Chapter 17: Answers

The Nightmare Realm
Dread World

"I've stopped your scheme, Melantha," said Dorothy. "Dream Magic: Glamour World's Bonanza of Spiked Pies. Though Dorothy was in her sister's spell, she could use her Glamour World spells to her advantage. Lemon pies with spikes appeared and careened towards Melantha.

Melantha sneered, "Whatever! I still got paid for half the job! It's still enough. Nightmare Magic: Dread World's Greatest Fears."

Dorothy scowled as images appeared showing Dorothy things that hadn't happened-losing her friendships, her place as a Captain, and losing her squad. She shook her head. "That won't trick me!" Dorothy imagined a trampoline and jumped up towards where Melantha hovered in the air to keep out of her way. She summoned more pies with spikes.

They had been going back and forth for a while, and Dorothy already expended much of her mana, but she needed to beat Melantha. It wasn't the matter of saving the Black Bulls. It was a matter of her pride. She should have done something about her sister years ago, but her love for her sister blinded her.

"Dream Magic: Abrupt Wake-Up Call." Dorothy had often used the spell to wake people up from sleep, including her sister. It would jolt them out of her sister's spell.

Melantha grinned. "That won't work on me anymore, Dorothy!"

Dorothy grinned. "Dream Magic: Squad Roulette." This was one of her spells that she didn't use often as she can summon dream versions of her squadmates and use their spells. Kirsch's Cherry Blossom Magic, Levi's Barrier Magic, Protobe's Earth Magic, Cornelia's Rain Magic, and the others targeted Melantha. She couldn't dodge them all.

Melantha screeched, being soaked with rain and cut by the sharpened cherry blossom petals.

Clearing her ears, Dorothy said, "I always hated when you do that. Can't you just scream normal?" Her legs felt like lead. Her mana was nearly depleted, so she needed to finish this fight immediately. She said, "Dream Magic: Good Night, Sleep Tight!"

"Nightmare Magic: Night Fright!"

The two opposing but similar spells clashed in the Nightmare Realm. Dorothy grunted as she used a very little amount of magic to push the spell towards Melantha. Her willpower overcame Melantha and knocked her sister out. Melantha fell to the ground.

Dorothy collapsed, panting heavily. She had no mana to get herself out of here or protect her from falling asleep here. She'd die here with her sister. They were born together and they would die together. Seems apt. She crawled a little way to her sister and put her hand on her sister's hand.

"I still love you, Mel. But god, you're such a pain." Dorothy said.

Her eyes closed and sleep began to overtake her.

And that's when Dorothy sensed something.

Dark Magic.

"THERE, CAPTAIN!" That was Luck.

Dorothy giggled and let the sleep take her. Backup had arrived.

The Waking World

The Clover Kingdom
Somewhere in the Forsaken Realm
A Forest
1 Hour After the Sleep Curse Faded

Kirsch paced as Captain Yami cut a hole with his Dark Dimension Slash through the tiny pinpoint of mana that Luck sensed to get into the Nightmare Realm to help out Captain Dorothy. The others had double bound the enemies that caused this mess in the first place and Finral waited for permission from Marx to open a portal straight to the dungeons of Magic Knight Headquarters.

Zora sat against a tree, watching Kirsch, which was also very distracting because Kirsch also wanted to fuss over Zora's health too. There were just so many people to worry about. Kirsch needed a vacation badly.

"They're gonna find your Captain. Come and sit next to me," said Zora, calmly eating some of Mrs. Pappitson's stew.

"I know. I know. It's just William said that she definitely overextended herself. What if she passes out in the middle of a fight? She does that, you know," said Kirsch, panicky. Kirsch fought his nervous energy and sat next to his partner. He took Zora's hand and squeezed it.

Moments later, there was a portal, not unlike Finral's Spatial portals, opened up and Yami carried Dorothy out of the Nightmare Realm. Luck carried Dorothy's twin sister. Kirsch stood up and ran to where Yami held the petite captain.

"Captain Dorothy," said Kirsch, checking her temperature. He bounced in place, not knowing what he should do.

"She's just sleeping off the mana exhaustion, kid," said Yami. "We'll get Owen to look after her. So, do we have all the troublemakers?"

"Yep!" Asta yelled, who used his Anti-Magic to keep them unable to use their magic. "All of them. Man, are they in trouble or what?"

