Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume1 Phase2 (section)

===Part 2===

Back in Fire Castle Town Flared, the knights who maintained order in the city were walking through the night. They wore dark gray armor that was a combination of monster tendon and leather to increase various athletic abilities plus protectors of oxidized mana-conducting silver that were tempered to make it harder even if that reduced versatility. The area around their vitals was packed with soundproofing material since the range of magic was determined by the range of its gunshot noise. The armor was then colored to match the environmentally-destructive material known as asphalt that had been banned from use during the initial experiments at the Academy Towers, which had been erected by the combined royal families of the Selected Kingdoms that ruled an entire continent. That coloration was meant to symbolize their ability to slay the natural threat of demons along with the very scenery around them. Even without the large sorcery guns at their hips or backs, their very presence symbolized enough military might to overwhelm the ordinary people.

One person among them, Henrietta Split Destrius, stepped into an empty inn room. Her colleagues stopped searching the room to exchange a greeting with her.

She alone was different from the others. She had the same asphalt color, but her protector-based armor was not the latest version available. She intentionally wore an older model. That was less practical, but the design was popular with the people. Her head was exposed since she did not wear a helmet, her curved breastplate showed off her feminine bodylines, and she wore a short tight skirt around her hips. It may have been a modification of a ponytail, but her beautiful blonde hair was braided down to her hips. Combined with the armor she had chosen, she had the perfected beauty of a sculpture decorating a royal palace.

Below the moonlit starry sky, a young male colleague approached and spoke to her.

“Thank you for working so late, Striker Destrius.”

“Same to you, Soldier Shadelose.”

Their fixation on specific titles may have been a sign of the emphasis on social status and honor in their lives.

Sky City Celedileka currently had 160 heads of families given the title of knight, but since that was not enough for law enforcement or military action, Celedileka Government Security hired a set number of ordinary guards to bolster their numbers. Those guards could be promoted to knight if they performed well enough, so there was a path to that status beyond family inheritance.

Those adherents of chivalry stepped into the inn and arrived at the room in question.

“We have searched the room, but we did not find anything. The room was rented out using the suspect’s name, but a messenger was apparently used to check in and deliver the luggage. There is no sign that they ever touched the Media Summoner over there.”

The young man pointed his thumb toward the wall once they stepped in.

The clear sphere there remained silent. That sorcery tool was filled with a special liquid and thin metal leaf. By contacting the mist mana lines running through the city like a spider web, the metal leaf in the liquid would reflect the mana to produce light and the leaf itself would vibrate to produce sound. The combination of the two would produce the desired video or music. It functioned like existing televisions and radios and it could also perform simple data searches. Simply put, it was the bane of newspaper companies. There were also thin models meant for use as outdoor signs and boxy aquarium-like models, but the spherical ones were most popular. The cables and tubes connected to the sphere made it look like some kind of odd lab equipment, but rumors had it the size of your Media Summoner was a sign of your family’s wealth.

“The suspects are supposed to be a teenage boy and girl, so there is no way they wouldn’t have touched that even once if they were staying here.”

“I see.”

They had already checked the records, but Henrietta still reached out a hand to start up the crystal container and confirmed that there was nothing in the usage history. As she watched a religious ad (“Gain a healthy life through coexistence with magic – The Forturiana Church”), the young man said more.

“That is unfortunate. If we could have retrieved even a single hair, we could have used some kind of curse. Even if it didn’t affect them, we might have been able to detect their location through the path it took or where it was deflected. Have you heard the rumors of the Curse Master living on the lower levels of Silphine? She’s apparently some gloomy girl wearing nothing but a cape, but they say her power is the real deal.”

“Soldier Shadelose.”

“My apologies. That was a very unchivalrous thing to say, wasn’t it?”

“The Temple Moving Ceremony will take the form of a trial given to the Forturiana Church by the king. So I have heard there are Priests from other sects watching in secret and plotting to trip them up just before they become the official state church. So be careful about what you say.”

“Again, my apologies. How were things at the house collapse site?”

“Exactly as the initial reports said. Not a trace of them remained. The Zootoxin Mk. IIIs and the trained tracker dogs will likely find nothing. This fire town makes these things difficult.”

“Do you think they have already moved to a different town?”

“With the increased alert level, I doubt they would be stupid enough to try to board one of the flights leading out of the sky city. That means their most likely plan will be to cross the increased security lines of the fire town to move elsewhere and wait for the heat to die down before boarding one of those flights out of the city.”

“From here, that would mean wind or earth.”

