The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 72.

The Temple released an official statement.
For several days, there had been disappearances of foreigners within Alhaba Temple, and the Archbishop visited the scene to resolve the matter, but regrettably, the whereabouts of those who vanished could not be determined.
Our infiltration of the Temple—mine and Kaius’s—went unmentioned. It would have been troublesome for the Temple if word spread not only of the disappearances but also that they’d allowed intruders to slip away, so it was only natural.
The foreigners protested fiercely. Yet their voices could not overcome the Temple’s authority. In the end, with the Pope’s declaration that all efforts would be devoted to searching for the missing, matters seemed to settle into a lull.
At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.
According to the informants Elion had planted, the Temple’s interior had already descended into an emergency state.
If things continued as they were, it wouldn’t be long before Leoni learned of the connection between the vanished foreigners, the mutations, and the crows.
“This magical potion will take a month to complete?”
“If the formula is correct. Whether it succeeds or not will only be known after we administer it to a mutation.”
“Charlotte wouldn’t fail.”
Elion spoke as if it were obvious.
“Even as flattery, I appreciate it.”
We were in the Research Laboratory of Archduke’s Castle, engaged in a lengthy discussion over the formula for the Mutation Regenerative Agent. It was the result of my having openly confessed everything about the crows and Black Magic Power immediately after returning from Alhaba.
Elion said that more careful research would be necessary, and had essentially planted himself at Archduke’s Castle.
In truth, I had no reason to object. Since I’d already isolated a mutation in the Mage Tower Underground, I needed to produce an antidote as quickly as possible, and the Mage Tower Master was an excellent resource for that.
The problem, if there was one….
“How much longer do I have to watch this creature loitering about my castle?”
Kaius leaned against the doorframe, his displeasure evident. Ever since Elion had settled in at Archduke’s Castle, he’d taken to dropping by the laboratory whenever he had a moment to show his dissatisfaction.
Elion turned his head and smirked.
“My, are you jealous?”
“When did the desire to throw out an unwelcome visitor become jealousy?”
“Suit yourself.”
I’d thought Kaius would be wary of my Black Magic Power, but it was Elion he actually seemed to regard as a thorn in his side.
Judging by how he treated him, one might think Elion was practically the leader of the black mages.
I pushed Elion, who kept goading Kaius, into a corner of the laboratory and dragged Kaius away.
“Kaius, wait….”
Why won’t he move?
Is he a statue?
Kaius turned only his head, looking down at me skeptically.
“There’s something I need to discuss with you alone.”
“You could have led with that.”
Kaius straightened and guided me out of the laboratory.
I thought we were heading to the adjacent office, but we weren’t. Kaius, as if he couldn’t even stand Elion’s proximity, cut straight across the corridor toward the Reception Room.
Such a finicky man.
“So what is this secret, confidential matter you wanted to discuss only with me?”
I didn’t say anything quite that dramatic.
“About the crows—you’re not thinking of tracking them immediately, are you?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You saw it yourself at Sandwitch—how they vanished without a trace.”
When the knights dispatched to Sandwitch the next day lifted away the rubble of the collapsed theater building, there was no one left inside. We’d crushed five crows under heavy stone, yet not even their bodies emerged.
They weren’t the type of creatures to die from such an attack in the first place.
They were stronger than imagination. I absorbed their Magical Power Crystals and became a passably competent Trinity Mage, but if I were asked right now whether I could beat those crows in direct combat, I had no confidence.
It made sense.
In the original narrative, only Leoni, after being loaded with every buff imaginable in the final chapter, could defeat them.
There’s no way I can win right now.
Besides, there’s only one of me and many of them. It would be different if they came at me one by one.
“I did give you the third clue as promised, but even if Your Highness pursues them, you won’t find them immediately.”
“Is that intuition?”
“No, it’s objective fact.”
Their base of operations exists and yet doesn’t exist, is present and yet isn’t.
