Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 276

“I’m very curious to see which proxy they’ll send out first. Aren’t you?”

“…You are correct.”

The head of the Six Spirits Family glanced around before agreeing with Yvon.

“The proxy was personally selected by the Four Lords Family Head. No matter who it is, they’ll tear them apart without even giving them time to surrender.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Yvon Family Head said with a smile.

“I thought the Six Spirits’ proxy would be doing that role.”

“……”

Yvon glared at the Six Spirits Family Head, who had become as silent as a clam, and continued.

“You can’t even handle the simple task of choosing your family’s proxy, adding to our workload. Let’s talk about this later after the Lord has been decided.”

It was only because the family heads’ lives were held hostage that they had managed to get this far. If they had come this far with a simple alliance, Yvon Family Head would not have survived.

As the Six Spirits lowered their head, one of the gates of the manor opened, and someone appeared.

Thud!

The residents of the fortress, recognizing the figure, let out a passionate cheer.

Waaaaaaaah!!!

A massive figure, completely covered in thick armor.

Red light gleamed from between the helmet’s gaps. And a huge zanbato [a large, curved Japanese sword] in each hand.

At first glance, he was a warrior with an extraordinary aura, but the cheers of the fortress residents were not entirely for this warrior’s abilities.

The Four Lords Family manages the criminals of the Eight Peaks Fortress, overseeing their imprisonment and execution.

Among them, the man known as the executioner who executes those sentenced to death had most recently executed the former head of the Five Wheels Family.

Cheers for the executioner who personally punished the head of the Five Wheels Family, who had lived a life of luxury and indulgence, even among the eight family heads of the fortress.

It was only natural that the fortress residents would respond to this.

The Four Lords Family Head, looking down at the scene with a satisfied expression, subtly turned his gaze towards Suren.

“The man who cut off your father’s head is standing right there.”

“……”

“It was quite a sight. He was crying for mercy, begging to spare his family… He was a pathetic man. I never imagined that a child like you would come from such filthy blood.”

The Four Lords Family Head licked his dry lips as he looked at Suren’s beautiful profile.

“My son is of age to find a partner. If you have the foresight to see the bigger picture…”

“Four Lords Family Head.”

Suren cut him off with a cold expression.

She looked up at the Four Lords and smiled coldly.

“Did you come here today to play matchmaker?”

“You…!!”

“Shut your mouth before your foolishness reaches the ears of the people below.”

Before the Four Lords Family Head, his face flushed red and trembling, could open his mouth, Oren, who had been watching the scene from the side, chuckled.

“They’re coming out too. The vanguard is my nephew.”

“…What did you say?”

At those words, Yvon Family Head belatedly turned his gaze towards the lower part of the manor.

A skinny young man, Asui, was walking weakly towards the center of the manor with his head bowed.

“No, if he’s the nephew of the Three Young Family Head…”

“What is the meaning of this, Three Young Family Head?”

The other family heads also looked down at the scene with surprised expressions.

As the heavily armored executioner and the seemingly powerless Asui faced each other, the fortress residents who were watching the scene also fell silent.

The overwhelming difference in physique between the two made them naturally imagine what would happen next.

In the solemn atmosphere of the manor, the host quietly raised the flag.

Only then did Yvon, realizing the situation, let out a laugh.

“I misjudged the Three Young Family Head.”

“……”

“I thought you were a heartless person, but I thought you would at least cherish your own kin.”

Yvon’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.

“I never imagined you would throw them away as mere pawns for such entertainment.”

The shadow mage of the Three Young Family. Yvon knew very well who Asui was.

He possessed excellent spellcasting abilities but had little to no talent or aptitude as a warrior.

To pit such a mage against a warrior of that size in this kind of situation.

Regardless of the odds, it could only be explained by the fact that Asui had fallen out of Oren’s favor.

To make a spectacle of a family member like this and coldly cast them aside.

He had managed to gain a good image by being in charge of the fortress’s outer defenses, but he was no different from her in essence.

Yvon even felt a sense of kinship with Oren.

However, Oren chuckled and retorted.

“Asui also agreed to this. He’ll take care of himself.”

“That’s absurd.”

The Four Lords, who was sitting next to him, scoffed at those words.

“The time needed to declare surrender is five minutes. It’s not a long time, but it won’t take long to break through your nephew’s shadow magic.”

Asui was naturally afraid of fighting and had never been at the forefront of the family.

His fear of battle, which was strangely out of proportion to his talent, was well known to the other family heads.

“……”

Instead of answering, Oren leaned back in his chair and waited for the right moment.

He had indeed given Asui up, but he never thought his nephew would be sent out as the vanguard.

However, if he had decided to use him as a pawn from the beginning instead of leaving him as the last one due to his lack of combat experience, there must be a reason.

As Oren closed his eyes, the prelude to the proxy war began,

Conversely, the eyes of the other seven widened as if they were about to tear.

As the flag was lowered and the bell rang,

The shadows that emerged from Asui’s body, who had formed a hand seal, began to densely cover the manor.

* * *

[That crazy bastard…….]

