Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1232

Kyunroe Subjugation (24)

Silence, thick and eerie, filled the room the moment Baragan finished speaking.

Those who couldn’t grasp his words stood frozen, while Jenny remained standing alone amidst them, looking lost.

“I’m… a success of the project?”

She repeated the words, her face pale.

The tips of her fingers were now white as bone, trembling faintly.

“That can’t… be. That’s….”

It was one of the far-fetched hypotheses that Jenny herself had once considered.

Whether there might be some secret beyond her being the granddaughter of Kaise Bajur.

Whether her survival after the project’s failure was due to some ‘value’ she possessed.

Whether her easy mastery of the Uroboros magic system, which others couldn’t learn, was because of some talent within her.

It was a possibility she had vaguely considered, yet ultimately denied for one reason.

Jenny knew that reason.

“If I had such value… I wouldn’t have survived this long.”

Jenny said with difficulty, glaring at Baragan.

“If Bajur’s talent existed within me, I would have already-”

“No.”

Baragan replied.

“It’s the opposite. Because you had no ‘value’… that’s why you’ve been able to live this long.”

“…What?”

“What Ethan did using the project’s power wasn’t about specially crafting your destiny or talent.”

Baragan’s face, speaking calmly, was hidden in shadow.

“It was, conversely, about completely annihilating all the talent and potential that existed within you.”

“……”

In the frozen silence, Baragan slowly moved his feet.

“That certainly wasn’t the result we were pursuing with the project. Even if we wanted to create destiny and talent, we never intended to sever or erase it.”

“……”

“But Ethan, in exchange for his life, ultimately succeeded in doing so. As a result, it remained the only case where the project worked properly….”

Baragan stopped in front of Jenny, looking down at her as he muttered.

“That’s why your existence remains the only ‘success’ of the project that we didn’t want.”

“……”

Jenny couldn’t understand what Baragan was saying.

The project’s goal. Kaise Bajur’s answer. The salvation they tried to achieve in Balkan.

All of it was vaguely implied in Baragan’s words, making it impossible to fully grasp.

Yet, despite that, one fact that Baragan wanted to convey to Jenny was clear.

“…I am.”

The words ‘success of the project’ didn’t mean that a great secret or power was hidden within Jenny.

It meant, conversely, that she was left with no potential or talent.

If so, the reason why Jenny, a descendant of Bajur, had survived until now was-

Baragan, looking at Jenny’s trembling hands with a complex expression, slowly turned around.

“Ethan knew that the project would fail. So, before the end came, he started to clean up his surroundings.”

“……”

“If he couldn’t stop the destruction of this world, if he couldn’t change the ending where the sky opens and the outer gods come….”

Baragan raised his gaze.

“At least during that time, he wanted his only daughter to live a normal life.”

“…Stop.”

“So, he erased the talent of defying fate that should have been passed down to you. He also severed all the associated spell aptitude and talent. It was not a blessing but a curse that reversed the course of human life.”

“Stop…!!”

Jenny glared at Baragan, her face pale.

“I don’t want to hear it. Not now…!!!”

“Ethan made a deal with Kaise, risking both their lives to succeed in that. And he left before the project ended.”

Even as her mind was in turmoil, Baragan’s words didn’t stop.

“He sacrificed his life to keep you out of the project… to prevent you from being used by Kaise’s plan until the very end.”

“Stop it!!!”

“Don’t you want to know, Jenisia?”

Baragan slowly turned his head.

“What kind of deal Ethan made with Kaise to protect you. What he had to hand over to the City Council. Why we are still looking for you now, despite all that.”

“……”

“Who the current ‘Ethan’ is, who wants to see you again.”

A suffocating silence fell.

Everyone was dumbfounded, unable to say a word, watching the conversation between the two.

Baragan looked at the frozen Jenny and slowly reached out his hand to her.

“If you come with me, I’ll explain everything. I’ll tell you everything you’re curious about from the beginning. As a descendant of Bajur, you’re more than qualified to know.”

“……”

The reason why Jenny didn’t show much talent in any magic or martial arts.

The reason why she didn’t inherit the talents of the Bajurs, despite being of their blood.

