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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Mage vs. Knight (2)
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The knight flinched significantly, his face slowly flushing. He seemed to dislike being called foolish, despite having just uttered a foolish remark.
“Lexy Ritterson is an inappropriate comparison for this case. You seem to lack situational awareness, so you should hold your tongue.”
“Your words are excessive, Madam!”
“Then sit up straight and cooperate with the investigation. I didn’t call you here for a joke.”
Aracilla gazed at him with chilling eyes. There was a limit to how much she would tolerate his rude behavior; she had no intention of enduring it indefinitely.
Subdued by her aura, the knight hesitated, then straightened his crooked posture.
Finally, seeming to have the right mindset for the investigation, Aracilla posed her third question.
“Do you know what Sir Pattinson did on April 2nd last year?”
“Um, that was when…”
The knight’s eyes darted about as he rummaged through his memories. A vague recollection surfaced.
“…Ah! The Commander gave us a day off, so we all went out drinking.”
“Sir Pattinson too?”
“Yes.”
“Until what time did you drink?”
“I don’t remember exactly… but Jonny left around ten. I remember because he told me he was leaving first.”
This was a moment for useful testimony. Aracilla leaned forward, her ears perked.
“Did he go alone? Were there no colleagues with him?”
“No, he wasn’t. That Jonny fellow never liked entertainment, so he always left first by himself.”
If this was true, Jonny Pattinson’s alibi would once again plunge into uncertainty.
When asked if there was anything unusual about Jonny around that time, the knight scratched his head and shook it.
Subsequent interrogations yielded only the same answers as before.
Hopper’s testimony was the greatest achievement Aracilla had gained from the witness interviews.
Meanwhile, the knights who had finished their interviews headed to the Commander’s office.
Seeing them rush in and stand with their hands behind their backs, Demian pressed a hand to his temple. It was clear to anyone that they had come to protest, full of dissatisfaction.
“What is it?”
“Commander, we received unfair treatment at the Magic Tower today.”
“Explain in detail.”
At that, the knights eagerly vied to complain about how they had been treated during the Magic Tower’s witness interviews.
“She spoke and acted condescendingly, as if she were my superior.”
“They called me in for an investigation, then just kept badmouthing knights.”
“They’ve already branded Jonny as a criminal internally and mocked us for believing him!”
The knights’ words were not lies. They had indeed experienced such things, and there was a reason for it.
Aracilla couldn’t interrogate all the knights herself, so she divided the work among other mages in the Magic Tower.
She and her junior, Rudy, conducted the interrogations properly, but the problem was that about half of the other mages did not.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s the absolute truth, not a single lie!”
“Commander, we must immediately transfer Jonny’s case! Those mages are useless!”
The knights burst out in indignation, vehemently asserting their demands. Demian first calmed them down and sent them away.
It was obvious that agreeing with agitated individuals would only lead to greater agitation.
After his subordinates left and silence settled in the office, Demian thought alone. Inside, anger was slowly simmering.
‘She said she’d investigate properly.’
He had cooperated because she claimed she’d do well if he didn’t interfere, but now this had happened, naturally sowing suspicion towards Aracilla.
After all, she had indeed mishandled the witness interviews, which only fueled his doubt further.
‘Is she really working properly? This is why mages are…’
He clicked his tongue briefly and ran a hand through his hair. His smooth forehead was deeply furrowed.
***
The fact that Jonny Pattinson had been accused of black magic use gradually became known to the outside world.
Regarding this fact, the reactions of the mage community and the knight community were starkly divided.
“That knight was clearly framed. Why would a knight dabble in magic?”
“Casting sinister black magic curses is what mages do; a knight would challenge to a fair duel.”
Naturally, the knights sided with the knight.
“Ugh, how pathetic to touch black magic. They should have just begged the Magic Tower to teach them magic.”
“See? They end up using magic when desperate, don’t they? It’s proof that magic is superior to swords.”
The mages showed the opposite reaction.
Still, there were occasionally those who maintained a neutral stance, but they soon disappeared.
This was because an incident occurred that ignited the already tense atmosphere.
The incident was none other than a brawl that broke out between a knight of the Red Hawk Knights and mages from the Magic Tower who happened to visit the same restaurant.
Fortunately, the fight stopped before any fatalities occurred, but both sides suffered one or two severe injuries.
And this skirmish escalated the ‘Jonny Pattinson Black Magic Accusation Case’ into a conflict involving the entire mage and knight communities.
The relationship between the two groups rapidly cooled.
Their relationship had never been good, even as a courtesy, but now it had worsened considerably.
Now, everyone was focused on how the Magic Tower’s investigation results would turn out. Depending on whether Jonny Pattinson was found guilty or innocent, the fortunes of both groups would diverge.
With the situation so inflamed, something happened that caused Aracilla, the person in charge of the case, even more headaches.
“Um, Senior. We found out who the anonymous accuser is.”
The identity of the accuser, which Sally had diligently tracked down, was…
“It’s a woman named Sisley, who works on 4th Street.”
She was a woman of the street.
4th Street was a street where all sorts of bars were gathered. While that was a polite way to put it, the profession of those who worked there was easily guessed.
Sally’s hesitant demeanor alone made it obvious.
‘There are already many who don’t trust an anonymous accusation; if her identity is revealed, it’ll be chaos.’
