Chapter 121: Mad Scientist
TL Note: I didn’t check the raws properly so I missed 1 section of the previous ch. Go read it before you read this chapter, it’s right at the end of ch120 after the ****.
For some time now, strangers have been scavenging the corpses of otherworldly beings.
I’ve heard that a young magical engineer has gone missing, and I’m deeply worried that he’s connected to them.
I had come face-to-face with the elusive mage once before.
It was a young man named Franken. He spoke of his respect for me and expressed great interest and affection for the otherworldly.
I remember liking Franken because he had a rare “magecraft spirit” that was different from the money-grubbing shysters that had become so common in recent years.
I should say that it’s not uncommon here in Delgrad for magical engineers to lock themselves away in secret workshops to keep their research from getting out, but the timing is unusual.
When I asked a mage close to him about it, he said he hadn’t been working on anything like that lately.
Worst case scenario, I think he’s been kidnapped, and I’m going to ask Cecily for her opinion.
Cecily has been sighing a lot lately as she stares out the window, and I fervently hope that her worries don’t add up to more.
Adapted from The Secret Diary of Isaac Windless.
The blind man who had suddenly burst into the Institute was not a man of many words.
The threats of his subordinates, the useless humans who called him that, had no effect on him.
He was not only blind, but deaf as well.
“Hey, what are you? When a person asks you a question, you answer…!”
At that moment, the usually unruly kid, who was frivolously taking off his shirt, pushed him.
Suddenly, a red flower burst out of his shoulder blade.
“Off!”
I rub my eyes at his scream, and his shoulder drops to the floor with a thud.
The red flowers scattered across the ceiling and walls were blood spurting from his body.
I took too many pills and my head felt like it was burning.
I glanced at my desk and saw stimulants strewn about…Maybe I overdid it in my eagerness for the high ground.
Either way, the blind man who just slit my subordinate’s throat is not good news for me.
For now, I’ll pay a few bucks and hope that the “untrustworthy men” who call themselves servants will take care of him.
As the man’s head flew into the air and he nonchalantly pushed aside the torso that stood over him, missing his neck, the blind man reverse-handedly wielded a well-honed reddish sword.
I couldn’t recall ever hearing of a swordsman wielding his sword in a reverse grip, at least not around here.
Let alone a blind one.
None of them had committed a felony worthy of being tracked down.
It was bizarre.
“…”
The mouth of the dark-haired blind man, who practiced the saying silence is gold, remained firmly closed.
“Why are you stuck with that one-eyed idiot?”
“You’re the one who’s doing it…”
“Fuck… I’ll give you a signal and you’ll all go at him!”
“Then he’ll hear it too, won’t he?”
“…He might be deaf as well.”
The men shake their heads at the words of the man called ‘Captain’.
The captain, who stammers at their logic, doesn’t give up and continues counting.
“One, two… Three!”
He’s not giving them time to think things through, but it seems to be working.
“”Ooh…Ooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!”
As if on cue, the freakishly energized men stomped off the floor and charged at the blind man.
However, the so-called captain didn’t move his legs.
The captain is indeed a ‘captain’ so he must be a bit more clever than the others.
“Ahhhhh!!!”
The leisurely pace of the blind man and his deafening subordinates collided.
A red sword light flashes and a crisp, clean sound follows as they all fall to the ground, unable to take more than a few steps toward the blind man.
The blood from their bodies touches the blind man’s shoes as he stops walking.
-Pfft.
The blind man, who had been stepping over the puddle of blood without avoiding it, had no expression.
Whether it was because I couldn’t see because his eyes were covered with white bandages, or because his lips didn’t move an inch, there was no expression on his face.
Alas, they are useless after all.
Just as I’d calculated, they were just a substitute for gathering materials.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Stumbling backwards in terror, the ‘captain’ fell to the ground and cursed under his breath.
The blind man was taking one step after another, very slowly and scrambling to his feet, the ‘captain’ rushed over to where I was.
The casualness of the blind man, who appeared out of nowhere and mercilessly slaughtered his men, represented a gap in power as wide as the sky and the earth, created a sense of fear for the captain.
Not that I’m afraid.
I tucked my head back in.
Why is he looking for me?
I’m the furthest thing from a savior. I’m just an ordinary magical engineer, and I can’t save him from his blindness.
“Hmph… Attack, attack, attack…!”
