The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

"Is this spirit magic?"

Lilith was a little surprised when she saw Canlat's expression suddenly turning dull. Afterward, she stood up, got closer to Canlat, and waved her hand before the man's eyes. Then, after failing to get a reaction, she balled up her hand, pulled back her fist, and swung a fierce punch at Canlat's face. However, just before her fist made contact with the thief's face, she suddenly stopped.

The average person would have long since shut their eyes out of instinct when faced with such a situation. However, Canlat remained motionless, showing no intentions of closing his eyes even when Lilith had swung a fist at him. It was only after Lilith's fist had stopped in front of his face for a moment did his eyes blink out of necessity.

Alice had only used Consciousness Transformation to manipulate Canlat's consciousness and stop him from putting up any resistance. She did not try to stop his physiological functions, such as blinking and breathing. After all, her goal wasn't to kill him.

Of course, Alice had also noticed that when she used Consciousness Transformation on Canlat, her taboo had met with a little obstruction. It would seem that even though the police had searched and confiscated his personal belongings, Canlat still had a tool hidden on him that functioned to protect him from spirit magic.

Unfortunately, similar to Sylvia's Ring of Divine Wisdom, such tools were only powerful enough to defend against spirit magic under the taboo level. So, Alice easily broke through the defenses of Canlat's tool and invaded Canlat's spirit, causing him to lose consciousness temporarily.

After depriving Canlat of his consciousness, Alice added the brute-force command of "You cannot lie for the next ten minutes" to the end of Canlat's memory code. She didn't need to ask the thief many questions, so ten minutes were more than enough for her to get the information she wanted.

Alice also didn't plan to plant a command such as "You cannot lie from now on." After all, Canlat was only doing his job. Canlat might have to do some jail time because of his theft of a taboo book, but he would be released from prison sooner or later. If he couldn't lie for the rest of his life, he'd probably have no way of working as a thief anymore.

After planting the command in Canlat's mind, Alice released her control over Canlat's consciousness. Immediately, Canlat snapped out of his daze. Then, seemingly realizing he had been controlled using spirit magic just now, he revealed a horrified expression as he looked at Alice:

"What did you do to me?"

"Let's give it a test." Alice did not answer Canlat's question. Instead, she looked at the thief and asked, "The police should have searched you when they arrested you. Logically, apart from your clothes, you shouldn't have anything else on you. Yet, I could feel a clear resistance when I cast my magic on you just now… Do you have a magic tool on you that can stop spirit magic? If so, what is it?"

There was no way Canlat would dare to tell the truth. He was well aware that there was no way to avoid a prison sentence now that he had been arrested. Meanwhile, if the authorities learned that there was a magic tool within his body, they'd definitely retrieve it before they sent him to prison.

This meant that he would need to have a bone retrieved from his body, and that was not something Canlat wished to experience. Anyway, the magic bone was designed with powerful concealment properties. So long as he refused to speak, there was no way the average police officer could find it.

Unfortunately, despite Canlat's thoughts, the subsequent words that came out of his mouth clearly went against his wishes:

"There's a 'Scar Eating Bone' I asked an alchemist to make for me in the middle phalanx of my right hand. It can resist most spirit spells and curses. I had it implanted in me four years ago in Homier City, and it cost me roughly seven years of my salary. If I hadn't been saving for my retirement fund, I would have probably gone bankrupt after getting this implant."

After saying so, Canlat's complexion turned pale white. He had no idea what had just happened. He had originally thought to say that he didn't have any magic tools on him. Yet, just as he was about to speak, a strong desire to speak the truth appeared within him. Then, he started blabbering everything about his Scar Eating Bone.

Canlat was no fool. No fool could last in the thieving industry for such a long time. So, he immediately realized that Alice had used spirit magic on him.

When Sylvia saw Canlat's panicked look from the side, she fell into thought for a moment. For some reason, she had an inexplicable feeling that she had experienced a similar situation previously. Yet, when she looked back at her memories, she couldn't remember ever encountering such a situation before.

The Ring of Divine Wisdom she wore could protect her against most spirit spells. Moreover, she would rarely ever take it off her finger. As a result, she had never been affected by spirit magic since she acquired the ring.

I must be overthinking things. Sylvia shook her head and tossed the strange thought out of her mind. Then, she looked at Alice and said, "Your Highness Alice, please hurry and get into the main topic. We have arrested him without any evidence, so it's best if we get done with this situation as quickly as possible."

While it was true they had a magic crystal that could point out that Canlat was the person who stole Demon King's Shadow, it wasn't something that could be used as actual evidence. Hence, Lilith's action of having the police arrest Canlat was, in reality, an act of overstepping her authority.

It might be fine if they only apprehended Canlat for a short time. However, if things get dragged out, others might start to take notice. It'd be especially bad if the royal family's political rivals learned about Lilith's abuse of her authority. Hence, Sylvia had urged Alice to get onto business quickly.

As for how they would deal with Canlat afterward, it would be simple. Now that Canlat was forced to speak the truth because of Alice, all they needed to do was get him to confess to his crimes. Then, they'd be able to convict him.

"I'll get straight to the point, then," Alice said, nodding. Then, she looked to Canlat and asked, "Canlat, while you might have conducted most of your transaction with your employer through the Thieves Guild's internet, you should have met with your employer or their proxy to discuss the finer details of the commission, right? In that case, tell us who you met during the discussion. Judging by your anxious look, you should know the other party's identity, right? Moreover, they're probably of high stature."

"The other party is indeed in a very high position, so much so that I don't dare to offend him in the slightest," Canlat said, albeit reluctantly. Unfortunately, he still couldn't suppress the urge to speak the truth despite his reluctance. "The person I met is Gunst Brianken…the Rhine Kingdom's royal guard captain."