Chapter 112

Chapter 112: The Price of Curiosity

Chapter 112. The Price of Curiosity

It was 5 minutes ago.
Valdrova Castle, the Study.
Mori was on duty there.
Her job consisted of documenting and archiving the records collected from Hestia Village.
She was also in charge of legal counsel and access to records.
An A-rank talent they couldn’t recruit because none existed, yet now she was Echidna’s plaything.
— Echidna-nim.
— Hm? What is it?
— Hugging during work is inefficient. It shows a 12% drop rate from perfectly established work requirements.
There was an established rule for handling her.
Do not let the work efficiency drop rate exceed 15%.
Others would have thought: “Just touch her moderately when necessary.”
Yet the love-starved witch, Echidna, was different.
— Then there’s still a 3% margin left?
A mindset to push it to the absolute limit, to 14.99%.
Yet even that wouldn’t be appropriate for a witch.
Echidna’s excitement intensified even while hugging, and she finally let out a bestial sound and shouted.
— Grrr, I can’t take it anymore!
She buried her nose straight into the crown of Mori’s head.
— Sniff, sniff.
— I recommend that you stop.
— Huuup…
— St—
— Suuuup!
Smack!
— Puf-jeup?!
A heavy blow struck the philtrum of Echidna, who had been in ecstasy from the scent of the crown.
Echidna’s body wobbled hard and fell backward.
She ended up slumped against the wall, spilling the books she had leaned on onto the floor.
— Jiiing… so mean. You didn’t have to use violence…
Echidna, touching her philtrum and shedding tears.
Mori’s gaze watching Echidna looked strangely refreshing.
She quickly scribbled something and showed it.
— The action just now increased work efficiency by a full 5%.
— Really? Does Mori-chan have sadistic tendencies? Does Mori-chan want to become a witch too? I won’t allow you to become a witch!
— I have no ego. Therefore, I cannot become a witch.
Mori returned to her work.
Echidna also stopped her nonsense and returned to reality.
Books and documents scattered across the floor.
It was a complete mess.
— Eeing, why are there so many papers…?
If she left it like this, she would definitely receive a scolding, so she began organizing.
With a simple wave of her hand, the scattered books and documents floated into the air.
As if rewinding time, she put the books back in their place and sorted the documents neatly.
— Who would read books like these…? Boring… eh?
Grumbling while also organizing by hand, Echidna discovered something hidden inside a book.
A paper folded into a square caught her attention.
— This is…
Even the visible material was different from ordinary paper.
It was a Magic Scroll capable of absorbing mana.
A Magic Scroll among ordinary documents.
That fact alone was enough to stimulate Echidna’s curiosity.
Echidna unfolded the paper.
— A Magic Circle…?
Her words ended in a question.
— Is it?
The hieroglyphics embedded within the round circle resembled the Magic Circles she had often seen.
Yet there were many strange parts for the elements of a Magic Circle.
Not just one or two points that failed to match textbook elements.
As she observed, a strange idea arose.
Even after suffering a broken nose, she called Mori with a “hehe” smile as if nothing had happened.
— Mori-yaaang~!
Creak-crack
She spread out the Magic Circle and spoke.
— Don’t be so cold, take a look at this. What kind of Magic Circle does this look like?
Creak-crack.
— It looks like something drawn by Ferda Regent-nim.
Creak—
Her pupils shifted.
Mori’s pupils moved upon hearing the word ‘Ferda’.
She scanned the Magic Circle up and down.
And after a few minutes of contemplation.
In the end, Mori’s answer returned.
— I do not know.
— Mori-chan doesn’t know either?
— Yes. It is a Magic Circle that does not exist among the records I possess.
— If Mori-chan doesn’t know…
Echidna knew what was in Mori’s head.
The Universal Library that records all things.
Most known magic on the Serdes Continent, not just human, is recorded down to the names.
— There are three reasons why I cannot know it.
The first is magic unrecorded in the Serdes Continent.
The second is magic too complex to record in the language of the Serdes Continent.
The third is magic created directly by the party.
Thinking rationally, the third was the most likely.
Magic created directly by Ferda.
— Judging by the shape and appearance, the third seems likely.
— True. At first glance it’s just a scribble…
That is what they call Magic Circles that cannot be used.
Mages who learned geometry sometimes produce Magic Circles hoping to get lucky, but only one in ten thousand is recoverable.
— Furthermore, this cannot even be called a Magic Circle. It has no geometric elements, and the shape is indistinct.
— Right?
Even Magic Circles called scribbles could work if properly researched, but Ferda’s Magic Circle did not inspire that thought.
Unlike precise and meticulous Magic Circles, this one was rough and inefficient.
— It is merely a drawing resembling a non-functional Magic Circle. I shall conclude it as such.
Mori concluded so.
Yet Echidna was different.
One sees as much as one knows.
Echidna possessed enough knowledge to craft Runes.
Thus her eyes saw even more.
— This works.
That this rough and inefficient Magic Circle operates.
Mori turned her head and asked.
— Do you have grounds?
— Grounds… none. It’s intuition…
— Then there is no point in discussing it.
Mori demands grounds based on the contents of the Universal Library.
Human intuition is not logical.
Responding to illogical things is a waste of time.
Mori diverted her attention from the Magic Circle and resumed her work.
Thus ended the question-and-answer session with Mori.
Echidna regretted that the conversation ended while, simultaneously, muttering as she looked at the scroll.
— How does this operate?
Echidna questioning her own intuition.
She tilted her head and began analyzing it.
Going over what she knew in her head.
Matching the elements one by one, unraveling the mystery.
Yet, strangely, the more she unraveled, the more a massive wall revealed itself.
An insoluble problem beyond logic and reason.
Like the existence of Utopia, like Magical Fatalism—an irresolvable theory.
Echidna’s eyes gleamed.
The fact that a mysterious, unknown power resided within it excited her.
That excitement drove Echidna to impulse.
— Let’s dismantle it.
Curiosity led to the idea of dismantling the Magic Circle.
Dismantling a Magic Circle is a taboo act that must never be done without the creator’s consent.
She thought it might anger Ferda, but she felt a desire so intense as to ignore even that.
— …Just touching it a little.
Just a tiny bit.
Touching one Rune should be fine.
In importance, it’s like briefly taking out a gear to look at it.
Even while saying that, Echidna’s finger touched the Rune at the center.
The mana traces engraved on the scroll were vividly transmitted to her finger.
Echidna copied the Rune she felt and manifested it in her hand.
Now she only needed to unravel that Rune and read the code.
She did not know until then.
That she would pay the price of her curiosity.
— Eh?
At that moment, before the Rune could even react, it melted and flowed down Echidna’s arm.
She felt a sensation of backflow in her mana pathways.
— Eh-eh?
Echidna grew flustered.
She made a sound like that of an innocent young girl, but responded swiftly, as befitted a witch and skilled mage, blocking the absorbing Rune with Fifth-Tier Barrier Magic.
— Eh-eh-eh?
Yet it did not work.
Her Barrier Magic stops all magical effects of 5th Tier and below.
That it didn’t work meant the Rune itself corresponded to 6th Tier or above.
That is impossible.
The Runes humans can create and handle reach a maximum of 5th Tier.
Kuh-keuk!!
Echidna paid the price of her curiosity.
There was no way to stop it.

