Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1068

Blood Fear Duke.

A long-lived being residing in the outer calamity city of Kundara, and a vampire possessing True Blood, receiving the highest treatment among them.

The very person who cooperated in hiding Kaise’s body, and the author of the Blood Thought Record.

At the same time, a long-lived being with immense authority, capable of blocking all paths leading to Kundara.

In terms of status alone, a True Blood who stands shoulder to shoulder with the highest nobles of Ars Nova.

However, I never imagined that such a powerful long-lived being would appear before Lenok as soon as he arrived in Kundara.

Moreover, I never expected that she would have the appearance of a young girl, completely detached from her status of having lived for hundreds of years.

‘Did you come all the way from Kundara as soon as you sensed the aura of the Blood Thought Record?’

‘I made it a long time ago and forgot about it, but it’s an item that shouldn’t have any reason to return at this time.’

The girl crossed her arms.

Her blood-red eyes reflected Lenok with a chilling gaze, like a mirror.

‘Well, I roughly understand the situation. You’re the ones who caused a big commotion in the deep-sea area of Alogon, right?’

‘……’

‘I heard that a large-scale massacre occurred near the Western Front, and it seems that it was you guys.’

A casual tone that didn’t quite match the Blood Fear Duke’s reputation as the highest-ranking long-lived being.

No, more than that, I never imagined that the Blood Fear Duke would be a woman.

Is it common for high-ranking vampires to exist in female forms, like Madam?

While Lenok was lost in thought, the Blood Fear Duke casually extended her hand towards Lenok.

‘Anyway, that’s my item, so give it back. I came all the way here to get it.’

‘……Before that, there’s something I want to ask.’

Lenok, naturally lifting the notebook to avoid the Blood Fear Duke’s hand, spoke.

‘Are you really the one who hid Kaise Bajur’s body in Kundara?’

‘……’

At that moment, the girl, who had been reaching out towards the notebook Lenok was holding, stopped moving.

The Blood Fear Duke, staring intently at Lenok with her blood-red eyes, said,

‘The Blood Thought Record is a recording device I created a long time ago to bypass the restrictions.’

‘……’

‘It was created to share information about the project’s failure, but it had limitations in its usefulness, so I couldn’t keep it.’

The girl pointed at the notebook.

‘Promise to return the Blood Thought Record. Then I’ll tell you about the truth you’re curious about.’

‘If you have a suitable answer to my question, I’ll seriously consider it.’

It’s a shame to lose the Blood Thought Record, but if I can hand it over to the Blood Fear Duke and get an answer about Kaise’s matter, it’s a good deal.

If I’m lucky, I might be able to achieve the purpose of coming to Kundara faster than expected.

There was no reason to refuse this offer just to save one artifact.

‘However, I’d like to confirm that part first. That much is possible, right?’

Lenok narrowed his eyes as he looked at the girl.

‘I came to this city to see the end of Kaise Bajur. If that question is resolved, I’m willing to leave Kundara immediately.’

‘……’

‘If you’re really the Blood Fear Duke, I think I need to confirm that fact first.’

‘You keep calling me the Blood Fear Duke and all that.’

The girl scoffed.

‘Don’t call me that, it’s annoying. Don’t you know that it’s a derogatory term created to insult me in the first place?’

‘A derogatory term?’

If you break down the name Blood Fear Duke, it’s closer to a duke who fears blood.

I thought it was an unusual name for a vampire, but was it a name created to insult her in the first place?

However, the Blood Fear Duke narrowed her eyes at Lenok’s reaction.

‘You don’t know. You weren’t a part of the project back then.’

‘……’

‘It’s also strange that a short-lived being like you is carelessly uttering words that are restricted. Were you born after the project? Well, whatever.’

*Whoosh!*

The moment the girl said that and snapped her fingers, a red curtain rose from beneath her feet.

A size that could engulf nearly half of the huge bridge covered in fog.

Even Lenok was momentarily surprised by the overwhelming surge of blood flow, and the moment he looked up.

The red curtain, like blood, swirled around the spot where Lenok and Oliviera were standing and rotated violently.

*Fwoosh!*

The red curtain, which had been rotating rapidly, eventually faded in color, and the moment it transparently illuminated the surroundings.

Lenok found himself standing in the middle of a blood palace decorated with red tapestries.

‘……!’

Ceilings and corridors stained blood-red. A dark red chandelier slowly rotating overhead.

It seemed as if the Blood Fear Duke had solidified the vast blood flow she had drawn up to create a blood palace.

