After hearing that someone had broken the Household's defences, I went over to where the one person captured alive was being interrogated. What I expected was to see a steel-hearted killer who wouldn't budge at anything, so why was he crying?

"Pleaze don' kill me! I'mma good little boi! There was a really bad guy who coerced me into doing it!"

In the interrogation room, there was a pitiful looking commoner man brawling like a child in front of the best interrogator among our servants. All he did was look at the intruder before he started spilling the beans.

Was this his intimidation or the other man's cowardice?

My, oh my, looks like I need to step in.

"Ben, my I?"

"As you wish, Young Miss." The man in charge gave way without even mentioning anything about safety.

This wasn't because they were careless... but rather how confident they were in neutralising him within a moment should he show any suspicious signs. There was no way my paranoid father would train his servants to act any less prudently within the house.

"From what you were saying: The mastermind of this incident coerced you into coming here?"

"Yesh! Pweaze believe me!" The snot rag who couldn't even talk properly bowed deeply as he spoke.

A doubtful look appeared in my eyes as looked at this immature man up and down, not understanding what could possibly be the reason for this man to experience such misfortune. Was this really a coincidence?

Let's put everything into order: First, the mastermind of this incident intended to murder Merilin in order to implicate the Swordwick Household. The second stage afterwards was to attack my father after damaging the protective Magic Circles placed all over the place...

However... why do I feel I'm missing something?

"Ben,"

"What's wrong?"

"This doesn't make sense."

"...May I ask what you're referring to?" The scar-faced interrogator seemed mystified by my claim.

"Father has taught me a lot about the factions that could become potential our potential enemies. Except the Royal Family, the other larger such as Cerberus and the Mage's Association could potentially be a problem for us. Don't you all agree?"

I looked around to see the other servants nodding their heads at my words. This deepened my concerns.

"The Mage's Association is a gathering of the brightest minds while Cerberus, despite its four 'Heads', has consistently shown craftiness in their plans. Let's say they failed their first plan on the account of not understanding our internal defences. If that is truly the case, then wouldn't this second plan of theirs be poorly conceptualised? Did they truly believe second-rate Specialists could assassinate my father?"

Upon hearing my words, they realised just how serious this situation was. There's definitely something amiss!

"We'll inform the Duke at once...!" One of the maids left for my father's office, and I slowly followed as well.

Some of my conjecture's lead me to believe the third stage of their plan has something to do with sabotaging our damaged defences. If that is the case, then there is a good chance that the Magic Association is to blame.

Even if they hire Dark Specialists, there is no other organisation that has the ability to hack our incredibly dense array of protective barriers and traps. Though if I can think of this, it would be strange if THEY couldn't.

Although feigning ignorance can work to a certain extent when it comes to dark business like assassinating a little girl... this 'plot' seems a bit contrived for the most part... Hmmm, if father is right and Merilin IS part of a conspiracy to take our household down with a borrowed knife, then it would be hard for them to recruit more Mages in the future if we were to spread the smallest of bad rumours.

Those who could become a Mage naturally had a good head on their shoulders. This doesn't fit their image.

If we were to speak of those who would want to kill Merilin for other reasons, then The Alliance is good contender despite being a weaker power than the Magic Association overall. Built solely from the funding of nobility, you could say the The Alliance focuses more on training Warriors and is more inclined to do things that would benefit the nobles in general.

Merilin, being an aspiring Mage with the potential to become an Archmage and the background of being the granddaughter of one, would definitely be considered a dangerous element for the political manoeuvring of many among nobility. Her connections to our Swordwick Household makes her even more of a threat, but since our household has always chosen to stay out of politics considering we can't really aim higher than we already are, this seems really unlikely.

Let's put whether they can even pull of such a operation to begin with. Even if they succeeded in taking us out of the picture, they wouldn't really get anything apart from losing the chance to have us continue our efforts in finding the culprit responsible for destroying several Noble Households over the years. A loss that would cause them to be fearful in their sleep.

'Strange, are these conjectures just to throw us off from the larger picture? What are we missing?' It was after thinking such a thing that I was struck by inspiration, a thought someone as disinterested in people like father wouldn't be able to come up with on their own!

"Young Miss, can I ask you a favour?" The 'shadow' of our household who came at the right time asked.

"Ask anything that isn't giving you a raise."

"Haha... haha... ha... of course, of course... I just wanted to ask if you can hand these to Simon. He has suddenly 'gone deep into hiding' again. Can you hand him these for me?" She requested after taking out the two treasured Astral Swords father practically loved!

"Is it because of a certain Lightning Archmage?"

"Nope. He is just being a benevolent dictator."

"I'm sure... Wait, are you sure you should joke around like that? You know my father's ability, right?"

"No worries~ I put a Sound Barrier around us." Even though she spoke confidently, her eyes were secretly looking around just in case. Putting her usual mischief aside, I felt really... depressed after seeing these.

I know I shouldn't be feeling like this. Simon is getting these as a reward for forming a Skill Root... but even if that's the case, I can't help feeling bitter considering how father rarely ever gifts me anything even after training for years. Why does he treat Simon differently?

