Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 429

“Among the evidence stored there, that was the only item that could be picked up with one hand.”

“Good. This is enough.”

Lenok said, nodding his head.

Cassia shrugged slightly, looking at Lenok.

“While I was at the police station, I also took a look at the case files. But is there anything you can find out with just that piece of evidence?”

“Seven university officials died at this location, and the estimated time of death is within five minutes of each other. In fact, they all died instantly at this spot.”

Lenok said, slowly stroking the necklace’s ornament.

“Yet, there are no signs of resistance on the bodies, and no other cause of death is apparent. It’s impossible unless they were an exceptionally skilled superhuman.”

“So, are you saying that this necklace left at the scene belongs to that superhuman?”

“No. This is a message.”

“……A message, you say?”

“Hyler Thompson is a mage from the City Council Research Institute… a skilled mage, but he doesn’t have a history of being skilled in killing to the point where he could cleanly kill seven people.”

“…….”

He carefully examines the cross-section of the necklace, gently infusing it with mana.

“[Usha]……!”

As Davi lets out a small shout, the mana flowing inside goes through a series of processes within the necklace, naturally converting into electricity and touching the power source.

Clatter!!

The necklace instantly transforms into a shape similar to a key.

“He was said to have a gentle personality even when he was working at the city government’s research institute. What are the chances that such a person would kill seven people in a fit of anger just because university staff visited?”

“Then…….”

“A murder scene that doesn’t seem to have much to do with magic. Evidence left out in the open and a key that applies the technology from the thesis…….”

Lenok said, naturally inserting the key into a gap in the workshop wall and turning it.

A wall with a pattern exactly the same as the necklace’s ornament. Below it, there was a faint crack like a keyhole.

“This is a deliberate sense of incongruity.”

Click!!

Thump!!

At the same time, a hidden space appeared beyond the room.

On a dimly lit desk with a lamp, someone was lying face down on the desk, tongue lolling out, dead.

“H, Hyler Thompson……!”

Only then did Cassia realize that the owner of this workshop was not the culprit but the victim, and she took a step back.

Archwood also let out a groan with a stiff face.

“How can this be, a level 6 military mage assassinated……!!”

Whoosh!!

At that moment, something pale that appeared from nowhere in the air rushed towards Lenok.

Before anyone could react, it grabbed Lenok’s waist and bent him in half.

Crack!!

A gruesome sound like the spine and hip joint breaking was heard. A violent impact that would have been enough to paralyze the lower body.

The new figure, having instantly eliminated Lenok’s means of escape, tried to carry his body away, but at that moment.

Lenok’s limp body collapsed, and the mana threads that burst out from within began to bind the new figure.

Whirr!!

“……!!!”

It quickly tried to raise its mana to cut the mana threads and escape, but the tension was extraordinary.

With all the joints of its body completely bound, it was in a situation where it was difficult to move even a fingertip.

However, the figure, with only a slight twitching force, threw its body against the factory wall, slamming its shoulder.

Boom!!

The impact caused the old workshop’s conveyor belt to collapse, and the pipes hanging from the ceiling fell, creating a loud roar.

Just as Archwood and Cassia were almost simultaneously raising their mana to locate and intercept the figure.

“It’s alright.”

Crunch!!

Lenok, who walked out through the dust, said.

Under Lenok’s feet, a middle-aged man with his temple crushed by a shoe was lying down, his whole body bound.

Lenok brushed off the dust that had piled up on his shoulders and smiled.

“I thought I had bound his whole body, but I didn’t expect him to try to escape from here with just the strength of his toes. I’ll have to pay more attention in the future.”

“There was definitely an impact, but since when…….”

Cassia muttered, her face bewildered.

It was clear that they had been talking to Lenok just a moment ago, but it was definitely a powerful illusion that had been attacked by a sudden assailant.

“It’s the effect of an artifact.”

Lenok casually brushed it off.

“Before I came to the university with Professor Richelene, I did some traveling. In the process, I picked up several useful items.”

“I, I see. So that’s why you were able to write such a thesis…….”

“Thesis?”

Archwood asked, narrowing his brow slightly.

“Thesis, what does that mean?”

“…….Today’s meeting was set up to track down the culprit who was trying to misuse the thesis written by Assistant Professor Evan.”

Cassia, unable to hold back any longer, turned her head and said.

“You said you came to help the assistant professor directly, but it seems you haven’t heard anything from the dean yet.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I agreed to this job to see the face of the genius who wrote the thesis on the conversion of mana and electricity, but Evan… um?”

Only then did Archwood realize what Cassia was saying, and he turned his stiff neck to look at Lenok.

“Th, that thesis, th, that… so, Evan…?”

“…….”

“The very theory that is raising the stock prices of not only the academic world but also all energy industries right now?”

“To be here without even knowing that…….”

Cassia sighed deeply and walked past Archwood, heading out of the factory.

“That’s it. I’ll go give an interim report to the dean about this matter.”

“Th, that’s…….”

Watching Archwood stuttering with a cold sweat was quite amusing, but he had to say what he had to say.

