“That won’t do.”
Jake answered immediately without even a moment’s consideration.
“Only the heir of the House of Duke West can become the hero. This Demon King has disappeared, but we don’t know when the Demon King will appear in the world again. The world still needs a hero.”
If he destroyed the ducal family for the sake of the empire’s citizens while also eliminating the hero who would face the Demon King, what meaning would that have? Jake’s voice saying this was so full of conviction that Klad couldn’t say let’s just smash everything since heroes and such weren’t needed.
“Haven’t you thought of making a wish to God to give others who aren’t of West ducal family blood a chance to become the hero?”
“Of course I’ve thought of that too. However, the rule that ‘the heir of the House of Duke West becomes the hero’ was established directly by God. It was recorded that God cannot easily break rules or contracts once established.”
He couldn’t miss the one and only chance for a wish when he wasn’t even certain whether the problem could be solved with the hero’s wish.
“Perhaps there might be another solution. I may have failed to think of other methods because my vision narrowed from only thinking about finding a descendant. But, Klad. As I said before, I don’t have many options.”
Jake clenched both fists tightly as if it were unfair. If only his strength had been a little greater. If only the speed at which he swung his sword had been a little faster. If only he hadn’t been under Father’s surveillance, how many more options would have increased?
However, instead of being frustrated by his powerlessness, Jake chose the option he could take among them. As always.
“But what’s urgent right now isn’t finding a descendant or the hero’s sword, but protecting this city.”
Jake stood up from his seat with a serious expression.
“Right now, rumors that the hero brings disaster are spreading in this city. And the lord’s castle just happened to explode and the lord disappeared. At this rate, all these disasters will become things I brought about.”
The oracle that the Demon King had disappeared and the hero had lost his qualifications hadn’t come down yet. If the Duke was controlling the oracle related to that from spreading, the oracle might never come down in the future either.
Then the name ‘hero’ still had value.
“Father will try to make this incident as big as possible to tarnish the name of hero. Perhaps he’ll drive demon tribe members here while I’m in this place, just as he originally planned.”
From the collapse of the lord’s castle to the demon tribe attack. If all of this was blamed on the hero, other territories would also be reluctant to have Jake visit and would try to block his entry. When he’d already lost his power, he couldn’t have his feet tied as well.
“However, since the number of demon tribe members he possesses is limited, Father will also be cautious in making plans. Perhaps while we wait for demon tribe members to appear here, he’ll release them in other places.”
“If we only knew what the Duke’s plan was, things would be easy. Too bad. I should have thoroughly shaken him down and found out when we ran into him earlier.”
At Klad’s words, Jake sprang up from his seat. There was something he’d forgotten. Jake took something out from his chest and held it out.
“Could you perhaps find out with this?”
Find out what? The Duke’s plan? Klad was dumbfounded. Jake might not know since he’d been handling many things smoothly so far, but no matter how great a mage one was, one couldn’t read thoughts. Whatever Jake had brought, finding out the Duke’s plan with it would be…
“It’s a communication crystal sphere that Father’s knight had. Could you hear their conversation with your magic?”
“…If we’re lucky, we might be able to dig up the whole plan?”
Klad received the crystal sphere and examined its condition. Fortunately, the amount of mana remaining in the crystal sphere was sufficient to draw out its form.
“Did the knight perhaps break a mana stone to connect the crystal sphere?”
“Exactly! How did you know?”
“When a mage connects a crystal sphere, they directly infuse mana into it. If you do that, the crystal sphere absorbs it all so tracing the mana becomes quite difficult. But if you connect it by breaking a mana stone, about half seeps into the crystal sphere and the other half circles around the surface.”
“Since there’s a lot of remaining mana, it’ll be easy to trace too. That’s good.”
Jake even clapped his hands in delight.
“How on earth did you get this?”
“I stole it.”
His tone was quite calm for a noble’s words admitting he’d pilfered someone else’s belongings.
“It would have been better if I’d brought the black sphere Father was looking for, but that was already in Father’s hands and couldn’t be easily taken.”
