Editor: Tseirp
The two ice sellers—no, Ryo and Abel—returned to the mansion ‘Rondo Manor’.
The ti was close to five in the evening.
“Yeah, it’d be a bit much to have the Censorate co over now.”
“Pretty much.”
The six ice coffins were lowered into the garden.
When Ryo gave a aningful wave of his hand, the refractive index of the ice seed to change, and the inside beca visible.
“Hey, Ryo.”
“What is it, Abel?”
“You did that before too, didn’t you?”
“Did what?”
“The thing where you wave your hand and the inside of the ice becos visible.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“But really, even if you don’t do that, the inside would beco visible, right?”
“How… did you figure that out…?”
“Mm, I figured it was sothing like that.”
Ryo was aghast; Abel gave a small shake of his head.
Abel saw right through him.
“You’re doing it because it looks cool, aren’t you?”
“I thought, you know, if I waved my hand it might look more aningful…”
“Yeah, figures…”
The six who were now visible inside all had their eyes closed.
“This is… sus… sothing? They’re unconscious…”
“Yes, yes—suspended animation due to very low temperature. I’m impressed you rembered.”
“They’re not conscious, right?”
“Right, they aren’t. So they can’t hear what we’re saying, and even if they were people who could cast magic without trigger words, this way it’s fine.”
At Abel’s question, Ryo nodded decisively.
Abel noticed Ryo was silently manipulating sothing.
Looking at the ice coffins, it seed like sothing was moving inside.
As if slis were writhing inside the coffins…
After a while, sothing was pushed out from four of the ice coffins.
“Are those adventurer cards?”
Abel asked, rembering the card from the Adventurers’ Mutual Aid Association that he had as well.
“Yeah, that’s right. Which ans these four are adventurers.”
So saying, Ryo examined the four adventurer cards one after another.
Abel peered in from behind.
“All four…”
“Third-Rank adventurers.”
“The advanced-hall adventurers who were away on jobs…”
“Got reassigned to this kind of work.”
Both Abel and Ryo tilted their heads.
Adventurers are by no ans suited to covert spy-type work.
Of course, if they’re scouts, they can manage so surveillance without being noticed, but… they aren’t trained by a so-called intelligence organization, so it’s hard to think they’re really well-suited to surveillance missions.
In fact, these four had been sensed not only by Ryo but, toward the end, even by Abel.
And that was in such a crowded location.
“Proper placent of personnel is the most important point in an organization. Put people in the wrong place, and they’ll just accumulate stress and wear down without ever showing their strength.”
“Right. It’s one of the things people in charge always have to watch out for.”
Both Ryo and Abel recognized that human resources are the treasure of an organization.
At the sa ti, they didn’t think you could just make anyone do any job.
Everyone has jobs they’re suited for and jobs they aren’t.
If you’re going to have people work hard, it’s better to let them happily do what suits them—it leads to better results for the organization as a whole…an obvious truth.
It’s obvious… and yet, in practice, very difficult…
“The four just now are adventurers and humans, but…”
Ryo said this as he turned toward the two who hadn’t had cards.
“Humans, but? The way you said that…”
“Yeah, I have a feeling these two are Phantomkins.”
“Whoa, seriously…?”
“The one we caught before—Seven-Star General Yun Chen, right? They feel similar to him. Except…”
“Except?”
“Phantomkins, unlike akumas or djinns, are extrely close to humans in appearance and structure… so it’s probably in the ntal part that they’re ‘mixed’. I an, well, by having the mind dominate the body, maybe they can pull off movents normal humans can’t…”
“So in ordinary states they’re extrely close to human.”
“That’s right.”
At Abel’s conclusion, Ryo nodded,
then continued.
“Let’s have the Censorate use the helt-type information collector they used on General Yun last ti.”
“Ah… the thing you put on the head to extract information. But they haven’t finished analyzing what they pulled from Yun yet, have they? That’ll take a fair amount of ti.”
“It can’t be helped. People like this probably won’t talk even if you torture them.”
Ryo shrugged.
If they won’t spill anything, then even if it takes ti, it’s better to extract information with alchemy tools.
The next day.
The Censorate arrived.
With over three tis the personnel as last ti.
And leading them, of course…
“Sorry to trouble you to co yourself, Shau-san.”
“No, Duke Rondo, think nothing of it. His Majesty has told us to cooperate fully. And according to the report I received yesterday, you captured more Phantomkins?”
“Yes. We captured six who were watching us, and two of them were Phantomkins.”
“The analysis of the information extracted from General Yun last ti is also scheduled to finish today. Including these new ones, we may obtain useful intelligence.”
Behind the progress of diplomatic negotiations, information gathering mixed with the use of force was being carried out…
That happens in any era, in any world.
If anything, in Earth’s history, it was more common for diplomacy to be conducted as a stalling tactic or as camouflage for the use of force.
As before, the interrogation was conducted in the garden.
The four adventurers and two Phantomkins were questioned a short distance apart.
What hadn’t changed was that all six were still frozen from the neck down.
