In order to better manage the construction and distribution of mana circuits, there’s just one factory that produces them..
With how late it was, the factory would normally be stark empty. Instead, a keen eye could discern a pair of shadows strolling around the compound. Naturally, it was Desir and Pram.
They had hidden their faces with masks and concealed their tracks as much as possible with recognition reduction magic as well soundproof magic.
[While I understand that this is the best method, why did Desir choose me instead of Romantica or Adjest?]
Remaining as cautious as possible, they only conversed through the texting feature on their communication pads.
[First of all, we’re the perfect match. You and me.]
Pram abruptly came to a stop.
[Ma-Match!?]
[Yes. You’re a swordsman and I am a magician. It’s the perfect combination to fight any enemy.]
[… I guess so.]
[What did you think I meant?]
Resuming their previous pace, they soon found themselves face-to-face with a giant door, warded by nearly a dozen security spells.
[One second.]
Desir touched the door with his hand. Within moments, all of the techniques protecting the door started shining little by little before shattering and scattering like snowflakes.
Desir’s spell inversion incapacitated the security in less than 10 seconds. If the wizards who placed those spells were present, they wouldn’t be able to believe their eyes. With the obstructions dealt with, the door simply swung open.
Unfortunately, their path was barred with more than just the few measly security spells set up on the door. Although every trap and barrier was meant to block intruders from entering, Desir was able to thoroughly disarm and destroy them as they steadily pushed forward.
Pram typed out a message that made his disappointment known.
[This is pretty sloppy for a state-managed facility…]
[This would have been reasonably secure back then, all things considered.]
This factory was fitted with state of the art devices and techniques. It would have been nearly impossible to intrude, even with decent skills.
However, that was if you judged it based on the standard of that time.
‘The problem is that these techniques are so old-fashioned by today’s standards.’
This technology was over 100 years old.
Whether it was cutting edge or mainstream for its time did not matter much; when compared to modern magic techniques, the defenses set up were more obnoxious than effective.
Above all things, Desir’s true talent lay in the field of spell inversion. No magical security system was able to demonstrate even a fraction of its capability against Desir.
‘If they had used physical security systems too, I wouldn’t have broken through this as easily as I had.’
Encountering physical defenses would have drastically slowed Desir down. That was why he had chosen to bring Pram with him, but since there had yet to be any, Pram did little more than walk beside Desir.
‘Such a one-dimensional defense… If only the Magic Kingdom had an ounce of humility. ’
The Magic Kingdom’s anti-magic bigotry was their theoretical downfall. Their misplaced pride in being the leaders of magical engineering left them completely vulnerable to someone who specialized in deconstructing magic.
Their arrogance and vanity allowed Desir to force his way through easily.
[This way, Pram.]
The purely magical security system had ended up backfiring completely. It was completely dismantled by Desir and also happened to give him a massive lead on where to find what he was looking for.
By deliberately taking the path protected by stronger security spells, it wasn’t too long before they found themselves in a room filled with thousands of bookcases spaced out length-ways. Each shelf housed documents that appeared to be the records on delivered mana circuits.
Desir and Pram started searching for their serial number, scanning each book page by page.
[I found it, Desir.]
Thanks to the documents being properly sorted and classified, it took them a lot less time than expected to locate the serial numbers, matching what they had, in a book.
The last digit of the serial number found on their mana circuit had been worn away. While this greatly narrowed down the scope of their search, it meant there would probably still be quite a few circuit boards that matched their search criteria.
Fortunately, their final list consisted of four people in total.
3-BYET1: Krue Panier, 27 years old, Lord of the Panier Province.
3-BYET2: Feuni Raffelraff, 45 years old, Army of Sun-Frost-Light.
3-BYET3: Kefsi Jen 31 years old and Loka Tropias 32 years old, Trading Conglomerate.
3-BYET4: Lan Pjen Akenios 88 years old, magician of Society Five.
Desir recorded their details into his communication pad.
