Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 178

Lighthouse (2)

“……”

I thought he was putting on a show, but he was just another magician from the Blayver Magic Tower.

Lenok recalled Vizen mentioning he came to the Autonomous Region in search of a medicinal herb called Flame Grass.

Considering that another magician from the Magic Tower appeared looking for him as soon as Vizen disappeared, it seemed likely the Blayver Magic Tower was also after Flame Grass.

“Vizen… That name rings a bell.”

Lenok, having quickly processed the information, answered calmly, his expression unchanged.

“I worked with him once at the Plant, picking Night Bloom Tree flowers. He even taught me the trick to picking them, so I remember him well.”

“Hmm…”

At Lenok’s words, a look of bewilderment crossed the young man’s face for the first time.

It seemed to be quite a different answer than he had expected.

“He’s not the type to do that…”

The young man’s expression was somewhat confused. Considering what kind of person Vizen was, it wasn’t that surprising.

Lenok deliberately revealed a bit of the truth to elicit such an ambiguous reaction.

If the young man started wandering around the Autonomous Region, following his trail, it would eventually be revealed that he had visited the Plant.

By mentioning this fact in advance, he could subtly guide the young man’s actions in that direction.

As expected, the young man politely bowed his head and subtly stepped back.

“If a magician as skilled as you says so, it must be true. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“If I find him, I will be sure to reward you later.”

“Reward? That’s not necessary.”

“No, it is. It seems my disciple has been led astray by those inferior fools and is wandering around… I need to take this opportunity to correct him.”

“……”

The eerie glint that briefly flashed behind his polite expression was proof that he was not far removed from the Magic Tower’s sense of superiority.

With that, the young man slowly walked out of the government building with ghostly steps.

Grisha, who had been watching his retreating figure, grumbled in a low voice.

“Damn it. What a waste of time.”

“It’s a gain to know that he’s not alone.”

“It’s just one more annoying nuisance. What nonsense are you talking about?”

“If we use the fact that the Magic Tower has systematically infiltrated the Autonomous Region well, we can pin the blame on them.”

Only then did Grisha understand what Lenok was saying, and she asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“You’re going to rob the Juice Master’s vault and pin it on those guys? Is that even possible?”

“It’s possible precisely because of the current situation.”

With Vizen in their custody, what couldn’t they do?

The power of common magic is relatively inferior to unique magic, but in this situation, there is no magic more suitable for versatile use.

Lenok had already finished planning how to frame Vizen to some extent.

“It’s not something we need to discuss right now. Let’s go inside first.”

Because they had a conversation with the magician dispatched from the Magic Tower, they were slightly late.

If the other party was someone who didn’t keep the appointment time, it was enough time for them to get scared and run away.

The two of them quickly headed to the prearranged location.

The back gate of the government building.

As they headed towards the back of the warehouse where a deep shadow was cast, a middle-aged man with a worried expression was waiting for them.

“Y-you’re late. I thought my heart was going to stop from waiting. Whew…”

“Is the location of the item confirmed?”

At Lenok’s words, the man wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded.

“Of course. Now, no one is looking for that item, so it’s been forgotten, covered in dust. Even if you take it from the warehouse, no one will notice.”

“Then let’s go.”

The two of them followed the man and headed straight for the back gate of the government building.

“Because I’ve already taken care of the patrol routes, there won’t be any guards coming around here for about 30 minutes. If we finish our business quickly and leave, we won’t get caught by anyone.”

As he said that, the man took out a small name tag hanging around his neck and held it up to the security devices throughout the government building.

A green light came on, and the security inside the government building was deactivated, and the door quickly opened.

‘That’s why Lapis spoke so casually.’

An employee working in the government building. If he was someone in charge of a department, the security inside the government building was practically useless.

Moreover, as a member of the Relics Department, it wouldn’t be difficult to access the underground vault of the government building.

Grisha hadn’t said a single word since entering the government building.

