Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Ugh, no matter how much I do, the work just never ends.......”

Needlessly pretending to be appalled, I frowned and began tracing the remnants of the formula left in the stone wall fragment. The formula itself had long since faded after fulfilling its function, but I had also swept over it once before breaking the stone wall earlier, so backtracking it was not very difficult.

“Good. That takes care of the restoration....... Now I just need to come up with a correction plan.”

At last, I was starting on the most enjoyable part of the research process. Feeling somehow excited, I immediately spread the design code out before my eyes. I did feel as though my surroundings were extremely noisy for some reason, but I did not have the slightest thought of caring about that.

Now, first...... should I start by removing the clutter? Running my fingertips over the spread-out design code, I began calculating which parts should be deleted and how far.

And toward me, something came charging while making a racket.

“You insolent little bastard! I’ll kill you!”

......I’m in the middle of concentrating, so what keeps bothering me? A mosquito?

I should probably catch it before it gets more annoying. Without taking my eyes off the formula, I swung a destruction formula around me once, as I always did by habit. From nearby, something seemed to scream its death throes and get crushed with a CRUNCH, and soon it grew quiet.

Whew, now I can finally concentrate. Continuing on, I finished designating and removing the parts I had meant to delete, then began spreading the remaining parts out in the air one by one.

“Damn it, this bastard dares...... Urk?!”

“D-Dieee...... Gah?!”

What, mosquitoes again? These damned mosquitoes always show up and try to bother me whenever I’m in the middle of concentrating. Maybe it’s because they have a habit of staying quiet the whole time, then appearing and buzzing annoyingly as soon as you turn off the light and lie down to sleep.

In any case, since I did not want to be disturbed anymore, I spread the destruction formula in the shape of a net and wrapped it tightly around me. With me at the center, a hemispherical space about five meters in diameter began crushing everything that approached.

Good, that took care of the annoying things for now. I had also deleted all the parts of the design code that needed to be deleted, so now I just had to think about how to flesh it out and correct it.

“Hmm, but the parts I left behind don’t look particularly usable either....... Can’t I just clear all of it out and design it again from scratch?”

Of course, I could not. The research assignment written in Master’s Notebook had this warning attached to it.

***

☆★Warning★☆ Take care, as simply redesigning it because it is bothersome will be treated as failure.

***

Master really does have a ghostly knack for pinpointing exactly the parts I would find bothersome.......

In any case, though it was a bit of a shame, I should give up on designing it anew and just add some flesh to it appropriately before finishing. Well, when designing a new formula, there was always a risk of mana line leakage, so if I were going to design something new, it would be safer to start at the Magic Tower rather than on a roadside like this.

Let’s see. Since it was originally a formula designed for constructing fortifications, should I modify it by adding structures necessary for a fortress wall? No, but when it was actually used, it was used for capturing and confining people. Then would it be better to preserve that side of it after all? In that case, I should change the material composition of the fortification to something sturdier. And after that.......

As I came up with various correction plans, I began writing design code one piece at a time into the empty sections left after the deletion work. As the newly woven-in design code intertwined with the existing code and released mana, my field of vision gradually turned purple.

***

[Research Assignment] No. 703083-454

＃001. Sample Collection for Analysis of the Formula Used in Fortification Construction

→ Complete!!

＃002. Design Error Correction and Improvement Work

→ Complete!!

＃003. Performance Experiment for the Corrected and Improved Formula

→ If you corrected it, confirming that it works properly is essential!!

Test it while considering the appropriate time and place!!

***

I had not expected much because I was only correcting it, but this was unexpectedly pretty fun.......

Savoring an unexpected sense of satisfaction, I finished the work by storing the completed correction plan in my mind. After rubbing my eyes, which had grown dim from staring at the design code all that time, and finally taking a breath, my surroundings at last began entering my awareness.

Come to think of it, what had happened to those people earlier? Since I had given them firearms and even set their posture with telekinesis magic, unless they had been counterattacked by the mercenaries, things should be about settled by now.

While thinking that far, I suddenly realized there was a strong smell of blood around me. Wondering what had happened, I looked back and saw things like ground meat scattered wildly along the path I had walked—I had a habit of wandering aimlessly around my surroundings while working out designs.

Don’t tell me...... I didn’t mistake innocent people for mosquitoes and grind them up, did I? Horrified, I hurriedly withdrew the destruction formula and swept over the presences of the people scattered around the area. One, two, three, four....... Fortunately, the number of people was not very different from when I had just handed out the firearms.

Then were the things scattered here mercenaries? Only after roughly feeling through my hazy memories did I think that I had faintly sensed mana when the things I thought were mosquitoes charged at me. Then these were probably the things that used to be mercenaries. Yes, that had to be it.

Whew, thank goodness. Only then did I let out a sigh of relief, and with a much more comfortable heart, I hung Master’s Notebook at the back of my waist and slowly looked around at the surrounding scenery. Perhaps because I had wandered around aimlessly with no fixed destination, before I knew it, the surrounding scenery had changed from an outskirts area to the center of the village.

And at the center of that village...... instead of a bustling, well-kept street scene, there were only ruins that had all burned and collapsed. It seemed as though a massive devouring fire had swept through the entire city.

“What is this? Was it the mercenaries’ doing?”

There was something not quite convincing about assuming that. The mercenaries had been slaughtering people around the time I had just arrived in this area, while this place looked as though it had burned about two months ago.

Of course...... it was possible that the mercenaries had been slaughtering people continuously from a month ago until now. But if that were true, were there not too many survivors? I did not know how large the population of this region was, but at most, there should be only a few thousand people, so if they had set their minds to killing, the place would have been wiped out within a month.

