Fixing a Ruined Ending C6

Chapter 6

 

“Trouble with the barrier?”

Rainer’s voice, which was already naturally low, dropped even further. Blenn and the other members gathered there all swallowed hard at once. For a moment, it almost felt as though a cold wind had swept through the room.

But perhaps Rainer’s reaction was only natural. Around the three border regions where the Heliorn Empire bordered other countries, there were barriers maintained by the Department of Magic.

Their purpose was to detect any invasion from another country as quickly as possible and to thoroughly screen out spies attempting to infiltrate from abroad.

They also served to monitor and keep track of anyone who was not permitted entry—in other words, anyone who did not possess Heliorn Empire citizenship.

In short, the barriers were the country’s first and greatest line of defense.

“Explain.”

“Yes. According to the members of the Border Magic Department, some of the spells comprising the barrier had come undone early yesterday morning, creating a gap in part of the barrier. They believe that someone may have slipped through that opening and infiltrated the empire…”

“I believe it was only recently that I sent over the spells I reinforced.”

“Ah, yes! O-of course, the Border Magic Department said they reinforced the barrier even further using the spells you provided, Deputy Minister, but…”

“And yet it was breached?”

It wasn’t just Rainer. In truth, everyone in the Department of Magic was having trouble understanding the situation.

Rainer himself had begun working on the barrier several days ago to strengthen its defenses, and the barrier spells he had personally reinforced from beginning to end had been completed to an even higher standard.

It was simply impossible to believe that a work crafted by a genius, without a single visible flaw, could have been breached so easily within just a few days.

Did that mean whoever had infiltrated possessed abilities surpassing even Rainer’s?

Blenn, who had been listening to Fel’s report from beside him, also furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Given the seriousness of the matter, apparently a report has already been sent to the Imperial Affairs Department.”

The Imperial Affairs Department consisted, as its name suggested, of the emperor—the head and ruler of the country—and the aides who served him at the closest distance.

In other words, the imperial palace of the Heliorn Empire was run by this one Imperial Affairs Department and a total of five specialized departments.

“Ah.”

Rainer lifted his eyes and stared into empty space. It was the peculiar expression he wore whenever he was extremely bored and irritated.

“The old men are going to make a fuss.”

The “old men” Rainer referred to were the heads of the four departments other than the Department of Magic. The very same people who were always desperate to find fault with Rainer.

“W-what should we do? Should we tell the Border Magic Department something…”

Fel cautiously asked, watching Rainer’s reaction.

Rainer placed the documents he had brought from the archives into Fel’s hands, as though telling him to take them back.

“Tell them I’m going there now.”

“Pardon?”

Then Rainer suddenly grabbed the back of Blenn’s collar.

Blenn, who had been standing half-turned away from Rainer while looking at Fel, Luwen, and the other members, turned his head at the sudden movement.

“Hm?”

Before he could react, Rainer began dragging him toward the door.

Blenn noticed magic beginning to gather around them and looked at Rainer.

“W-wait, Rainer? What are you trying to—”

But Blenn couldn’t finish his sentence.

A golden light rose around them, and the two of them disappeared from the room in an instant.

The words Blenn had failed to finish scattered pitifully into empty air.

[Heliorn Empire, Third Border Region Department of Magic Office]

A golden light shimmered in front of a building, and two figures appeared.

Only after their feet touched the ground did Rainer release his grip on Blenn.

“Huff…”

Blenn drew in several deep breaths before briefly sinking down onto the ground. He clutched his forehead, which was throbbing slightly, and looked at Rainer.

In truth, it was closer to glaring at him.

“If you were going to warp, you should have told me beforehand.”

Warping was a type of spatial magic that allowed a caster to move from one location to another place they were familiar with.

It consumed a tremendous amount of magical power and was more complicated than one might think, making it extremely difficult to use the spell with enough precision to arrive at an exact point.

For that reason, even magic users rarely used it casually unless the situation was particularly urgent or there was some special need.

When warping, a caster could bring another person along with them. However, because the accompanying person was caught up in the caster’s magical power as well, their body inevitably suffered considerable strain during the journey.

Of course, since Blenn was also a magic user, normally he would not have been greatly affected even when accompanying someone through a warp.

But Rainer’s magical power was absurdly vast and powerful.

Having been caught up in that kind of force, there was no way Blenn could remain completely unaffected, no matter how skilled a magic user he was.

“Would telling you have changed anything?”

“There’s such a thing as mental preparation, you know.”

Blenn dusted off his palms and stood up, following behind Rainer as he walked ahead.

Directly in front of them stood the Border Magic Department building responsible for guarding the Third Border.

The Border Magic Department was, as its name suggested, the organization responsible for managing the barriers along the borders. It was also sometimes called the Barrier Department.

Like the main Department of Magic in the imperial palace, it belonged to the same organization. However, because its only responsibility was the barriers, the workload and difficulty were not particularly high.

There were disadvantages to that as well.

Given the location, the surrounding area was practically a remote wasteland with nothing around it. And because the barrier had to be monitored around the clock, there were also night shifts.