If all those things she considered her shortcomings were intentional. If it was the result of actions taken under the selfish reason of being for her sake.

Even the fact that she could easily learn the Uroboros magic system was because there was no ‘potential’ within Jenny from the start.

The more she thought about it, the more speechless she became.

She remembered the times she struggled while working as a broker, unable to master spells or martial arts.

She remembered feeling self-loathing for her lack of talent, and even trying not to show it.

She felt like a fool for being secretly happy while learning the magic that Ban taught her.

“Jenny. Run away.”

At that moment, a woman with blue hair stood in front of Jenny.

“…Priscilla?”

“I’ll… hold them off here.”

Priscilla, a mercenary who worked with Jenny, Mila’s younger sister.

A graduate student from Lavatenon University, and now a regular mage working at the Magic Tower.

Priscilla stood in front of Jenny, her face pale, trembling as she whispered quietly.

“If I use the water magic I learned from Professor Aris, I might be able to buy some time….”

“……”

“If I sacrifice my life… I’ll do my best….”

“…No.”

Priscilla was very talented at a young age, but she was just a regular mage who had just reached level 4.

Even if she sacrificed her life, it was impossible for her to hold off Baragan, a level 8 grand sorcerer, even for a moment.

But despite that, the reason why Priscilla was recklessly volunteering at this point was-

“It’s okay, Priscilla.”

Jenny slowly raised her gaze.

The look in her eyes, which had been wavering, slowly regained its composure.

“I know. From the beginning, promises like that were….”

If Jenny followed Baragan, would he really keep his promise to save the others?

No. If that was his intention, he wouldn’t have so casually revealed the secrets of the project in front of outsiders.

A level 8 sorcerer. Especially one who manipulates totems, would have plenty of ways to do things without directly using his hands.

Jenny had lost her composure as soon as she heard Baragan’s proposal, because the secret he revealed was so absurd.

So empty and far-fetched that it was unbelievable. Yet, she was more shaken because she knew it was the truth.

But-

“…Don’t worry.”

Jenny, putting her arm around Priscilla’s shoulder, said as she slowly stepped forward.

“From now on, I’ll take care of it myself.”

“Take care of it yourself, huh… That’s unexpected.”

Baragan also chuckled, as if Jenny’s answer was unexpected.

“You didn’t seem like the type to force sacrifices on others. Are you saying you’ll ignore it even if the Tower people who follow you die at my hands?”

“……”

“Well, in that aspect, you might be similar to Kaise-”

“No.”

Jenny raised her gaze, her face pale.

“There will be no death or sacrifice in this place. There will only be ‘circulation’.”

“What?”

“Because Ban taught me that you can’t achieve anything by offering something as a price.”

Whoosh!!

At that moment, a golden halo appeared behind the back of the employee Baragan had killed.

The halo, rotating counterclockwise, reversed time as if rewinding, and life circulated through his body once more.

Before Baragan could react again, the employee’s body disappeared from the labyrinth.

Whoosh!!

Neither fast nor slow. Yet, a perfect naturalness that even Baragan couldn’t react to for a moment.

The moment Baragan realized that it held a reason that was like the natural order of the world.

“H-How….”

“Because this is Ban’s domain.”

As if answering Priscilla’s words, Jenny raised her gaze, her face pale.

“The life and death that belong here are all part of the ‘circulation’ that exists under the law of Uroboros… It’s the testbed of the world that Ban wants.”

“…The circulation of life and death?”

Baragan immediately understood the meaning and paused, but he didn’t know that someone else had realized it before him.

The true meaning of the ‘circulation’ that the doctor had admired and revered while looking into Lenok’s labyrinth using the knowledge of the Ascension Gate.

The identity of the world that Ban wanted to create.

It was, precisely-

“Baragan. I don’t understand everything you’re saying. Maybe I’ll never understand it.”

Jenny said, taking a breath.

“I have no intention of following you.”

“…Jenisia Bajur.”

“It doesn’t matter if you manipulated my talent or destiny, making me unable to achieve anything on my own.”

Jenny closed her eyes.

“Because even the feelings and heart that I suffered with while living like that are me. Because I learned from Ban that even shortcomings and deficiencies are part of myself.”

