Chapter 12
“Leoni Winkelheit.”
At the same time, Henricks turned his gaze to her. He succeeded in urging Leoni on with nothing more than a frigid stare.
“……Here, this part.”
Leoni, who had been observing the atmosphere, cautiously raised her finger and pointed to a sentence.
“It mistakenly says ‘massage’ instead of ‘message.’ It reads, ‘The excellent massage contained within the relics of the Stein region……’.”
Jax’s pupils trembled violently from side to side. Leoni continued speaking.
“It’s only a difference of a few dots, but the meaning changes completely. ……It’s a common mistake, even for those fluent in the ancient language.”
“……”
Jax, who had been unable to say anything, suddenly snapped his head up. He finally opened his mouth, his eyes filled with resolve.
“I-it’s true that I paid Leoni Winkelheit and had her do the paperwork.”
“……What?”
At the sudden confession, not only Leoni but the others were left dumbfounded.
“I gave her 3 Relm and entrusted her with everything from the first draft to the submission. Th-that’s why I didn’t even know there was a mistake.”
“……”
The room fell deathly silent.
Grace seemed quite surprised, but Henricks, who seemed to have guessed as much, remained expressionless.
Perhaps taking their silence as a good sign for him, Jax hurriedly continued.
“Leoni Winkelheit said she urgently needed money and begged me to give her the work.”
“What the……!”
“She pleaded so much that I also…….”
“Stop, that’s enough.”
It was Henricks who cut him off. He took off his glasses and irritably rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Grace, beside him, also had a smile on her lips, as if she found the situation amusing.
“So you’re saying you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“W-well, that is……”
Receiving the sharp rebuke, Jax continued to hesitate, spouting worthless excuses.
Henricks was flabbergasted. He turned his gaze to Leoni, who was watching the situation from the opposite side.
Her expression was comical. It was the face of someone whose mouth was itching to say something right away.
‘But why is she staying quiet today?’
She couldn’t possibly be unaware of Jax’s scheme to drag her into this now that he was at a disadvantage.
‘It’s unfair for you to assign only this kind of work to me for no reason.’
She was a woman who usually had no problem talking back to him.
Where had the spirit with which she would look him straight in the eye and retort every time he took away her work gone?
Considering her family problems, it would have made sense for her to acquiesce and live as if she were dead, but Leoni Winkelheit never seemed to tire.
Thanks to her, Henricks had to use all sorts of reasons to crush her with logic. He had spent more energy handling her than on his actual duties.
But for some reason, Leoni Winkelheit kept her lips firmly sealed, despite her sullen face.
Although Henricks had often thought he would prefer it if Leoni were a bit more obedient, he couldn’t shake his puzzlement.
“Officer Jax.”
That thought was brief; Grace drew her sword first.
“So you’re saying you entrusted all the documents to Officer Leoni because she begged you, is that right?”
“Yes, yes.”
“I see…….”
Grace let her words trail off. Her gaze held a hint of suspicion, but it seemed she had internally decided to end the conversation.
“I understand. For now, both of you may return to your seats and…….”
“Excuse me.”
The gazes of everyone in the room turned toward the source of the sound.
“Leoni Winkelheit.”
Henricks, who had put his glasses back on, narrowed his eyes.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Leoni stared intently at Henricks. Henricks met her gaze with an expressionless face. But his inner thoughts were different.
‘Go on, try to make an excuse.’
If she backed down now, the incident would be concluded with just a small warning given to Leoni Winkelheit.
Of course, Jax would also be investigated since there were many suspicious points about him, but not right away.
The sound of a stopwatch ticked a few times, and then Leoni opened her mouth.
“I still have a few things I’d like to ask Officer Jax.”
Her gaze was fixed not on Jax, but on Grace in front of her.
“Officer Leoni.”
Grace gave a troubled smile.
“You’re also aware that exchanging money for doing a colleague’s work isn’t exactly an honorable thing to do, right?”
“……”
“I have no intention of saying anything about that right now. For now, just return to your seat and await your future disposition….”
“｢Slanderous gossip is more dangerous than murder｣.”
The ancient language flowed out in a calm, dry voice. At the perfect pronunciation, Grace cocked an eyebrow.
“｢Murder kills one person, but gossip is sure to kill three｣. Jax, what are the words that follow?”
‘Of course.’
Henricks, snickering to himself, glanced at Jax and said.
“Jax.”
