Taken (2)

"I'll guide you. This way."

Head Investigator Javier briskly led Ian and Sophia to the scene of the incident with long strides.

Ian closed in next to Javier and asked,

"Please tell me as we go. Sir Javier, what has happened to Lady Yuria?"

"... Hmm."

Javier hesitated for a moment, as if considering his words, then replied.

"Lord Ian, before I speak, I ask just one thing of you. The same goes for Lady Sophia as well."

"... What do you want us to promise?"

"Everything you see and hear here is classified. You must not divulge it to anyone, no matter how close your relationship."

"... I don't find that particularly difficult, but why is this investigation being conducted in such secrecy?"

He didn't know what they were investigating, but handling matters so secretly would surely make the process much more complicated and cumbersome.

Why go to such trouble to keep things this secret?

"I can only say it's an order from above. There are many things I don't understand myself, so I apologize."

"'Above' meaning where, exactly?"

"From Deputy-Commander Jonathan Feldro of the Heavenly Sword Order. He said that if it's revealed to the outside world that the Heavenly Sword Palace's security has been breached, even more enemies will target us."

"Ah..."

Jonathan Feldro.

One of the two deputy commanders just under the commander of the Heavenly Sword Order.

A formidable powerhouse of Grandmaster rank and a core figure in the Hisperion firstborn faction.

'Jonathan, the firstborn's right-hand man, made such a decision... What's his intention?'

But more pressing—just what happened to Yuria?

"I understand, so please just tell me now. What exactly happened to Lady Yuria?"

"... She has gone missing."

"Ah."

Damn it.

Even though Ian had somewhat anticipated this, the moment he heard it an intense wave of anger and curses boiled up inside.

"And you're conducting the investigation in secrecy? This is a situation where even a public nationwide search wouldn't be enough!"

"I feel the same way... I have no excuse."

"Sss... Hah..."

Ian calmed his rising fury with a deep sigh.

There was no point directing his anger at Javier.

And it was Deputy-Commander Jonathan who'd issued these orders?

What was his purpose?

In a situation where even a public alert wouldn't be enough, they were keeping everything locked down?

'Don't tell me that bastard of a firstborn is behind this?'

The first son of Darkan, the Heavenly Sword Lord.

Theo Hisperion.

Even in his past life, theo was obsessively intent on ruining Yuria, and had been a ferocious rival during the Hisperion civil war.

'He used to seize every opportunity to reach out his clutches toward Yuria, back then too.'

Could he be behind this incident as well?

If so, jonathan's insistence on secrecy makes sense.

Using the excuse of "security breach," the investigation is being hampered on purpose, making it harder to find Yuria.

Jonathan was the one trying to support Theo as the next lord of Hisperion.

He was probably moving to eliminate Yuria—a strong competitor—before she could fully grow.

Ian asked to confirm.

"... Was it a runaway, or a kidnapping?"

"Based on the circumstances, we're treating it as a kidnapping."

Yeah, that figures.

The odds that Theo, the firstborn, was behind all this seemed very high.

"You'll see for yourself at the scene."

"Then it seems we don't have time to walk. Let's run."

"Yes. That's best."

Ian and Javier quickly ran across the medical wing's corridor.

"Huff...!"

Sophia also hurried after them, unwilling to be left behind.

"This is the scene of the incident—the private room Lady Yuria stayed in."

Javier spoke before opening the door.

"Once again, please understand: Even bringing you here was beyond my authority. Please strictly keep security."

"Yes."

Ian answered shortly, nodding.

― Creak.

The door to the hospital room opened as Javier touched it.

Beyond the door was a wide and luxurious single room.

"... Hmm."

He had expected the room to be in complete disarray.

But the room where Yuria had been kidnapped was perfectly intact, as if nothing had happened.

And then—

'What is that lying on the bed?'

He had expected the bed to be cold and empty, but something blonde was lying face-down on the bed.

"Take a closer look."

"Then I'll go in first."

Ian moved past Javier and approached the bed to check what was lying there.

"... A magic power puppet?"

What lay on the bed was a puppet made from magic clay.

The puppet had brilliant golden hair and red eyes, almost as if to imitate Yuria's appearance.

But—

"Ugh..."

Sophia shuddered as she looked at the puppet.

The puppet's face and body were melting grotesquely, as if doused in acid.

It was clearly not the form of a living person.

Aside from the hair and eye color, little resembled Yuria.

The magic power that had kept the puppet's form was depleted, causing it to collapse.

"... When was this puppet first discovered?"

"This morning at 4:15 a.m. The head nurse on duty found it when she came to check the room and the patient's temperature."

"To check the temperature... How long has the puppet been melting like this?"

"I apologize, but... it was already like this when it was discovered."

"... Ah, damn."

Ian barely restrained the curses about to escape his lips.

If the puppet was already melting at the time of discovery, then Yuria had been kidnapped long before that.

Maybe yesterday, perhaps the day before, or even earlier.

At the very least, over a day had passed.

If things were bad, it might have been over a week already.

They were now very late in responding.

'Damn it...'

What had the Heavenly Sword Order and the medical staff been doing?

Why didn't anyone notice Yuria had been replaced by a puppet, right up until it started melting?

'Perhaps... they're all in league...'

