not only that, he seemed like he was about to cry. Like a child about to cry because he had nowhere to go. I was exchanging blows with him, who had that kind of expression, with the intent to kill. I couldn’t count how many times I wanted to stop and ask him for explanation.”
A drop of tear shimmered in the corner of Actorius-sensei’s eyes.
Harlan was silently watching him.
I could see his hands trembling slightly.
I can’t guess whether it was due to his pity for Claude, who was imprisoned for such a long time, or his anger at himself who couldn’t save him.
I glanced at Chloe who was sitting next to me.
She had been wanting to know the facts about her household and her older brother’s case.
Chloe was just listening quietly, dignified and straight-backed.
“I was gradually able to drive him into a corner. Just as I thought I could win as long as I kept at it, Claude turned the headless prince into a meat-shield. The fact that I pierced that corpse threw me into a state of disorientation, and then Claude used that chance to seize the upper-hand.”
At that point, apparently Actorius-sensei thought the curse would infect him.
It’s not unreasonable for him to get disoriented.
“He attacked me using that chance, and sadly, I was defeated by Claude. That’s when he came back.”
Actorius-sensei stared at Brad.
“I wanted help them, even if it meant going against Ed’s wishes, who had done everything he could to protect me.”
Brad took over the explanation of the events that happened after Actorius-sensei collapsed.
Brad, who was able to get away to the ruins of the Fourth Corpse City Annwn because of my brother, was said to have turned back driven by the bad feelings he had.
However, in the battle within that small space that followed, he lost his advantage to Claude in the blink of an eye and was about to be killed.
Brad frowned regretfully.
I think that couldn’t be helped.
Brad’s researcher temperament is at disadvantage against Claude, who seems to be a genuine combat enthusiast.
Moreover, Eduard-oniisama who had lost consciousness was restrained, and Actorius-sensei had his Nails pulled out.
On top of the fact that it was a close-combat battle which was disadvantageous to mages, he also had to protect two people who were incapacitated.
Brad continued his words after a brief pause.
“‘You should know well why I’m about to kill you, right?’ That is the last conversation I had with him.”
However, Claude suddenly left the labyrinth without killing Brad.
From that point, Claude went missing until he appeared in Lucanrant on the day of the Werewolf Massacre Incident.
“I knew why I should be killed.”
“No human deserves to be killed, Brad.”
When my brother denied Brad’s words, a complicated expression fleeted across Brad’s face.
“I will tell you the truth about my birth, otherwise you wouldn’t understand why Claude said that.”
Brad turned away from my brother and looked around at us.
Then, the facts were listed in a straightforward manner.
About the fact that he was a descendant of the First Prince of Ignitia at that time—the elder brother of the current King of Ignitia.
He was kidnapped along with his parents during his fetal stage and received some kind of treatment through sorcery from vampires.
After that, the First Princess Eléonore died in an attempt to reclaim Brad.
“That ‘treatment’ was a spell to take the soul out of the remnant of the Mad King and embed it into a living human being.”
The sound of hitched breaths could be heard in the room.
“In other words, I was selected as the new vessel of Cain, the Mad King, and the soul of the Mad King was embedded in me as a curse.”
Brad’s smile twitched as if he was having a cramp.
I could feel the hostility rising from the northerners and easterners to the point of having goosebumps.
Even Beatrice.
Meanwhile, Actorius-sensei and my brother quietly accepted the confession of their longtime friend.
“Well, that’s why I should be killed, is there any objection?”
“Claude’s judgement … certainly makes sense. So Claude wasn’t crazy at that time, huh. I feel a little bit relieved.”
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