Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1143

“Two pair.”

“Straight.”

“……Flush.”

“Full house!”

“……”

Freya’s forehead veins bulged.

Taking a deep breath, she checked her new cards and shouted,

“Four of a kind!!”

“Royal straight flush.”

“You!!!”

Bang!!

Unable to contain herself, Freya slammed the table and jumped up.

Her face flushed with anger, she glared at the clown, who was grinning across from her.

“You son of a bitch, if you’re going to cheat, do it moderately!!! Are you trying to mess with me right now?!”

“Reya, you still don’t understand.”

The clown chuckled, holding his cards.

“I always do my best, no matter how weak my opponent is.”

“Do you really want to die?”

Boooooooom-!!

A deep, slow ship horn echoed.

The cruise ship powerfully set off, cutting through the river.

A dinner party was taking place on the deck of the luxurious ship.

Musicians played instruments on stage, and waiters carried drinks.

Dealers and customers exchanged cards at the poker tables set up on the deck.

And in the midst of it all, the clown and Freya were bickering with each other.

Lenok was watching from the ship’s rooftop balcony, overlooking the deck.

Tap!

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

“……”

The clown, who had been playing with Freya just moments ago, was now leaning against the railing next to him.

The clown looked tired, rubbing his face and tilting his head back as if he might fall off the balcony.

“Ha… I shouldn’t play with those guys for too long. I made a mistake myself.”

“It didn’t seem like a mistake, you seemed to be enjoying it more than anyone.”

“I was going to adjust the luck a little, but their reactions were so funny that I failed to control my power.”

The clown chuckled and glanced at Lenok.

“That’s why I can’t quit gambling. There’s a reason why that entertainment city never fails. Don’t you think so too, Victor?”

“……”

Lenok ignored the question and looked at Tokerphz receding into the distance.

Although it was slightly different from what the clown had mentioned, Lenok also felt something about the city of Tokerphz.

“The Syndicate’s VIP who claimed to have found Kamrodal’s corpse. In the end, no one showed up except for Spero.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“They deliberately tried to avoid contact with us. That must be why Raymond stepped in himself.”

Lenok’s gaze, which had been fixed on the glamorous casino hotel, turned cold.

“They didn’t show up until the end and remained unresponsive. They’re hiding something.”

It was one of the VIPs who frequented the auction house who discovered the corpses of the 8 Apostles that the clergy had secretly smuggled out.

However, none of the other VIPs except for Spero had appeared at the auction house in person.

They had even handed over the disposal of Kamrodal’s corpse, which they claimed to have found, to Pandemonium through Raymond.

Lenok suspected that the VIPs’ actions were because they were hiding something.

Even the fact that they were trying to hide a certain ‘secret’ in Tokerphz from Pandemonium.

“The Syndicate’s people are quite unique in many ways.”

The clown nodded.

“I remember that Raymond used to have a useless position as the 4th seat of the Ability Awakening Unit.”

“……That man was the 4th seat of the Ability Awakening Unit?”

“Well, whatever they’re hiding, what does it matter to us?”

The clown tilted his head towards Lenok and grinned.

“If there’s a problem, we can always visit Tokerphz again later. This time, you were too busy, Victor, and didn’t get to fully enjoy Tokerphz’s entertainment facilities, right?”

“……”

“I’ll set a date next time and give you a Tokerphz SS-class casino tour. By then, you’ll be completely hooked on the fun of gambling-”

“Hey!!”

At that moment, a sharp voice was heard from down the hallway, and the clown’s figure vanished with a pop.

“Victor, is that bastard here?”

“……Freya.”

Freya, wearing a fancy dress and holding a wine glass in one hand, was standing at the end of the hallway.

She looked around suspiciously with an angry expression and approached them.

“That con artist, I’m sure he ran this way. Where did he disappear to again?”

“……”

“Ah, I’m so annoyed… All the guys who talk to me on the deck are irritating too.”

Freya grumbled, leaning against the window next to Lenok and sipping her wine.

“I have to put up with it since we have to go to Kabahim together. What’s with this royal capital sightseeing or tour event?”

The reason why the clown gathered the members in Tokerphz was not for anything else.

It was because if they went up the huge river that continued from Tokerphz, they could directly reach the vicinity of the Kabahim royal capital.

Kabahim was a monarchy that strictly restricted and managed the entry of outsiders, but conversely, that was why there was a considerable demand for tourism.

Therefore, Tokerphz, which treated everything as a commodity, had a tour course that went back and forth near the Kabahim royal capital by cruise ship.

