Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 746

“Huh, already?” Lenok’s declaration that he would check the ark’s contents right there caused Agnetta to look around, bewildered.

“Wouldn’t it be better to return to Vulcan first and open it with Sabrina?”

“Why would I do that?” Lenok scoffed.

“The deal with the spellcaster was just to hand over the ark. There’s no need to check the contents together.”

“No, you said earlier that Jillian might be tracking us. That’s…”

“That was a lie to get away from the clown at the right time. There’s no need to show the contents of the ark.”

“…”

Was it because there was no reason to hesitate to check the ark now that the clown had left?

“…I won’t know if things go wrong.”

Just as Agnetta grumbled and was about to prepare to open the subspace with her hands clasped together, a dazzling ripple spread rapidly across the darkened sky.

Fwoooosh!!

A beautiful radiance, as if gathering starlight and pouring it onto the ground. Agnetta immediately hid her presence, and Lenok also suppressed his aura and deflected the spell.

Swoosh!!!

The aftermath alone caused the bushes throughout the meadow to sway like reeds, surging in all directions.

Lenok, watching the meadow undulating up and down, glanced up.

[Victor, this is…]

“Yes.”

Lenok’s eyes narrowed as he gauged the location of the epicenter of the ripple.

A wide-area detection spell that easily encompassed a radius of tens of kilometers. What did it mean that it had started from beyond the mountain range they had just left?

As far as Lenok knew, there were not many organizations or individuals who could use a detection spell of this range.

Unless it was a secret society that called themselves Watchers and served the Lighthouse Keeper.

“It seems Jillian has decided to make his citadel the sixth lighthouse. There’s no other explanation for this power.”

Lenok, having quickly grasped the situation, put the key he was holding inside his robe.

“It’ll be difficult to open it here. Let’s go back to Vulcan for now.”

[Is it okay to change your mind so suddenly?]

“Since the guide’s remains are from the Military City, they must be associated with a powerful or unique soul.”

Lenok said, glancing back.

“Since the soul aspect isn’t my specialty, there’s a high chance I’ll be detected immediately by the detection spells used by the Azure Eye. It’s not a good match.”

He knew even better because he had the authority of the fifth lighthouse and had used it himself.

How wide an area the lighthouse’s abilities and vision covered in finding or sensing such distinctive powers.

The female Watcher he had seen in the citadel’s audience chamber. Marisa, was it?

She was probably the holder of the sixth lighthouse’s authority and the person who had made this negotiation happen.

Lenok memorized the name and immediately turned around.

“Let’s talk after we get back. If you’re thinking of crossing the sub-dimension, you can move first.”

* * *

In less than two days, Lenok had traversed the Kavahim border region and returned to Vulcan.

The undeveloped district on the outermost edge of the giant city of Vulcan. The ruins of an abandoned hangar.

Sabrina, who had been waiting after receiving prior notice, waved her hand happily.

“Victor, I heard the news. You had a hard time meeting some crazy bastard, didn’t you?”

“Did you hear it from Agnetta?”

“She was talking about what happened at the citadel.”

Sabrina asked, as if amazed.

“I heard you’re from the oldest family, is that true?”

“…”

Instead of responding to that, Lenok stared up at the ceiling.

Agnetta, who was hanging upside down from the ceiling, subtly avoided his gaze.

“Well, you didn’t seem to care much… It just came up in conversation.”

“Is that what you call an excuse?”

“…I’m sorry.”

She had blabbed about the story of the clown and Victor’s identity.

Sabrina saluted Victor with one hand as she looked at him.

“So you’re from a great lineage. Should I greet you like this from now on?”

“…”

If the story he had with the clown was already circulating among the members of the Pandemonium like a rumor, it was too much trouble to deny it.

Lenok chuckled, thinking that it didn’t matter how they treated it if it wasn’t the truth.

“That’s a terrible salute. That’s not how you do it.”

“…Huh, are you really related to that?”

Ignoring Sabrina, who had her eyes wide open, Lenok brushed past her and took out the key.

Sabrina looked at the key Lenok had taken out, as if fascinated.

“So, this is the key to the ark? It doesn’t look very special on the outside…”

“It’s not the shape of a key.”

Hairea, who had pushed aside the nun’s consciousness and stepped out directly, unlike last time, stared at the key and said.

