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Reborn as the Doomed Heir of a Mage Dynasty (Web Novel) - Chapter 248
Chapter 248
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
"You're saying you know how to break the curse."The floor is cold.
As I felt the chill of the restraints being placed on my hands, I wondered who the person standing in front of me and speaking was. Someone was holding my head and pressing it to the floor, so I couldn't see the face of the person who had come.
Even for me, 1 against 30 was impossible. It was only natural that I was caught and subdued by the guards.
But, as originally planned, I succeeded in drawing their attention.
"That's enough! It seems there was a misunderstanding. This person is not someone who would do something dangerous."
"No, Minister, but still...."
"It's clearly a misunderstanding. I will interrogate His Excellency Askanian myself, so you may all leave now."
How could it not be successful when the Minister of Magic himself came all this way?
The minister chased away the mages who were pressing me down. He had let me off so easily even though I had made a mess here by attacking first. The statement from the previous timeline that he had a good opinion of me seemed not to be a lie.
The minister placed his hand on my carotid artery and warped with me somewhere.
It wasn't the strategy room attached to the stadium. The place we moved to was his office somewhere in the Emergency Committee building.
Still, perhaps worried that I might attack him, he didn't remove the restraints on my hands. A guard grabbed my shoulder and sat me in a chair, and the minister, who sat down next to me, said with a worried expression.
"Your Excellency Askanian. I know you are not one to act so rashly. If I had known this would happen, I would have given you my contact information."
"I can only say that I am sorry for causing a disturbance."
"More than that, you said you knew a way. What exactly are you referring to?"
"I don't know."
"What?"
The minister, who had been looking at me seriously, stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"I don't know, Minister. How would I know anything."
"No, then what...."
"I felt I needed to talk to you, Minister."
I glanced at the minister's hands.
He was wearing thick leather gloves, unlike before when he wore thin white ones. What could that mean?
"Minister. Please take off your gloves. There's something I want to check."
"."
The minister's face hardened. I looked at his face and tilted my head with a look of regret.
"It seems a cross hasn't appeared on your hands."
"."
"It seems you've been walking around with a soundproofing spell on the whole time, Minister. Ever since the player, Helga Leibnitz, first mentioned Revelation 7:10. That means...."
"No, about that part...."
"It means you knew it was a curse from the very beginning, didn't you, Minister?"
I shook my head and looked at the magic collective forming a small video on one wall of the room. The video was showing the stage on the first floor of the stadium.
The tournament was about to start, and now they were even calling in an archbishop to hold a mass. He was an orthodox archbishop, not a heretic like Pleroma's.
"And yet you call a choir here, and now even the Archbishop of Brandenburg? Minister. You can't disguise terror as something it's not."
"."
"I came to tell you this. You are making a mistake, Minister."
"Your Excellency Askanian."
The minister clasped his hands and made a complicated expression.
"I understand how you feel, Your Excellency. You too must have known something was wrong when something appeared on people's hands after the player, Helga Leibnitz, recited the Book of Revelation."
"That's right."
"You know His Highness Gustav Hohenzollern, Duke of Prussia, the father of His Highness Elias, don't you."
"."
"He mobilized his guards and the imperial guards to save the many people on these event grounds from the curse. The number of people currently cursed is estimated to be around 600,000. Considering that the number of people who have entered is 1.9 million, that is a small figure."
600,000.
It had been reduced by more than half compared to before. Moreover, this time, since an amplification spell was cast on the entire site, there was a risk that more people would be cursed than through the broadcast. The minister also said 'a small figure' in that sense, looking at the 600,000 people.
For example, a tourist who was eating and talking with people without watching the broadcast would not have been cursed in the previous timeline. But in this timeline, if the terrorist, having failed to transmit the curse through the broadcast, shot the sentence into people's ears through an amplification spell, then more people would inevitably be cursed than before.
'...It was a good thing I told them to cast a reverse soundproofing spell.'
I had said that, expecting the terrorist, who had lost access to the broadcast, to use an amplification spell. That's also why I told them to target the places without screens first. Why? Because I can only transmit the dispel through the broadcast, and since the set of people cursed through the amplification spell is bound to be larger than the set of people listening to the broadcast, the difference between the two sets would be the number of people who would explode and die. The instruction to cast a reverse soundproofing spell on places with low screen accessibility first was an attempt to reduce the size of that difference.
'There's no way that just by casting a spell on the buildings, so few people were cursed.'
Gustav Hohenzollern didn't have much magic power, but his mind must have worked quickly. He must have found a new way to mitigate the damage in addition to the instructions I had given to Elias.