The cruise ship that the clown had obtained through a deal with the Syndicate was the ship that included this itinerary.

Passengers who participated in the tour were only allowed to stay in designated areas of the royal capital and were only allowed to see the scenery of the royal capital for a short time before returning.

Nevertheless, the customers who visited the entertainment city seemed to be paying a huge amount of money for this tour.

The customers chatted merrily on the deck below. The music drifted lazily through the windows.

Lenok, who was looking out the window next to Freya as she sipped her wine, asked,

“Holding a performance in the middle of the royal capital would be a big risk in many ways.”

Lenok turned his gaze.

“What’s the reason you took the risk and participated in this operation?”

“Wow, what’s that?”

Freya laughed.

“How little interest do you have that you’re only curious about that now? Did you eat something wrong?”

“……”

“Well, it’s complicated to explain…”

Freya, who had finished the rest of her wine, said, leaving Lenok without an answer.

“First of all, I owe the clown a debt. And I use musical formulas to sing.”

“Is it about the song?”

“It’s hard to say it myself, but I give out several useful blessings. That’s why everyone bothers me more than necessary.”

“……”

“I have a bad personality, you know. I want to live my whole life doing only fun things.”

Freya said, looking out the window with a hazy gaze.

Freya flicked her hair back and gave a cold smile.

“But if I keep performing, singing will become boring. So I found another way before I quit.”

“Is that why you joined Pandemonium?”

“Why, isn’t it fun?”

Freya laughed.

“I hate being bothered and restricted for no reason. I’d rather do this.”

“……”

“For that, it’s worth investing a little time like this.”

“That’s a lie.”

At that moment, a nonchalant male voice echoed from behind Freya.

Freya’s hair stood on end, and she jumped up on the spot.

“Kyaaaaak!! W-what is it!!”

“Your sympathetic nervous system is more active than usual.”

The Grafting Surgeon, who was standing behind Freya, said.

“Your blood, breathing, and pulse are changing in a different pattern than usual, indicating symptoms of stress. It’s evidence that you’re feeling emotional changes.”

“What is this crazy bastard suddenly saying!!!”

Freya kicked the surgeon’s shin, but the surgeon’s expression remained calm.

“The sound of a musical formula user is impressive. I had a slight eardrum injury for a moment. Or is it just that my hearing is weakened?”

“I don’t know what nonsense you’re talking about.”

Lenok turned to look at the surgeon, who was lost in thought.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just looking around.”

The Grafting Surgeon looked around the cruise ship with a nonchalant gaze.

“It’s been too long since I had my right brain removed, so my sensitivity is too weak. I’m observing other humans to awaken my senses.”

“……”

“However, there are not enough cases here that stimulate my curiosity. Bodies soaked in alcohol or nicotine are just ordinary lumps of flesh.”

The surgeon looked at Lenok and Freya, his eyes gleaming.

“It seems that the humans of the Demon Realm are the only ones who can stimulate my interest.”

“What is this stalker bastard saying?”

“……”

The Grafting Surgeon they had met at the first gate didn’t seem to have this kind of personality.

No, but his unique analytical tone and expression were exactly the same as the surgeon Lenok remembered.

Was it because only the Grafting Surgeon’s right brain existed here that he seemed subtly different yet similar?

Of course, the left brain of the surgeon Lenok had killed had his own body, so it wasn’t impossible to explain the sense of incongruity-

“Ah!!!! I remember who you are.”

At that moment, Freya pointed at the surgeon with a face that said she had thought of something funny.

“What was it…?! You’re that guy from the Alliance, the Grafting or whatever!!”

“It seems you’ve heard of me.”

The surgeon replied with a nonchalant expression.

“However, there is a lot of limited information about me that is known outside the Central Front. In the first place, the Alliance’s Information Department thoroughly manages the information of the surgeons under its command-”

“You’re the guy who got his ass kicked by Chun-beon at the first gate, right?”

“……”

The surgeon’s eyebrows twitched as he momentarily closed his mouth.

The surgeon turned to Freya and glared at her.

“There is a slight inaccuracy in that statement. First of all, it was not me who lost at the first gate.”

“What?”

“Moreover, the ‘me’ stationed at the gate was also in a situation where the abilities I could use were limited in many ways. Even considering the output buff under the assumption of receiving support from the Life Domain, the formula performance I could operate was about 85% of the original. That means I had to fight Chun-beon with a penalty of about 15%.”

The surgeon calmly rattled off the words.