“Can such a thing even fit into that small ark?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Sabrina turned to Hairea, looking strange.

“It looks like a key to anyone.”

“Really? It doesn’t look like a key at all to me…”

“…”

“It seems Hairea sees it a little differently.”

Agnetta, who was hanging from the ceiling and concentrating on her magic string figure, said.

“Isn’t it because of that duality talent or something?”

“…Call your host. Let’s see what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t call me a host.”

As Hairea, who seemed somewhat displeased, switched personalities, a nun with an eyepatch appeared.

The nun trembled slightly and stepped back, looking fearful with her eyepatch on.

As soon as she saw that, Sabrina made a sound as if she had realized something.

“Come to think of it, this Hairea can’t see.”

“…”

“Are you stupid?” At Agnetta’s innocent question, Sabrina turned her head away in a huff.

“W-we can just let her touch it!!”

“Be quiet and finish it quickly. Are you going to keep evaluating it forever?” Lenok, who was leaning against a hangar box, rubbed his neck with a tired expression. He had contacted them immediately after returning from the citadel, so he was quite exhausted. At Lenok’s languid words, the nun quickly grabbed the key.

The nun, who had been silently concentrating and fiddling with the key, said with a puzzled expression.

“It seems like a key…”

“Hairea!” Hairea, who had switched personalities again, touched the key with her hand again and narrowed her eyes.

“…It’s still not. It feels more like a puzzle piece. It’s the same whether I look at it or touch it.”

“…”

Only then did the people present realize that the two were not lying and fell into silence.

“Is this why no one has been able to analyze the structure of the ark or the key all this time?” Agnetta said, as if amazed.

“That duality talent, did that guy Gyro also have it?”

“There’s no other explanation right now.”

Sabrina asked, “What exactly is the duality talent in the first place? Are you talking about something like multiple personalities?”

“Well… it’s hard for me to explain in words either.” Hairea hesitated and answered. “In the past, it felt like I was receiving all senses twice. After dividing the personalities, I only perceive it as a concept.”

“It’s a talent to be able to observe two concepts simultaneously in one space-time,” Lenok said.

“If Gyro was a person with the duality talent, he could have made two forms coexist in the key.”

Lenok, who had been looking at the ark, said, holding up the key. “If the ark was designed to open only when both forms match, then it makes sense why the ark is such an excellent small safe.”

Was it because only those with the duality talent could see the other side of the ark and the key that no one had been able to replicate the key to the ark until now?

“Wow, come to think of it, if we find an ark in the future, we can just bring it to Hairea,” Sabrina said, clapping her hands.

“Then, can’t we create a new key that can open the ark without a key in the future?”

“…I don’t know just by touching the ark. I think I need to touch the key more to know.”

“If you’re just going to keep talking nonsense, start first.” Leaving behind Hairea, who was responding with a sullen tone, Lenok suddenly inserted the key into the ark.

Hairea’s talent was only needed when replicating the ark or the key. Anyone could open it as long as they had a matching key.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in the duality talent, but there was something he had to do first.

Click!!

Just like Hairea had said, it felt more like inserting a puzzle piece than a key.

“Hey, wait a minute! If you open it like that here…!!” At that moment, Sabrina, who was flustered, jumped up from her seat and shouted.

Like a folded piece of paper unfolding, the ark spread wide open in front of Lenok’s eyes.

Shhh!!

It wasn’t enough to fill the hangar where the group was gathered, but it was an area large enough to easily store a small aircraft.

Lenok’s steps paused slightly as he checked the inside of the ark that had unfolded beneath his feet. Those who were peeking from behind also turned their gazes with surprised expressions.

What appeared inside the ark was not bone powder in the form of remains.

“A tombstone…?” A dark gray tombstone, as if someone’s body had been buried, stood diagonally inside the ark. The only feature was that it was scribbled with characters that could not be understood.

Sabrina stared blankly at the sight and immediately turned her gaze to Hairea.

“Hairea. What does that look like to you?”

“…It looks the same to me. It looks like an ordinary tombstone.” Hairea answered with a sullen expression.

“The guide’s remains couldn’t have had duality either. This tombstone is literally all there is,” Lenok muttered, slowly caressing the tombstone with his gloved hand.