“Be quiet. I need to concentrate.”

[He’s insane… This is insane. How is he doing this?]

Ignoring Manson’s mechanical voice, which was muttering in disbelief, Lenok carefully moved his hand.

As the magic threads clinging to his fingers subtly wriggled, Asui’s hands, which had been drooping, moved incredibly fast.

At the same time, the shadow that stretched out from under his feet instantly spread a huge curtain in front of him, wrapping around the executioner’s zanbato.

Screeeeeech…!!

An unnatural friction sound, like tires skidding on the middle of the road.

The executioner, without panicking, pulled the zanbato out and immediately swung it again towards Asui’s back.

It was a weapon made to cut down horses, not humans.

There was no need to explain how much power was contained in the blow that was struck from that weight, size, and height.

If Asui’s skinny body was even slightly caught by the blade, his limbs would be torn apart like paper, and blood would splatter everywhere.

Whoosh!!!

“……”

However, Asui still didn’t even raise his head, despite the pressure of the murderous intent that was heavily descending in front of him.

Without even checking who his opponent was, he continuously formed hand seals.

The shadow that rose from under his feet wriggled like a living creature, transforming into dozens of hands that grabbed and tore at the zanbato’s strike from all directions.

Crack, crack, crack!!

“Umm…!!”

The executioner, sensing that the direction and speed of the blade in his hand were changing slowly but surely, let out a low groan for the first time.

The zanbato, which had narrowly missed Asui’s shoulder, struck the empty ground.

Kuuuuung!!

The impact of the heavy iron mass falling diagonally.

However, instead of the ground being shattered or vibrating from the aftermath, the shadow crouching under Asui’s feet began to pull the zanbato as if it had been waiting.

The executioner naturally stepped back from the eerie momentum,

“…!!”

And belatedly realizing what he had done, he flinched.

He had just tried to create distance against a shadow mage who was known to have never fought before.

The audience became silent.

It was only natural that the silence would feel extremely sensitive to the executioner.

“How dare you…!!”

With a heavy roar leaking from between the helmet, the executioner stepped forward again.

And Lenok, who was watching the scene from behind, also busily moved his fingers.

Chen, who was late in realizing the truth of the situation, stammered.

“S-Surely, Ban. Are you manipulating Asui’s magic…?”

“It wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t seen Oren’s shadow magic beforehand. I was lucky.”

Lenok replied nonchalantly.

“He’s still a bit clumsy, though.”

“He’s insane. He’s not human… How can he do this with just magic threads….”

Only then did Chen understand why Manson had reacted that way, and he let out a low sigh.

Lenok was not just manipulating Asui’s unconscious body; he was indirectly manipulating Asui’s magic and spells to engage in combat.

Asui had no combat experience, but his skills were second only to Oren as a shadow mage.

If he was too afraid to fight and fainted, then Lenok could just directly manipulate his body and magic to engage in combat.

There was no need to make Asui win here.

The important thing was to buy the five minutes needed for surrender and to lay Asui’s shadow near the manor in advance for the plan discussed with Oren.

Lenok, taking into account Asui’s innate nature, was manipulating Asui’s magic and spells themselves to achieve both goals.

“I knew it wasn’t impossible. If you’re aware of it, implementation isn’t difficult.”

Over a hundred magic threads were binding Asui’s body.

He inserted some of them into his body and indirectly manipulated the flow of magic.

He used the flowing magic as power to observe and acquire some of the emerging images. He understood the structure and principles of the engraved spells and began to implement them on the spot.

Remote control that made a human being function as a mage.

It was a reckless and absurd attempt that an ordinary mage could not even imagine, but Lenok already had the answer to that question.

He had seen Agneta, the herald of Pandemonium, reach into the human mind.

He saw the possibility in that tightrope walk in the gaps of space.

He endlessly expanded the limits of manipulation magic that he had unconsciously been gauging in his mind.

Crackle…!

The current flowing through the magic threads penetrated Asui’s body, smoothing the flow of magic and accelerating the movement of the magic threads.

‘The problem isn’t the implementation of the spells, but their application. This is definitely not easy.’

Sweat dripped from Lenok’s face as he faintly frowned.

Asui’s reflexes and motor skills, who had lived his entire life avoiding combat, were only slightly better than Lenok’s.

Instead of manipulating this body to avoid the executioner’s attacks, he thought it would be better to give up half of the body manipulation and invest all his energy in spell manipulation.

However, it was inevitable that there would be some delay in the spell that manipulated shadows.

Not only did he have to induce and manipulate the magic of the unconscious Asui to flow naturally, but assembling and implementing spells within his body was strictly Asui’s ability.

No matter how quickly Lenok sent the signals, it was impossible to reduce the time it took for the spells to be completed in Asui’s body.

All Lenok could do was to pattern and calculate the delay after sending the manipulation command and input the manipulation in advance.

In fact, it was impossible unless he read all of the executioner’s decisions and predicted his next move, but as a result, he had somehow managed to succeed so far.

‘And it’s also important to judge how far these tricks will work.’

A bracelet made of eight chains.