Instead, she just stared at the man’s back with a complicated gaze.

The man, standing in front of the wide staircase leading down to the basement, took out a flashlight from his pocket.

“From here on, we can’t just turn on the lights… Please follow me carefully.”

“Don’t worry.”

Even without that, he was maximizing his magic detection.

He could sense the number of people remaining in the government building right now and who among them were magic users.

That’s why he could roughly guess why the man was saying those words.

“……”

At the same time as Lenok turned to look at Grisha, she nodded with a somber expression.

It was right to think that she had also guessed what was happening and gave a signal.

As they went down the long, winding spiral staircase, a dark corridor appeared.

On both sides of the corridor, there were small glass windows and doors lined up densely on the left and right.

Among them, he grabbed and opened a particularly large and thick iron door, and a cloud of dust billowed out from inside.

“Cough, cough!! I’m sorry about this. It’s a warehouse that’s rarely used, so it’s not properly maintained. The items gathered here are not special treasures, but rather, they’re closer to souvenirs.”

“Souvenirs, you say?”

“That’s right. The item that person is looking for this time is also of a similar kind. Ah, here it is. This is probably it.”

Inside the warehouse, shelves covered in dust were densely packed.

The man, rummaging through the shelves, took something out of a box and handed it to Lenok.

A rusty old statue. It was a sculpture of a landscape with a floating island positioned between three eyes.

“It’s a very unique shape. Does it have a special meaning?”

The man shone his flashlight around the shelves and answered Lenok’s question.

“Well, it’s an item that symbolizes an old history.”

Even after finding the item he wanted, he was still busily moving his hands.

No, he was just pretending to move them, while naturally creating distance between the two of them.

“Originally, it was an item commemorating the agreement made to prohibit interference and harm between the Autonomous Region and the Lighthouse… But today, it has lost all meaning.”

“……”

Clunk.

The man, who had stopped at the deepest shelf, turned around and said.

“Because there is no one left to remember that promise.”

At the same time, the man suddenly turned off the flashlight.

Darkness descended into the warehouse, and the view instantly turned pitch black.

Lenok took out a cigarette from his pocket and said.

“Stop with the useless theatrics, and let me ask you just one thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“Were you already disguised from the moment we contacted you?”

Even until the moment he lit the cigarette, no answer was heard.

“Even if Lapis has been away from the Autonomous Region for a long time, it doesn’t make sense that she, with her ability of the Thousand Eyes [a reference to her ability to see everything], wouldn’t notice the betrayal of a person she placed in such an important department.”

“……”

“You probably kept him alive until Lapis contacted him, and then, the moment you were sure he was from the Lighthouse, you killed him and disguised yourself as him… If you’re lucky, you could even make it look like a betrayal. Isn’t that right?”

After a long silence, the man slowly raised one hand to his face.

Zzzzzzz…!!

The man’s facial skin peeled off, revealing a completely different face underneath.

“If you’ve guessed that far, I can’t keep you alive any longer.”

Fwoosh!!

At the same time as the lights on the ceiling turned on all at once, the scene of the warehouse was revealed.

At the same time, dozens of shelves that had filled the warehouse all fell to the left and right, revealing a hidden space.

A vast underground space that seemed several times larger than what was glimpsed in the dark.

From behind the fallen shelves, at least a dozen people were pointing their guns at the two of them.

At the same time, the killing intent they had been hiding exploded out.

Such behavior could never have been shown if all of this hadn’t been prepared from the start.

“What a shame. I thought if I could disguise this as a betrayal by this man named Enrico, I might hear some deeper stories… It seems your organization’s members are more loyal than I thought, so I couldn’t stop myself. It seems the Eye of the Azure is a better place than I expected.”

The man’s expression, as he turned his head, was no longer filled with fear.

Rather, it was strangely calm and composed.

“Well, it’s not needed anymore. After all, everything that needed to be done through the relic department is finished. Now, I’ll just enjoy this luck that has come my way.”

