It was the map that had been spread out on the security captain’s office desk. The planned route for tomorrow’s Imperial Knights to enter the academy was marked with red lines.
The air in the room settled quietly for one beat.
After looking at Eden’s face once, Veil turned his head toward the map without asking anything further. Rowen also chose silence in the same way. Both of them were already familiar with reading the kind of silence that needed no further words.
‘…’
Nigel’s two eyes on the handkerchief quietly stared at the hem of Eden’s cloak.
A faint smell of alcohol that usually didn’t come from Eden was flowing from inside it. And over that smell of alcohol, another layer of scent that the frog’s sense of smell caught first. It was the lingering scent of that clear poison that Karim had tried to pour into the teacup, that had once spilled into his uniform pocket. Probably a type of poisonous herb that couldn’t be detected by a human body.
‘…Did he kill him?’
Nigel muttered briefly to himself. The surprise wasn’t great. It wouldn’t be a difficult task for Eden Tashar. However, it was more uncomfortable than surprising because the Eden Lake he had seen at Kaiserion Academy until now killing another person didn’t fit.
“Karim Lake definitely said there would be more.”
Rowen muttered.
Eden’s fingertips pointed to a spot on the map. Near the back gate of the main building, a midpoint where Her Majesty the Queen’s evacuation route was marked. A red line was drawn along the ceiling arch.
“If the first device fails, the second one is set to fall from the emergency passage ceiling where Her Majesty will evacuate first. Two or three escort knights on that side have also been adjusted to fall back one beat to match the route change timing.”
“…Was it a double trap?”
Veil muttered lowly. He completely removed his hands from his bowl and leaned his body toward the map, resting both arms on the table.
“Then what Rowen destroyed earlier is still only half the job.”
“…”
Rowen was still silent. His gaze lingered a bit longer on Eden’s right hand fingertips that had placed down the map, rather than on the red line on the map. There wasn’t even a slight tremor in his fingertips. That calmness felt even greater to Rowen instead.
“While you were there, I found Karim Lake.”
After saying that, Rowen gestured with his chin to Eden Tashar, who was looking at him. It meant to look over there.
“…”
Eden Tashar’s pitch-black eyes sank as he confirmed Karim Lake unconscious in the corner.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
Rowen answered briefly.
Eden’s pitch-black eyes slowly returned to Rowen’s face. For a very brief moment, something difficult to explain flashed inside and then sank. Not surprise, not relief, not resentment, but a kind of wavering where all of those were mixed in by half a beat each.
“…You left him alive.”
“I judged there was no need to kill him.”
“…”
Eden looked down at the unconscious Karim Lake for a long time. It was a very merciful treatment for a human who had tried to kill Lord Nigel. As expected, he briefly thought that Rowen Ashfield and himself were fundamentally different people. A sensation that seemed to be clearly revealed under the light in the room briefly swept over Eden. However, he didn’t bring that sensation out of his mouth.
“Do as you’re comfortable.”
It was a brief answer. Neither Rowen nor Veil dug any further.
‘…’
Nigel on the handkerchief briefly stared at Eden’s profile. This guy had decided not to show anyone in this room what he had just accomplished with his own hands. And both Rowen and Veil were accepting that decision as it was. The four people’s gazes were bypassing near Eden’s right hand as if by agreement.
“Now, then.”
Veil Khalid tapped the table once. It was a sound that lifted the sunken air in the room by one beat.
“Let’s organize. First, we’ll tie up Karim Lake in this room until everything is over. I have to complete one piece of Headmaster Silvanus’s scale before Her Majesty arrives tomorrow, so I can’t leave here.”
“Then I’ll go to the main building’s back gate side.”
“Rowen, don’t move alone. It would be better to go with Eden. I’ll send someone to Lisa now and tell her to finish disassembling the device and join immediately. That kid will handle the dismantling, you guys keep watch.”
“Got it.”
Rowen answered briefly. Eden nodded slowly.