“It’s a tombstone made by precisely cutting a single piece of raw stone. It’s surprisingly weak for that. It’s strange considering the effort put into processing it.”

“Isn’t it because it’s been stored in the ark for a long time?” Sabrina added.

He could have just taken the ark and finished the deal, but he seemed curious.

Lenok also thought that the spellcaster might be helpful and turned his gaze.

“The characters written on the tombstone. Can you understand them?” Spellcasters were mediators who put power into words, but language was also closely connected to characters. Therefore, spellcasters were often also cultural scholars who studied language and characters.

“More or less. I’ve seen similar interpretations in ancient literature a few times,” Sabrina said, jumping down from the aircraft seat and standing next to Lenok. She nodded as she carefully looked at the characters engraved on the tombstone.

“That’s right. A phrase used conventionally to comfort the souls of the dead. It’s also a phrase that was only allowed to nobles. It’s definitely related to the guide’s remains.”

“Nobles?” Lenok asked back.

“Do nobles exist in the Military City?”

“No. The nobles I’m talking about are the nobles of Ars Nova,” Sabrina answered, tapping the tombstone lightly. “This phrase itself is a word that was used in the central city.”

“…”

Was the phrase engraved on the tombstone a requiem that was only allowed to the nobles of the central city? Lenok, realizing what that meant, crossed his arms and lowered his head.

“The guide of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons is from the central city’s nobility…”

“The Military City is one of the oldest city-states on this continent, but conversely, it was also the city most strongly associated with Ars Nova,” Hairea said.

“If there are phrases or traces related to the guide’s remains, it’s probably due to that influence.”

“…”

Lenok was silent for a long time after hearing those words.

Agnetta, who had been hanging upside down from the ceiling and staring blankly at Lenok, moved busily as if she had belatedly remembered something.

“Ah, I should probably go now. I have something the clown asked me to do, and the doctor keeps calling me.”

“The clown? Why again, that crazy bastard. He’s not coming here, is he?” Sabrina frowned, and Agnetta tilted her head.

“He asked me to deliver something to the fisherman. So I might have to go a bit far.”

“Ugh, what’s wrong with that old man again…” Sabrina shook her head, as if she had given up on caring.

“Okay, I’m just not going to care. He’s just going to talk about some bizarre topic anyway.”

“I’ll go first. See you next time, Victor.” Agnetta smiled at Lenok.

“Next time we meet, you’ll tell me more about manipulation spells, okay?” But Lenok cut off Agnetta’s greeting coldly.

“Before that, you’ll have to pay the price for blabbing your mouth.”

“Huh…” She had blabbed to Sabrina and Hairea about being a descendant of the Half-Bow and other nonsense, so there was no reason to let it go.

Lenok reached out his hand as if he were picking up something he had left behind.

“Silk cocoons. You have more, right? Bring them all.”

Only then did Agnetta reluctantly take out two small silk cocoons from her robe and place them on Lenok’s hand.

“I really don’t have much left… It takes a long time to make them.”

“That’s not my problem,” Lenok said, naturally putting Agnetta’s silk cocoons inside his robe.

“But next time, I’ll pay you properly.”

A consumable item made by compressing tens of thousands of magic threads. Even Jillian had been momentarily tied up by its organic nature and quantity. Especially as Victor, who directly manipulates magic threads, it was an extremely useful item.

Agnetta grumbled at Lenok’s answer, then rode on her magic threads and disappeared in an instant. The way a messenger moves by stretching magic threads into the sub-dimension and tightrope walking. Even Lenok couldn’t track her trail. After the spider had left so quickly, Sabrina turned to Lenok.

“It seems like this is all we can find out for now, should we wrap it up here?” She stretched and turned her neck, as if stiff, and muttered, taking out her phone.

“My visit to Vulcan is until tomorrow, so I need to finish preparing tonight.”

“…” Lenok ignored Sabrina’s words and was lost in thought, looking at the tombstone. The contradiction that the tombstone, made to remember the dead, was very weak. Conversely, the structure itself was very precisely processed. The few structural features that existed on the tombstone. If this itself was an intentional clue.

“Victor?” He turned his back to Sabrina and grabbed the edge of the tombstone with one hand. The moment he pulled up his magic power and pushed it into the tombstone, cracks spread throughout the tombstone in an instant.

Crack…!!

