Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 567

Remnants of Memory (1)

The great city of Balkan.

A small cathedral located at the edge of District 3, the very heart of the city.

The cathedral, where no one ever entered or left, was strikingly similar to the place where Lenox had met the past version of Gyeolbaek in the Ramahal District.

The only difference was the small statue of a goddess placed at the center of the chapel.

In front of the old, dusty goddess statue, two old men were quietly playing Janggi [Korean chess].

Black and white stones moved across the Janggi board, changing colors and reversing the situation.

As they were playing the game, known to have been created and spread by the Ascendant Jin-Doon, Zygis Idernoa, the old man holding the black stones spoke first.

“The [Record] of District 25 is over.”

“…….”

“It took longer than I thought. Kaise said it was a prototype he made as a test, so he thought it would disappear quickly.”

The other old man, holding the white stones, pondered for a long time before placing a white stone and answering.

“District 25… where are you referring to?”

“Ramahal.”

The old man with the black stones answered immediately.

“It was the sanctuary and graveyard of the rebels.”

“Ah, yes… I see now…”

The old man in white nodded, responding in a leisurely tone.

“It’s become quite difficult to distinguish the districts after the development plan ended… It was better when they had names…”

“Names have power.”

The old man in black moved another stone without hesitation.

Unlike the old man in white, who seemed somewhat slow, the old man in black seemed relatively less hesitant.

“That’s why we divided the districts and gave them numbers, to erase the names left on this land.”

“Yes… I still remember… There’s no need to point that out…”

The old man in white chuckled and stroked his abundant beard before picking up another stone.

“But what were we betting on again?”

“…….”

The old man in black couldn’t hide his bewilderment at those words, and his wrinkled hand paused for a moment.

The old man in black, who had moved another stone as if nothing had happened, said.

“There are still those who do not use the common language outside the continent.”

“Hmm.”

“Ascendant Jin-Hwa is trying to open the sea for them. He intends to build a higher status by embracing even those who do not learn his language.”

“He’s already beyond human thinking…”

Not completing oneself by transcending, but building upon the beliefs and hopes of others.

That was no longer for someone challenging ascension, but an altar built for those called gods.

And those who have taken the name of god in this world are only swimming towards the end in the dark sea beyond.

The old man in black moved a stone and said.

“I plan to accept Jin-Hwa’s request.”

“Why is that?”

“Normally, we shouldn’t increase uncontrollable variables at this point…”

The Janggi board was almost entirely flipped to black, with only a few white stones barely remaining.

The old man in white seemed to have little intention of continuing the game, only touching the white stones and asking questions.

However, the old man in black continued to answer diligently.

“Because Evan Bailen will release anti-gravity technology, opening all the skies of the continent, at least initially. By accepting Jin-Hwa’s request, we have gained an option to filter them out.”

“I see…”

“This game of Oh-Baek-Ro [a variation of Janggi] is a bet on whether to transfer the authority to open the continent to the Southern Commander.”

“…….”

The old man in black continued, leaving the silent old man in white.

“We will connect the traces left by Gye-Baek to the waterways of the Southern Continent to supply water to the jungle. At the same time, it will become a huge waterway that can bring in life from outside the continent.”

“…Was this also part of the plan?”

“Of course.”

The old man in black said.

“Scenario 25, which was discarded during the project planning. It’s a legacy of the [Grand Canal] scenario, which aimed to sequentially open all the waterways of the continent and connect the waterways of the entire world.”

“…….”

“Do you know why I’m explaining the details of this bet to you again?”

The old man in black said, slowly picking up a black stone.

“You may or may not remember, but this was one of the games we played long ago before making important decisions.”

With each exchange of their hands, the Janggi board was filled with black.

The old man in black, on the verge of victory, said in a calm voice.

“It was a childish battle of pride, as if to say, ‘How can you try to manipulate the fate of the world when you can’t even win a game of Oh-Baek-Ro?'”

“I see.”

“If Claude Azlan had filled in the broken parts of his past self, we might have been able to fix your terrible amnesia…”

But now that he had won the Oh-Baek-Ro, it didn’t matter.

That was what the old man in black was thinking as he waited for his opponent to throw in the towel, when.

“You’ve always been good at drawing the big picture, senior.”

The old man in white said.

“But that’s why you often make mistakes in the small details. You still haven’t fixed it, even after decades since Kaise died.”

“…What?”

Instead of answering, the old man in white picked up a white stone and placed it on the Janggi board.

At that moment, the few remaining white stones on the board all connected around that point, forming a huge house.

All the black stones that had filled the Janggi board were flipped to white.

Charrrr!!

