BFBG 25

Chapter 25

‘Calm down. First, calm down. Think rationally.’

I quietly mulled over Heneta’s words.

I analyzed the emotions hidden behind Heneta’s eyes.

Organized the information I knew.

Repeated the information about Heneta that I had learned through the game.

[The Mental EX Rank forcibly fixes the mind into a ‘composed’ state.]

Perhaps because it judged that my usual mental resilience was insufficient to suppress the extreme anxiety, impatience, and agitation—

my mind entered a perfect state of calm, one that permitted not even the slightest wavering.

‘This hasn’t reached the point of no return yet.’

Thanks to that, I was able to analyze the current situation with absolute coolheadedness and come up with countermeasures.

Although it was a dangerously precarious situation where a single wrong word could send me straight into ruin.

Still, it wasn’t beyond recovery.

I could overturn things even now.

“I never expected traces like this to remain.”

“You’re pretty chill. Confessing immediately? So you’re admitting you’re the one who robbed this secret storage…?”

“No.”

I firmly cut off Heneta.

“It’s true that I touched that painting. But saying I’m the person who robbed the secret storage—that’s incorrect.”

Heneta narrowed her eyes and stared at me.

“That’s an interesting thing to say. So what—you’re saying you’re the one who left traces trying to open someone else’s house, but not the one who robbed it?”

Her expression practically said:

Say something that actually makes sense.

And honestly, she wasn’t wrong.

Normally, the person who picks the lock is the criminal who robbed the place.

“Perhaps Headmaster, you still haven’t heard about the incident before yesterday’s assassin attack?”

But that only applies in ordinary situations.

This wasn’t an ordinary situation.

“The earlier incident?”

“Yes. Before the incident where I was almost killed by an assassin yesterday—there was another attack beforehand.”

Suppose the house whose lock I picked was known to contain an enormous amount of treasure.

And many people were targeting it.

Suppose even powerful figures heard about it and moved to rob the place themselves.

Would the lockpicker still be 100% guilty?

“The attacker’s name was Yodala. She’s an executive of an organization called Black Night.”

“Yodala?”

“Yes. Yodala, the Illusory Shrine Maiden. She committed acts of terror against this academy and at that time showed signs of trying to infiltrate the faculty building. Sir Lionel confirmed this personally, so if you doubt me, you may ask him.”

Now the culprit who robbed this “secret storage” became one of two people:

Me—or Yodala.

The possibility of me being the culprit seemed to diminish slightly, and the headmaster’s eyes softened a little.

“So you’re trying to say Yodala robbed my secret storage?”

“To be precise, someone acting together with Yodala. At the time, Yodala herself was held back by Sir Lionel.”

“Yeah… well. It’s a plausible argument. In that situation, assuming those bastards took it would be reasonable. But…”

Heneta’s eyes sharpened again.

“Then doesn’t that make you Yodala’s accomplice?”

Yodala targeted this place, but no traces of the person presumed to have cooperated with her remained.

The only traces left behind were mine.

Meaning, while Yodala was occupied, the odds were high that I robbed the storage.

“If I were Yodala’s accomplice, would I have informed Sir Lionel that Yodala was targeting the faculty building?”

This hypothesis fell apart because of my earlier actions.

I had asked Lionel to stop Yodala.

Since I was the one who led Lionel to stop her, I couldn’t possibly be Yodala’s ally.

“…Wait a second. So you’re saying you were the first person to realize Yodala was targeting this place?”

“At the time, I didn’t know the attacker was Yodala. I only knew there would be an attack.”

“But you were the first to detect the attack?”

“If you don’t believe me, ask Sir Lionel—”

“Okay. Got it. So it’s true.”

Heneta’s expression relaxed considerably.

Meaning her suspicion was finally beginning to dissolve.

“Then why did you touch this painting?”

“After informing Sir Lionel about Yodala’s attack, I used the opportunity while Yodala and Sir Lionel fought to investigate this building.”

“Why?”

“Because someone as significant as Yodala wouldn’t target the faculty building without reason. I believed there had to be something inside this building they wanted—and that Yodala’s accomplice would be searching for it.”

“You thought all the way to that conclusion immediately after detecting the attack?”

“Yes.”

“You… are surprisingly talented at using your head too.”

“…Thank you for the compliment.”

Heneta’s eyes shone faintly, as though impressed.

“So while investigating, you came here and accidentally touched the painting?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Instinctively, I understood.

My answer to this question would determine whether I was innocent or guilty.

‘Think. Is saying it was an accident the right move here?’

The only things I touched in this room were the painting and objects connected to the mechanisms opening the secret storage.

Yet Heneta said traces remained only on the painting.

‘There’s no reason for her to hide traces on other mechanisms.’

If traces existed elsewhere, I’d be guilty without question.

She would’ve said so immediately.

‘Meaning no traces remained on the other objects.’

Then the issue became:

Why only the painting?

I hadn’t held it particularly long.

Why was the trace so clear only there?

‘Because the other mechanisms are designed to move into the secret storage once it opens.’

Except for the painting, every object rotated or shifted inward once the storage opened.

Only the painting remained in the room.

‘And I touched nothing except the mechanisms opening the storage.’

Conclusion:

The only place where my mana trace remained was the painting.

Meaning my answer had to be this:

“I didn’t touch that painting by accident.”

If it were accidental, traces should exist elsewhere too.

Accidentally touching only that painting made no sense.

“I touched the painting because I was certain of something.”

“Certain?”

“Certain that there was some hidden space behind the painting.”

