Chapter 731
Alistair: Beat Them All Up!
“A daily wrath…”
Alistair fell into thought. “This sounds quite like something a Child of the Moon would do. ‘Wrath belongs to the domain of ‘Sin and Punishment,’ but also to the domain of blood. I believe it should be built upon abilities from the Path of Love or the Transcendent Path—either a curse or a ritual.”
“And this is where the problem lies, Miss Alistair.”
Prince Xiardo’s expression turned serious. He picked up the black tea in front of him and placed it to his left. “If it’s a curse, then this chaotic wrath itself is their objective. But if it’s a ritual…”
He then placed three sugar cubes into an empty cup on his right.
Just as he was about to pour the black tea from his left into the empty cup, Alistair reached out her teacup and poured her own, half-drunk black tea into it, causing the sugar cubes to float and gradually dissolve. She then flipped the now-empty teacup upside down, covering the other teacup, leaving him with nothing but two inverted cups.
Xiardo frowned slightly and looked down at Alistair.
Alistair, however, continued as if nothing had happened, “Then it means this is merely a ‘means to an end.’ They want to achieve other purposes with it… right?”
“…Yes.”
Prince Xiardo nodded. “So I’m not afraid of it being a curse; I’m afraid of it being a ritual I can’t identify… because if it’s the latter, it means the chaos they want to stir up is even greater than this.”
As he spoke, he looked down at the teacup hidden beneath the inverted one, his brow furrowed in thought.
What could be Miss Alistair’s intention for doing something like this all of a sudden…
“You mean,” he attempted to guess the young Child of the Moon’s hint, “it’s some kind of hidden conspiracy? We can’t see its truth because it’s all covered by another ritual?”
“You’re quite a good guesser.”
Alistair sneered and stood up. She tilted her head slightly, looking back at Prince Xiardo and the inauspiciously named astrologer beside him. “I mean, stop drinking tea here—got you covered, lest your butt gets stuck to this chair.”
Hearing her words, Fenrir gave a dry laugh. “Miss Alistair, aren’t your words a bit…”
…crude?
He didn’t say the latter half, but Alistair clearly understood. She merely sneered, “If you think politeness can solve problems, you can also invite the ladies from the ball to dance for His Highness. You invited me to kill people—I hope you’re aware of that. Or is it…”
Alistair looked at Prince Xiardo. “You don’t think the current problems in Leipzig can be solved without killing, do you?”
“…Prepare the carriage,” Prince Xiardo said decisively after a brief silence. “We’re returning to the White Dove Opera House.”
“—Now, Your Highness?”
Fenrir was surprised. “But it’s too late! According to the star charts, if we go back now, we definitely won’t make it in time for anything…”
“Ha, forget your star charts!” Alistair laughed wildly, her body tilted as if slightly tipsy from drinking black tea. “In front of me, those things are useless. I said something’s wrong over there—it’s going to be wrong now.”
“Uh… alright.” Fenrir seemed somewhat helpless, but he clearly knew his place as a subordinate. Seeing Prince Xiardo’s firm attitude, he immediately took action.
Prince Xiardo turned to Alistair and asked, “Is it a Child of the Moon’s intuition? Or is there some evidence?”
—There wasn’t any evidence, Alistair thought.
Mainly, according to convention, whenever she approached such special events, she would always encounter trouble drawn to her… It was like how a famous detective always encountered cases when they went out… Although her own issues seemed to be due to some “heavy karma,” the manifestation was the same.
Even though Alistair couldn’t directly pick one out of three and choose the person with an alibi… she could at least be sure that if trouble of this magnitude appeared in Leipzig, she definitely wouldn’t be able to escape it. It would eventually come for her. She absolutely didn’t believe that just because she didn’t go in to listen to the opera and was instead taken away by the prince, things would end there—not to mention, Honey Badger was someone she brought with her, so if she got into trouble, it would be the same.
Although Alistair had the incredibly real fake identity of “Alistair Crowley,” Honey Badger’s identity was completely fabricated. If it really came down to an interrogation about identities, she, the Master Assassin, could at worst just go on a rampage and kill her way out. But that would inevitably cause trouble for Eagle Eye and further damage the reputation of the Eagle Eye organization… After all, the residual Path Power of the Fifth Tier was too clear, and Star Antinomy had plenty of astrologers.
—Please don’t find me, otherwise I’ll have to kill you all for a perfect stealth.
“I picked the wrong name.” Thinking this, Alistair sighed. “What a pity.”
She shouldn’t have named herself Ezio; she should have named herself Connor.
“…What?”
Prince Xiardo wasn’t sure if he was being ignored and not answered, or if this was Alistair’s actual answer. He felt a little confused.
“You people, you’re just too fixated on logic.”
Forcefully pulling Selene, who seemed to be resisting due to carsickness, back into the car, Alistair sighed and took out the compact mirror from her chest.
With a flash of the mirror, Alistair once again transformed back into Madam Beyad. Her young voice instantly became hoarse and quite magnetic. “Is this a common problem for you Alchemists? Or is it the fate of a Balancer… I have an older sister who had this same problem—Balancers are used to analyzing the world with reason, and their thinking tends to become rigid because of it.”
“…Rigid?”
Prince Xiardo murmured, repeating the word. However, he clearly cared a lot about Alchemy, so he subconsciously retorted, “If we assume that by analyzing the world, we can eventually arrive at a ‘Grand Formula’ that explains everything, then there shouldn’t be any problems.”
