Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 180

“If Evan’s words are true, then our course of action is clear,” the young man stated, having been sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

He looked youthful, as if he had just outgrown his boyish features. Yet, he exuded a sharp aura and carried a long spear in his arms.

Lenok couldn’t help but wonder if he really needed to bring that thing to the meeting room, but in this world, it didn’t seem so strange to carry one’s weapon around. Since he had never had a meeting with someone who used such a long weapon, Lenok could only tilt his head in confusion.

While he was lost in these unnecessary thoughts, the young man continued, “No matter how hard our Watchers try, it would be impossible to pick out all of the Drug Lord’s underlings scattered throughout the Autonomous Territory. It would be much more realistic to raid his vault and confirm the existence of the ledger within the three-day deadline. Indeed, your insight is excellent.”

“…Y-Yeah,” Lenok replied awkwardly to the young man’s sudden praise.

“The conclusion has been reached,” Lapis nodded calmly. “Evan and Grischa have taken the initiative, so we must not waste any time. I will move immediately.”

* * *

From the moment the barrier was deployed, the Watchers decided to split their forces into two groups. There was no need to deploy a large number of personnel to find the Drug Lord’s vault, and there was no reason to waste the time of the other Watchers.

The young man with the spear, Seonmyeong, and other Watchers capable of providing military support, immediately descended to the Autonomous Territory to help manage the chaos. Their tasks were to inform people that the current state of emergency was the Drug Lord’s doing and to actively seek cooperation from other mages in the Autonomous Territory. If they could accomplish those two things to a certain extent, the chaos in the floating island cluster would be greatly reduced.

“You seem to be deep in thought,” Grischa said.

“…I guess,” Lenok replied.

“Focus. If necessary, we may have to help with the spell activation,” Grischa added.

At the top of the tower, Grischa spoke to Lenok, who was leaning against the wall of the Celestial Sphere, which had returned to its original state. The two were watching Lapis, who was busily preparing the spell, from a distance.

In the Celestial Sphere, where the power of the Lighthouse Keeper was strongest under the night sky, they were going to use the Celestial Eye [a magical ability to see distant places or events] to find the Drug Lord’s vault. The necessary medium was a sample of basilisk mushroom taken from the collapsed island. Using this, they would search for the location of Malabes, which was also taken from the same collapsed island, using their connection, and amplify the power of the spell with the statue taken from the underground vault of the government building.

In the end, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the exact location, but this was undoubtedly the most likely method. After all, even if they didn’t know anything else, they could at least be certain of Malabes’ location. To fulfill the conditions of the Medicine Immortal, they had finally taken another step forward after a long and winding journey.

Her Lighthouse servants were busily moving around the Celestial Sphere, drawing magic circles, and Lapis landed in the center of the circle. In her small hands, she held the statue that Lenok had brought. A small floating island appeared in her three eyes.

Lapis looked at the rusty statue with a sad expression and said, “This statue was made by my grandmother herself, wishing for the bond between the Autonomous Territory and the Lighthouse. When my grandmother was building her career as a Lighthouse Keeper, everyone praised her.”

“……”

“But now, it has become a symbol of each other’s immorality.”

Everything changed during the hundred years that the Celestial Eye, Madreia Falsier, devoted herself to the duties of the Lighthouse Keeper. The old promises were buried, and even the duties and qualifications that were once performed for each other were lost. Madreia Falsier tried to mend the rift between the Autonomous Territory and the Lighthouse before she died as an Ascendant [a mage who has reached a higher level of power], but perhaps the people of the Autonomous Territory saw that as a pretense for her successor. A gap once opened is not easily closed.

However, Lapis tried not to dwell on the past and the empty disgrace. “Rather than clinging to my grandmother’s will, I must focus on what I can do for this land. I will not regret it.”

Lapis’s Celestial Eye ability was heavily influenced by Grischa’s method of using magic, and it was possible to greatly enhance the Celestial Eye’s power by offering important items as sacrifices. For her, it was one of her grandmother’s few remaining works, a symbolic object commemorating the relationship between the Lighthouse Keeper and the Autonomous Territory. The Celestial Eye shines brighter as it burns away the memories of the past.

