After getting permission, Rorschach took all the portraits with him. He had no talent for Prophetic Spells, so he could only resort to his old trick—relying on Balan.
After feeding the Blue Crystal to the pearl until it was sated, it regained so of its initiative and began to roll slowly across the desk. Rorschach placed the pearl on a portrait, and after it rolled in a circle, he moved it to a book.
"Hold... ... close eyes." Rorschach received this request. He didn’t comply imdiately. The pearl trembled twice, as if urging him on.
"Tower Spirit."
"I am here."
’Are you Siri or Alexa...’ Rorschach asked, "Can you monitor this dormitory?"
"I would not do so proactively."
’So that’s a yes.’ Rorschach instructed the Tower Spirit to watch his condition and imdiately notify Master Kano of any anomalies.
Having taken these precautions, Rorschach finally grabbed the pearl and did as it asked. When he closed his eyes, he was not t with darkness, but with a blurry scene devoid of color, as if composed solely of charcoal, just like the drawing.
There were three people in the room. One was the artist, another was a young man pointing and giving directions, and the third was soone Rorschach recognized—Duke lovinca!
’It’s him?’ At the young man’s direction, the artist completed the portrait. Rorschach recognized it as the first one, of Maxim.
Outside this room was a much larger space. In this scene, Maxim was giving a passionate speech, but there was no sound. Rorschach noticed they were in a courtroom. However, to Duke lovinca, the sacred trial below was like a play. He was rely a spectator, looking down on it all from above.
The scene changed. It was now ti to sketch the other lawyers. Duke lovinca was gone, leaving only the artist and the young man responsible for identifying the targets.
’Ti to put my artistic talent to use again...’ Rorschach hadn’t drawn in a while, but thankfully, with the help of Balan’s Pearl, he managed to create a portrait that was in no way inferior to the original artist’s.
It was the young man responsible for identifying the targets.
As for the matter with Duke lovinca, Rorschach planned to tell Kano directly.
He felt that Balan’s Pearl had been a little too active lately and decided to burn the bridge after crossing it. He took out the small box and put the pearl back inside to isolate it for a while.
"Here."
When Pascal received the portrait, he thought his employer had drawn it. After Rorschach’s explanation, he understood imdiately. "It’s this guy! He must be the traitor in the club."
However, after taking a real look, Pascal’s expression beca one of confusion. "That’s not right. We don’t have anyone like that in our club... Did you draw it wrong?"
This made Rorschach a little unsure himself. "I don’t think so...?"
"Let look again..." Although he had ruled out the possibility of a traitor within their club, Pascal still found the face sowhat familiar. ’I should have seen him before. Seen him...’ "He is from the club! But not from the Friends of Universal Love and Equality!"
The truth finally ca to light. He was a mber of the old club, before its reorganization—an inactive mber, a speculator who moved between banks and stock exchanges. After Maxim left with the Radical Faction to form the new club, Pascal had lost contact with him.
"It’s one of our forr comrades, turned enemy, trying to fra us!" he said, gritting his teeth and vowing revenge.
...
A copy of the portrait reached Kano’s hands. After understanding the full story from Rorschach’s report, he went to the hospital designated by the Guild.
Soone was "recuperating" here.
Nekker had been staying in a private room for over a month. He himself was quite satisfied with his current life. No matter how scorching hot it was outside, the temperature inside was kept in a comfortable range by magic. In Nekker’s own words:
"It would be perfect if my mistress were allowed to visit at appropriate tis. No, don’t look for my wife. Let her vent her excess energy at her own salon!"
When Kano ca looking for him, Nekker was playing cards with an "assistant" assigned by the Magic Guild.
"All in."
"My dear assistant, learning to control your expression is the first lesson at the card table." Nekker found the assistant’s amateur skills a little dull. The Great Mage’s arrival was just in ti to end the boring, one-sided ga.
Kano waved his hand, dismissing the assistant. He saw that Nekker was surrounded by newspaper clippings and nurous manuscripts.
"The assistant you gave isn’t much help. It’s a struggle for him to even organize materials. I need a typewriter and soone who knows how to use it. That way, I can dictate my writing and save so energy."
