Leo frowned, his face clearly asking what on earth Elias was talking about. Elias just shrugged his shoulders.
It was about time to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"Elias, I heard you've been frequenting the restricted zones a lot. I'd like to hear what you've found out. We need new material now."
"Ah, welcome to the club. I was itching to talk about it anyway."
Elias glanced around, then pulled a single map from a large, haphazard pile in the corner and spread it out on the table. He snatched up a stray piece of graphite with his bare hand and drew a circle on the map.
"The barriers are the problem."
"The barriers?"
"Their suitability rating is too low. They're currently classified as low-grade, but I've already found seven areas that should have mid-grade barriers. See?"
A student stood up and followed Elias's gaze, leaning over the map.
"There are currently fifteen low-grade and five mid-grade... so you're saying it should be eight and twelve respectively?"
"Right. That insane number like fifteen low-grade is a problem born from trying to cover everything with barriers on a limited budget. As you know, maintaining barriers is an incredibly expensive endeavor."
Maintaining a standard-sized low-grade barrier costs ten million won per day.
Over thirty days, that's three hundred million. Over a year, thirty-six billion.
If all twenty-one restricted zones were low-grade, the annual maintenance cost would be about 76.6 billion won, which feels like an amount the government could reasonably handle.
But the moment you jump to mid-grade, the cost becomes fifty million won per day.
According to Elias's survey, there would be twelve mid-grade zones. Maintaining twelve mid-grade barriers for a year would cost about 219 billion won. And of course, after surveying the mid-grade zones, you might encounter cases among them that require high-grade barriers.
In the novel, Elias's standards weren't excessive.
He could have set the bar higher, but instead, he only pinpointed areas where compromise was impossible for improvement.
"And the problem is doubled because they don't clean inside the barriers. Areas that could have held with low-grade now barely require mid-grade barriers to contain the issue. All because they don't do the damn cleaning."
That's also a budget issue. To be precise, it's because the budget wasn't allocated appropriately, as the pride of the Imperial mages was hurt by being asked to do such miscellaneous cleaning tasks.
Melvin asked hesitantly.
"The Imperial family wouldn't put people in danger like that... Could it be they don't have the money...?"
"They have it."
Elias shook his head firmly and flicked his finger.
"But they need to line their pockets, so there's no money left for safety."
"...Why do you think that?"
"Passing a bill like the 'Act on Using Family Names as Surnames' but claiming there's no money to properly maintain barriers? That's a joke. They wasted parliamentary sessions arguing over this nonsense, even got a budget to massively replace nameplates and administrative records all over the place. Creating and passing such a useless bill is just their way of saying everyone should grab their share."
"Elias..."
Leo sighed at Elias's rough choice of words.
The expression was crude, but it was the truth.
Not long after the Empire was established, that bill was enacted for some incomprehensible reason, prioritizing magical lineage over the governed territory.
That's why some people's surnames now use their family name instead of a place name or country name.
But now it's neither here nor there, with more people just having dropped the place name from the old convention.
In the novel, Elias had already harshly criticized the Federation Council and the Imperial Diet—the equivalents of the upper and lower houses—for allocating budget to such pointless places.
'Hearing it directly is fresh and good.'
Even though Leo looks worried he might say this outside the meeting, as far as I know, no one dies for that.
Anyway, Elias took issue with the barrier suitability ratings he investigated while touring the restricted zones and nailed the Federation Council.
At the same time, he splashed the facts about magical beast damage and incorrect barrier suitability ratings across the media in big headlines.
Originally, the media didn't carry negative stories about the royal family, especially the Imperial household, but Elias made it possible by catching a major weakness.
With public opinion boiling over and the Federation Council looking ready to erupt, they finally rushed to pass a bill mandating internal cleaning of all barriers within the Empire once a month.
Thanks to that, the number of people harmed by magical beasts dropped significantly.
Elias, who seemed to be biting his tongue somewhat at Leo's call, muttered quietly.
"The Imperial Diet... they're just the Federation Council's lackeys. Forget them, we need to nail the Public Safety Headquarters too."
"Yeah. Do that."
Leo nodded absently in reply.
"But that's not the urgent one. It's the Federation Council. There's one thing they need to know right now. They have to pass a budget bill to fix all those damn barriers."
This side is going exactly like the original.
This much is enough.
I nodded at his words and asked.
"Eli, which zones did you say you've been to?"
"Too many. I've been to all the low-grade ones except Mephen and one other, and I went to the one high-grade zone on the day I broke my leg. Now it's time to tour the five mid-grade ones. Ah, Leo, how was Mephen?"
"Normal. Except for the insects being contaminated."
"Insects~?"
Instantly, Elias's face hardened.
The students also looked shocked.
"Insects are contaminated too? There's been no such case."
"Did it spread to other animals?"
"...But thinking about it, there's no theoretical reason it couldn't happen."
Elias muttered.
"Insects are contaminated. Definitely nothing like that where I went."