Kirsch sniffled. "Let's get ready to get to the Capital." My poor Captain.

The Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Royal Capital
Magic Knights Headquarters - Interrogation
That Evening

Damnatio normally didn't sit in on Magic Knight's interrogations, as he usually received the transcripts of them for the court cases when the criminals came to Magic Parliament's High Courts. However, this had been an unusual case. There had been things that he discovered that unsettled Damnatio greatly and so he stood by as Marx used his spell on the enemies while Scribe Wizards quickly recorded everything in writing. Sal and Fuegoleon fed Marx questions to ask.

While it was easy to ascertain the motivations behind the people with the specific grudges against the Black Bulls' squad members, Melantha was the person of interest with all the corroborating information they needed.

"For the record state your full name, and magic affinity," Marx said to Melantha.

Under the spell, Melantha, who looked nearly identical to Captain Unsworth, said, in a monotone voice, "I am Melantha Unsworth of the Witches' Forest and I have Nightmare Magic."

Marx nodded. "What is your occupation?"

"Mercenary."

"Who hired you to place the Black Bulls in a sleeping curse and aiding those with grudges against the members of the squad?" Marx asked.

Melantha's mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out.

Damnatio crossed his arms and watched. He already knew the answer, or at least, he thought he did, and wanted Melantha to say it before he confirmed it for Fuegoleon and Sal.

"Sir, I don't think she can say it," said Marx, looking at Fuegoleon.

Sal interjected. "She might have made a binding vow to not speak the person's name. We had better stop the questioning or it'll invoke the curse and then she'll die. We'll have to figure a way around it."

Fuegoleon nodded. "Very well. We have enough information to prosecute these people. Right, Lord Damnatio?"

"We do. We can return to the matter of the person who purchased Miss Melantha's services another time," said Damnatio.

Sal gave him a suspicious glare but then turned to her husband. "He's right. It's been a long few days. Let's get them down to holding."

Damnatio left the Magic Knight to their matters and headed back to his office in the Magic Parliament building. It made sense whoever used Melantha and those with grudges against the Black Bulls would have covered their bases and hid their identity. The fact that there must be a binding vow curse on Melantha meant his suspicion was correct.

And he couldn't prosecute unless they had an iron-clad case and Melantha's side of the story.

"Hey! Wait up, Damnatio!"

Sal ran to catch up to him. "Tell me, what did you find? I know you know who paid Melantha. Tell me."

"I cannot," said Damnatio. "Though I'd love to see you fail, this is too important and too dangerous for more than one person to know. When I have the case sealed tight with no room for error, then I will talk. Not before."

Sal scowled. "Who is it?"

"No."

"Damnatio, it's dangerous for you too," said Sal.

"Spare me your bleeding heart, peasant," said Damnatio. "I am the head of the Magic Parliament and the Highest Judge in the land."

"So was your father," said Sal, without missing a beat. "And look what happened to him. But fine, do it on your own. I'll just have to break the binding vow curse on Melantha to find the answer."

"Do as you will."

"I will."

The Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Royal Capital
Magic Knights Headquarters - Captains' Meeting Room
That Evening

"Settle down, settle down," said Fuegoleon, raising his hand to calm down the Captains and Vice-Captains. The only one missing was Dorothy as she was still in the infirmary. "I know that we've all had a rough few days, but we have the information."

"So, who hired Melantha?" Yuno asked.

"That is the only thing we don't know," said Fuegoleon, sighing. "There's a binding vow curse on her, so she can't speak the person's name or tell her side of the story. We're working on it."

"Then, what did we find out?" Kaiser asked.

"This is a lot to take in, so be patient. We start with Prudence Esmond," said Fuegoleon. "She had a grudge against Zora for "stealing Kirsch." Her plan was to kill Zora and then swoop in and try to get Kirsch to agree to marry her again. Of course that wasn't going to happen. Next, we have Lady Camille Swallow of the Swallow Noble House, David of the Golden Dawn's grandmother. The Swallow Noble House is descended from the Swallowtail Noble House, aka the house that Secre originally came from before she had been the First Wizard King's assistant. Lady Swallow feared that Secre would come to claim the family fortune. Of course, Secre has no intention of ever doing that."

"I'll tell David," said Yuno, solemnly.

