The temperature had risen outside, a fact made no easier to bear by Yubi’s wardrobe choice. Compared to Rik, his guide, Yubi’s outfit had sleeves, his colors were darker, and he was wearing more layers. He estimated the young man was in his early twenties, maybe a bit older than Loya, which made the white hair odd.

  I must be getting old if he can walk this fast and not work up a sweat.

  “Where… exactly… is this Kain person?” Yubi asked from a ways behind Rik.

  “The mana fiber scanning station.”

  “What is that?”

  Rik slowed a bit and looked back at Yubi. “What do you mean?”

  “Mana fiber scanning… I think I know what mana is, but not what ‘fiber scanning’ could mean.”

  “Is this some kind of test?”

  “When I said… earlier that I only remembered my name the day before last… I meant it.”

  The young man thought for a moment and decided not to press the issue. “It’s a security measure. The demons can use mana fibers to communicate, so scanning can detect spies.”

  So it’s like phone lines… “Only demons?”

  “They’re the only ones who know how.”

  They entered the forest which surrounded the underground fortress. The shade was appreciated.

  About a half hour’s walk into the forest was a large dirt mound, almost unnoticeable among the trees. Its interior went about as far down as it was tall. Inside there were about a half dozen platforms attached to strange wood-metal devices. The staff of the scanning station were few, but most of the devices weren’t being operated so the one Yubi addressed was free.

  “The wood part is greenroot,” diagram operator Kainolautis explained. “Unlike the fireleaf trees in the forest which convert ambient mana to heat, greenroot takes ambient mana and transmits it down into its roots. So, if we rotate a piece of greenroot around someone and it passes through a mana fiber, there will be a spike in the amount of mana it’s transmitting. We detect that over here. If this part receives more mana, this detector chalk will be heated up and more of it will fall onto this paper. So we can precisely measure whether someone has a mana fiber attached to their soul!”

  Yubi nodded along. He hadn’t understood much of the explanation, but his impression was that (talking to demons) = (mana fibers) = (spike on the detector chalk). I should ask Lau about the tree stuff later.

  “I heard you usually work in the teleportation facility?” Yubi asked.

  Kain nodded his hand. “Usually, yes. After the sabotage, the Leader issued an order that everyone on the compound be scanned, to weed out any more traitors. More scans meant more staff, so some operators from the facility are here temporarily.”

  “When did he issue that order?”

  “Nine days ago, almost immediately after the sabotage was discovered. We could’ve gotten it done in a day but… well, if a noble wants to take his time, who are we to force him?”

  Five consonants and six vowels… Yubi started nodding his head before he remembered to do it with his hand. “That- the sabotage I mean, is actually what I’m here to discuss. First, the diagram to Kassia… Someone died, if I recall. How did that happen?”

  “Recoil, obviously.”

  “What is that?” Seeing Kain’s face, he added “yes, yes, the amnesia is bad. Please just explain in more detail.”

  “Right, er… A teleportation diagram has a part called a target identifier. Basically, the diagram looks for other diagrams with the same identifier and to send things to. If it can’t find one, then all the mana it took looking floods back into the one powering the diagram. The sabotage was done on the target identifying Yaldabia from Kassia, which is far enough that the recoil was bound to be lethal.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Yubi imagined lightning shooting from a diagram. “Okay, makes sense. I’m told you saw the one who did it?”

  “Yes. I saw chief operator Rioshkaltis enter the room. Then I saw him leave just before the envoy to welcome the Kassian ambassador arrived. The ones after him didn’t have time to break the diagram, so unfortunately the chief must’ve done it.”

  “Unfortunately?”

  “Yes. The facility has been in shambles since his arrest. It turned out his dedication was responsible for more of our smooth running than anyone knew.”

  “Hmm… is it possible there was someone else in the room before Rio entered?”

  “No. The room is locked when the diagram isn't being used or worked on. Another operator was in there earlier and he locked the door when he left."

  “Is it possible the diagram was already damaged when Rio went in?”

  “Again, no. The reason that operator went in was to guide away someone else returning from Kassia, so it must have been working then.”

  “Hmm… and you saw all of this?”

  “Yes, I was assigned to be part of the envoy and I showed up early. So I saw the operator come out, I saw the chief, and I was present for the malfunction. I think the usage before the chief went in should probably also be in the facility’s records if you want to check.”

  “No need.” Yubi sighed. It was working, Rio went in, and it wasn’t working. “And there’s reason to think the damage to the diagram was the result of intentional sabotage?”

  “The diagram, really the floor, showed signs of discontinuous rotation at multiple locations. That doesn’t happen naturally.”

  “Right… right… so it seems like only Rio could’ve done it… You said you were scanning everyone in the fortress?”

  “Yes, though not many people have been scanned yet.”

  “Has Rio been scanned?”

  “Yes, he was the first after the order went out.”

  “If you still have the results from the detector, could I see them?”

  “Um… we should have that. I’ll go get the papers…” He left and returned. “Here are the results from everyone scanned after the order was issued. They’re all normal: just background noise with no sign of mana fibers.”

  Yubi picked up the papers. “Who all has been scanned?”

  “Most are healers from the medical wing. That was a busy day, half of them came in the morning and then the other half all showed up in the evening. There are also some officials like the head general, the head diagramist. I should be in there too…”

  Yubi noted Kyuzu’s, Gor’s, and Toi’s names on the papers. One page stood out from the rest. “What’s going on here?”

  “Oh, the Librarian? I was surprised too. Apparently she’s got some sort of curse that makes her release a ton of mana passively.”

  “Would it be possible to see the mana fiber through all this noise?”

  “Yes. Even with that much mana, a spike would be quite pronounced.”

  “Hmm…” Yubi handed back the papers. “So Rio did it, but he’s not talking to demons. Any idea why he would do something like this?”

  “No idea. The only part of this that makes sense is that he’s not talking to demons. I know what I saw, though. And I wasn’t the only one who saw him at the facility, just the one who saw him go in the room.”

  “Right…” Yubi thanked him for his time, turned, and left.

  So… I guess… Rio’s the one… All that’s left to do now is ask him again… Then he’ll lie to me again… and his body will be taken by a demon… Fuck. One of the only friends I have in this world is some sort of inscrutable lawbreaker. Why did I ever trust this guy?

  After closing the door to the scanning station, Rik turned to Yubi.

  “Rio is that big guy who always talks to Ya at church, right? The one you sit next to?”

  Do I stand out that much? “Yes?”

  “Then the man in there is lying.”

  Yubi blinked. “What?”

  “What he said is impossible so it can’t be true.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I heard about the sabotage. It was on the last day of prayer, right?”

  “Yes, but Rio wasn’t at church at the time when the sabotage happened.”

  “Of course he wasn’t. I saw him outside Toi’s office that day.”

  “You… you… what?”

  “I was waiting outside for Toi to come back from an errand. Then Rio showed up and we sat for a while. Then Toi came back and Rio got mad saying Toi had made Rio miss church for no reason.”

  “So… at the time the sabotage happened… Rio was at Toi’s office?” That’s Rio’s story!

  “Yeah, so that guy in there couldn’t have seen him.”

  “Wait, didn’t you say Toi never left the fortress?”

  “No, just that he wasn’t gone long. He wasn’t gone long enough to get to the city, let alone time to make the full walk back.”

  Toi said he was in his office the whole day… “What was Toi doing while he was gone?”

  “A personal errand. I don’t know the details, he says it’s a private thing… Are you okay?”

  Yubi looked as if he’d seen a ghost. His legs were weak and the blood had drained from his face. “Yes, just… My head is beginning to hurt.”