Lenok, sensing an unknown, faint heat in his eyes, turned his head to Grisha, who was standing beside him.

“You gave the signal, so you knew, right?”

“I knew the moment I saw his face.”

She replied with a chillingly expressionless face.

“Enrico and I have known each other since we were kids. There’s no way he wouldn’t recognize my face, even with the perception-blocking magic. I didn’t want to believe it, but…”

She ran a hand over her face, crushed the pipe she had been holding in her mouth with her foot, and channeled her mana.

It was the exact same action as when she tested Lenok’s abilities. Perhaps that action itself was a trigger to release her mana.

In her shadowed face, a cruel murderous intent bloomed.

“I’ll soothe the kid’s soul with the blood of these vermin.”

“What are you doing?! Kill them quickly!!”

With the man’s shout, the people aiming at them from all directions pulled their triggers at once.

The bullets that flew out of the magazines stopped right in front of the gun muzzles.

[Magnetic Control]

Lenok’s magnetic magic had stopped the dozens of bullets in their tracks.

With his mana manipulation ability, which had become powerful enough to move dozens of train cars, it was not a difficult task.

The expressions of the people who saw the bullets floating in front of the gun muzzles, as if in a dream, turned blank for a moment.

Immediately after, Grisha grabbed a handful of mana and swung it.

[Fruit Burst]

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

As Grisha’s gesture swept around, people’s heads burst like watermelons, turning the warehouse into a sea of blood.

“H-Heuaaak!!”

The man, watching the absurd massacre, groaned strangely and trembled.

Lenok frowned.

“That’s excessive… Isn’t it more cruel than necessary?”

“What? I didn’t expect to hear that from you.”

Grisha gave a cruel smile.

“Anyone who’s killed a few people knows. Cruelty is a preference, but brutality is a weapon. Making the opponent terrified is also a very useful power in war. Just like right now.”

She said that, grabbed the man by the collar with one hand, and released her mana.

Was it because the perception-blocking spell that had been surrounding her was finally lifted? The man’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

“Hiiik!! G-Grisha…!!!”

“Oh.”

Grisha laughed.

“You know me, so you must be one of the guys who set foot in the Western Resistance Front. I thought I had killed them all back then… Did I fail to root out even the drug lord’s lackeys?”

“Ugh…!! How are you in the Autonomous Territory… D-Did you return to the Lighthouse!!”

“Enrico was a coward who would wet his pants whenever something happened since he was a kid.”

Grisha bit her lip instead of answering his words.

“When that kind of guy said he would infiltrate the government building after growing up, I just thought he was admirable… Why does he have to die like this?”

The moment Grisha’s fingers pierced the man’s temple, he collapsed.

Looking at the man who had fallen with his eyes rolled back, she muttered with a hollow expression.

“Damn it, old hag…”

“Did you kill him?”

“Not yet. There’s a lot left to ask this guy. I need to have Amon interrogate him to find out how far the Autonomous Territory has been eaten away.”

Grisha looked down at the fallen man with complicated eyes.

“Let’s take him for now. This guy is enough.”

“What about the items?”

“He wouldn’t have touched them. They’re actually worthless, so he probably just thought it was an excuse for a meeting.”

“An excuse…”

From the moment they entered the government building following the man’s guidance, he had roughly noticed the life signs filling the underground.

If you think about who is behind this attack at that point, there was one person who, absurdly, fit the current situation perfectly.

A member of Pandemonium [a powerful organization], who has a reason to hide his vault in the Autonomous Territory and to get his hands on the floating island cluster, and who is decisively in conflict with the Eye of the Azure, including the Lighthouse.

The Philemon Autonomous Territory was already on the verge of falling into the hands of the drug lord.

It was completely unexpected, but should it be considered a good thing that they found out the drug lord was behind it instead of having the existence of the Eye of the Azure exposed?

“We’ll judge later. Let’s move for now.”

“Okay.”