Meaning there were no contaminated insects in the fourteen places Elias visited. This part is the same as the novel.
Elias, with a stiff face, sank into thought, then shook his head and asked.
"...No. But why are you asking where I've been?"
"I wanted to ask if you'd seen contaminated insects elsewhere. Since you haven't, let's move on. I have something to say."
"What is it? I'm curious."
"I think the restricted zones were used as testing grounds. Narké and Leo think the same."
While the students looked at each other, not immediately understanding, Elias's eyes widened in surprise.
"...That's a surprisingly sharp shift in perspective."
"What are you talking about, Lucas? I feel like I just heard something shocking?"
One student let out a disbelieving laugh.
Elias smiled faintly and stroked his chin.
"This wasn't the time to debate barrier suitability. We installed barriers to protect people, but instead, those protective tools created a place to experiment freely."
I plan to use the barrier suitability issue too, but I'll wait until he organizes his thoughts.
He lost focus in his eyes and tapped the table with his finger.
"It makes sense. There's no reason it couldn't be. If I were Pleroma, I'd also exploit that segregation policy in reverse."
He shifted his gaze to me.
"But here's the problem. Where, and more importantly, how are they continuously breaching the barriers? The moment an unauthorized object or a lifeform above a certain size passes through a barrier, an alert is triggered. It even delivers an unbearable shock."
"What if all twenty-one restricted zones were their residences from the start? Or we could assume there was a passage there even before the barriers were installed."
Melvin's jaw practically hit the floor.
The corner of Elias's mouth, which had been set in a frighteningly stiff expression, slowly twisted upward.
"So you're saying there's a traitor in the Imperial family."
At his changed tone, everyone's eyes turned to Elias's face. Elias made a sour expression and reverted to his usual tone.
"Even if not the Imperial family, at least someone who's secured a position in the Imperial government. Right? They argued that those 'little experiments' were a dangerous signal and got barriers installed. After that, they could let loose and experiment to their heart's content."
Leo took out and unfolded the materials he had prepared.
"Right. So I looked into who initially argued that barriers needed to be installed."
"Oh, when did you find this stuff?"
"Before visiting your hospital room. Florian Amalie, Albert Ernst, Winfred Hinz. These are the people who actively pushed the agenda."
Elias nodded and asked.
"All Federation Councilors?"
"Yes. And Esther Friedrich, Wiltrud Albrecht, Sander Ludovica, Werner Strauch, these were absent."
"Not the unpaid lower house, but the upper house is doing this? Regardless of any Pleroma connection, they're typical tax thieves."
"...That may be... Rudolf Heinrich, Henning Berend, Trude Leopold, these are the main opposition figures. They all stated their position that the budget was excessive."
"These guys are something else too..."
Leo pretended not to hear Elias and flipped to the next page of the materials.
"Among journalists, those who actively covered the barrier issue are Astrid Metzler, Dietmar Peschke. Among scholars, Friedrich Schuler."
"We have to consider these people's Imperial connections too."
Elias, scanning the list Leo presented, grinned.
"This is getting fun. Lu, is this what you meant by screwing over the Imperial family?"
"I don't remember saying that."
"Whatever. So, what do you plan to do now?"
* * *
"We express our gratitude to His Highness Crown Prince Leonard Bayern and Lord Nikolaus for their efforts on behalf of Mephen."
The Baron handed over a plaque of appreciation with a confident smile, the corners of his mouth firmly upturned, and offered a handshake with his other hand. Shutter sounds and flashes erupted from the journalists the Baron had invited.
After briefly answering the journalists' questions, we quickly left the spot.
"What are your plans after this...?"
"We're returning to school."
Leo answered the journalist with a simple smile and moved to the warp location prepared by the Baron.
Thanks to Baron Mephen immediately telegraphing the school yesterday, we moved to Mephen again today, Tuesday. But since it's a weekday, we can't skip school, so we came at dawn, exchanged brief greetings, and are now returning.
"Why was the end-of-month evaluation postponed?"
"Hmm... that's confidential for now."
Today is the last day of October, but due to the sudden postponement of the end-of-month evaluation, we have to attend classes at school.
It's somewhat fortunate.
Because right now, I'm carrying around a bottle containing contaminated mosquitoes in my bag. I arrived here early before going to the Baron's mansion to collect them.
'I want to throw it away immediately.'
Anyway, I now have the time to take this to the meeting place.
And so, at dawn, I placed the collection container I had brought earlier on the table.
Elias showed obvious interest.
"Wow, what's this? That's no trick of the light."
"The mosquito from yesterday."
Melvin and several other students licked their parched lips slightly as they looked at the mosquitoes filling numerous bottles inside, turning them black. Melvin pointed at the collection container with courage.
"Um... but why is this, Lucas?"
"Let's try breeding mosquitoes from now on."
Melvin looked at me with a soulless gaze, as if he'd heard thunder from a clear sky.
"Why...? Why...?"
"Why? To get a bill proposed."
—-----------
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