Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 570

[It was a research started to prepare a new testbed for the Black Consumer Project, but through it, they realized that what could be gained was not the preservation of records, but only abandonment.]

“……”

[Even if spacetime is fixed, only my failed potential self will be abandoned within it. If the possibility is closed at the point of fixation, it was impossible to use it as a testbed for the project. No, rather, it was closer to a downgrade of the project.]

The journal did not end there.

Lenox immediately turned to the next page.

[March 17th. Instead of discarding the results of this research, Alcaide has proposed to preserve it in this area.]

“Preservation, huh……”

[I don’t think his words that it might be useful someday are wrong, but it probably won’t be to restart the project.]

“……”

[He is watching the rise and fall of the world with an incredibly macroscopic and inhuman perspective. Despite contributing more than anyone else to the project, he doesn’t seem to have high expectations. I once asked him about this fact directly.]

Kaiser was not the type to write a lot of facts on one page of his journal, so there wasn’t much written on each page.

He frantically flipped to the next page.

[If you repeat countless failures, you forget the feeling of success itself, he said. Considering the countless derivative plans of the projects he has succeeded in so far, it is an unfitting statement.]

[It seems that the sense of correct answer built within him is far more immense than we can imagine. Others don’t seem to realize it yet, but I understood that the answer is similar to the despair that comes from the end of an infinitely ominous future.]

Kaiser’s usually unwavering handwriting was slightly distorted.

[The project will fail. The world will sink into a sea of darkness. I had to accept that fact.]

“……”

At this point, did Kaiser understand that the end of the world was infinitely despairing and that even the Black Consumer Project was hopeless?

The journal continued from that point to the next date.

[March 18th. I was a bit depressed, but I felt better after taking a nap. Maybe it doesn’t matter since I might not be alive when the world ends?]

“……”

Lenox was speechless at the suddenly irresponsible change in writing style.

He even briefly flipped through the pages to see if the journal had been torn or swapped in the middle.

[Those who could not overcome the despair that came from time to time gave up their research and left. Perhaps they headed to the central city, the only place of rest on this continent.]

The central city, Ars Nova.

Lenox stopped turning the page for a moment after seeing that word.

The truth of the project he had obtained in the battle with Madrich Onion.

The evil that the failure of the Black Consumer Project had destroyed the central city.

[The nobles of Ars Nova pretend not to know, but it is self-evident that the Night Parade of Yorta and the Ascension Gate of Machina are, to some extent, results derived from them. It wasn’t enough to create a being that failed to ascend and tamper with causality.]

“……”

[It was not called the central city because it had the most fertile granary of the continent. That saying that one-third of the continent belongs to the center. Perhaps even the end of this world is—]

The journal was cut off there, and all the remaining pages were blank.

The only strange thing was that the last page was torn off as if someone had ripped it.

The end of this world. The secret of the central city.

Did Kaiser leave without leaving that crucial clue in this journal?

The moment Lenox checked the blank spaces left in the journal and quietly touched the page.

“It means that one of the three endings left in this world existed in Ars Nova.”

A voice was heard from behind.

As if to explain the blank space in Kaiser’s research journal.

“……”

Despite the tone that approached without any sign, Lenox was not surprised.

Because he knew from the beginning that he had no intention of attacking him.

A young man in a tuxedo came into Lenox’s view as he slowly turned his gaze.

A slender physique and a strange expression with a kind smile. His beautiful platinum blonde hair, almost white, was impressive.

Wearing a tall top hat and holding a cane in his hand with white gloves, he looked like a magician participating in a show.

He looked at Lenox, slowly took off his hat with a slow gesture, and slowly bowed with an exaggerated gesture.

“Nice to meet you, Ban. I can finally greet you.”

“Who are you?”

“An unofficial external advisor under the Central Council of the City Government.”

The young man said, raising his body with a smiling face.

“And I am a herald representing the will of the Senate.”

“……”

“I have many names, but it would be enough to call me Silford.”

An insider with a foot in both the Central Council and the Senate.

A herald, after all, is a superhuman who acts on behalf of the city’s will.

And Lenox knew of one being among those he had defeated who held a similar position.

“It seems that Madrich Onion’s successor has been decided so quickly.”

“That’s correct. You have a good sense?”

The young man, Silford, winked and nodded with a smile.

“Originally, you, who directly defeated Onion, were considered a strong candidate, but as the closed area situation broke out and your whereabouts became unknown, the opportunity came to me.”

“……”

A light and cheerful tone. A tone and manner that was even ridiculous.

However, contrary to the opponent’s light appearance, Lenox was aware that the young man had reached the realm of a great warrior and sorcerer at the same time.

