Chapter 180 – The Origin of the Magicians

“Ugh… grr…”

Lionel groaned and slightly opened his eyes.

“Da… damn it…”

When he realized he was restrained, he gritted his teeth and cursed.

He looked around with a suspicious expression. Perhaps he couldn’t understand why he was still alive. Donovan remained bound in a cross-legged position with his eyes closed, apparently trying to signal he had no intention of speaking.

From my perspective, Lionel seemed easier to handle than Donovan…

“Now then. I have some questions.”

“…I got nothin’ to say to you.”

When I asked, Lionel averted his gaze with a sulky expression.

“Well, fine. I’ll ask anyway. Who ordered you to attempt piracy?”

“Huh? …What are you talking about?”

Lionel frowned.

Well, I expected he might try to play dumb like this.

“Unfortunately, I’ve heard you need to report your failure.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. More importantly, you don’t actually think you can neutralize a magician just by tying up their limbs, do you?”

Lionel smiled faintly. Right. Capturing magicians is difficult.

Whether it’s chantless magic or magic circles, even if their limbs are restrained, they have means to retaliate. This is especially true for those who are prepared to die whether they resist, get captured, or get killed. We even have to consider the possibility of them attempting suicide with magic.

But—whether he tried to resist or commit suicide, nothing happened. As he began to comprehend the situation, Lionel’s eyes widened with shock.

“Seems like your magic is sealed. Mine didn’t work either.”

“It’s not Subjugation Magic…? Don’t tell me… a sealing curse…?”

“Lionel!”

Donovan’s sharp reprimand. Lionel seemed to realize his mistake and fell silent, but it was too late.

“…I see. You came from Silvatoria, didn’t you?”

I probed further, but got no response. This time, both of them had truly fallen silent. Well, I didn’t really need to probe anymore anyway.

The spell formula for magic sealing, the Light Magic Sealing Magic, was one of the legacies Mother left behind.

It’s quite an inconvenient magic in many ways—the effect duration is relatively short, it requires physical contact to use, and its interference power is so weak it won’t work unless the target is unconscious… But once it takes effect, it can neutralize a magician for a while like this.

They knew about the true nature of magic sealing. And if they wanted to hide that knowledge itself… well, I could infer they had some connection to Silvatoria.

So from my perspective, this was a mistake on both their parts—Lionel for reacting and Donovan for reprimanding him.

After this, we’ll transport them to the labyrinth, use Subjugation Magic to prevent suicide or retaliation, then extract information through the combination of Magical Inquisition and Magic Potions.

But Silvatoria, huh? What benefit would that country gain by meddling with Verdgar? …Is this the country’s intention, or someone acting on their own authority? Investigating that here and now seems somewhat difficult.

“What the hell is this!? Hey! Have some mercy!”

We rolled the restrained thieves into the magic array Claudia had deployed.

Some who were still conscious screamed, but we weren’t actually harming them. I had no obligation to explain anything to them.

“That’s everyone.”

At Grace’s words, I confirmed through the communication device.

‘Enemy base secured. Will transport the two lead magicians with their magic sealed, so please arrange for Subjugation Magic. There seems to be something behind this, so I’ll report in person after returning.’

After sending the message, I immediately received a reply from Mercedes.

‘Understood. We’re ready anytime on our end.’

“…Good. Seems like there are no problems.”

“Then I’ll begin the transfer.”

With Claudia’s words, pillars of light rose from the magic array—and when they subsided, the thieves had completely vanished.

There were other items in the hideout that appeared to be spoils from their thieving activities… but we’ll leave processing these to the Knight Order and soldiers.

“Well then… let’s return to town.”

After this, we just need to brief the Knight Order and return to Termwills with Mihaela and Cecilia.

It was supposed to be a day trip, but… those two probably have various preparations to make, so we might end up staying in town.

—Or so I thought, but when we returned to town, Mihaela and the others were completely prepared. Apparently, while we were attacking the base, they had made all the preparations to head to Termwills.

Their efficiency was quite welcome.

After briefing the Knight Order and completing various tasks, we returned to Termwills.

First, I needed to report to the Royal Castle. If those guys came from Silvatoria, I couldn’t exactly treat it as someone else’s problem.

“This has been quite the ordeal again. Nevertheless, thanks to you, we seem to have prevented a major incident. You have my gratitude.”

King Melvin, who I met in the salon, smiled wryly.

“Not at all. Personally, I’d feel uncomfortable if my benefactor’s hometown suffered misfortune.”

“Hmm. Now, you mentioned there might be something behind those individuals—have you uncovered anything?”

“Not exactly uncovered, but—”

I told him about the information about Silvatoria I received from Guild Master Auria and about the techniques Mother left behind. On top of that, I conveyed that someone from Silvatoria might be moving.

I have nothing to feel guilty about, and it’s true that I don’t know about Mother’s origins. In that case, it’s better to disclose information myself to avoid misunderstandings and gain their understanding.

“Silvatoria, huh… I thought we had maintained reasonably good relations with that country.”

After hearing me out, King Melvin made a sour face. Apparently, even from King Melvin’s perspective, he couldn’t find any reason why Silvatoria would engage in sabotage.

Either way, even if we extract testimony from Donovan and Lionel, they probably won’t admit any involvement.

“Nowhere is completely unified. If the Silvatorian royal family is trustworthy, then it could be the scheme of some noble or major merchant.”

“Indeed. Anyway, as for me, I’ve been able to make some reasonable guesses about your and the Saint’s backgrounds, and some things have fallen into place. If you’re from that country, then your magical prowess makes sense.”

King Melvin laughed cheerfully.

“My apologies. Based only on what Auria-sama told me, there were things I couldn’t really say either.”

“I imagine so. If there was a reason for leaving one’s homeland, keeping it to oneself would be best. Precisely because one loves their husband and child, there would be things they couldn’t speak of.”

I closed my eyes at King Melvin’s words. Precisely because of love. Indeed, that might be true.

“However, that country has some political instability. Unlike here, they say the Crown Prince is a tyrant, which is quite troublesome. The future seems somewhat uncertain.”

“The Crown Prince, you say…”

“Nothing conclusive yet… but if they were driven from their country by a political upheaval, it’s highly likely they suffered the consequences of that Crown Prince’s tyranny.”

That aspect… will probably become clear through future interrogations.

“Given the circumstances of this incident, it probably wasn’t specifically targeting you. Regarding your connection to Silvatoria, I’ll keep it to myself, and as for me, I’ll do my best to ensure no trouble comes to you. I’d be troubled if they used past connections as leverage to recruit you to Silvatoria now.”

“Of course.”

I smiled wryly at King Melvin’s mischievous grin.

As King Melvin and Auria speculated, the assumption that they left Silvatoria due to political upheaval is plausible… but either way, we don’t have enough information to make a judgment at this point.

Well… for now, I’ll leave these matters to King Melvin and focus on my own work. First, as planned, I need to start with renovating the house. Information from Donovan and the others will probably come out eventually.