SPURRED into action by Daniel, Charles got to work immediately. He mobilized Ed, the magicians, and me to quietly search while he paid impromptu “Farewell” visits to the rooms of every guest who had come to attend my coming-of-age ceremony.
The tale about clothes-eating moths would probably only panic our guests, so that was out. Nor could we force them to open up their luggage for us.
But as long as we could access their rooms, our magicians could quietly use Locating magic to search the luggage’s contents without having to open them.
Meanwhile, the guests were charmed by Charles’s “Farewell” visits. Many invited him to stay and have tea with them. It was no trouble at all to gain access to their rooms.
We’d made it through about half of the guests’ rooms when we next stepped into the corridor and noticed a change had taken place. One of the guards usually assigned to the library was running this way, clearly out of breath.
“Your Highness, we’ve located the Classified Books.”
“You have? Where?” Charles immediately questioned the breathless guard.
“They were… They were on the bookshelf. In the library.”
“What?!”
Charles frowned, raising his voice in disbelief.
An extensive search had been conducted. The books had absolutely not been in the library. That was why all the fuss had happened in the first place. Why Charles had been alerted. Why Ed had been interrogated. Why we’d gone to Daniel for confirmation as to Ed’s whereabouts last night.
And now they were saying they’d found them right where they ought to have been?
“Explain yourself. Did you check to make sure no one else went in or out?!”
“Of course, Your Highness…” The guard’s face was somber. “No one went in or out.”
“Nobody?”
“Not a soul.”
“…What is the meaning of all this…?”
Charles couldn’t hide his confusion.
Nor could I.
This sequence of events was so strange. What could possibly have been going on?
Ed had been silent, listening soberly to the guard. But now he spoke.
“There are two possibilities. The first is that the guards overlooked the books in the library and mistakenly assumed they were missing. The other is that whoever had the books in their possession managed to return them without entering through the library’s doors—by using Transference magic or the like. Only the library is protected by an anti-magic shield to prevent laypersons from accessing the off-limits books. Only a very skilled magician indeed would be able to bypass the shield. It would be possible, though. A Royal Magician could do it. I know I could.”
“But who would do something like that, and why? A Royal Magician would have free access to the Classified Books, anyway. He could just enter through the doors like normal. And what about the guards who say they saw you around the library last night?”
“Well…perhaps the guards are lying. Or perhaps someone who looked a lot like me was there.”
If the guards were lying, that would explain away everything.
But why would the guards lie and cause such a commotion, even getting the prince involved? The punishment for deceiving the royal family was life imprisonment. It was considered treason. Not to mention, accusing a duke’s son like Ed of theft was also an extremely serious offense.
It was also hard to believe that they’d simply seen someone who looked just like Ed.
Ed’s midnight-black hair and blood-red eyes were very unusual. I’d personally never seen anyone with the same hair and eye color combination.
It was very rare and not very popular with people. Ed had a complex about his red eyes as a kid and used to hide them behind his hair.
If anyone had been confused as to someone’s identity, it would’ve been Daniel’s magicians. Perhaps another Royal Magician had been their tutor that evening? Ah, but no. They clearly said that the tutor had shown them his “Illusion” technique. And only Ed possessed such knowledge.
Charles pressed the guard further. “This doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Did you check to make sure those were the real missing books?”
“The Head of the Magical Research Lab just confirmed it.” The guard hurried to answer Charles’s question.
“Then make sure they are secured on their shelves. And tell the Head to cast another, stronger shield around the entire library. I can’t very well only say goodbye to half the guests, so I’ll have to continue my rounds. After that, I’ll head to the lab myself and make sure everything’s in order.”
Upon receiving Charles’s instruction, the guard saluted and hurried away. Charles watched him go before turning to Ed.
“Ed, if the contents of those books were read, that means all of our magical secrets could be leaked to foreign parties, doesn’t it?”
Ed hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Your average magician wouldn’t be able to make any sense of what they read, though. So, it wouldn’t matter. But if they were on par with a Royal Magician in terms of knowledge and skill, they might be able to comprehend the magical theories recorded in the books and apply what they learned. In other words, it depends on the reader. But as I said before, if the culprit could break through the library’s magical shield and Transfer the books, they would have to be a very advanced magician indeed. Advanced enough to comprehend the contents of those books.”
“I thought as much. And what do you think about you being in two places at the same time?”
“As to that, I have no theories. I could do it, of course, using my Illusion. But so far, I’m the only one in the world who has mastered that technique. Not that I’d completely discard the possibility that someone else could do it, too.”
“I see. So it seems we’re in the dark about many things.”
Charles gritted his teeth.
It was a relief that the Classified Books had been found safe. But this incident was far from over.
It was entirely possible that our country’s magical secrets had already leaked and were in the hands of foreign entities. And we had no idea who. It was a terrible situation for Najir.
After that, Charles launched a full-scale investigation into the incident. But there were no leads.