Chapter 207: The Price of Negotiation

The documents recovered by the Imperial Technical Bureau were far more valuable than anyone had expected.

Among the confiscated materials was an incomplete design for a large-scale containment system known as the Aegis Array, a restricted Rune Tech formation originally developed to isolate dangerous magical experiments from their surroundings.

Its basic structure closely resembled the barrier surrounding Saint Aurelia Preparatory Academy.

The five regulating nodes, distributed energy circulation, and automatic correction mechanisms were all present in the recovered diagrams. Several components had been modified, but there was enough information for SkyRune’s researchers to establish that the two systems shared a common foundation.

More importantly, the original design revealed something the Imperial investigators had overlooked.

The Aegis Array had never been intended to operate independently.

Its containment field was merely one component of a larger experimental facility.

Professor Antoine examined the diagrams with growing unease.

"Where’s the rest of it?"

The Imperial specialist responsible for the recovered documents explained that the authorities had only obtained fragments of the original research. The designs had circulated among illegal Rune Tech manufacturers for years, and nobody knew how many modified versions existed.

Antoine pointed toward a section depicting the system’s internal energy distribution.

"These channels are carrying more mana than the barrier requires. Whoever modified this design retained the original containment structure, but they’re supplying something else through it."

Ilya had reached a similar conclusion after comparing the recovered diagrams with their previous measurements.

The unexplained fluctuations within Saint Aurelia’s main building suddenly made more sense.

The containment field might be protecting equipment installed inside the school.

And if the original Aegis Array had been developed to isolate dangerous magical experiments, the implications were unpleasant.

"Can we identify what the internal system was designed to contain?" Ilya asked.

"Not from these documents," Antoine answered. "We’d need the original specifications."

One of the Imperial specialists contacted the bureau’s central archives immediately.

If the Aegis Array had once been part of an authorized research program, its surviving records might still exist somewhere within the government’s restricted collections.

Until those records were recovered, however, the investigators had to assume that the school contained an additional magical apparatus whose purpose remained unknown.

The information was forwarded to the Imperial Guard.

Within an hour, the rescue operation’s technical priorities changed.

The authorities would continue preparing methods of entering the school, but they would also investigate whether the internal machinery posed an independent threat to the hostages.

That decision was made without waiting for further negotiations.

The captors had already demonstrated that they were willing to conceal important information. Depending entirely on their assurances would be irresponsible.

Meanwhile, the government had received another demand.

The hostage-takers wanted three of the six prisoners transferred to a designated holding facility within twenty-four hours.

The remaining three would supposedly be released after the authorities complied with additional conditions.

In exchange, the perpetrators promised to permit another supervised communication session with the children.

The proposal immediately divided the officials responsible for negotiations.

Some argued that the transfer could be arranged under sufficiently strict supervision. The prisoners would remain in Imperial custody, and the government could use the arrangement to obtain further concessions.

Others warned that moving them might expose security personnel to an ambush or provide the perpetrators with an opportunity to escape.

The Imperial Guard ultimately approved a conditional response.

It agreed to discuss transferring the prisoners between government facilities but demanded independent medical confirmation of the hostages’ condition before any movement occurred.

The captors were given a deadline to respond.

Ilya learned about the proposal when Antoine received another briefing at SkyRune.

The professor read the document before speaking.

"They’re asking us to move prisoners around while refusing to let anyone examine the children."

"The negotiators haven’t agreed to the transfer," the Imperial official clarified. "They’re using the request to establish conditions for further cooperation."

"I understand. But every day we spend negotiating is another day those children remain inside."

The official didn’t dispute that.

Instead, he explained that the authorities were preparing several alternatives in case negotiations failed. Specialized rescue units had already been assigned to the operation, and the Technical Bureau was continuing its investigation of the containment system.

Antoine accepted the explanation, although his dissatisfaction remained obvious.

After the official departed, Ilya returned his attention to the recovered diagrams.

Something about the original Aegis Array bothered him.

The system had apparently been designed to isolate dangerous experiments, yet the containment field surrounding Saint Aurelia was being maintained through equipment concealed within the school itself.

That arrangement seemed unnecessarily complicated if the perpetrators merely wanted to prevent entry.

They could have used a simpler defensive barrier.

The Aegis Array’s original purpose suggested that the captors had chosen it for another reason.

Ilya raised the concern with Antoine.

The professor examined the diagrams again before agreeing that the containment system might be serving two functions simultaneously.