The statue that Lapis placed down slowly melted into the magic circle in the intense heat of magic, and at the same time, a brilliant light erupted from the magic circle surrounding her. Fwoosh!! She opened her eyes, emitting a dark light, and looked up at the night sky. The eyes of the observer, standing alone in the now-broken Lighthouse, did not stop searching. The basilisk mushroom. The Celestial Eye began to connect all the traces taken from the collapsed island.

Grischa, who was watching the scene from a distance, crossed her arms and muttered, “It’s been 40 years since I’ve seen the Lighthouse in operation.”

“…40 years?” Lenok knew that she had lived a long time since she said she was over 100 years old, but at this point, her sense of time was almost completely different from that of a human. However, Grischa answered calmly to Lenok’s words, “Hmm, you wouldn’t know, but… the tribes in my hometown generally had long lifespans. And I’ve mastered magic to a fairly high level, so I’ve lived a very long time, even among them. But it’s not that surprising, is it?”

Lenok shook his head at Grischa’s sudden tilt of her head after answering well. “I was just wondering if all high-ranking mages live that long.”

“I’m not that special of a case. From the moment you start wielding the power that touches the laws, you walk a different path of time than others. The old hag probably lived dozens of times longer than me,” Grischa replied.

“Is that so?” Lenok knew that the lifespans of high-ranking mages were different from ordinary humans, but the important thing was whether that time applied to Lenok as well. To what extent was the curse of the trait [Talent Dies Young] binding Lenok? As he increased the level of magic he wielded and bloomed talents he could not even fathom, Lenok was now slowly reaching out to gauge the end of that curse.

However, Grischa seemed to have thought of something else from that statement, and slowly crossed her arms and muttered, “That’s why I didn’t think she would leave her granddaughter behind like that in her final years.”

“……”

“It’s ironic. I thought I would have to repay the debt I owed the old hag someday, but I never thought I would return to the Autonomous Territory like this. Did the old hag foresee this far?” A silent gaze followed Lapis’s back. Her figure, huddled inside the magic circle and raising her head, looked very isolated even among a dozen people.

“Those who are not interested in ascension do not know well, but observing the outer sea has a very important meaning in celestial mechanics. From the moment you directly observe the monsters that transcend the laws, their existence is confirmed in the outer sea and their movements are fixed,” Grischa explained.

…It seemed like she had heard similar words in physics, but she didn’t quite grasp it. However, she could roughly understand the context of what she was saying. “Are you saying that the Lighthouse was the first line of defense against the monsters of the outer sea?” Lenok asked.

“Yes. That’s why the mission of the Lighthouse Keeper has been shared among the Ascendants, not anyone else. But now the situation has changed,” Grischa replied.

“……”

“The transcendent beings who were friendly to humans have all gone silent for the past 100 years, and most of them are just twisted madmen. In the end, there was only one choice from the beginning,” Grischa stated. Lenok understood what she was saying now. She was telling Lenok the reason why Lapis was chosen as the next Lighthouse Keeper.

“So, in the end, Lapis was chosen,” Lenok said.

“In the end, the only one who has the potential to properly wield the Celestial Eye is the bloodline of the same Ascendant. The size of that vessel is incomparable to others,” Grischa explained. As the conversation continued, the light of the magic circle slowly faded, and Lapis’s dark light became blurry. It wouldn’t be long before the results came out in some way.

“But even so, no one can guarantee whether that child can become an Ascendant. We have placed an unreasonably heavy burden on her, relying on that miraculous probability,” Grischa muttered. “I have to repay the debt I owe the old hag.”

“Well… it seems to me that you have a more plausible reason than a debt,” Lenok said. Even from the way Grischa, who had been indifferent to everything, spoke about Lapis, one could guess the extent of her compassion for the young Lighthouse Keeper. Even a giant who had realized the principles of magic could not be honest with his own feelings, rather than a good reason to repay a debt of the heart.

