Resina’s innate mind-reading magic allowed her to read other people’s emotions.
Naturally, my subspace magic was no less convenient. But mind-reading magic was extraordinarily useful in a completely different direction, so even thinking about it briefly made all sorts of possible applications come to mind.
Now then. We placed the derivative magic created from her mind-reading ability securely inside an artificial magic jewel, then fashioned it into this personal-magic tool.
“Ta-da! The Lie-Detection Magic Tool.”
When I took the hemispherical magic tool from Storage, the buzz-cut Family member Jairo stared at it with wide eyes and froze.
Would you like an explanation? Of course. You’d be using this tool extensively and accomplishing great things from now on.
“You see the hand-shaped indentation on top of the hemisphere? Place your hand there. Yes, like that. You should feel it slowly drawing in your mana. If you lie in that state, the tool vibrates and glows red.”
“Underboss Candidate… Um…”
“Let’s test it. Hmm… Jairo, do you have a lover in Flumen?”
At my question, Jairo drew his brows together in confusion.
“Yes, sir. I do have a woman.”
“I see. You haven’t been able to see her for a while because of the Winter Tour.”
“Well, we both understood what we were getting into.”
“Yes. I’ll work hard so you can return as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir. But what does that have to do with anything?”
Ah. Right.
This wouldn’t test the magic tool unless he lied. Let me see…
“You have an intimidating face, but secretly like sweets?”
“Yes, sir. Cake is my favorite.”
“You act like a villain, but secretly admire chivalrous bandits?”
“Yes, sir. They’re every man’s dream.”
“You’ve secretly felt lust toward Resina?”
“Absolutely not. You’re the only man who can bathe in that mana and still leisurely entertain thoughts like that, Underboss Candidate. In my case, my balls snap tight, and I’m too busy fighting not to piss myself. Please spare me.”
Ah. Was that so?
Seen that way, Galio, who’d lusted after Resina when she was five, might have been surprisingly formidable. No, he was a masochist, wasn’t he? Hmm. Finding a marriage partner would be difficult for him.
“So, Underboss Candidate, what exactly is this?”
“Ah, right. I wanted you to see the tool activate for yourself, but… could you try telling me a lie?”
“Absolutely not. I could never commit such a shameless act as speaking falsely to you, Underboss Candidate.”
He was unexpectedly earnest, wasn’t he?
Mr. Serge complained about “young people these days,” but looking at Family members like Jairo made me think the Cineraria Family’s future might be reasonably bright. I’d grown quite fond of him.
That aside, it seemed we couldn’t test the tool. What should I do?
“Well, never mind… In any case, if the person with their hand in the indentation on top of the hemisphere tells a lie, this magic tool reveals it instantly. The internal mechanism is a secret, though.”
“Huh. That’s one hell of a thing.”
“And beginning tomorrow, I want you to use it for your work.”
The job I was asking Jairo to perform was replacing purification-barrier cores throughout the empire’s western region.
Using the people arriving from headquarters, we would form teams of several members and disperse them among the twenty cities of various sizes. Then we would replace every purification-barrier core in the roughly six hundred surrounding villages with the new model.
“But I can’t believe everyone arriving from headquarters is trustworthy. At the very least… the mastermind who placed compound magical poison in the boss’s and Resina’s meals still hasn’t been caught. We can’t afford to lower our guard.”
Secretly replacing the purification barriers across our entire territory was, at a minimum, a job we had to hide from the Spirit Temple.
We naturally assumed the information would eventually leak, but I wanted every replacement completed before the temple began to act. This was a race against time, so we couldn’t waste effort dealing with traitors. Only trustworthy people should participate.
“Understood. So I question ’em one by one, smoke out the traitors, then turn the bastards into blood-soaked sacrifices.”
“That’s mostly correct, but wait before the blood-soaked-sacrifice part.”
Why did every little thing have to become so violent?
I had plans regarding how to handle the traitors, so for now, Jairo only needed to separate them into another room. I wanted to investigate their backgrounds, and they might have uses of their own. Ah, I’d also prepared a collection of conversations for exposing traitors, so I needed to give it to him later.
