Chapter 95: CH 89

I was sure that no one here expected Mazell’s question. Representing our confusion, the Supreme Priest asked, “What do you mean?”

“The black gem on the right side is the one which my companions and I picked up after defeating the demon commander in the Great Temple.”

Although the shape of the two gems was a bit different, I honestly couldn’t tell which one was the one Mazell’s party had got from defeating Beliulace and which one was the one I brought from Alea Village. Maybe the reason why different colored clothes were placed below the 2 gems was to differentiate them.

As I thought about this, Mazell continued.

“The black gem on the left side was the one which my companions and I picked up after defeating the demon commander in Veritza Fortress.”

WHAT?

The place immediately turned silent and the one who broke that silence was Duke Grunding.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, sir.”

Right. Mazell’s memory was so good that he never forgot something he heard once.

“Sir Welner, are you sure that you picked up this gem in the Alea Village?

“Yes. I have already reported everything I know about this gem.”

I answered Grand Duke Seyfart’s question without any hesitation.

There was only one explanation for this situation. Someone smuggled the black gem out of the palace and gave it to the devil that I met in the Alea Village.

Understandably, the face of the captain of the Mage Unit looked pale. After all, if the black gem was really smuggled out of the palace, he would be held responsible.

The face of the Duke, the Grand Duke, and the two knight captains looked grim. The Supreme Priest advised to close the box for now since staring at it for too long might cause some of us to lose our rationality.

Just what exactly happened here? Did I miss something? Amid my confusion, Laura started to talk.

“Supreme Priest-sama, for now, I would like for us to organize all the information we currently have.”

“That would be for the best. We might have missed something important.”

“Yes, then, let’s do so…”

The Duke immediately replied to Laura and the Supreme Priest nodded and picked up a pen.

First of all, the black gem Mazell found after killing Dreax in the Veritza Fortress somehow ended up here when it was supposed to be in the middle of an investigation in the mage’s laboratory. I was sure that the Duke already knew this.

The person in charge of the gem’s investigation was chosen directly by the mage captain and the mage captain also guaranteed the person’s character and ability.

Mazell suddenly asked the mage captain another question, “I would like to confirm whether the black gem from the Stampede is also in the midst of an investigation by the royal mages?”

“Of course.”

“Are you sure that the black gem is currently in the laboratory?”

It was a rude question. After all, asking that question meant that he doubted the royal mages. However, it was a reasonable question in the current circumstances. It would be rather strange to assume that this black gem was the only one that had been smuggled out of the palace.

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The mage captain replied with a voice full of hesitation, “In the current situation, it would be difficult for me to answer your question with ‘I am sure’ but Sir Puckler, the one who is in charge of the gems’ investigation, is definitely trustworthy…”

“Sir Puckler?”

I blurted out that name. Yes, that was his name. He was an unpleasant person that I had met once… once?

Wait. At that time, I remember he felt strange, but why? What did he say at that time? Hmm.. he said ‘This is my first time meeting you.’ but that should be our second meeting.

Fogto-san also said ‘He wasn’t so unsociable before.’ Yes,  before, not usually.

If Sir Puckler had actually been replaced by the demon, then he would be able to smuggle the black gem out of the palace. Just by the circumstantial evidence, he was our prime suspect.

“Sir Welner, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t have any evidence but…”

Since the Duke asked me, I need to answer. He probably asked me because he noticed the change in my expression. It seemed like my poker face had cracked completely. What I had was only a suspicion without any evidence but in the current situation, it would be better for me to talk about it.

Plus, I thought that it was better for me to be the one that said it here. What Mazell had said was just an obscure suspicion but what I wanted to say was slander, a problematic statement, since I didn’t have any evidence.

If the result of the investigation showed that Sir Puckler was innocent then I would be the one that bears the consequences, not Mazell. That was better for me since I couldn’t let the relationship between the hero and the mage unit deteriorate. As for me, I have many ways to recover later.

“I think Sir Puckler is a bit suspicious. Actually…”

Since Laura looked at me for a second with a gaze as if she wanted to say something, she probably understood the meaning of my action. I didn’t mind being the one who would take all the burn so Mazell, you just need to focus on defeating the demon king.

“It will be for the best if everything is merely my groundless fear. However, just in case, we should launch an investigation.”

I could not directly tell everyone here that the personality of a person who had been replaced by a demon would change because I only knew this from the game and didn’t have any evidence to support it.

Therefore, I just told them about our strange conversation and Fogto-san’s words. I carefully chose my words so it would look like I advised them to be careful around him, but I didn’t accuse him as a demon. Since he was our only suspect now, my request to investigate him would be granted. Probably.

But honestly, I didn’t know if I should hope for my suspicion to be proven true. If my suspicion was proven true, that would mean that the demons could even infiltrate the rank of the royal mages but if it was proven to be false, that would mean that I had slandered Sir Puckler and our relationship would become sour.

Either way, the result would make my stomach churn. However, if my suspicion was true, things would be far worse than me getting a stomachache.

As I expected, some people here showed complicated expressions but in the end, the mage captain nodded.

“I understand. In the current situation, it would be better for us to be safe than sorry. I would launch an internal investigation about Sir Puckler.”

“Thank you very much.”

I bowed my head again. Well, if this was only my overthinking then it would stain my honor. To be fair, even if that happened, I was sure that I would figure something out!

I would have to contact Father and warn him to be careful. Then, I would also need to send a letter to tell Frenssen to submit all results of the Mangold investigation to the palace via Father.

Still, I didn’t know if I should be happy about the fact that Father was a civil officer. On one hand, because my Father was a civil officer, he stayed at the capital with weaker protection since all of our House’s armies were stationed here, but on the other side, chances of devils attacking my Father were very low because devils thought that power was everything and my Father was puny civil officer in their eyes. I didn’t know if I could call this a blessing in disguise.

After this, the Duke and the others were kept busy by reports, meetings, and stuff. It seemed like Laura had something else to discuss with the Supreme Priest and the Duke though.

In any case, it looked like the investigation would begin even before I returned. That was good.

As the tension began to leave my body, I finally noticed how out of place I was in the group composed of the hero, princess, dukes, and captains. I ended up writhing alone in the night. I have to make sure I don’t carry this attitude tomorrow morning.

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