Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 260

Lenox was immediately informed that two people from the Necromancy Department had been expelled for conducting a Guido Order ritual, and that one of them was found to have been acquainted with Priscilla.

Priscilla, having heard the whole story, wore a complicated expression.

“Penia…”

“Our research lab is looking for traces of the Guido Order due to a certain matter. It would be helpful if you could tell us what you know about a student named Penia.”

“…She was my roommate when I was temporarily assigned a dorm after being accepted into Lavatenon.”

Priscilla said, deep in thought.

“I heard she was from the Machine City of Machina, but she was neat and had a good personality, so we became friends.”

“I see.”

“But Penia should have been a follower of the Machine Order, not Guido… I have no idea why the Guido Order is being mentioned.”

“…”

Lenox was also lost in thought at the slightly different story than he had expected.

The Machine Order.

Unlike the Guido Order, which worships the monsters of the Outer Seas as gods, it is a religious group of androids that prioritizes the reason and logic of machines over humanity.

As its name suggests, it is strong in the Machine City of Machina, and its actions are quite radical, though not comparable to those of the Guido Order.

“Necromancers often rely on specific faiths.”

Mila interjected with a nonchalant expression.

“They say it’s because the beings they summon to use their spells feel so powerful. It doesn’t seem like a rare thing.”

“The problem is that both Guido and the Machine Order are far beyond the realm of ordinary faith.”

The Guido Order, which reveres the monsters of the Outer Seas as gods, and the Machine Order, which worships the logic and reason of machines.

“The university administration wouldn’t have expelled two people just on suspicion, so they were probably caught trying to do something very serious.”

Lenox said.

“And if two members of different orders, each worshipping different entities, were working together, it’s highly unlikely to be a normal incident.”

“…It’s been almost two months since I last heard from Penia.”

Priscilla said with a slightly troubled face.

“I thought she was busy with her undergraduate assignments and studying for exams, but I never imagined something like this would happen…”

In the end, Priscilla also didn’t know why Penia had done such a thing.

Lenox nodded lightly and spoke again.

“Priscilla, do you know where Penia lives?”

At least he had to find out her residence here.

* * *

District 37.

A shabby apartment complex located near the industrial complex.

It was a region that was slightly below the average security of the mega-city, but not one where serious violent crimes occurred.

Seeing that Penia lived alone here, it seemed that she was not having a particularly difficult life.

Priscilla, who had followed Lenox, looked around with a dark expression.

“It was definitely around here… The roads are so complicated that I don’t remember exactly.”

It wasn’t easy to remember a street she had only visited once eight months ago.

Moreover, the streets here were so narrow and complicated that it seemed easy to get lost.

“Do you remember what floor it was on?”

At Mila’s words, who had casually followed Priscilla, saying she was free on her day off, Priscilla was lost in thought.

“I don’t think it was very high. Maybe around the third floor…?”

Lenox and Mila looked at each other silently.

It was a very ambiguous floor height to pinpoint the location.

In the end, was there no other way but to search directly?

“Haa…”

Fzzzt!!

Lenox sighed and silently took Davi out of his arms.

“Davi!!”

Priscilla’s face brightened at the sight of the wriggling baby fox, and Mila tilted her head.

“What is this tiny animal?”

“Professor Evan is a very talented spirit mage. Davi is a spirit summoned by the professor.”

Priscilla, hugging Davi, who had turned his head slightly, said with a slight smile.

“He’s so popular in our department.”

“Really? Why do I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere…”

Mila frowned slightly and was lost in thought, and Lenox also turned his head slightly.

He didn’t think he had ever taken Davi out in the form of a baby fox when he was in the guise of Ban, but her reaction made him think of something.

‘It was when we first met.’

The magic Lenox used when he discovered her presence hiding in the undeveloped area using a druid’s amulet.

The encirclement where three foxes ran and created a huge net of electricity was still not forgotten in Mila’s mind.

Lenox’s magic had changed a lot since then, but since Davi was a spirit that was inspired by that form, it was inevitable that the image would be associated.

‘Since I’m disguised as a spirit mage, I can’t not take Davi out…’

There was no justification to stop Mila from following, so it was better to cut off Mila’s memory at an appropriate point.

[……]

Davi, on the other hand, was looking back and forth between Mila and Priscilla’s faces and wagging his tail.

“Davi.”

Fzzzt!!

Davi, who emitted electricity from his body in response to the words, released a huge wave of magical power from Lenox’s arms.

Whoooom!!

The aura of intense magical power detection was so strong that even Mila, who was standing askew, flinched for a moment.

In reality, it was Lenox’s power, but since he was disguised as a spirit mage, this much effort was essential.

