The heart of the mighty Zebuldia Empire. The Zebuldia Imperial Palace.
In the deepest chamber, the throne room, Emperor Ladrik Atrum Zebuldia listened to a report from one of his subordinates.
The man delivering the information was the Chief of Imperial Guard — also a nobleman of the Empire. Upon hearing what he had to say, Ladrik furrowed his brow.
"So, you found nothing…"
"Anti-poison measures were thorough. The food and drink were prepared by the palace's own chefs. The kitchen was under constant guard, with no signs of outside intrusion. Ingredients were delivered by our regular suppliers, and poison checks — including taste-testing — were conducted from every conceivable angle. If there is any possibility of foul play, then… it would have to be the guests."
"What a troublesome affair. To think we must suspect the nation's own dignitaries…"
"Most likely, the purpose was deterrence. No one at that gathering would have been killed by the poison that was mixed in."
Zebuldia was a nation that possessed countless Treasure Halls.
The Empire's nobles visited Treasure Halls from childhood to absorb Mana Materials. It was customary to use those absorbed Mana Materials to fortify one's resistances.
What was required of a noble was not high combat ability, but rather the survival capacity to endure any scheme and emerge alive.
No ordinary poison could affect an Empire noble. If it were a lethal toxin capable of taking down a Hunter, that would be another matter entirely — but what had been laced into the food was something extremely common.
"Were you able to determine what was in the wine?"
"That is… we cannot even confirm whether anything was actually added at all. The problem is that Peerless Shadow drank every last drop. However, all the other wine was found to be perfectly normal."
"I see…"
Ladrik narrowed his eyes and fell into silent contemplation.
Between food and drink, the wine was easier to spike — no one conducted taste-testing on a per-glass basis.
But the Imperial Palace's security had been airtight. Of course, he couldn't claim there were zero gaps, but during the White Sword Gathering, the guard detail was thicker than ever.
From what Ladrik had seen, the condition of Peerless Shadow — observed from afar — was far from normal.
He had comprehensive intelligence on the Empire's elite Hunters. Peerless Shadow was the successor to a famous "Thief" lineage within the Empire, not someone who would sit quietly at such an event.
If the glass had been coated beforehand, or if the poison was introduced during transport — if someone had slipped past numerous guards to lace the wine, it would have been a meticulously crafted plan.
On the other hand, the poison in the food was a remarkably sloppy job. All dishes were scanned with "Poison Detection" moments before being brought into the venue.
The possibility of an outside intruder contaminating the food was exceedingly low. At minimum, the culprit had to be someone who was present at the gathering.
Tracing the backgrounds of every attendee would be tedious, but far from impossible.
Still, Ladrik's expression was not a pleasant one.
"The 'Fox' at work again, then… The goal was to prevent the 'negotiations'…"
"The most suspicious one is that Thousand Transformations fellow, but…"
He had heard the reports. That man had apparently caused a stir before Ladrik even entered the venue.
But at those words, Ladrik let out a quiet, muffled laugh.
"Ku ku ku… How ironic that the most suspicious person has been proven innocent. No — was that precisely why they insisted on using the 'Tears of Truth'?"
The "Tears of Truth" was one of the pillars of Zebuldia.
It had never produced an erroneous judgment on the truth of a matter. To cast doubt on its reliability would mean questioning the validity of every person who had ever been apprehended using that Treasure Weapon. That was something that could never be allowed.
It was their first meeting, but the rumors were true — the man was sharp.
And to voluntarily propose subjecting himself to the Tears of Truth — the natural nemesis of any schemer — required terrifying courage.
If he had shown any reaction in front of the public, that man would have been destroyed. His composure had been as though… yes, as though he weren't thinking about anything at all.
He ordered the investigation to continue and dismissed the Chief of the Guard.
Alone in the throne room, Ladrik murmured in a low voice.
"Trust me, he says… Just how much does he know?"
Zebuldia was a great power. And to remain a great power, it had to project the appropriate bearing.
The era of nations waging open warfare against one another was over. In this age, everything hinged on how effectively one could utilize the resources obtained from Treasure Halls.
Was this man useful or useless? And was he someone who could be safely employed?