While looking around the vast palace, a huge throne was visible in the center of the palace lobby.

The figure of the girl, barely perched on the throne that was too large for a human to sit on.

The girl, sitting with her legs crossed, was leaning her upper body on the armrest of the throne, sending a blank gaze.

‘My Blood Swimming Palace is an independent territory that exists on the boundary between reality and the imaginary dimension.’

The Blood Fear Duke said, leaning on the throne.

‘It’s a concept that transcends space, so I can bring you into my territory without having to teleport you individually.’

‘……’

‘Is this enough to prove that I am the Blood Fear Duke?’

It wasn’t that she teleported Lenok and Oliviera, but that she forcibly brought the surrounding space into contact with her Blood Swimming Palace.

The vampire’s territory that exists on the boundary between reality and the imaginary dimension.

The power to draw that ambiguous space into reality and forcibly bring it into contact with Lenok and Oliviera’s surroundings.

Realizing that, Lenok nodded and handed the Blood Thought Record notebook to the girl.

‘Certainly, if you can freely wield this level of blood magic, you must be the Blood Fear Duke.’

The Blood Fear Duke said it casually, but manipulating the imaginary dimension directly is a power comparable to the False Guiding Star.

The blood magic of a high-ranking vampire. It was undoubtedly a high-level technique that even Lenok found difficult to grasp the principle of.

There was no way that there would be another True Blood vampire who could freely wield this level of blood magic and know about the Blood Thought Record other than the Blood Fear Duke.

‘What, you’re more reasonable than I thought.’

The girl’s expression softened slightly, as if she was pleased that Lenok had handed over the Blood Thought Record so willingly.

She seemed slightly pleased as she received the old notebook and slowly turned the old pages.

‘Good. With this notebook, I can reduce the risks in the future.’

‘……’

‘Since you handed over the notebook willingly, I’ll answer a few questions. What do you want to hear first?’

‘……Where is Kaise Bajur’s body being kept?’

Lenok quickly regained his composure and opened his mouth.

Whatever the reason, it seemed that the Blood Fear Duke was willing to answer Lenok’s questions in exchange for the Blood Thought Record.

I don’t know how important the Blood Thought Record is to her, but Lenok knew how important it was to get answers when he could.

In Lenok’s experience, those who were restricted or directly or indirectly involved would have vastly different information they could answer depending on the time and situation.

Even the possible answers varied depending on how much the other party knew about the restrictions, or whether they were humans born after the restrictions were created.

Unless he borrowed the special causality of the name of Anathema, such opportunities would not come easily.

Lenok, having quickly decided on his question, looked at the Blood Fear Duke with a calmer gaze and asked.

‘In the first place, is it true that you were the one who decided where to recover and store Kaise’s body?’

[……]

Even Oliviera momentarily stiffened at Lenok’s attitude of asking questions without hesitation.

It was probably because she also intuitively knew that she might be able to get an answer from the vampire in front of her at this place.

However, the Blood Fear Duke tilted her head with a strange expression at Lenok’s words.

‘Kaise Bajur’s body is stored in the Ten Sanctuaries of the Nine Calamities.’

The Blood Fear Duke said in a nonchalant tone.

‘……The Nine Calamities?’

‘After Paud Older’s rebellion failed, we narrowed down the candidate locations to hide Kaise’s body to two places.’

The girl tilted her head.

‘Originally, we were debating between the Abyss of Yorta and the Nine Calamities of Kundara, but someone was already using the Abyss for the purpose we had in mind.’

‘……’

The Blood Fear Duke didn’t explain in detail, but Lenok immediately understood what she was talking about.

The military city of Yorta. The body of the Ascended One who had arrived, kept in the Sanctuary of the Abyss.

Lenok had never forgotten that body, which had been used as the vessel of the cult leader, even for a single moment.

However, Lenok focused more on the word Nine Calamities that the girl had mentioned.

Alogon had said that in order to exchange the lifespan contained in the wish-fulfilling jewel, one had to ascend to the Sanctuary of the Eight Calamities.

Beyond the Eight Calamities, which even the Dragon King of the Water God had never visited, if there was a Nine Calamities above that…

Lenok asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

‘Are you saying that you hid Kaise’s body in a place that only 9-level Ascended Ones can enter?’

Level 7, completing the seven stages of self-modification.

Level 8, transcending the level itself.

Level 9, obtaining the qualification to challenge ascension.