“If we had found a dogeared guidebook or pamphlet, we would have had more to go on in our search, but I suppose it won’t be that easy.”

Henrietta lightly swung her long blonde braid as she looked to one corner of the room where some tightly locked travel bags sat. Four or five knights in armor colored like forbidden asphalt were crouched around them, but it was obvious at a glance they had yet to successfully unlock any of them.

“If it is absolutely necessary, we could always break the bags open.”

“No, those are important pieces of evidence, so treat them with care. Not everything is permissible in the name of law enforcement. When wielding our authority, we must never forget we are only borrowing it from the king.”

That beautiful Striker, who chose to wear the older style of armor that was more popular with the people, must not have expected much from anything other than the travel bags. As soon as she realized that too would turn up nothing, she turned around and left the room. She gave a light wave to the harmless lodgers who were opening the doors to their rooms to see what was going on, and Soldier Shadelose unnecessarily followed after her.

“Do you have an idea where the suspects have gone? Already?”

“There are no absolute right answers when tracking someone because the answer is affected by so many factors, such as their personality, their mood, their current funds on hand, and whether or not they have any help. Even the weather can change the answer, so your best bet is to try to put yourself in their shoes in the circumstances at hand.”

“I-I see.”

“This is an unchivalrous thought experiment, Soldier Shadelose, but if you were on the run from the law, where would you want to go to feel safe?”

“U-um, do you promise not to laugh at me for being a coward? In my case, I would probably head deep in the mountains far removed from human society or maybe a remote island nowhere near any major cities.”

“That would be an option, of course, but did you see the suspects’ travel bags? They have very urban tastes. Also, there was a focus on design without any real waterproofing. They are not the outdoorsy type, so they would likely find it safest to blend into the crowds of the city.”

“I see…”

Shadelose said that almost on reflex, but the look on his face said he did not actually see. He must have had trouble deciding whether that was a logical analysis or an example of “searcher’s instincts” that were borderline groundless assumptions.

After descending the stairs to the small reception lobby, Henrietta’s showy, old-style armor drew people’s eye and put them at ease in a way the armor covered in ugly, dark-gray protectors did not. The inn’s owner was worried about having the inn searched so suddenly, but their face lit up just like the other lodgers such as a Maid Trainee and a Bard.

She lightly clapped her hands to gather everyone’s attention and then spoke in a clear voice.

“Attention, everyone! If you recognize the boy on this poster, please contact us. The reward for arresting him is no higher than the reward for simply providing information, and he is an extremely dangerous individual who belongs to the evil side of the Light-Dark Duality, so please do not consider doing this yourself. Please allow us knights to keep the peace here in Fire Castle Town Flared and Sky City Celedileka as a whole!”

The people excitedly gathered around.

People handing out fliers on the street corner were despised, but things were different when she did it. Shadelose quickly pulled out the wanted posters and they were snatched away so quickly you would think they were blank checks.

“Nhh.”

Henrietta left the inn first since her role was complete and stretched her arms up over her head.

Finally, a frazzled-looking Shadelose stepped out.

“H-handing out wanted posters isn’t going to help at this point. I mean, the suspects never even set foot in this inn, right?”

“That is not what matters. We must ensure the people see the knights as a reliable presence, Soldier Shadelose. Have you heard of Liquid Flora, which is commonly known as the Holy Spring City?”

“Yes, that crime-ridden city-state that rapidly transformed into a slum recently.”

“There were a number of reasons for that, but the largest factor was how their management force was so talkative it became known that the criminal organizations would immediately learn of anyone who reported a crime to the authorities. If we are to keep the peace in this city, we need the people’s cooperation above all else. We must create an environment where everyone knows they can rest easy as long as the knights are on the case. Thus, it does not hurt to make unnecessary demonstrations of our work.”

Henrietta let out a slow breath and lightly traced her fingers across the large sorcery gun at her hip.

“In every age, the people are the greatest warning system. I will narrow my search to Wind Castle Town Silphine. How about you make similar performances and increase the entire area’s alert level to get the people on our side and rob the suspects of their freedom of movement?”

Just then, someone interrupted them.

They must have been tourists to be awake and out of the home at this hour, but a small boy and girl who appeared to be siblings waved her way.

“Miss Knight!” said the brother.

“No, she’s working,” warned the sister.

Henrietta made a point of choosing the older style but more popular armor that set her apart from the others, so she gave a gentle smile and waved back at the children before muttering something under her breath.

“There are no real knights anymore.”