kscans

Chapter 98 - Chapter 1. Traces of Destruction

We had moved to the Director's office. Alfina's prophecy was that Bertold was in danger. If we were to discuss a prophecy, this was the most suitable place in the entire academy. It was his personal hobby room, a sanctuary off-limits even to the academy head. After all, most of the kingdom's secrets were kept here.

Fortunately, Fulsy was in his room, so the conditions for a strategy meeting were met.

"So, Alfina-sama. What exactly is this new prophecy?"

"Y-yes, Bertold's walls have collapsed, and the city is in utter chaos..."

"This is an emergency. We must respond at once. We must also contact my aunt, who has returned to Bertold."

Even Luisea, who was usually quite calm, was flustered. It was understandable, considering her own territory was near Bertold.

I'm worried too. After all, Bertold has become what you could call the center of Vinder's business.

But what bothered me was how different this was from her previous prophecies. The first prophecy was about Leylia Village. The second was about Kurtheite. In both cases, we had to struggle to figure out the location from the images in the crystal.

This time, however, Alfina was certain it was Bertold. That raised two concerns.

The first was the possibility that Alfina's own subjectivity had influenced the primary information, the prophetic image itself. Alfina had been to Bertold twice. It was highly likely she recognized it at a glance, but if she was wrong, even by a small chance, the consequences would be irreversible. The first rule with primary information is to eliminate subjectivity.

"Please calm down. First, try to describe the image from the prophecy as it was, without adding your own interpretations."

I took out a piece of paper and a pen.

"Riccardo. Are you saying the princess is wrong?"

"Alfina-sama has visited Bertold twice, you know. Vinder-kun, you accompanied her both times."

Clau and Luisea chimed in.

"It's alright. The primary information, the prophecy itself, is something only I can see. I was the one who needed to stay calm."

Alfina took a small, deep breath. As her modest chest rose and fell, her expression became a little calmer. It seemed she understood my intention.

"First, the image was of a large city. The walls were crumbling, and I could see a Bertold flag crushed beneath the fallen stones. Beyond that, I saw a collapsed tower. And, the workshop's... no, even further beyond the tower, black smoke was rising into the sky."

Alfina spoke with a sorrowful expression. I recognized the tower as well. It was Bertold's great cathedral. More than anything, the flag was the definitive clue. And that workshop had a major source of fire. Moreover, a blacksmith's fire, once lit, is not easily extinguished.

"So the image was from near Bertold's east gate."

Alfina nodded. There was likely no mistake. We would proceed assuming the disaster would strike Bertold. In that case, the most likely source of calamity was to the west...

"And the disaster is coming from the east."

"From the east, you say!"

Fulsy cried out in surprise at Alfina's words. I was surprised too. I had thought the most likely source was from the west, a disaster from the Rubel Wald, just like the first prophecy.

"Do you know when it will happen?" I asked, suppressing my own agitation.

"I believe it will be during the spring. There were pink flowers blooming in the fields outside the city walls. Those are spring flowers, aren't they?"

Ah, those flowers. Their color is like Japanese cherry blossoms, but they're wildflowers, not from trees. They bloom in early spring and wither before the rainy season that marks the border with summer.

It was now the end of winter, which meant we had two months at most.

"Senpai..."

Mia looked at me anxiously. If the damage was severe enough to destroy Bertold, it was highly likely that calamity would also reach Leylia Village. The damage to the Vinder Company would be immense.

The Grand Duchess Bertold was a major shareholder. Our expanding beekeeping operations were centered around Bertold. If the workshop was destroyed and industrial development stagnated, the restructuring of relations between the artisan and merchant guilds, and the revitalization of the kingdom's entire commercial activity, would also be delayed. It's a classic case of putting too many eggs in one basket. I've been negligent with my risk hedging.

Looking beyond Bertold, the Second Prince Faction would surely seize this opportunity to try and make a comeback.

Furthermore, Bertold was the cornerstone of the kingdom's west, at a time when we couldn't let our guard down with the Empire. If Bertold were to fall, it could trigger an unforeseen crisis.

"You're right, we need to deal with this as quickly as possible."

This is really bad. It's like a perfectly aimed strike at our most vulnerable point.

"First, the walls. How were they collapsing?"

For a city wall to collapse is no small matter. An earthquake, or war. No, a dragon attack was also a possibility. I just hoped it wasn't something like meteors being summoned from the sky.

"Yes, in the clearest image near the east gate, it was collapsing from the outside in. But, in other fragmented images I saw, there were places where it looked like it was collapsing in the opposite direction..."

"So the wall wasn't just breached in one place."

