The True Festival

Elsewhere.

Richard returned to Blue Lake Manor.

Since the return journey was not as urgent as the outbound one, Richard did not use spells to travel at full speed. Instead, he took the more comfortable carriage back.

During the carriage ride, he had time to review the entire inquiry meeting.

To be honest, the inquiry meeting had been much simpler than he had expected, leaving many of the things he had prepared unused.

That was a good thing, since it saved him considerable effort.

But on the other hand, it was somewhat regrettable. Since he had not had the chance to use what he had prepared, he had less time to demonstrate himself, and many loopholes had not been properly patched.

In some people's eyes, there were bound to be lingering doubts. Who knew when they might dig it all up again for another inquiry, making him go through the trouble twice.

That said, objectively speaking, the inquiry meeting had gone rather smoothly.

That was because the one who had launched the attack was Qiekafu—an inspector from headquarters, naturally opposed in status to the local branch.

As a result, the people organizing the Truth Society branch had been somewhat inclined toward Richard, reducing the difficulty.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Qiekafu had died on the spot.

Richard was not sure whether it had been due to Qiekafu's own physical condition or whether someone else had tampered with things.

This inquiry meeting had not been as simple as it appeared.

Richard sighed inwardly.

After sighing, though, his thoughts became clear.

Perhaps the inquiry meeting involved secrets he did not know about, but for the moment, they had nothing to do with him. Having passed the inquiry, he was safe for a period of time and could devote himself fully to researching and manufacturing Nuclear