“…Should we move before dawn?”
“We have to. All the cleanup must be finished before Her Majesty enters. After the sun rises, there will be too many people inside the main building.”
Veil answered and reached toward his bowl again. A small sphere placed on the silver scale powder was gradually solidifying its shape more firmly under his fingertips.
“Senior Rowen.”
Eden opened his mouth as he took a step toward the table. Rowen only turned his head to face him.
“May I take the lead?”
“…”
“I know the route Karim Lake set up the best. And if there’s a possibility of a mana trap, it’s right for me to step on it first.”
Rowen was silent for a moment. He slowly nodded.
“Do as you like.”
“…Thank you.”
It was a brief greeting. The air between the two seemed to have thickened just a little from before, then returned to its usual thickness.
“It’s raining.”
Veil Khalid said, pointing at the window with his finger. He had thought the weather would be perfectly clear during the festival, but it seemed the weather on the last day would be rainy all day.
“…”
Nigel looked up quietly at Eden Tashar’s face as he gazed out the window. What is that guy thinking right now? Because he was always unreadable, he couldn’t know what was in his head just by looking at his expression.
The sound of rain outside the window had already thickened by another layer. The dawn of the festival’s last day was quietly approaching.
***
Swoooosh.
At dawn on the last day of the festival, thick rain was falling along with the darkness where the sun had not yet risen over the academy.
Under the eaves of the Magic Department building, three people each put on dark-colored raincoats over their cloaks. Rowen Ashfield, Eden Tashar, and Lisa.
“Look at this. Rowen. If I had more time, I could draw it in more detail, but I only examined the important parts.”
Lisa took out a small folded piece of parchment from inside her tool bag. Her goggles were already hanging on her forehead, and her face was deeply stained with the fatigue of someone who had just spent several hours tearing things apart in the Magical Engineering Department laboratory.
“That thing is a bomb. I’m not joking, it really is.”
“…”
“It’s structured to lift the entire floor with a mana backflow. Rowen, you were really lucky with the one you smashed. Usually when you smash a device like that with a sword, an entire room blows up.”
Rowen’s expression didn’t change even as he received the parchment.
“Good work.”
“Wait, wait.”
Lisa briefly grabbed Rowen’s arm as he was about to take a step toward the rain.
“Then that means this was installed in the basement of the academy’s main building. In the main building. And Her Majesty the Queen is coming there today.”
“…Yes.”
“…Rowen, why aren’t you telling the security guards?”
Her voice lowered a tone.
It was a natural question. If a device of this scale had been found under the festival speech venue, normally the security guards should be surrounding the main building and investigating all suspicious persons by now.
Rowen stared at Lisa for a moment, then slowly put the parchment into his raincoat’s inner pocket.
“…There are circumstances where I can’t tell them, Lisa.”
“What are they?”
“…”
“Eden Lake, will you tell me?”
Lisa’s gaze moved to the side. Eden Tashar was in the middle of unfolding a folded map from inside his raincoat. His gaze turned toward Lisa very briefly, then went back down to the map.
“…I also cannot give you an answer right now.”
It was a brief, dry answer.
“…”
Lisa closed her lips and scanned the two people’s faces in turn. Rowen Ashfield and Eden Tashar. The two people who would normally look uncomfortable even exchanging a single word were now sharing the same silence. That fact alone meant that something big was moving inside the academy tonight, outside the scope of what she knew.
After taking a deep breath, Lisa asked again.
“…Lord Nigel.”
“…”
“Where is Lord Nigel? Don’t tell me he’s caught up in this?”
Rowen looked down at the map for a moment, then answered briefly.
“Don’t worry. Nigel is in a safe place.”
“…”
“Don’t ask any more.”
His voice was firm, but he looked like he had absolutely no intention of telling her anything more. Lisa looked at his profile like that for a while, then finally let out a short sigh.
‘So.’
This bomb had to be disarmed only by their own hands, without going through the academy’s security guards or anyone else.
