The day of the second evening gathering.
On this day as well, every people involved were in attendance.
When everyone had arrived and taken their seats, Actorius-sensei placed an hourglass on the central table.
“I brought an hourglass that allows the sand to fall completely in an hour.”
“Once sands have fallen completely, no matter how complicated the discussion is, it will end there. That will be the rule starting tonight.”
After Eduard-oniisama explained the purpose of the hourglass, he turned it upside down.
The sand began to fall bit by bit.
“Well, I already talked about it last night, but let us share tonight’s policy.”
On the blackboard that Eduard-oniisama had brought in, he wrote the words 「Golden Wolf, vampire, and Mad King」.
“There are roughly three things involved in the crisis we are currently facing. That much we can assume, right? Right now, we have the help of a phantom beast that can be a trump card against the monstro born from the Mad King—“
My brother looked around as if to check on everyone.
“—The enemies are extremely cunning. No matter how small it is, they will jump at the opportunity and attack us. So no matter how trivial it may be, let us scrutinize every bit of information we have right now.”
That’s why tonight we have to reconfirm everything we talked about last night.
“Now then, go ahead and ask questions! And the person who may have the answer, please feel free to answer.”
My brother called out with a very bright tone of voice.
There are many terrible topics in agenda, so that may be his way of lifting up our spirits.
“Ahem. Alright, may I start first?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Harlan raised his hand and my brother urged him to speak.
Due to the breadth of information they have, these two are likely to be the facilitators.
“Have you already investigated the origin of the problematic necklace, stirrup, and chalice?”
“Yes, but each of the investigations hit a dead end, is that alright with you?”
“That is fine, I am used to that kind of thing.”
Harlan smiled.
Finding information on the vampires is no different from trying to grab a cloud.
Because the key people are easily erased from existence.
“First of all, the necklace. The components used to craft the chain and the decorations were imbued with magic. It also contained some camouflage magic, making it difficult to tell at a glance whether it was the stone or the necklace that was the source of the curse.”
I see.
So that magic was on the surrounding precious metal parts instead of the stone pendant?
“It’s a blatant measure against mages. The aim must have been to sow discord between me and Erica, and by extension, a discord between Hafan and Aurelia. I’m sure they would have celebrated if someone died.”
Klaus clicked his tongue.
Even though it couldn’t be helped as he was a mere ten-year-old at that time, it must still be humiliating to know that he walked straight into the vampires’ trap.
It may have been enough for them to just create conflict between me and Klaus.
If any of us were dead, it would have been a surprise victory for them.
“By the way, you were absent due to some urgent business on the night of the incident in the Ruins of Visitors, right, Sir Eduard? Can I ask you about that?”
“That day… I was urgently summoned to the academy in response to an invasion by the underlings in the basement of Lindis… specifically, the Corpse City.”
“That must have been planned. The invasion in the Corpse City that seemed like an emergency at first glance must have served as a diversion.”
Eduard-oniisama nodded in agreement.
So there was a single mastermind behind those two incidents, huh.
What’s more, it was a high-ranked vampire capable of disposing underlings at will.
“The caster of the curse was Cain Grendel.”
“The Mad King himself?”
Brad’s eyebrows furrowed.
“The camouflage magic was probably cast by an underling. It was too crude for a creation of the Mad King who was a genius in sorcery… well, it will probably be quicker if you take a look at the real thing.”
As he said that, my brother put the necklace, which had its stone pendant removed, on the table.
Everyone’s eyes were focused on the necklace.
Before long, some of them rose to their feet and tried to reach out.
Ah, don’t tell me…!?
“Ed… you haven’t neutralized the curse…!?”
“Yeah, I left it as it is, naturally. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to check the composition of the curse.”
“I know what you mean, but don’t take out such a dangerous item.”
After being admonished by Brad, my brother hurriedly put away the necklace.
This kind of curse doesn’t affect us Aurelians, so I guess my brother got careless.
“Hmm, it can’t be helped. Instead, please read these materials, the results of the investigation are surmised here.”
Without faltering, my brother took out the documents in a hurry.
It seems that he was investigating not only data on the curse but also about the distribution channels and processors of the necklace.
Harlan flipped through the documents and confirmed the contents.
“The processing was done by a craftsman who owns a famous jeweler in the territory of Aurelia. What were the subsequent movements of this craftsman?”
“Seven days after delivering the necklace, he went missing. It seems that he disappeared without any warning the moment his family took their eyes off him.”
This pattern, he was probably already dead by then.
“The craftsman who created the chalice had disappeared in a similar fashion. He was a skilled craftsman who resided in Lindis for 40 years. This ended up as a cold case, partly because 15 years have already passed since then.”
“I see… but for an incident as old as 15 years, isn’t the testimony of the people involved too accurate?”
While reading the materials he received from my brother, Harlan asked.
“It appears that he disappeared on the day of his youngest daughter’s wedding … that’s why it left quite a deep impression.”
My brother replied, his eyes slightly cast down.
Certainly, that must have been the worst day possible for such an incident, a day they would never forget no matter how many years pass.
I know the vampires did that to silence him, but that does not change the sheer cruelty of it.
“Hmm … then, what about the stirrup? Did you find out anything about that?”
Harlan changed the topic, probably due to the heaviness of the current one.
My brother took out the problematic stirrup along with a glass bottle containing a small amount of soil and documents from his bag.
“As you might have guessed when it was first discovered, this was robbed from a tomb dating back to Casketia era in Hafan’s territory.”
“It is one of the tombs that have been sealed off by Hafan, which was also mentioned in the tomb vandalism case seven years ago. There is also the result of appraisal that says it was made more than 800 years ago by sorcery prevalent in Karkinos.”
“The composition of the soil on it also matches that of the tomb. All the magic tools excavated at that time have been tracked down and recovered.”
Klaus, who accompanied my brother on the investigation at the time, supplemented, and my brother nodded.
Klaus briefly explained the key points about the magic tools that were reclaimed.
The number of items that were robbed from the tomb reached dozens in total.
There was no time to read everything, so it was decided to keep the investigation materials on the magic tools in this reference room.
Harlan, who was scanning the material, frowned.
“I see. You should have asked us to track the excavated magic tools. There are so many that it spread all over the continent.”
“We weren’t that useless back then that we had to ask others for help in cleaning up our own messes.”
“No, no. It would have been much better than concealing it. If the opponent is Casketia, the North will freely cooperate as much as you want, Klaus-sama.”
Harlan smiled at Klaus.
“The stirrup’s curse hasn’t been neutralized, but it will be alright as long as you don’t touch it. If you touch it, the curse will envelop your body and you will feel like you’ve chugged down a bottle of wine.”
My brother added a quick supplementary information about the curse of Intoxication cast on the stirrup.
So it also works against humans, huh.
“Eh, Sir Eduard, so it is also effective against humans? I mean, why do you even know such details…”
“Wait, Ed. Don’t tell me, you tested this on yourself?”
When Harlan trailed off, Brad hounded my brother in his place.
Eeh, my brother tested it out on himself!?
“Yeah, that was quite an interesting experience.”
“Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?! You should value yourself more…!”
“No, no, it’s not a lethal curse, so it’s fine. More importantly, I am perfectly fine, see?”
My brother immediately argued against Brad.
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