What's the meaning of this?

　While listening to the noisy Helgar's voice, Wraith realized that his own bad premonition had come true.

　The scene in front of him was one of a large number of golems crumbling unceremoniously as he watched. All of them were golems created by the students for the test, and had been safely stored until the day before the test was conducted.

　But now, every single one of them has been destroyed.

　It's impossible for all golems to break down like this on their own, so they were definitely destroyed artificially.

　It's easy to say that they were all destroyed, but the effort must have been quite impressive. After all, it's dozens of iron blocks. On top of that, the alchemy has increased their durability.

　Destroying that many golems will inevitably take time, and it should be difficult to do so without being found by anyone.

''Helgar-san, let's report back for now.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.

　This is not just a problem for the Wraiths. First of all, we should report it to Virus and then look into it.

　Wraith, who had been in a depressed mood all morning, hated the criminal, who must be out there somewhere, with all his heart.

　Don't forgive me, the criminal.

　Nevertheless, he had done such a flamboyant thing. It's only a matter of time before they get caught.

　--I thought it would be a matter of time before he was caught.

"Oh, is this true...?
Yeah. No witnesses.

　Wraith is stunned by the words told to him by the virus.

　The number of people in the academy, students and faculty combined, is not ridiculous. Even if the crime was committed in the middle of the night, there are people on guard duty as well. How is it really possible for anyone to be unseen?

　And moreover, all the golems had been destroyed. The time required must be quite long, and if the sound of destruction had been going on for that long, it wouldn't be surprising if one or two people rushed to the scene.

　And yet, the fact is that there were no witnesses.

'Anyway, let's check out the destroyed golem first.

　At the behest of the virus, Helgar and Wraith go to the destroyed golems again. Not a dream or anything, but a large number of dismembered golems scattered around as usual.

　The situation was regrettable, considering that each one of them was the result of the students' efforts.

　The Wraiths went to the side of the destroyed golems. They look at the scattered fragments and other objects and try to understand the situation.

''Was this........destroyed by magic?
Is that so?
'I can't say for sure, but these wounds would be hard to put on with human hands.

　The virus' fingers traced the golem's wound as if it had been torn by a sharp blade. It's not very good, but a human's arm strength can't inflict a wound to this extent. Well, maybe it's possible if it's a Raffy level person.

　I have no idea why such a talented person would destroy a golem, though.

''The motive is also unknown, and........''

　Whoever the perpetrator is, why destroy a golem that was only created for testing? What meaning is there in that? I have no idea.

　I look around at the wreckage of the golems to see if there are any other clues. Every golem had a scar on it that looked like it had been uniformly torn by a blade.

''Hmm...?''

　Wills, who had been sitting down and carefully examining the golem, furrowed his brow. His gaze turned to the magic stone embedded in the golem's chest. That faded magic stone was cracked, telling him that it was impossible to repair it.

''The magic power is gone...?''

　The virus understood the state of the magic stone at a glance.
　The magic power that resided in the demon stone was not at all, so it probably destroyed itself.

　However, the magic stone would not naturally be in this state. Even if they run out of magic power, they still have enough magic power to maintain their shape.

　Magic power to a demon stone is the same as blood to a human being. If they lose too much, it would be fatal.

　After all, the magic power of the magical stone was used to its limit by someone who destroyed the golem. What in the world was it used for, though, is a question that remains unanswered.

　Even after checking the other golems, the magic stone remained in the same self-destructed state. At the very least, it was certain that magic power was one of the killer's objectives.

　Nevertheless, humans are more or less born with magical power. There aren't many people who would want to take this kind of risk to get magical power.

''Well for now, let's increase the number of guards. Classes are about to start and we'll investigate later.

　With that one word from the virus, the investigation was discontinued once. The warehouse where the golem was stored was banned. It was necessary in order to preserve the scene.

　I was kicked out with my doubts still intact and started preparing for class as usual. However, my mind was full of the scene I had just witnessed and I never got into the class.



　*****



Yeah, that's kind of a big deal.

　As soon as he got home, Wraith told Lurimes about the golem. Inexplicably, the bad feeling still hasn't gone away. Even now, though, the incident has happened more than enough.

I don't know much about magic so I don't know, but is there anything that actually requires that much magic power?
I'm sure the magic power contained in the magic stone is rarely taken away from you. After all, if there is no place to store the magic power that is taken away from you, you have no choice but to use it on the spot.

　It's about where the magic power taken from the magic stone went. Did you use the magic power for magic or something else on the spot, or did you store the magic power and take it away?

'But in the case of storing magic power, you'll need a magic stone either way! If that's the case, it's faster to pull out the magic stone directly without bothering to take the magic power from the magic stone.

　Wraiths who aren't mages can't detect magic, but the Wills and Helgers who were there would be different. However, I don't remember them talking about such things.

　They had taken magic power from that many magic stones and used it. There should have been some trace of it left behind.

''I don't think there was any.''
Well, I guess I don't know about that, either.
Well....

　The fact that even Rulimes, who is well versed in magic, can't help, means that at this stage, we will never know in the Wraith. We'll just have to wait for the investigation to progress and for something else useful to emerge.

'It's tricky.'

　Wraith sighs and paces to the room where he keeps the golem he created earlier. I know that seeing the golem is meaningless, but it's just enough to distract me from the anxiety in my chest.

　I open the door and meet the force work for the first time in a long time--

What?

　There was nothing beyond the door.

　There was no sign of the golem that was supposed to be there, only a row of tidy materials.

　Wraith hurried out of the room and returned to where Lurimes was.

''Master!　What about that golem I made before!

　The door was opened with such force that a bang could be heard.

　The apprentice who left the room just a few minutes ago came back with an extraordinary momentum, so Lurimes, who had been taking it easy, shook his shoulders with a jolt.

''Heh?　What?　I don't know - I haven't gone to see him once since then. Something happened..............Ray-kun!

　Not hearing the last of Lurimes' words, Wraith goes upstairs to the front of Rotia's room. She knocked roughly on the door, and a sleepy voice answered from inside. Wraith hurriedly opened the door, feeling apologetic.

''Rotia, have you seen the golem in the workshop!
"...Golem?　...I don't know.
Whoa, what's going on here?

　Rotia and Mimi are both rubbing their eyes sleepily. I'm sorry to be swallowing, but Wraith is in the worst mood.

''Oh, shit ... come on anyway.''

　Rotia and Mimi, who looked at each other curiously, tilted their heads together.