Chapter 192: Ergotism (4)

"Phew..."

Lohengrin Headquarters, the Chairman's Office.

Chairman Beidel looked at the single Document placed on the Desk and swept his chest in relief.

[The Capital 15th Knight Order expresses its gratitude for the Lohengrin Trading Company's active cooperation in the Eradication of Black Sorcerers.]

The Knight Order arrested three directors as accomplices, just as promised.

The Secret Laboratory in the Southern Region was eradicated by the Inquisitors.

A single Official document arriving in this situation.

The meaning of this Official document was clear.

— "We will now overlook the trading company's Crime."

The Scapegoating was a Success.

The Chairman, who had been on pins and needles until this Official document arrived, could finally bury his body into the armchair.

"It's all over. Perfect."

Beidel pulled his worn-down Fingernails away from his lips.

He dropped a Potion drop onto his bloody finger.

"Ugh...!"

The wound sizzled as new flesh sprouted.

From the Pain that came as a Price, the Chairman shed a few tears.

Even though it was a Product of his own trading company, he still couldn't build any Adaptation to the Pain the Potion delivered.

Soon, only a gross Scar remained on the Chairman's finger.

Thinking that it was a Scar that wouldn't have remained with a Minor Heal, the Chairman couldn't help but let out a hollow chuckle.

It was because this Scar seemed to tell of his current situation.

'The Scar is big this time.'

The Price of the sacrificed directors' Lives was bitter.

The plummeted Stocks were also painfully bitter.

It was a loss significant enough to leave a Scar on the century-old prestigious Lohengrin.

But a Scar was just a Scar.

What was important to the Chairman was the fact that he had survived.

'This is what experience is, you Greenhorns.'

The Chairman recalled the numerous people who had attacked him.

Journalists, Healers, Inquisitors.

Among them, The Black Saint was also included.

'Clumsy fools stubbornly cling to the truth in the face of crisis and fail to cut the general's neck.'

Beidel lifted his Teacup, celebrating his own response in a deep Sense of relief.

Thanks to all the safety measures he had prepared just in case working properly, he was able to safely pass this incident.

Now, all he had to do was appease the Shareholders and slowly work on the Reconstruction of the trading company.

Slam!

However, that Peace did not even last ten minutes.

"C-Chairman! We have a huge problem!"

The Secretary rushed in, bursting the Office door open with a pale face.

"The Stock price! The Stock price is plummeting again! At a speed incomparable to yesterday!"

"It doesn't matter. As long as we preserve the Great Nobles..."

"Those Great Nobles are doing a full Disposal of their Stocks!"

At those words, the Chairman's composure shattered immediately.

"What? What are you talking about! The Knight Order sent an Official document absolving us, so why is the Stock price dropping!"

That couldn't be.

There was no way the Nobles, who had established their own way of speaking, wouldn't know the meaning of this Official document.

"I-I don't know! But the Representatives sent by the Great Nobles have flocked to the front of the trading company!!"

The Chairman hurriedly ran to the window.

The front of the Headquarters.

Numerous people were shouting with bloodshot eyes.

"I said I'm selling right now! The Master said the price doesn't matter, just sell it all!"

"A Message from the Marquis! He said he expects nothing from you bastards!"

They were all faces the Chairman knew.

Because they were brokers or butlers of the Great Nobles.

Since they were Representatives acting for the trading company's most important Customers, the number of times he had shared a Mealtime with them couldn't be counted on two hands.

Such people were in a panic, trying to cut ties with the trading company.

Beidel's pupils shook as if an Earthquake had occurred.

He couldn't understand why.

The Scapegoating was a Success, and the Judicial System risk was settled.

On the surface, everything ended perfectly, so why on earth?

It was when the Chairman was faltering in confusion.

Slam!

Once again, someone threw the Chairman's Office door open.

"Beidel!"

The one who barged in was a Great Noble, Count Harbeck.

But his appearance was strange.

His usual shrewd and full of Dignity appearance was nowhere to be found.

Instead, in that spot was a haggard old man covered in sweat, looking like a beast that had lost its reason.

The Count strode over and grabbed the Chairman by the collar.

"Ghk! C-Count! What is the meaning of this...!"

"You stupid fool...!"

The Secretary, not wanting to get caught in the Count's anger, sneakily left the room.

The Count shook the Chairman, who was left alone in the Chairman's Office, by the collar.

Beidel tried to shake off his hand.

But even if the opponent was an old man, he was a 5th Rank Superhuman.

There was no way a Guild Master, who was merely a Civilian, could put up any Resistance.

"Gah...! Urgh!"

"You bug-like scum...!"

"Th-Then, what words are you..."