The ‘captain’ rushes into the ‘laboratory’, gasping for breath and looking at me for something to do.
The sound of the blind man’s footsteps, which must have sounded like an apocalyptic trumpet to him, was coming from the other end of the hall.
There was still time to react.
“Huh… Whatever this thing is, it’s no match for me… A golem… Is that golem still unfinished?”
He asked, pointing to the far side of the lab.
I followed his finger and turned my head to look at my ‘child’.
Unfortunately, it was unfinished.
Of course, even if it was, I wouldn’t be activating it to save him.
“Shhh.”
I put a finger to my mouth.
The unintelligible creature’s eyes widened.
“You can’t do this.”
Throwing the question out with a shake of my head, I picked up a tool lying on my desk, a blunt instrument if you will, and smashed it straight down on his head.
-Pfft.
The blow hit him so hard that his head dropped to the floor without resistance.
Bending down to my knees, I raised the blunt object in my hand once more and whispered to him in a low voice.
“I thought I made that clear.”
He shrugs.
“As far as I know, I was kidnapped…”
He shrugged.
“…a poor magical engineer.”
-Pfft.
“Ah.”
I wiped the dirty, disgusting blood from the crushed creature’s head.
This is why I hate doing it myself.
Checking my face for more blood, I tossed the ‘blunt instrument’ haphazardly to the ground.
Soon enough, I heard the blind man’s footsteps in the distance. Somehow I made it in time.
“…”
The blind man enters the room and inclines his head.
“…Thank you, thank you so much……”
I stared at him, gagged, and burst into tears. Thanks to this, the blind man did not attack me.
From now on, as per the scenario.
“…My name is Franken, a magical engineer, and I was kidnapped by them and forced to do research under duress…Thank you so much for rescuing me… Ugh… Off…”
Acting wasn’t that difficult. On the contrary, I was confident.
Did I really need to shed a tear for a blind man?
The thought flashes through my mind as I sit there, clutching my face and sobbing.
Soon, I hear the blind man’s voice.
“…So that’s what happened, but you can rest easy now. I’m here.”
“Hmph… Huh… Thank you.”
I wiped away my tears and pretended to calm my excitement.
The blind man must have been very well fooled, because he smiled warmly at me and held out his hand.
“…You seem to be having trouble with your eyes, can you sense me? Of course you can, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to take on these guys… I think you’re pretty amazing.”
I take his outstretched hand and pull myself to my feet, muttering something vaguely complimentary.
My mind was now filled with thoughts of what would be the natural behavior of an ordinary magical engineer whose life had been saved.
“Haha, it’s not that great.”
“…Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“By the way, you said you were forced to do research, what kind of research was that?”
The man with the bandages over his eyes seemed to ask the question because he was blind and couldn’t see what was sitting in the lab.
“They were scraping up the otherworlders corpses, and they wanted me to make ‘otherworlders’.”
“Hmph… Making otherworlders…Is that that thing over there, because I felt a strange aura?”
In the direction the blind man pointed, there was my beloved “child,” a combination of otherworlders.
Humanoid otherworlders parts were so expensive that I could only get crumbs of them.
I tried to reconstruct the humanoid otherworlder by piecing together the body parts of the beastly otherworlders, but the results were often crude and incomplete due to material limitations.
I had removed the power sources from the otherworlders, and was ready to insert the golem’s “core” as the new power source.
I was actually more confident dealing with golems than aliens.
Unlike humans, golems are good children who listen well and don’t show unnecessary emotion.
I couldn’t figure out how the blind man, whose eyes were covered with bandages, was able to detect the objects and humans around him, but he seemed to have a very good sense of direction, as he pointed to a golem that was standing still in the middle of the lab.
“…Yes, that’s it, I hate to say it, but it’s a weird-looking thing, haha… Still, the otherworldly species are quite valuable, so if you leave it with the guards, they can disassemble it and sell it on the market for a profit.”
I answered sincerely, but with a hint that the city guards would take care of it and it would be better if he didn’t touch it.
Of course, I have no intention of meekly handing it over to the city guards.
I hope they don’t try to break it and there are plenty of ways to escape without breaking it.
From what I’d seen of his swordsmanship earlier, I’d have a hard time physically stopping him.
Soon, the blind man with his arms crossed spoke again. I thought he preferred silence, but apparently not.
“An artificial alien species… What were they planning to do with it?”
