Magician in Type-Moon

Page 565

But Ashira simply watched the Second King silently.

There was no explanation, no surprise.

As always, there was silence, not even a ripple of breathing.

This, ironically, made the Second Emperor feel a sense of admiration.

“...If you panic and refute me now,” he thought to himself, “then I can actually breathe a sigh of relief.”

"Is there any evidence?"

Rufreus's question was flat and monotone.

"Unfortunately... there is only circumstantial evidence at present."

The Second Prince spoke calmly, as if the other person's question were just a routine formula.

He placed a thick copy of an account book on the round table, the edges of the pages curled from being turned over, with several sticky notes tucked into the corners.

"This is Sla's financial record in recent years."

He said, "Although the data was cleverly hidden in multiple accounts, I noticed that Sla, who was originally losing money every year, saw a significant improvement in his financial situation during the five years he had been in contact with Kuro."

Ashira looked down and opened the ledger, scanning the first page in less than three seconds.

Her brow furrowed slightly—not from shock, but because the other party did indeed possess some knowledge.

"of course."

El-Melloi II pressed on to the next step without hesitation.

"Albion was designated as a secret research facility directly under the Clock Tower because it was impossible for any smuggling activities to take place there."

"In other words, if someone can smuggle goods, that is a complete betrayal of the clock tower itself."

He continued speaking as if lecturing a course.

"However, Dr. Hartress proved that even the 'impossible' has flaws. Didn't he? He saw through the unstable cracks connecting Sla to Albion underground and accurately determined the cracks' occurrence cycle and coordinates."

He paused briefly, glancing at the monarchs present, especially Rufreus of the Spirit Conjuring Department.

"Otherwise, how could he have used his Noble Phantasm to blast a path directly to Albion from beneath Sla at that time?"

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Magdana's smile faded, like paint being washed away from a mask.

Euryphus's eye twitched slightly, as if unwilling to acknowledge this kind of "unanalyzable" magical achievement.

Asila remained silent.

She was silent, as if she herself were some kind of ritual device in operation.

"So,"

King El-Melloi II slowly lowered his head, then raised his eyes again. "How did Hartles master this smuggling method?"

No one answered.

Then he answered his own question:

“I guess… it’s because he has your five-man squad as the vanguard, right? No… I’m afraid that among them, your so-called ‘principal student’ Kuro is the key figure who can make the smuggling truly happen.”

"........."

Ashira finally looked away.

Not to Rufreus, not to the Second, but to stare at the ledger on the round table, as if it contained a silent will.

El-Melloi II knew he was dancing on the edge of a knife.

His reasoning is still speculative and cannot be used to convict him immediately.

But precisely because this was a meeting about power structures and resource allocation, rather than a courtroom for rigorous interrogation, he was able to lay out this logic without restraint.

—As long as she doesn't deny it, as long as she doesn't leave, as long as she chooses to stay here and continue to be questioned.

He won.

"The five of you amassed funds through smuggling, then survived the mission in Albion and returned to the Clock Tower. Afterward, under Dr. Hartrace's protection, you were granted research positions and even retained the right to move freely."

The Second King stated his position aggressively.

"From Hartres's point of view, keeping you around... is safer."

Finally, he played the bottom card.

"Then—why did Hartres let the other disciples 'disappear'?"

The Second Prince spoke softly.

“We believe that was revenge.”

Ashila calmly uttered a sentence, as if avoiding the question or ending the conversation. Her tone was neither warm nor cold, but vague and perfunctory enough to aptly block any further questioning.

"revenge?"

Inole raised one eyebrow, his tone a mixture of doubt and sarcasm.

"Teacher...to disciple? I see, that makes sense. If one is betrayed by the most trusted student... well, but..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

It seems that this reason cannot be fully agreed with, but there is also no immediate argument to refute it.

This is understandable.

What the Second King was about to say and Ashira's answer seemed to be only a hair's breadth apart, but their meanings were completely different.

Therefore, El-Melloi II once again focused his attention on her.

"Do you remember, Miss Ashira?"

"I don't remember anything."

Ashira calmly shook her head, answering without any emotion.

That was ten years ago.

The Second Prince was not swayed by her attitude, but instead pressed forward relentlessly.

The tone suddenly changed; it was no longer a question, but an announcement.

It was like slowly inserting a rusty yet still deadly dagger into a tabletop.

“Ten years ago—aside from Kuro, who was chosen as a protégé—the four of you killed Dr. Hartless.”

The air seemed to be twisted and tightened.

It was an auditory illusion, as if some kind of barrier had suddenly been activated, sealing off the entire round table conference room.

Rufreus did not move.

He was not much of a talker to begin with, but this time, even his breathing seemed to have been sealed away.

Magdana lifted his eyelids, finally shifting his weight from the observer's position to this side.

Euryphus remained unchanged, pretending as if he didn't understand, but quietly tapped the table with his fingertip.

Only Inola opened her eyes slightly wider.

Chapter 607 Revealed (4k)

"We, Dr. Hartrace's disciples, killed our teacher...?"

Ashira chuckled softly, as if she had just heard a clumsy and ridiculous joke. She remained seated, but the corners of her lips slowly turned up, and a hint of amusement flashed in her eyes.

The magic circuits of the deceased dragon flickered around her like will-o'-the-wisps, and the gems embedded in her gloves and hem of her clothes glowed slightly, giving her brown skin an eerie sheen, like the reflection of newly awakened snake scales in the night.

"That's a truly far-fetched idea. If that were the case, wouldn't everything you mentioned earlier—'Dr. Hartless is the mastermind behind the disappearances,' 'Hartless attempted to create a god for magicians,' etc.—become meaningless? It's a fundamental contradiction, isn't it?"

I will answer this question later.

The Second Prince did not back down, his gaze remaining fixed on her.

"Now, please let me confirm that fact."

"You're stating the 'facts'?"

Ashira scoffed, her tone no longer cold as before, but almost sarcastic.

"It seems you still intend to stick to that idea. But even if we did do such a thing, what good would it do for us disciples? Yes, apart from Kuro, we have all gone our separate ways, but killing our teacher—wouldn't that just mean losing our last support?"

"Of course there are benefits."

El-Melloi II smiled slightly, as if he had finally reached the stage of questioning he had long anticipated. His voice was no longer the whisper of an interrogator, but rather like that of a shrewd businessman steadily presenting his bargaining chips at a negotiating table.

“Because apart from Kuro, none of you were Dr. Hartres’s disciples from the very beginning.”

"Oh?"

This time it wasn't Ashira who spoke, but Inolei.

She squinted, her tone suggesting she was assessing whether the price of a secondhand item was inflated.

"What's going on? Are you implying that he accepted a fake disciple?"

"It's not an implication."

The Second Prince swept his gaze across everyone present and uttered his heavy-handed conclusion, word by word:

"—He's a 'spy'."

He paused, glanced at Asila, and then turned slightly to Rufreus.

"Of the five 'disciples' who went to Albion that year, at least one—Kalger—was a spy who was ordered to infiltrate. He came from an internal faction within the Clock Tower and was tasked with monitoring Dr. Hartrace's movements."

This was something that Orange saw through at a glance, and Matouchi confirmed.

Rufreus remained silent throughout.

His cloudy eyes seemed to be simply staring silently at Ashira, but everyone present knew that for a seasoned magician like him, if he didn't deny it, it usually meant that he accepted the hypothesis.

"...This is not a discovery made by me alone."

The Second King then turned the topic to another person at the round table.