"Do you even know what Taboo you bastards dared to break!"

Splattering spit from the Count's mouth wet Beidel's face.

Beidel replied in a panic.

"The Scapegoating was already a Success. The Knight Order also decided to overlook the Taboo of Black magic. What on earth is the problem?"

"That's not it!"

The Count screamed viciously.

"The Taboo of Black magic isn't the real Taboo! It's something clueless Greenhorns made up on their own!"

"Yes?"

"The Taboo put forth by His Majesty the Emperor has been only one from the past until now!"

Beidel just blinked his eyes.

He couldn't understand what the Count was talking about at all.

But the Count just continued to spit out words only he understood.

"You! You...! Baba Yaga...!"

Baba Yaga?

Why was the Demonkin that was already subjected to Subjugation 200 years ago being brought up here?

The Chairman's Doubt deepened further.

But the Count stopped speaking and roughly clicked his tongue.

As if even the Time to explain was a waste, he threw Beidel aside.

And then he frantically began to ransack the Safe in a corner of the Office.

"Fire! Bring fire! We must burn all the Contracts with me left in this trading company right now!"

The Count roughly smashed the Safe door, even using his Fighting Aura.

The Count's hands were trembling as if he were being chased by something.

What on earth was the Count so afraid of?

It was when Beidel stood blankly, unable to understand the scene.

Flap.

A Moth flew in through the open crack in the window.

The Moth, fluttering dizzyingly around the room, soon threw its body toward the candle on the Desk.

The small wings shriveled up in the Flame.

The blackened remains of the Moth fell onto the Desk, harboring an Ember.

Those small sparks ignited a Flame among the Dummy of Documents scattered on the Desk.

"Ah!"

Startled, Beidel instinctively reached out to put out the fire.

But before he could do anything, the Flame swallowed the Desk in an instant.

At that moment, Count Harbeck's Movement, which had been frantically tearing and burning Documents, froze like a stone statue.

The Count's gaze slowly turned to the corner.

The Chairman's gaze belatedly turned in that direction.

On the opposite side of the burning Desk, next to the elongated shadows of the two.

A corner untouched by light.

The shadow folded up neatly, taking the shape of a person.

A man walked out soundlessly from within that shadow.

It was a man with a Cigarette in his mouth.

Wearing a Cape that diagonally covered one Shoulder, dressed in dark attire reminiscent of Mourning clothes.

He stared blankly at the burning Dummy of Documents before opening his mouth.

"You chased a golden light you shouldn't have desired."

The gazes of the panicking Chairman and the frozen Count were fixed on the man.

Feeling their gazes, the man's hollow pupils turned to the faces of the two.

"A Moth cannot choose the fire that will burn it. It is a being born with such a blind Will, lacking the freedom to defy it on its own."

Tap, tap.

Amidst the sound of burning Documents.

The sound of the man's Dress shoes heels echoed through the room.

"Therefore, I will not include your Lives in the calculation for this fluttering of wings."

The man leaned over the burning Desk.

Above the burning Desk.

The Cigarette in the man's mouth lit up without passing through the man's hands.

Taking a drag of the smoke, the man spoke calmly.

"However, I will take your wings."

Huuu.

At the acrid smell of Cigarette smoke, Beidel finally snapped out of it.

He urgently tried to pat down the flames.

"Ah, hot!"

But the fire that had already spread was not at a level he could do anything about.

His palms burned red.

While he grabbed his hands and stepped back, the man pulled a Pistol from his coat.

Bang! Bang!

Just two Gunshots.

"Gyaaaah!"

Beidel's scream echoing out as if in Reciprocation.

Chairman Beidel collapsed forward.

The blood flowing from his knees formed a Puddle on the floor.

The Chairman crawled on the floor, bleeding.

Meanwhile, the man inhaled the Cigarette smoke deeply.

The Count somehow got an Impression akin to Mourning from the way he slowly let the smoke flow out.

The man looked down at the Chairman and took the Cigarette from his mouth.

"Could a Moth that lost its wings be said to have more value than a silkworm spinning thread?"

The backlight of the burning Dummy of Documents faintly illuminated the apathetic Outline of the Executioner's profile.

Cold sweat poured down like rain from Count Harbeck's Forehead.

Only after practically washing his face with cold sweat was the Count barely able to part his lips.

"E-Executioner...!"

With a trembling voice, the Count barely spoke.

Trembling his Lower Jaw, he poured out facts he hadn't even been asked about.

"I know nothing. I mean it. I had absolutely no Involvement in this trading company hiring Witches from the 13th Magic Tower. I couldn't even imagine that the Witches would try to birth a Godmother with Medicine!"

The man called the Executioner nodded calmly.

