Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 46.1
Chapter 46.1
Edgar assumed that Christine had come here to investigate the chimeras.
She must have been struggling to figure out how to get more chimera’s tears and how to use those jewels to make her body feel better.
It was not surprising, but quite interesting, that she also showed interest in the members of the Richard family.
Decius continued his report while Edgar stared at the book Christine had touched.
“It seems she touched that book when she first broke in here with Ein. Maybe she wanted to know more about you, Edgar?”
“…”
Edgar glanced at Decius, who was giving a romantic meaning to the fact that this was the first book Christine had touched. Neither he nor Isaac had any idea why he was doing things he never did when it came to Christine.
Edgar opened the cover of the book with an indifferent face. Listed in order on each page, there were the heads of the family who treated the chimeras like objects to utilize the family’s abilities in many fields.
There was also a portrait of his father, a man he would never understand even in death. Even though it was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time, he didn’t feel affectionate at all.
After that, there was his own portrait and his date of birth and death. His face didn’t change a lot when he was growing up, so if Christine had read this book, she would have found out about his past.
But should he say she was rather fearless and bold to pretend she didn’t know?
Since she was planning to leave anyway in line with the date of the train ticket she had bought, maybe his identity didn’t matter. Or maybe she was pretending not to know anything while she was here, so that she could try to make money by selling this information after leaving the Black Forest.
“…”
Edgar once again felt annoyed for no reason and put down the book he was holding.
Decius swallowed dry. His master didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
“Well… Edgar?”
“What is it?”
“There must be a reason why Christine came here once more. I’m wondering if it’s because of what Toma said when she was talking with the children.”
“What did he say?”
“Toma heard from the elderly chimera lady, with whom he had spent his childhood, that the chimeras’ mana caused suffering to mages, and he told that story to Christine.”
“…”
“He told her a chimera’s mana tangles up a mage’s mana flow.”
The reason Decius knew about Toma and Christine’s conversation was simple. He found the young chimeras, including Toma, gathered in one place while having a serious discussion about why Christine had suddenly collapsed, so he sneaked up on them and eavesdropped.
At that moment, Toma was talking about how Christine might be sick because of the chimeras’ mana, so Decius was able to organize his thoughts.
“Since Christine touched the book containing personal information about the chimeras, I thought she might have sneaked back here after hearing Toma’s story.”
Decius had a point, so Edgar opened the book he was referring to. There was only one elderly chimera lady found with Toma.
“The chimera named Ebony must have told him that.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, too. Judging from the details written down, the chimera named Ebony sometimes spoke in the capital’s dialect. However,” Decius held out the folder he was holding to Edgar and continued, “These are the records discovered at the chimera research laboratory of the Blue Hammer Guild you went to last time.”
“…”
Edgar opened the cover of the folder with cold eyes.
It consisted of several documents that were almost illegible because of the mold and ink smudges that resulted from the storage method. However, some of the letters were still clear enough to understand what the documents were about.
A map depicting the topography of the capital and its suburbs.
The titles of chimeras and symbols of mages.
And… a blueprint of an iron cage that appears to be intended to imprison the chimeras.
The discovery of these documents in the laboratory of the Blue Hammer Guild raised one suspicion.
“There are people studying and trapping chimeras near the capital, and the Blue Hammer Guild secretly contacted them to smuggle young chimeras.”
And it seemed that those who were messing around with the chimeras in the capital had also laid their hands on the mages.
‘If the chimera’s mana is blocking the mage’s mana flow… I wonder if they injected them with blood.’
The blood that flowed through the chimeras’ bodies contained Richard’s strong power. Mages who were naturally sensitive to this ability might react differently to that power than normal humans.
If the curse suffered by Christine and her mother stemmed from an experiment using chimeras, then investigating the two would soon lead to the pursuit of those who were secretly studying chimeras in the capital.
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