“I told you before. The culprit you’re after will come here alongside the crows. So rather than hunting them down, it would be more efficient to prepare for an attack. And….”
“And?”
“It’s nothing. In any case, if you’re thinking of setting out immediately, please hold off. I’m concerned about the Archduke.”
I have no sense of how things might play out once you learn the mastermind’s true identity sooner than planned.
Kaius, chin tilted to the side, stared intently at me as I struggled to find roundabout words.
“You’ve grown quite concerned for me.”
“I’ve always been concerned for Your Highness.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t get too close with Chi from the Mage Tower.”
“Why did the conversation suddenly jump there?”
“It irritates me.”
There was plenty to be irritated about.
“Now that I think of it, I have something to pass along to you as well.”
He held out a bundle of papers he’d gathered before leaving his office.
“I checked with the Papal Authority, and there is indeed a wandering priest named Bill. The name’s so common, though, that I had to narrow down the list.”
The documents totaled thirteen pages, all of them concerning young wandering priests by the name of Bill.
“And this is the narrowed-down version?”
“Brown hair and blue eyes are hardly distinctive features.”
“True enough.”
“But why are you looking for him?”
“It’s complicated to explain.”
“Charlotte Schmidt.”
“Why are you staring at me like that? You’re frightening me.”
“Just so you know—a priest cannot be courted unless they’ve been excommunicated.”
Was this man out of his mind?
“That’s not what this is.”
“Well, that’s a relief, then.”
“Don’t say such strange things.”
He covered his mouth with the hand cradling his chin and smiled knowingly.
Why was he grinning like that?
I ignored Kaius’s gaze and flipped slowly through the documents. Just as he’d said, the information was too ordinary—it would be nearly impossible to identify anyone based on this alone.
After that day, I never saw Bill again. When I inquired at Alhaba Temple again, word came back that he’d already left.
But no matter how much I thought about it, something felt off.
If the man who’d saved me that day really was Bill, I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d spirited me away so instantly, and why he’d left those cryptic words behind.
Could he have possessed Holy Power?
That couldn’t be.
The Holy Power of the high priests, including the Pope himself, had nearly vanished, and the rare ordinary priests who did possess it could manage only basic healing—bruises and the like.
There couldn’t possibly be someone I didn’t know of who wielded Holy Power comparable to Leoni’s.
Besides, that man hadn’t even been able to heal his own wounds.
In any case, it was certain that he was a troubling presence, contrary to my first impression.
“What on earth are you thinking about to have such a serious expression?”
“Serious thoughts.”
“How dull.”
That was when it happened.
A knock sounded from beyond the door, and the butler entered cautiously.
“Ah, both of you are here.”
“What is it?”
“An urgent messenger has arrived for the Magician.”
For me?
What messenger could possibly be coming for me?
The butler hurried across the Reception Room and presented me with a silver tray.
And when I saw the letter’s envelope, I lost my composure for a moment.
“Charlotte Schmidt?”
“…It is addressed to me, apparently.”
I picked up the letter with just the tips of my thumb and forefinger and showed it to Kaius.
The envelope bore the seal of the Schmidt Count Family.

***

Charlotte was a tool of the Schmidt Count Family. A tool with clear purpose, one who faithfully carried out orders.
Unfortunately, driven mad by lovelessness and inferiority, she’d caused an accident beyond repair, but until then, Charlotte had dutifully followed the commands of Count and Countess Schmidt.
The Schmidt Count Family had used Charlotte to gain much wealth and profit.
It was almost laughable. Charlotte, called the villainess of high society and the witch of the Capital, had in fact been the sword and shield of the Schmidt Count Family.
So when Count Schmidt neither argued for Charlotte’s execution nor even agreed to disown her, simply consenting to her departure for Luciphenia, I foresaw that a day like this would come.
The letter contained not even the usual courtesies of greeting.
Instead, it held a simple statement of business.
It instructed him to come to the Capital at once, evading the Imperial Court’s gaze, as there was business that required his attention.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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