A few days later, the Research Institute Director sent word.
The spies in question had apparently met with sudden deaths.
This was unexpected news that caught even me off guard.
Reports indicated there had been no prior symptoms; they had simply stopped breathing as if falling into a deep sleep.
This was a situation I couldn't ignore. To uncover the truth, I made my way to the Research Institute at once.
As soon as I teleported into the basement, the Director came rushing toward me. She bowed her head repeatedly in apology.
"I am terribly sorry, Demon King! I kept watch over them every moment without once looking away, and yet...!"
"Do not trouble yourself. I likely wouldn't have been able to prevent it either."
I spoke to calm her down. This wasn't mere consolation—it was the absolute truth.
With the Director constantly monitoring them, every possible safeguard had been in place. There was no security posture more rigorous than that. Even if I had managed the spies myself with the utmost thoroughness, the outcome would likely have been the same.
This failure had been all but unavoidable. There was no reason to blame her. In fact, considering how little we knew, I should be praising her spirit and the effort she put into accepting the analysis in the first place.
The Director led me to an isolated room, her demeanor somewhat somber.
"It's this room... Please, come in."
In the center of the room, the spies lay side by side. I could sense no life reaction from them. They were dead, without a doubt.
Their expressions were unexpectedly peaceful. When I had last seen them, they were hysterical with fear and panic, yet no trace of that remained. To the naked eye, it truly looked as if they were simply asleep.
The Director stood beside them and placed a hand on the neck of one of the corpses.
"There are no external injuries, and I found no signs of illness or curses. For all intents and purposes, it was a sudden death."
"I see..."
I crouched before the bodies. There were indeed no external wounds. I couldn't sense any abnormal flow of magic power, either; they were truly nothing more than corpses now.
Next, I checked their eyes. As expected, there were no visible abnormalities there either. Even when I steeled my resolve and stared directly into them, I suffered no mental contamination. The sensation of being peered into was entirely absent.
No trace of a spell, and an unknown cause of death. How troublesome.
I pondered the situation as I examined the bodies one by one. The total lack of abnormalities was, in itself, unnatural. I couldn't determine the cause of death. It was far too incomprehensible. Every single corpse was in the exact same state, which only added to the mystery.
"They've beaten us to it. It seems the caster decided they were no longer useful."
These sudden deaths were almost certainly man-made. Whoever had tampered with their eyes must have disposed of them via remote operation. Though the nature of the spell remained a mystery, it was clear that someone had acted.
"Has the analysis revealed anything?"
"Yes. I have compiled the findings into a report."
Another version of the Director appeared in the doorway and handed me a stack of papers. Within were the detailed results of her analysis of the spies.
Her investigation was thorough, exploring the mystery from several different angles. According to her findings, a caster did indeed exist. The report stated that they had been observing us through the eyes of the spies.
It was the eye contact with that caster that had nearly caused my mental contamination. There were no other special effects to speak of. It seemed the spies were being used as nothing more than surveillance devices—tools someone used to scout the Demon King’s Domain.
Although we hadn't found a definitive lead yet, we were making steady progress. The volume of information we had gathered was significant. Narrowing down the possibilities was a vital part of the process. Furthermore, it wasn't as if she had performed any excessive human experimentation; it was highly unlikely that the Director's analysis had caused their deaths.
"I definitely felt something... a sort of rustling when we made eye contact," she said. "If only I could have pinned down their coordinates, it would have been perfect."
"Are you experiencing any mental instability?"
"Not at all! As you can see, I'm bursting with energy!"
"...That’s good to hear."
I felt a wave of inexplicable emotion as the Director answered with a bright smile. According to her notes, she had stared intently into the spies' eyes countless times. One entry even mentioned her staring back at them for a full day and night without blinking.
Knowing her, this was likely a literal fact rather than an exaggeration. It was clearly abnormal behavior, but then again, she had always been like this. It wasn't the result of mental contamination.
At any rate, I had a grasp of what we knew so far. There was no point in lingering. Although the enemy's identity and motives remained frustratingly obscure, rushing would accomplish nothing.
I organized my thoughts and gave the Director her orders.
"I'll leave the bodies with you for now. Continue the analysis. Contact me if anything changes."
"Understood! I'll make sure to get results, one way or another!"
The spies were dead, but the analysis was moving forward. We would just have to keep digging. Leaving the matter in the hands of the energetic Director, I returned to the Audience Chamber.