The Life, Death, and Relife of the Mushroom Mage

Chapter 17

Edwin slipped the paper out of the book and laid it on the desk. He scanned over the words on the page and sat back.

When his father ordered him to investigate this, he had thought he was crazy. Who cared about one noble girl, dead, much less the daughter of Marquis DeVille? It was obvious what had happened. Marquis DeVille finally crossed the wrong person and got his daughter killed. His other sons would probably die soon, too. He would probably have to divorce his wife and make a new child with a younger bride. Or have her killed. Either one worked.

But... The situation was getting more complicated. The information broker had gotten him the information he needed, and he was finding the situation was far more complex than what Marquis DeVille was letting on. No wonder he wasn't allowing the Imperial family to investigate the murder. She had been studying life and death magic. Edwin had called it dark arts, but that wasn't necessarily true. It was more archaic, more old than simple dark arts. It was... complex. It was very complex.

Who had killed her? And what kind of research had they stolen? That's what he wanted to know. You could do a lot of damage with life and death magic. It was a double edged sword. Life and death mages wreak untold havoc on the empire. They only showed up every few hundred years or so, and they were dangerous. Their magic was complex and vast, and could easily be disguised as something else.

So, Georgina DeVille was a life and death mage, and had presumably been working with another life and death mage. They didn't know what was missing, so it made sense to assume that something was. He didn't know the full details of what they had uncovered, but...

But.

Somewhere out there, there was a life and death mage on the loose, and they were someone that was already a murderer. They had already killed for their knowledge, and it stood to reason that they could do further damage.

This was a threat to the empire.

Furthermore, something had been buried in soil, and whatever that something was, it was missing. So, not only was the research possibly missing, but whatever the results of that research was definitely missing.

He was not happy.

Marcus DeVille, the second son, had arrived in the capital today. He was here to represent the family for the social season. The rest of them were missing. Augustus was apparently investigating his sister's death, and Caesar was quiet. Caesar was very, very quiet, but a guard had been killed already in his rage. The other had been imprisoned, and likely wasn't going to see the light of dawn anytime soon.

Edwin rubbed his hand over his mouth as he read over the information presented to him. What was Georgina researching? What was she doing? She was only fifteen, so it was hard to believe she had managed to make something truly dangerous, but the DeVille family had always been made of overachievers.

He was bothered, and he still had to make an appearance at the festival.

With a sigh, he came to his feet and made his way to the door. He needed to change and get ready, change his hair. He was going to color it tonight, and he wondered if he was going to see Artesia at the festival. He kind of hoped he did. She had made something of an impact on him. He didn't know what it was, but she was decidedly not what he expected of her.

He had expected... hm. He had expected her to be a commoner girl who was treated well for the first time in her life and didn't know how to act. High and entitled, drunk off of the power that had just been handed to her. Of course, she didn't know how to act. She was entirely too familiar with that adventurer and unaware of her station as the Saint. She was above the nobility now, and that came with specific rules and stipulations. But... It was refreshing. He was glad to see her sudden story of rags to riches hadn't corrupted her.