Chapter 55
Chapter 55
◈ Chapter 55: K. K
"Hmm, Mago. You're being brutally honest."
"I'll train harder. Next time we meet, I'll make sure I can cut your head clean off."
"And where exactly could you possibly train further? Your body's already pushed to its limit."
Kinzo raised an eyebrow.
"It's not my body I'm training. It's Lake."
"Its duration?"
"Exactly. I'm going to train until I can keep my eyes closed for a full twenty-four hours—including the time I'm asleep."
Back before they'd set out from Venus to the Special Forces headquarters, the Knight Commander had come looking for him.
"Mago..."
"Sir."
"I didn't expect you to lash out like that when I asked you to accept the Imperial Knight Order's wishes."
The old man had clearly come to pick a fight over what happened then.
"Is that why you accepted my deal?"
If Simena had been honest, he would've said yes. But there was no way in hell he was going to admit that out loud.
"As I told you before, didn't you say it would only take one time? And I never promised I'd actually follow through."
"Now listen here, Mag—"
"You got more to say to Mago? If you do, say it to me instead."
Captain Simena stepped in from behind, his voice sharp.
"Simena, don't glare at me like that. I'm here to keep my promise, aren't I?"
The Knight Commander reached into his inner pocket and began fishing around.
It was an old scroll.
"Take it. It's a map marked with the Mana Gathering Place. I've got nothing more to say to you."
He shoved the scroll into Mago's hand and walked away without another word.
"That bastard's really losing it. Maybe it's because he has to step down as Division Commander next month... Can't even muster a proper rage anymore. Pathetic. Boring as hell."
Captain Simena muttered under his breath.
"Captain Simena, then who's the next Knight Commander...?"
"Marjelo's old training buddy. Rumor has it he's off training at some waterfall god knows where now. Don't know the details."
Of course, Mago already knew who the next Knight Commander was.
That traitor.
Not that he'd asked, anyway.
He untied the cord binding the scroll.
The map was basically a standard imperial chart.
Beyond the empire's borders, everything was obscured by mist-like illustrations.
Only the empire itself was visible.
A circle marking stood out immediately.
The Mana Gathering Place.
Below each circle, a small drawing indicated what kind of natural environment it was—making it easy to identify at a glance.
Deserts were drawn as deserts.
Oceans as oceans.
Lakes as lakes.
The lake symbol was located on the western side of the empire.
Cold water cascading down from a waterfall, feeding into the lake.
The lake's collected waters spilled downward, feeding into the sea.
And on that sea, drawn in the map's detail, sat a kingdom.
A kingdom within the sea.
He spotted a small notation: Atlantis.
Mago folded the scroll and tucked it inside his coat.
"I meant to thank him, but he's already gone."
"Yeah. Let's get going, too."
Back inside the wagon, heading toward headquarters.
"That map... so those are the Mana Gathering Places," Simena said.
"But who drew it?"
"I'd wager one of the Knight Order's mages."
"Didn't know we had anyone that bored in the Order. Kinzo, you ever seen a map like that?"
"Yes. But the one I saw was an Akuella edition. I actually visited two of those sites during a university course. This is the first time I've seen the empire's version."
"Mago. You said you'd train your magic at the lake among those marked on the map, right?"
"Yes, Captain."
"And your goal is to keep your eyes shut for a whole day?"
"Long enough to forget the color of my own eyes."
"Now that's ambitious."
"Will you approve it?"
"Fine... We're aiming to strengthen our forces, so go ahead..."
He didn't look thrilled about it.
"It'd be ridiculous for a Captain to be ordering around another Captain's business. So go."
The verdict came down as approval.
"Thank you."
"But even if you extend that Detection Magic of yours—'Lake'—to an unlimited duration, do you think it'll let you beat her?"
"That's..."
"I'm asking if what you really need is more time. You already beat Madam Anne without even using the full fifteen minutes. I'd say finding another angle to win would be faster."
"Still, I think removing the constraint first is the priority. As I said, I don't want to be at the mercy of the weather anymore."
"You're the one who insisted we need to recapture the Capital. You're the one with the Magic Tool. And we need you for the revolver production. I don't care about the Joint Training, but you must be back before the Capital Recapture Operation."
"Yes, sir."
"We'll be redeploying the Special Forces in the meantime. When you return, I expect you to show the leadership worthy of a Captain."
"Yes, I understand."
"And—"
Before he could finish,
the wagon lurched violently.
It had come to an abrupt halt.
So sudden it felt like they'd hit an obstacle.
Mago was just beginning to wonder if something was wrong outside when—
"Ca—Captain Simena! You need to see this."
It was the wagon driver's voice.
Simena was the first to step out of the passenger compartment.
He surveyed the situation outside, then muttered a single word.
"Everyone out."
Simena's voice dropped low, and it cut through the air like a blade.
The three of us waiting inside the passenger compartment—Mago, Kinzo, and Marjelo—stepped off the wagon in turn.
The carriage, which had been heading straight for headquarters, had slammed to a halt in the middle of the city.
A crowd had bunched up in the road, blocking their path.
They were all murmuring, staring down at something.
One of them spotted Simena.
"Ca—Captain Simena..."
He waved his hand, calling him over.
His voice seemed desperate for him to come see.
But the frantic waving of his hand also looked like he was telling them to stay away.
He couldn't decide what to do with himself.
"Captain Simena...!"
Others turned around one by one.
Then they cleared a path for Simena.
Mago followed close behind.