When Rainer kicked open the door and entered, the members inside flinched and hurriedly jumped to their feet.

“R-Rainer!”

“Why are you so surprised? You should have received word that I was coming.”

“…Received word?”

But the members of the Barrier Department merely exchanged confused glances, clearly having no idea what he was talking about.

“Um, Rainer?”

Blenn, standing beside Rainer, cleared his throat and leaned slightly toward him.

“Have you considered that we arrived before Fel had a chance to contact them?”

“…”

Rainer stared at Blenn, who had given him a perfectly reasonable explanation, before turning his gaze back toward the room.

“Bring me the person in charge.”

At that moment, a loud clattering sound came from the staircase above.

Seiden, the person in charge of the Third Border Barrier Department, came rushing down and stopped in front of Rainer.

“Rainer…! I’m sorry. I did receive word that you were coming, but I seem to have taken too long to come down.”

“No. We arrived before the message reached you, so it’s fine.”

Rainer shot Blenn a brief sideways glance for adding unnecessary commentary before taking Seiden back outside.

Another member accompanied Seiden as well.

The four of them arrived at the area around the barrier protecting the border, specifically the location where part of the spell had recently come undone and created a gap.

Rainer brought his hand close to the area.

Blenn did the same so that he could examine the situation more closely.

He could tell through the magical power of the barrier that he felt through his palm.

Just as they had reported, part of the barrier spell Rainer had recently reinforced had indeed come undone.

For now, the Barrier Department had temporarily covered the damaged section with another spell as a stopgap measure.

“We truly have no excuse. We never imagined something like this would happen…”

“Enough with the irresponsible remarks. Who was monitoring this area around the estimated time the spell was breached?”

“I-I was.”

One of the members standing beside Seiden raised his hand.

His voice trembled uncontrollably, and he could barely raise his head, staring only at the ground.

Judging by his appearance and the atmosphere surrounding him, he clearly seemed young and inexperienced.

“Interesting. You had a guard stationed here, yet this happened.”

“I-I’m truly sorry! If I may offer an excuse, there was something that needed to be checked in another area at the time. I only left my post for a moment, and during that time…”

“If you had done your job properly from the beginning, there would have been nothing to make excuses for. So why did you do something this foolish? If this is how you’re going to behave, why do you receive a salary? A salary is payment for labor, isn’t it? If you aren’t even working, why are you sitting around and taking money?”

The reprimanded member lowered his head even further.

There was no way a young member who had only recently joined could withstand words that sharp.

If he could, Blenn wanted nothing more than to clamp a hand over Rainer’s mouth.

The man had certainly made a mistake, but couldn’t Rainer at least draw the line somewhere?

Besides, there was no harm in investigating the circumstances more thoroughly before getting angry and assigning blame.

“We’ve already asked the Knights to search for any intruders who may have slipped inside.”

Just as the crease between Rainer’s brows deepened even further, the communication crystal Blenn was carrying inside his clothes began to glow.

Blenn took out the crystal and lightly tapped its surface.

A familiar voice immediately came through.

—Blenn, are you with the Deputy Minister?

“Yes.”

It was Luwen who had contacted him.

—Then could you tell the Deputy Minister that he should return immediately?

“Suddenly?”

Blenn glanced at Rainer, who was standing right beside him.

—The heads of the other departments have called an emergency meeting…

Luwen trailed off, but it was easy enough to guess what was happening.

The heads of the other departments had learned about the incident in which an intruder might have been allowed through the barrier, and they were sharpening their knives for Rainer.

They had already disliked Rainer, so they must have thought they had finally found something they could use against him.

Rainer’s work ability was second to none, and he had never once committed such a serious blunder while handling the Department of Magic’s affairs.

That was precisely why the heads of the other departments would see this as an even greater opportunity.

“All right, I understand.”

Blenn nodded.

Ever since he had first received the report of the incident, and throughout the entire time since coming here to assess the situation, there had been one thought continuously occupying his mind.

Blenn ended the communication and looked at Rainer.

“I’m not going.”

Rainer’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Not until this matter is resolved.”

“Did you not hear that the other department heads personally called an emergency meeting?”

“Are you trying to disregard my hearing?”

“I’m telling you that you need to go. If you don’t attend the meeting, the backlash against the Department of Magic over this incident will only become more severe.”

Seiden’s eyes widened as he watched Blenn speak to Rainer clearly and without the slightest hint of fear.

He was a member of the Department of Magic, and he knew exactly what kind of personality Rainer had.

How could he possibly act like that toward him?

“If we resolve this, all of that backlash can be silenced.”

“Yes. Then I’ll stay behind and resolve it.”

“…What?”

“Rainer, you go back to the imperial palace and deal with the other department heads. That’s something I can’t do.”

“You’ll resolve it yourself? You?”

“Yes.”

Rainer looked at Blenn with undisguised disbelief.

At that moment, a strong gust of wind swept through, sending Blenn’s silver hair fluttering.

“However, if I resolve this matter perfectly, then please allow me to directly assist you with your duties as well.”