"His Excellency Gustav Hohenzollern ordered them to cast a reverse soundproofing spell in various places to block outside sounds. But as I was investigating the truth, His Excellency Gustav Hohenzollern told me that this was actually first proposed by Your Excellency Askanian."
"."
"If it weren't for Your Excellency Askanian's swift judgment and response, all 1.9 million people here would have been cursed. We tried to mitigate the damage by cutting off the broadcast, but since the terrorist noticed and used an amplification spell instead of the broadcast, there was no way to avoid it. Our Emergency Committee owes a debt to Your Excellency Askanian."
He knows it was my instruction.
Good. It's going smoothly. At this rate, I have a testimony to defend against the prosecution's indictment.
"But, Your Excellency. Have you considered this?"
"What is it."
"The curse has already been executed. We tried to stop it by cutting off the screen as soon as the word 'Revelation' came out... but we failed in the end."
They cut off the screen as soon as that wor came out? Why?
I narrowed my eyes at the somewhat random-sounding words, and the minister nodded as if to explain.
"This evening, a letter was delivered to the Emergency Committee. It was written like this. 'Beware of the one who reads the Bible.' Does it mean to be wary of Divine Power mages? I checked if anyone was reading the Bible throughout the Emergency Committee's activities. With a half-believing, half-doubting mind, that it could just be a prank."
"...'Beware of the one who reads the Bible'?"
"And yet, the player, Helga Leibnitz, mentioned the Book of Revelation. I had nothing to lose. It could have been a prank letter, or the player could have just been reciting the Book of Revelation, but I thought it was better than not stopping it and facing an unknown danger. And it really was a curse."
The minister bit his lip with a face that still seemed unable to believe it.
I, for one, couldn't help but be shocked at this shocking news.
"...You received a letter. Why didn't you tell me this?"
"If Your Excellency saw that letter, could you tell if it was a child's prank or a real warning? Besides, Your Excellency is only here for the magic lamp terror, not a member of the Emergency Committee, let alone a core member. I don't know where the information might leak and what problems might arise, so it's right to keep such information as quiet as possible. You would have done the same, Your Excellency."
"."
I suppressed the urge to clutch my head and instead closed my eyes.
Yes. He was not wrong. If you obtain information that foretells a national danger, it becomes a top secret. No government would just spread it to the media and ask, 'Does anyone know what this is'.
'I can't believe I've come across information I couldn't access in the previous timeline like this.'
It was as I had thought at first.
The development of the 'possible world where the player doesn't commit suicide' originally unfolds like this. In fact, if I could turn back time one more time, I could handle it more perfectly, but I have no desire to turn back time any more in this place.
"So, do you understand why I brought this up? We did our best, but everyone is already cursed. What do you think would happen if our Emergency Committee announced that what's on their hands is a curse and they might die soon?"
"It would be chaos."
At my unhesitating answer, the minister's brow furrowed slightly.
The answer was correct, but my carefree attitude in answering seemed to make him think I didn't understand properly.
"Your Excellency. Listen carefully. In the Old Human world, it is right to evacuate people when a terror attack occurs. Because it is mainly an attack using firearms or bombs."
"That's right."
"However, a curse is an attack that is far beyond the system of the Old Humans, and it is an incident that has already occurred. What is the meaning of evacuation in this situation? If we report the truth one by one, do you think the public will say, 'I see. We will sit calmly and wait for a solution and listen to your instructions'?"
"."
"People will immediately trample on others and run out of this place. In a situation where nothing is solved even if they go out. The damage from the amplified fear will be greater than the curse itself. Now do you see why we brought the choir? To buy time. While this peace lasts, we can find a solution. I know how foolish we must look. But for the subjects to fall into shock and panic, and for us to lose the initiative. The terrorist must truly want that."
People's thoughts are so different.
I agree with some of his words. But, at the same time, I still don't agree.
"Fine, Minister. But what if the terrorist no longer allows peace? You're mistaken about something. We never had the initiative in the first place. The peace that seems to have been achieved by the choir is only possible because the terrorist is 'letting it happen'. If he were to make someone commit suicide right now, or kill someone as an example, do you think this peace would last?"
"."
"Announce the truth now. At least stop this play right now. I know it's dangerous for people to panic. I don't want that situation either."
Why? Because if everyone panics, no one will listen to the broadcast. I'll lose the chance to chant the dispel magic.
"But even so, this is deceiving the people. The people have the right to know what situation they are in. Even without using deceptive methods, if the government transparently shows the process of its efforts to cope and its progress, the people have the ability to trust and wait for you."
