Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Of course Rose was an agent of the Golden Raven Company, but that didn’t mean she had arrest powers or independent investigative authority.

However, regular Mythosi rarely knew those details; just the name Golden Raven Company alone worked like a magic word on them.

Mr. Brown, who had been loudly scolding them just moments earlier, now trembled and sank heavily onto the sofa.

“I—I only did it because I couldn’t stand seeing the ley lines disturbed.”

Ley lines?

Is he talking about the ley lines I think he is?

Rose was startled by his confession. It made sense, though; these days, almost no Mythos paid any attention to ley lines at all.

For those with earth-element magic, ley lines—the currents of natural magical energy running through the land—were once an extremely important factor.

But to put it another way, it was like insisting on spinning your own cloth and sewing your own clothes when you could just buy something ready-made. It was a good tradition, but inefficient; hardly anyone bothered with it anymore.

“I couldn’t just let the flow of the ley lines be disrupted. I filed complaints with the authorities and the company again and again, but it was all useless. That’s why I did it.”

“That might explain why, but what you did was far too dangerous. It could have caused a major accident with casualties.”

Rose rubbed her forehead, pointing out that his actions had gone far beyond mere protest.

“Mythosi can’t forget that we rely on Logosi technology to live. And if even one component of that technology is missing, it can lead to disaster.”

He didn’t reply.

“Stealing crossing gates, tearing up tracks, dropping giant boulders—that’s no different from attempted murder.”

When Rose used the words attempted murder, she saw Mr. Brown’s gnarled hand shaking where it clutched his cane.

Good. With this much of a warning, he shouldn’t try anything on the Ashville line again.

Rose and James only planned to make sure they got his promise to stop causing trouble before leaving quietly to reboard the train.

Of course, the proper thing would have been to document everything thoroughly and hand it off to their senior agents in the Golden Raven Company.

But now isn’t the time to waste on formalities.

After all, Rose and James had boarded the train to escape the eyes of Ouroboros’s priesthood.

If they contacted other Golden Raven agents here, their location would almost certainly be revealed immediately.

So today, all they could do was issue a firm warning.

Just as Rose was about to wrap things up that way—

“I’m sorry. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.”

“Iris!”

The granddaughter who’d been anxiously wringing her hands behind Mr. Brown finally stepped forward to face Rose and James.

“He did it to protect the ley lines for my sake. Please, I beg you, show mercy. It’s my fault.”

Seeing the old man’s granddaughter crying and blaming herself was completely outside Rose’s expectations.

While Rose struggled to find the right words, startled by those tears, James—who had been silent at her side the whole time—finally spoke.

“Is this related to Miss Iris’s magic?”

No sooner had James finished the question than Mr. Brown sprang up and wrapped an arm protectively around Iris.

“There’s nothing wrong with my granddaughter!”

His voice was desperate.

“Grandpa, please, stop.”

“What does she matter? We’re talking about my actions here, aren’t we?”

He turned back toward Rose and James and sank to his knees, bowing his head.

“It was me. I moved the boulder onto the tracks. I stole the crossing gates and tore up the rails. It was all me.”

He sounded like a man resigned to execution as he continued in a grim voice.

“I was just furious at fools defiling the ley lines. Iris has nothing to do with it.”

A Mythos who clung so stubbornly to the ley lines that he refused to move away from this place.

A granddaughter who insisted it was her fault, and a grandfather who rushed to shield her.

Wait. James said it himself: the magic he sensed in this house was the same as Mr. Brown’s!

Why couldn’t Rose sense any sign of Iris’s own Mythos magic?

Suddenly, a theory flickered through Rose’s mind.

“Miss Iris. Don’t tell me… is your magic sealed?”

By the time the two of them returned to the train, it was nearly ready to depart.

Rose stepped into the compartment and collapsed onto a seat without a word, staring at nothing in silence until the train lurched forward.

“Rose. You look exhausted.”

“Mm. I just have too much on my mind.”

“Such as?”

“Like… whether all of this today was something Ouroboros planned.”

She shrugged slightly as she answered.

“Not that I plan on moving exactly the way they want me to, even if they did set it up.”

They’d set out at dawn, encountered an accident along the way, gone to confront the culprit, and in the process uncovered a shocking secret.

Who would have thought there was a string of Mythos kidnappings fifteen years ago?

Honestly, Rose hadn’t even heard of it before, so she’d been completely caught off guard.

I suppose I wouldn’t remember; I was only seven at the time…

She’d learned that the victims had all been returned safely to their families after a few days—but in a state where their magic had been sealed.

Iris was one of those victims.

A sealed magic meant no new magic could be generated or spent, and therefore no spells could be cast—a state both hard to diagnose and notoriously difficult to cure.

“There were rumors among the victims’ group once. That in environments with enhanced elemental energy, symptoms could improve. Supposedly there was a record about it in Egard Monastery’s restricted archives.”

Mr. Brown had moved to Ashville specifically for its active ley lines, trying to create an environment matching his granddaughter’s elemental needs to help her recover.

Then the railway had suddenly been built, disrupting the ley lines, and he’d gone from a stubborn complainant to someone actively sabotaging the tracks.

“Of course it’s too tidy a story to call it pure coincidence, but if it is true, it also means Ouroboros is revealing more of their own cards than they realize.”

James loosened his tie, sounding frustrated.

“Anyway, get some rest, Rose. You look awful.”

At his gentle urging, Rose rose unsteadily and shuffled toward the sleeping compartment.

She desperately wanted a hot bath, yet part of her wanted to just fall onto the bed as she was.

In the end, the latter impulse won out. She collapsed onto the mattress without even pulling the blanket over herself.

Her body screamed at her to sleep, but her mind was whirring at full speed, leaving her wide awake.

Fifteen years ago—that was the same time James had been kidnapped.

Can that really be a coincidence?

James had survived a baffling abduction where no ransom was even demanded. And now he was looking for a Mythos girl who’d been taken with him.

When you added it all up, it was obvious James had been caught up in that same series of Mythos kidnappings.

When we get to the Egard villa, I’ll write to Iris and ask for the victims’ group roster.

Yeah. Let’s think of it as luck.

If she’s on that list, then at least one of my contracts with James will be fulfilled.

She should have felt relieved. Instead, a tightness twisted in her chest.

Why?

A dull ache of disappointment and resentment followed close behind.

Surprised by the intensity of it, Rose found herself clenching the sheets in her fists.

While she wrestled with those tangled emotions, she heard someone moving behind her.

“Are you really planning to sleep like that without even changing?”

“Ah—no. Not at all. I was just lying down for a second.”

Rose sat up quickly, flustered.

As she smoothed down her tousled hair, she noticed that James’s own appearance was unusually relaxed.

He’d discarded his waistcoat and tie; the collar of his shirt was undone, showing the hint of his collarbone.

The memory of that night they’d spent together came rushing back, making her curse inwardly at her own brain.

“So. Will you be using the bath first? Or shall I?”

“Uh—go ahead. You first.”

She surrendered the bathroom without hesitation. She still had a mountain of things to think through and too many questions she needed to get onto paper before she forgot them.

As she rose from the bed to do just that, James spoke up again.

“By the way, Rose. Do you have a preference about which side of the bed you want? Near the window, or the corridor? Or should I ask left or right?”