It seemed like a simple formality, and the mediator didn’t say anything special, but Lenok guessed that this proxy war was a ritual close to sorcery.

It was not simply a matter of determining the superiority of the proxies to transfer the authority of the Lord.

The act of determining victory or defeat through this battle itself had a magical meaning.

That was probably because the barrier surrounding the ruins accepted the ‘authority of the Lord’ as an explicit concept.

A closed fortress society. A solitary ritual of designating proxies and handing over the right of designation to the one who wins until the end.

It would be impossible to deduce this far if one did not recognize the existence of the ruins where time flowed slowly and the barrier that protected them.

A grand ritual to maintain the fortress’s barrier, and how far one could walk the tightrope within it.

It was enough to find out the upper limit through Asui in this place.

“Shall we try a little more?”

As Lenok muttered those words, the movement of the magic threads became even more complex.

Immediately after, the shadow that rose from under Asui’s feet split into dozens of strands and began to rush towards the executioner all at once.

Fluttering!!

The fragments of shadows, fluttering like scattered crow feathers, filled the stage of the manor, and even the family heads, not to mention the audience, faintly opened their mouths.

“Was it this much?!”

“He didn’t even need to fight!”

A spectacle of feathers that filled all sides of the executioner in an instant, slowly but surely, and not at a slow pace.

He occupied the space and blocked the retreat by manipulating the split shadow fragments in unpredictable directions.

There were probably not even five people in this place who could gauge the prediction and intuition contained in this one move.

Thud!!

“Ugh….”

The fragments of shadows that had been fluttering in the air stretched out and turned into sharp spears,

And the moment the executioner, sensing defeat, let out a low groan.

Crack!!

The bracelet on Asui’s right hand shattered and fell to the ground.

The sound of the chains breaking echoed particularly loudly in the manor.

The judge, who was holding the flag at the edge of the manor, picked up the microphone and declared loudly.

[Three Young’s disqualification. Four Lords’ victory. Please have the next proxy come forward!]

“……”

“Did Three Young… lose?”

“Disqualified?”

A conclusion that could be called anticlimactic. However, most of the audience had some idea of the meaning of the victory or defeat.

The Four Lords’ proxy. The family’s best warrior, who had been raising his stock by executing countless criminals.

He had been driven to the brink of defeat against a shadow mage who had never fought a real fight.

If Asui hadn’t broken the bracelet, it was obvious who would have been lying on the ground without even being able to surrender.

The atmosphere in the VIP seats cooled down at the result that overturned expectations from the start of the proxy war.

“…The Four Lords’ executioner seems to have forgotten his duty while beheading criminals.”

Yvon Family Head’s voice trembled as he spoke.

“Or has he become so merciful that he would spare a young mage?”

“…I have no excuse.”

The Four Lords Family Head lowered his head.

The composure he had before was nowhere to be found on his pale face.

“We will surely bring good results in the next battle.”

He desperately tried to persuade Yvon Family Head as he confirmed Chen’s appearance.

His opponent was a swordsman who had defeated the Eight Shields’ proxy and earned the right to be a proxy.

Rumor had it that he was the half-sibling of the Five Wheels Family Head.

If he could win against that guy and cut off his head, it was only natural that Suren’s mind and body would collapse.

He just needed to ask for forgiveness from Yvon Family Head using that as an excuse.

There was nothing good about being out of favor with Yvon Family Head, who was at the center of this reorganization of the fortress’s internal order.

While the other family heads were also subtly talking and scheming to share the spoils under her, Oren quietly looked down at the lower part of the manor.

“……”

It might not be visible to other people, but as a fellow shadow mage, he could tell.

Asui had not simply self-destructed by trying to attack the executioner recklessly.

Rather, he had been focusing on planting his shadow fragments throughout the manor during the entire proxy war.

Even now, with the bright sunlight rising above the manor, shadows that did not quite match the angle of reflection still remained in various parts of the manor, harboring magic.

As if waiting for the right moment to move at any time.

It was for this arrangement that Lenok had taken the risk of choosing Asui as the Three Young’s proxy and sending him out as the vanguard of the proxy war.

Judging from the way things were going, even Asui’s self-destruction was probably just a part of the process that Lenok had designed.

He had decided that there was no reason to keep a mage with no combat ability standing for long since he had achieved his goal.

“That’s a nasty one…”

A murmur that came out without him realizing it. However, Oren felt the corners of his mouth twitch as he said that.

When he had said that a shadow mage was needed as a proxy, had he been thinking this far?

He had not expected that the process of overturning the board that Lenok had mentioned would be carried out in this way.

Even after all these years, he was able to encounter a talent that exceeded his expectations and anticipation, and Oren could not hide his pleasant mood.

He knew that one loach was muddying the water [a metaphor for someone who stirs up trouble].

And he also knew that he was not just watching the situation, but was also splashing around in the water with him.

How long would it take for the other family heads to realize that fact?

Oren was old enough to leave even that short wait as a pleasure.

“……”

Only Yvon Family Head was sharply watching his leisurely closing eyes.