Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Discovery

We are in the Anderson estate again. This time, illegally, as we snuck in with utter ease.

Hehehe~ Man is it easy to enter places with magic.

"Princess, please stop playing with that guard's face and move already."

"Oh come on. Don't be such a killjoy, Jonah. It's not like they can hear us."

"Neither can they see us nor feel us..."

I have marked just about every person working here with my Remote Hypnosis when I came here prior as the Midnight Lady. Because of which, there is no need for me to exhaust my mana using Field Hypnosis all the time during our investigation here.

I also remember the faces of whom I had marked, so if there's anyone who isn't under my spell, I will simply place my mark on them afterwards.

Jonah and I then proceeded casually along the hallway, heading straight to the Marquis's office as I already know where it is from my previous appearance in the mansion.

However, upon arriving there, we found the door to be locked.

"Jonah."

"Leave it to me." he said, pulling out some lockpicks as he proceeds to unlock the door with it.

After a click, the door opens.

"After you, Princess."

"Why thank you~" I gave my butler a little smooch on the cheek as a reward.

Now entering the room together, Jonah closed the door while I lit up the candles, giving us some light in the room before we begin our search for any useful info.

"Jonah, you take those shelves and I'll take these ones."

"Got it."

Beginning from the top, I skimmed through files in quick succession. Taking only a few glances in each paper before moving on to the next.

I'm not a fast reader or anything. What I'm doing is capturing images of each paper in my head, which will then be processed as I memorised them in clear details.

Somehow, not only am I able to do that, but I can also vividly remember anything I've experienced, no matter how much time has passed. Even the smallest of events that most people would forget, I can still remember them in great details.

An incredibly good memorising ability; this is the talent I possess in addition to my magic.

"Jonah, how's it going over there?"

"Nothing yet. I will inform you if I find something."

"Ok..."

We scanned through the shelves as quickly as we could without skipping anything. I was faster than Jonah due to my ability. Because of which...

"Ah."

...I found something that caught my attention.

This is... No way... Ohohohohohohohoho~ Oh my god!

"Princess, what did you find?" Jonah curiously asked, seeing that I have stopped to stare at a certain document in my hand.

"Is it what we came for?"

"Oh, no no no. It's not it. It's definitely not it." I said. "But look at this!" I turned around, shoving the papers into his face.

"It's a list of valuables being kept in a hidden storage room in the mansion, ranging from rare antics, jewelleries and artworks to expensive magic items. Marquis Anderson, that bastard has been hoarding a load of them without anyone noticing. Not even us, since this is news to me." I then flipped the pages. "What's more... Look! He has a Divine Artifact under his possession. A bloody Divine Artifact, my man!"

"Calm down, Princess."

"What do you mean 'calm down'? This is a Divine Artifact I'm talking about. We must get it now that we know there is one here!"

"I know, Princess. However, that is not our main purpose. So calm down and focus on the task at hand."

"Right... right... Sorry. I got a bit too excited there. Sorry..."

Bloody hell, Marquis. Never thought a man like you would be have such an object... You're trash, but I thank you. Because now I will be taking that Divine Artifact you possess for myself, since you clearly do not need it.

Why am I so excited about it? Because a chance to finally rid the curse from myself has appeared.

In this world where people with magic exist, you can bet that there are items that possess such things too. Magic items have two kinds; the standard but expensive kind that are made by mankind and the special kind known as Divine Artifacts, which are made by the Gods themselves during ancient times before they left our world completely.

In other words, this Divine Artifact; this creation of a God can very well be the cure to my blight which is the Transformation Curse I bear.

I'm so excited! But, like Jonah said, focusing on the current task comes first. And so, we continued the search for any info related to Pleasure.

Then, Jonah found something.

"Princess, take a look at this." he said, handing me some files.

"Oh, how interesting..." I commented, reading the papers in my hand thoroughly.

They are invoices for batches of perfume the Marquis bought. A large quantity at that.

I know that the Marquis tend to host a lot of parties to pick out his next target for his... "hobby." But even so, this amount is still a lot for one man to have.

The goods also come in boxes apparently. And considering how compact the sizes of perfume bottles recently are...

"Do you think it's possible that they hid the Pleasure bottles among the perfume bottes in their shipments?" I asked Jonah for his opinion, seeing as the possibility isn't unlikely.

"That is what I thought as well." he replied, agreeing with my idea.

"I see. If that's the case, then our next target of investigation will have to be the company that provided the goods." I said, referring to the name on the top right hand corner of each invoice: Perfume Fiora. Owned by a greedy merchant named Gulliver Gold.