"I came knowing that."

He slightly lifted the Cigarette at his Fingertips.

"Since I knew, didn't I only bring one Cigarette?"

He lowered his gaze with emotionless eyes.

Chairman Beidel, who had been crawling on the ground, had already lost consciousness from the Pain.

The eyes of the Executioner looking at the Chairman's back were filled with gloom.

"I know that neither you, nor this man... knew anything about the truly deep inner workings. How could foolish capitalists have known? That Witches would commit such a massive act under the guise of a New Medicine to bring about the Advent of their 'Godmother'. In a way, it would be right to call this a Misfortune-filled Accident for you all."

He let out a faint Sigh.

The Executioner's gaze touched the Count again.

"What is stained on your wings is just a shallow layer of soot. You just have to brush it off."

At those words, a Healthy complexion returned to the Count's face.

He lived.

Only the fact that he could escape this hellish place dominated his mind.

At this, the Count even forgot the fact that they were in the middle of a conversation and sneakily turned his steps toward the door.

At that split second.

"I understand you canceled your entire Schedule today, so where are you going so hurriedly?"

The Executioner's Voice caught the Count's ankle.

The Count froze right in his spot.

The Executioner slowly burned his Cigarette as if it were a waste.

As if keeping pace with the burning speed of the Cigarette, the Executioner's Voice was also slow.

"However, Count Harbeck. Even though you had guessed it, you aided and abetted them."

"......!"

"You guessed that Lohengrin might have hired Black Sorcerers, maybe even Witches... but didn't you deliberately avoid an Investigation for the sake of Profit?"

The Count couldn't say any words.

He merely dropped his head with his mouth tightly shut.

"You have forsaken your Duty to be free."

The moment those words fell.

Without an inch of hesitation, Count Harbeck drew a Sword from his Cane.

Slash!

"Kuuugh...!"

The Count chewed back a terrible scream as he completely severed his own left arm below the Shoulder.

The severed arm fell with a thud.

The Count poured a Hemostatic Potion placed in the corner of the Chairman's Office over the Amputation surface.

As if to show he had no Intention of ever reviving that arm.

"Hah... Hah..."

Sweating cold sweat, the Count barely asked.

"With this much... could it be considered... that I've brushed off the soot on my wings?"

The Executioner nodded.

"Perhaps because you're someone who has had a Private meeting with His Majesty, you are indeed bright about reasoning."

The Count had no way of knowing if that tone was praise or Ridicule.

Nor did he want to know.

Before long, the Executioner, who had smoked the whole piece, casually tossed the remaining Cigarette butt onto the burning Dummy of Documents.

The flames had already swallowed the Desk.

However, it didn't stop there and was fiercely climbing up the luxurious Wall of the Chairman's Office.

"As for the fainted Chairman, you should take him out, Count."

The Count nodded.

The Executioner turned his back only after seeing the Count hoist the collapsed Chairman onto his back.

And he slowly walked toward the Wall where the flames were burning.

Then suddenly, he left some words like advice for the Count.

"Even if you know the Taboo perfectly well, precariously hanging out with those who had broken the Taboo once was not a very wise action. There's no way you couldn't distinguish between closing your eyes and being blind."

With those words as the end.

The man's figure disappeared, as if seeping into the surging flames.

Into the wavering flames, the shadow of the black Cape smoothly melted away like smoke and disappeared.

The Count hastily exited the Chairman's Office only after confirming this to the end.

*

And the next day.

A massive breaking news article was printed on the front page of every Morning Newspaper in the Empire.

『Lohengrin Headquarters, burned down in a fire of unknown origin— Most of the trading company's Secret materials lost』

『Chairman Beidel, heavily injured after a Downfall from the stairs during evacuation— "I don't remember why the Chairman's Office caught fire that night"』

The Extra Edition was scattered on the streets.

The Academy Territory was no Exception.

"Oh my..."

Inside Yulian's Mansion.

Between Erika, who had her face buried in her Soup half-asleep, and

Freya, who ate modestly without forgetting her Dignity even in the Morning.

Yulian, sitting at the Seat of Honor, put down his Coffee cup and spoke.

"That's a shame."

"Munch, munch. Gulp. Is it about the Newspaper article?"

Perisia, who was stuffing her cheeks full of a Sardine Sandwich, asked a Question.

Yulian felt that gaze was much sharper than usual.

He took his eyes off the Newspaper and nodded.

"Yes. It says there was a fire Incident at the Lohengrin Headquarters."

"What is a shame about that? Forgive my Words, but... weren't they Lord Yulian's enemies?"

Yulian nodded.

"It's a bit ambiguous to call them enemies... but it's true that we don't have a good relationship. However..."