As the crowd split open, the object of their attention came into view.
A man.
A soldier in a black uniform.
His hair was cropped short.
A sparse beard dotted his jaw.
Below that, his neck was severed.
Crimson-black blood had pooled out.
The insignia on his chest read a single digit: 9.
His dog tag had slipped out of his uniform, and the name engraved on it was clear.
K. K.
Karasuma Ken.
"Captain Karasuma...?"
The words slipped out of Mago's mouth on their own.
Simena crouched down and examined the body.
His hands moved without hesitation, but his eyes burned with fury.
Marjelo, on the other hand, didn't show the slightest change in expression.
If anything, her cold composure felt almost savage.
"Karasuma...!"
Simena's voice cracked into a cry.
Mago remembered the last conversation he'd had with Karasuma.
He'd said he hadn't taken a single day off in six months.
Hadn't even gone out once.
"Damn it..."
There was no way to stop it.
In his past life, Mago hadn't been part of the Special Forces. He'd never even known a man named Karasuma Ken existed.
This was a tragedy he couldn't have predicted.
*
"Mago. Do you remember me telling you that Karasuma needed to stay at headquarters?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Karasuma was investigating a spy. That's why he couldn't leave headquarters."
"A spy, you say...?"
"Kinzo."
"Yes."
"Explain it to Mago."
"Mago, you know the story. What happened at the training grounds during the fourth exam. The orc model that had a real sword hidden inside it."
Mago knew exactly what that was.
It was his doing.
But Kinzo was still under the impression it was the work of a spy hiding among the 66th class trainees.
And apparently, he'd passed that assumption on to Simena.
Never mind that the real culprit was standing right here.
"We never found out who did it. Captain Karasuma was handling that case."
"Right. But he didn't make any meaningful progress. Not until he died, at least."
Simena lowered his head and muttered quietly.
"He was killed because he got too close to the truth..."
It was the only logical conclusion.
Karasuma wasn't the kind of man who'd go down easily unless he was ambushed.
Kinzo might have been mistaken about a spy existing, but in reality—
There really could be a spy in the Imperial Army.
Someone who had to kill Karasuma Ken.
"Kinzo, I think you should carry on where he left off. Honor his work."
"Yes, understood."
"From what I can tell from the body, it was a sword wound. Based on the blood spatter, it was a horizontal slash from left to right. The killer is most likely left-handed. Blood on Karasuma's hands suggests he fought back. Time of death is between four and six hours ago. That puts it last night."
"He died right in the middle of the city. How could his body have been left there for that long? It feels like it was hidden somewhere until we arrived, then put on display."
"Exactly, Marjelo. That's the strangest part. The fact that there were no witnesses before now."
Simena made his decision.
"Recall every member of the Special Forces. I want a report on where everyone was last night."
"Captain Simena...!"
At that moment, a citizen called out to him.
Simena looked up.
"You—you need to come see this."
The man beckoned frantically.
Simena straightened his knees, rising from his crouch.
The rest of them followed.
The citizen led them to a wall.
Just an ordinary wall.
But scrawled across it was writing.
Written in blood.
It read:
[The waves will soon calm down]
"What does that mean?"
Marjelo spoke first.
She ran her fingers along the wall, searching for any other markings.
"Waves... 'Waves'? That's too vague."
Kinzo, as always, pressed his fingers to his chin and brooded.
"Was this marking here from the start?"
Simena asked the citizen.
"No, no, it wasn't. It was covered with a cloth until just a little while ago."
"A cloth?"
"Yes. Yesterday, the wall was blank... but today I saw this suspicious cloth draped over it, so I pulled it away, and there it was..."
"Hmm, I see."
He turned to Kinzo.
"Kinzo?"
"Nothing comes to mind yet."
"Mago, what about you?"
"It's dangerous."
"Huh? Dangerous how?"
"It's not wave. It's ripple."
"A ripple?"
"You could read it as 'wave' – that's the common reading. But it also means 'ripple' or 'vibration.'"
"That's right...!"
Kinzo slapped his palm.
"If we read it as a compound word, it becomes:"
[The ripples will soon calm down]
"Which means exactly that. And that implies..."
"Mago, it's as if someone knows the limits of your Lake..."
"Which is why it's dangerous. Not just anyone—me. Captain Simena, you said Karasuma died because he got too close to the truth. It seems the spy Karasuma uncovered also knew my weakness."
"Then we can narrow down the suspects. Mago, who knows about your Lake?"
"Unfortunately, quite a lot of people. First, several of my 66th Class comrades. In the Knight Order alone, I know of two: one member and the Division Commander. Plus the instructors at the First Training Center. And they may have passed it on by word of mouth, so narrowing it down will be difficult."
"Why the hell did you go around blabbing about it...?"
"Sorry. I mentioned it at the training grounds. The rumor spreading is my fault."
Kinzo stepped in to apologize on his behalf.
"At the time, I was trying to win the exam..."
"Mago, we don't have time for this. You need to head to that place on the map immediately and extend the duration of Lake."
Simena's attitude had done a complete about-face. Just moments ago, he'd doubted whether extending the duration was even necessary.
"Eliminate your weakness."
"But—"
"As I said, Kinzo will handle the investigation. He was the one who first suspected the spy's existence in the first place. Leave it to your comrade."
"Yeah, Mago. I'll take care of it."
"It's not that I don't trust you, but..."
"Mago, time is of the essence."
Simena stepped forward, pushing him.
"Then... I'll be back as quickly as possible."
"You'd better."