If he is involved in this Pleasure business, I wouldn't be surprised I guess, considering his personality according to the information gathered on him. He was also charged with several criminal offenses, but was quickly forgotten after giving some of his wealth to the officials.

Least to say, Gulliver Gold isn't a good person. But he's isn't worse than Marquis Anderson though. That man's crimes are way worse compared to this one's.

"Haa..." I sighed, handing the papers back to Jonah. "Continue searching for anymore possible clues. We also need to find evidence of the Marquis's possession of the drugs. This one isn't solid enough."

"Understood." Jonah returned to his search. As do I...

*step* *step* *step*...

In the midst of our investigation, however, I hear footsteps coming our way. Belonging to not just one, but at least two individuals as it slowly become louder with each approaching step.

"Jonah, put everything back and hide." I ordered him, placing the documents in my hands back onto the shelves as well. Then, I blew out the lit candles and ran to Jonah whereby he held me close to himself and covered us entirely with the cloak he's wearing, turning us invisible just as the door to the Marquis's office gets unlocked.

Whew~ That was close.

Why are we hiding like this when I could just use Field Hypnosis to cover our presence? Well, it's because... I have a feeling that it won't work on whomever is on the other side of that door.

However, now we'll have to be quiet as Jonah's cloak can only hide us from other's sights, not their ears.

And for the record, I do not have one because magic items like his are hard to come by.

The door then opened wide and the people whom entered the room are Marquis Anderson and an unknown cloaked man who is taller than the Marquis.

Hold on. An unknown cloaked man? Was he the one Mister Richard mentioned?

"We are alone now, my liege. We can speak freely here." said the Marquis in the most unnatural humble tone I have ever heard.

For a high ranking nobleman to speak in such a manner... Who is that person anyways?

I casted my Field Hypnosis. Hoping to manipulate the cloaked man's five senses, so that we can approach him and take a look at his face.

Unfortunately, my gut feeling was correct as I am unable to manipulate the cloaked man's five senses unlike the Marquis. Which could only mean one thing: That man is a magician like me.

I gestured that fact to Jonah with my hands, causing my butler to become even more cautious as he gaze at the cloaked man intently, watching his every movements.

As mentioned before, my magic has several weakness. One of which is other magicians.

All magicians, including myself, have a natural resistance towards other magicians' magic. Which meant that while my Field Hypnosis spell is ineffective against the cloaked man, my Remote Hypnosis spell would be.

However, I would need to make physical contact with him for at least five seconds to place a mark on him, which would be easy if Field Hypnosis could work on him. But since it won't, I am unable to place my mark on the target without getting noticed.

In other words, the only thing we can do now is stand here and listen in on their conversation while trying not to make a sound.

For Jonah, that will be easy. But for me, it's not! Especially when my body is pressed against his.

My heart is beating really fast right now...

"So, I take it that everything is proceeding well on your side, Julian..." the cloaked man spoke to the Marquis, who is kneeling with one foot on the ground before him.

Wait a second. This voice... I recognised it!

"Y-Yes, my liege. Everything is going as planned. Soon, the nobles who have taken a neutral stance will express their support for His Highness, Prince Carlos, as the rightful heir to the throne. They will have to if they want more of their Pleasures."

"Good. See to it that they do."

"Understood, my liege!"

Seems like we have just heard of something incredible. But more important, the voice of the cloaked man. Is it... Is it really him?

"Now then, on to another topic... I heard that the Midnight Lady had appeared in your residence." said the cloaked man, who has gained my interest on the subject as it is about me.

"Y-Yes, she did. The masquerade ball that I hosted was successful in attracting her appearance." the Marquis replied, expressing a nervous smile on his face for some reason.

So that ball was meant for me? Well, I'm flattered. But... why?

"Good. Good... So, tell me, Julian... where is she now?" the cloaked man asked.

"Umm, t-that—"

"I assumed that you were successful in capturing her, no? Like how you were successful in converting the neutral nobles to the Third Prince's side. Or are you saying that you failed despite following the plan to catch her, Julian?"

"A-A-A-About... About that..." the Marquis began sweating profusely, obviously thinking of an excuse for his failure.

Whatever sort of plan they had, he definitely did not follow through with it, did he? Also, for what reason do they want me for?

"M-My apologies. The Midnight Lady was too cunning for me to handle. She'd managed to evade the trap and escape the premise without anyone noticing her." the Marquis stated his excuse vaguely. Hiding the fact that he attempted to drug me to sleep instead of capturing me with whatever trap they had set up.