“……”

“I don’t need to hear the truth from you now. I don’t need the lie that all of that was for me either.”

Woo-oong…!!

Jenny, with a golden halo behind her, glared coldly at Baragan.

“Even if my past wasn’t entirely mine… my future is mine. Because I can choose it.”

“……”

“I’ll decide where I stand myself.”

“…I see.”

Looking at Jenny, who was glaring at him coldly, Baragan cracked his knuckles.

“Well, then I’ll just forget about the deal and take you by force. I guess it doesn’t matter, right?”

“Do you think I’ll just let you?”

Whoosh!!

What she took out from her pocket was a horn that had a pure white light like ivory.

A worn-out and precarious consumable that looked like it would break if blown a few times.

It was something that Ban had given to everyone as a gift, calling it a random box, after returning from Machina and opening a temporary Ascension Gate.

The moment she was about to put the item she had cherished since that day to her mouth and blow it with all her might.

Baragan, who had descended in front of Jenny, and a red spearhead collided at an incredible speed, causing a violent clash.

Kwaaaang!!!!!

“Kuh…!!!”

“Ughh!!”

The impact sent the Tower employees, including Priscilla, tumbling in all directions.

“This is absurd.”

Baragan, who had stopped in front of Jenny, muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

“I never imagined you would come out here.”

“…Shut your mouth, Baragan.”

Peisha muttered with a disgusted expression.

Peisha, holding the red spear in her hand, slowly aimed it at Baragan and spat out the words.

“I don’t even know what crazy thing I’m doing right now.”

* * *

“I thought Jenny had provided you with a residence. You’re still living in a place like this.”

A few days before the subjugation began. Lenok was at the Magic Tower training facility where Peisha resided.

“If you want to die quickly, there are much better ways.”

“…Did you come here to pick a fight?”

In the dark solitary cell of the training facility’s basement, surrounded by thick bars.

Peisha, who was crouching against the wall with her head down, raised her head and glared at Lenok.

Her eyes, gleaming like a ghost amidst her disheveled hair, shone with an eerie intensity.

Unlike the crazed look she displayed when wielding her spear, she now appeared haggard and worn.

Peisha sneered.

“If you want to see a defeated dog, there are plenty around you. Don’t gawk and just get lost.”

“Have you thought about the proposal I made last time?”

Peisha’s shoulders twitched at Lenok’s indifferent question.

She stared at Lenok with a hardened expression before breaking into a sinister laugh.

“Heh heh… you crazy bastard… are you even serious?”

“……”

“Just kill me, you bastard. Or fry my brain with your lightning right now.”

Peisha grinned.

“Unless I’m that crazy, there’s no way I’d ever turn my spear against the Legion.”

“As I said before, I don’t want you to fight the Legion on my side.”

Lenok said, putting a cigarette in his mouth.

“I’m asking if you can stand by Jenny’s side if she encounters Dead Rise directly in the subjugation battle.”

“……”

“To put it extremely, if Jenny sides with the Legion, you can join them as well. The important thing is to protect Jenny’s safety.”

Lenok stared down at the silent Peisha.

“Once the subjugation battle begins, my ability to deal with variables will be significantly reduced. I just want to prepare in advance.”

“……You pathetic bastard.”

A murderous intent flashed across Peisha’s face for a moment.

An overflowing, crazed intent, as if she were unleashing emotions she had been suppressing.

Peisha glared at Lenok, her eyes gleaming.

“You, a mage… you can’t even prepare to protect Jenisia Bajur properly, so you’re trying to borrow my strength?”

“Of course, protecting Jenny’s safety isn’t difficult. I’ve prepared all the methods for that.”

Lenok replied.

“The problem is if Jenny herself doesn’t want it. The methods I’ve prepared won’t activate if she refuses them.”

“……”

“And I think there’s a possibility that things might turn out that way.”

Lenok quietly puffed out smoke, lost in thought.

“She’s the only granddaughter of Kaise Bajur. There will be high-ranking generals in Dead Rise who recognize Jenny and react to her, just like you.”

“……That’s…”

“Perhaps they might try to win Jenny over by telling her about her past that she doesn’t know.”