“You shouldn’t go outside yet.”

“Yes?”

“There will probably be more.”

Lenok said, putting strength into his leg and pressing down harder on the man’s temple.

The bald man’s complexion instantly turned purple, and he began to make a choking sound.

“Guh…….”

It was the pain of directly blocking and closing the blood vessels leading to the head.

Even with Lenok’s leg strength, it was more than enough to knock out an ordinary person. It would be an excruciating pain that even a skilled superhuman would have difficulty enduring.

At that, Cassia, who was holding her phone and naturally trying to open the door to the outside of the factory, stopped.

“More… what do you mean? Isn’t this man the culprit in this case?”

“From the point of assassinating Hyler Thompson and killing the university staff, he would have known that others would come. Knowing that, he’s too weak to be waiting alone.”

Bang!!

As he kicked the temple with his toe, the man foamed at the mouth and trembled.

Lenok, holding his aching thigh, knelt beside the man and began to rummage through the man’s belongings.

“Unless he was strong, there’s a high probability that there are a few more since he was so easily subdued. To be precise, near the scene of the incident where it was certain that we would come.”

Lenok also knew this, so he wasn’t in a hurry to explore the scene.

If what they were really after was the existence of the person who produced the research results of the thesis, the opponent would not run far away but would be watching for an opportunity.

“The culprit always reappears at the scene of the crime… it’s a cliche, but it’s a statement that’s less likely to be wrong. I found it.”

Clink.

A mechanical device taken from the man’s pocket.

Lenok lightly raised his mana and examined the inside, nodding his head as he wound the spring, and a small musical sound began to be heard from inside.

A music box made using magical engineering that was not so ordinary.

However, it was not ordinary that Archwood and Cassia’s complexions hardened at the sound of the music.

“Damn it, this music is…….”

“Is it a gospel? Wait, the fact that a hymn is being heard here……!!”

“It’s the song of praise to their god from the most famous religious group on the continent.”

Lenok said, letting out a small sigh.

“It seems the Guido Order has begun to set foot in this city.”

* * *

“Bishop Amila, when shall we move in?”

“Wait a little longer.”

The woman called Amila ignored the voice coming from behind her and fiddled with the pendant in her hand.

Whirr……!!

At the same time as touching the power source hidden inside the pendant, the battery built into the back activated, supplying power as it was, touching the internal circuit.

At the same time, some of the electricity converted into mana began to function as an item of magical engineering.

The pendant began to take on a similar appearance to the necklace that Lenok had just transformed into a key.

Amila let out a series of exclamations as she watched the scene.

“Hoo, hoo.”

“Haven’t you seen it hundreds of times already? We have to aim for when they go inside the workshop. The only chance is now…….”

“Hey, don’t you know how great this thing is even after seeing it hundreds of times?”

“…….”

Ignoring the silent attendant, Amila continued.

“The electricity from a battery that was made so simply is being converted into mana. It’s even possible to reverse it by turning a switch.”

“……The energy is not perfectly preserved in the conversion process. The author of this thesis has not created the beginning of a perpetual motion machine.”

“Of course not. If it were that easy, we would have been on the ark heading to paradise by now, right?”

Amila said, giggling.

“But the principle contained in this thesis is not a matter to laugh off. A conversion theory that connects two energies, electricity and mana, at the particle level to maximize the conversion rate. Is this really a discovery based on coincidence?”

“…….”

“It proves the theory by assuming that the chaotic particle movement is observed from the future rather than the present. This is not an idea that an ordinary human can come up with.”

Amila Bainsher, the branch manager of the Guido Order, who infiltrated to investigate Ayun’s death directly under the orders of the 2nd Apostle.

It was purely by chance that the pendant made based on Lenok’s thesis came into her sight, but she accurately understood the value of this object with just this one pendant.

She had decided that it was worth abandoning the plans so far just to investigate this pendant and the thesis that was its source, and to find out the author.

“The author of this thesis is a genius who will go down in the history of the continent. He must be an adept who can understand and handle the entropy system that the Order’s leadership is looking for.”

Amila put the pendant in her arms and stood up, licking her lips.

“If handled well, it’s a theory that can control not only the conversion of energy but also the amplification. I thought the stock prices of energy companies had been creeping up recently, it was because of this. If this thesis starts to be commercialized in earnest, it will be a disaster.”

“Are you still checking the continental market capitalization? It is against the doctrine.”

“Think of it as a collection for upholding the providence of God. Shall we start?”

As she nonchalantly replied and began to slowly get up, the man sighed.

The man was not so dull that he could not recognize the value of the pendant.

He also clearly understood why they were so obsessed with this object that they had encountered by chance while entering the city.

However, as much as he understood that, shouldn’t they make sure to capture the people who established the principle of this object?

“It’s already too late. It’s better this way.”

The sharp gazes of the Order’s priests all turned towards the factory.

The door, which had been tightly closed and surrounded by yellow tape, was slowly opening.

“It seems they have noticed our presence on their side as well.”