Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 413

Ellen and Charlotte left the Temple.

Charlotte had an artifact that cast a cognitive interference spell, while Ellen wore a robe. It was their way of avoiding any unnecessary attention they might attract.

As they walked through the streets, Charlotte briefly explained to Ellen where they were headed.

She recounted how she and Reinhart had discovered a clue while wandering the Aligar market district, how Reinhart had acted as a messenger, delivering letters to the shop owner, and how, after her suspicions had been confirmed, she had ceased contact after the last letter. She even mentioned how she had eventually told him to leave the capital.

As she spoke, Charlotte realized anew how much trouble her actions had caused. If only she had confronted the mage back then. If only she had captured that child. If only she had killed the Demon King... None of the current events would have happened.

Charlotte suddenly realized that she was a sinner not only in the eyes of the empire, but to all of humanity in that era.

She had been swayed by mere familiarity and trust, by insignificant attachment. She had nurtured a cancer that would eat away at the empire.

Without Reinhart, she might also have awakened as the Demon King long ago and caused another bloodbath.

“You can’t understand me, can you?” Charlotte said softly, consumed by self-reproach, her voice conveying her wretched feelings.

“I don’t understand your actions, but I also don’t know what you’ve been through.”

“...”

Ellen did not comment on whether Charlotte’s actions were right or wrong. She did not know how much pain Charlotte had endured or how terrible she’d felt in the Demon King’s castle.

At that time, when her life as a captive had ended and death was imminent, she had been saved by a boy. In that situation, it would have been impossible to doubt him.

Ellen did not believe it was possible to suspect someone who risked their life to save yours in such a situation. Regardless, it was also true that Charlotte’s actions had caused them to miss opportunities to capture the Demon King.

The boy who’d saved her life... She had tried to believe in him until the end but ultimately realized she had been used. Ellen could only imagine how devastated Charlotte must feel.

Ellen did not know how to comfort someone. In the end, it was true that Charlotte’s choices had a very negative impact on the continent and the empire. All she could offer was a consolation that was not really a consolation. That was all Ellen could give.

“Still, self-reproach is meaningless,” she said.

“... I suppose so,” Charlotte replied.

For the moment, all they could do was hope to find even the smallest clue.

***

Even while the existence of the Demon King stirred the world, life went on. The aggressive sales tactics in the Aligar shopping district were one of the everyday occurrences unrelated to the Demon King.

In fact, the appearance of the Demon King had led to more aggressive marketing of strange items like self-defense products.

Ellen felt a sense of nostalgia as she observed adventurers who were just starting their journeys. She was not truly invested in the life of an adventurer, but she had seen the true nature of adventurers with Reinhart in the Dark Land.

Adventurers continued to emerge even as the Demon King threatened the continent.

“They say a labyrinth presumed to be the tomb of a lich was discovered in the Dark Land,” Charlotte said to Ellen as they walked through the district.

“A lich?”

“Yeah.”

Ellen tilted her head at the sudden mention of a lich. Ellen, who lacked a personal information-gathering network, was naturally drawn to rumors.

“The labyrinth hasn’t been completely cleared, but some adventurers who wandered in there managed to retrieve some magical tomes. I don’t know much, but it seems those magical tomes contain some rather powerful magic, and the magic community is in quite an uproar over it.”

“Really?”

“If the books retrieved from within this dungeon are already considered such a significant find, I’m curious about what else might be found once the tomb had been fully explored.”

If these magical tomes, mere side items within the labyrinth, were enough to cause such a stir in the magical community, it was only natural to assume that even greater magical tomes or artifacts might exist within it.

As they walked quietly, Charlotte suddenly clicked her tongue. “Tsk. I hope what happened yesterday isn’t related to the Demon King.”

“Yesterday?”

“... There was a murder in the imperial palace. I was briefed on it this morning.”

Ellen furrowed her brow at the mention of a murder within the imperial palace.

“In the imperial palace...?” Ellen asked.

“Yes, one of the staff from the Magic Department killed the night guards and fled with the magical tomes. It would be one thing if he did that just to sell them, but... surely he can’t be a minion of the Demon King or something like that, right?”

Charlotte had brought Ellen with her to track down traces of the Demon King, but the imperial family had to be in chaos over this other matter.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Harriet say she needed to access some research materials in the Imperial Magic Department? I remember Reinhart asking for permission.”

“Ah... Yeah, I think so,” Ellen replied.

Ellen knew that Harriet had been going in and out of the imperial palace for some research, though she didn’t know the details.

