Magic is a profound discipline.
Change the school, and even fellow mages can be utterly ignorant of one another's spells.
So how could Lucian—who didn't even know how to cast a single spell—possibly understand it?
He had merely poked around at random and said something that sounded plausible.
After all, you have to get the other party talking before you can begin an interrogation—or anything else.
"This spell, to begin with—what spell is it supposed to be? Were these bastards really trying to carry out some kind of ritual?"
He prodded the bushes a bit, and something did jump out.
The problem was, he had no idea whether that something was an earthworm or a snake.
With the intention of digging a little deeper, Lucian opened his mouth again.
"Of course, this is only my guess. I'm not a mage either, so I don't know the exact details of the ritual."
He couldn't pretend to know everything, so he subtly left himself an escape route.
If their stories didn't line up, Lucian's bluff would be exposed in an instant.
"So it really was just a trick to fool me!"
As a side effect, the young man's distrust deepened—but that was no real problem.
The other party knew far less about magic than Lucian did.
Lucian spoke in a heavily lowered voice, setting the mood.
"However, the only way to bind together monsters that cannot coexist and make them move on such a massive scale is through black magic. Didn't that mage tell you to set up something to serve as focal points in all directions?"
"…!"
"If that really was the order, then he's a black mage for sure. Unlike ordinary mages, black mages must first corrupt the natural mana in that manner before they can cast their spells."
"T-That can't be!"
The young man's eyes wandered wildly through the empty air.
The installation of those focal points at the mage's request was top-secret information known only to a few within the Imperial Liberation Front.
And yet this man—who had never even set foot near the Yellow Forest—knew of it. How could that be?
"I-If what you're saying is true, then what happens?"
"What do you mean, what happens? I told you earlier. A large-scale sacrificial ritual. I don't know what they intend to perform the ritual for, but—"
"Tell me. Are you planning to wipe us out in exchange for your own lives? Was this really a contract made with full knowledge and consent of the ritual's contents?"
The young man couldn't say a word and lowered his head.
Doubt still lingered.
But if they had all been deceived by the words of a wicked black mage—
if not only he, but even the officers had been led on without knowing anything—
…It must be stopped!
If it were for the liberation of his homeland, he would not begrudge his life.
But dying to satisfy the selfish desires of a black mage would be a pointless death.
Clenching his teeth, the young man raised his head.
"If I tell you the details, can you stop this wicked ritual?"
Lucian nodded toward the young man with a solemn expression.
"I will. I swear it."
"…Hoo."
Letting out a deep sigh, the young man spoke as if he had made up his mind.
And moments later, the information he had kept hidden until now began to spill out.
***
"I don't know much about mages either. But one day, our superiors brought in two mages. They said they were reinforcements."
One looked to be around thirty, while the other appeared to be somewhere between middle-aged and elderly.
Of the two, the younger one introduced himself as being from the Celestial School, while the older one claimed to belong to the Beast School.
"Of course, even after hearing that, we had no way of knowing what those schools actually did. It's hard enough to ever see magic in the first place—how would we understand the structure of their schools?"
"That's only natural."
As if defending himself, the young man spoke hurriedly, and Lucian nodded in agreement.
Perhaps reassured by that reaction, the young man's voice grew a little lighter.
"The mage from the Celestial School didn't really do anything. He said he needed to accumulate power for later, that he had to gather mana. In contrast, the mage who called himself part of the Beast School was very active."
Controlling monsters, carving the totems that would serve as focal points, even deciding where they should be placed—all of it was done by the Beast School mage.
The Celestial School mage did nothing and gave no particular instructions, but the Beast School mage was excessively eager.
Eventually, he even began demanding freshly captured beasts, claiming they were necessary to strengthen his magic.
"When a mage suddenly shows up and starts barking orders, dissatisfaction naturally builds. But since the higher-ups told us to comply with his demands as much as possible, there was nothing we could do."
"So you complied with all of his demands?"
"We had no choice. He said the magic wouldn't work properly without freshly caught beasts."
The Beast School mage repeatedly emphasized that the sacrifices had to be animals—not monsters or humans.
He claimed that without beasts imbued with the energy of nature, the offering would have no real effect.
Though irritated, his comrades swallowed their complaints and went hunting.
Fortunately, after receiving a few animals, the mage seemed greatly satisfied and made no further demands.
"He kept the totems inside the beasts' bellies for several days, then took them out once they were soaked in a vivid red liquid and handed them out. After that, he said it was the most crucial stage of the plan and ordered us to install them at certain locations."
"Then today must have been the day. You were captured on your way back after setting up the totems, weren't you?"
At Lucian's words, the young man fell silent.
He clearly wanted to stop the black mage, but seemed intent on avoiding giving away more information than necessary.
Lucian openly scowled and squatted down in front of him.
"I get that we're enemies and you're wary—but do you really think you can afford to withhold information in a situation like this?"
"You don't know much about magic, and I don't know all that much either. Even if we put everything we know on the table and compare notes, there might still be gaps—and you're choosing what to reveal? Do you truly want to prevent a massacre?"
At that, the young man bit down on his lip until it bled.
He seemed torn between the lingering hope he still had for the 'plan' and the fear that his actions might amount to betrayal.
Lucian waited in silence for him to reach a conclusion.
Saying anything more here would only push him toward shutting his mouth altogether.
After several tense seconds, the young man finally spoke with effort.
"In three days, the mages plan to lead the monsters in an attack on Greve City, behind Bornholm Castle."
"Greve? That's just an ordinary city. The population's dense, sure, but it has virtually no strategic value."