Moreover, judging by the traces of formulas remaining in the ashes, the magic that burned the village was absolutely not at a level that mercenaries who were around 2nd-circle at best could handle. Lower-intermediate aura users were not even worth considering in the first place.

This was...... a trace left by magic designed by a mage with a certain degree of proper foundation. Though I could not know for certain, I would say they were at least qualified to enter the Royal Academy—roughly between the 3rd and 4th circle. At the very least, it was definitely not something the mercenaries could handle.

But...... considering it was magic cast by a mage of that level, was the degree of damage not too weak? There was no reason someone would design it properly, then suddenly have their skill plummet when it came time to cast it.......

“Ah, don’t tell me......!”

Perhaps the pillar of fire I had seen back then had occurred right here. No, it certainly had. It had been about two months ago that I saw that pillar of fire and struggled not to dwell on it, and one month ago that I finally left the Magic Tower to conduct the field investigation.

For reference, getting from the Magic Tower to this place took about five days on foot with high-speed movement magic active. Then why had it taken me a month to arrive? Because during that time, I had been wandering around the Magic Tower while thinking, “Ah, I have to do the assignment.”

No, when I went outside, I found that magical beasts had bred so much in the forest near the Magic Tower that the forest had become a mess. So I reduced their numbers a bit and restored all the garden plots and facilities those beasts had ruined. While I was at it, I also took care of every overdue chore, including repair work on the Magic Tower’s outer wall, laundry, and cleaning.

They were chores I usually kept putting off because they were only boring and bothersome, but once I thought I had to go conduct a field investigation, they strangely started feeling fun, and I just could not stop.......

A-Anyway, enough digression.

“In any case, these traces...... They feel somehow familiar.......”

And since the feeling was so bad it made my stomach churn, I had the thought that it must be tied to some unpleasant memories. What is it?

As an ominous feeling chilled the area around my heart, a few people seemed to notice me after the situation had been settled to some degree and ran over in my direction.

“Sir Mage! So you were here?”

“Uh, um......? So...... is everything over now?”

“Yes. Thanks to the weapons you lent us, Sir Mage, we barely managed to clean up the city streets.”

“Now all that’s left is to advance on the lord’s residence and catch that damned lord bastard.”

“I-I see.......”

More importantly, could they please stop all looking only at me and murmuring like that? I was reaching my limit from enduring it while constantly avoiding their gazes. My energy was being sucked out so thoroughly that I felt as though I would dry up and die.

“T-Then finish what you were doing. You don’t have to return the firearms, so don’t worry about them.”

“Huh, Sir Mage, you’re not coming with us?”

“We thought you would fight with us.......”

No, why in the world would I?

“I’m an outsider with no connection to this region, aren’t I?”

“That’s true, but...... those mercenary bastards from earlier were outsiders too.......”

“They were hired. I’m not exactly in a position where I’ve been hired.”

I was merely a mage who had come to conduct a field investigation because Master had rolled me into it. I had handed out firearms because I was completing a research assignment that had been delayed, but now that it was complete, I had no intention of getting involved with these people any further. Deliberately adding words in a cold tone, I turned toward the site of the fire.

“A-Anyway, take care of your own business yourselves. I need to investigate this area.”

“What......? Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t help us?”

“Then why are you investigating this place......?”

“Could it be...... you have changed your mind already?”

What was this reaction? Were they trying to make jokes?

“What are you talking about? I’m just going to find whoever burned this place down and thrash them.”

“In other words, you’re saying you’re going to thrash the lord bastard.”

“So why does it become that?”

“Because...... the one who burned this place was none other than that insane bastard?”

I could not understand what they were talking about. The lord had personally burned this place? His own domain, of all places, and right near the lord’s residence at that?

“That’s absurd....... What kind of insane lord does that?”

Even nine hundred years ago, which people in the modern era called the “age of barbarism,” I had never heard of such a lord. Of course, lords did routinely burn serfs alive if they offended them...... but I had truly never seen or heard of a madman who used fire magic at the most bustling center of the domain, in a position where even the lord’s residence was at risk of burning down.

As for my thoughts, the people also nodded, saying, “We didn’t know that bastard was that insane either.”

“He didn’t have a shred of talent, but he strutted around pretending to be a mage anyway.......”

“He went and got his hands on some kind of magic tool, then started a fire claiming he was testing its performance.”

“A magic tool......?”

For some reason, I felt a strong sense of foreboding. It felt as though I should not listen any further, and yet also as though I absolutely had to hear it through to the end. A chill crossed through my chest, and my heartbeat began to quicken.

Master, I do not know why, but I feel strangely uneasy.......

What should I do at a time like this? Would it be better to ask the people what that magic tool was? Or would it be better to pressure them into stopping and leave this place?

Of course, if it were Master, my master would say this.

-By nature, mages are a kind that cannot simply pass over what they are curious about. If you will regret knowing and regret not knowing alike, then knowing and regretting is what makes one a mage. Even if you put off the answer for no reason, nothing changes except that you remain curious.

Well, that was true....... Besides, if I wanted to complete the field investigation anyway, I could not avoid asking about the magic tool.

After hardening my resolve like that, I barely opened my mouth, which refused to move, and asked the people.

“Do you happen to know what the magic tool the lord used was?”

“What? Uh, well...... what was it again?”

“A magic scroll? Something like that, probably......?”

“A magic...... scroll......?”

THUD. My heart dropped with a jolt to the very bottom.