Re-entering the room, I found only one little girl left inside, wearing a smooth gray robe.

Her look was a bit different from before, but that faintly shimmering purple hair made me sure this was the same shameless little loli from earlier.

“What’s with that look in your eyes?”

Sitting on the floor, Ona glared up at me, her tone dripping with annoyance.

“Before you say that, who told you to sit on the floor? From this angle I can only look down on you like this.”

“Tch, such a pain. Can’t you guys just sit down too?”

“Even if we do, we can still look down on you.”

As I spoke, I simply sat down as well and kept looking down at her.

“Ah, whatever, close enough. I, being the magnanimous one here, won’t fuss over that. I heard you came because you had questions about illusion magic, right?”

I glanced at Princess Cher, then at Ona, and nodded slightly.

“Yeah, that’s about right. But more than that, what I’m really curious about is why it’s almost impossible to find any information on illusion magic on this continent.”

“Oh? So you only said that after doing a pretty thorough investigation. I’ve got to agree with you, though. After all, aside from us, there’s no way anyone else would leak any illusion-related information.”

“Is that so… then should I list you as the primary suspect in the assassination attempt on Princess Annie?”

“Eh?”

Ona clearly froze at my words, then her expression turned flustered a second later.

“W‑What are you talking about! I’d never do something like an assassination! Totally impossible!”

“Really? There were two illusion-based attacks today. One was when Princess Annie was suddenly stabbed by someone who ‘appeared out of nowhere.’ Appearing out of nowhere isn’t possible unless someone’s moving at their absolute limit. But she had people stronger than me by her side. Even with extreme speed, there should’ve been a limit. And yet the answer I kept getting was ‘he suddenly appeared.’ So the attacker wasn’t just moving fast. He made it so no one could see him… No, that’s not accurate. It’s more like he suddenly turned from an unremarkable nobody into an assassin, then turned back into an unremarkable face and vanished into the crowd. That’s exactly what illusionists are good at.”

“T-That…”

“Fir, you…”

“I know, Princess Cher. I’m not accusing Ona of anything. I’m just laying out a possibility. She herself said the only people who can use illusions are members of her own organization, didn’t she?”

“Ah! Right, are you sure the other party actually used illusions?”

You’re only remembering the most important part now… I looked at Ms. Ona helplessly, got up from the floor, and pulled a chair over.

“I’m sure. Less than an hour later, I was attacked nearby by illusion magic too. First a visual illusion, then a mind manipulation. My companions attacked me from the outside and snapped me back to normal.”

“Visual illusion and mind control? I’m not sure if you described that right, but if that’s true, then we’re talking at least a rank‑4 illusionist! Their mental strength would be at least double mine…”

“Oh, is that so? So you don’t have that kind of power yet. Sorry for suspecting you.”

“Ugh…”

Her face twisted painfully, like she wanted to agree but couldn’t bring herself to admit she was weaker.

I didn’t really want to do this, but I had to drag her interest in by force—or rather, pull her over to our side. That way, even if I couldn’t learn illusion magic myself, at least I wouldn’t get completely crushed by it.

“So, someone outside your organization might’ve learned what you guys are hiding. Or maybe you have a traitor. Or your organization planned this assassination yourselves?”

“No way! Our organization exists to make sure the royal families of every empire never suffer illusion attacks! The Witte Empire probably just got too lax because it’s been so long since the last attack and didn’t bring along our assigned personnel! If things were normal, something like this would never have happened!”

Hearing her rebuttal, I smiled.

“I see. So your organization’s basically a group of guardians?”

“Yeah. The whole point of [Multiple Fantasia] is to make sure illusions never leak where they shouldn’t and to stop anyone who wants to exploit them. So assassination? Not our thing!”

“I get it. [Multiple Fantasia], huh.”

One of those organizations in the terminal with no data filled in. So that’s why—because they can’t afford to leak anything, they don’t record it in the terminal at all?

If it’s an organization, relying on word of mouth really does guarantee no data leaks…

What a pain. If I want intel later, there won’t even be skill books I can learn from. Seriously…

“In other words, your organization might’ve had a leak that let someone else get illusion magic and turn it into their weapon. Worst case, the royal families you’re protecting end up being the ones attacked. Plus our academy students are now in danger too. That about right?”

“Ugh… yeah, that’s true. Fine, I’ll accept what you’re saying. I’ll report this to headquarters right away. I can’t decide this on my own.”

“I see. Then can you tell us how to avoid getting hit by illusions?”

“Eh?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Every student in the academy’s in danger. If something really nasty happens, it’ll be too late. Don’t you think so?”

“T-That’s true. But even for us, the only thing we can do is carry this [Illusion Collapse] accessory to ward off illusions.”

As she spoke, she pulled the necklace out from her collar.

It was a silver necklace shaped a bit like the character “mi,” but it clearly had something else embedded inside. With that thickness… there had to be magic circuits packed into it.

“Could you give me a few of those? I’ll pass them to people who can protect the academy. That way we can keep everyone safe.”

“T-That…”

She looked really troubled.

If she didn’t reject me right away, that meant there was hope.

“Even if you ask the principal, it’s the same deal. If we can’t guarantee the safety of everyone at the academy right now, then nothing else we do matters.”

“Ah, fine, I get it!”

She sounded a bit like she was throwing up her hands, but she still bounced up off the floor and dug a fresh necklace out of a cabinet.

“Here! But there’s only one!”

“Yeah. Thank you very much for your help.”

I answered with a smile.

“Of course, we’ll do everything we can to help catch the culprit and clear your name too.”

“Obviously!”

“If you need help, just come find me. I’ll do what I can.”

“Is that so… Don’t complain it’s troublesome when the time comes, then!”

She really did look like she was already planning to be a hassle later.

Oh well. Whatever.

I chuckled and gave her a small bow.

“That’s all I needed to know. I’ll leave the rest to you. I need to go arrange my own people.”

——————————————

‘You all heard that, right?’

After getting off the airship, I immediately opened a comm line.

‘Ms. Mary, is the analysis device ready yet?’

‘Of course it is. Get over to our base!’