“To be more specific, let’s assume that I was grafting Michal Jellych’s right brain onto my body at the time. In that case, it is highly likely that my combat performance would have been greatly reduced due to the overload of the grafting formula and the rejection reaction that accompanies the grafting of another person’s brain hemisphere. This was clearly a very critical variable in the process of fighting a powerful magician like Chun-beon.”

“……”

“If we infer the situation of the battle at the time, it is highly unlikely that I, who was guarding the gate, would have attacked Chun-beon first. It is highly likely that the battle proceeded in the form of Chun-beon ambushing his own left brain, and the battlefield expanded. Considering these variables, the outcome of the battle was ultimately-”

“What is he talking about since a while ago?”

Freya gave a cold sneer.

“So, did you lose to Chun-beon or not?”

“……”

“The rumor is that you got your ass kicked in the Central Front, so why are you making such pathetic excuses? Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Manipulator.”

The Grafting Surgeon turned his gaze to Lenok.

“Is it okay to kill this woman now?”

“Kyaaaaak!! Help me!!”

Thump!!

At the same time as Freya screamed, a door burst open from the back of the rooftop.

Soryu looked at the three people standing on the rooftop balcony with a dumbfounded expression.

“What have you three been doing there since a while ago?”

“……”

“Nothing.”

Lenok, who had been ignoring the two people’s nonsense, stood up.

It was interesting that the Grafting Surgeon had inferred the battle at the time quite similarly, but there was no way he could know the truth.

However, the fact that the surgeon, who had seemed completely uninterested in the outcome of the fight, was surprisingly concerned about Chun-beon was something to note.

“Is the preparation complete?”

“Yes. The meeting preparation is complete.”

Soryu said, looking at Freya and Chapman.

“You two come in too. I’m planning to explain the last details about this operation before tonight passes.”

“I was going to do that even if you didn’t explain it?”

“You’re handling the operation planning poorly, as expected of a small organization. If the Alliance knew about this-”

Soryu ignored the surgeon’s words and turned his back, and Freya moved her feet, nervously sweeping her hair back.

The control room of the cruise ship heading to the Kabahim royal capital.

Pandemonium’s members were gathered in a large space with complex navigation devices and instrument panels.

The clown and Lenok. Freya and Soryu. Agneta and Chebien. And Antares and the Grafting Surgeon, who had joined the operation as outsiders.

At this moment, eight people who would never have met by chance were gathered in one place.

Just by keeping their mouths shut and maintaining silence, it felt as if this huge space was filled to the brim.

“Well, since we’re all here, shall we start right away?”

The clown, who had arrived last, grinned and pointed at the instrument panel.

“As you can see on the navigation chart, this ship will arrive at the port near the back gate of the Kabahim royal capital in about 6 hours. So, this is probably the last time we’ll meet before we start the operation.”

“……”

“We were able to sort things out with the help of Hylea in Tokerphz, but it will probably be difficult to contact the outside from now on for a while.”

Was the clown organizing the situation himself this time because he couldn’t receive Hylea’s briefing?

The clown, who had walked forward, pressing his temples with both hands, shrugged his shoulders.

“This is because of the city-wide ‘blessing’ that is placed all over the royal capital, and this is actually a very tricky thing for people like us who have shady backgrounds.”

“Exactly what part is tricky?”

“To put it simply, it’s a very powerful buff given to knights who have made a specific oath with a geas [a magical vow]. It’s a power that explosively increases the target’s ability by setting various conditions-”

The clown, looking annoyed, turned his gaze to Soryu.

“Well, there’s someone who knows much better than me, so shall we listen to his story? It’s definitely not because my mouth hurts.”

“It is a blessing given by taking the oath of a knight who protects the royal capital as a geas. It is a limited blessing that only applies to knights who are loyal to the royal family, but it has tremendous power.”

Soryu answered without hesitation, as if he had expected it.

“To put it extremely simply, it’s a power strong enough to make a level 6 knight comparable to a level 7 ability user. It is, in fact, the most powerful advantage that protects the royal capital and the reason why Kabahim is still a monarchy.”

“……”

“There are ten knight orders directly under the royal family in Kabahim, and these are superhumans who receive the most powerful blessings in the royal capital. The leaders of the knight orders are all level 7 or higher ability users, and some of the top-tier members are monsters that transcend the hierarchy-”

Soryu, looking at the group with a cold expression, said,

“There’s no need to beat around the bush. Confronting them head-on in the royal capital would be suicide.”