"Keeping the authorities outside would be the obvious one," Antoine said. "But the original design was also intended to prevent magical disturbances from escaping."

"Then whatever they’re operating inside might be dangerous enough to require containment."

"That’s what worries me."

Neither could determine what the machinery was doing.

However, the possibility justified examining the school’s internal energy consumption more carefully.

The researchers began comparing the recovered diagrams with the measurements recorded since the occupation began.

Their analysis produced an unexpected result.

The internal fluctuations were increasing.

During the first day, the additional machinery had consumed relatively modest amounts of mana. By the third day, its activity had become more frequent, and the latest measurements showed an increase in both duration and intensity.

Whatever process the equipment supported appeared to be advancing.

Antoine immediately requested that the Imperial Bureau investigate whether the original Aegis Array possessed any mechanisms associated with experimental stages or scheduled activation cycles.

The specialists agreed.

Unfortunately, the recovered documents contained no information about the equipment that the array had originally been designed to protect.

By evening, the negotiators received a response from the hostage-takers.

The captors accepted the possibility of a prisoner transfer but rejected independent medical access.

Instead, they offered another series of live communication sessions with selected children.

The government insisted that the conversations include verifiable information about the hostages’ condition.

After several exchanges, the perpetrators agreed to permit the children to answer a limited number of questions concerning their health.

The authorities approved the arrangement.

Lucile was not included in the next group.

Antoine was disappointed, but he understood that the Imperial Guard couldn’t prioritize one child over the others simply because her father happened to be assisting the investigation.

The communication sessions began that evening.

Four children spoke with their families.

The conversations were brief, and the captors continued controlling what could be discussed. Nevertheless, the authorities obtained several useful details.

One child mentioned that the students were being kept together in a large room.

Another complained that the lights had remained on throughout the night.

A third said that several younger students had become ill.

The final child began describing a strange humming noise before the connection was terminated.

That last detail immediately attracted the investigators’ attention.

The negotiators requested clarification, but the captors refused to continue the conversation.

When the report reached SkyRune, Antoine examined it alongside the latest measurements.

The humming noise could have originated from the school’s ordinary infrastructure.

However, the timing of the internal fluctuations made the possibility of additional machinery increasingly difficult to dismiss.

"Professor," Ilya said, "the children might be close to whatever equipment they’re operating."

Antoine was already thinking along similar lines.

"The room they described could be one of the larger halls. We should compare its location with the areas where the energy fluctuations are strongest."

The Imperial Bureau had access to the school’s floor plans.

After reviewing the available information, the researchers identified several possible locations, including an assembly hall and a gymnasium connected to the western wing.

Unfortunately, the children’s descriptions were too vague to establish which room they occupied.

Nevertheless, the investigators forwarded the possibilities to the rescue command.

The Imperial Guard responded by requesting additional information about the room during future communication sessions.

Whether the captors would permit such questions remained uncertain.

For now, the authorities had another reason to suspect that the machinery inside the school was affecting the hostages.

Antoine remained at SkyRune until late that evening, examining the recovered Aegis Array diagrams with the bureau’s specialists.

Ilya assisted with the calculations before preparing to return to his residence.

As he organized the documents, he noticed a small annotation near the bottom of one of the recovered pages.

It referred to an additional function that hadn’t appeared in any of the diagrams they had examined.

The notation described a secondary circuit intended to regulate the conditions within the containment area.

Ilya brought it to Antoine’s attention.

The professor examined the passage before requesting the corresponding technical specifications.

Unfortunately, those pages were missing.

"Regulate what conditions?" Ilya asked.

"That’s the question."

Antoine reviewed the annotation again.

The original Aegis Array had been designed to isolate dangerous magical experiments. A secondary circuit capable of altering conditions inside the containment area would therefore make sense.

But the recovered document offered no indication of what those conditions might be.

Temperature, pressure, mana density, or something entirely different.

Any of them could explain the additional energy consumption.

The professor instructed the researchers to include the annotation in their report.

The Imperial Bureau would need to locate the missing specifications.

Until then, the authorities had to assume that the captors possessed the ability to manipulate the environment inside Saint Aurelia.

That possibility made the refusal to permit medical inspections even more troubling.

Ilya remained at the workshop while Antoine contacted the Imperial specialists responsible for analyzing the original research.

For the first time, their investigation had begun moving beyond the barrier itself.

And the more they learned about the machinery inside the school, the less convincing the hostage-takers’ demands became.