"."
Now is the chance.
Now is the time to calmly report the situation to the people and make them understand.
If someone dies like before, it will be complete chaos from then on.
Rather, if we report cleanly and truthfully that 'the government is grasping the situation and preparing countermeasures' now, we can prevent people from panicking and running for their own lives when the terrorist carries out the murder.
'Wait, I need to check something at this point.'
I stealthily moved my restrained hand. I rubbed my fingers to send a signal to Leo. Then, my core quickly tingled.
Leo is now receiving this entire conversation through the communication artifact I have in my ear. He's probably recording it too.
Why is he doing that?
'I can't be the only one to die. Why should I die when these bastards are doing stupid things.'
I can't be a saint, so I can't see the bad ending where I'm indicted by the prosecution while dealing with the terror. Let's all go down together.
I nodded and said to the minister.
"Minister. So, have you found a way to break this curse?"
"We should be able to find it soon. In fact, a few minutes ago, I was contacted by a doctor who claims to know the answer."
"What?"
"There is someone who said they can break the curse. They are a professor of magic at the University of Jena, so their identity is trustworthy."
I just smiled, feeling like I wanted to faint.
'Good grief.'
I'm going crazy. As the incident changes, the development also changes. In fact, it's a given. Let's say the response to incident 1 is A or B. Just because incident 2, not 1, has occurred, we can't say that the same response will definitely follow.
How many heads are involved in this terror? I mean actual, physical heads. The more parties involved in an incident, the more complicated the vested interests become, making it difficult to grasp the truth. Because each party tries to make the best choice they can.
"Minister. Did you see that doctor in person?"
"No. I was contacted right before I came to Your Excellency. We are about to receive the dispel method by mail. Of course, there is a possibility that person might give us wrong information, so our government is also inviting many other experts to research ways to break the curse."
There's no point in pointing itout further, there's no answer here. Let me just say what I have to say.
I nodded, took a deep breath, and continued.
"I have one more reason for being here. You'll remember the code of the white phosphorus match. The culprit said, 'Sagt es allen', 'Tell it to everyone'."
"So he did."
"Perhaps that's the answer to breaking the curse. If we tell everyone something that corresponds to 'it', the curse might be broken."
"Hmm. You could think of it that way. The percentage of those cursed is less than half, but it's large enough that it wouldn't be strange to say 'everyone' with some exaggeration."
"Then we need to find 'it' now. Since it was transmitted as a code, wouldn't 'it' also be transmitted as a code? I have a guess as to what it might be. It's a bit of a fanciful idea, though."
"."
"Lend me the sound technician and the sound room. From getting their attention to trying to 'tell it to everyone', just give me one minute of undisturbed time."
The minister was silent. He smiled with a face like he was looking at a disobedient youth. Soon, he continued slowly.
"'Tell it to everyone'. The code you deciphered. It's also the code we found in the basement near Tiss Hotel. That code was not a code to inform us, but a code the terrorist received. Someone instructed the terrorist. To 'tell everyone' a specific Bible verse."
"In the end, you believe that the basement full of rats that day was the real terrorist's basement. How many times do I have to say it's a smokescreen."
"It might be a truth disguised as a smokescreen. How many times have they deceived and deceived again. It's gotten to the point where I can't even distinguish what's real and what's fake."
Do you know why? Because there are more than two parties involved here.
While I remained silent, he said seriously.
"Your Excellency Askanian."
"Yes, what is it."
"Your Excellency's judgment is excellent. It comes from your agility and sharpness."
"."
"Your Excellency's help was very reasonable. The government will formally express its gratitude to Your Excellency for this. But before that, the only method left for us is to buy as much time as possible and maintain a state of peace so that the audience does not panic. You know how serious a secondary accident caused by panic can be without me explaining."
I just smiled and shook my head.
The minister spoke patiently, despite my crooked attitude.
"As it happens, I also had something to ask of Your Excellency."
"What is it."
"Currently, the player, Helga Leibnitz, has lost consciousness and has been transported to the Imperial Central Hospital. As a result, various countries are withdrawing from the tournament, citing the player's condition."
"No, that's not the reason. Unlike the 99% of the audience, they are high-level mages and would have known that the mark on their hands was not normal. If they were going to hold an event to engrave a mark, the authorities would have contacted them in advance, but they didn't, which is suspicious. So they withdrew from the tournament, which was right around the corner, to investigate the truth."
When I pointed out the fact, the minister looked at me silently.
He slowly nodded.
