■ vs Beautiful Girl Mask □
“Did someone send a calling card about this Beautiful Girl Mask thing?”
“Yeah. It was tucked into the gate.”
The topic of conversation over tonight’s dinner was naturally about Beautiful Girl Mask.
After all, what we once thought was just a distant tale had suddenly become a reality right before our eyes.
I took out the calling card I saw when I entered the house earlier and showed it to Ozma.
A beautifully finished paper card with a white background and a black butterfly drawn on it.
Frankly, just looking at this alone, one could guess that Beautiful Girl Mask was quite affluent.
The paper was far too high-quality to be used for something disposable.
I had suspected since the time she would scatter money stolen from the rich, but the probability that Beautiful Girl Mask belonged to the upper class of Oz was high.
Her hair looked well-maintained when seen in person as well.
“There’s no date written here, like ‘I’ll come visit you soon.'”
“Isn’t that just saying ‘soon’? Since today is Monday, she’ll probably come this week.”
While sipping on the Macus 38-year-old I bought, Dorothea chuckled.
“Is there any possibility this is just someone’s prank?”
When Barnett said that, Camilla beside her shook her head.
“Not really. The timing is too suspicious. Just as Caldlasth started his special inspection duties today.”
While peeling the boiled egg, I said,
“But it doesn’t say where she plans to come either.”
“Isn’t it the Governor’s Office? Why would anyone break into our house?”
To be precise, we do have quite a few treasures that can’t even be converted into money, but such items would be easily exposed if they hit the market.
“There are two possible targets: either she aims for the treasury of the Governor’s Office or she genuinely plans to rob our house.”
After receiving the calling card, I couldn’t shake off my suspicion.
Because we don’t know when or where she will show up.
It might even be a psychological tactic aimed at us.
“If she comes to rob our house, that could actually be a good thing. Regular entry routes aren’t an option because it’s almost Hamburg fortress-level security here.”
“That’s true.”
This is a fortress built by two Archmages putting their hearts into it.
Even a magician of my level, who is also ranked seventh-tier, wouldn’t be able to easily penetrate it. There’s no way some petty thief could break through numerous wards.
“Why does this feel so uneasy?”
I have a feeling like I’m missing something.
And in cases like these, the probability that I am indeed missing something is usually high.
I tried thinking again just in case, but still nothing came to mind. While pondering alone, I glanced at the newspaper placed next to the dining table and suddenly remembered.
“I think I met Beautiful Girl Mask somewhere before.”
“What? Where?”
“One of the reporters who visited the Governor’s Office. That person looks similar.”
That distinctive honey-blonde hair felt familiar somehow, and the eye color was the exact same amber.
“Wow—so she works as a reporter during the day and pulls off heists at night?”
“I can’t be sure, but if it’s true, then that’s how it would be.”
“So what’s the name of the reporter you mentioned?”
“Just a moment…”
I began concentrating, retracing my memories.
Blonde hair, amber eyes, round glasses.
“Linda Kent, her name was Linda Kent.”
“We should check that immediately tomorrow. If she worked as a reporter, it should be easier to find her.”
There aren’t many newspapers within Oz.
It wasn’t done intentionally to control information; rather, any newspaper company spreading sensationalist news or fake news was ruthlessly dismantled, which led to this situation.
“Anyway, the name is probably a pseudonym, and the probability that she’s a freelance journalist not affiliated with any organization is high. Unless she’s stupid, she wouldn’t go around leaking her own information.”
“Still, we can figure out whether Linda Kent has any connection to Beautiful Girl Mask, right?”
“That’s correct.”
If she uses the identity of a journalist, gathering information would be much easier.
Thanks to solving what felt like having a thorn in my throat, I felt considerably lighter.
After eating the peeled boiled egg in just two bites, I wiped the corner of my mouth with my thumb and said,
“I’ll take my leave first. I’ve got some backlog work today.”
“Alright. Good job.”
“Goodnight.”
“You’ve been running around all day, rest well.”
“Sleep tight.”