Lenox opened his eyes in the sensory sphere that instantly covered the vicinity for several kilometers.

After awakening his magic, he had only been using magic detection for simple presence detection and danger detection.

However, even as Lenox increased his level, he focused not on simply increasing the range of his sensory sphere, but on what he could accomplish within that range.

The important thing was not how much he could see, but how accurately he could see it.

Ignoring the massive amount of information pouring into his head and neatly selecting what he wanted was not a matter of preference for Lenox, but a matter of survival.

In one corner of this vast apartment complex, he ignores the rotting corpses and bloodstains, stolen goods, and various living spaces, and only chases the lingering scent of magic.

He filters out the miscellaneous magic mixed in with artifacts and items, and finds and confirms traces that feel alive.

Davi opened his mouth.

[As a result of the detection, there are a total of seven magic users residing in this apartment complex.]

“Oh… you can do that too?”

Mila was slightly impressed, but Davi neatly ignored her and continued.

[Three of them have life signs staying on the upper floors of 10 stories or higher, and two are in the basement. The remaining two reside near the 4th and 7th floors, respectively, and are currently all out.]

“…”

Both sisters were speechless at the unexpected detection ability.

Of course, both Mila and Priscilla were capable of high-level magic detection, but they did not have the ability to accurately distinguish only magic users in such a wide range, and even the traces of those who were currently away.

Mila muttered with an awkward expression.

“He’s a very sensitive friend. I should be more careful in the future.”

“It would be good to look for the places that are said to be on the 4th and 7th floors first.”

“You said that two people were in the basement earlier, what could that be?”

At Priscilla’s words, Davi replied.

[It was detected under the cement floor of a newly completed complex nearby. The life signs are expected to disappear soon.]

“…”

Davi would have no emotions, but the content of his statement was eerie.

“…I don’t want to get involved in that.”

Mila muttered with an awkward smile.

If they buried a living human under cement, they were definitely related to the underworld. It was also a method of disposal that was quite controversial even in this world.

There was a possibility that things would get troublesome if they got involved with that side.

The group immediately followed Davi’s detection and headed to the residence of the magic user on the 4th floor.

Among the long row of front doors in the corridor, Lenox, standing in front of the front door labeled 402, asked.

“How is it?”

“…I don’t think so.”

Shilla, who had been pondering, shook her head, and the group immediately headed to the 7th floor residence candidate in another apartment.

In front of the front door labeled 704, Shilla clapped her hands.

“Ah, it’s here. I remember Penia saying that she was uncomfortable with the peeling paint on the doorbell.”

“Okay. So what do we do now?”

Mila asked.

“You’re not thinking of waiting here until that friend comes home, are you, mage?”

“…I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Lenox said, naturally grabbing the doorknob.

There was no need to use Davi to unlock the door.

At the same time as turning the doorknob, the door opened smoothly, and a strong smell of blood emanated from inside.

The two sisters’ faces stiffened in an instant.

“This is…!!”

Mila naturally took the lead, and Lenox followed behind, floating Davi in the air.

The 704 unit had three rooms.

It was an excessively large space for one person to live in, but the feeling was lessened by the clutter inside the house.

Unidentified bone fragments and old leather of unknown origin.

Artifacts with a faint scent of magic and faded ores.

But above all, what caught the eye first were the unknown strange characters written on one side of the wall.

The characters written in bright red blood gave off a strong fishy smell.

The scene of this room, which had turned into a mess, pointed to only one fact.

Something was definitely wrong.

“Penia!!”

Priscilla, her face pale, called Penia’s name and began searching the house.

Lenox watched her for a moment, then picked up a drop of blood dripping from the wall and touched it with his finger.

“The oiliness is excessive. It’s not ordinary blood.”

[As a result of component analysis, it was confirmed that 4% of tenzier oil, which is not present in the existing blood components, is contained.]

Tenzier oil. After searching the word with Davi’s help, it seemed to be something that androids or those who had machines attached to their bodies mainly used as lubricant.

It was said that it was an oil that did not put much strain on the human body, so even if a certain amount was mixed in the blood, there would be no major health problems.

Davi continued.

[After infiltrating the blood research institute’s network, inputting the component structure, and detecting sample data, it was concluded that there is a 71% probability that she is a woman of a similar age to Priscilla.]

“Then it’s certain. The owner of this blood is Penia. Considering the tenzier oil component… she is definitely a follower of the Machine Order.”

Mila’s mouth dropped open at the rapid conversation between the mage and the spirit.

“Wait a minute… this is completely different from the spirit mage I imagined. Are you really a mage?”

For a mere spirit to hack into a research institute’s network and use the system to detect blood components, it was not strange that it was a sight that Mila, who had experienced all sorts of things, was seeing for the first time.