If Theo Hisperion was really behind this, then many in the Heavenly Sword Order and among the medical staff might have colluded in Yuria's abduction.

'But...'

Even as the firstborn, he couldn't possibly buy off every single knight and staff member in the medical wing.

There wasn't only one faction within Hisperion, after all.

'If that's the case...'

"Who was the last person to visit Lady Yuria?"

Ian suspected that whoever directly carried out the kidnapping was someone close to Yuria.

That person probably colluded with Theo, deceived those nearby, and kidnapped Yuria.

If it was someone close to Yuria, they could easily lower the Heavenly Sword knights' guard and act more freely inside the room.

"The last visitor was... Lady Yuria's nanny, Dellen Meslow, around 4 p.m. yesterday."

"Where is that person now?"

"... She went missing immediately after that last visit."

"As expected."

― Nod.

Ian barely kept his growing anger under control and nodded.

"Then she's your leading suspect."

It was too soon to conclude that she was the criminal, but her disappearance made her the most likely suspect under the circumstances.

Yuria's nanny abducted her, left the magic power puppet in her place, and then vanished.

"Yes. We have also narrowed our investigation and are focusing on the nanny as the main suspect."

"Hmm..."

But the fact that the Heavenly Sword Order still hadn't found the nanny probably meant she'd already escaped to somewhere she could really hide.

There was little point in trying to trace her now.

The fleeing nanny would have laid plenty of smokescreens and traps in her trail.

'If that's so...'

It would be better to look for clues on the magic puppet itself.

'Let's see...'

Ian carefully examined the magic puppet, which was still slowly melting.

'This clay... It's from the black market.'

Legally distributed magic clay from the mage tower carried a unique mana pattern.

That pattern acted like a fingerprint or serial number, making it easy to trace who bought it and when.

But this clay didn't have any such unique mana pattern.

Clay without a unique pattern could only be obtained from the black market.

It was contraband.

'Troublesome.'

If the magic clay came from the black market, tracking it down would be much harder.

"Did you track down the mage who made this puppet?"

"... No."

As expected.

Head Investigator Javier shook his head, sighing softly in frustration.

"We've sent people everywhere from the black market to the puppet masters' Guild, but...it's shameful to say we haven't found even the slightest lead."

― Nod.

Of course.

With so few clues, it was hard to even know where to start.

They were basically searching everywhere they could, from the black market to the puppet masters' Guild, hoping for a miracle.

But that way, they'd never find the culprit even after a hundred days.

Even searching only the black market in Hisperion would turn up hundreds, maybe thousands, of illegal puppet masters—how could they possibly investigate them all?

'What should I do?'

Of course, Ian didn't have any good ideas just yet.

He, like the other Heavenly Sword knights, was just an examiner.

The only things that set him apart were being a regressor and having the Authority of Projection.

'The Authority of Projection, huh? Wait—?'

Suddenly, an idea hit Ian.

'Maybe I can get a clue with the Authority of Projection!'

A magic puppet, after all, was ultimately an artist's work, imprinted with the personality and technique of its maker.

'If I try to project onto the puppet itself...!'

Like with [Sophia's dantian & mana circuit Lv.27], maybe the name would show up.

Through projection, he might learn the puppet master's name.

'Let's try it right away!'

Staring intently at the puppet, Ian activated the Authority of Projection.

The target was—

[Target selected: Remains of Rudeus's magic power puppet Lv.12]

'Damn! Got it!'

Rudeus.

The name of the person who crafted the Yuria lookalike puppet was Rudeus.

'Rudeus?'

Coincidence, or not...

No, more like inevitability.

Ian knew a puppet master named Rudeus.

'Rudeus Delmora.'

In his previous life's Hisperion civil war, he was a dark mage aligned with the firstborn's faction—and one of the enemies Ian had personally killed.

'Could it really be him?'

Ian picked off a melted bit of the puppet and touched it.

A squishy, sticky texture.

'His puppets felt just like this.'

Each puppet master had their own style—some made hard turtle-shell skin, others leathery—but that guy always obsessed over this slimy, sticky feel.

His sense of déjà vu was growing stronger.

'Let's see... How about the taste...?'

Ian put the piece of the puppet in his mouth and chewed.

"Eek!? Young master! Why are you eating that!? Spit it out right now!"

"L-Lord Ian!?"

—Munch, munch.

Ian waved to Sophia and Javier, signaling he was fine, and focused on tasting it.

A metallic, bloody taste.

A coating of grease on his tongue.

And a faint hint of cinnamon.

'Damn. Looks about right.'

The metallic taste was human blood. The grease, lard. The cinnamon, that guy's favorite snacks.

All items he'd seen in that guy's workshop in his previous life.

'Half... No, I'm basically 100% sure.'

If the firstborn of Hisperion was behind this, it became even more certain.

Rudeus was a puppet master in the firstborn's faction.

'If they only realized it was a puppet after it started melting, then it must've been an extremely lifelike replica.'

He was notorious for his realistic puppets.

'It can only be him. I'm sure of it.'

― Ptew!

Ian spat the chewed bit on the floor, then spit again to clear his mouth of the remnants.

― Ptew!

'Damn it, Rudeus Delmora. You son of a bitch. I'm coming to kill you now.'

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Another bloodbath, after the Johnson's party?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】