Just because his grandmother is an Archmage? Has someone of that strength even mattered before?

No, there's no reason to take this out on him. It's just childish to put my negativity above today's incident.

"I'll pass them on. Anna, can you check something out for me?" I spoke in a grave enough tone to change her expression. After filling her in on what happened and my thoughts on the matter, she followed me back to the interrogation room where Jordan Darby was held.

"What did I do this time?!" The jittery coward who hid behind his chair spoke in horrified tone of voice.

"Nothing. I was just wondering. Why were you coerced into coming here in the first place? For what reason?"

"...Didn't I already tell you everything?"

"You did. Though you might not be aware that your Ether Ripple Intrinsic Skill isn't exactly something that can't have its effects reproduced through other methods. That led me to wonder: What if we have all missed something about you specifically?"

"Don't fret. I'll handle it from here." As someone who was experienced as a Dark Specialist, I put my hopes into having her finding a clue. Anna reached out her hand and touched his forehead in order to use her magical energy to sense any abnormalities on him.

After a few seconds, she took away her hand. At first there didn't seem to be any difference, causing me to frown. It was only after Anna gestured her finger upwards did a strange black marking appear on his forehead. Something had never seen before!

It didn't look like a Spell Circle as it was missing out the Outer Circle necessary to infuse magical energy into the Inner Spell. However, I noticed her face pale considerably as she grabbed the man's collar and threw him at Ben, the interrogator from before.

"My lady, please stay behind me... now!"

"What's wrong?" I asked in confusion as the screaming Jordan Darby seemingly missed the person she was passing him to and was about to hit the wall. It was then Ben moved at an incredible speed to save him.

He didn't use the Wind Aura he was known for. Instead he seemed to be using using a Dark... Aura...

O-oh... my god...!

I looked around to properly observe the servants inside the interrogation room and found that they started to fade as soon as Ben's attention shifted to saving Jordan Darby. Where are the people who were supposed to be watching over this room?!

"I'm sorry to say this but... Everyone in this room has probably died." Anna spoke coldly with gritted teeth.

"W-why?"

"He was a 'Marked'. They used tha intruder as a gateway to infiltrate after our guard went down."

"Even so..." As I calmed myself down, my eyes looked at the fading figures of our house's servants in tears.

I had grown up seeing them as family, the only ones I can rely on... How could they die so silently?

"I didn't expect to be found out so quickly? What gave me away? Surely, knowing this man is considered to be 'precious' to us and that he is in possession of a rare 'mark' couldn't have gave me away." Be- No, the Dark Specialist in the skin of someone I had considered my uncle spoke with a smile. I couldn't even keep a stable expression anymore when the servants around us fell over, revealiving themselves to be empty bags of skin held up by magical energy.

Ah... AH...! AAAAAAAARGH!!! I WILL KILL YOU!

Die! Die!! DIE!!! HOW DARE YOU SKIN THEM?!!!

"DROP DEAD!"

"Wait, don't-!"

A myriad of Astral Swords shot out of my body and stabbed towards the demon in front of me, aiming to turn him into a porcupine. Normally, this offensive would tear through any defences... so why...? Why was this cruel demon able to stop them in their tracks?

A barrier stretched out before covering all the Astral Swords I shot. Thereafter, they fell to the floor as if they had been regular swords all this time. Although they were still filled with my energy, I couldn't control them.

"Ah? You seem to recognise me? Not many have recognised my Area Domination, the 'Bane of all Magicians', and lived to tell the tale." The man who wore Ben's skin ignored me as he spoke.

"Only about four people have managed to do so. The other three Heads of Cerberus, and the Successor of the Shadow King, Number 4. Hmmm, you look a little too different compared to back then. Where is that dead look you always had in your eyes?"

Anna only stared coldly as the several swords stabbing into the ground lit up the dim interrogation room that had silently been closed off from the outside world using the so-called 'Area Domination', and other dark barriers. The reason he didn't try assassinating us immediately as soon as he found the one-way gateway that could transport a powerful Dark Specialist to the location of a 'Marked' was probably due to confidence.

"You're 'Death', aren't you?" Anna may have asked but her voice contained certainty of her words being right.

"Since you already know... Give up. There's no way even the Shadow King himself could protect someone and survive on top of that after encountering me. You will have to give up on reinforcements as well, the moment you were trapped in my Area Domination was also the moment your fate was decided. Even if I don't do anything, you'll die." The man laughed eerily.

"I'm not protecting HER, you know. I merely wanted to see a body... but since you won't come quietly..."

The man named Death made a confused expression as he looked at my reddened eyes. There was a savagery I didn't even know I had in me within my battle cry as my body shot at him like a beam of light!

'Simon, I need to borrow your sword for a second.' I thought before using the newly created 'Treasured Sword' I was familiar with. The power of the five elements revolves around and entered my control.

A hint of anti-magic lightning appeared on the Astral Swords as they broke free from the 'Area Domination' and stabbed into Death at a ungodly speed. The man's body was turned into a sieve. However, his mouth still curved into a smile before he continued to give an eerie laugh. It was only then did I notice the lack of blood from his figure as he started to get serious!