Chapter 248
"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 and speaking was. Soone was holding my head and pressing it to the floor, so I couldn't see the face of the person who had co.
Even for , 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 soone who would do sothing 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 ca all this way?
The minister chased away the mages who were pressing down. He had let off so easily even though I had made a ss here by attacking first. The statent from the previous tiline that he had a good opinion of seed not to be a lie.
The minister placed his hand on my carotid artery and warped with sowhere.
It wasn't the strategy room attached to the stadium. The place we moved to was his office sowhere in the Ergency 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 in a chair, and the minister, who sat down next to , 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 seriously, stared at 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 an?
"Minister. Please take off your gloves. There's sothing 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 ti, Minister. Ever since the player, Helga Leibnitz, first ntioned Revelation 7:10. That ans...."
"No, about that part...."
"It ans 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 tournant 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 sothing it's not."
"……."
"I ca 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 sothing was wrong when sothing 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 ti, 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 tiline. But in this tiline, 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 that this was actually first proposed by Your Excellency Askanian."
"……."
"If it weren't for Your Excellency Askanian's swift judgnt 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 Ergency 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 indictnt.
"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' ca out... but we failed in the end."
They cut off the screen as soon as that word ca out? Why?
I narrowed my eyes at the sowhat random-sounding words, and the minister nodded as if to explain.
"This evening, a letter was delivered to the Ergency Committee. It was written like this. 'Beware of the one who reads the Bible.' Does it an to be wary of Divine Power mages? I checked if anyone was reading the Bible throughout the Ergency 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, ntioned 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 seed 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 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 mber of the Ergency Committee, let alone a core mber. 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 sa, 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 becos a top secret. No governnt would just spread it to the dia and ask, 'Does anyone know what this is'.
'I can't believe I've co across information I couldn't access in the previous tiline like this.'
It was as I had thought at first.
The developnt of the 'possible world where the player doesn't commit suicide' originally unfolds like this. In fact, if I could turn back ti one more ti, I could handle it more perfectly, but I have no desire to turn back ti 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 Ergency 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 seed 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 aning 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 imdiately 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 ti. 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 so of his words. But, at the sa ti, I still don't agree.
"Fine, Minister. But what if the terrorist no longer allows peace? You're mistaken about sothing. 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 soone commit suicide right now, or kill soone 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 thods, if the governnt 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 ti to calmly report the situation to the people and make them understand.
If soone dies like before, it will be complete chaos from then on.
Rather, if we report cleanly and truthfully that 'the governnt is grasping the situation and preparing counterasures' 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 sothing 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 soone 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 developnt 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 sa response will definitely follow.
How many heads are involved in this terror? I an actual, physical heads. The more parties involved in an incident, the more complicated the vested interests beco, 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 ca to Your Excellency. We are about to receive the dispel thod by mail. Of course, there is a possibility that person might give us wrong information, so our governnt is also inviting many other experts to research ways to break the curse."
There's no point in pointing it out further, there's no answer here. Let 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 rember 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 sothing 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 so 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 the sound technician and the sound room. From getting their attention to trying to 'tell it to everyone', just give one minute of undisturbed ti."
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 basent near Tiss Hotel. That code was not a code to inform us, but a code the terrorist received. Soone instructed the terrorist. To 'tell everyone' a specific Bible verse."
"In the end, you believe that the basent full of rats that day was the real terrorist's basent. How many tis do I have to say it's a smokescreen."
"It might be a truth disguised as a smokescreen. How many tis 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 judgnt is excellent. It cos from your agility and sharpness."
"……."
"Your Excellency's help was very reasonable. The governnt will formally express its gratitude to Your Excellency for this. But before that, the only thod left for us is to buy as much ti 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 explaining."
I just smiled and shook my head.
The minister spoke patiently, despite my crooked attitude.
"As it happens, I also had sothing 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 tournant, 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 tournant, which was right around the corner, to investigate the truth."
When I pointed out the fact, the minister looked at silently.
He slowly nodded.
"...You're not wrong. But as you know, the governnt'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 sothing else' co 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 governnt-affiliated mages. Now, only our empire remains."
"……."
"It will only take a mont. If you grant my request, I will not press charges for the incident in front of the sound room."
"Why , of all people?"
The minister shrugged.
"Our governnt simply focused on the fact that this continent knows Your Excellency's na."
So you're saying you'll use my Pleroma status to generate so 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 , 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. Soone who is hearing this conversation is hitting my core. Whatever, I smiled and replied.
"What do you think I'll do?"
* * *
[In a mont, the International Friendship Tournant 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 co 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 announcent that ca right before the match, the team mbers 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 sothing 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 broadcast, 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 too!"
"Included you...?"
It felt like a crazy remark of a different kind had co out, and Ulrike muttered.
"Ah, Elias, you didn't know either?"
Yulia tilted her head and asked. The other team mbers 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 an, who knows when the cross countdown will start?!"
"Cross countdown...? Hmm, 2 minutes is a bit tight. But Lukas has a bye this ti, so we'll be able to see him from the next round of 4. He has so ti 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 mont. 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 complint. Right now, if soone 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 sothing 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 sohow gotten caught up in the Imperial governnt'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 ant there was still a basic 30 minutes left, but he was still anxious.
Yulia looked at the stadium and said.
"The first ga 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 governnt-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 anti, it seed 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 governnt still not doing anything on that side?]
"...It's the sa here."
They're just doing this damn tournant. In any case, since the people engrossed in entertainnt are the absolute majority compared to the people who know the truth, the governnt 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 sothing just went wrong when he was born.]
[What could go wrong to make....]
Luka has beco 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 et the Minister of Magic'.
The idea was a really good one. I like this kind of thod. 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 et the Minister of Magic....'
He's not going to do sothing 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 ti-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 doing—because I wanted to be included too—but 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 poured down from all sides. A subtle expectation and leisureliness were reflected on the faces of the audience.
They probably didn't an to sneer with malice. But I could read the deep-seated resentnt 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 ca through clearly.
He said so, checking the flag that appeared at the opponent team's entrance, then shook his head. It seed 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 seed 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.]
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