"Thank you," said Fuegoleon, nodding. "Then, there's Harvey Murano and Barrett Lee. Two businessmen who had a grudge against Magna and Luck, who destroyed their business. However, Barrett Lee's wife took the insurance money we sent. It really could have been solved if they just spoke to the Accounting Office. Then there's Lord Calmreich and Lady Liliane Vaude, who targeted Finral for ruining their plan to have Langris and Finesse get married. Lord Ford of Ford City targeted Yami for the accused crime of causing his daughter's suicide."

"Lies," said Charlotte, hissing.

"Yes, a lie," said Fuegoleon. "You and Jack made it obvious that the girl had some very serious mental health issues that needed professional help, which she didn't get. Then we have three cases of greed. Thomas Legolant, Roger Adlai and Alice Walker targeted Henry, Gauche, and Grey respectively over inheritance. My father and Lord Tormenta are looking into the inheritance laws in those cases to see who the money belongs to and will make the appropriate filings. Then, there was a young man named Brandon who thought that Gordon's father killed his father, but it was a very bad case of pneumonia that couldn't be cured by magic. Lord Barron Silva, the great-uncle of Nozel, Nebra, Solid and Noelle, targeted Noelle out of spite for her success. Lastly, there is a man claiming the name Reeve Enoteca. Vice-Captain Shipley did a blood test but it was inconclusive if he is Vanessa's biological father or not. Either he is and he just wanted revenge against the Witch Queen by hurting Vanessa or he was a creep that Vanessa turned down."

"All these things could have been solved with talking or through lawyers," said Yuno. "But what about Asta and Charmy?"

Fuegoleon said, "There was no one haunting either of their nightmares like the others. Charmy might have just been collateral as she was a Black Bull. And frankly, anyone in nobility who hasn't changed their minds still hates Asta. It's likely it might be a member of the Kira Clover family who hired Melantha. That information doesn't leave this room, but we have no proof at the moment."

"Well, what's the next step?" Jack asked. "Who do I gotta cut up?"

Fuegoleon said, "For now, we go about our business as Magic Knight but remain extra vigilant and guarded. We must limit negative interactions with the public as well as mind who we anger in our duties. Grudges against Magic Knights are inevitable."

"You'll let us know who paid Dotty's sister?" Yami asked.

"I will, when I know myself," replied Fuegoleon. The Captains and the Vice-Captains all looked very contrite, but he knew that they'd listen to him. "Dismissed."

The Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Royal Capital
Magic Knights Headquarters - Dungeons
The Next Morning

"Well, I didn't see this coming," said Sal, grimacing at the sight of twelve people dead, the twelve people they caught yesterday. "Any wonder that Melantha is still alive."

Fuegoleon rubbed his temples. "Mother, what can you tell? How'd they die?"

Sal's mother-in-law Lady Solace, crouched by the body of Prudence Esmond in one of the cells, said, "Well, as far as I can tell, they just dropped dead. Eyes and lips look normal for a corpse. And any of the normal injection shots on a body are clear. A real autopsy will have to be done for certain. Maybe there's a curse involved, but I doubt we'll find anything."

"It's suspect, Ma," said Sal.

"All but Melantha die at the same time? It's very," said Solace, grimacing. "Melantha still has information that we need, so at least, she's not dead. I wouldn't want to explain to Dorothy why her sister died in custody."

"And I'll have to explain things to Langris and Finesse and others," said Fuegoleon. "And Dorothy is still sleeping. Can you handle the autospies? We'll need a thorough report for Damnatio."

"Of course, I know the perfect person. Jonna Agrippa is a good pathologist," said Lady Solace. "But I think you ought to move Melantha elsewhere to be secure."

Fuegoleon sighed and Sal wanted so much to hug him to make him feel better.

Sal said, "We will. Maybe the safest place to keep her is in Dorothy's Glamour World."

"Good idea," said Fuegoleon. "One of us will have to have a dream talk with Dorothy about it."

Lady Solace nodded. "Excellent. Well, I'll handle this, dears. Why don't you go take a nap?"

Sal grinned.

Fuegoleon sighed again. "Mother, we have work."

"And rest is important to a healthy work-life balance," said Lady Solace, shooing them out of the dungeons.

Sal grabbed Fuegoleon by his (only) arm and said, "Let's go. Leave Ma to work."

"Fine. But Mother?"

"Yes?"

"Please keep this quiet for now."

"Of course."

~to be continued