How to Live as the Enemy Prince

Episode 5: This Is Way Too Explicit – Chapter 21.2

The woman, who now had distinct eye bags, placed a new bundle of papers in front of him. Euria unsteadily pulled back her arms and said, “This is the information from yesterday. There’s really nothing left anymore, Sir Manassil. They scraped up everything.”

Euria Seiren, the head of the Mages’ Union, was the oldest daughter of Count Seiren, whose family were mainly mages and had brought forth many magic engineers. She was a competent mage who had mastered the 5th circle.

Euria believed the Ancient Dragon Sispanian and Alan Manassil more than she believed the Goddess Serenity. That was how absolute Alan Manassil was to Euria. She was a true mage down to her bones. It went without saying that Euria was deeply moved to see the red-and-silver-haired mage step into the union’s headquarters on the second morning of the King’s birthday celebration.

The first thing that Alan said to Euria upon their meeting was as such:

— Do the mages here believe that a baby lion with a dagger is fit to wear the crown?

There was no way. Euria replied without a moment’s hesitation.

— What must we do?

The two days since then were hell itself. Those two days were so rough, that her cult-like faith in Alan Manassil almost died down a little. If the information that they were combing over the whole city of Kailisys for wasn’t about Silica’s plot, the mages would not have left the building to find more information while looking like they were about to fall dead any second.

“I can guarantee you that we collected a ridiculous amount of information considering the time frame,” said Euria.

“I know,” replied Alan. “I’ve been thinking that mages are actually quite good at finding information.”

“Yes. It’s an unexpected talent. I’m also seriously wondering if I should establish an information guild.”

Alan chuckled and nodded, proceeding to summarise the information that they had collected. “Since Silica came into power, four suspicious deaths happened in the palace that was likely to have involved poison or assassination. Similarly, six mages seem to have been poisoned, and thirteen nobles also poisoned or assassinated… it’s absurd that Rumein sat back and watched until things got so out of hand.”

All of the listed incidents only had situational evidence. However, every one of these deaths were related to either Silica or the Brissen Family. The only concrete evidence that they had was a mage’s testimony that Lennon secretly took the tacrimosa that was hidden deep within his estate to the palace, and that a large number of crimosa was imported in order to make the poison.

If only we had collected evidence from questionable deaths at the time of the incident…

A sense of regret flooded in. As things stood now, all the information were just recollections. However, Alan decided not to say his thoughts out loud as he knew that those evidences would never have worked against Silica without him acting as the pillar even if they had collected them earlier.

“Good work. You should go rest now,” said Alan.

“Yes, Sir Manassil. You should get some rest, too.” Euria bowed and left, looking more like a zombie than a human.

Alan, whose outwardly appearance seemed at least twenty years younger than Euria, clicked his tongue. “I expected the youngins these days to have better stamina.”

Alan picked up the document that Euria had brought. Excluding the title page, it was a short report with just one page.

[The Mystery Behind Franz’s Insult Towards Freya!]

Alan chuckled at the title of the report. It was mage-like in every direction. In fact, the title of all the reports that he had received thus far was similarly written. The idea was that reports should, first and foremost, be interesting and fun to read.

Mages, honestly.

.

“The title is playful and all, but there’s a Spell of Confidentiality cast on it,” murmured Alan.

It must be containing some important information in it unlike what the title suggests. The title page warned the reader that they must read the report with caution as the report will automatically set on fire when completely read. Therefore, the author and Alan were the only ones who will see the contents of the report. Even Euria had brought the report to Alan without knowing what was written in it.

“Alright, then. Let’s see how important it is.” Alan leaned back in his chair as he flipped over the title page.

— I was lucky enough to be invited to a horseback riding show that the King was also attending! When I arrived at Pollun’s showground with butterflies in my stomach… alas! My seat was located in the very corner of the 8th floor. I was in a pinch, you see—I couldn’t see the field nor hear the host. However, I didn’t surrender to this unfortunate reality, and cast “Eagle Eyes” and “Magic Ears”.

They were spells that allowed the caster to zoom into a far distance and hear voices from afar.

“They may be low-level magic, but they both require continuous activation. What a guy, wasting his mana on something quite as useless as watching a show,” scoffed Alan, shaking his head slowly. He was the same man who had splashed Yan with water magic the day before, purely for the sake of his own entertainment.

— At last, the royal family entered and I fixed my eyes on Prince Calian, the hot topic of the town. Prince Calian acknowledged Melfir Pollun’s greeting and said, “I feel slightly uneasy about what’s above. Go take a look.” And just a moment later, I saw something even more shocking!

Alan, at first, didn’t have high expectations for the report. However, his face turned more and more serious as he read on. The report ended by stating that Calian stopped an accident that had been planned by somebody, and hypothesised that Brissen Merchantry was likely to be the culprit.

The author must also have realised the weight of his knowledge; he asked that Alan keep his secret in return for his silence regarding what he had seen. It seemed that he was worried about Calian’s well-being should rumours spread.

Although mages were creatures of mischief, they weren’t idiots.

Soon, the letters of the report began to sparkle and disappered one after another as if they were being burned. The fire spread to the paper, but there was no heat. Alan didn’t let go of the report until it was completely burned.

“Hmm…”

Alan recalled his first conversation with Calian.

— I was riding on a horse nearby when I heard you talking to the guard.

Of course, Alan knew that Calian wasn’t lying. However, he also knew that Calian had started moving only after hearing the name “Alan Manassil”. Alan could detect movement from a larger area than Calian had expected.

“About me and about the accident… how did my dear prince know about all this?”

Alan once again massaged his temples.