A miraculous reversal that was hard to believe even with one’s own eyes.

While the old man in black was speechless, the old man in white said leisurely.

“The Military City will not follow your will, Your Excellency, the esteemed Chairman of the Senate.”

“…….”

“Not all of Kaise’s legacy is right, but Jin-Hwa is no longer worth keeping an eye on.”

The old man in white, who had regained his clear focus, said as he leisurely organized the stones in his hand.

“If you truly respect the time we worked together, please follow my decision.”

“…I see.”

The old man in black, who had been silently looking at the board, smiled as if nothing had happened and began to organize the Janggi pieces together.

“Now that you’re in a decent state, shall we talk a bit more about how the world is turning?”

The old man in black spoke again without waiting for an answer.

“These days, the Underworld King’s actions are becoming increasingly dangerous. He’s going around the continent, wreaking havoc on all sorts of cities, and the level of destruction is insane.”

“…….”

“Are you aware that the internal military discipline of the Head’s military is in danger? I heard that the relationship between the four generals who serve the enemy is cracking. Something big might happen soon.”

The old man in black laughed hollowly, as if recalling an old memory.

“Long ago, we used to drink all night and talk loudly about these things… I sometimes miss that construction site where there wasn’t even a parliament building.”

“…That was more than decades ago.”

“That’s right.”

The old man in black agreed with the old man in white.

“So, as we approach retirement, we shouldn’t cling to such trivial bets anymore.”

“…….”

“The game is over. The plan will continue.”

From the beginning, the old man in black had no intention of entrusting his decision to the outcome of the Oh-Baek-Ro.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. Follow the law you set, senior.”

The eyes of the old man in white, looking at the market, began to slowly blur again.

“Even the Oh-Baek-Ro, where the world was used as a Janggi piece, needs a review… I want to think about it a bit more…”

“…….”

The old man in white closed his eyes and became quiet as if falling asleep. He disappeared like a ghost, as if he had never existed.

A state of freely manipulating the separation and detachment of mind and body through the leap of thought.

Another possibility that can be reached by transcending the path of Military Command.

The old man in black looked at the spot, picked up the last white stone he had placed, and left the place.

A brief breeze passed by, and only the quiet statue of the goddess remained in the cathedral.

* * *

Whioooo!!

A wind blew through the old power plant scenery.

Felix slowly opened his eyes, feeling the breeze that brushed past his beak.

“You’re awake.”

A young man was facing away from Felix, fiddling with something.

The strap of an old pocket watch was faintly swaying at the end of the young man’s coat sleeve.

Felix stared blankly at the scene for a long time before muttering.

“Ban…?”

Lenox, with his back turned, poured an unknown liquid directly into Felix’s beak.

“Drink it all. I’m going to use a lot.”

“What? Ugh?!!”

Felix, who had been mumbling without understanding properly, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

His huge body, covered in feathers, shook greatly in place.

“Uuuuup…!! Cough cough!! Kkaeeeek!!”

Felix grabbed his burning throat and let out a cry like a real bird.

Lenox lightly shook the empty glass bottle and said.

“The damage to your body is severe from using the magic of the Arrival, so I did some quick work.”

“……!!”

“It’s a potion made by alchemy without a workbench, so don’t worry about the taste. Who told you to abuse the magic of an Ascendant?”

“Kkeueueueuk…!!”

Felix, unable to even scream, grabbed his beak with both hands and rolled around on the floor.

However, it was unavoidable to quickly shake off the magic of the Arrival remaining in his body.

He had lost his battle hammer to Kroken, but in the process, the magic of the Ascendant ‘Arrival,’ who had died, remained in Felix’s body.

Felix had been using the magic of the Arrival without regard for his own safety in order to make this operation a success.

Lenox sat down on a nearby ruined stone wall, watching Felix drool from his beak.

“If you keep using the magic of a dead Ascendant, you’ll be consumed by it. You must know how dangerous that is.”

“Cough…!! That’s…”

Felix wiped his mouth with difficulty and stood up.

“It was close this time too. If you hadn’t helped me, I would have been in the hospital again for a while.”

Just as a corpse remains after a person dies, the will and magic of a powerful transcendent remain in this world even after their death.

Especially for an Ascendant who has reached level 9, it’s a level of engraving their existence in the world.

Regardless of what kind of transcendent the Ascendant Arrival was, no one knows how dense and dangerous the magic he left behind was.

“What would happen if you put a geas [a magical compulsion] on your own death and leave your remains in the world?”

Lenox asked.

“Hundreds of years have passed since Arrival died and disappeared, but his magic still remains in this world. If the Ascendant himself set conditions and left his remains, it wouldn’t have been out of pure good will.”

