I might be reaching my breaking point here.
I've been reckless and careless at times, but I've never once acted with deliberate malice toward anyone—yet here I was, trapped in an impossible situation.
It was all because of my own incompetence. At this point, I might have no choice but to abandon everything I'd built and flee the capital...
After that hellish night came to an end, I combed through every major newspaper published in the capital—the ones Eva had brought me—cover to cover.
Despite the fact that an intruder (Liliz) had infiltrated the White Sword Gathering and poison had been slipped into the food (by Citry), there wasn't a single mention of either incident anywhere. It was as if yesterday's events had been nothing but a joke.
Eva, with dark circles carved beneath her eyes and exhaustion etched into every line of her face, said: "It looks like a gag order's been put in place. But you can't put a lock on people's mouths... rumors are already spreading."
Of course they were. The White Sword Gathering had been packed with the nation's elite.
No amount of the emperor's prestige could completely prevent information from leaking out.
In the end, the culprit hadn't been found by the end of last night. The imperial palace was probably still in an uproar, like someone had just poked a hornet's nest.
The reason I—the most suspicious person by far—had been released and was now sitting in the Clan Master's office was simple: I'd proven my innocence using a Treasure Weapon housed in the imperial palace's treasury—the "Tears of Truth."
The "Tears of Truth" was a crystal ball-type Treasure Weapon that possessed the power to expose all falsehoods.
It was one of the empire's great treasures, and could even be said to be one of the factors behind Zebuldia's prosperity.
The Treasure Weapon exposed every lie of whoever was subjected to it. All forms of mental interference—including brainwashing and memory alteration—were rendered useless. Not a single person had ever managed to deceive that crystal ball.
For hunting down culprits, it was an invaluable tool—but it rarely saw the light of day. Imperial law strictly regulated its use.
Its use required numerous applications and approvals, and above all, evidence. Even the emperor—the highest authority in the land—couldn't just deploy it on a whim. A previous emperor had established those rules himself.
After all, its power was far too great. No one in a position of authority could remain squeaky-clean. Everyone had one or two secrets.
If such a Treasure Weapon could be used freely, everyone would flee Zebuldia.
The very act of using it was proof that you were already under suspicion. Even if someone turned out to be innocent, nobody enjoyed having their dirty laundry aired.
In principle, it was only to be used against criminals who had committed one of the Ten Deadly Sins—the ten gravest crimes in the empire—with evidence that was virtually airtight.
There was no way its use would be approved on the very day an incident occurred, and I didn't meet the criteria for it in the first place—but there was exactly one method that bypassed most of the application and approval process.
That's right: a personal request from the subject themselves.
I had voluntarily proposed the use of that Treasure Weapon and, of my own free will, submitted myself to the power of that exquisite artifact.
Normally, being subjected to the "Tears of Truth" was considered the ultimate disgrace in this empire—but I'd already had my insides raked through time and time again, and had voluntarily undergone the "Tears of Truth" on numerous occasions, so it really made no difference at this point.
And then, the "Tears of Truth," as always, proved my complete and utter innocence before the countless imperial nobles.
Had I known at that point that Citry had been the one to poison the food, things wouldn't have gone as smoothly—but at that time, I was nothing more than an innocent guest.
I'll probably never forget the dumbfounded looks on the nobles' faces the moment my innocence was proven.
But that was exactly what made the current situation even more troublesome.
I'd proven my innocence through a method that defied all conventional wisdom in Zebuldia—but if Citry was the one who'd poisoned the food, that changed everything.
Right now, the empire was scrambling to find the culprit. And yet, only Citry and I knew the truth—that there were actually two culprits.
One was whoever had put some kind of drug into Liliz's drink. The second was... little Citry.
Citry hadn't meant any harm. She'd poisoned the food out of concern for me.
No one could even begin to imagine who the culprit was, but the real perpetrator was probably just as shocked by now. After all, poison they'd never put in had been detected.
And the imperial investigators must be thoroughly confused as well.
So then... what on earth should I do?
Report what Citry had done? Out of the question. That would make her a criminal.
Crime was bad, but above all else, I was on Citry's side. If it came down to it, I'd rather flee the country with her than turn her in.
To resolve this quietly, the quickest solution was to expose the real culprit—the one who'd drugged Liliz's drink.
Citry had only put in the poison to help me—she hadn't tried to harm anyone. The culprit would deny it, of course, but nobody would believe them.
This had happened in the imperial palace. Security was tight, and there were only so many ways to slip something into a drink.
I couldn't find the culprit on my own, but I had dependable allies.
A disguised door built into the bookshelf connecting to my private quarters swung open, and Liliz appeared—fully recovered after a night's rest.
She'd been in rough shape yesterday from the drugged wine, but after a full night she looked positively healthy, and seemed to be in even better form than before.
She let out a big, satisfying stretch, then greeted me with a beaming smile.
"Good morning, Kly! Sorry about yesterday."
"Liliz, sorry to bug you right after you wake up, but can you go get Luke and the rest? We're having a meeting. Oh, and have Eva join us too."
It had been a while since I'd gathered everyone for a meeting. We might end up having to flee the capital.