What did that mean? From the outside in clearly meant an external attack. From the inside out suggested an earthquake. Or perhaps a rebellion?

"That's right, the way the wall was collapsing looked a little unnatural."

"Unnatural?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it, but it looked like a hole that had been carved out in a perfect circle, like an arch. And there were marks on the ground, like something had been dragged."

"In that case, it's not an earthquake..."

Dragged marks. A siege weapon? Something like a battering ram made of bundled logs to break through the gate. But wait, if it were a human attack, wouldn't they target the gate itself?

There was a possibility that a giant monster had destroyed it. After all, this was a world where dragons sometimes appeared. If so, there would have to be a magic vein powerful enough to sustain such a beast.

The previous prophecies had almost become man-made disasters, but they weren't in the end. The first thing to consider was still the possibility of a monster related to a fluctuation in a magic vein.

"Let's organize what we know about the magic veins."

"Hmm, yes. First, there are no signs of a monster flood this year."

Even though she said it was coming from the east, that was a key point we had to confirm.

"Is there any chance of a dragon suddenly appearing, like in Kurtheite?" Clau asked.

Frankly, I was done with dragons, but could we deal with one using pollen? No, the next dragon might be even larger. It would have to be, to punch a massive hole in a city wall.

"That seems unlikely. At that time, we had the heart of a magic vein at Tuvil Mountain's summit. This time, we don't have that," Fulsy said, negating the possibility as my trauma flared up.

"What about the western magic vein we investigated before?"

The western magic vein had been the source of the noise at the Western Observatory. Or rather, it was more like a thin miasma welling up from the ground. From Bertold's perspective, it was to the east. If that were to activate and become a foothold for a giant flying monster, it would create the same situation as in Kurtheite.

"If anything, it's calming down. It has dropped to the very limits of what we can measure. I would judge that there are no signs of disaster related to the magic veins. What do you think?"

At Fulsy's words, everyone's gaze turned to me.

"I can't say anything for certain at this point. However, based on the pattern of past prophecies, I don't think we should discard the idea that a magic vein is the prime suspect. In other words, there's a possibility that a massive source of magical power sufficient to cause a disaster exists somewhere."

I said. A massive magic vein, currently hidden, could suddenly appear within the next two months. If that were the case, we couldn't predict it in advance. The best we could do was detect any signs of it as quickly as possible when they appeared.

"I think we need to continue detailed observations, including of the western magic vein."

Fulsy and Noel nodded in agreement with my words.

"However, we cannot ignore the other possibility," Luisea said, her tone reserved but her expression grim. I knew exactly what she wanted to say.

"Alfina-sama, how many people know about this prophecy right now?" I asked. To put it bluntly, this prophecy was a ticking bomb.

To the east lay the Royal Capital, and Kurtheite. It was a relief that the direction made an imperial invasion less likely, but the Imperial Princess was currently studying abroad in the capital.

The worst-case scenario would be the beleaguered Second Prince Faction joining forces with the Empire, leading to a civil war between east and west.

"I informed the chancellor immediately. The duke said he would keep it quiet for a while and instructed me not to leak it to anyone."

"That's good." "He had no other choice."

Luisea and I nodded at each other.

"What do you mean?" Clau tilted her head.

"It means that Kurtheite will complain."

"This is a national crisis. What is there to complain about? Weren't they the ones saved by the last prophecy?"

It was the opposite. In the last prophecy, we only identified Kurtheite at the last minute. In reality, we couldn't prevent the dragon's attack. This time, however, we knew the location of the disaster in Bertold from the very beginning. They could easily think that Alfina was manipulating the release of prophecies to benefit her own faction.

Prophecies could become a force that moves politics. Even if that weren't the case, if Bertold were in crisis, they would undoubtedly use it to try and regain their influence. The later the news reached Kurtheite, the better.

"I'm so glad we managed to get the chancellor back to a neutral stance," I said, looking at Alfina. I shuddered to think what would have happened if he had sided with them.

"Let's leave the matter of the Second Prince Faction and Kurtheite to the Grand Duchess and Prince Craig. However..."

"We'll have to be careful regarding the Imperial Princess, Lisabet-dono, on our end," Luisea said.

Considering the timing of her study abroad, I couldn't believe she was uninvolved. Was she directly connected to the disaster? Or was she planning to take advantage of it? She was just another variable to deal with when we had no time to spare.

"In any case, as soon as the detailed data arrives from the Western Observatory, let's do that calculation."

"Ah, the creation of the magic vein map."

Fulsy, Noel, and Mia nodded at my words. We had no time, which was precisely why we couldn't cut corners on information gathering.

It had to be somewhere. The seed of the disaster.