“……Yes?”
“Answer.”
“B-but.”
Jax looked at Grace as if holding on to his last shred of hope. However, Grace, who had been trying to wrap up the situation, let out a low sigh as if she couldn’t help it.
“You have my permission. Answer.”
“Th-that……”
Jax only dripped with cold sweat, unable to produce an answer. So, Henricks answered for him.
“｢The person who is the subject of the talk, the person who accepts the gossip without criticism, and the person who spreads it｣. You don’t even know this? It should be a very basic ancient proverb.”
Three pairs of coldly sunken eyes stared at Jax.
Jax was still silent. From his reaction, Leoni could be certain.
‘This kid. He can’t speak the ancient language at all.’
It wasn’t a matter of being nervous. This was classified as very simple ancient language, so he should naturally have been able to answer.
It seemed Henricks and Grace had come to the same conclusion as her.
“Officer Jax. You placed first in the entrance exam, didn’t you?”
“I-I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not feeling well right now, so my head is diz……”
“And you received a perfect score in the ancient language.”
‘It’s over.’
Leoni thought.
It was absurd that a perfect scorer couldn’t handle even this simple ancient language. It was more like he was advertising that the skills weren’t his own.
Countless people had entrusted her with ancient language tasks, but it was usually for the purpose of working more comfortably.
There were almost none who trembled and couldn’t say a single word like Jax.
“It seems our suspicions are correct.”
“But this evidence alone is not enough. We’ll need to confirm if there are others involved, but how long will that take……”
Henricks and Grace looked at each other and sighed. It was as if Leoni was no longer even on their minds.
“……”
At that moment, Leoni shot up from her seat.
Watching Leoni walk toward the door with a straight gait, Henricks raised an eyebrow.
Having already reached the door of the Director’s office, Leoni asked with a polite yet indifferent face.
“May I turn off the lights for a moment?”
“……”
“Since you didn’t say no, I’ll take that as a yes. Then.”
Just like that, with a light click, a pale blue darkness descended upon the room.
The Director’s office always had its curtains drawn tight due to Grace’s preference. Thanks to that, the room was shrouded in complete darkness.
“What are you doing now?”
Henricks asked bluntly, but Leoni did not answer. Instead, only the Director’s puzzled voice could be heard.
“Is this, by any chance, pixie dust?”
Grace’s eyes widened. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see clusters of shimmering blue light in the corner of the document spread out on the desk.
“The pixies have long been extinct, so the dust should be hard to come by……?”
“No.”
Leoni spoke calmly.
“This is the powder of will-o’-the-wisps from the Eastern Continent.”
“Will-o’-the-wisps?”
Grace asked in return. She, too, had heard of the will-o’-the-wisps from the Eastern Continent.
Mischievous but with many foolish aspects, they usually did not show themselves, only appearing occasionally at night.
“But I heard that will-o’-the-wisps are, as the name suggests, in the form of a blue flame……”
“Yes. To be precise, this is the ash produced when a will-o’-the-wisp burns its surroundings.”
Leoni nodded.
“They say in the Eastern Continent, it’s put inside lanterns to light up the darkness in the middle of the night. It’s a fact not yet well known in the Empire, but…”
As if to prove Leoni’s words, the will-o’-the-wisp powder glowed colorfully even in the darkness.
Grace was at a loss for words.
There was barely enough time to study the mythical creatures of the Central Continent. Because of this, even within the cooperative nations, there was almost no knowledge about the mythical creatures of the Eastern Continent.
‘The researchers over there are so reclusive that their research materials are not shared well.’
Moreover, exchanges concerning mythical creatures between continents were poor, so even Director Grace did not know much about the mythical creatures of the Eastern Continent.
For a mere employee like Leoni to know such information.
“I saw a note my father had written in a book.”
Leoni answered quickly, as if she had anticipated Grace’s question.
“It was written in the ancient language.”
‘I see.’
At those words, Grace was readily convinced.
It was information that Leoni’s father, Theodor Winkelheit, could certainly have known. After all, he had explored the Eastern Continent in his youth.
‘The cooperative nations confiscated most of his research materials, but they wouldn’t have been able to check the scribbles jotted down in a half-read book.’
However…….
“Why did you leave behind such evidence?”
Instead of answering Grace’s question, Leoni looked back at Jax, who was frozen in his seat. She added in a cool voice.
“Because I don’t trust people easily.”