"However?"

"If their Research materials on Ergot had survived, I felt I could have used them as a reference to make a good Medicine. Because Failure itself is a good reference material for reaching Success."

"Ah, so it was that kind of issue."

"?"

Yulian tilted his head.

It was because Perisia's eyes seemed to have softened considerably.

"If it's that kind of issue, this officer thinks she can help you."

"But I heard it burned down completely?"

"It just so happens that the place I am affiliated with handles these kinds of things."

Hearing those words, Yulian suddenly recalled the conversation they had during their first meeting.

— "Are you affiliated with the Board of Inspection?"

— "This officer received a Request from the Board of Inspection, but is not affiliated with the Board of Inspection."

— "Then are you affiliated with The Military?"

— "I am registered on the Military register, but I am not a Soldier."

Come to think of it, Yulian still didn't know her affiliation.

'Where is she even affiliated with?'

He wanted to ask, but it didn't seem like she would tell him anyway.

So Yulian decided to just continue the conversation they were having.

"Is it, by any chance, possible?"

She spoke with a gentle smile.

"Do you need it, Lord Yulian?"

"As long as there are no Patent or legal issues, I certainly want it."

"Understood."

Perisia nodded.

"It is within this officer's scope of authority, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you."

Yulian bowed his head.

A week after that.

A New Medicine was brought up as an Agenda item at the Meyer Infirmary's New Medicine Deliberative Council.

The New Medicine's name was MR-4872.

The Black Saint had announced a New Medicine after a long time.

At that News, the Healers all attended the Deliberative Council with sparkling eyes.

And the moment they checked the Medicine's Components and development period, they couldn't hide their Perplexity.

"This New Medicine, MR-4872 is... eh? Is this correct, Lord Saint?"

"What do you mean?"

"The development method and Raw materials are quite similar to the previously banned LWGN-0004, aren't they?"

"That's because it's a Medicine made from the same lineage of substances."

"??????"

Question marks popped up above the Healers' heads.

"Uh... didn't you say it had dangerous Side Effects?"

"That's why we won't use it as a Migraine Medicine. A Migraine isn't a dangerous enough disease that we have to treat it while risking Retroperitoneal Fibrosis."

"Then this Medicine is..."

"We'll use it for Mothers in Childbirth."

"?????"

Yulian's lips twitched at the people's reactions.

Because it was the exact reaction he wanted.

Observing the people's reactions, he immediately brought out the lines he had prepared.

"Don't I emphasize this every time? The Healing arts are an act of weighing risk and return. The New Medicine I brought an Improvement to has a much larger return, so there won't be any problems."

"Hmm... I understand, but..."

One of the Judges rubbed his jaw and let out a Groan.

"Well... the fact that the development period is one week... Perhaps, though it couldn't be true..."

"If you're worried about Result manipulation, you don't need to Worry. Since it's an Improvement of an already made Medication, it wasn't that difficult. Considering the Purpose of the Medication, it's also a Medication with a high need to be quickly deployed to the Scene rather than going through a long-term Clinical Trial."

"...That's not what I meant."

The Judge smacked his lips, losing his Appetite.

The other Healers also caught on to what he was trying to say.

He wasn't doubting that Yulian manipulated the Animal testing Results.

The part the Judge wanted to question was something else.

"I didn't mean that... I was wondering where you found the Time to make this..."

The Healers present here knew.

Just how many Schedules Yulian was fulfilling.

Clinic Duty in the Morning.

Black magic Lectures at Lunch.

Demon Disease Lectures in the Afternoon.

Developing other New Medicines during Dinner.

Amidst all that, the existence of a New Medicine that popped out in just one week was enough to make them harbor Doubts.

"Perhaps you are overworking yourself too much..."

Realizing that Intention, Yulian smiled brightly and spoke.

"Thank you for your Worry. But it's fine. It's just a Medicine I made in my free time to cool my head."

"...Yes?"

"Since it was a Medicine that another trading company had already laid the Framework for, bringing an Improvement wasn't difficult."

"......"

The Healers lost their words with dumbfounded faces.

It was because they knew better than anyone that those words were not a bluff.

Rax.

The cleaning product that Yulian reportedly made to cool his head while developing the Vaccine.

If it was The Black Saint with such a past, it would definitely be possible for him to make this kind of Medicine just to cool his head.

The problem was the researchers from other trading companies attending this gathering.

'Free... time?'

'...Should I quit.'

'So this is why the guys who transferred told us to join them if we couldn't beat him...'

Soon, the researchers had no choice but to squeeze their eyes shut.

It was because they could vividly see how their Guild Masters, whose standards had been raised, would badger them once they returned to their trading companies.