They then swiftly retreated to minimize their chance of being detected. While doing so, Desir didn’t neglect to restore all the security systems he had disabled or destroyed on his way in.
The chance of being caught was now incredibly low.
* * *
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With their now narrowed list of suspects that had purchased the mana circuit obtained from Pureus’s lab, they could afford to properly investigate the four remaining suspects.
It was certain that one of these people had given the mana circuit to Pureus, even though it was a tightly controlled export.
Knowing who this person was would surely be helpful in clearing the quest.
“Let’s each investigate one of these people.”
Desir’s party decided to split up and start simultaneously investigating the suspects.
Desir was in charge of Lan Pjen Akenios, a magician of Society Five. He was a complete recluse, never leaving the lab that he was director of. His diligent focus on research was admirable.
This situation certainly increased the difficulty of any normal investigation. Realizing this, Desir obtained a job in the lab after demonstrating his strength in numeracy. Desir needed to become the direct assistant of Lan Pjen Akenios in order to have even a chance at observing him closely, so in order to make this happen, he kicked out the previous assistant and took his place.
After close observation, he determined that Lan Pjen Akenios was innocent. He saw the mana circuit matching the serial number recorded in the book from the factory firsthand, making it impossible for that circuit to be the one supplied to Pureus.
“OK, time for our regular report.”
Desir contacted his party via his communication pad at the time they had pre-arranged.
The first response was from Romantica.
[Panier Province seems like a normal province. I’ve found nothing special here.]
Romantica monitored every action of this Krue Panier using detection and wiretap magic, before concluding that he was innocent.
The two people that Adjest and Pram observed were also not the one they were looking for.
[I checked the serial number of their mana circuit, but it matched what was listed.]
[Mine too.]
There was no outcome whatsoever. However, they couldn’t just accept this outcome. They started discussing the direction of the investigation moving forward.
[One moment. Be quiet everyone.]
Romantica’s demand stopped the conversation.
[What’s wrong?]
[I’m going to revise the report I just submitted. I think I have the answer. I’ll send through a live video feed, so take a look at it.]
Desir stared at his communication pad. The screen made some static noise before clearing up and playing the video feed.
Desir grinned after seeing it.
Krue Panier and someone else were talking, and that person was someone Desir recognized.
It was Commander Darren Aleph, the Fifth-circle magician who had ‘greeted’ them at the landing dock.
[I’ll do some wiretap magic.]
[He’s an excellent magician. Be very careful not to get caught.]
[Just leave it to me!]
Boastful Romantica invoked wiretap magic very, very cautiously. After training with Desir, her magical prowess had reached the stage of magnificence. Darren had no chance of detecting Romantica’s spell.
“Is the research going well?”
“Unfortunately, there’s been no progress. The research that was running in the Desert Flower City was nearly completed, but the lab was destroyed due to an unsavory incident. A new lab is being prepared now.”
“On the land you told me to buy last time?”
“Yes. The reason why I came here today is that I need some more ingredients to restart the research.”
“We’re almost at the breaking point for pocketing mana circuits. Anything more than this will be discovered by the investigator.”
“Don’t worry about the investigators. They’re already our people. What you’re worrying about is not going to happen.”
“That’s a relief… Commander, I need you to hurry up a little bit more. There isn’t much time left for my daughter.”
“You don’t have to rush. I was going to do that anyway. You’re not the only one waiting for the completion of this research. The theory is already completed, and all that’s left is the execution. If you provide me with the ingredients correctly, I will meet the deadline without any problem.”
“I believe in you, Colonel.”
Krue went away for a while and brought out mana circuits from somewhere before handing them over to Darren. These were probably freshly made mana circuits.
Darren left immediately afterwards.
Romantica broke the silence.
[What are you going to do, Desir?]
“That man is related to the attack… ”
Des1r interjected.
“Wait right there Romantica. I’ll get ready and meet you over there.”
—-
Chapter brought to you by Kevin K.
???: …
ED2: Purplemen101
TLC: N/A (this could be you!)
QC: Dr Lock
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