Considering what he had muttered before he fainted, it seems that he didn’t know that Enrico was related to the Lighthouse, but it’s still too early to be sure of the specific circumstances.

It would be best to return to the Lighthouse and figure out the whole story first.

Grisha naturally picked up the man, and the moment Lenok was about to take the lead.

Crack!! Thud thud thud thud thud!!

An ominous glow emanated from the corpses of the people whose heads had been blown off, and they began to twitch.

The corpses slowly rose from their places, with a dark red light flickering from their left abdomens.

Lenok faintly frowned, while Grisha, on the contrary, turned her body with an interested gaze.

“Good. I was feeling uneasy about something, and this confirms it… It’s been a while since I’ve seen something like this. Is this the power of necromancy?”

“I don’t think so.”

Lenok, interrupting Grisha’s words, pointed at the corpses with his finger and said.

“The area where the glow is emanating is consistently fixed to the left abdomen. It’s probably a type that takes effect after death. And seeing that it’s still in the stomach, it seems they haven’t taken it long ago.”

Grisha tilted her head.

“So, you’re saying that the fact that those guys are swarming like zombies is the effect of a drug? A drug that makes guys with no heads move again, that’s basically necromancy.”

“It’s not a normal drug. And it’s probably not just a drug that creates zombies. Looking at that movement, it’s probably…”

As he said that, the headless corpses all turned their bodies and began to gather in one direction of the vast underground space.

They piled up, blindly overlapping each other without a shred of intelligence, breaking bones and overlapping flesh.

The blood flowing out as muscles and skin burst was just a lubricant for fusion.

Only then did Grisha, realizing what Lenok was saying, frown for the first time.

“Ugh… Damn it. It’s disgusting.”

“Didn’t you say that brutality was a weapon earlier?”

“Actually, that was a lie. I have a weak stomach.”

It didn’t seem like something a person who had blown off more than a hundred heads in place would say….

Lenok thought that, but he still intently stared at the bizarre sight of the flesh gathering.

It was definitely a sight he was seeing for the first time with his own eyes, but it was a scene that felt familiar somewhere in his memory.

If it was such a bizarre phenomenon, it wouldn’t be strange for it to remain vividly in Lenok’s mind, but rather, he only felt a faint sense of déjà vu.

That fact felt even stranger to Lenok.

Among the abilities that the drug lord would use, was there a technique that attempted such bizarre human synthesis?

Or had he picked up a similar clue from Jenny?

In the face of a somewhat unfamiliar phenomenon of memory loss, while Lenok was lost in thought, the mass of flesh was steadily increasing in size and transforming into something less than human.

Squeak!!

A huge hole was pierced in the center of the mass of flesh that had squeezed out blood like pus from all directions, and a new mass of flesh, like a bell, appeared from within.

“Ah… ah…”

As the bell-shaped mass of flesh trembled and began to create a new sound, Lenok finally realized the purpose for which the mass of flesh was created and clicked his tongue.

“…Did they create a living vocal cord using human corpses? They’re insane.”

[Ah… Very accurate. Magician. That’s a very excellent intuition.]

The mass of flesh quickly adjusted the vocal cords and answered Lenok’s words in a heavy voice.

Unlike its squirming, gruesome appearance, the voice flowing from the vocal cords even felt relaxed at first glance.

[Usually, people are trapped in their own petty prejudices and don’t easily realize what they are witnessing. But you have thrown away the facade of morality and ethics and have excellently deduced the identity of my work.]

“……”

[It’s a method I enjoy using. I can project my will so cleanly even from the other side of the continent, thousands of kilometers away. The dirty appearance and the complexity of the process are always the next problem.]

It was a voice he was hearing for the first time, but Lenok instinctively sensed it.

The drug lord. Juice Master. One of the top tycoons on the continent. The shadow of the Republic.

The man who has taken all kinds of modifiers and insults and has seized the drug market of this vast world.

Dominic Cabaro had revealed his will right here, right now.