But Lenox put on a straight face and smiled calmly.

“This is the field I specialize in. I’m unintentionally indebted to many places.”

Now that it had come to this, it would be much more helpful to put Davi forward and have Lenox subtly support him, rather than overlapping with Ban’s image.

It was rather good. Once he had firmly established his status as a spirit mage under Aris, there was a high possibility that the constant checks from those around him would be reduced.

There were more than one or two annoying things due to the thesis, but if he showed that his own skills were also at that level, the number of flies buzzing around would also decrease.

“Ha, I knew there were many eccentrics in this city… but I never thought there would be a mage who uses spirits like this…”

While Mila was muttering with a dumbfounded face, Davi wagged his tail and continued.

[The strange characters engraved on the wall were also identified through image comparison on the network. Although there is not enough sample to guess the specific meaning, it is certain that they are characters used by the Guido Order.]

“Good job.”

In the magic tower or autonomous territories where there was no special network, it was impossible to borrow her power, but in a mega-city, there were endless possibilities for Davi.

The way she instantly gathered, summarized, and organized the information that Lenox would have to go out and find himself was worthy of being called a cyber spirit.

“The Guido Order’s characters written in the blood of a Machine Order member. There are many possibilities to consider…”

Wasn’t the other person, not Penia, holding the key to all the answers?

“Penia was used.”

Priscilla, who had walked out of the room, said with a stiff face.

It was not difficult to guess what it meant that the house was in a mess and that the owner’s blood was used to write letters.

Lenox stared at the strange characters and muttered.

“These characters… I can’t figure out the specific meaning, but they are cut off at the upper right of the living room wall.”

“…”

“As if they were about to fill the remaining space with characters.”

“Were they trying to perform a ritual?”

“That seems highly likely. Perhaps they were trying to carry out the ritual at Penia’s house for some reason, but gave up and moved the location.”

If the circumstances were not favorable to carry out the ritual, where would the culprit have newly sought a place?

It was not difficult to come to a conclusion.

“We need to go back to school.”

Lenox muttered, adjusting his glasses.

“Perhaps the ritual itself has never been interrupted from the beginning.”

It was said that the darkest place is under the lamp. If the preparations for the ritual had been made inside the school, there was a very high possibility that the culprit would appear at the scene again.

* * *

Tick, tick…

The sound of water droplets falling echoed slowly.

Penia was quietly watching it, feeling the sensation of her stiffening limbs.

Hanging in the air, she called out the name of the person standing with his back turned in a dry voice.

“Lanfei…”

“What.”

“Let’s stop here.”

What started as curiosity was what helped her at first.

The suggestion that she would like to assist in the process of conducting a ritual by borrowing the Necromancy Department’s laboratory.

Penia was also interested in the fact that she would prepare the ritual with rare catalysts and considerable costs.

But after learning the true nature of the necromantic ritual, it was impossible to turn back.

“Many people will die.”

To build a huge altar for the Guido Order in the basement of the Necromancy Department was truly insane.

Penia was a member of the Machine Order, but she had only been baptized a couple of times due to the influence of her childhood environment, and had never been moved by its ideology.

But Lanfei was already a loyal member of the Guido Order, following its doctrines to the bone.

Lanfei slowly turned his head at those words.

“I’m actually sad too. The undergraduate life at Lavatenon was more enjoyable than I thought.”

“…”

“If you hadn’t interfered with me back then, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”

“That’s…”

“As a result, the ritual was discovered, and we were both expelled from school… It’s only natural that someone has to take responsibility.”

Lanfei, looking up at Penia hanging in the air, said.

“I don’t want to die.”

“…Neither do I.”

“Then you shouldn’t have interfered with my work!!”

Thud, thud!!

At the same time as Lanfei roughly grabbed Penia by the collar, the sound of water droplets falling became faster.

The water droplets that continued to fall down the knot that was binding Penia were a clear red color.

“If you hadn’t ruined the preparations for the ritual with that interference, there would have been no reason to go this far.”

Lanfei muttered, breathing roughly.

“Once I filter out all the miscellaneous oil mixed in your blood, I will start the ritual. If that’s not enough, I have to fulfill this duty even if I have to borrow someone else’s blood.”

“…”

“It’s all thanks to you, Penia. Thanks to you, I’ve made up my mind.”

He let go of her collar and stepped back.

“Although the form is different, I thought that if we were the same believers, you would understand my heart… but this city is still full of uncivilized people.”

Lanfei slowly turned his back and began washing his hands in the sink.

At that moment when Penia was about to give up everything and close her eyes weakly.

[Power room system takeover complete.]

Along with a unique and unusual tone,

[Starting the operation.]

The surroundings were plunged into darkness a step ahead.