Peisha couldn’t deny those words and momentarily closed her mouth.

She realized that she, too, had once felt similarly when looking at Jenny.

She understood that the Legion comrades who had given their lives for Kaise might reach the same conclusion as her.

“No matter how much I prepare, that’s an area I can’t perfectly predict, as I’m not a project insider.”

Lenok slowly moved away from Peisha.

“Above all, I don’t underestimate the commanders. I also assume that they might contact Jenny in ways I haven’t anticipated.”

“……”

“Even putting aside the fact that their status is comparable to the highest apostles or great sorcerers… they seem to have a very close relationship with Ethan, more than I thought.”

Songha’s behavior at the parade, which didn’t seem to be greatly bound by the prohibitions. Her answer that she drank Ethan’s blood to fight Lenok.

There were plenty of clues. The only question was how far Lenok would consider them.

Lenok’s gaze, looking at the ceiling of the dark room, calmly sank.

“If the Legion’s commanders can somehow borrow Ethan’s power, or if they already are… I don’t want to ignore that possibility.”

“If you think that way, you could just evacuate Jenisia and the other vermin somewhere else.”

Peisha glared at Lenok.

“Why are you trying to keep Jenisia in your territory, knowing that?”

“Because my territory will be the safest place for them during the subjugation battle.”

Lenok replied.

“My territory, since its initial construction, has existed in the 49th district… it’s a ‘fixed mystery’ itself. Therefore, I can maximize the use of Uroboros’s law here.”

“What… what are you saying?”

“If they are the tower’s personnel who have sworn allegiance to my magic tower, or my companions who have been with me for a long time… I might even be able to ‘circulate’ their lives and deaths once.”

“Damn it, what the hell are you talking about….”

Lenok smiled, seeing Peisha’s expression twist as if she had a headache just from listening.

Considering the existence of the Geass [a magical binding contract] that Oliviera placed on Peisha, there was no possibility that the words spoken here would leak out.

A rival who had fought to the death. A berserker who didn’t even trust herself. Perhaps that was why there were words she could comfortably confide in.

“It’s nothing much. I was just talking about what I want in the subjugation battle… that kind of thing.”

“……”

“I intend to expand the circulation and convergence of Uroboros to the extreme before this war.”

Lenok turned away.

“I think it’s quite a suitable stage to test whether I truly have the qualifications to ‘create’ the world, don’t you?”

“Shut up, damn it….”

Peisha, who had been listening to Lenok’s explanation with a dizzy look, suddenly came to her senses.

“Tell that kind of story to Jenisia, not me… why don’t you say it directly and ask me to do that?”

“Because I want Jenny to decide her own future.”

Lenok replied.

“That’s why I couldn’t tell her much about the project. I thought it should be Jenny’s responsibility to hear it directly and make her own judgment.”

“……”

“Peisha Grisburn. If you, who have seen both my magic tower and the Legion, can be by Jenny’s side no matter what decision she makes.”

Lenok, who had turned away, looked down at the silent Peisha.

“So, I’m asking you.”

“How… how can you do that?”

Peisha muttered, her head bowed.

Her expression, glimpsed through her disheveled hair, was faintly distorted.

“I… I can’t allow that. I can’t prepare to send my comrades away like that….”

“Of course, I’m not asking you this because I want Jenny to leave.”

Lenok smiled.

“Jenny has been with me for a long time… and she’s the only one who has inherited my magic. I want her to stay until the end and watch my answer.”

“Then, why….”

“Because the answer I seek is always for those who cherish their own choices.”

Lenok raised his gaze.

“Since Jenny inherited Uroboros, I must also respect her will. So, I just have to believe.”

“……”

Lenok smiled, looking at Peisha who was staring blankly at him.

“Because we’re partners. It’s not that strange, is it?”

“Ha….”

The sigh that escaped like a sneer, was it hers from when she faced Lenok in her memories?

Or was it from Peisha, who was now standing in front of Baragan?

“Peisha, you….”

Baragan’s face, looking at her with a frown. Jenny’s face, wary of her with a bewildered expression.

Peisha no longer knew which was her true feeling.