Jake judged it better to target the knight who had been battered and tattered after bouncing off Klad’s magic rather than attack the Duke who would be surrounded by all sorts of protective artifacts. He happened to remember where the knight had stored the communication crystal sphere too. Moreover, since the knight even showed an opening, while the flustered knight swung his sword toward the wrong place due to the lord’s castle exploding, Jake could easily pilfer the crystal sphere by running to him and pretending to bump into him.
He was really lucky.
“You should have just run away, why were you stealing dangerous things like this?”
“Because I was confident I would meet you again.”
“……”
“Alone, this crystal sphere would be of no use to me, but together with you, I was confident it would become a tremendous clue. I absolutely had to bring this to you… What does that expression mean?”
“It’s nothing.”
Klad started the magic with an expression that was frowning but didn’t seem particularly unpleasant. Because a hazy form rose from the crystal sphere, Jake couldn’t question further.
“Ooh!”
“Even using magic, I can’t see all the records. I’ll only be able to see the most recent one.”
“That won’t do.”
Disappointment spread across Jake’s face, which had been full of anticipation.
“I already know the most recent conversation, so it won’t be of much help to our situation.”
“How do you know that too?”
“I eavesdropped.”
Stealing and eavesdropping. It really had been an eventful day.
“Can’t you see the conversation before that?”
“If we’re lucky, we might be able to check one more.”
“That’s good news. I’m very lucky.”
The smoke that rose from the crystal sphere formed the shape of a knight. The knight was standing in front of Jake collapsed on the floor.
“It’s me. I’m there, Klad.”
“Yeah, I can see.”
“When I eavesdropped on the knight’s conversation, I was standing behind the door, not on the floor. It seems he used the crystal sphere one more time after that.”
Looking at the situation, it seemed to be right after he was attacked by the knight and collapsed in Baron Nolson’s office. The knight confirmed that the unconscious Jake was alive and took the black sphere from his hands.
“That’s it, Klad. That’s the thing Father secretly created. Can you identify what it is?”
Before Jake finished speaking, the knight put the sphere into his chest. It was so fast that he could barely make out that the sphere was black.
“I don’t know if I don’t see it properly.”
“Doesn’t this magic have a rewind function?”
“Would there be such a convenient function?”
“What about checking from the beginning again?”
“This magic uses the mana remaining in the crystal sphere, so if I do that, the effect will weaken.”
“What happens if the effect weakens?”
“The form will become blurry.”
“If the form becomes blurry, is it difficult to determine what material the sphere is made of?”
“This magic shows the form of memories remaining in the mana, it doesn’t show the aura of living things or objects. No matter how many times you watch it again, you won’t be able to figure out the identity of that sphere. Just watch.”
The knight turned Jake, who had been lying face down, onto his back and examined his condition. He pressed Jake’s limbs firmly to check if he was breathing properly and if there were any broken or bleeding places.
“Klad. Doesn’t this magic show from when the communication crystal sphere is connected until before the connection is cut? This fellow doesn’t seem to be communicating with Father right now, so what’s going on?”
“He must have used the crystal sphere twice in a short time, so a lot of mana residue remained.”
“Then can you see before or after the crystal sphere was connected?”
“If you’re lucky.”
“I see.”
Jake clenched his fist with a satisfied face. He was clearly thinking something like ‘I’m lucky after all.’
If things went as expected, after examining Jake’s condition, the knight should have taken out the crystal sphere and contacted the Duke.
However, instead of doing that, the knight reached his hand toward Jake.
“What is he trying to do?”
Jake tilted his head to see the knight’s movements in more detail.
The knight grabbed the collar of the collapsed Jake’s clothes and, without a moment’s hesitation, stripped off his clothes.
“Gasp!”
Jake urgently covered Klad’s eyes.
“Seeing a noble’s bare flesh is a grave crime!”
“The one stripping is over there, so why are you blaming me?”
“Don’t look, Klad.”
“That’s not you, it’s just a form.”
“But isn’t it my form?”
While Jake and Klad bickered, the knight thoroughly searched the collapsed Jake to confirm there were no possessions that could be dangerous to the Duke. After confirming it was safe to take Jake to the Duke, the knight finally took out the crystal sphere and broke a mana stone over it.
“Move your hand, an important scene is coming.”
“I will make that knight pay for his crimes without fail.”
The crystal sphere that had been sparkling for a while lit up and the communication connected.
From beyond it, the Duke’s voice flowed out.