“Blindfold each person being interviewed and have them place a hand on the magic tool. Then ask questions that sound like an ordinary interview, mixing in casual conversation… If you determine they’re a traitor, isolate them peacefully in another room without letting them notice.”
“Yes, sir. Understood.”
It was rather troublesome, but doing it at the beginning should greatly increase the mission’s success rate. Especially this time, when we’d deliberately made participation voluntary to draw in traitors by the dozen. We needed to screen them properly.
“I’ll assign Gatango, the branch head’s second son, as your assistant. Managing the additional budget, arranging lodging for the Family members from headquarters, distributing food and supplies… There’ll be plenty of work, but he’s apparently promising. Teach him various things with the intention of developing him carefully.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll beat some grit into him too.”
In moderation, please.
It seemed Gatango had felt extremely uncomfortable ever since he triggered the duel. Galio appeared to have been forgiven because he’d put his body on the line, but Gatango had merely been choked unconscious by his father. I hoped this work would give him an opportunity to recover at least some of his honor.
“There’s one more magic tool.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ta-da! The Barrier-Replacement Rod.”
What I took out was… a rod shaped like a toilet plunger.
Yes. Shape aside, it allowed someone to replace a purification barrier instantly.
“Underboss Candidate, replacing a purification-barrier core ain’t that much work. I don’t think we need a special tool.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. We’re targeting somewhere between three and four thousand purification barriers. Even with a simple task, someone will make a mistake if it’s repeated enough times.”
Human error couldn’t be overcome through spirit and determination. If a tool could prevent it in advance, I wanted to do everything possible.
I placed an old purification-barrier core on the desk as a sample, then pressed the plunger-shaped tip of the Barrier-Replacement Rod against it with a thump. It was replaced by a new model instantly.
The rod contained my subspace magic. Its user didn’t need to consciously think about the work. All they had to do was press it down with a thump, and the replacement was complete. I thought it was a rather fine piece of work, if I did say so myself.
“There’s no need to disable the warning beforehand, nor to fill the replacement with mana afterward. I’m also the only person who can remove the collected cores, so we don’t need to worry about anyone pocketing the magical silver.”
“Yes, sir. Fewer strange temptations are probably for the best.”
“It’s also largely a countermeasure against priests. Even if priests find someone during the replacement work, they can hardly question them if there’s no physical core in their possession.”
I would leave the tool’s actual deployment to Jairo. For now, if the work was completed this winter—in other words, before the temple began acting—then this mission would be a success.
“This concerns the future, but once every replacement is completed safely, the heroic name of Jairo’s Chivalrous Band should gradually spread among the common people.”
“Huh… Jairo’s Chivalrous Band?”
“That’s right. A band of chivalrous outlaws with you as its leader. You’ll be smashing the purification-barrier monopoly the temple used to exploit the people. That makes you splendid chivalrous bandits, doesn’t it? I spoke with the underboss and received your official appointment letter. Naturally, you can’t openly announce yourselves… but secretly saving the common people is every man’s dream, isn’t it?”
When I offered him the appointment letter, Jairo rubbed his moist eyes vigorously before accepting it.
Good, good. This should get at least part of this accomplishment counted as Jairo’s achievement.
I still hadn’t abandoned my dream of a frontier slow life, so I couldn’t accidentally distinguish myself too much and cement my position as the next underboss.
I absolutely, absolutely refused to give up.
“If Gatango proves more capable than expected, you can recruit him as your subordinate. I’ll negotiate with the branch head in that case, so feel free to discuss it with me.”
“Understood, Young Boss!”
“Young Boss Candidate. I understand you’re overcome with emotion, but addressing me like that is disrespectful to the current underboss. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”
There were all sorts of reasons to worry, but for now, had we finished the necessary preparations?
Headquarters was scheduled to send “magic horses”—horse-shaped monsters trained by monster tamers—instead of ordinary horses. They were apparently unsuitable for pulling carriages but incredibly fast.
Once the additional personnel had been screened, Jairo’s group would ride those magic horses throughout the empire’s western region and devote themselves entirely to replacing purification barriers. We probably wouldn’t meet them again until after the Winter Tour ended and we returned to Flumen.
Judging by their schedule, this looked likely to become quite the disaster project—a death march. But I intended to repay them generously with fame and reward money, so please forgive me.
I’m counting on you.