"That's right. It's merely a diversionary attack. Since it's the most populous city in the area, if it's assaulted by a monster horde, Bornholm Castle will have no choice but to send reinforcements. The real objective is Bornholm Castle itself—after the troops have been drawn away."
Raymond, who had been listening quietly, flinched.
He had known they were planning something, but an actual attack on the castle?
Bornholm Castle was widely acknowledged as an impregnable fortress—and these people didn't even have a proper army.
"Even with proper siege weapons it would be difficult. With just a horde of monsters and two mages, is that really possible?"
"The Celestial School mage is supposed to destroy the walls," the young man said. "He claimed he was storing up power for a spell he'd only use for that single day."
The young man's words immediately answered Raymond's doubts.
If the walls were shattered by magic and a flood of monsters poured inside, chaos would be inevitable.
No matter how well-defended the fortress was, its defenses would collapse in the ensuing turmoil.
Once the castle's vigilance was paralyzed, the Liberation Front would be free to rampage and pursue their goals.
"That's all I have to say."
With that, the young man closed his mouth.
Having revealed everything related to the mages, he likely felt there was no need to go any further.
Lucian found that more than sufficient and nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, there won't be any innocent victims."
Despite Lucian's praise, the young man showed no sign of speaking again.
He seemed fully resolved to remain silent.
After concluding the conversation, Lucian stepped away from the bound youth to call for personnel to escort him to the castle.
At the same time, Raymond—who had remained quiet until now—approached with an exclamation.
"That was impressive, young master. When did you ever study magic?"
"What magic?"
"What you said earlier—about installing focal points to contaminate the surrounding mana. This is the first time I've ever heard that black mages use such a method."
"Of course. That's because it's not a method used only by black mages."
"…What?"
"Whether it's a totem or a mark, setting up something that acts as a focal point to amplify magic is a technique mages commonly use. It's not something exclusive to black mages."
Raymond stared at Lucian with a blank expression.
Just a moment ago, hadn't he made it sound like a method only black mages employed?
Reading the doubt on his face, Lucian gave a quiet snort of laughter and replied.
"I threw out a few bluffs to pry information out of him. He never even imagined the possibility of a real black mage. If they think they might be victims themselves, wouldn't they naturally loosen their tongues?"
"Th-Then was all of it a lie?"
"Half of it was. The other half seems to be true."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, there's good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
At Lucian's words, Raymond felt a subtle sense of unease.
They had uncovered the enemy's plans—shouldn't that be nothing but good news?
"I'll hear the good news first."
"That I've figured out the enemy's plan."
"I heard that myself, standing right there."
"I'm not talking about the Imperial Liberation Front's plan. I mean the mages' plan."
What did that mean?
Could it be that the mages had different intentions from the Imperial Liberation Front?
"I'm not sure I understand, but it seems you've uncovered something. We can discuss that later… so what's the bad news?"
Lucian spoke with a wry smile.
"There really is a black mage. This isn't just bluffing. Looks like even the Imperial Liberation Front fell for it."
"…What?"
Lucian immediately had the Imperial Liberation Front prisoner sent to the castle.
At the same time, he summoned Tristan and convened an emergency meeting.
"I interrogated the prisoner briefly before you arrived."
"…I told you again and again not to get involved, yet you went and stirred things up anyway."
Tristan's face twisted into a scowl.
He clearly didn't like Lucian's tendency to make matters bigger than they needed to be.
Seeing Tristan's undisguised displeasure, Lucian merely shrugged.
"You seem annoyed. In that case, I've got even worse news. There's a black mage among the Imperial Liberation Front."
"What did you say?"
"He infiltrated them by masquerading as an unregistered mage, so it seems they don't even realize it themselves yet. You understand what that means, don't you, Brother?"
Tristan fell silent, his expression grave.
Unregistered mages were, at worst, people forced to live in hiding.
If not for the imperial family's pursuit, they would gladly reveal themselves as mages and obtain a proper social standing.
But black mages were different.
They don't care about status or legitimacy—only about sacrifices and victims.
Black mages were beings whose very way of life undermined social order itself.
There was no chance such people would cooperate with the Imperial Liberation Front simply for the sake of political power.
They should be seen as merely using them to obtain what they need.
"The Imperial Liberation Front plans to borrow the power of magic to bring down Bornholm Castle. The black mage is simply going along with that."
"Are they planning to use the residents of Bornholm Castle as sacrifices?"
"Not a chance."
Lucian shook his head at Tristan's guess.
"Bornholm Castle has great strategic value, but it's not a very livable place. Once war breaks out, it becomes the front line. A large portion of the population lives in Greve City, behind the castle."
"But the Imperial Liberation Front wouldn't target Greve City. It's just a city with a large population and nothing else. Once Bornholm Castle falls, it's merely an intermediate point that would collapse immediately."
"From what I hear, they planned to pretend to target it as a diversion. Once reinforcements were dispatched, they intended to strike Bornholm Castle, weakened by the loss of troops."
"…Wait a moment. Let's organize this story."
The Imperial Liberation Front's original objective was to feign an attack on Greve City and then strike Bornholm Castle.
If Bornholm Castle—with its immense strategic value—were devastated, it would deal a severe blow to the Empire, making any other target secondary.
But to a black mage, the attractive target wasn't Bornholm Castle—it was Greve City, with its large population ripe for sacrifice.
And coincidentally, the mages planned to send the monsters to Greve City first as part of the diversion, then regroup afterward.
"The black mage intends to use the Imperial Liberation Front to harvest sacrifices in Greve City—and then slip away."
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