Aracilla sighed, rubbing her face.
Generally, people tended to distrust the words of those deeply involved with entertainment.
Moreover, Jonny Pattinson was famous among his colleagues for disliking entertainment. If the accuser’s identity was revealed, he might be acquitted.
Everyone would clearly choose a knight with a good reputation over a woman of the street.
“Keep the accuser’s identity strictly secret. Don’t tell anyone but us.”
“Yes, Senior!”
Sally and Rudy nodded grimly.
“And I’ll go meet this Sisley person myself.”
“You, Senior, yourself?”
“Yes, I’ll go tomorrow.”
Aracilla had never heard the name Sisley before. But she wanted to know how Sisley knew her and why she sent the accusation.
Furthermore, she was curious how a woman of the street came to accuse a knight who disliked entertainment.
However, she hesitated somewhat about whether to tell Demian this fact.
She had promised transparency, but she worried about his reaction if he knew the accuser’s identity.
‘It would be troublesome if he interfered.’
She agonized until she arrived home, but ultimately decided to keep her promise. She didn’t want him to find fault later if she didn’t tell him now.
“A woman of the street accused Jonny?”
Demian, having heard the accuser’s identity, furrowed his brows. Seeing his clear displeasure, Aracilla quickly raised a hand.
“Stop, that’s enough.”
“…”
“I will proceed with the investigation regardless of the accuser’s profession. So don’t add any unnecessary comments.”
Demian’s lips twitched. It seemed he had planned to add many, many unnecessary comments.
“Only you, Demian, must know this fact. I kept my promise, so you keep yours. Understood?”
“…Understood.”
Though his expression and voice were thick with displeasure, Aracilla was satisfied that he had answered.
She trusted that a knight who constantly sang about honor would not break his promise.
The next day, Aracilla headed to 4th Street.
The street was abnormally quiet in the midday. It was natural, as this area became lively only after the sun set.
She entered an old wooden building, went to the second floor, to the last room on the left, and knocked on the door.
She kept knocking until someone came out, and soon, a presence was heard inside. A moment later, a tired woman opened the door.
“Who are you?”
“Hello, Sisley.”
Aracilla smiled brightly as she greeted her. Sisley flinched, as if she recognized her immediately.
Preventing Sisley from reflexively closing the door, Aracilla spoke in a gentle tone.
“I came because I know you sent an anonymous accusation to me. Shall we go inside and talk for a bit?”
Sisley’s eyes wavered greatly. Her hand gripping the doorknob trembled, and she stood still, looking helpless and unsure what to do.
Aracilla patiently waited for her to make a wise decision.
Fortunately, after some hesitation, Sisley opened the door wider, allowing Aracilla to enter.
The room was stark, with nothing but a bed, a wardrobe, and a bedside table. It looked like the room of someone about to move out, as if preparing to leave soon.
Sisley nervously watched Aracilla, who was meticulously looking around the room, and asked.
“How did you know to come here?”
“If you wrote the letter with your left hand, you should have written the guestbook with your left hand too. So your original handwriting wouldn’t be left behind.”
“…”
The Magic Tower required all visitors to sign a guestbook.
Sisley had left the accusation in front of Aracilla’s laboratory and written a pseudonym in the guestbook with her real handwriting.
She had been flustered when the guard suddenly told her to write, so she used her dominant hand.
“…You found me just from my handwriting?”
“No, that tattoo also played a part. The Magic Tower has many people, so there are many eyes.”
Aracilla gestured with her chin towards the flower tattoo on Sisley’s wrist.
Sisley had carefully covered her face but carelessly exposed her hand when using the pen. Someone passing by happened to see her then and remembered the flower-shaped tattoo on her wrist, informing Sally.
Sally had used those two pieces of information to relentlessly track Sisley and uncover her identity.
“Why did you send the accusation to me?”
At Aracilla’s direct question, Sisley took a breath before answering.
“Because you seemed like the most trustworthy person, Lady Aracilla.”
“How did you know me?”
“I saw an article recently about you winning the Hunting Festival.”
Sisley fumbled in the bedside table drawer and pulled out several newspapers featuring articles about Aracilla.
“I thought a capable female mage like you would surely be different from other men or knights, so I could trust you with it.”
Aracilla leaned casually against the window frame, watching Sisley.
Perhaps due to her lifestyle of working at night and sleeping during the day, Sisley’s face was heavily etched with fatigue.
“How did you know Sir Pattinson used black magic?”
“I saw it myself.”
“What’s your relationship with Sir?”
“He was a regular at the establishment where I worked.”
Aracilla was subtly surprised by that statement.
After all, the knight who claimed to be close to him had said that he was so diligent that he wouldn’t frequent places with women because he had a fiancée.
Such a man was a regular at Sisley’s establishment?
This contradicted his reputation.
“They say Sir Pattinson dislikes entertainment.”
Sisley scoffed, a sneer flashing across her lips, an instinctive, uncalculated reaction.
“Well, he did keep his visits to our establishment strictly secret.”
“Then no one would know or have witnessed you meeting Sir Pattinson?”
Sisley flinched at the sharp, unexpected question. She couldn’t refute it, which implied that indeed, no one knew about their relationship.
Sisley bit her lip, then suddenly remembered something and spoke.
“…I have proof of our acquaintance.”