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Although, it would seem that the cloaked man was having none of it. "That's funny. Because from what I was told... you did not follow through with the plan at all!" he raised his voice, making the Marquis cower as he quickly realised that there was no way of hiding his mistake.

"Julian. Do not forget who was it that got you to where you are now. Without me, you would have been rotting in prison for your foolishness." the cloaked man stated in a clear tone. "You were given a task and simple instructions on how to accomplish it. If you cannot follow them without your lust getting in the way, I will have no further use for you then. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes, my liege. I will make sure to present the Midnight Lady to you, the next chance I get."

"No. You can forget about her. Considering how you had messed up, I highly doubt you will have another chance. Focus on turning the Neutral Faction into the Third Prince's allies. I will handle the Midnight Lady my own way."

"Of course. As you say, my liege."

"Good. Then this meeting is over. I shall be taking my leave now."

The cloaked man then unlocked the door and left the room, leaving the Marquis by himself with us, unbeknownst to him.

The man was still on his knee. However, the gritting of his teeth can heard clearly through my ears. Then, he stood up and immediately knocked the stuffs on his desk in a moment of frustration.

"Gaah! Curse that man! Curse the Midnight Lady! Every one of them making a fool out of me! Curse them all!" the Marquis bellowed, throwing his things around, thinking he's alone.

He knocked down loads of files on the shelves. He kicked the side of his desk in a fury. His face was completely red from anger, as he continued his tantrum like a spoiled child.

Sheesh. Someone needs anger management lessons...

"Curse them! Curse them! Curse them all! I hope they all die! Especially the Midnight Lady! How dare she play with me like that! How dare she threaten me! She even took one of the maids I had my eyes on for a while now! How dare she!? How dare she!? Forget making her mine. I'll kill her the next time I see her!"

Well, I am in front of you right now, Marquis Anderson. Too bad you can't see me because of my magic.

Now that the cloaked man is gone, there was no need for Jonah and I to hide ourselves with the Invisibility Cloak. So, we are simply watching the Marquis thrashing his own office while eating popcorn on his own couch.

Where did we even get the popcorn from? Yeah, I don't know either. Just ask Jonah.

 The Marquis continued kicking his desk. "I'll kill her! I'll kill her! I'll kill her!" he shouted.

"Should I just knock him out, Princess?"

"Nah. Let the man do his thing. It's pretty entertaining watching idiots wrecking their own belongings."

"Well, if you say so. But we still need to find that proof though. If there is one."

"I'm pretty certain there will be one or two even. In fact, I'm willing to bet that one of those files he knocked down are the evidence we're looking for."

"Oh? And how much are you willing to bet on it, Princess?"

"My woman virginity, how about that? If I'm wrong, you may have it."

"Tempting. But I rather keep my head. So no, I'm not going to partake in it."

"Aww~ Too bad. And here I thought you have more balls than that."

After several dozen more minutes of watching the Marquis's temper tantrum, he finally calmed down and left his office in a complete mess. Allowing us to finally continue our investigation. Although, that did not take long as Lady Luck seemed to have smiled upon us, for I easily found the evidence we were looking for; documenting proof of the Marquis's possession of the Pleasure drug, which he had distributed to the nobles who had taken a neutral stance and only them, it seems.

There was no written record that he had sold the drugs to civilians. Only to the nobles of the Neutral Faction like Earl Hendrickson and Viscountess Fierra. Both of whom had became addicts to the drug.

Recalling the moment when I snuck into the secret drug party, I also remember that only the Neutral Faction nobles were present there, high on Pleasure.

I cannot say anything for certain yet. Not until I hear the results from the others' investigation. Especially Eobard's.

But if my intuition is correct, the country itself won't be in any danger from this drug problem. The only ones who are in danger, are the nobles that had taken a neutral stance in the Princes' succession battle for the Crown Prince position.

There is also the cloaked man whose identity, I believe, is someone I know. But if he is who I think he is, I'll need to find out what his purpose is.

Then there is the matter of me as well. Or to be exact, the Midnight Lady. What do they want me for...?

Argh! There's so many questions, my head is beginning to hurt just thinking about them.

No matter. We got what we came here for, so it's time for us to leave.

"What should we do about the mess here, Princess?"

"Leave it. It's not we're the ones who made it in the first place. I'm sure whichever servant who comes here first will be veeeery happy to clean it up for their master."

"I feel bad for that servant already..."

