Fairy Tail: Igneel's eldest son in Anime Multiverse Chapter 91: Conspiracy

The Okutama incident hadn't truly been resolved. Even in the end, no one figured out who had placed the puppets there.

Only after regrouping with Toudou Touka did Charles learn that she had also encountered puppets on her side.

According to her analysis, the puppeteer had to be hiding at least twenty kiloters away.

Typically, a puppeteer could only control their creations from a range of several ters. Even among the elite, those capable of controlling from several dozen ters were rare.

Even Toudou Touka couldn't imagine who might be able to manipulate puppets from twenty kiloters out.

But that would have to be a problem for later. Urged by Touka, the group first escorted the ailing Stella back down the mountain.

After a doctor's examination, it was confird to be nothing more than a standard sumr cold. Thanks to her formidable constitution, Stella had already mostly recovered.

At least they had uncovered the truth behind the "Giant of Okutama," so there was no reason to stay any longer. The group returned to Hagun Academy imdiately.

By the ti they arrived, it was already deep into the night. Yet Charles noticed that Ikki Kurogane wasn't in the dorm.

Even the next morning, when Charles woke up, Ikki's bedding was still neat and untouched. Clearly, he hadn't returned all night.

As Charles stepped outside, he felt sothing even stranger—the students he passed were whispering, pointing at him.

He had always been a popular figure at Hagun, especially after his undefeated streak in the selection matches.

Before, their eyes had been filled with admiration and respect. Now, though, they were wary—so even looked at him with open disgust.

Charles wasn't bothered by how others looked at him. What intrigued him was what had changed.

It was early, earlier than most students would be awake, yet it felt like they were waiting just to get a glimpse of him.

On his way, Charles ran into Stella. Her energetic appearance gave no sign she'd been seriously ill the day before.

She, too, sensed sothing was off. Leaning in, she asked, "Did sothing happen? The whole atmosphere at school feels… weird."

Charles replied with a helpless shrug, "We've been together the whole ti. How would I know? But Ikki didn't co back last night. I have a feeling it's connected. Let's go ask Shizuku."

"Oh, right—your roommate is Kagami, isn't she? Did she say anything?"

Stella shook her head. "By the ti Kagami got back, I was already asleep. And when I woke up, she was still asleep. I haven't had the chance to talk to her."

Charles nodded. "Alright, let's go see Shizuku."

The two of them went to Shizuku's dorm. When they knocked, it was Arisuin Nagi who answered—Shizuku wasn't in sight.

"Where's Shizuku? We need to ask her sothing," Charles said directly.

Nagi sighed. "Looks like you really don't know what happened. Take a look at this first."

She handed her student handbook to Charles, who took it and saw that it was open to the news page.

"Well, now—that's quite the accusation," Charles remarked sarcastically after reading the headline:

"Spy from a Great Nation Infiltrates! A Treasonous Traitor from the Lowest Country Colludes with the Enemy!"

Charles didn't need further clues to know who the article was referring to. Especially not with the photo beneath the headline.

It was a photo of him and Ikki training together in the morning. Soone had clearly gone out of their way to obscure Stella's image.

And though their eyes had been pixelated, anyone familiar could easily tell who was in the picture.

The article's gist was this: soone from a powerful allied nation had entered the country under legitimate pretenses, with the intention of spying. And worse—so traitor had handed over dostic and Alliance intelligence to that person.

Though no nas were explicitly ntioned, it was blatantly obvious the story was about Charles and Ikki.

Nagi said, "Yesterday, Ikki was taken in for questioning by the Alliance's Ethics Committee. Shizuku was worried sick, so she went ho to see what she could do."

"This is outrageous! Charles would never be a spy!" Stella was the first to voice her anger.

To her, spies were despicable people who survived through lies and deceit. There was no way Charles could be one of them.

Charles sighed. "Of course not. And whoever wrote this likely knows that."

"You an soone did this on purpose? But why?"

Charles gave a cold smile. "I ca to this country and enrolled fair and square. What kind of top-secret intel could I possibly obtain at Hagun Academy? Writing sothing this absurd in the news… it's clearly ant for another purpose."

He paused for a mont, then continued thoughtfully. "And didn't you notice, Stella? The article's so-called 'spy' is . But the only one taken away… was Ikki. And by the Ethics Committee, no less. They're not even supposed to deal with traitors."

Magic Knights, and even student knights without licenses, enjoyed considerable privileges. Many civilians doubted whether they deserved such rights.

The Ethics Committee existed to examine the conduct of Blazers and issue guidance or disciplinary actions when necessary.

In other words, they were the military police of the Magic Knights.

Charles thought things over more carefully. Whoever fabricated this story clearly wanted Ikki gone—and gave the Ethics Committee a pretense to take him.

But interrogation alone wouldn't do much. Even though Ikki wasn't a licensed Knight yet, the Committee didn't have the authority to impose excessive punishnt.

All of Japan's Blazers were under the jurisdiction of the Magic Knight Alliance Headquarters. Even soone as powerful as Division Chief Kurogane couldn't punish soone without proper cause.

Would they really try to bring soone down with such a flimsy claim of espionage? The Alliance leadership wasn't stupid.

Besides, if they were truly treating this as a treason case, then the country's own security forces—not the Ethics Committee—would have been dispatched.

Which left only one plausible explanation: soone high up in the Ethics Committee was behind this.

Given what Ikki had shared about his past, Charles suspected this might be his father's doing.

If true, it ant his father was seriously determined to stop him from becoming a Magic Knight.

But whether the mastermind was Ikki's father directly or not, it was a cruel and extre move.

Whoever planned this definitely wouldn't stop at just detaining Ikki. There had to be more.

Charles guessed they might try to sabotage Ikki in the selection matches.

Thanks to Toudou Touka's prior announcents, Ikki's graduation now hinged entirely on becoming the Seven Stars Sword King.

If they disrupted that process, Ikki's graduation would be invalidated, and he'd be forced off the path of a Magic Knight.

As for how they intended to do it—Charles had no clue.

But one thing was certain: whatever they were planning, it wasn't anything they could afford to do in the light.

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