章 41: Investigation.
—
[Two hours later. King of Beggars' Bedroom.]
Seeing Moiraine in the corner, weaving all kinds of spells from simple brain checks using classic mage methods to scientifically detailed spells that examine brain signals from every neuron, Richard listened to the King of Redania's worried question to his left.
"Is this a little bit excessive? I mean, my friend here didn't do anything besides looking at you."
Shaking his head, Richard explained, "No. If your enemies can level your city with just a simple wave of their hand and alter your mind with their presence alone, I don't think it is excessive." Turning his face to Dijkstra, he then asked, "Do you remember the demon lord we were talking about last night?"
"You mean…" Dijkstra exclaimed, bewildered.
"Yes, he can level a city with just a casual meteor. And conquer the Heralds' minds with his presence. Some become emotional, some become melancholic, some become single-minded, and some even go insane." Turning his head to look at a certain wall toward two individuals, Richard continued, "So don't even try opening up a path to the Ethereal Realms if you can't handle the consequences, especially with someone who is easily frightened by just a slight display of power."
"What are you looking at… Ah, that direction—Mesaana and Moghedien, my mage advisors. Yes, after the twelve seconds of the phantom that everyone could see, they keep asking me to ally with you guys," chuckled Dijkstra. "It seems they are regretting their decision now. Anyway, that was the name of that place, the Ethereal Realms. I see now…"
Shaking his head at the ambition on the fat man's face, possibly because Dijkstra, too, could sense it after absorbing the Well of Ascension that granted him his power, Richard let it go, knowing there was nothing he could do to quell that curiosity. Moreover, if Richard barred him from even knowing the name of the place, it would mean he was lying to himself about wanting the advancement of civilization and becoming a coward, not wanting others to become stronger.
"He is clean. From emotion, logic, memory, perception, creativity, intuition, or anything else, there is no tampering. I even used a scientific-based mind magic spell that Margarita just created yesterday, and still, the feedback is void. So, he and that Allomancer man are clean," Moiraine stated.
Nodding his head, knowing this was likely the case, Richard walked closer to the King of Beggars and placed his hand over the man's forehead, just as he did to the person who threw a brick at him an hour ago. An Aonic symbol appeared in the center of his palm, and Richard then copied the man's every detail of data.
This included the illusory fate shown by One Power energy, the timeline of his life revealed by Elder Blood energy, and every atom and DNA strand shown by his Sun Breathing energy, or any classification currently in the Huginn and Muninn database.
[Science Cybersecurity: Spyware.]
[Detail: Monitors and collects the user's system data periodically.]
After finishing copying the King of Beggars' data, Richard placed one of the only active programs in the Seon OS responsible for gathering information into the man's every atom. Knowing that the scientific-based spell would likely fizzle out of existence without the presence of some of the Ethereal Realms' energy, Richard produced his Sun Breathing fireball from his fingers and scattered it around the room more discreetly this time.
Turning around after completing the procedure, he nodded to Ciri, indicating that his part was done and it was now her turn to begin.
"The Allomancer man is clean, but I don't yet know about the King of Beggars. I've gathered every method of tampering that we can think of, so I'll be awaiting other idle Heralds' reviews," Richard stated.
Waiting for Ciri's method this time, Richard unknowingly remembered the meeting that the Heralds had convened when they discussed his desire to journey throughout the Continent. Because he wished to travel the world and might not meet the others for a long time, they decided to schedule regular meetings to discuss everything. It was during one such meeting that Philipa and Lanfear became paranoid after realizing their minds had been tampered with, prompting them to create general guidelines for detecting enemies and potential threats ahead of time.
Especially after experiencing the event regarding Yggdrasil, where they were dragged into the heart of enemy ranks without even knowing it and were surrounded and toyed with by the demon lord Archimonde, which scarred these two ladies for the rest of their lives.
Knowing that Richard and the others don't want that event to happen again, the Heralds then created guidelines for themselves to follow if they ever found themselves in conflict with someone else. As Richard, Ciri, and Moiraine were the first to venture out on adventures and collect information, they were the first to apply these guidelines to the unfortunate King of Beggars.
His musing interrupted by the twinkling notification light of a translucent watch, Richard then read Philipa, Lanfear, and Margarita's review, telling him the man is clean. Turning to Moiraine, who was currently talking to Dijkstra, Richard followed the procedure and stated, "He is clean," to which the latter only nodded in acknowledgement.
Deciding to observe how Ciri conducted the investigation, Richard then fine-tuned his vision into a Three Realms version of the Transparent World to better understand it. Essentially, what she did was freeze every brain muscle that the King of Beggars had, observing which of them were likely not his own.
After that, from time to time, Ciri sparked the damaged Elder Blood energy to attract any magical anomalies that might be present in the King of Beggars' brain. Essentially, her method was akin to a hunter beast baiting its prey to be captured and become its meal, or more accurately, her approach resembled that of a Witcher luring a monster out of its lair to be dealt with.
"He is clean, same like that ungrateful bastard," Ciri stated.
Nodding his head, he then heard Moiraine saying goodbye to Dijkstra.
"Well, that's it then. Thank you for your cooperation, King of Redania."
"You don't need to worry, my lady. Everything is well and in order."
"In that case, we will not delay any longer. We will deal with whatever is happening in Tretegor. You just sit, relax, and wait for the good news."
"Thank you, Lady Moiraine."
—
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