Grischa rubbed her nose and got up from her seat. “The spell is over. Let’s go.” Her face, which passed by Lenok, had turned as cold as ice, unlike before. “I don’t think I’ll be able to rest easy until I’ve cut off the Juice Master’s head.”

* * *

“I found the traces,” Lapis said, sitting down in the magic circle where all the light had gone out. She was sweating profusely, as if the aftereffects of using the Celestial Eye had not yet subsided. Other Watchers who were taking care of her were diligently wiping away her sweat, but Lapis spoke without paying attention. “There are three places within the Autonomous Territory where the soil of that land remains. I will share the locations with you right away, so something to write on…”

Lapis, who immediately got a pen and paper in her hand, began to draw something with a smooth hand movement. The scenery of the three places she had seen through the Celestial Eye was instantly captured on a single piece of paper. Lenok and Grischa looked at the paper at the same time and fell into thought.

“Hmm…” Grischa said.

“Do you have any idea what it could be?” Lenok asked.

“I have an idea about one of the three places,” Lenok spoke first. He pointed to the picture of a wide field drawn at the bottom of the paper and said, “This is the plant where I got the basilisk mushroom sample. I think we can exclude it from the candidates.” It was natural that the locations overlapped since they were not trying to pinpoint Malabes, but rather looking for soil taken from the collapsed island. Perhaps this plant was selling other remaining basilisk mushroom samples besides the one Lenok had purchased.

“I know the other one,” Grischa continued. “The old building of the History Museum, which was directly managed by the Autonomous Territory. There was a rumor that it was being moved to the new building, but I don’t know if it’s still in operation.”

“Then the remaining one is…” The scenery looked like they were looking out at the sunset from the edge of the floating island. It was difficult to figure out this place with the knowledge of the three of them alone.

“We have no choice but to get help from others,” Grischa said.

“Fortunately, the scenery that Lapis saw shows the sunset. If we calculate the viewing angle at the time of sunset, it wouldn’t be impossible to narrow down the search radius. But…” Grischa paused.

“I don’t think we need to search this far,” Lenok took over Grischa’s words. Lapis’s eyes widened. “Are you saying that the Drug Lord’s vault is in the History Museum?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sure of it,” Grischa asserted. From the moment the words ‘History Museum’ came out of her mouth, Lenok had also sensed it. “Dominic Cavaro is exactly affiliated with the Autonomous Territory government. He also had a hand in the department that manages artifacts. At first, I thought he was reaching out to those who had ties to the Lighthouse, but that wasn’t the case.”

The man disguised as Enrico knew that they would approach the Lighthouse first and set a trap for Lenok and Grischa, but at most, it was just an attack using a few dozen soldiers. Moreover, after the first attack failed, instead of sending additional troops to capture them, the Drug Lord himself threatened them. In other words, it was proof that the Autonomous Territory was not completely in the hands of the Drug Lord.

“The Juice Master’s hand reached only a few of the government employees. Among them was Enrico, the head of the artifact department. Why would he choose a civil servant from the artifact department, not those who would be more useful in taking over the Autonomous Territory?” Lenok asked.

Only then did Lapis realize the meaning of Lenok’s words and let out a small exclamation. “That’s right…!! To use the old site of the History Museum…!!”

“Yes. Now, he reached out to the artifact department of the Autonomous Territory government, which is related to the remaining museum site after moving to the new building, and completely took over that site. Considering the Drug Lord’s tendencies so far, it’s probably certain,” Lenok explained. There was no need to hide the location with meticulous concealment and security spells. The Drug Lord had accurately identified and seized the land that was directly managed by the Autonomous Territory government, so there was no reason to rashly interfere with it, and it was a site that had already served its purpose. In addition, the Drug Lord had accurately identified and seized the land in a subtle position that was relatively less likely to be noticed even within the government building.

“The old building of the History Museum. He boldly put his assets in an abandoned building that no one visits anymore,” Lenok said.

Lenok smiled and stood up. “It’s time for us to move first.”