Apparently, the four adventurers in particular couldn’t grasp their situation at first; they repeatedly looked from their bodies below the neck to the adventurers around them.
Once they finally understood they were frozen, next they recognized the Censorate personnel surrounding them.
Only then did the Censorate n announce that they would conduct an interrogation.
“By order of His Imperial Majesty, you will be interrogated.”
The instant they understood that opening line, the four adventurers’ eyes went wide.
They realized it.
They had done sothing they mustn’t do.
Being surrounded by nearly a hundred Censorate officers and expressly told “by order of His Imperial Majesty” before being interrogated—that was not normal.
They could tell this place wasn’t the Censorate, but the garden of so mansion… but more than that, the number of Censorate n was extraordinary.
They rushed to speak first.
“W-we just accepted a request.”
“We only did the surveillance as instructed by the employer…”
“We weren’t even told who we were watching.”
They answered one after another, before being asked.
But to the next question, they hesitated.
“Who hired you?”
At that question, they all fell silent at once.
All four of them, perfectly in sync.
They were Third-Rank adventurers.
In Darwei, that’s called Advanced-Rank.
In the imperial capital, there might be hundreds, but in a local city’s mutual aid association, third-rank is top tier.
They had that pride.
So when it ca to the information that must be handled with the greatest care—that is, the client—they hesitated to speak.
So, what to do?
“Duke Rondo, may I borrow a sowhat larger garden?”
“Of course.”
Ryo nodded at Secretary Shau’s question.
It seed Secretary Shau would return to interrogation basics.
Naly: keep suspects separated.
The four adventurers were moved to separate gardens.
Rondo Manor is spacious, so there are several gardens…
To each separated adventurer, they naturally announced the following:
“Whoever first reveals the client’s na will be released without charge.”
Then they added this:
“The others will go to the high-security prison. His Majesty is enraged over this surveillance matter.”
The mont they heard it, all four turned deathly pale.
Surely not because they were cold from being frozen.
“Falling into the prisoner’s dilemma.”
Ryo murmured as he watched the four.
The famous ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ from ga theory.
It shows that people don’t act solely on rational judgnts.
Skillfully using emotions to move the other side is very effective… the dilemma was proof of that.
“Well, if no one says anything… in that case, all four will go to the high-security prison.”
Secretary Shau announced.
“So it wasn’t even a prisoner’s dilemma…”
In the prisoner’s dilemma, if all the prisoners keep silent, the outco isn’t that bad…in other words, no one saying anything is the most rational.
But the tale is that there’s often soone who tries to sneak ahead and save just themselves.
However, if staying silent puts you in the worst situation anyway… there’s no point in remaining silent.
“It was Prince Bin, the Fourth Imperial Prince…”
From there, it was quick.
Yesterday, most of the third- and second-rank adventurers belonging to the Imperial Capital Adventurers’ Mutual Aid Association were hired by Prince Bin.
Those currently on other jobs are to be hired by Prince Bin as soon as those jobs end.
Most of them at the third rank have been put on surveillance missions like this one.
They didn’t know what the second ranks were doing.
“Why were you watching Duke Rondo?”
They hadn’t been told the surveillance target was Duke Rondo.
Originally, they’d been watching Count Bashu’s movents, but word ca that Count Bashu had hired third-rank adventurers from his own domain.
When they watched those third-rank adventurers, the two here happened to have lunch with them, so from that afternoon, the two were also added as targets.
All direct instructions ca from Prince Bin’s close aide, Lin Sui-dono.
“Lin Sui, huh…”
Hearing the report, Secretary Shau couldn’t help murmuring.
“What kind of person is this Lin Sui-san?”
Ryo asked.
Since this whole issue started with surveillance on Ryo and company, it should be fine to ask a bit.
“Lin Sui is Prince Bin’s closest of close aides; it’s no exaggeration to say he manages everything in the Bin Royal Residence.”
“Ho hoh, so he’s capable.”
“Yes, capable he certainly is, but…”
“But?”
“Within Prince Bin’s camp, he rose in power quite rapidly. So rapidly it’s unnatural…”
“I see. If he were a spy planted by soone else…a worm in the lion’s body, an enemy within—that’d be sothing.”
“…We hadn’t considered that.”
Secretary Shau was startled by Ryo’s offhand conjecture.
Abel, listening beside him, only gave a small shake of his head, used to Ryo’s off-the-cuff guesses.
It didn’t take long for the four adventurers to spill their guts.
“Before three o’clock, is it. As interrogations go, that’s not bad.”
Secretary Shau said while drinking tea.
Of course, during that ti, the interrogation of the two Phantomkins continued as well.
However, they maintained total silence.
That had been anticipated, so the Censorate’s special helt-type information collector had been placed on their heads to extract information from there.
The questioning was likely a camouflage for that.
But things did not end there.
Ryo suddenly lifted his head as if he had noticed sothing.
Abel beside him noticed and asked,
“What is it?”
“Out front… a carriage just stopped. And about twenty mounted n?”
“At our place?”
“Yeah. And, maybe…”
Ryo smiled slightly and continued.
“More Phantomkins.”
TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.
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