“…….”

Lenox smiled faintly, looking at the silent Felix.

“No, I can’t say that for sure…”

The Infinite Labyrinth of Ideological Warfare.

The Ascendant Jin-Doon, Zygis Idernoa, accepted being killed by the leader of Pandemonium at the last moment.

It was absurd, but it was possible because Jin-Doon himself believed that his death and its consequences would be more helpful to the world.

Considering that, Arrival might not have left his magic in the world with only evil or malicious obsession.

But at least, the magic that was eating away at Felix’s body was definitely not a good power.

“Ban, I don’t have time to consider the good and evil of power, unlike you.”

Felix said, struggling to get up.

The bird-headed giant, who had brushed off the debris and dust, grabbed the hammer handle that was sticking out nearby and lifted it up.

Urrrung!!

Felix, who had pulled the hammer out from the collapsed pile of stones and shouldered it, cracked his neck from side to side and replied.

“I’m just doing what needs to be done at the necessary moment. It’s been a long time since the means and methods became unimportant. If I keep walking like this, someone will take my place someday, right?”

“…….”

He remembered hearing similar words from someone who had just shouldered the responsibility of the past and disappeared.

Even Lenox, who didn’t have much interest in others, found it difficult to forget the moments he had passed through today.

Lenox was lost in thought, recalling the feel of the pocket watch stored in his coat pocket.

Felix grabbed Lenox’s shoulder and shook him, looking puzzled.

“Ban?”

“…It’s nothing. What’s wrong?”

“Where are Ilya and Azlan? I could sense them before I lost consciousness, but now I can’t feel them at all.”

Felix said, looking around, and then his eyes widened as if he had realized something.

“Wait a minute…!! Come to think of it, Kaise and the others…!!!!”

“The fact that you’re just thinking about that now seems like enough reason not to use the magic of the Arrival.”

Lenox chuckled and briefly explained what had happened.

“It’s all over. I don’t think we’ll be trapped in the past timeline again.”

“Th, that can’t be…”

Felix’s expression, after hearing about Kaise’s last moments, was filled with shock and admiration, before sinking into a gloomy state.

“In the end, I couldn’t watch how things were resolved until the end… All I could do was face the enemy in front of me.”

“We each did what we had to do. Don’t worry too much about it.”

Lenox understood how valuable it was for a warrior like Felix to match the numbers and set the stage.

The fact that he never missed what he had to do in this chaotic battlefield was a great talent in itself.

If you think about it, Lenox also only handled things to the extent of helping Kaise deploy his domain.

“Where are the others?”

Instead of answering, Lenox pointed to Felix’s feet.

Felix’s face turned pale when he saw a pair of thin legs sticking out from under the pile of stones that had accumulated when he pulled out the hammer.

“Y, you should have told me sooner…!!”

“I left you alone because I didn’t think you’d come to your senses before I gave you the potion anyway.”

While Felix was frantically pulling out Ilya’s unconscious body and laying her down, Lenox poured the second completed potion into Ilya’s mouth.

“…!!!”

Ilya’s eyes flashed open, and intense sparks began to fly between her eyes.

The effect was so intense that her body functions, which had mechanical parts installed in the form of a cyborg, were overloaded.

Ilya, who had jumped up from her seat with a dazed look as if she had been slapped in the face, stared blankly at the two of them.

“…Ban? Felix?”

“Your reaction is as precise as if it was measured with a ruler.”

“What happened to Kaise… what happened to the others?”

“…….”

Felix coughed awkwardly at Ilya’s quick questions.

Lenox immediately explained to her what had happened until just now.

“I see… So Kaise himself…”

Ilya hesitated for a while without saying anything, then slowly nodded.

“He’s a truly amazing person. Even though he knew he was a being from the past, how could he not hesitate like that…”

“It was the spirit of a man who had taken control of the dark side of Balkan. I agree.”

“Let’s stop with the impressions about this incident and start moving.”

Felix asked, watching Lenox turn around.

“Are you going back right away without investigating the situation in the closed district any further?”

“No, there’s one thing we need to take care of first.”

“Something we need to take care of…?”

Ilya said, tilting her head, then stiffened her face when she followed Lenox’s gaze and found a figure collapsed in the distance.

A disheveled figure with a torn white robe. White hair that had been pulled out, cut off, and tangled.

Even though he was completely exhausted, he was slowly regaining consciousness, aware of their presence.

Claude Azlan was looking at them with a sharp glint in his eyes.

Lenox looked at Gyeolbaek and gently pulled on the strap of his pocket watch.

“Well then… shall we start by checking if the guardian of the Tu-Ryeon Gate remembers his name?”