Even accounting for some delay in the official’s actions, the report had been sent out two days after the incident. Using a relay system with fresh horses and riders at waypoints, the message had arrived as soon as it could.
Meanwhile, even though Chaos’d had a two-day head start, he’d had to have traveled on foot, or perhaps ridden a stolen horse. But if he had been on horseback, someone would’ve spotted him along the way. That meant he’d probably taken the long way around.
“So you’re saying that if he’d traveled by horse, arriving at the same time as the report would be odd, and it’s even stranger that he would’ve traveled by horse in the first place.”
“Exactly. That’s why I think he had some help.”
Chaos had known magic, so maybe he could’ve boosted his abilities or even flown. But if he could’ve escaped this whole time, why now instead of right after he’d been sent to the mines? And where had he even gotten that drug?
“If we could at least figure out where or when he got it, we might be able to narrow it down. And what about his arm? Who healed that?” I asked.
I’d sliced off his arm during the tournament, and the knife he’d used had exploded and had blown it into pieces. He had been taken away right after. If he were just being sentenced to slavery afterward, no one would’ve gone out of their way to reattach it. And yet Eliza hadn’t mentioned him missing an arm.
“Jean, go ask Eliza. She might still be in the castle!”
Jean dashed out of the bag before Prince Lyle even finished his sentence. He came running back about ten minutes later.
“Haah, haah, haah... I made it in time! She said Chaos definitely had both arms!” Jean said, panting.
Eliza and the count had been finishing up some pleasantries with an acquaintance and had been just about to board their carriage when he’d spotted them.
“Then we need to find out exactly when he got that arm back. Immediately!” the king said, and Jean dashed off again.
It sounded like there wouldn’t be anything in the castle’s records, so he’d probably have to check with the mining office or even travel out to the worksite. Either way, it would be some time before we got answers.
“So we’ll need to store Chaos’s body in a safe place...”
“That means...”
“No way,” I said before the king could finish. I wasn’t about to hold on to that thing, dimension bag or not.
But after he and both princes pleaded with me for a while, I reluctantly agreed to keep it for the time being.
“Tenma, what exactly was Chaos like after he transformed?” Dean asked. “Like, how strong was he? Tell me about his abilities. Any information will help.”
Everyone looked curious as we stepped out of the dimension bag to continue our discussion.
“So you’re saying after Chaos took that drug, his strength and power overwhelmed Amur’s, and he had a regenerative ability on par with or even greater than a hydra’s? And then his abilities dropped back to human levels as the fight went on?” Gramps asked.
“Yes. I’m not exactly sure why, but something like Boost magic might’ve increased his physical capabilities,” I replied.
“That would make sense. If his mana ran out, that would explain why his strength dropped, or at least returned to normal. It definitely could’ve been some kind of magic,” Gramps said.
“Or maybe the effects just wore off? Either way, if we ever face someone like him again, we’ll need to tighten our defenses and drag out the fight,” I said.
Chaos was the only example of this we’d seen, so we couldn’t be sure of anything. But for now, it seemed like the best approach would be a drawn-out defensive battle if this were to happen again. We had no other leads to test out.
“Hopefully, nobody else like him shows up. But since there’s a chance someone gave Chaos the drug, we should just assume we’ll see another monster like him in the future,” the king said. “Lyle, gather the knight captains and brief them on a potential emergency situation. Dean, make sure my knights can move out at a moment’s notice. But don’t disclose any information about Chaos’s magic core yet. We’ll wait until there’s a second case before informing the public.”
The king put a gag order out regarding Chaos’s magic core, but he wasn’t going to restrict information about the drug. Hiding that would be far too dangerous.
“It would be hard to explain why Amur lost to Chaos in the first place if we kept the drug a secret,” I reasoned.
Because of her performance in the martial arts tournament, Amur was known to be one of the strongest fighters in the capital. Even though Chaos was a former champion himself, he’d been working in the mines for three years. No one would believe that he could’ve nearly killed her in that state unless we gave them a sufficient reason.
“Anyway, Tenma, you’re free to talk about the drug, but not the core. Don’t mention it to anyone who asks—not even Amur,” the king said, making sure I understood.
Once I nodded, there wasn’t much left to discuss, so the meeting ended.
After I said my goodbyes to everyone and headed for the door, Albert said farewell to the king and tagged along behind me and Gramps as we walked away from the meeting room.
“Wanna ride back in our carriage, Albert?” I asked after we’d walked for a bit.
He politely declined, saying he’d go in the duke’s carriage instead.
“I was shocked when I heard that something happened to you on the way home from the party, Tenma. Thanks for saving Eliza,” Albert said.
“If anyone saved her, it was Amur,” I said.
“Well, I’ll make sure to thank her next time, but...things could’ve gotten really bad if you hadn’t gotten there when you did.” Albert bowed, making me feel slightly embarrassed.
I waited for him to lift his head, and...
“Tenma! Is Amy okay?!” Tida came running over from off in the distance, clearly out of breath. He must’ve been really worried, because he had run as fast as he could and was panting by the time he reached me. “Tell me about Amy, Tenma!”
Albert stepped in. “Please calm down, Prince Tida.”
Tida was so beside himself with worry that he hadn’t noticed Albert at all. He jumped a bit at his voice.