“…So you’re an Alchemist of the ‘Grand Formula’ faction. That’s quite rare.” Alistair chuckled.
The ‘Grand Formula’ faction, also known as “Balancers closest to the Path of Wisdom.” Their balancing acts were also for the sake of analysis, and analysis was for application, but they sought a “universal solution,” an “ultimate answer that could explain all problems.” This could also be understood as the “Truth” pursued by the Path of Wisdom. Even when compared to Star Antinomy Alchemists… this was a rare faction among Alchemists.
“I also studied Star Antinomy Alchemy for a while,” Prince Xiardo refuted. “At least I still believe in the Star Antinomy Path.”
“Really? The Star Antinomy Path is a Transcendent Path… If you truly understood the Star Antinomy Path, you wouldn’t be feeling confused right now.” Alistair leaned back in the rear seat, pulling Selene over and tucking her head into her chest.
“…What?”
Prince Xiardo in the front seat turned around, utterly bewildered. He felt like Miss Alistair was a complete enigma, speaking in riddles. However, he didn’t know that… in Alistair’s view, every word she spoke could be understood literally.
“It’s simple,” Alistair said casually. “You don’t need to worry about whether it’s a curse or a ritual, nor do you need to try and break it—they’re in the dark, you’re in the light; they set a trap, you dismantle it. Where does it end?”
“You mean…”
“—Just go confront them directly.” Alistair replied. “Rituals belong to the Transcendent Path. Transcendent beings of Star Antinomy are basically Demon Scholars. Curses are half Transcendent Path and half Path of Love… the former are Demon Scholars and Curse Weavers, while the latter are Witches and Children of the Moon.”
“…So who should we go after?”
Unconsciously, Prince Xiardo had fallen into a subordinate position. But there was no helping it… Alistair’s thoughts moved too quickly. He was still pondering the current trouble, its form, and how it originated, while Miss Alistair was already gearing up for a fight. —Yet he didn’t even know who Miss Alistair wanted to beat up.
“Does this even need asking? Or do you know the answer but are deliberately not saying it?” Alistair smiled joyfully. “Of course, it’s the Demon Scholars.”
“Why them?”
“Of course, it might not be. Because I’m not entirely sure.”
“…And if it’s not them? As you said, other forces are also possible… aren’t they?”
“—Then beat them all up.” Alistair answered simply. “Go down the list in order of highest threat and suspicion, and beat them one by one. If you’re lucky, it’ll be over after the first round; if you’re unlucky, then the real culprit is just sinister and cunning, what does that have to do with you?”
“But…”
“Think about it carefully, my dear Prince.” Alistair narrowed her blood-red eyes with pleasure, her voice as seductive as a succubus’s. “Let me give you an example… In Leipzig, a cunning suspect makes ample misdirection to lure the police into suspecting others… and in the end, the suspect is discovered by the police a moment too late and is successfully apprehended or killed. In such a situation, even if the person wrongly arrested earlier complains, will the police bear the primary responsibility for their premature action?”
“…Uh, I don’t know the law that well. But they should bear some responsibility…” Prince Xiardo sweated profusely.
“However,” Alistair added, “if it wasn’t an ordinary police officer, but an official from the police department? Or… I remember that within the Leipzig police department, there’s a special department responsible for supernatural cases, right? What if this wasn’t due to the suspect’s cunning, but because they used an Extraordinary Ability—and the one who was misled was a big shot, would people demand accountability from them?”
“…Hmm, I’m afraid at most there would be some outcry.” Prince Xiardo thought for a while before giving his answer. “But in the long run, people should be grateful for this big shot’s decisiveness. They helped end the crisis as quickly as possible. I understand, you mean…”
“—You just want to save Leipzig, and at most your methods are a bit extreme… but the ultimate goal is to resolve this incident as quickly as possible. So who can blame you? Compared to any official, aren’t you, a Prince, of higher standing?”
Alistair chuckled and murmured, her seductive words filling the cramped car with a faint aroma. Like a pink spider web, they deeply ensnared Prince Xiardo’s heart.
…Yes.
He couldn’t help but begin to question himself. —He had always believed that his current achievements were due to his ascetic practice and determination. But if he wasn’t born a “Valentine”… even if he had the same ascetic practice and determination, could he have so easily reached the Fourth Tier now? Would his mentor still be the President of the Royal Alchemical Association? Would he still have the opportunity to access an inexhaustible supply of Alchemy books?
The answer was clearly no. He believed he understood Star Antinomy Alchemy—however, Star Antinomy Alchemy was the ultimate study for mortals to shed their mortal shells step by step and ascend to godhood. Transcending one’s race, transcending the limits of matter, transcending the soul and destiny… that was indeed a transcendent act. But he was merely following his father’s and mentor’s orders to study, mastering the corresponding techniques. Could this truly be considered understanding the Star Antinomy Path?
“…Then what should we do?”
In his confusion, Prince Xiardo began to seek Alistair’s help.
Alistair chuckled. “First, let’s go check if the opera house has had an incident. If it has… then first see which Demon Scholars are present. If there’s no incident… we’ll go attack them directly. My intuition tells me that there must be someone involved in this conspiracy within the Demon Scholars’ gathering place.”
“What if there isn’t?” Prince Xiardo asked subconsciously, but quickly understood. “Then we go beat up the next one!”
“Very good, you’re learning quickly.” Alistair’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.
(End of Chapter)