Narrowing his eyes, Ladrik Atrum Zebuldia recalled the image of that man who had suddenly prostrated himself before him.
§ § § We now had an intruder, a culprit, and a person-killer — all three accounted for. What exactly was I supposed to do?
I looked around at everyone in despair. But only Eva and Tino were pale-faced; the rest of the party was perfectly composed. Sadly, they were used to this.
Luke looked at my reaction with a puzzled expression, then puffed out his chest and said: "It's fine, I didn't kill anyone. Master told me so beforehand. Said they'd probably interrogate me, so try not to kill anyone."
"…So you fought back because you were attacked?"
"Huh? Yeah? Why would I not be allowed to fight back against a first strike?"
"Was it actually a suspicious person?"
"Yeah. A tourist. I finally got to hold a real sword for the first time in a while, but they weren't much of a practice partner."
There was no getting through to him. As always, far too casual about the sword.
Well, but if I thought about it calmly — if Luke had been released, that meant the conclusion had been reached. Luke might be too casual with a sword, but he wasn't a bad person. If there had been a problem, complaints would have come in.
I decided not to think about it. Citry wrote on the blackboard: "Luke-san cut down three people."
…Was it really going to be possible to keep operating in the imperial capital without incident at this rate?
That was when Riizu uncrossed and recrossed her legs, pursing her lips.
"More importantly, the real problem is the wine, isn't it? Hey, Klein — who do we need to kill?"
Eva's cheeks twitched as she leaned in and whispered to me.
"…Klein-san, would it be better if I stepped back?"
"…No, stay."
I said with a resigned smile. There was no running away from this — not that running was even an option. The more victims, the better.
Citry rapped the blackboard with her chalk.
"Regarding that matter — the Imperial Palace's security is formidable. At our Level, we could certainly find a way in, but planting poison would be extremely difficult. There is almost certainly an insider."
"Magical defenses are especially robust. The barrier surrounding the palace disrupts everything from teleportation to flight, invisibility, and perception interference. It actively negates these upon entry at the boundary… The magic I placed on Riizu had to be cast after we were inside. What we're looking at is… probably a Treasure Weapon."
"There's no end to speculating like that. Even in a Mystery, producing an unknown Treasure Weapon would be off-limits."
Lucia had a point. Treasure Weapons could truly be anything — if someone unearthed a particularly powerful and unknown one, assassination might well be possible.
Well, the Empire's side was undoubtedly investigating that angle too.
Citry continued.
"Big sis is mostly immune to poisons, sleep aids, and paralytics. Based on the symptoms, what was mixed into her wine was… a stimulant."
"A… stimulant?"
Eva's eyes went wide. The name made the general effect obvious enough, but it wasn't exactly a common term.
Citry tapped the chalk on the board.
"It's a type of Enhancement Potion. By forcibly stimulating the user, it causes them to forget fear and the pain of wounds, allowing them to continue combat for an extended period using power beyond their normal capacity. The side effects include the inability to make sound judgments, and since it doesn't actually strengthen the body, the physical toll afterward is enormous. What was mixed into the wine was likely a highly concentrated version."
So that was why it hadn't triggered the "Poison Detection" — it wasn't a poison.
Meanwhile, my "True Silver Crown" changed its effects based on the user's perception. Since I was on alert for all manner of substances, it had flagged the detection.
But if those words were true — what was the point of giving someone an Enhancement Potion?
"We've never used one at our place. Rather, it's not something that's common among Hunters. Honestly, I'm surprised Big sis was able to endure it."
"…Endure?"
Endure what, exactly?
As I blinked in confusion, Citry nodded vigorously with a cheerful smile.
"That stuff ramps up the will to fight. In the worst case, she could have gone berserk and caused a catastrophe. Arc-san and the others were standing guard, so His Majesty the Emperor should have been safe, but beyond that… quite a few people could have died."
A chill ran down my spine.
Enhancement Potion… Enhancement Potion did that? That was far worse than any poison.
Was Riizu's unusual silence a sign that she'd been enduring a surge of emotions?
