The creatures inside the giant dining hall muttered to each other.
“Did they fall in love today?”
“But they’re a couple?”
“…Even adopting?”
It was absurd talk, but somehow made sense; in the end, they all clutched their bellies laughing.
“Wahahahahahaha─!”
The raucous laughter filled the dining hall.
“Even such trivial vermin come seeking food in a restaurant!”
“Good for them. They wouldn’t feel guilty even if they committed robbery.”
“Just think of it as getting punished. Wahaha!”
As mockery and ridicule began to mix in the air, frantic telepathic messages were exchanged among the Imperial Tower’s group.
──What do you mean they fell in love? What does that even mean…?
──How come all three yelled different things?!
──Well, at least we managed to hide one identity well.
Zekiel had a point. Thanks to that, the ruffians seemed to not even imagine the Imperial Tower.
──Anyway, Inspector, from what I hear, it seems they’re all robbers. What will you do?
──Do I really have to answer that?
Just then, someone boldly picked up a dagger.
“Let’s cut off the girl’s breath first! She’d like it very much, right?”
The robber confidently threw the dagger. With impressive speed and strength, it wasn’t an amateur’s skill.
Shwing!
──By the way, Agnes, I didn’t expect you to introduce us as a couple.
──Don’t misunderstand. I just did my best to hide the enormous powers of the Imperial Tower and Imperial Family.
──Who doesn’t know that? It’s just unexpected.
──To say I did my best means I approached this with a sense of duty. Approaching with duty means I excluded all emotions, and excluding all emotions means I could never…
──Gyaaaaaaaah! No! Don’t block the dagger!
At that moment, Teather screamed through telepathy.
Thwack!
In that instant, a gleaming ice spear swiftly deflected the dagger and lodged it firmly in the forehead of the thrower.
“When did that dagger…!”
The robbers’ faces paled in horror.
It was understandable. Zekiel’s ice release was not something that ordinary robbers could see coming.
‘…My realm is rising more and more.’
Zekiel also realized that he was growing in his ice magic technique. If this was with the elixir, it would be even more impressive when he obtained the Sun Elixir.
…His motivation began to swell.
Zekiel pulled out a lollipop and said,
“To throw a dagger towards a harmonious family, that’s something no human would do. A robber is worse than a beast.”
As he approached, slowly freezing the ground, the robbers’ faces were filled with fear. Zekiel continued to raise the chill without hesitation.
The fact that someone like him could throw a dagger without hesitation meant that he couldn’t let such a creature live.
“Wait, wait, wait, just a moment─!”
One of the robbers shouted urgently but…
Boom!
The entire interior of the dining hall turned white with frost.
Except for that guy who had just yelled, “just a moment.”
“Agnes, paper and pen.”
The Inspector silently received the requested items.
After crafting a desk and chair out of ice, he sat down the last remaining robber and wrapped an arm around him.
“Write down everything you know about this region.”
Clink!
While shattering the frozen robber nearby…
“The more detailed your information, the prettier your corpse will be.”
The dining hall was completely frozen with no robbers left.
Agnes reviewed what was written on the paper.
“It seems they intentionally drove in thieves and heinous criminals from the black tower to this area. It says they occupy the entire place.”
Teather’s eyes widened in surprise as she listened.
“Instead of arresting them, they’re funneling them into one neighborhood? What kind of idea is that?!”
“It seems they want to keep making things difficult for us.”
Teather clenched her fist, her rabbit-like face filled with rage.
“Such despicable creatures!”
In the end, Teather expressed her anger.
“Inspector! Do we really need to comply with these heinous requests? It’s better to go to the spire right now and deal with them!”
Agnes nodded her agreement.
“Yes. It feels like they’ve vastly overstepped. It’s clear we need measures.”
“It’s truly not something we should endure here! Isn’t the Imperial Tower supposed to oversee and punish other magic towers? So we should…”
“Enough.”
Zekiel cut off Teather’s words with a brief reply.
As if knowing, he nodded with the lollipop still in his mouth.
“Don’t worry. I will definitely punish the rudeness of the black tower.”
“Then let’s go to the spire right away…”
“However.”
Zekiel’s tone turned serious.
“Charging in out of nowhere and destroying everything, that’s not something the Imperial Tower can call punishment.”
