Chapter 139
RMSBS - Episode 139 . Tracing the Attack (3)
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 .
[MMatch!?]
[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 . ]
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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 .
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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 .
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 . ]
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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… ”
Desir 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