Chapter 93. Continuing Bonds (2)
An unexpected intruder suddenly barged in.
“Hyaah!?”
Iliana’s light-blue hair scattered in every direction as she leaped in fright.
Her Alchemy tools began flying everywhere.
The dropper she had been holding flew into the air, and Iliana hurriedly reached out to catch it, but—
“A-Ah....!”
Instead, Iliana lost her balance and fell with a thud!
The impact violently shook the workbench, knocking over a beaker.
Crash!
A small owl-shaped glass bottle shattered, while a silver spoon engraved with magical patterns flew across the room.
Fine powders of various colors spilled from their small containers and covered the floor, while the volatile solution inside the beaker scattered and spread like mist.
The laboratory had become a complete disaster.
“Iliana!!”
“Eek!?”
Iliana’s body trembled violently at the furious shout.
The fall had hurt terribly, but the sound of approaching footsteps made her tremble so badly that she forgot all about the pain.
The presence soon stopped before her.
Iliana slowly raised her gaze.
The first thing she saw was the brilliantly gleaming golden crest embroidered along the hem of a robe.
As she raised her gaze further, she saw several magnificent rings adorning his fingers.
His robe, woven from luxurious silk, glittered with gilded magical patterns and shining jewels.
When Iliana finally looked all the way up, she found an elderly man with a hooked nose glaring down at her.
His name was Craven.
He was an Endowed Chair Mage of the Langrid Mage Tower, to which Iliana belonged.
The Langrid Mage Tower.
This was the first Mage Tower ever established by Arcanis Rilsein, the First Mage.
Arcanis had sought to bring change to the world by teaching magic to humanity, so he opened opportunities for anyone interested in magic to learn it.
Founded with that purpose, the Langrid Mage Tower had continued its history for thousands of years and produced countless sages and mages.
Today, it stood as the origin of all magical knowledge on the continent and the Cradle of Mages.
Craven was an Endowed Chair Mage of the Langrid Mage Tower.
The title referred to a distinguished elder who had achieved outstanding accomplishments in the magical world and a high-ranking mage who received support from the tower for specialized research projects.
Craven led important research to deepen and advance magical knowledge while instructing and supervising other mages.
In other words, he was an authority among mages.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?!”
Despite his advanced age, Craven’s voice remained sharp.
Iliana’s nerves instantly became taut, and her body instinctively shrank back.
Iliana was merely an Apprentice Mage.
Before Craven, an Endowed Chair Mage, she was no more than a mouse before a cat.
“I-I’m sorry....”
“Sorry? Do you have any idea how much this commission is worth? Are you deliberately trying to tarnish my reputation?”
“N-No! Absolutely not!”
“Then what is this sight before me?”
“I accidentally made a mistake without realizing—”
“A mistake? Does this look like something that can be dismissed as a mere mistake?”
“D-Don’t worry! None of the important materials were damaged....!”
Iliana hurriedly stood and showed him the materials wrapped in cloth.
They were the extraordinarily expensive materials commissioned by the Freche Merchants’ Guild, each worth more than twenty thousand gold.
“Hmm. You are certain that none of them were damaged?”
“Of course!”
“If anything has gone wrong, Iliana, you will bear full responsibility. Understood?”
“......”
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“....Yes.”
Only after Iliana answered did Craven nod.
“Ahem.”
Craven cleared his throat and drew her attention. He appeared to have something else to say.
“D-Do you have something to tell me....?”
“It concerns the paper you recently wrote.”
“Which one do you mean....?”
“The one discussing the possibility of removing the madness imprinted into monsters at the genetic level.”
“Ah, yes.”
“That paper. How about publishing it under my name instead of yours?”
“....What? B-But that’s....!”
“It will achieve far greater recognition if it is presented as research led by me, an Endowed Chair Mage, rather than by an Apprentice Mage like you.”
Iliana lowered her head deeply.
“Have you forgotten whose pocket pays for the books you read and the food you eat?”
“I have always been....g-grateful for that....”
“Then you will publish it under my name, correct?”
“....Yes.”
Iliana did not believe that this was wrong.
