The Holy Lady, The Curse - Chapter 8 Part 11
“Ha, fine. Then, how do you propose to find out if the magic stones were switched? Ah, as the Holy Knight Commander, I suppose you have that level of magical power?”
The Emperor mocked with an unpleasant voice, but Seiden’s expression remained unshaken and relaxed. Seiden simply walked to the center where the platform was and took something out of his pocket to show.
“This is a solution that distinguishes exactly when the magic power of the magic stones was manifested.”
Seiden explained in a leisurely and precise voice, and the hall buzzed with excitement.
“Come to think of it, why haven’t we used that until now?”
“Well, I never thought about it. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. Was it created by the Magic Tower?”
Geril, with his lips turned white, could only glare at the long bottle in Seiden’s hand without adding a word.
“If we drop this solution into water and immerse the magic stones, the color will change immediately.”
“…The color changes? How do you mean?”
The Emperor asked, suspicious and confused, but interested in the use of this amazing solution he had never seen before. Seiden met the Emperor’s gaze directly and answered skillfully.
“All magic stones that haven’t manifested magic power within a day will turn black.”
At this, the hall buzzed even more loudly. If the magic stones had been switched as Seiden said, it was clear that the switched magic stones would have manifested magic power at least a day before. They would have captured monsters in advance before the hunting festival began. People were now more excited about this situation than the hunting festival itself and waited for the next development.
The solution was immediately handed over to the mage mobilized from the Magic Tower, and the mage, with a seemingly perplexed face, nevertheless diligently verified the authenticity of the magic in the solution. Soon he spoke.
“Sir Seiden Blackwood is correct. This is a high-level magic solution that distinguishes the time of magic manifestation in magic stones.”
With that, Geril’s eyes, which had been unstably wavering with anxiety, froze in place.
“Shall we proceed with the verification, Your Majesty?”
As the mage cautiously asked, the Emperor, though quite displeased, sighed helplessly. There was no grounds to oppose Seiden’s claim, and he too was curious about the effect of that solution.
“Fine. Begin the verification.”
“Yes, I will begin the verification as per Your Majesty’s command.”
When the mage snapped his fingers, a large, transparent water tank appeared in mid-air. The tank was filled with clear, rippling water. When Seiden’s solution was poured into it, the water inside flashed red and blue for a moment, then returned to its original calm surface.
“We will start the verification one by one.”
And into the tank, the magic stones of the participants were poured one person at a time.
“Gasp.”
When half of Marquis Poterne’s magic stones, who was first in order, turned black, dismayed groans were heard here and there. Marquis Potern couldn’t lift his head and clutched his reddened face.
The verification continued. The results were disastrous. Some of the magic stones brought by most participants turned black. Amidst this, only a few nobles, including Hestina, survived. When not a single one of Hestina’s magic stones turned black, the Emperor’s face became proud.
And finally, it was Geril’s turn.
“Duke Geril Lylester’s magic stones.”
Geril tried to think of a way to stop this situation somehow, but his mind went blank and he couldn’t think of anything.
“W-wait… stop…”
Geril mumbled in a faint voice, but no one heard him, and finally, all of Geril’s magic stones were poured into the tank.
“Gasp…”
“Oh my.”
“Impossible…!”
Simultaneously, shocked groans erupted from here and there. Even the Emperor frowned in surprise. Until now, only a few of the participants’ magic stones had turned black, but Geril’s magic stones…
“They’re all black…!”
Blood rushed to Geril’s face as someone shouted in disbelief. Bellota, too, unable to hide her surprise, slowly turned to look at Geril. He, who had lost all of his usual composure, was staring at Seiden with a surprisingly stiff expression.
Seiden met Geril’s gaze without avoiding it, maintaining an impassive expression.
“What? A magic tool that can detect if magic stones were switched?”
Seiden had visited Hellers’ tower a few days before the hunting festival. He intended to expose Geril’s tricks at the festival and crush them on the spot. Seiden knew that proper verification of magic stones had not been carried out in previous hunting festivals.
The hunting festival was under the jurisdiction of the imperial family, and this was the third time Geril had been in charge of overseeing it. And ever since Geril started overseeing the festival, he had claimed all the victories. It wasn’t hard to imagine that Geril had employed some petty tricks in the process. So, Seiden had forcibly taken this solution from Yevar.