Her past self, who had followed Kaise and pledged her life to change the world, and her present self, who looked at Jenny and thought this was enough, what was the difference?

She didn’t know which was the right answer.

No, wasn’t she here because she believed that there was no right answer in this world?

What Peisha believed and wanted was always-

“You….”

“Shut up, Jenisia.”

Peisha, cutting off Jenny’s bewildered words, turned her head with a wavering gaze.

“Step back and run away. Don’t say anything.”

“……”

“Because I… I don’t know what I’m doing either.”

Peisha’s hand, gripping the red spear shaft, trembled.

Jenny, who had been looking at her with a complex expression, bit her lip and slowly nodded.

“……Okay. I understand. You must have your own reasons.”

“……”

“Let’s talk again after everything is over. Is that okay?”

“I don’t know who’s worrying about whom.”

Peisha sneered and raised her spear.

“Get lost before I change my mind. And don’t ever come back here.”

Jenny didn’t answer anymore.

She quietly nodded and left the labyrinth with the other employees, opening the gate.

Baragan, who had been watching with a frown, shrugged his shoulders at Peisha.

“I knew she was mentally unstable from before… but I never dreamed things would turn out like this.”

“Baragan.”

“What are you really thinking? You’re not really being loyal to Lenok, are you?”

“……I’m not so crazy that I’d bow my head to that mad mage.”

Peisha retorted in a hoarse voice and moved her feet.

The red spear blade, drooping along with her steps, dragged along the floor.

“But… involving Jenisia… in the Legion’s affairs… I don’t know….”

“……”

“I… I didn’t follow… Lord Bajur… for this….”

“Ah, okay. That’s enough.”

Baragan raised his hand, cutting off Peisha’s words.

Baragan, seeing Peisha’s eyes shaking incessantly, said.

“That’s enough, don’t say anything. If you force it out, you’ll really break down.”

“……”

“Anyway, the labyrinth won’t move while Jenisia Bajur is escaping. That’s enough to reach the center of this territory somehow.”

Baragan said, picking his ear casually.

“Then it’s possible to interfere with the ascension ritual before Lenok returns. We’ve roughly achieved our goal, so don’t blame yourself too much.”

“It’s not about blaming….”

“But it’s really been a long time.”

Baragan chuckled.

“A possessed orphan who used to scavenge for trash can now think and judge for herself. Kaise would have been happy to see that.”

“……Lenok said that all of this is part of the cycle.”

Peisha looked at Baragan with a hardened face.

“He said it was a process to confirm if he truly has the qualifications.”

“……”

“If what’s happening here is part of the flow he’s built, then we….”

“Yeah. Lenok is a great mage. I know.”

Baragan sighed.

“It’s not strange that you, who have seen how absurd his talent is… have been unknowingly influenced by him.”

“……”

“I also had to push myself in many ways to break through that guy’s territory. If it weren’t for Ethan’s power, maybe-”

Baragan, who was saying that, stopped talking when he saw Peisha staring at him eerily.

Peisha, who was looking at Baragan with a stiff face, asked.

“Are you using Lord Bajur’s blood right now?”

“……”

Baragan didn’t answer. Peisha nodded as if she expected that.

“Lord Bajur… is coming here now.”

“Peisha.”

“I need to talk to him. Baragan.”

Peisha said, gripping her spear with intense eyes.

“I need to hear his story. I….”

“Peisha. You’re too agitated.”

Baragan said. The shaman’s face had already turned expressionless.

“Just get some sleep for now.”

“I risked my life to fight Lenok for what he cherished!!!!”

Peisha gritted her teeth with bloodshot eyes and pulled up her magic power.

“I need to confirm what that truly was. I…!!!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t take you to Ethan in your current state.”

Baragan raised his hand with a cold expression.

“You’ve suffered enough. Just rest for now.”

“Baragan!!!!”

Peisha twisted her body, gripping her spear, and the shaman’s snake roared fiercely.

The moment those who had started everything in Balkan, after decades, once again aimed their weapons at each other in this city.

The room where Jenny had been just before exploded, and the entire labyrinth corridor collapsed violently.

KWA-AA-AAANG!!!!