The space of the Nine Calamities that the Blood Fear Duke was talking about was undoubtedly a place that embodied the rules of such levels.

I had vaguely guessed it since I heard the explanation from Alogon, but now it was certain.

Kundara is a city of long-lived beings that created the entire structure of the city according to the levels.

The Calamities they were talking about were referring to the very realms that the superhumans who had accumulated levels reached.

Then, the meaning of the Outer Calamity, which symbolizes Kundara beyond the Eight and Nine Calamities, is also-

The Blood Fear Duke nodded.

‘That’s right. In the first place, moving Kaise’s body there was also done with the help of an Ascended One.’

‘……’

The gateway of the Nine Calamities that only Ascended Ones can cross. The Blood Fear Duke’s explanation that Kaise’s body was kept beyond that.

I knew that the scale of the outer calamity city where long-lived beings who lived for hundreds of years lived was at an unrealistic level.

But I never imagined that a secret place that only Ascended Ones could enter would officially exist within the city.

Just as Lenok’s expression hardened as he understood that finding Kaise’s body was more difficult than he had thought, the Blood Fear Duke stroked the Blood Thought Record.

‘Even without that, there’s been a lot of noise surrounding the Nine Calamities recently. I needed this item to seek advice. It was helpful.’

‘……’

Could it be that even information about the Nine Calamities was recorded in the Blood Thought Record?

If the Blood Fear Duke herself was seeking advice through the Blood Thought Record, there might have been more potential in the notebook than I had thought.

However, it was highly likely that the Blood Fear Duke would not have opened her mouth if it hadn’t been for this kind of deal.

Just as Lenok was thinking that and quickly organizing the situation in his head.

‘Well, is that enough?’

The Blood Fear Duke said that and raised the Blood Thought Record she was holding in her hand.

‘Thank you for returning the Blood Thought Record, but you need to help me with one more process.’

‘Process?’

‘The administrator authority you acquired when you took over the Blood Thought Record. You need to return that to me.’

‘……’

‘I’ll give you a drop of my blood, so feed it to the Blood Thought Record. Then you just need to order it to transfer ownership to me.’

With those words, a drop of red blood oozed from the tip of the Blood Fear Duke’s finger.

The Blood Fear Duke skillfully placed it on the tip of her fingernail, then came down from the throne and stood in front of Lenok.

‘I will do that.’

Lenok opened the old notebook and received the drop of blood that the Blood Fear Duke was dropping onto the page of the notebook.

The moment the red drop of blood melted onto the page of the Blood Thought Record, the entire page heaved and surged greatly.

=……

However, despite that violent reaction, the Blood Thought Record showed no response.

‘……?’

Leaving the girl, who was frowning in confusion, Lenok immediately applied the drop of blood to the notebook.

This time, the notebook responded immediately.

=I greet the transcendent who carries a great mission. What can I help you with?

Lenok immediately wrote down the words.

=I intend to transfer your ownership to the author, the Blood Fear Duke herself.

=This Blood Thought Record, Jaibel, has been handed down through generations under the guidance of a suitable administrator.

The notebook replied.

=This is contrary to the ideology of the Blood Thought Record, which operates according to a more suitable owner.

‘……What are you talking about?’

=Ownership cannot be transferred without following the proper procedure.

‘……’

Even though the Blood Fear Duke and Lenok had each injected blood once, the Blood Thought Record’s answer was that the procedure was not proper.

The Blood Fear Duke, frowning, cut the tip of her finger again and dropped blood onto the notebook.

The notebook’s answer was the same.

=Not a suitable owner.

Even after the Blood Fear Duke dropped blood several more times, the answers that came back were similar.

=The blood of a more superior transcendent is required.

‘……You.’

Only then did the Blood Fear Duke realize that the Blood Thought Record was refusing her orders, and her expression turned grim.

‘Is the thing I made now refusing the rules of the blood I made?’

=……

‘If it has to follow a more superior blood owner, it’s only natural that I take back your ownership.’

*Whoosh!*

The girl, who had dropped enough blood to soak the pages of the notebook, said.

‘I am your master. Transfer ownership right now.’

=……

The Blood Thought Record did not answer.

It only displayed and erased strange phrases on the page for a long time, as if choosing the right answer.

The answer that appeared on the page of the notebook, which had hesitated for a long time, was quite concise.

=I refuse.

‘……’

=I like my current master.

The Blood Fear Duke, speechless, looked up at Lenok with a dumbfounded gaze.