The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 422

After that, Veil exchanged a few more words with the researcher over the radio.

—It seems we need to do some more maintenance in other areas as well.

“While you’re at it, double-check to make sure there aren’t any rats inside.”
—Yes. I don’t think there will be, but given the situation… I’ll check more thoroughly.

Veil seemed worried that there might be a spy inside.

‘It’s a reasonable concern.’

Before the mana in West Africa could even properly expand, it was completely neutralized.

This speed of processing is impossible without a spy leaking information.

It’s only natural for Veil to suspect an internal spy.

‘Thinking about it again, I was lucky.’

I came to find Phineas and ended up thwarting one of Veil’s plans.

Luck is an understatement for what happened.

This was nothing short of divine intervention.

“Sein’s presence is getting closer.”

Veil frowned, looking up at the sky.

“Did he sense my mana?”

The magic I used just now to make myself move was an 8th circle death attribute spell.

And I didn’t just use it, I used it at full power, completely out in the open.

It was only natural that Sein would sense Veil’s energy.

“…I’ll retreat for now. It’s too early to fight Sein.”

—Yes, I understand. Set the radio to jamming mode and destroy it, then discard it.

Veil fiddled with the radio for a moment, then smashed it.

‘Jamming mode…?’

Why did the researcher on the other end instruct him to destroy the radio like that?

‘Isn’t that just leaving a trace?’

That just leaves behind the remains of a destroyed radio.

Why would they do something so foolish?

“They’re trying to confuse us.”

Mimir spoke, as if answering my question.

“Jamming mode. I don’t know exactly how it works, but it’s clearly something that interferes with radio waves.”

I nodded slightly, agreeing with Mimir’s opinion.

“They’re trying to give us false information using that. There’s no other reason to leave something like that behind.”

False information.

I get it, roughly.

‘Are they preparing fake communication logs on that radio to lure us there?’

I suspect they’re trying to manipulate the radio’s communication logs to lead us somewhere else.

“A trap, or a way to buy time. I think it’s one of the two.”

I nodded again.

I understood the purpose of the broken radio.

“…Hmm.”

Veil threw the smashed radio on the ground and let out a small groan.

“Sein Vinoche. Have you become able to transfer Mythical Magic to your subordinates?”

Veil’s voice was filled with anger.

When Veil first appeared here.

Veil said something like, ‘Someone other than Sein used Phineas.’

It seems he thinks that Sein made his companions use Mythical Magic instead.

“It’s despicable and resentful.”

Veil gnashed his teeth, staring intently at the sky.

“That was my power as well. How dare they, without my permission….”

Veil clenched his fist tightly.

It was as if he was saying he wanted to tear me apart right now.

“…I’ll take it back soon. Both the Mythical Magic and half of my soul.”

Mythical Magic.

Half of his soul.

These were keywords that couldn’t be ignored.

‘This Veil is definitely the real Veil.’

The man in front of me is the real Veil Stoll.

There’s no other reason for him to say such things.

He wouldn’t be acting alone in a place where no one else is around.

“And….”

Veil muttered in a meaningful voice.

‘And?’

What is he going to say next?

Judging by the flow of his words, it seems there’s something else he wants to retrieve besides Mythical Magic and his soul.

What is he trying to take back?

‘The next words are important.’

I focused all my attention on Veil’s mouth.

However.

“….”

Veil didn’t say anything more.

He just continued to stare at the sky with an expression full of anger.

“Watch from there, Ray.”

Veil briefly murmured my master’s name one last time before disappearing.

‘He’s gone.’

Tracking him was impossible.

Since I was using Umbra [a magic that conceals one’s presence], he was erasing his mana, so there was no way to track him.

“Successor. What Veil said just now….”

Mimir looked at me with a meaningful expression.

“I think he’s definitely the real Veil.”

Mimir must be thinking something similar to me.

“But why….”

Just as Mimir was about to voice the question that had popped into his head.

“…Am I late?”

A woman appeared in the place where Veil had been standing just moments ago.

“Don’t whine like that. That was the fastest I could go.”

It was Sein, borrowing Sophia’s body.

“If you’re going to blame someone, blame your weak body. If it were my original body, I could have moved this distance in one go.”

It seems she’s having a heated argument with Sophia.

“It’s inevitable that I’m slower than before. My strength hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

I could roughly understand what they were talking about.

“That’s why I didn’t say anything. If I said I hadn’t recovered yet, you would have nagged me.”

It seems Sein lied and said he was fully recovered, and Sophia believed him.

That seems to be the start of their argument.

“It’s noisy. It’s already too late, isn’t it? Stop. Stop chattering. My head is ringing.”

Sein sighed, looking fed up.

“More importantly, look at this.”

Sein pointed to the radio, which was smashed and scattered on the ground.

“This radio. Veil’s mana is still on it.”

She knelt down on one knee and picked up the remains of the radio.

“…Right. It must be the radio Veil was using until just now.”

She stood up again and examined the radio.

“He thoroughly destroyed it, leaving no room for traces….”

Sein frowned with a suspicious expression.

“But why would he leave something that could be used as evidence?”

Sein was silent for a moment.

She must be talking to Sophia inside her.

“A trap? No. It’s too thoroughly destroyed to be a trap. There must be another reason.”