It was similar to a mad clown who tried to hide his status, but completely different.

The friendly tone and polite attitude were a mask to completely control himself.

Perhaps what is hidden inside is that of a slaughterer accustomed to blood and fighting.

“The reason I gave you information that was not written in Kaiser’s journal is to thank you for that fact.”

Silford smiled and put his hat back on.

“The third ending that was said to have existed in Ars Nova was only vaguely guessed by Kaiser at that time.”

“……”

“Kaiser recorded his speculations in his journal several times… and the Senate has faithfully recovered his will.”

He said, pointing to the journal Lenox was holding with his white-gloved hand.

“And that is one of the duties that those in the position of herald must fulfill.”

“A duty to fulfill……”

After hearing that far, Lenox realized what kind of being the other party was and why he was able to be decided as Onion’s successor at this point.

“So you were also involved in the Black Consumer Project.”

The young man in front of him was also a powerful figure with a tremendous history, having participated in the Black Consumer Project decades ago, and one of the people involved in the incident at the time.

That is why, as soon as Onion died, he was able to take over the position of the Senate’s herald and engage in external activities.

“Hmm, rather than being involved……”

Silford said, touching the brim of his hat with a troubled smile.

“Those who stayed in Balkan at the time had no choice but to get involved with Kaiser in some way. Either cooperate with him, or oppose him… I was closer to the former.”

“You cooperated with the project, but you weren’t involved?”

“Kaiser’s will was too immense to ignore. To put the survival of the world on the scales of success and failure and tamper with it, isn’t it foolish?”

Silford chuckled as if it was funny and slowly clicked his cane.

“As I mentioned earlier, I came today to recover Kaiser’s research journal, but……”

Sreung!!

The appearance of a sharp blade faintly revealed between the handle of the cane.

While Lenox lowered his gaze deeply at the sight, Silford said, hiding the blade as if nothing had happened.

“Very, very specially!! I will pretend I didn’t see it today.”

“……”

“Huh? The reaction is not as good as I thought? I’m doing my duty to you, who gave up this position.”

“Are you talking about acting on behalf of the Senate as Onion’s successor? I’m not interested.”

Lenox replied indifferently.

“If I get tied up with you, I won’t be able to move like I am now. I don’t want such restraints or shackles.”

It is not that he does not find the opportunity to observe them up close as a member of the Central Council of the City Government or the Senate to be a waste.

However, if he joined hands with them under Ban’s identity, he would have to give up a considerable amount of the freedom and authority he had gained in the shadows.

As long as he moves under their control, it will be difficult to play around with multiple identities as he does now.

Lenox knew that, so he did not have any regrets about that position.

At this point where he has split his identity into several parts, it is not Ban who needs to climb the line of the Central Council.

Since Evan, a researcher who immediately gained the attention of the higher-ups through the announcement of anti-gravity technology, has already seized the opportunity, there was no need to cling to Silford’s position.

“I see…… Hmm, I thought you would like it if I gave up the first mission I was assigned.”

As Silford, who had drooped his shoulders with a gloomy look, grumbled, Lenox chuckled.

“I don’t know why you’re pretending to be generous. You already have an idea of the contents of the research journal, and you didn’t think it was worth securing, did you?”

“……”

“It seems you finished calculating the moment you spoke to me, and it would be stranger if I didn’t notice that.”

Lenox had no intention of accepting the favor of someone he was meeting for the first time.

“You must have noticed that the closed area’s radiation exposure has ended, and all you have to do is report it to the higher-ups. You only came to me to find out what happened here in advance.”

Lenox’s eyes shone coldly as he looked at the smiling Silford.

“That’s because you want to see how much more I’ve learned about Kaiser.”

“……Hehe, you are very outspoken. And as I’ve heard, you are incredibly intelligent.”

Silford, who let out a light sigh, slowly took off one of his gloves and smiled.

“But being so honest sometimes makes you hated by foolish people.”

The moment the young man caressed the air with his bare hand, a platinum-colored light that burst from his fingertips wrapped around Lenox.

Crackling!!

Like gathering the very power that exists in spacetime, the platinum light color that gathered the magic flowing around Lenox.

However, Lenox ignored the unknown magic that bound his body and stared into his eyes.

“I’ve encountered magic similar to this only once.”

In Oliviera Ron Maze’s laboratory, the magic eye of the Outer God that she offered as a price.

The magic that flowed from that artifact, said to be the eyes of the commander of the central city, was flowing from Silford’s fingertips in the same way.

“And with the name Silford… did you really think I wouldn’t know who that name meant?”

A fallen ascendant who shot his own body to an outer god through the well of the compendium [a mystical library or archive].