— Explain the circumstances.
Mori began writing down what she knew.
— Echidna touched a Rune drawn on the Magic Circle and was consumed by that Rune.
— Consumed by a Rune she created herself?
— She said Ferda-nim drew the Magic Circle.
— A Magic Circle that I drew?
Ferda furrowed his brows.
His intuition told him it would be a murky matter.
‘Even so, Echidna’s death makes no sense…’
Ferda had some stored away, but none with the power to kill Echidna.
Much less in her specialty, Runes… impossible.
Ferda cast his gaze to the floor to find what it was.
It was precisely hidden among the messy books.
‘This is…’
Ferda knew that Magic Circle.
The Magic Circle Ferda drew when he was confused by mana.
So complex and rough-looking that he had copied it and stored it somewhere.
‘Did she die from touching this?’
Ferda looked at the Runes drawn on that Magic Circle.
7 Runes in total, and Echidna touched one of them.
‘Just from one Rune?’
Impossible according to common sense.
A 5th Circle witch.
Furthermore, a skilled Rune Crafter dying from Ferda’s Rune.
— And? Did you see her die too?
— She showed difficulty breathing after touching the Rune, and then simply vanished.
— Because of the Rune?
— I cannot know that much.
Mori predicts based on knowledge.
Elements that only mages see were probably too much for her.
— Then, Circle Rage.
Ruri guessed.
A hypothesis Ferda could also have accepted.
Imperceptible in low Circles, but in the world of 5th Circle mages or higher, a terrifying matter that should never be overlooked.
— It’s not that.
— Why not?
— If Circle Rage had occurred, Mori, caught in the blast, would have died too.
Circle Rage is, literally, turning oneself into a bomb.
No matter how much she cherishes Mori, she couldn’t be this safe.
A great vibration occurred, but it ended only at that.
Ferda’s speculation was this.
— Someone used magic.
— If the Magic Circle manifested, wouldn’t you say the Magic Circle manifested?
— Of course.
A Magic Circle is an element Mori can see as well.
— But for a witch granted the name Philias, it’s another story.
A blue light rippled in Ferda’s eyes.
His eyes began seeing beyond simple things.
— As expected.
Mana remnants lingered where Echidna had been.
Yet those remnants didn’t just speak of a mana manifestation.
Ferda breathed mana into that vague shape, giving it a distinctive color.
Ruri was surprised upon seeing it.
It took the shape of a rose.
— Is this rose-shaped thing a mana trace?
— A Mana Signature that only high-tier mages can manifest.
— Then do you also know whose it is?
Ferda nodded.
An unforgettable Signature.
— Lucy Philias.
The First Witch.
Only she leaves such a Signature.
Which means she intervened inside this castle to retrieve Echidna.
To allow that intervention, she shook this castle’s Magic Circles immensely.
— Then… Did she invade from outside? This castle’s barriers wouldn’t allow magic of this degree…?
— She already planted a Magic Circle inside the body. Manifesting it only needs a slight stimulation.
All that was needed was a small spark to ignite the fuse, and Lucy Philias intervened for that spark.
— Given that it’s Philias, it is undoubtedly a Magic Circle inscribed by the Eldest Sister to retrieve the corpse.
Killing a witch is tricky.
They place Life Vessels separately or use clones to keep the main body safe, but ultimately live under the protection of the ‘Eldest Sister’.
She pierces even ironclad Dragon Nests; what Barrier Magic could stop her intrusion?
— But Echidna is an excommunicated witch, does that protection apply?
Echidna loves men unlike others who hate them.
The ideology did not align, so she was excommunicated; why would they retrieve her corpse?
Ferda answered simply.
— What is in the head does not discriminate by origin.
Be that as it may, she is one of the continent’s rarest artisans, a Rune Crafter.
Ruri nodded as if it made sense.
— Persistent. The witch race.
— Not just witches.
Me too.
Ferda could not take his eyes off the trace.
— Even so, there is one thing I don’t understand.
— Does something bother you?
— It ended too cleanly.
All that remained was a rose-shaped trace.
Nothing else in the surroundings was interfered with.
That is why it’s strange.
— A witch wouldn’t finish so cleanly…
— It was barely at the level of an intrusion; leaving more behind would be difficult, wouldn’t it?
Ruri’s words made sense, but Ferda would not overlook it.
He thought deeply and then asked Ruri.
— Did everyone inside the castle evacuate?
— Yes. They will be standing like scared meerkats at the inner gate.
— Let’s go there.
Ruri made a perplexed face.
‘Is there an answer among them?’

