By Zephyria The Council’s assembly hall was solemn yet noisy. The administrators were busy until the very end, putting their heads together and reviewing documents.
At the back of the hall, newspaper employees who had entered after thorough security checks occupied their seats with pens and notebooks in hand. For some reason, their expressions were all lackluster.
Shorendo, the deputy director of the central branch, who had received the final briefing materials, stood in front of the podium in the assembly hall. He tapped the small Magic Circle in front of the Amplifier to activate the spell. Then, he checked the voice that echoed with an “Ah―” sound.
The councilors and aides who had been chatting stopped talking and leaned back in their chairs.
“Incident classification number 999-PEN-1093. I will proceed with the briefing on the cause and final investigation results of the party house explosion in Pentagov.”
Hugo and the battalion commanders, who had entered the hall almost last, found their seats. But today, Hugo’s position was a bit special.
It was not the senior commander’s seat he usually sat in, but the front row of the assembly hall. It was a somewhat burdensome seat assigned to major observers, witnesses, or authorized suspects.
He nodded forward, and Shorendo, receiving the signal, began the briefing.
“August 21, Laina Rogia Year 999. 6:25 PM local time in Pentagov. A large fire broke out with a series of explosions during a banquet at a party house near Lake Carad. As a result of this incident, 23 attendees, including the host of the banquet, Count Duncan, died, and a total of 56 people were seriously and lightly injured….”
The image of the building burning at the time was displayed in front of the assembly hall. Then, the scene shifted to a photograph of the floor of the equipment room after the fire was extinguished, magnified.
“As a result of intensively examining the degree of carbonization and combustion patterns at the scene of the incident, the power equipment room located on the second floor of the party house was determined to be the initial ignition point. It was confirmed that some damage occurred to the cylinder joints supplying Magic Power energy, causing the liquid and gas to leak, and the liquid that flowed to the floor came into contact with other cylinders, causing an explosion.”
The incident differed from previous explosion incidents in that it occurred in a party house, not an industrial complex or a special facility filled with firearms and gas. Considering that the point of occurrence was in the middle of the city and that the main victims were high-ranking nobles who were in charge of the Imperial Faction, public opinion initially leaned towards the certainty of a terrorist attack.
The problem was that no traces to prove terrorism were found at the scene.
“As a result of analyzing the distribution and types of debris during the investigation process, no substances or chemical reactions used as raw materials for explosives were detected. In addition, numerous testimonies were secured from attendees that the lighting facilities on the ceiling flickered unstably around 10 to 15 minutes before the incident occurred.”
In the end, the incident, which had been rumored to be a terrorist attack targeting nobles, leaned towards being an accident caused by equipment problems.
However, the bereaved families were nobles with great family and wealth, and they strongly insisted that the incident was a terrorist attack, not an accident.
They argued that the situation, in which high-ranking Imperial Faction nobles gathered in large numbers and an explosion occurred in a building that was not even old, was too blatant.
To support their claims, they indiscriminately ferreted out potential suspects. The first to be mentioned was the Noble Faction, with whom they had clashed over political ideologies.
When the arrows were aimed at them, the Noble Faction mentioned the fact that rioters had been arrested by the Council several times in the past as the main culprits in the noble murder case.
Naturally, the next target became the rebels and rioters who were said to be everywhere. As a result, all criminal organizations in the vicinity of Pentagov at the time were repatriated to the Council for investigation. No clear links were found among them, but a large-scale cleanup was carried out due to social criticism and condemnation.
In the meantime, an unexpected target was mentioned as the perpetrator of the terrorist attack. It was Duke Agrizendro, a key figure in the Imperial Faction led by Duncan, who had fortunately escaped the accident.
The Duke’s public reputation and perception were unparalleled, so the initial reaction was mostly disbelief. However, as it became known that only the Duke and his relatives had arrived late at the banquet hall, rumors began to spread that he had betrayed the same faction and plotted a conspiracy.
The situation gradually fell into a maze, and only indiscriminate suspicion was repeated tediously.
At that time, one person quietly opened his mouth. It was a servant who had checked the equipment room last under Richard Duncan’s instructions.
Shorendo took a sip of water, took his eyes off the script, and continued.