“…What?”

Not touching it accidentally meant I had intent.

And having intent meant I must’ve sensed something from the painting.

“How could you… No, wait. If that accomplice opened it once before… perhaps residual traces remained…”

Heneta filled in the weakness in my argument herself.

I was extremely grateful.

“I don’t know about that. Regardless, I sensed something behind the painting and touched it. Though touching it didn’t change anything.”

“…Right.”

Heneta fell into deep thought.

She was probably replaying my words and checking their authenticity.

“Even if that accomplice left residual traces after robbing this place… sensing them should be impossible…”

Heneta suddenly raised her gaze and stared sharply at me.

“You said earlier you detected Yodala’s attack beforehand too, right? Then are you saying you could detect Yodala’s mana in advance?”

“Yes.”

“How? Yodala isn’t someone who leaves mana traces.”

“I discovered it by reading the mana inside the monsters during the monster rampage occurring at the same time.”

Later, the headmaster would verify this with Lionel.

So my answer needed to match what I’d told him.

“…What?”

Heneta looked at me as if I’d said something absurd beyond imagination.

“I heard correctly, right? You said you read the mana inside monsters?”

“Yes.”

“That should be impossible…”

Heneta frowned deeply and lowered her gaze.

Her mind looked thoroughly tangled.

“If it’s hard to believe, why not test me?”

At this point, only one step remained.

If I proved I could truly read the mana inside monsters, my innocence would be established.

“…A test. Right. A test would settle it.”

Heneta’s eyes brightened.

“Fine. Then I’ll test you. Follow me.”

Heneta gestured with her chin toward the exit.

We walked outside.

Determining whether I could truly read monster mana wasn’t difficult.

‘Just bring a monster and have me recite its information.’

Being able to read monster mana meant knowing its level, strengths, weaknesses—everything.

If I could identify the monster’s information, my ability was real.

If not, I was lying.

‘Meaning if I know everything about whatever monster the headmaster brings, I can pretend to have the ability.’

And naturally—

I knew nearly all monsters in this world.

Whatever she brought, I wouldn’t be speechless.

‘Of course, unknown monsters probably exist somewhere. If she brought one of those, I’d be finished…’

But not this time.

The monster she’d bring would absolutely be one I knew.

“One last time. Are you really certain you can read the mana inside monsters?”

Before a gigantic iron gate near the coliseum-like arena at the center of the Monster Prison where monsters were confined—

the headmaster looked at me warningly.

“It’s not too late. If you tell the truth now, I’ll take your circumstances into consideration.”

I met Heneta’s eyes.

Then answered confidently:

“I’ll repeat myself. I definitely possess the ability to read the mana inside monsters.”

“…I see.”

The headmaster’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“I hope that’s true.”

Snap!

She flicked her fingers.

As if that were the signal, the massive iron gate behind her slowly opened with a heavy rumble.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The monster appeared.

A golem made entirely of translucent ice.

An Ice Golem.

“This creature is so rare that not only top-class hunters, but even the masters of every mage tower have never seen one.”

An artificial monster created thousands of years ago.

Since golems cannot reproduce, almost all individuals vanished with time.

Only this one remained.

“This is a monster I personally preserved for research. Which means I’m the only person in the world who knows information about it.”

Unless someone truly possessed the power to read mana—

learning this monster’s information was impossible.

That was her point.

“If your confidence comes from knowing many monsters, I’ll give you one last chance. Tell the truth now—that everything you said was a lie…”

I said nothing.

Instead, I walked slowly toward the bound Ice Golem.

Then placed my hand on the core in its chest.

“Phew…”

Ice Golem.

Certainly, this creature was an ultra-rare monster unseen even by the heads of mage towers.

As she said, only the headmaster knew about it right now.

Therefore, without genuinely reading monster mana, knowing its information should be impossible.

‘…That’s what anyone would naturally think.’

I smiled faintly and concentrated mana into my hand resting on the core.

“I’ll begin.”

Ice Golem.

A remnant of the ancient Magic Kingdom era.

Certainly, only the headmaster knew its information at present…

‘But not in the future.’

Two years later.

Act 4 in game terms.

The headmaster would hand this Ice Golem over to Rozarin as research material, causing information about it to spread to mage towers worldwide.

And that event would trigger war between the towers.

‘There’s no way I wouldn’t know information about the monster that starts a major arc.’

I remembered everything about the Ice Golem.

“First, this monster’s name is…”

I began listing what I knew.

‘Wait. What is this?’

I would’ve continued—

if I hadn’t sensed a mana signature inside the core that I knew all too well.

‘Zeiraon’s mana?’

Inside the Ice Golem’s core was Zeiraon’s mana.

‘Why is Zeiraon’s mana in here?’

Zeiraon and Black Night should have no connection to the Ice Golem incident.

Then why was Zeiraon’s mana present?

Was there some hidden background I didn’t know?

No—that couldn’t be.

The game revealed everything.

Black Night had no place in the Ice Golem episode.

‘It should be impossible…’

What exactly was happening?

At the moment my thoughts froze—

[A ‘Seizure Technique’ embedded inside the Ice Golem reacts to the player.]

[You have obtained control over the Ice Golem, legacy of the ancient royal magic family.]

Suddenly, messages appeared informing me I had become the Ice Golem’s owner.

[Absorbing the ‘Pure Freezing Aura’ composing the Ice Golem’s core, legacy of the ancient royal magic family!]

A cold energy flowed from the Ice Golem’s core—

and began absorbing into my body.