"You never stop writing, do you." Kano picked up a manuscript. It was filled with words like "regulation" and "market."
The Great Mage briefly recounted what had happened yesterday. "There was an attempted attack at the morial service for the lawyer, ixie, targeting a group of progressive lawyers. The mastermind... is a Great Noble."
After listening, Nekker confird, "These ’progressive lawyers’ you speak of, are they the ones who go around shouting about ’natural law’ and ’natural rights’?"
"Yes."
Nekker laughed. "Well then, I’m quite progressive myself! Just kidding, heh. Aren’t you wondering why the Great Nobles don’t just arrest them and be done with it? I hear His Majesty the King has been throwing quite a few disagreeable people into the Bastille Prison lately."
"I am. And you’re quite well-inford."
"It’s not that I’m well-inford, it’s that this information is all public. Usually, when a secret order is issued for an arrest, if the person is caught, you’ll see all sorts of their vile deeds plastered across the Royal Palace’s mouthpiece newspaper three days later. They’re thoroughly vilified, all to convince the readers that those arrested are irredeemable villains. I almost enjoyed the sa treatnt myself."
Nekker spread out the newspapers he had organized. "Master Mage, haven’t you noticed? The Royal Palace and the Royal Supre Court have been at odds lately. Never mind the so-called ’progressive lawyers’ waving the banner of ’natural law’; even the Chief Justices and the Robed Nobility are fighting against Charles XVI under a similar pretext."
During this ti, another case has captured the attention of the entire Valois public. A group of swindlers claid to possess a pearl necklace belonging to Her Majesty the Queen. They successfully sold it to an Archbishop and hinted that they could introduce the buyer to Her Majesty for an improper, intimate relationship.
This sort of behavior, which is tantamount to dancing on the Royal Family’s grave, was actually t with a not-guilty verdict from the Royal Supre Court! They declared the group were rely jewel rchants...
The various newspapers had different takes on the sa incident. One side believed the Chief Justices had protected the weak from the Royal Family, while the other clamored for both the swindlers and the judges to be put to death by extre asures.
"This case is no longer about justice. It’s about the Chief Justices trying to humiliate the Royal Family and disgust His Majesty the King and the Lord Chancellor. Dipresy is leading reforms right now. He doesn’t like my Domain, so he’s starting with the legal world.
"The judges think the Pri Minister wants to take back their power and return it to the King. I support that. If the damned Royal Court would just obediently listen to His Majesty, new taxes could be declared effective by the Supre Court, bypassing the Noble Conference..."
Nekker still held a grudge against the Noble Conference.
"But would the judges and the Robed Nobility behind them just sit back and wait for their doom? And so, a fierce confrontation is now unfolding between the Royal Palace and the courts. At this critical juncture, if the active ’progressive lawyers’ are assassinated, it will surely incite fear among the Robed Nobility, who will see it as an act of the King’s tyranny.
"Once the progressive lawyers are dead, both the Robed Nobility and the Radical Faction will unleash a flood of propaganda. They’ll spread panic among the populace and paint His Majesty the King as a great Demon King.
"When facing the common people, these n are elites, nobles. But when facing His Majesty the King, they proclaim themselves representatives of the masses. The attack will be blown out of proportion, pushing the court system and the King to a final break.
"Once that break occurs, His Majesty’s rule will be severely damaged. To make matters worse, His Majesty is a man of passion, while those of the Robed Nobility are the sort who take pride in resisting authority. Dipresy alone may not be able to stop things from escalating.
"You said the one who hired the assassins was a Great Noble. For the price of just one or two dead lawyers, they can add fuel to the current fire and shake the throne. That’s a damn good bargain!"
Compared to assassinating the King or other nobles, what’s the harm in killing a few minor lawyers? Given the sluggishness of the Royal Palace, they certainly wouldn’t react to such a trivial matter. Nekker slamd the table in approval. If it weren’t for these ddling mages, it would have been a rather successful plot.
"The ones who stand to benefit, of course, are those who covet the throne... Those useless princes are even worse than His Majesty, so the biggest suspect would be... the currently active Duke lovinca?"
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