"...You're not wrong. But as you know, the government's primary goal right now is the stability of the subjects' emotions. We can't delete a pre-planned program when we should be adding more...."
"No. Your primary goal is 'not to let the subjects pay attention to the mark on their hands until a solution is found'."
I stopped talking there, had an unbelievable thought, and opened my mouth.
Why did the stories of 'Helga Leibnitz' and 'diverting the subjects' attention to something else' come out together?
The minister looked into my eyes and said.
"We have urgently obtained the consent of six countries and have re-cast the participating players. All the mages in the teams refused based on their match condition, so they have been newly composed of government-affiliated mages. Now, only our empire remains."
"."
"It will only take a moment. If you grant my request, I will not press charges for the incident in front of the sound room."
"Why me, of all people?"
The minister shrugged.
"Our government simply focused on the fact that this continent knows Your Excellency's name."
So you're saying you'll use my Pleroma status to generate some buzz.
I burst out laughing. The minister's eyes were fixed on my pupils, but I could easily feel that he was ultimately looking not at me, but at my irises.
The minister opened his mouth again.
"What will you do?"
"I wonder."
I tilted my head, looking at him.
My core is tingling like crazy. Someone who is hearing this conversation is hitting my core. Whatever, I smiled and replied.
"What do you think I'll do?"
***
[In a moment, the International Friendship Tournament will begin.]
"."
Elias stood with his arms crossed, staring straight ahead.
He was currently with his Eszett teammates in an empty space on the middle floor of the audience seats. Leo and Narce were not yet in this space.
'When is Luka coming.'
It hasn't been long since he left, but perhaps because he's impatient, he wishes he would come back quickly.
[Due to a vacancy caused by withdrawal, and at the request of each country's Pentalon organizing committee, the stage has been reduced from the round of 16 to the round of 8, and the mages of each country's participating teams have been replaced. First, in accordance with the opinion of the British Pentalon organizing committee, the British player Finley Goodwin has been replaced by Elizabeth Spencer.]
At the announcement that came right before the match, the team members said, looking puzzled.
"Spencer? A noble, all of a sudden."
"Isn't he an athlete?"
"Good grief... these bastards are really struggling. They called a choir earlier, and now they're changing the player again?"
Elias shook his head and sneered.
[Next, in accordance with the opinion of the Pentalon organizing committee, the German player Helga Leibnitz has been replaced by Lukas Askanian.]
"Oh~ I knew our country would do that too."
Elias whistled with a smile on his face.
But it didn't take long for him to feel that something was wrong.
Elias shouted and grabbed his head.
"...Huh?!"
"What? Lukas?"
"Suddenly?!?! No, why all of a sudden?!"
"Wh-wh-what? Why is Lukas going out? But all the other countries have withdrawn their players now, what's going on?"
Ulrike, who had been listening to the brodcast, said with a dumbfounded expression. Heike, who didn't show much emotion on the outside, also had wide eyes.
Elias didn't answer his words and shouted.
"What the hell are you thinking! You should have included me too!"
"Included you...?"
It felt like a crazy remark of a different kind had come out, and Ulrike muttered.
"Ah, Elias, you didn't know either?"
Yulia tilted her head and asked. The other team members were also looking at Elias, curious as to what had happened.
"I didn't know. Did you?!"
"I didn't know either. Hmm, I guess they picked Lukas because he's the number one in the high school division."
"Most of the other teams seem to be adults?! That's too much!"
"Hmm...."
Yulia smiled with a troubled expression. Elias just clutched his head.
"Besides, it starts in 2 minutes! Te... I mean, who knows when the cross countdown will start?!"
"Cross countdown...? Hmm, 2 minutes is a bit tight. But Lukas has a bye this time, so we'll be able to see him from the next round of 4. He has some time to prepare."
"A bye?! A bye?!"
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
"He's bound to get flak.... Even a little...."
His ears were starting to hurt, so Ulrike carefully cast a soundproofing spell between Elias and himself.
Yulia, who was staring at Elias, smiled and said.
"It'll only be for a moment. Even if he gets flak, it's the one who made the bracket who'll get it, so Lukas doesn't have to worry too much. You're sensitive about Lukas hearing bad things."
"Aren't you?"
"I don't like it either, of course. We're friends."
At that calm answer, Elias grumbled, looking at Yulia's dark golden eyes.
"You don't express your emotions enough. You're just like Leo."
"Hmm. Thank you."
"It's not a compliment. Right now, if someone who doesn't know anything sees you, they'll think you're not worried about Lukas at all."
"Haha, no~ I really am."
As Elias grumbled, Yulia laughed lightly.
