Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 45

Thousand Eyes

Though she appeared outwardly ordinary, lacking any sense of majesty, pressure, or magic, the gathered crowd tilted their heads in confusion before erupting into cheers. They were genuinely welcoming the Ascendant who had visited Balkan for the first time in nearly a hundred years.

“……”

Lenok, who had been watching the Ascendant Madrea through his scope, slowly lowered his arm. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead. He was overwhelmed.

‘Crazy…’

The moment he perceived her presence with his own eyes, Lenok was struck by a massive shock unlike anything he had ever felt before, leaving him unable to collect his thoughts. It was a cataclysmic experience that rivaled the moment he first awakened his magic in the factory. The instant he recognized the Ascendant’s presence, he could feel the powerful magic emanating from her body spreading throughout the city. The sheer vastness of it was something he could feel and recognize, yet his rational mind couldn’t fully grasp it. It was only because Lenok’s sensitivity was so exceptional, and because he possessed the talent to recognize the difference, that he could comprehend it even intellectually.

‘This is… beyond what I expected.’

He understood all the reasons why the Balkan city government was so rigid and submissive. She was a being that could hardly be called a living creature anymore. Above all, a transcendent being of that magnitude couldn’t possibly have failed to notice Lenok’s gaze from this distance. He had thought it would be okay because of the rumors that she was a very moderate Ascendant, but it wasn’t easy to maintain his composure in front of such a monster. Considering her gaze could see thousands of kilometers away, there was no way to escape anyway, but even now, he should hide himself—

[Can a result exist without a cause?]

The low voice that struck his ear made Lenok, who had been about to jump up and raise his magic, sit back down.

[In a world where the head of order bites its tail, we have been striving to answer this question for a very long time.]

“……”

With trembling hands, he raised the scope again. Madrea Falcier, visible through the high-performance telescopic lens, was looking directly into Lenok’s eyes.

[Your existence is the answer to that question itself.]

The delegation seemed flustered by Madrea’s sudden stop, but they didn’t try to stop her. They simply waited for her to start walking again.

[How amusing.]

In the suffocating silence, a one-sided telepathic message continued.

[If others could see what I see, they would try to take you by any means necessary.]

Slowly, Madrea turned her gaze away. As she began to walk again, the delegation moved once more. The voice continued without interruption.

[But I now know that all those struggles are meaningless.]

The Ascendant walked through the central square and into the city hall. Her figure gradually disappeared.

[Be careful of the Alcaid.]

“……Haa!!”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Lenok exhaled and immediately jumped off the building. Whoosh! Using levitation magic to land safely, Lenok gasped for breath before collapsing onto the pavement. With trembling hands, he took out a cigarette. Even then, he diligently headed to the nearby smoking area, lit it, and took a deep drag.

“Hoo…”

Even inhaling the smoke of the drug, his trembling heart wouldn’t easily calm down. The encounter with a true transcendent was a shock that shook the world. However, even while overwhelmed by the Ascendant’s presence, Lenok didn’t cower or despair; instead, he became certain. That was the path he needed to aim for. To reach the end of ascension with this dangerous and precarious talent could be the true answer to the questions he held. The reason he had opened his eyes in this world. The fundamental answer that went beyond surviving day by day was right there. For him, who had more faith in his own talent than in himself, it was a conviction stronger than anything else.

“……”

With the appearance of Madrea Falcier, the talks that had been prepared for so long ended in an instant. The city council accepted all the conditions put forth by the Autonomous Territory delegation without any concessions. It was already over the moment the Ascendant broke her own oath and intervened in the secular world. The delegation refused all the city government’s considerations and left the megacity immediately, as if they didn’t want to stay in this city for even a single moment longer.

Three days later.

News came that Thousand Eyes, Madrea Falcier, had failed her ascension. The pioneer who had dedicated herself to humanity for over hundreds of years had returned to mortality.

#

The news that Madrea Falcier had closed her eyes due to the end of her lifespan hit Balkan with great force. Regardless of her siding with the Philemon Autonomous Territory, there were still many who admired and longed for the existence of an Ascendant. The city government, which had always seemed to be there and yet not, quickly took action. They declared a two-day holiday and announced that they would simultaneously manage the chaos. In reality, it was nothing more than the city government’s declaration to give them two days of leeway and time to shut their mouths, but everyone accepted it. The media, the government, the citizens, the police… everyone had enough time to mourn the last moments of the Ascendant.

“The root cause is because of that.”

Jenny said as she returned to the bar after the summons ended. She had been under a lot of stress from where she had been called, as she was already chain-smoking her fifth cigarette.

“The excessive abuse of the Autonomous Territory prisoners, the indiscriminate discrimination… there are many reasons, but the decisive one was separate.”

The top-secret project ‘Black Consumer’ that had been conducted in the undeveloped district. That plan, which was said to be the direct cause of the creation of pollutants, was the direct cause that ignited the conflict with the Autonomous Territory this time. Contrary to the opinion of the city government’s inspection team, which had announced that there were no human experiments, evidence that experiments were forcibly conducted on the prisoners of the Autonomous Territory had leaked from within the council. From the moment the truth of the experiments conducted on prisoners in violation of intercity agreements and ethics was revealed, it was a fight that the Balkan city government could not win. It was understandable that the city government had to give in unconditionally, as even the Ascendant had sided with the Autonomous Territory.

