Logan seriously took the king’s reaction to heart.
“The king cannot continue to act so carelessly.”
There was still a great mountain to climb; a crisis that would demand the full mobilization of the kingdom’s resources and utmost effort.
As that moment approached, internal strife couldn’t be allowed to drag on.
“We must find the culprits who are causing mischief.”
His determination, however, met a wall from the beginning.
“The royal archmage of the tower, Chayson, says he can’t find any traces.”
“Chayson?”
“A wizard of the 5th class. If he can’t track them, it means magic can’t be used to follow their trail.”
While ring-magic users might surpass him in elemental or combat magic, the utility of class-based magic cannot simply be compared to circle magic.A 5th class wizard had a combat capability not inferior to a 6th-circle mage, especially in non-combat aspects.
If he couldn’t find them, then they couldn’t be found.
“Our Esperanza trackers and the royal inspectors couldn’t find them either. That’s why we suspect an inside job even more.”
In other words, there were absolutely no clues.
Checkpoints set up near the capital had become ceremonial at best.
Without any concrete evidence to identify the culprit, search parties could only arrest those who seemed suspicious.
This led to the arrest of numerous unrelated wanted criminals.
‘Sigh, this is frustrating.’
Hoping a genius he knew could relieve his stifling emotions, Logan connected communication to his domain.
But then…
[What? Why would you ask me that?]
“…What?”
[I’m grateful you trust me with such confidential information… but why are you asking me for ideas on how to capture the assailants who attacked the palace?]
Damian’s confusion was unmistakable in his expression.
[Am I… an administrative officer because I wrote a good poem… Did they leave behind a poem or something?]
“Ah…”
Right. That was it.
At this point, Damian Nadal was merely an administrator taken in after his family’s downfall.
‘Maybe in a life where I didn’t intervene, he awakened some talent through a special experience?’
Then, it meant he had made grandiose and futile efforts under the false pretense of securing talents.
A sudden headache hit him.
Despite his resolution to be more careful, he had blindly generalized information from his previous life.
Perhaps because recent events had been going well, he had subconsciously become careless, thinking that leaving it up to Damian wouldn’t be a problem.
A sigh escaped him naturally.
This meant he had to start from scratch with his plans for an information network.
While reproaching himself internally, Damian mentioned something intriguing.
[There wasn’t a poem, I guess. But if you want to hear my opinion, may I share my thoughts?]
“Do you have a solution?!”
[Well, it’s more of an idea than a solution, as I’ve said, I don’t know much about this kind of thing…]
The fleeting hope in Logan dropped just as quickly again.
But Logan, desperate to cling onto a straw, encouraged him.
“Any good ideas, let’s hear them.”
[Alright. First, let’s get the premise straight. Assuming what I’ve heard is true…]
“It’s true.”
[If so, perhaps they never intended to kill the king in the first place.]
“What?”
[Historically, assassination attempts on a monarch have typically been desperate. Everything changes based on the outcome’s success or failure. If they really attempted to kill His Majesty and failed, they wouldn’t be able to clean up after themselves so neatly. Unless they had meticulously planned for failure…]
“Ah…!!”
The sudden realization hit Logan like the back of his head had been struck.
Damian had precisely pinpointed Logan’s lingering discomfort about the unclear attack.
“Then they were…?”
[If an event happens for an inexplicable reason, it’s likely that the culprit is someone who benefits from it. But given the situation, no one appears to benefit, so it seems correct to assume the event was aimed at someone who would suffer from it.]
“…Me?”
[Yes? What do you mean…?]
Logan sighed and explained through the communication orb.
“I was pointed out as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt. Of course, I saw no reason for it, but His Majesty seems to have other ideas.”
[A powerful subject stronger than the king. They must have been aiming for conflict between you and the king. That explains it.]
“So what do you think?”
[Me?]
Damian, who seemed confused once again, was met with continuous questioning from Logan.
“What should I do now? Is there a way to catch them?”
[Uh… but you said magical tracking wouldn’t work, so what could I…]
“If you were in charge and giving orders to those people, how would you have escaped? Think like that! You’re an expert in that field… well, you have the talent to be one.”
Logan was referring to Damian’s past self, who had kept the Gradias Liberation Front fighting against the powerful empire for over 30 years.
‘You would have all run away. But please, if you have any way to catch them, tell me!’
As Logan looked at the communication orb with intensity, Damian hummed thoughtfully.
[If it were me?]
After a short pause, Damian gave an unexpected answer.
[I wouldn’t run.]
“What?”
[Why bother? If no one saw your face and magical tracking isn’t working, why move at all? If they were just masked and not recognized, it’s simple.]
“Ah…”
[From their perspective, the capital’s surrounding area is effectively under siege. They’ll certainly be confident they left no evidence, but since you can never be too careful, they wouldn’t move hastily.]
“So then…”
[Yes. If they’re still near the capital, the most likely place would be the slums outside the outer city.]
Damian continued his reasoning, and Logan was taken aback.