“The possibility of terrorism cannot be ruled out, so we conducted additional investigations focusing on people who had access to the equipment room on the day of the incident to secure eyewitness accounts and statements. In the process, we were able to hear the testimony of the Count’s servant who had last inspected the power equipment room, and he said that he had encountered a suspicious person in front of the equipment room about 5 minutes before the incident occurred.”
The servant confessed that he had kept his mouth shut because he was afraid of being suspected of being a terrorist if it was known that he was the last one to enter the equipment room. And he added that he was able to save his life thanks to the suspicious person, so he had a lot of thoughts about whether it was right to report someone who might be his benefactor.
Originally, he had even thought of not opening his mouth in the end, but he was very concerned about the situation in which the respected Duke was being unfairly suspected.
“Based on the statement of the witness, we compared the list of attendees, but the witness’s memory was unclear, so we were unable to pinpoint an impression that exactly matched among the three people who were narrowed down. However, we identified one person whose clothing partially matched, and the tie worn by the late Viscount Ronteno on the day of the incident was the only one with the same pattern and color. However, Viscount Ronteno and his wife….”
The Viscount and his wife had both attended the party and died, and their heir son was injured while in the first-floor hall. The majority opinion was that, logically, they would not have led a terrorist attack at the risk of their family’s lives. In the end, the servant’s statement lost its effect, and there were even suspicions that the real culprit had leaked false information to avoid the investigation.
“It was determined that there was no suspicion, considering that the servant entered the equipment room due to the late Count Duncan’s sudden instructions, and that there had already been unstable lighting conditions before that.
In addition, although the party house building itself was not old, the equipment ledger records for the past three years remained blank. Furthermore, during the investigation process, we confirmed that safety measures such as traces of water leakage due to corrosion of the pipes and management of the wiring box coverings were not properly implemented.
Therefore, as a result of comprehensively reviewing all of these matters, the Council’s counter-terrorism response team and fire accident investigation team determined that there was insufficient physical evidence to view the party house explosion as a terrorist attack. As a result of discussions among the Council’s councilors and senior commanders, the incident was ruled as an ‘accident caused by inadequate equipment management.’
We sincerely apologize to the Imperial citizens and bereaved families who have been deeply anxious during the long investigation, identification, and review period.”
Shorendo, who was standing next to the podium, bowed nearly 90 degrees. Now that the Legion Commander had lost some of his authority, Hugo could see that the shoulders of the deputy director, who was acting on his behalf, looked particularly heavy.
The shutters flashed several times at Shorendo, who was bowing, but it didn’t last long. It was probably because he had already been photographed several times during the investigation.
As the noise subsided, Shorendo straightened his posture and stood before the platform once more. Just then, a newspaper employee from the back of the conference hall raised his hand and asked, as if shouting:
“What happened to Duke Agrizendro’s charges?”
In an instant, all eyes in the hall turned towards him. Then, people’s gazes shifted to the front row of the hall.
Hugo, with his arms crossed, only stared straight ahead, ignoring the gazes fixed on him.
Shorendo stared intently at the newspaper employee with a seemingly colder gaze. After a brief clearing of his throat, he slowly continued.
“This Council will take this incident as an opportunity to fully re-examine the facility inspection and safety management audit system, and will implement strengthened administrative orders to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future.
Furthermore, in the case of Duke Agrizendro, we have confirmed that he had a meeting scheduled with His Majesty the Emperor on the morning of the incident by order, and immediately after its conclusion, he was involved in a carriage accident on a main road within Pentagov while moving to the party house.”
The scene that Shorendo gestured to showed the scene Hugo had instructed his attendants to film at the time of the carriage accident.
“This accident was corroborated by numerous eyewitness accounts mentioning the location, time, and circumstances. In addition, Duke Agrizendro’s side submitted on-site photographic evidence to verify his alibi for the circumstances before and after the incident, and it was determined to be an unforeseen accident without intent, and the charges were ultimately dropped. We ask that you refrain from reckless speculation so that His Excellency the Duke, who always serves and dedicates himself to the Empire, does not suffer any further damage.”
Shorendo, having finished his answer, looked around the room. His expression seemed to ask if there was anything more to say.
The newspaper employee from the aristocratic faction, who had boldly asked the question, quietly lowered his hand. As the situation seemed to be wrapping up, Shorendo adjusted his tie and nodded, concluding.
“If there are no further questions, I will conclude the final investigation results briefing.”