Chapter 80
Those who handed dangerous, refined magic artifacts to Empress Cleo—
They were, of course, not on friendly terms with me or the Castrain family.
They were people who could create items even the Castrain family deemed “dangerous,”
and who possessed a considerable number of monster corpses—the main ingredient for such products.
That much was logical deduction.
However, there was still something I had to confirm.
The answer could be found within the Castrain family—and conveniently enough, I was surrounded by its members.
When I asked, Devi immediately said flatly:
“What? You think some petty rats who aren’t even under our supervision could make something on par with the trap used to capture Prince Brian in the Imperial Palace? No. That’s impossible.”
Ordinary civilians who didn’t know any better assumed the Castrain family owned magic stone mines and that those stones were simply mined from the ground.
But in truth, a magic stone is the core of a monster—it forms naturally within their bodies.
So then, here’s the question:
What exactly is the “magic stone mine” the Castrain family owns?
The principle was simple.
Over countless decades—centuries even—the corpses of monsters piled up again and again.
As time passed, the residual magical energy from their bodies condensed and solidified deep within the ground,
forming what we now call a “magic stone deposit.”
In other words, the Castrain family’s “mine” was originally an ancient burial ground for monster remains.
Even after removing their cores, monster corpses retained faint traces of power.
So the Castrain family carefully disposed of all carcasses in a single, controlled location.
Over time, with layer upon layer of remains, immense magical energy accumulated in the earth—
thus forming the Castrain family’s so-called magic stone mine.
A mine the Castrain family guarded with the utmost care.
They regularly inspected it to ensure no new monsters were being born, extracted the magic stones,
and strictly prohibited any living creature from approaching.
But then—where, and how, did these people find monsters harboring such powerful cores,
and use them to make those kinds of items?
“…They must’ve relied on the black market,” I murmured, narrowing my eyes.
Distribution, sales—none of it would have been official.
The Castrain family mainly managed the North, but monsters weren’t entirely absent in other regions either.
There were mercenaries who hunted weaker, lesser beasts in the South to make a living.
Even the Castrain family occasionally hired such freelance hunters.
It was impossible to catch every single one who secretly smuggled parts or cores from slain monsters.
Still, the overall quantity couldn’t have been large.
If black-market trafficking had been happening on a massive scale,
the Castrain family would have intervened long ago.
So—did they import from abroad to make up the shortage?
Unlikely. Foreign monsters were far weaker and fewer in number.
From what I’d heard, they were about as dangerous as wild rats or bats.
Too low-quality to justify smuggling for the sake of magic stones or magical energy.
Which meant two possibilities:
Either they had their own means of procuring monsters,
or they were wealthy enough to secretly buy from the black market all over the empire
(even then, consistent supply would be difficult).
So I concluded—they had a clear, deliberate purpose for doing this,
and there was someone serving as their “leader.”
Would items so dangerous they could attack Count Cortez really just be floating around randomly?
If that were the case, the Castrain family would have noticed and purged them already.
Even to my untrained eye, such artifacts couldn’t be made cheaply.
To produce them in secret, smuggle them into the Imperial Palace,
and target someone who was practically part of the family that controlled that market—
no one would do that without a grand objective.
At first, I thought I only needed to keep an eye on Prince Brian and Empress Cleo.
After all, in the original story, they were the core of the civil war.
When Prince Adrian became emperor, the war ended,
peace returned, and everyone lived happily ever after.
But lately, I wasn’t so sure.
Would simply breaking off my engagement with the Castrain family and walking away really end all this?
Was it all just coincidence—me forming a contract with that sword, using the power of light, regaining memories of a past life?
If the original story truly ended happily,
with the villainess Titania fading away and the Castrain family living peacefully ever after…
then why was I still here, living like this?
‘…Huh?’
My vision suddenly blurred.
Something flickered in front of me—an illusion, a hallucination.
I saw a hand.
Slender, well-shaped fingers—but the fingertips were a mess.
Broken nails, scratches, dirt and blood and sweat clinging together.
The sight felt strangely familiar.
The hand was gripping a sword.
The veins stood out from the pressure of the grip.
The sword—it was one I knew better than anyone else.
At the edge of the shining blade, a faint white flame shimmered like smoke—
a cold fire, giving off no heat, with just a hint of red at its tip.
A resigned voice echoed.
[It’s no use.]
…What?
[As I am now, it’s impossible.]
What do you mean?
[But it’s all right…]
The voice carried deep melancholy,
a mixture of emotions impossible to describe—so heavy it chilled my heart just to hear it.
Most of all, I felt resignation, exhaustion… and—
[‘You’ said you could set things right.]
That hope—so desperate it almost felt like hatred.
It was a strange sensation.
If this were the usual me, I’d have thought I was hallucinating from fatigue
and gone to brew a tonic.
But something inside me whispered—
This is something you must remember.
Something you need to know.
As if someone were handing me picture cards—simple truths arranged and colored,
like teaching a child words one at a time.
I froze, forgetting even to breathe—until a frantic voice snapped me out of it.
-=͟͟͞͞(๑•̀ㅁ•́ฅ✧ “Contractor! There, over there! It’s here! The thing you were waiting for!”
“Wh-what?!”
I jolted as if doused with cold water.
And when I looked to the stage, a masked host carrying a gleaming tray
was dramatically addressing the audience.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests!”
The black market where Flux had gotten into trouble had been shut down.
The one we visited tonight was said to be the largest and most secretive since its closure.
Contraband, monster by-products, slaves, rare items—everything was traded here.
The location and password changed each time, and it opened only once every month or two.
Without help from Hecate’s Tavern, it would’ve been impossible to arrange for my “sword” to appear here on time.
Officially, everyone believed that it was the sword’s power
that allowed me to defeat the monsters in the Imperial capital.
And that made sense—
after all, what other explanation was there for a frail girl who’d never wielded a blade
suddenly slaying hordes of monsters overnight?
I had even used that very sword to heal Count Flux.
I didn’t know how much information our enemies had,
but since Flux had publicly appeared healthy at the temple,
anyone who knew he had been dying of magical corruption
would have started asking questions.
How was he cured?
And these enemies—who refined and used monster by-products freely—
whether they created the beasts artificially or smuggled them from under the Castrain family’s nose,
they used monsters.
So if they were offered a chance to obtain a sword powerful enough
to let even a young girl cut through monsters with ease—
If I were them, I wouldn’t pass up that opportunity, no matter how suspicious it seemed.
Of course, it was suspicious.
Someone had stolen the princess’s treasured sword, set fire to a temple,
and then—boldly—put it up for auction on the black market?
They’d be cautious, perhaps unwilling to reveal themselves.
But they couldn’t ignore it, either.
My eyes gleamed as I focused on the stage.