I ran my index finger over my polished Barrier Ring and let out a heavy sigh.
§ Citry's special laboratory occupied most of the floor, but the third floor of the Clan House had all sorts of rooms.
In one of them—the Party meeting space—I had gathered the members for the first time in a while.
They sat around a large table, the members of the Mourning Specter.
We usually kept things casual, so this serious atmosphere was a rare sight indeed.
The student of the Sword Saint and one of the finest swordsmen in the capital. A swordsman bearing the epithet "Thousand Swords"—Luke Saikol.
A godspeed Thief who left not even a shadow in her wake—"Peerless Shadow," Liliz Smart.
The finest Alchemist, responsible for gathering materials and serving as our brain—Citry Smart.
The lifeblood of the Party. A renowned Guardian Knight in the capital, handling defense and healing—Anthem Smart.
Lucia, who could wield all manner of magic and also handled charging my Treasure Weapons.
"...Elisa's not here again."
"Mm, I think I saw her yesterday, but... you know how Elisa is—she's a free spirit..."
Liliz, who'd rounded up the Party members in record time, crossed her legs wide and spoke with an expression that conveyed not a hint of guilt.
Can't really blame her. The condition for bringing Elisa into the Party had been to respect her freedom.
We'd manage without her somehow. Besides, the vacation souvenir I'd gotten for Elisa was gone anyway.
I nodded, then turned my gaze to the girl crouching uncomfortably beside Liliz.
"So why is Tino here?"
"...I was kidnapped."
Tino said in a voice on the verge of tears. Poor thing...
Eva, standing beside me, furrowed her brow.
"And why am I here...? I'm not even a Hunter..."
"Now, now..."
Citry stepped in front of a blackboard mounted on the wall.
I glanced around at Luke, who sat with a bored expression, Lucia, who was clearly in a foul mood, and Anthem, who was impossible to read, and clapped my hands together.
"Alright then, I hereby convene the thirty-fifth Mourning Specter Meeting. Today's agenda: yesterday's White Sword Gathering. Applause!"
"Wooooh! Yeehaw!"
"Kly, you're so cool! Whoo-whoo!"
"...Mastaa... God!"
Luke and Liliz forced the energy up, and Tino timidly followed suit.
Lucia was glaring at me. I dove straight into the matter at hand.
"An incident occurred at yesterday's White Sword Gathering. To put it bluntly, we're in a pretty precarious position right now."
"So, business as usual, Leader."
"Anyone who knows what happened yesterday, raise your hand!"
Citry, Liliz, and Eva raised their hands. Luke probably didn't raise his because he'd been on security duty.
But there was one more person with their hand raised straight up... Lucia. I had no idea how she knew.
"Right, so yesterday I received an invitation and went to the White Sword Gathering with Eva. And for some reason, Citry, Liliz, and Luke were all there too. Citry as an invited guest, Luke as security, and Liliz as an intruder—"
"Leader, we've already established all that. Could you please move things along?"
"...How does Lucia know all this?"
At my genuine question, Lucia furrowed her brows. She crossed her arms and fixed me with a sharp stare.
"Because I was there. I used legitimate channels and was present as one of the maids."
That was... something I'd completely failed to notice.
I looked to Anthem, who shook their head slowly. With that full-face helm on, I couldn't read their expression, but they were probably exasperated.
It seemed the only ones who hadn't been there were Anthem and Elisa.
Lucia continued, her expression unchanged, in a flat tone: "Leader, the person who provided cover for Liliz's intrusion was... me. So I know everything that happened there."
"...I was wondering how she'd managed to sneak in past all that security."
"When the Leader behaved discourteously toward the princess and drew everyone's gaze away, Liliz used 'Phase Through' to turn invisible and slipped in. I also supported her movement beneath the table."
I see... I'd been thinking that if Liliz had gotten in alone, the security had been absurdly lax. But if Lucia had provided magical support, the infiltration made sense.
But why was she in such a bad mood? As I fumbled with what seemed like Lucia's rebellious phase, Citry wrote on the blackboard in white chalk: "Kly didn't notice Lucia at all."
Lucia glared at the words as if they were her mortal enemy, then snapped her fingers. The writing on the blackboard vanished, and Citry snickered.
I pretended I hadn't seen any of it. Tino was pretending not to have seen it either. I moved on.
"So you probably already know this, but yesterday at the White Sword Gathering, poison was found in the food. This is just between us, but the one who put it there was Citry."
"...What!?"
Eva's eyes went as wide as they possibly could, and she let out a voice drained of all strength. Tino looked equally stunned.
Citry blushed and smiled bashfully, then wrote on the blackboard in neat letters: "I poisoned the food. But the drink was someone else."
"No need to thank me."
"That's why we need to somehow sweep this under the rug. Having both an intruder and a culprit from among us is really bad."
Liliz said with a bored expression, "Eh, can't we just leave it as is? It's Citry, after all." Citry wrote on the blackboard: "The intruder was big sis." That was when Luke, who had been silent until now, clapped his hands as if just remembering something and spoke.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. I slashed three people. Got absolutely chewed out for it."