Riizu had really grown. I'd have to compliment her later…
Tino stared wide-eyed at her older sister beside her. Riizu clicked her tongue softly and said with a sour expression: "Don't look at me like I'm an idiot! I can control my anger, okay?! Hey, Tee, what are you staring at?! Well, okay, it was a bit of a new training experience…"
"Poison and medicine are separated by a hair's breadth — Enhancement Potions are useful in a pinch, so there aren't many who have developed a tolerance for them. In our Party, only my brother does, more or less."
"…Indeed."
Anthem nodded gravely. Anthem was a Hunter specialized in resistance.
Just as his title, "Immovable and Unchanging," suggested — nothing worked on him. From physical attacks to magical ones, poisons and mind-corrupting magic, and even Recovery Potions were ineffective. It was clearly overkill.
Incidentally, verbal attacks didn't work on him either. That had been the case since ages ago.
Eva, who had been listening to the entire conversation, opened her eyes wide.
"Wait a moment. So you're saying… that someone was trying to use that wine to strip people of their sanity?"
"It's possible. If the culprit's goal was to assassinate His Majesty the Emperor, it's not a bad strategy."
"Assassination?!"
Despite the gravity of her words, Citry's expression remained perfectly serene.
"After all, assassinating the Emperor with a simple poison is virtually impossible. And apart from the poison — during the White Sword Gathering, His Majesty was surrounded by numerous high-Level Hunters. Breaking through that would be nearly impossible for an ordinary person. It makes sense to mobilize Level 8s in order to breach Level 8 defenses."
"…I see. That's…" What a pointless thing to say.
I had many thoughts, but that was all that came out.
That wine was the bottle I'd taken. Just a hypothetical, but if the culprit had gone through all that trouble to spike the wine in order to drive me into a frenzy and inflict massive damage on the Emperor — it had been a complete waste.
Even if I'd gone into a frenzy, I wouldn't have been able to take down a single person.
"That's right… Either way, Big sis endured it, so this situation must be unexpected for our opponent as well."
Riizu going berserk would have been bad… but she hadn't actually gone berserk.
This reeked of conspiracy. There couldn't possibly be a tradition of mixing stimulants into wine.
Citry's analysis hadn't left the realm of speculation. But we were fundamentally uninvolved, and there was no need for us to uncover the truth.
It was possible I'd simply happened to grab the drugged wine by coincidence, but all we needed was a plausible excuse — "There's a conspiracy trying to bring us down."
I crossed my arms and sat in silence for a moment, feigning deliberation, then looked up and said to Eva: "Eva — the imperial side may already be aware, but I'd like you to relay what we just heard to the palace in a tactful way. Oh, and keep Citry's part in the poisoning a secret."
"…Understood."
"Tell them it's all a conspiracy. Luke's incident was a conspiracy too. And that we'll gladly offer our cooperation if there's anything we can do — phrase it like social pleasantries, got it? Social pleasantries."
"Y-Yes."
Spiking the wine at the gathering was an unforgivable crime. We absolutely did not want to be involved.
I made up my mind. I was not leaving the capital until the culprit was arrested.
Luke stood up, stretched broadly, and said: "So basically, if enemies come, I just cut them down, right? Meeting over? Let's go grab some food."
"…Indeed."
"Citri, can you make those stimulants? Honestly, that was pretty intense, so bring some for training while we eat. Hey, Tee — don't you run! You're doing it too!"
Even though this had been a serious meeting, nobody seemed particularly concerned. There wasn't a shred of tension.
Well, they didn't have much respect for the Emperor to begin with… I already knew that.
Watching the others stand up one by one, Eva let out a deep sigh.
She turned to Citry, who was diligently photographing the blackboard contents with a camera.
"Citry — sorry, but could you get ready to leave the capital?"
"Of course, preparations are always complete. Shall we flee, just the two of us?"
As expected of Citry — though it wasn't just the two of us fleeing, she certainly knew me well.
Maybe things would work out after all.
§ And so, the very next day, an emissary from the Empire arrived at my door.
Apparently, the Imperial Palace had come under attack by a dragon.
…Why are they telling me this?
I've posted this week's Stogri Communication activity report. It's the Tino edition — feel free to check it out.