“……”

However, Lenok couldn’t help but wonder if that was the only reason she had come to Balkan. In her last moments, as her lifespan was ending, was the only thing Madrea Falcier wanted to see the victory of the Autonomous Territory? If Lenok’s existence had been caught in her gaze, which was said to see both the past and the future… Lenok was still unable to shake off his confusion, as he couldn’t know the answer to the question after her death. He could only keep the name Alcaid, which she had mentioned, in his memory.

“The problem is from now on.”

Jorden said, waving away the cigarette smoke coming from beside her.

“I don’t know what Thousand Eyes was thinking when she got involved in this, but as a result, the existence of the Ascendant who led this one-sided agreement has disappeared.”

“Are you saying that Balkan will move again?”

“Of course, not right now. But the city government won’t want to maintain this unfavorable agreement for long. They might take a moderate stance a few times, but they won’t hesitate to use drastic methods.”

He didn’t know the exact details of the agreement, but what he wanted to say was simple. Lenok muttered gloomily.

“…You’re saying a war could break out.”

The brief peace created by the great Ascendant sacrificing her life. A gloomy feeling that that fleeting moment wouldn’t last long. Jenny responded indifferently.

“Considering the reputation of Thousand Eyes, who is said to see both the past and the future, the city government won’t come out strongly from the beginning… but they won’t care about a dead person for that long.”

Watching Jenny mutter that it was almost the first time an Ascendant had intervened in intercity disputes in this way, Lenok was lost in thought. He didn’t even know this city properly yet, but already such a troublesome thing was happening with other regions. Of course, since the identity Lenok had created, Evan Bailen, was just an ordinary citizen, he wouldn’t suddenly be conscripted somewhere if a war broke out, but it was an issue that Ban, who was making money in this field, couldn’t ignore. In any case, the fact that there was nothing he could do right now didn’t change. Lenok stubbed out the cigarette he had been holding in the ashtray in the corner of the bar and asked.

“It would be impossible to get work today, right?”

“It will take at least 48 hours for the city government or other clients to properly grasp the situation and move normally. Please wait until then.”

He nodded and got up from his seat. Lenok slowly pondered as he left the bar. What if Madrea had come to Balkan because she already knew of Lenok’s existence? If it was to confirm the result without a cause that she had mentioned… She wouldn’t have given up her life for just that, but Lenok couldn’t shake off a strange feeling as he recalled his conversation with her. Her calm and restrained tone and manner of speaking, as if she had been waiting to make eye contact with Lenok. It was difficult for him to understand the emotions of an Ascendant, but that brief meeting had many awkward points to dismiss as a coincidence. Did she really fully understand Lenok’s unique talent? Perhaps he had missed out on someone who could have truly been a helper.

“……”

It was pointless to think about it for long. As he rummaged through his pockets to find a cigarette, he fumbled and dropped something else.

“This is…?”

A white, pen-shaped device. The laser cutter he had taken from the thugs who had provided him with funds right after he escaped the factory. He seemed to have often held it in his hand for self-defense at first, but it had become largely useless since he could use shooting support magic. Lenok reached out to pick up the cutter that had fallen on the floor.

Thud!

But before that, someone’s thick boot stepped firmly on the cutter and wouldn’t let go.

“…What is it?”

Lenok was aware that someone was approaching, but he hadn’t expected them to pick a fight like this. His tone was tinged with annoyance.

“That’s what I should be saying, you skinny runt.”

A stubby-nosed man with a thick beard grumbled. He looked like a Santa Claus trainee who had failed to get a job and gone astray. The man, who was reeking of strong oil, had a flushed red face as if he had drunk a lot.

“Who are you to be carelessly dropping my things on the floor?”

“Is this your thing?”

It had been a long time since he had been picked on so absurdly, but there was no reason to avoid it. The moment Lenok took a step forward, raising his magic, the man yelled.

“Damn it, a mage. Spare me!!”

“……”

Lenok was speechless at the sight of the man prostrating himself on the floor. He had been a bit blatant in releasing his magic out of annoyance, but it seemed the man had noticed it instantly. Lenok, who had received the laser cutter the man was offering and roughly wiped it with his sleeve, asked.

“What do you mean it’s your thing?”

Unless Lenok’s memory was confused, the man hadn’t been there when he had taken the cutter. Or had those thugs stolen the cutter from this man back then? The man replied with a surly face.

“No. I made it in my shop, so it’s mine. Is there any other meaning?”

“This cutter is a product of Dyke Company.”

Lenok, who clearly remembered the conversation the thugs had, turned the cutter over and showed the brand, but the man didn’t budge.

“If it’s a product I modified myself, it’s mine.”

“Modified…? Ah, then you’re the…”

Come to think of it, the thugs had said they had to pay a debt to some old man.