“The slums, you say?”
[A disregarded area not even accounted for in population records. Especially with a man with a missing right arm, it’s easy to hide there among the common. Laying low there until everything calms down, they could leave without being noticed.]
Logan considered the likelihood that those who left no trace at the royal palace could hide in the slums.
[It’s just a thought. Surely you can’t be taking my words too seriously, right?]
“No, it might be worth investigating.”
[But I’ve heard tales of the capital’s slums. If people decide to hide there, especially those with no known name or appearance, who could possibly find them?]
“People who can find them.”
The streetwise and worldly inexperienced Damian wouldn’t know of such people.
Logan immediately sought out Nox.
The information guild in those very slums.
“A list of one-armed newcomers surrounding that day…?”
“Yes.”
Upon Logan’s firm reply, the middle-aged man, smiling at receiving a high-profile visitor, had a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Your Excellence, we’d like to resolve your request by any means, but even we can’t grasp everything about the slums.”
“One of them would have no right arm.”
“One-armed beggars aren’t rare in the slums…”
“Is it not possible?”
Clink.
The heavy pouch of gold that Logan placed down caught the middle-aged man’s attention, causing him to quickly respond.
“No, no. With some time, we could certainly do that.”
Nobody doing business in the Gradias Kingdom could afford to upset Logan McClain, not to mention there was promised compensation, so he had no choice but to accept.
“Our branch will mobilize all its members to find them. Just give us a day.”
“It’ll be troublesome if they flee at the slightest sign.”
“That will never happen.”
The middle-aged man stated confidently, and soon enough, his words bore fruit.
– We’ve checked all the one-armed individuals who’ve arrived around that date. They seem to be simple vagrants, no force users. Is that okay?
– Oh, thank you. The results from your last request will also be delivered soon. Yes? The five individuals you asked for previously by name and appearance. We’ve found traces of three more of them.
‘…Unaffiliated superhumans.’
Pushing aside the information about a request he had forgotten for a while, it was time to focus on finding would-be assassins.
Logan reviewed the information provided by Nox and slowly began to walk.
According to Nox, there were three one-armed individuals, all with missing right arms.
Mobilizing the military was considered, but if knights or soldiers swarmed in, the slums would turn into chaos, making it impossible to catch them.
Therefore, Logan donned an old robe and walked through the slums’ dimming alleys at dusk.
Two had already been checked; they were just vagrant veterans.
If this last one was a miss, then they had likely fled early.
That would mean Logan’s chance of catching them was gone.
With a heavy heart, Logan noticed three beggars scattered in a corner of a roofless ruin.
At first glance, they seemed like any other begging vagrants.
But to Logan’s eyes, they appeared differently.
‘I’ve found them!’
All three were force users, hiding their superior force through some special means.
Knowledgeable as Nox was, if force users of high caliber used magic to conceal their force, they’d go unnoticed unless someone like Logan, an exception, saw them up close, or unless a mage cast a dedicated detection spell right on them.
‘Damian, this guy… No doubt about it.’
His past life’s “Evil Brain” was showing definite talent even now.
The satisfaction of locating his enemies and the confidence in his subordinates brought a smile to Logan’s face.
Unflinching, with the peace of the slum alley, Logan’s step was steady as he approached the beggars.
“If only… you could spare a coin…”
Their hands wrapped in rags as if they couldn’t even cover their own skin, but Logan would bet anything that a thick callus covered the hands they hid.
Above all, laid there as if unable to muster the strength to beg, one had no right arm.
A wound inflicted by Louis on the gang’s leader.
Logan smiled within, pulling gold coins from his pocket.
“Tsk. Here, take this.”
The beggars stopped reaching out as the gold in his hand gleamed unexpectedly.
In the next instant, the thrown coins didn’t reach their hands but buried deeply into their midsection.
Pffft.
“Ughh.”
“Kek!”
Only the one-armed stood, narrowly avoiding the coins.
“It’s an enemy!”
Without a thought of resistance, he leaped onto the roofs of the ruins to flee.
Yet, despite his speed, Logan was already behind him.
Slash.
“Argh!”
A swift sword swing severed his remaining arm.
Logan grinned triumphantly.
“Got you, scum.”
But then…
“Huh. Don’t make me laugh…”
Trembling.
Thump.
As the one-armed, now no-armed man’s face turned black with a weak laugh, Logan couldn’t help but contort his expression.
“This is madness…!”
Thud.
Trying to grab him, Logan was hit with a stinging sensation from the blood spat on his hand.
A vile sensation he had only felt a few times toward the end of his past life.
Poison.
“Damn it!”
The golden force he exhaled furiously pushed back the poison seeping into his hand.
Looking hurriedly around…
“Curse this…”
The remaining two, gasping on the ground, were already biting their tongues, turning blisteringly black.
“…I’m going to lose my mind.”
That day, Logan’s only gain was three poisoned corpses.
The trail of the would-be assassins was permanently severed.