“Heh heh, it seems that even a banished royal still has some patriotism left…”

Chebien chuckled, rattling his doll.

“Among those gathered here, there isn’t a single ordinary ability user, yet you’re overestimating the power of the knight orders…”

“That might be the case if we were simply assuming a structure where one knight order is facing us. But that’s a point that doesn’t take into account the environment and structure of the royal capital.”

Soryu replied.

“The city area of the royal capital is designed very elaborately and complexly, and this is the result of a design only for the knight orders to move quickly inside the city.”

“If a battle situation occurs during the operation, it’s a given that we’ll be surrounded by several knight orders.”

“It’s an operation to infiltrate the capital of a country full of elite superhuman groups that are thoroughly specialized in combat. There is a high possibility that there will never be a single situation where we can match numbers and fight during the operation.”

Soryu nodded at Agneta’s words.

“We should refrain from head-on confrontations as much as possible for our purpose. Even in the worst-case scenario, we have to deal with everything before reinforcements arrive.”

“Even if we put aside the knight orders, the most dangerous one is still the ‘king’.”

The clown, leaning back in his chair, tore open a piece of gum and put it in his mouth.

“The current ruler of Kabahim. Aronbaiger Kabahim is a level 8 superhuman and, at the same time, a rare dual-system holder.”

“Dual-system holder?”

Naturally, the members’ gazes turned to Lenok.

Manipulation and Space.

It was because there was only one sorcerer in Pandemonium who could handle two extremely difficult systems within the Specialization category at the same time.

“……”

“What are you looking at?”

Lenok, who had replied sharply, adjusted his mask and turned his gaze away.

“In the first place, there are too many exceptions in the formula side, so it’s difficult to find any correlation. It’s not my business.”

“I’ve never heard of a dual-system holder. Is it different from the multiple attribute holders that are sometimes found among magicians?”

“Yes. It’s different. Having a dual system means that you literally have two different hierarchies [a reference to the structure of magic].”

The clown grinned and made a V sign with his fingers.

“So, of course, you’ll have two source images, right? And two small universes or magnetic domains?”

“……Wait, that’s.”

“It’s a power that is commonly called ‘the talent of duality,’ and if you really dig into it, it’s a very difficult and annoying ability.”

The clown sighed exaggeratedly and laughed.

“Most people can’t control their talent and become split personalities, or they can’t manage the two divided hierarchies and never escape the low hierarchy for the rest of their lives, but this guy is a bit different.”

“If he’s a level 8 superhuman, it means he has already overcome those limitations and built up his own achievements.”

The Grafting Surgeon tilted his head with a nonchalant expression.

“In the best-case scenario, the Alliance judged that he was likely to have two level 8 domains or small universes.”

“Hey, loser. Are you crazy? That’s not the best-case scenario, it’s the worst-case scenario.”

“Anyway, this talent of duality is such an annoying power that I’m going to use my power this time.”

The clown, sitting backwards on the chair, tilted his gaze.

“Considering Aronbaiger’s nature, he’ll try to ‘look into’ us as soon as we enter the royal capital, but I’ll just take care of that part from the beginning.”

“You’re planning to use illusion to deceive the monarch’s eyes.”

Lenok asked.

“Do you think it’s possible against a level 8 superhuman?”

“Just because he’s a dual-system holder doesn’t mean I have to deceive both eyes. Once I cover one eye, how will he know if the other eye is seeing a secret or the truth?”

The clown held his hand vertically, covering half of his face, and grinned.

“That brief confusion is enough of a trigger. It’s going to be a very difficult story to explain, so just trust me for now.”

“……”

Of course, none of the members in this place trusted the clown’s bold words.

The clown, looking at the members who were lost in thought, stretched and got up from his chair.

“Let’s just organize the basic goals and direction, and adjust the detailed process on-site. First, let’s organize each of our roles before entering the royal capital.”

“Goals? What goals are you talking about?”

Freya, who was combing her hair, asked back.

“Wasn’t the goal to attack the gate in the basement of the royal capital?”

“Simply opening and attacking the gate is not the end of this matter.”

The clown, turning his back to the control room, looked back at the members and grinned.

“A ‘dead god’ is sleeping in the basement of the Kabahim royal capital.”

“……What?”

“It is the remnant of the ending, a shooting star that grants ‘wishes’ in itself, and it is also the driving force that supports the country of Kabahim.”

The clown said,

“Our goal is to open the [Gate] in the basement of the royal capital, go inside, and steal the ‘dead god’.”