After hearing a word from everyone, I went into my room on the second floor and took out the cipher letter I found in the Marquis’ secret vault from the desk drawer.
Everyone said to get some sleep, but decoding this might require staying up all night.
“Well, something will come up.”
I decided to start deciphering the text written on the cipher letter.
[[#]] Generally, there are three languages used in the Western Continent.
The Common Tongue of the Continent, Ancient Elvish, and Sacred Script.
Although different countries usually have diverse linguistic systems based on cultural regions, the Common Tongue of the Continent spread through the church as a simplified version of Sacred Script, so they share the same root fundamentally.
This might be because the sects of the Three Goddesses share the same mythological content.
Basically, all religions across the continent are unified under the faith of the Three Goddesses.
In the case of the Elves living beyond the Great Forest, due to their closed-off culture, long history, and self-perception as a chosen people, they uniquely treat the Common Tongue of the Continent as a foreign language.
Well, that’s none of my business, and now what I need to do is the most important task in interpreting the cipher: determining what the original script was.
Generally, Sacred Script consists of 26 words.
The Common Tongue, derived from Sacred Script, has lost two rarely used characters, leaving it with 24 words.
It is a phonetic alphabet that combines given characters to produce various pronunciations.
The cipher patterns on the name-bearing letter likely consisted of 25 symbols, leading me to infer that the original text was written in Sacred Script.
Based on this, I needed to match each symbol with its corresponding character.
Though it’s painstaking work, fortunately, I had a clue.
The fact that this cipher letter came from the residence of Marquis Quillern.
Meaning, either Marquis Quillern himself or someone associated with the Royalists must have their name embedded within, and knowing that would make finding certain rules less difficult.
All phonetic languages inherently follow patterns.
As I was deeply engrossed in deciphering the cipher, unaware of the passage of time, something happened.
——Paradox!
I instantly stood up from my chair upon sensing a powerful magical flow outside the mansion.
“What!”
Out of the 468 protective magic spells I set up to repel intruders, 173 of them were simultaneously short-circuited.
This was truly abnormal.
And it wasn’t just me who noticed this, as sounds of commotion could be heard from outside.
Bang!
“Caldlasth! Did you sense it?! The estate’s protective magic!”
She stopped shouting mid-sentence, perhaps realizing why.
Because instead of the dark night sky, a wall of blue water could be seen beyond the wide-open window.
“We’ve been had.”
I honestly let my guard down because of the cute name “Beautiful Girl Mask.”
But judging from the magic currently being used, the opponent is at least a sixth-tier mage, specifically a Water Mage like the late Baron Betendorf.
Fire Mage Dorothea is completely opposite in elemental alignment.
Actually, it’s puzzling how a seventh-tier mage like myself couldn’t maintain the barriers, but that’s not the critical issue now.
While we’re exchanging words, the protective magic surrounding the mansion is rapidly diminishing, and it’s clear that Beautiful Girl Mask, capable of creating this entire situation, is an incredible genius on par with Dorothea.
I hastily slipped on the Orichalcum gauntlet and said,
“Dorothea, wake up all the kids. Just in case.”
“Got it.”
Dorothea looked at me with a complicated expression, trying to say something, but I didn’t look back and jumped out of the second-story window.
To be honest, there have been assassination attempts on Governor Ozma and me, her right-hand man.
However, those who dared to approach never made it past the hundreds of protective spells and disappeared without ever seeing our faces.
Compared to them, the current attacker is clearly on a different level.
As I landed in the garden, I caught sight of Beautiful Girl Mask attacking the wards outside.
She was still fully clad in black from head to toe, wearing a butterfly mask, her honey-blonde hair fluttering in the wind.
This hairstyle must be trendy lately.
The Countess Glorious I met at the party the other day also had this color hair.
Since Beautiful Girl Mask was preoccupied with dispelling the magic, I decided to greet her with my specialty, Wind Magic.
“Gale Storm.”
An ambassador always gives their full effort even when hunting a single rabbit.