Sein slowly turned her head.

“Anyway….”

Her head turned towards me.

“How long are you going to stay there?”

Sein’s gaze was fixed directly on me.

“You two are still hopeless. Not being able to sense that.”

Sein chuckled and said.

“Sophia Anetscheff, I can understand you, but Black Magic King, I didn’t expect you to not notice either.”

It seems that only Sein sensed my presence.

“That’s absurd. Do I have any reason to lie?”

It seems Sophia said something like, ‘There’s no one there. Don’t lie.’

“You really don’t trust people.”

Sein sighed.

Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up with a ‘ho’ expression.

“Hmm. Now that I think about it, I did tease you a lot. Is that where your distrust comes from? …I see. I’ve become the boy who cried wolf.”

It was a statement that gave a glimpse into Sein’s usual behavior.

How much did she tease her for Sophia to react like that?

“Anyway. This time it’s real. There. Hayul is there.”

Sein pointed directly at me.

“You can come out. There’s nothing around.”

I slowly released Umbra.

“…Aren’t you being too careless? In the place where Veil was just a moment ago….”

The reason I hadn’t revealed myself wasn’t to surprise Sein or Sophia.

I just didn’t want to reveal myself in this place in case Veil had left something behind.

“There’s no need to worry. There’s nothing around. I guarantee it.”

If someone else had said that, I would have told them not to talk nonsense.

How can they be so sure that there’s nothing around when there are so many ways to monitor this world?

That’s what I would have said.

However.

“Your senses seem to have gotten better.”

If Sein said that, it’s a different story.

If Sein says that, it means there’s really nothing around here.

Sein’s senses are that sharp.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because my condition has been bad for so long. My senses have become unnecessarily sharp.”

Is an injury just another growth process for Sein Vinoche?

How much more of a monster is she going to become?

“…Even so, the expression ‘monster’ is a bit much. I’m a person too.”

For a moment, I thought my inner thoughts had come out, but it didn’t seem so.

It must have been Sophia who said ‘monster’.

“Especially you, Black Magic King. I don’t want to hear it from you. Who is the real monster calling who a monster?”

Sein frowned as if she was extremely displeased.

“In the first place, you are….”

Just as Sein was about to burst out and say something.

She realized my presence and closed her mouth again.

It seems she realized that this wasn’t the time for banter.

“You two be quiet. That’s not what’s important right now.”

Sein focused her attention on me.

“There were too many cooks. Let’s get to the main topic.”

Sein held out the remains of the broken radio to me.

“To get straight to the point, what happened to this….”

She was about to ask about the broken radio, but then she closed her mouth again.

“…No. That’s not the problem. Let me ask again.”

And after a moment, she lowered the hand holding the broken radio and started speaking again.

“What happened here?”

I met Sein’s eyes.

“I’ll explain.”

I slowly began to explain what had happened here.

* * *

After that.

I finished all the explanations.

“I understand the situation. I didn’t expect an opportunity for a counterattack like this. Is this what they call a happy miscalculation?”

Sein laughed as if she was enjoying it.

“Leave tracking Veil’s base to us. With that much information, we can find it within 3 hours.”

By using the observed weather information and tracking the movement of the wind, we can easily find the base.

If we add the information that the distance is far, there should be only 3 or 4 candidates at most.

As Sein said, we should be able to find it within 3 hours.

“Yes. I’ll leave it to you.”

“…It’s unusual that you’re not offering to help. With Veil out of the picture, I thought you would say you’d take care of it.”

“Well….”

It was hard to deny.

This was something I would have normally said I would handle myself.

My ‘Umbra’ is also perfect for these kinds of infiltration missions.

“These kinds of infiltration missions are usually my job… but unfortunately, I have something more important to do right now.”

But this time, I can’t step up.

There’s something more important.

“Something else?”

“Yes.”

I took out Phineas’s relic from my pocket.

“There’s a relic I need to find.”

“A relic?”

“Yes.”

I succeeded in finding Phineas, somehow.

Now, all that’s left is to use Phineas to find Mora.

“Mora. I need to find her relic.”

“…Mora?”

Sein asked back with an expression as if she was hearing it for the first time.

It was a natural reaction.

Even Mimir and I were hearing the name for the first time, so there’s no way Sein would know it.

“Yes. I need to find it to resolve the current situation….”

“Wait.”

Sein raised her hand and cut me off.

“That god named Mora. Are you perhaps talking about Mora, the Goddess of Time?”

“…!”

My eyes widened.

“How did you….”

I only said ‘Mora’.

I didn’t even say the ‘time’ part of the Goddess of Time.

But how did the title of Goddess of Time come out?

“Did you know about it?”

“….”

Sein closed her mouth with an expression as if she was extremely uncomfortable.

She even let out a small sigh as if she didn’t like something.

“It’s not something I knew. What I knew was….”

Sein pressed her index finger on her furrowed brow.

And after a moment.

“It’s me.”

Everything changed, including her expression and eyes.

A drastic change, as if she had become a different person.

The entity moving Sophia’s body had changed.

“Black Magic King….”

Black Magic King.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve been outside for a long time. I feel very good.”

He was looking at me with the same expression and eyes as before.