Gyebaek Aurel Silford.

Lenox had never forgotten that name for a single moment.

The two facts that originated from the young man pointed to only one thing.

“A noble of the central city. And from a very high status.”

Lenox asked.

“The reason you were able to tell me about Ars Nova was because you were from that city, wasn’t it?”

“……”

The expression on Silford’s face disappeared for a moment.

The moment Lenox said that, the light that had been binding his body disappeared as if it were a lie.

Saaak!!

The young man, who had slightly lowered his head and was touching the brim of his hat, slowly put his glove back on.

“Uhehe… That’s why I can’t stay at the same table with smart friends for long, you know?”

Silford, who had regained his composure as if it were a lie, shook his head with a smile at Lenox.

“Let’s stop here today. I’m not the only one who has been appointed as Onion’s successor, and we will have opportunities to meet often in the future.”

Silford said that and turned to leave, then added a word as if he had remembered something.

“But you should be careful too, Ban.”

“What do you mean?”

“I said that everyone at that time either cooperated with Kaiser or opposed him.”

The young man said with a wink.

“Those who opposed Kaiser are still alive and residing in the council and the senate.”

“……”

“There are people everywhere who don’t like the truth. Today, you got very close to that secret and certainly got a glimpse of the truth……”

The moment he slightly shook his tuxedo suit, Silford’s body slowly faded away from that spot.

The young man smiled as he disappeared as if melting into the air.

“Someone will be very displeased with that fact.”

Sreureuk!!

The young man’s body scattered and disappeared from that spot, as if hiding behind the curtains of an invisible space.

The herald who was appointed as Onion’s successor was a cunning and mysterious person whose inner thoughts could not be read.

The fact that such a strong person has now come to the fore is proof that he has been away from Balkan for quite a long time before returning.

Lenox’s eyes sank coldly.

‘A noble from the central city who uses the same surname as Gyebaek……’

Lenox, who had directly dismantled the geas [a magical compulsion or binding] of the fallen ascendant, knew that even his relatives were sacrificed in Ars Nova to create Gyebaek.

In the process, those who had the same surname, Silford, would have been consumed as sacrifices for Gyebaek’s challenge to ascend.

Even so, is it a coincidence that a being still calling himself Silford has survived and is wandering the continent?

However, Lenox put aside such concerns for a moment and unfolded the journal he had covered again.

There was another reason for stopping the investigation of the journal at the point of recognizing Silford’s existence.

Kaiser’s research journal. He had a hunch that something else was hidden here, not just the secret of the central city.

If the last page of the research journal, which no one had touched for decades, was torn, wouldn’t the culprit be none other than Kaiser himself, who wrote the journal?

Kaiser had taken separate measures so that only those who knew his secret could see the last page of the journal.

‘The method itself wouldn’t have changed. Considering the traces left here, maybe……’

He gathered Kaiser’s blood, which was used to track the control room, and carefully applied it to the last torn page of the journal.

Zzzzzik……!!

As if the paper of the journal that had been forcibly torn was being regenerated by reversing time, it slowly formed fibers and stuck to the end of the journal.

What filled the last page of the journal was not a phrase left by Kaiser, but a drawing.

A detailed blueprint depicting the shape of a huge room.

The shape of unknown numbers scribbled below the blueprint.

[135,472,522,654. 324,715,284,163.]

“Is it a code?”

[Judging from the fact that it follows the number notation format, it doesn’t seem to be that complicated.]

Dabi, who had perked up his ears from inside his arms, looked at the numbers and immediately deduced the answer.

[The fields that use numbers with such large units are limited. Among them, if the number of digits of the two numbers is the same, it is likely to be a planetary standard coordinate using a 100 million unit coordinate system.]

Dabi, who had brought up a map as a hologram in front of Lenox, quickly began tracking based on the hypothesis.

[Based on March 15th, 17th, 18th, and 21st, which are presumed to be the dates the journal was written, and entering the coordinate calculation centered on Balkan, there are four candidate locations that are converted according to the date. And among them, the area that is presumed to be the most meaningful analysis result is……]

“……The Machine City, Machina.”

Lenox’s eyes sank deeply as he checked the location marked with a red dot on the map.

Unlike the other three candidates, the coordinates based on March 21st were accurately pointing to the name of a certain city.

“I see. The reason why he left his journal in the area where he finished his research in the first place was……”

After failing the spacetime fixation research, Kaiser did not just abandon this area.

The secret of the central city, Ars Nova, which he came to know through Alcaide at the point of the research failure.

The extension of the Black Consumer Project.

Kaiser had hidden a clue and destination to prove his speculation left in the journal on the last page.