One of the absolute laws of magic, and a truth particularly important in Alchemy, was [Equivalent Exchange].
To obtain something, one had to pay a corresponding price.
To kindle a fire, one needed firewood.
To receive money, one had to provide something in return.
For Iliana to live in the Mage Tower, read the Arcane Tomes she loved, and study Arcane Studies—
“Good, good. From now on, you must publish papers like this through me as well. That will be better for you too.”
She had to pay a corresponding price.
Iliana lowered her head slightly.
Seeing her obedient attitude, Craven smiled with satisfaction.
“Once the medicine is complete, you will deliver it personally, Iliana. I must concentrate on presenting the paper.”
With that, Craven swiftly left the laboratory.
Iliana gently bit her trembling lower lip. Tears welled in her blue eyes.
However, she desperately suppressed and swallowed them.
Iliana began gathering and organizing the scattered tools. Her light-blue hair fell forward and concealed her face.
Between the strands, however, one could glimpse the redness around her eyes and her gently trembling lips.
Her fingertips trembled faintly as she gathered the shattered pieces of the glass bottle.
Iliana quietly began wiping away the multicolored powder scattered across the floor.
Then she stopped moving for a moment and stared around the laboratory with empty eyes. She released a deep breath and tried to console herself.
She quietly lowered her head and desperately forced back the tears she could not release, but—
“....Sob.”
Ultimately, her sobs escaped and echoed throughout the laboratory before fading away.
* * *
My fierce struggle against the golden leech continued as we repeatedly overtook each other.
For a moment, it strangely reminded me of the race we had held in the County.
Thanks to that, however, I reached Edlen’s shop in a single sprint. I immediately opened the door and stepped inside.
Jingle—!
A bell rang lightly.
Edlen, who had been sitting behind the counter, spotted me.
“Lord Adrian! You have arrived!!”
He energetically sprang to his feet and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
Fortunately, he did not slam his head into anything like last time. Apparently, he had learned the proper technique.
Edlen raised his head again and noticed Kai entering behind me.
“Oh! Sir Kai, you have come as well!”
Edlen greeted him with a smile.
It appeared that the two had become fairly close in the meantime.
However, it was not important enough to ask about, so I immediately got to the point.
“What happened?”
“If you are asking first about the medicine for your younger sister.... Ahem!”
Edlen cleared his throat.
From his expression, it was obvious that he was about to launch into another lengthy explanation like last time.
“I carefully considered the matter you instructed me to handle, Lord Adrian. I wondered what the cleanest way to resolve this situation might be—”
“Just give me the result.”
“....I was informed that it was completed three days ago.”
Edlen answered with an utterly dejected expression. He looked like a thoroughly scolded weasel, but that lasted only briefly.
“Still, this humble servant commissioned an Alchemist whose skill is absolutely breathtaking!”
Edlen’s eyes were already shining like those of a weasel awaiting praise.
“They say this supergenius mage has been turning magical academia upside down with every new paper and theory!”
Judging by how confident Edlen sounded, the Alchemist was undoubtedly highly capable.
“You did well.”
“Oh, it was nothing! It cannot compare to everything you have done for me, Lord Adrian!”
“Even so, searching for the right person could not have been easy.”
“Why, this was for none other than Lord Adrian’s younger sister! Naturally, this humble servant had to do everything in his power!”
Edlen repeatedly raised and lowered his weasel-like eyebrows.
Perhaps this was another effect of Sense [R], but he was incredibly sly.
“More importantly, Sir Kai provided a great deal of assistance.”
“The golden leech?”
“Yes....? A golden leech?”
Edlen tilted his head.
When I waved my hand to indicate that it was nothing, he continued.
“Sir Kai thoroughly dealt with all the flies that swarmed over after smelling the money.”
Then again, an enormous sum of one million gold had been involved. As Edlen had put it, all kinds of flies were bound to gather.
“It was entirely thanks to Sir Kai that we could safely submit the commission to the Langrid Mage Tower.”
That was precisely why I had assigned Kai to him.
“It seems there was more trouble than expected.”
“You have no idea. If Sir Kai had not been there, it truly would have.... Sir Kai is remarkably capable!”