“Hey, if you break it now…!!” At the moment when Sabrina, who was flustered, walked out to stop Lenok.

Crash!!

The tombstone that Lenok was holding shattered on the spot and broke into countless crystals.

Clatter!!

Sabrina looked at Lenok with a dumbfounded expression as he neatly brushed off the crystals that remained on his gloves.

“Even if you’re impatient, how can you smash it if you don’t need it? You should have taken it and asked for a separate investigation-” But her words were cut off as Lenok picked up something from among the crystals.

The shape of a crystal that shone particularly transparently among the dark gray tombstone fragments. He realized that it was not just a tombstone fragment, but the shape of a ring hidden inside.

Hairea also looked at the ring in Lenok’s hand, slightly surprised.

“If it was storing the guide’s remains, there should have been remains or a body. But all there is here is this tombstone.”

“…”

“Conversely, if the tombstone itself was the remains, they wouldn’t have engraved a requiem on it,” Lenok said, fiddling with the ring, leaving the two silent.

“If the raw stone was processed but the strength is weak, there’s a high possibility that the internal structure was tampered with. The tombstone itself was a case for storing the remains.”

The fact that the ring with a jewel was the guide’s remains was not a lie. Memorial diamonds made by processing the remains of the deceased. Lenok remembered that there were cases where remains were stored in such a way, and he had kept it in mind.

“You smashed the tombstone you had just obtained to test that? It’s a good thing it worked out…” Sabrina shook her head in disbelief and sighed.

“Okay, you found the answer, so what can I say? Try putting it on.”

“Here?” Lenok replied, as if he didn’t like it, and Sabrina crossed her arms.

“That’s the only way I can see what the ring’s abilities or uses are and help you, right?”

“…”

“Since you brought the key and handed over the ark, I’ll help you for free up to this point.”

He didn’t like using the ring’s abilities here, but with Sabrina’s knowledge, he might be able to find out something more. Since Hairea, who had the duality talent, was also there, he might be able to find out conditions that were difficult to confirm alone. The power felt from the remains ring itself was not that strong. If necessary, it wouldn’t be difficult to suppress it.

Lenok thought so and put the ring on his right hand. The jewel shone brightly and floated a hazy shape into the air.

Whoosh!!

Something that had been rotating in the air like a hazy mist slowly took shape and stood upright. An appearance with arms, legs, and a head, like a living human. It slowly swayed and tilted its head as it stood facing Lenok. A pure white appearance with no facial features, only having the shape of arms and legs, with no concrete form. Would this be the feeling of having a blank white canvas in the shape of a human in front of you?

“Hmm?” At that moment, Hairea made a sound as if she had discovered something. Sabrina turned her head quickly, as if she had been waiting for it.

“Hairea, did you find something?”

“No, I can’t say for sure, but… that doesn’t seem to be a ghost.”

“…Not a ghost? Then what is it?” Hairea, who had hesitated slightly, said. “To my eyes, it looks like a mirror with a physical form, shaped into a human.”

At that moment, the ghost in front of him grabbed Lenok’s shoulders with both hands. It was a movement as if forcing Lenok to make eye contact and face him.

Fwoosh!!

At that moment, the ghost’s shape began to change little by little. Parts of the hazy shape flickered, as if something was about to pop out from all directions. Sabrina quickly approached him and chattered excitedly.

“Wow, is that what they mean by a mirror-”

Crack…!!

At that moment, cracks like broken glass suddenly appeared on the ghost’s shape that was grabbing Lenok’s shoulders. It vibrated violently, emitting a dazzling light, and the moment it couldn’t withstand it and let go.

Boom!!

The ghost’s shape exploded and disappeared on the spot.

“…” Hairea froze with her mouth wide open, and Sabrina, who belatedly understood the situation, scratched her head. The artifact of the Military City. The absurd result of the guide’s ghost trying to look into Lenok, but conversely, not being able to withstand it and self-destructing.

Lenok, who had confirmed the result with his arms crossed, said, looking at the ring. “The artifact isn’t broken, so I can summon it again once more. Let’s try a different method.”

Sabrina, who was watching Lenok, who was pretending not to know and talking nonsense, asked. “…Are you really a descendant of an Ascendant or something?”

“…” Misunderstandings that were difficult to explain were piling up.