"Well, so do I. Come on, let's leave already. I want to get that Divine Artifact, ASAP."

"As you wish, Princess. But do we even know where it's being kept at?"

"Oh, that's easy. But first! A question I must ask: If you have a mansion like this, where would you hide your secret and most prized treasures? Or to simply to put it: Where would you hide your secret porn stash?!"

"Well, if I have to say... It would be in a room where I would visit often. So, it's either the office where we are in now, or... the bedchambers."

"And that's exactly where we're going now. Let's go!"

To the Marquis's bedroom we went. Inside, we found the man drunk on four bottles of wine, as if his havoc in his office earlier wasn't enough for him to vent his anger.

"Curse them... Curse them..." his body swayed from side to side, muttering nonsense under his breath.

"Jonah, knock him out."

"Understood, Princess."

With a single chop to the back of his neck, the Marquis was put to sleep as we left him there on the table, while we search for the way to his hidden storeroom.

When it comes to secret room and stuffs, there are always a hidden lever or gimmick that will gain us access to it. For example, these books here on the shelves. They may look normal at first glance. But! Chances are that one of them is—

*click* The wall around the fireplace then opened up a path.

"Welp. Looks like you've found it."

"Are you kidding me!?"

It was actually among the books!? How typical can you be, Marquis!? Everyone knows that hidden levers are always concealed among books on a bookshelf. That's why you should never put them there!

"Ugh... Let's just grab the Divine Artifact and get the hell out of here."

And so, we entered the not-so-hidden storeroom. While scavenging inside for the Divine Artifact, I got side-tracked a bit finding a bunch of amazing and incredibly expensive magic items that the Marquis had stored in here. In spite of what I'd said earlier...

"This is a Rainmaker! It can help villages in the countryside that are prone to drought. We're taking this with us!" I said, passing the item to Jonah.

"Oh! And this one is a Transmuter. It will help the country should we ever run short of iron." I passed this item to Jonah as well.

"This one is a powerful Protection Amulet. And this thing is a Time-Freezing Storage Box! Ooh. Lookie here! We got another Invisibility Cloak!"

Oh my goodness! This place is a treasure trove indeed! So many amazing magic items here, only to be collecting dust.

"Jonah, we must save these babies!"

"Princess... That's nice and all, but..."

"Hm? What's wrong...? Ah."

I turned around to see what Jonah was complaining about. Then, I see it. I have tossed too many stuffs onto his person. Jonah can't carry them all.

"Princess. I know everything you see here are valuable. But please just choose three you wish to take and find the Divine Artifact. For my sake..."

"Uh... right. Sorry. Take the Rainmaker, Transmuter and the Time-Freezing Storage Box then. The rest you can put aside."

"Gladly." Jonah dropped the rest of the magic items in his hands without care, as we proceeded to search for the Divine Artifact among the pile of treasures.

And after a while more of looking, at long last, we found it being kept inside a very fancy ornamental box and opened it immediately.

Divine Artifact... A magic item that was created by a God when they first existed. A unique and powerful item that cannot be recreated through our mortal hands.

I wonder... what sort of extraordinary thing could this be— "Uh, what?"

...

This is...

"It's a dagger."

"Yeah, I can see that!"

This dagger is a Divine Artifact for sure. The unexplainable power radiating from its blade tells us so.

But... But...

This will definitely not help get rid of my curse!

"Say Jonah... If I stab myself with this, do you think it will remove my curse?"

"Well, technically... yes. Since curses are gone from its bearer once they die."

"Ha ha. Very funny..."

I threw the Divine Artifact to the ground.

"God bloody dammit!"

In the end, however... since it is still a godly item, we took it back with us, along with the evidence which was our primary objective and a few other magical loots acquired from the Marquis's estate.

Thus, our investigation on Marquis Anderson left us with some unexpected discoveries: The unknown cloaked man who is presumably the mastermind behind this Pleasure matter, the identity of said cloaked man whom I have a very good guess on, and the Divine Artifact which is in my hands right now.

All in all, things have went smoothly for Jonah and I. Hopefully it's the same for the others on their side.

But for now, I'm tired. So, we head back. Not to my room in the royal palace, however. But to a mansion in the Capital that I secretly own.

"Welcome back, Master." said my maid and the last executive of the Info Guild stationed in the Capital, Rosalina Mephisto, greeting us in the dead of night at the front door.

"Hello there, Rosalina. Could you draw the bath for me? I want to relax in something nice and warm right now."

"As you wish, my Master. I shall prepare it shortly."

"Thanks."

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