“There’s… no such thing? No, more importantly, why should I give it to you? This has nothing to do with our contract!”
Yevar tried to withhold the solution, but Seiden immediately used an effective function of the slave contract, so Yevar couldn’t resist. Moreover, Yevar had agreed to Seiden’s claim that it was necessary for finding the Devil’s Book, as per the magical contract they had made earlier.
Of course, Seiden’s claim wasn’t wrong as much as the contract recognized it. If Geril took first place and started bothering Bellota, he would cripple Geril, causing a war between the imperial family and the Grand Temple, leaving no time to find the Devil’s Book.
“L-lastly, Sir Seiden Blackwood’s magic stones.”
Finally, Seiden’s magic stones were poured in. Naturally, not a single one of his stones turned black. This time, exclamations mixed with admiration filled the hall. It was clearly different from the whispers of criticism that had been pouring behind Geril’s back.
Trembling with a face flushed red with heat, Geril finally stood up abruptly.
“This is a trick!”
Geril shouted, causing all eyes turned to him. Even Bellota looked at Geril, who appeared quite disheveled, which is unlike his usual neat appearance. The strands of blonde hair that were always neatly swept up were now messily falling over his red forehead. Geril’s face was flushed with blood and distorted ferociously, giving a completely different impression from usual.
Those who saw this were all surprised and started to cover their mouths and murmur, but Geril seemed not to hear even that, protesting as if he had lost his mind.
“It’s the solution that he brought! How can you trust it? How can you trust that only his stones didn’t change color?”
At this, some nobles agreed with Geril and added their own words.
“That’s right!”
“We need to verify again! No, we should hold the hunting festival again!”
“There’s no witness who saw the Holy Knight Commander catching monsters, is there?”
Then Bellota, who had been quiet without saying a word until now, bravely opened her mouth.
“I saw it.”
At that calm but powerful voice, the chaotic examination hall became quiet as if cold water had been poured on it. For a moment, Geril’s pupils dilated widely, and he turned to look at Bellota with an expression of disbelief.
Bellota, avoiding Geril’s gaze, repeated clearly once more.
“I witnessed Sir Seiden catching the kurkroll.”
Then the Emperor frowned and asked back.
“Are you saying the Commander caught a kurkroll while he was with you, Saintess?”
Bellota bowed her head towards the Emperor.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
At this, the Emperor glared disapprovingly at the frozen Geril. It seemed that all possible ways to refute or navigate this awkward situation had disappeared. In this empire, no one dared to doubt the sincerity of the Saintess, and if anyone were to question the Saintess, it was clear that the Emperor would face criticism instead.
“Then the matter is settled. There’s only one person who clearly brought a high-level monster to this examination hall, therefore, Sir Seiden Blackwood is the winner of this hunting festival.”
The Emperor, having finished speaking, stood up with a tired sigh.
“Fine, fine. We’ll deliver the prize later, and let’s end it for today.”
By tomorrow, the news of such an unfortunate incident occurring at the sacred hunting festival would spread throughout the empire and beyond. Not to mention, the criticism that would be poured on the imperial family for overseeing such a sloppy hunting festival. At the thought, the Emperor, already feeling a headache coming on, clicked his tongue and left the examination hall, followed quickly by those assisting him.
When the Emperor left his seat, the examination hall began to buzz loudly again. Gazes filled with shock, criticism, and sarcasm poured onto Geril’s back as he stood there motionless.
“……”
Amidst this, Geril, who had been looking at Bellota as if he had been betrayed, suddenly turned quickly and left the examination hall. Then, the whispers following Geril’s back grew even stronger.
“My goodness, I can’t believe it. Why on earth would Duke Lylester do such a thing?”
“Could it be that he won like this last time too?”
“What about the donations?”
“Could it be that the temple knew about this in advance? That might be why the Saintess went to the hunting grounds together!”
“That’s too much speculation! The temple is a sacred place.”
“What a mess indeed!”
Amidst all these speculations, Bellota sat upright and turned to look at Seiden. As her eyes met with the man who had probably been watching her for quite some time, her heart beat slowly and deeply. Feeling as if the strange emotion swirling gently in her chest might be exposed, Bellota slowly lowered her gaze.