Ferda saw the people gathered below the stairs.
Among them, Jed and Penelope yawning leisurely were also visible.
— Jed Swallow.
— Yes?
Ferda beckoned him with a finger.
Jed approached with an expression full of annoyance.
— You are of the Swallow Tribe, right?
— That’s right.
— Do you also hit on the women working in the inner fortress?
— What?! Do I look like a bastard who can’t live without women?
Jed flared up.
Ruri shot him a look of disgust.
— That is exactly you. Every time I pass by your room, the damn moans never cease.
— Eh? That’s probably not Hehe but beca—mph!
— Shut up. The adults are speaking.
— So the answer?
— …I was only checking them out.
Jed scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Ferda ignored him and gestured with his chin toward the people gathered below the inner fortress.
— Among the women gathered there, is there anyone you have never seen?
— Even so, I’m not a shameless bastard who memorizes the face of every woman in the inner fortress, eh?
— Why?
— Is there one whose face I don’t know?
Only one.
A woman with an appearance off Jed’s radar.
In the direction Jed pointed, stood an ordinary woman.
Ordinary in every sense, a human without individuality.
— Are you sure?
— Yes. I have never seen her even once in this castle.
Jed was certain, and Ruri’s look of disgust deepened.
Ferda walked toward her.
— The Regent-nim descends!
— Everyone show due respect!
Seeing Ferda descend, the people shouted and everyone knelt.
Only the woman Jed pointed out caught Ferda’s attention.
Ferda pushed through them and stood before her.
The woman saw Ferda’s feet below and raised her head to greet him.
— I greet Regent Valdrova—.
Pishung—!
The woman could not finish her greeting.
Before that, a mana sphere formed on Ferda’s finger pierced her forehead.