Edlen passionately raised his voice.
I did not know exactly what had happened, but Kai appeared to have played quite an active role.
“Then where is the completed medicine?”
“Ah! I received word that it will arrive shortly, so it should be here soon!”
That meant the matter of the medicine had been resolved.
“What happened with the mage I ordered you to contact?”
“You mean the mage named Iliana, correct?”
Edlen cleared his throat.
“Well, you see! This humble servant put his cunning mind to work and considered how I might approach this mage named Iliana in the fastest and most effective way—”
“Just give me the result.”
“....Unfortunately, I was unable to contact her.”
Edlen suddenly became dejected again.
Why did he keep doing this?
In any case.
The system was apparently intended to protect Apprentice Mages from outside influences. It was not difficult to understand, but the rule had become an unexpected obstacle.
“The problem is that her Endowed Chair Mage refused to grant permission....”
“Did you try contacting the Endowed Chair Mage?”
“Of course!”
Edlen had not failed to make the attempt. He had literally been “unable” to contact Iliana.
“What was the reason?”
“The mage named Iliana whom you mentioned is an ‘Apprentice Mage’ of the Langrid Mage Tower.”
“So?”
“According to the rules of the Langrid Mage Tower, Apprentice Mages are strictly forbidden from contacting outsiders without permission from their supervising Endowed Chair Mage.”
Edlen declared it emphatically, as though the matter should have been obvious.
However, his shoulders soon drooped again.
“But that Endowed Chair Mage was so incredibly inflexible. He completely turned this humble servant away at the door.”
....If that was the case, there was no solution.
The Langrid Mage Tower was the home of every mage on the continent.
It was a Mage Tower that exercised an enormous degree of influence across the entire continent.
In other words, Edlen’s position as an officer of the Merchants’ Guild meant nothing compared to an Endowed Chair Mage of the Langrid Mage Tower.
Even my authority as the eldest legitimate son of a count’s family could not place me above him.
He was someone whom even a true Count could not treat carelessly. In other words, there was currently no way for me to contact Iliana.
‘It isn’t as though I need to contact Iliana immediately.’
My urgent priority was to establish the foundations of the Coalition Forces and strengthen my faction and personal power.
However, she was someone I would eventually have to meet.
More importantly, considering my understanding of Infinite [M], it would be best to establish a connection with her in advance.
‘Should I spend more money?’
Fortunately, I had ninety million gold in my Inventory.
If I poured enough capital into the matter, I might be able to persuade Iliana’s Endowed Chair Mage.
‘This is consuming more money than I expected....’
As I organized my thoughts—
“For someone praised as a supergenius mage who turns magical academia upside down with every paper and theory, that bastard has no manners whatsoever....! Good grief!”
“....Hmm?”
“But this humble servant carefully considered how I could faithfully carry out Lord Adrian’s instructions!”
“Wait. When you said ‘supergenius mage’, weren’t you referring to the mage who accepted the Alchemy commission?”
“That’s right! Since the bastard was skilled anyway, I thought that commissioning the Alchemy work from him might give us an excuse to contact the mage named Iliana—!”
Before Edlen could finish speaking—
Jingle—
The shop door opened, and someone entered.
“Excuse me.... I’m here regarding the Alchemy commission....”
The voice belonged to a woman.
From what she said, I immediately realized that she was the Alchemist from the Langrid Mage Tower whom Edlen had hired.
My gaze naturally turned toward the source of the voice. She wore a robe that harmoniously blended blue and silver.
Her eyes shone blue like sapphires. Her light-blue hair appeared to contain the sky itself. She had a slender nose and somewhat thin lips.
Her features were perfectly balanced with her delicately sculpted, clear skin.
The moment I saw her—
My eyes widened until they felt as though they might split apart.
It was because I knew her. The name of the woman hesitating near the shop’s entrance was—
‘Commander Iliana.’
Iliana Segretus.
She was the very person we had just been discussing. She was a hero of the Coalition Forces. She was the last surviving mage on the continent.
And at the same time—
“Huh?”
She was the Archmage of the Coalition Forces, regarded as the greatest mage in the entire history of the continent.
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