“Maybe she’s been questioned or something...”

That helped Ellen to understand the serious conversation she had observed between Harriet and Reinhart earlier on.

Harriet had to have been questioned about the previous night’s incident, and Reinhart, whom she’d asked for help, must have gotten involved.

What were Reinhart and Harriet doing at that very moment? Ellen hoped they weren’t getting involved in anything dangerous.

“The stolen magical tomes... Were they important?”

“That’s the biggest problem right now,” Charlotte said with a furrowed brow. “We don’t know the contents of the stolen tomes.”

“... What?”

For a moment, Ellen couldn’t understand what Charlotte was saying.

“What do you mean? How can you not know what was stolen?”

“These tomes hadn’t even been in the imperial palace for a day. They disappeared before anyone could fully understand what magic they contained.”

In other words, they had been brought in with a batch of items, and vanished during the sorting process.

So, the imperial family lost a large number of magical tomes, but couldn’t determine how dangerous they were.

“Oh, yes, you should know this too.”

Charlotte intended to tell Ellen everything about herself as much as possible. Knowing all of Charlotte’s secrets would allow Ellen to fulfill her role as a knight properly.

“Those magical tomes were ones I’d retrieved from the underground bunker beneath the Demon King’s castle yesterday.”

The tomes that had been stolen the day before were the ones Charlotte had just retrieved from the underground bunker of the Demon King’s castle.

***

Harriet and I left the Temple and headed towards the imperial palace.

We didn’t know what we could do, but to understand the incident, we had to go to the scene of the crime first.

I wore a hood, as my face might be recognized, and Harriet wore a hood just like mine, though I wasn’t sure why she had followed suit.

‘Rother Dwin... Why did he steal the magical tomes and flee?’

“Those magical tomes, they’re expensive, right?”

Harriet nodded at my words.

“They’re more than just expensive,” she explained. “Owning a spellbook as an individual is extremely difficult. Most mages can only access or borrow magical tomes officially issued by large institutions, schools, associations, or guilds. One requires certain qualifications even to borrow them, and without the necessary qualifications, a person won’t even be allowed to view magical tomes beyond a certain grade or danger classification.”

Just as enchantment magic was strictly regulated, magical tomes were also managed under a strict system.

“Of course, regulation of magical tomes that are widely circulated is difficult, so they’re often overlooked. Fundamentally, though, one can’t just easily acquire magical tomes just because they have the money to do so.”

“So they’re not easy to sell either?” I asked.

Harriet stared at me intently.

“Of course they are,” she replied.

“... So it’s hard to buy, but easy to sell?”

“Naturally. There are plenty of mages who secretly want to own rare magical tomes. As long as they don’t get caught, right? If the magic contained within is rare, they’d be willing to pay a hefty premium. As for the rarest sort, they might contain magic not yet known to the world, such as new mana manipulation methods or theories. This would make them invaluable.”

Magical tomes were indeed very expensive, as long as the magic they contained was rare enough.

Possessing dangerous magic through official channels was difficult, but secretly owning it was another matter. In any case, magical tomes were valuable, especially if they were rare.

“It wasn’t for money. Definitely not.”

“Huh? But you said magical tomes are valuable, didn’t you?”

Harriet looked at me with her lips slightly pursed.

‘Why do I feel like I’m being looked down upon? Why is she looking at me as if to say, “Oh, this idiot”?’

“If a mage works in the Imperial Magic Department, they could make a fortune by copying and selling the magical tomes from the research library. There’s no need to steal them.”

“... Oh, right.”

When I thought about it, it was obvious. Why take the risk of stealing magical tomes when you could just smuggle research materials out and make a better profit? Anyone could technically keep doing it until they got caught.

“So Rother Dwin didn’t steal the magical tomes for money.”

Harriet was probably right. If it were for money, there were countless safer ways to earn it. Why commit murder within the imperial palace and steal magical tomes?

“It’s strange. If he was a mage in charge of the research office of the Imperial Magic Department, he’d be well-compensated. The department wouldn’t hire just anyone to manage such important materials. They would have a very clear picture of the person he was, and he’d have been thoroughly vetted...”

Magical skills aside,only those whose credibility had been vetted could enter the Imperial Magic Department’s research library. Even so, such a person had killed others and stolen magical tomes for reasons unknown.

If not for money, then for what reason?

Was magic itself the goal?

Cantus Magna... That group naturally came to mind.

Could Rother Dwin be part of Cantus Magna?

My heart skipped a beat and started to race.