“Well… From the sounds of it, they were going to release it into the city.”
“If that had happened… a lot of people would have gotten hurt, thank goodness.”
The blind man smiles at me.
I don’t think he’s going to destroy it right now… there’s something more important.
“…By the way, how did you find your way here? I’m a bit dazed, and I haven’t even gotten your name yet, so may I ask where you belong?”
“Affiliation? Oh, I…”
The blind man’s words trailed off and he extended his hand to me.
As I stare at it, wondering what to make of it, a black energy gathers around it, and a fist-sized black blob of water floats to the top of his palm.
Curious about what I’m seeing, I look up to see his face.
Then the blind man’s lips part.
“…I’m a demon.”
“A…Demon…?”
I suddenly realize that’s a… A sound…?
Yelp.
I stumble backwards and my back hits the desk.
Demons, the main enemy of humans and a race that preys on humans to increase their power.
“No…that’s not…”
My jaw dropped in shock at the blind man’s words.
He hadn’t revealed his horns, the symbol of a demon, but after hearing those words, I could almost feel an evil and unholy aura emanating from the black droplets in his palm.
The blind man who was watching me suddenly burst out laughing. His mouth opens as he swallows a gurgling laugh.
“…I’m just kidding, I’m human, you don’t have to be so scared.”
“What…?”
My brow furrows at his next words.
What is he trying to tell me?
He’s not a demon?
What is this blind man doing this for?
Meanwhile, he still hadn’t revealed his affiliation or name.
After scratching his head, the blind man said something meaningful.
“…Well, I guess you weren’t having fun, because you were performing a ridiculous ‘play’ and I listened in…”
“…A play, what do you mean…?”
…Oh no, I’ve been found out.
I naturally groped for the desk, searching for the scroll that was supposed to be on it.
I was ready to activate the golem at any moment. All I had to do was imbue the scroll with mana and a golem would spring from the ground.
It would be nothing special, just an ordinary golem made of clay, but if I did it right, it might buy me some time.
The blind man then points to the so-called ‘captain’ lying beside the desk.
“…I heard all of that, you know, the stuff you were talking about so closely with this gentleman.”
“…Shit.”
I should have known better.
I immediately put my hand on the scroll and moved my arm to infuse it with mana, but for some reason my body wouldn’t move.
“…Ugh…”
I quickly rolled my eyes and looked at my arm, only to see something black and slimy leaping out of the shadows and wrapping itself around my body.
It’s… What…?
“I’m afraid this will have to end here.”
He said, his red sword drawn.
“Hah…”
Realizing that I had reached a bad ending, I gave up struggling and let out a deep sigh.
Behind the blind man holding his sword to my throat, I can see the unfinished ‘child’.
I haven’t even given it a name yet, but I don’t think it will ever see the light of day.
***
This seems to be the end of the cleanup around the city.
Underground dumping grounds, gangs of thugs, and Franken unleashing an alien golem in the center of the city.
Franken, in particular, seemed like a good idea to clean up beforehand, especially since he was going to hurt people.
When you meet him in the game, he’ll pretend to be an innocent magical engineer who’s been wrongfully kidnapped and stab you in the back.
You might have thought it was odd that the battle phase didn’t work out after meeting him, but you didn’t realize that he had planned and orchestrated the whole thing.
I was the same way in the first episode.
[It was a lame play]
Sierra said, glancing at Franken’s severed head on the floor.
Well, now it’s like this.
Even if I hadn’t overheard their conversation with my acute hearing, Sierra was there, and I would have found out somehow.
Even if she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to fool me anyway.
I snap my fingers, and the bodies around me disappear into the shadows without a trace.
Sheddie had absorbed human corpses as well as demons.
“Keryung.”
Sheddie pranced across the lab floor and let out a satisfied howl.
He hadn’t looked like that when he ate the demons, but humans were different.
I wonder if this counts as one of his ‘meals’.
There was so little information on the dark spirits that it was impossible to tell.
All that remained was Franken’s unfinished work in his laboratory, which he had created with the help of otherworldly creatures.
It was too dangerous to leave it untouched, as it could become a golem at any moment.
I lifted my finger to see if Sheddie would swallow it, but it refused to do so.
Maybe it’s because it’s not a life form so I’ll have to go with a simpler method.
Finished with my thoughts, I slowly raised my sword.