He looked at the mages who were organizing the screen's sound circuit into one and continued.
"I'm just thinking this. This job isn't something I can do for long. Right?"
Elias nodded silently.
He knew that the 'this job' Yulia was talking about was imperial politics. Even though Yulia hadn't heard about the terror, she had already noticed that the situation was not going well. And that Lukas had somehow gotten caught up in the Imperial government's diversion.
'No. Luka's not the type to get caught up.'
If Luka's voluntarism was involved even a little, I know why he made this choice.
The crosses on people's hands still maintained their length.
According to Leo and Luka, the crosses would start to shrink when the book code appeared.
It meant there was still a basic 30 minutes left, but he was still anxious.
Yulia looked at the stadium and said.
"The first game is Britain and Italy. Hmm, since I work with Narce, I should cheer for Italy."
"He's only interested in the Vatican."
"Haha, still~"
Yulia laughed lightly, then asked quietly.
"But I'm curious why all the players withdrew. Do you know, Elias?"
"."
Elias didn't answer.
Yulia was too quick-witted. If he told her that the players had probably gone to the Pentalon organizing committee to protest about the crosses by now, she would grasp the implication of the absurd fact that government-affiliated mages were filling in for the program instead of the players.
The result of the match was just pathetic.
After 6 minutes, Italy defeated Britain.
And now, the mages from the Ottoman Empire and the Qing Dynasty are fighting like crazy.
They have duels like that every day, and it wasn't very interesting, but the crowd was ecstatic. Of course, Elias himself would have enjoyed it if terror hadn't been involved.
But that wasn't the situation now. He didn't know when the book code would appear on that screen. Elias's gaze was constantly on the screen.
In the meantime, it seemed that three teams' matches had ended. The cheers of the people grew louder, and the lights went out. Now, only dozens of marks flickered in the stadium.
Leo suddenly spoke through the artifact.
[Elias. Nothing's appeared there, right.]
"Yeah."
[People outside are starting to notice the curse. It's complete chaos. Is the government still not doing anything on that side?]
"...It's the same here."
They're just doing this damn tournament. In any case, since the people engrossed in entertainment are the absolute majority compared to the people who know the truth, the government has an incentive to continue this. Of course, apart from diverting attention, those guys must be busting their asses trying to find a solution.
Elias tapped the railing with his finger. He could faintly hear the words of the people on the floor below. They were speaking in French, so they must be French.
[Are they coming out now?]
[I think so. I can't believe I'm seeing Pleroma in action.]
[Isn't he not Pleroma?]
[You're still saying that after seeing the color of his eyes.]
[Maybe something just went wrong when he was born.]
[What could go wrong to make....]
Luka has become too famous. So famous that he's getting flak he doesn't deserve.
'Ah, I want to give these bastards a good whack.'
Elias smacked his lips.
What he's worried about now is this. The terror is one thing, but Luka isn't the type to postpone it, so that's fine. More than that.
Luka said he would 'draw their attention and go meet the Minister of Magic'.
The idea was a really good one. I like this kind of method. But there's a big problem with this kind of idea....
It's that it's unpredictable.
'What if, here too, like when he went to meet the Minister of Magic....'
He's not going to do something completely unexpected, is he?
For example, a civil disobedience performance on that spot.
I don't know for sure, but it would definitely draw attention.
'Shit... no.'
No. I have to buy a time-turning clock and turn it back.
[Next up, we will have the match between the winner of Group 3 and the bye winner of the round of 4.]
One of the stage entrances opened, and Luka walked out from that side with a calm face.
I wanted to jump down right away and ask what he was doingbecause I wanted to be included toobut now I could only watch.
A roar of cheers erupted at his turn.
Any kindergarten student listening to this would know that it wasn't a cheer of good will. Whistles mixed with laughter poued down from all sides. A subtle expectation and leisureliness were reflected on the faces of the audience.
They probably didn't mean to sneer with malice. But I could read the deep-seated resentment against Pleroma and the curiosity about the 'non-aggressive' Pleroma belonging to the royal family.
To summarize the impression, it was this. Let's see how well he does.
[France?]
Luka's voice came through clearly.
He said so, checking the flag that appeared at the opponent team's entrance, then shook his head. It seemed he had just changed his clothes without even looking at the bracket.
'Haha, what on earth is he thinking~'
But I'll take it as a sign that he's committed to the terror.
It seemed that the only thing on Luka's mind right now was the terror. That was a relief in another sense.
While Elias leaned against the railing and looked down with an expressionless face, the countdown began.
[3, 2, 1.]
Beep
[Begin.]