His gaze suddenly turned to Teather.
“Teather.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Why has the Imperial Family ignored the matters between magic towers all this time?”
“Um… Well… because it’s a matter between the magic towers?”
“The Imperial Tower hasn’t been fulfilling its function for over ten years. Then the Imperial Family could directly intervene.”
“Oh, that’s true? Uh… wait…? Why…?!”
Instead of answering, Zekiel shaped two awkward ice spears on the table and clenched his fist.
“Look.”
Smash!
He brought down one of the spears and destroyed it.
“If the Imperial Family gets involved, it’ll inevitably turn out like this. The black tower will vanish, but that’s not a fundamental solution. It will only disappear from sight.”
Zekiel’s hand moved to the other spear.
“But.”
Shhhhhh…
He didn’t shatter the remaining spear. Instead, he refined and refined it until it gradually took on a refined shape, eventually resembling a splendid spire.
“Only unnecessary parts should be removed. This is what the Imperial Family truly desires, and it’s also what the Imperial Tower must truly do.”
“Ah…”
“What we must do is called purification.”
“…”
Agnes and Teather silently blinked as they focused solely on Zekiel’s words.
Zekiel quietly thought to himself.
‘To be precise, it’s not the Imperial Family’s stance but the Emperor’s.’
Well, it doesn’t matter.
The Emperor’s stance is the same as the Imperial Family’s and its dimension.
The Emperor’s ability is probably ‘annihilation.’
Zekiel was able to make a deal because he could handle things differently from the Emperor. But what if he handled things in exactly the same way as the Emperor?
He would lose his unique advantages, the Emperor would no longer engage in deals, and he would naturally lose the pathway to obtaining the Sun Elixir.
Anyway, ironically, what Zekiel aimed for coincided with what the Imperial Tower aimed for. From now on, he just had to put all his effort into purifying the black tower.
Alright. Now he felt ready.
“Teather.”
“Yes, yes?”
“When does the presentation start?”
“Today is merely the opening day of the exchange meeting; the presentation starts the day after at the spire.”
“Good.”
Zekiel nodded.
“Let’s gather all the information, then on presentation day, we’ll list all the charges and obliterate them all.”
“…”
“…”
Agnes and Teather blinked simultaneously.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
This time both shook their heads at once.
“No, it’s just….”
Agnes blinked rapidly.
“I didn’t know the Inspector would have such deep thoughts. I must have misjudged you.”
Was that a compliment?
It must have been a compliment, right?
Teather scratched the back of her head.
“I guess my thoughts were short. I was just going to vent in anger. That shouldn’t be how it is…”
Zekiel simply chewed on the lollipop with an air of nonchalance.
“The Imperial Tower hasn’t fulfilled its duties for over ten years. It’s natural that it feels unfamiliar trying to do it again, so let’s learn to get accustomed to it gradually.”
“Alright! Let’s go for it!”
With determination, Teather raised her hand and shouted. To her surprise, she had a certain justice-loving side.
“Teather, you can go ahead to the spire. You’re the assistant, so it’s not strange to be with the princess.”
“I too have my ties to the Imperial Family! How could I stand by while these atrocities occur? I will do my utmost to realize justice!”
She proudly proclaimed with her small stature, which Zekiel found commendable. Quietly, he thought.
Agnes swept her hair behind her ear.
“Then we will depart immediately. The paper details information about where they intend to place the demonic sword as well.”
“How far?”
“Not at all, it’s very close.”
The three nodded in unison.
Leaving behind the completely frozen dining hall.
Two individuals stopped in front of the dining hall.
“…”
The entire building was frozen, an unpassable sight. They too handled ice, after all.
“The ice is exceptionally fine. Who could it be?”
“We had no word of anyone from our magic tower visiting.”
The two cloaked in blue robes, pursuing the ice magic technique, were mages from the blue magic tower.
So it was natural for them to be filled with questions.
Such high mastery of freezing, who could it possibly be?
At that moment.
Just then, a family casually emerged from the restaurant. A young couple with a bunny-like daughter.
One of the mages pointed at them with a finger.
“That family. They probably did this.”
“Chase them down immediately.”
They barked before shaking their heads.
“No, we need to stop them right away. Hey─!”
A booming voice rang out.
Ahead, the family halted their steps.
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