“Do you know what those stolen magical tomes were?”

“I don’t know exactly, and it seemed like Rother Dwin didn’t know either. However, it seems a lich’s tomb has recently been discovered in the Dark Land. It was said that the magical tomes might have come from there... Oh, yes, and he seemed very curious about the origin of those magical tomes.”

The lich’s tomb... That was a trap we had set to lure Cantus Magna in.

The magical tomes had leaked out from there and reached the imperial palace, and Rother Dwin had stolen them. Moreover, according to Harriet, Rother Dwin was curious about the origin of the magical tomes.

This meant that if he was part of Cantus Magna, the information about the labyrinth in the Dark Land would soon reach them and Cantus Magna might soon make a move against the labyrinth.

I had initially thought that Harriet had been caught up in some strange affair, but perhaps this was something that I had to get involved in as well.

Nothing was certain yet, but if the Rother Dwin incident was even slightly related to Cantus Magna, I had to investigate this matter, regardless of Harriet’s intentions.

***

I wasn’t so famous that my face would be recognized wherever I went, and of course, I didn’t wish for that either.

Just dealing with all the nonsense going on inside the Temple was enough to drive me crazy. If people across the continent started kneeling and calling me Hero Reinhart, I wasn’t sure if I could go a day without losing my mind.

Of course, the imperial emblem granted me access to the imperial palace, and Harriet, who visited frequently, was granted entry as well.

However, while the two of us were allowed direct access, many were being denied entry at the palace gates.

—The imperial palace is currently on lockdown.

Given that the incident occurred within the palace, it was natural for the entire palace to be on high alert.

Except for a select few, most nobles and officials with business in the palace were being turned away. The atmosphere inside the palace was equally tense.

The Imperial Magic Department, where the incident had occurred, was in the southern part of the palace, but it seemed that security had been tightened throughout the entire palace. Soldiers and knights bustled about.

“So... it wasn’t an ordinary incident...” Harriet said once we entered the palace. Her voice trembled slightly, perhaps overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation.

A simple murder case would be troubling enough, but these murders had taken place within the imperial palace. Harriet was not a witness, but she had spoken with the perpetrator just the day before.

She unconsciously grasped the end of my sleeve lightly, as if realizing the weight of the situation she was getting involved in.

“There’s nothing to be scared of. In a situation like this, nothing more can really happen anyway. Let’s head to the scene.”

“O-okay...”

Harriet and I took the internal palace tram to the Imperial Magic Department.

Using the central palace, Tetra, as a marker, to the north was the Spring Palace where Charlotte lived. To the east was the Summer Palace where other members of the imperial family resided. To the south housed the departments handling the empire’s major affairs, and to the west was the Winter Palace where Vertus lived.

We were headed toward the southern section, not too far away.

The southern section of the imperial palace, where the departments handling the empire’s major affairs were located, was full of numerous massive buildings, and among them was the grand and elegant building housing the Magic Department.

The enormous marble structure was vast and elegant. However, the area was now surrounded by numerous soldiers who formed a perimeter around it, and the entrance was blocked by the imperial guards.

The atmosphere in the imperial palace was already tense, and security was focused most heavily in the area around the Magic Department.

“Is it... really okay for us to be getting involved in this...?” Harriet whispered with a hint of fear. She seemed to be reconsidering getting involved.

“We’re not trying to do anything, just trying to find out what’s going on. What’s there to be scared of?” I said.

Harriet stared at me blankly and then sighed deeply. “I’m sorry to say this, but... why are you so fearless?”

Harriet seemed to be saying that even she, a grand duchess, was intimidated by the sight of so many troops, yet I wasn’t fazed at all. I didn’t have much to say in response.

Why indeed?

Come to think of it, I was never someone who was originally used to this kind of thing. Perhaps maintaining the delinquent persona for so long and more recently being treated as a hero had made such situations seem trivial to me.

I had indeed changed a lot since the day I first appeared in this world.

“What can I say? I was just born this way.”

“I’m always impressed whenever I look at you...”

Harriet followed cautiously behind me, perhaps reassured by my excessive confidence.

Naturally, since the Magic Department was the epicenter of the incident, we were stopped at the entrance.

“This area is currently restricted.”

“Oh, I’m aware of that, but I’m actually—”

“Reinhart? Saint-Ouen...?”

Just as I was about to explain why we were there, a voice called out to me from behind. A voice I had grown quite familiar with.

“What brings you here?”

Vertus had just arrived at the Magic Department, leading a group of people.