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Episode 58
Last number (1)
I glared at Jan Lantes’ face.
As I stared at the guy’s disgusting face, the faces of the contractors I once worked with flashed through my mind.
[ha…….]
A sigh escaped me.
The anger that had settled in one corner of my heart showed no signs of subsiding easily.
-… … Those sons of bitches murdered my mother and Sharon.
Suddenly I remembered what Becky had said last night.
After the banquet, she came to the room with Garon Theobald and told him the truth they had been hiding.
The facts about his mother’s death.
And the dirty atrocities of the Irantes Tower intertwined with this.
* * *
“Do you know why the Lantes Tower killed our mother?”
“… … .”
[… … .]
Roselia Duncan.
A mid-level magician “Advanced” belonging to the Yukria Tower and the best potion maker of his time.
The reason why she was killed by Irantes was as follows.
“It’s just because of your usual speaking habits.”
The essence of alchemy was price.
Creating potions using specific reagents as ingredients, crafting artifacts by sacrificing specific offerings, etc.
In this way, alchemy could produce results through a certain price.
The flow of life and death was also one of the laws of nature that followed this law.
It was a natural law that as existing life died, a place was created for new life to take root.
Therefore, alchemists always continued their research without interfering with this flow of life and death.
Roselia Duncan was one of the alchemists who strictly adhered to these principles.
“My mother always insisted that mortals should not go against the flow of life and death.”
“… … .”
“I believe that living according to the destiny given to us mortals and meeting an end befitting that destiny is the calling given to us mortals.”
No wonder her last words were, ‘You alone must meet a fitting end for a wizard’.
Roselia Duncan, who held such firm beliefs, opposed the immortality spell created by the Irantes Magic Tower more than anyone else.
“Then one day… … .”
“… … .”
“My mother passed away.”
Roselia Duncan sets out on a journey to find a rare reagent.
She was found several months later, critically injured, in the mountains of the northeastern part of the empire.
People belatedly escorted her to a nearby temple, but it was already too late.
Roselia met such a meaningless end.
The cause of death was an attack by a group of bandits.
“But isn’t it a little strange?”
“… … .”
“A mid-level wizard lost his life to a group of bandits? That’s just ridiculous.”
It was just as Becky said.
Even if he was a low-ranking wizard, it didn’t make sense for a mid-ranking wizard to be killed by a group of bandits.
This was not much different from the story that the knight was beaten to death by thugs.
That’s why people questioned this incident.
While speculating that someone else was definitely behind Roselia Duncan’s death.
“But even after years of continued investigation, no plausible clues emerged.”
“… … .”
“That’s how the incident ended.”
Roselia Duncan, who encountered a blizzard, used Pathfinding and Warmth magic and her magical powers were depleted, and then she ran into a group of bandits and lost her life… … .
… … That was exactly the conclusion people came to.
“I, too, thought of my mother’s death as nothing more than an unfortunate tragedy. For almost 11 years.”
The death of Roselia Duncan seemed to have faded from people’s memories.
“But the Ucria Tower did not give up its investigation.”
Despite the lack of significant results, they continued their investigation for 11 years.
After much dogged effort, they finally managed to uncover the truth behind Roselia Duncan’s death.
“As it turned out, those bandits were a group of assassins hired by the Irantes Tower.”
“… … .”
“Well, I realized that fact too late, but my hatred for those bandits still remains.”
Becky smiled bitterly.
After saying that, she was speechless for a while.
Even we, who had been quietly listening to Becky’s story, had no choice but to keep our mouths shut in the heavy atmosphere.
“… … .”
[… … .]
Silence fell.
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All that could be heard was the sound of the clock ticking.
[ha…….]
okay.
Now I know why you said you didn’t want to talk about this in your right mind.
It must have been a truly painful memory for Becky.
It’s so painful for me to bring this incident up again with my own mouth.
‘I can see now why Ms. Becky killed the bandits so cruelly.’
[huh.]
Now, I feel like my questions are finally being resolved little by little.
“Then, the Sharon you mentioned earlier… … .”
“Sharon is the granddaughter of Theobald the Elder.”
Becky, having somewhat calmed down, began to tell the story of her next victim.
“And she was also my one and only best friend.”
“… … .”
[… … .]
After hearing that, I turned my gaze to Garon Theobald, who was sitting on Becky’s left.
As expected, his expression darkened even more when Sharon’s name was mentioned.
“Did Ms. Sharon also meet her death at the hands of the Irantes Tower?”
“huh.”
Becky nodded in response.
“Sharon lost her life in a screening test two years ago.”
Recalling the situation at the time, Becky began to tell the story slowly.
“The place was… … a circular stadium similar to the Colosseum.”
A screening test from two years ago.
A circular arena similar to the Colosseum.
The candidates were divided into groups of 50 people each.
They had to avoid numerous obstacles lurking inside and reach the other end of the arena within the time limit.
“I passed the first test without any particular difficulties.”
Becky’s hallucination-type abilities allowed her to get to the other end of the stadium faster than anyone else.
It was thanks to the ability to confuse monsters and traps through clones.
“But even after passing the test, I couldn’t just be happy.”
“… … .”
“By the time I got to the finish line, Sharon wasn’t even halfway across the field.”
It was a strange thing.
Clearly Sharon was a skilled magician.
Having inherited the blood of Garon Theobald, also known as the Empire’s greatest shield, she possessed magical talents superior to Becky’s.
It wouldn’t have been strange if she had arrived before me… … .
Oddly enough, Sharon was still wandering around the stadium before she even made it halfway.
-……ah.
Becky, who was watching the scene with a puzzled look, suddenly realized one thing.
That is to say, a stone golem was chasing Sharon with such persistence that it seemed strange to anyone.
“I can still vividly remember the look on Sharon’s face.”
“… … .”
“That face of despair, a mixture of fear and anxiety, is something I can never forget, even after several years.”
Thud, thud, thud─!
The Stone Golem only chased after Sharon.
As if the other applicants were not even in sight.
“I just couldn’t understand it.”
“… … .”
“Normally, if you shake it off like that, it would turn its attention to other prey, but the Stone Golem only targeted Sharon.”
It was really strange.
That would be the case, since the Stone Golem wasn’t a persistent monster that would pursue one person so relentlessly.
The guy had a simple habit of only targeting the prey in front of him.
Therefore, it was impossible for the Stone Golem to chase only Sharon in an arena filled with spectators on all sides.
“I kept complaining to the manager next to me. I said that the Stone Golem was in a strange state. Didn’t this happen when other groups took the test?”
“… … .”
“But that damn guy ignored me until the very end.”
-Quiet.
-… … .
-I’ll make the decision.
“The other test takers pretended not to see Sharon. They didn’t even try to help her.”
“… … .”
“The guys were just happy that someone else was taking the Stone Golem’s aggro.”
-Please, please save me… … !
-Ugh.
“Furthermore, some of the test takers who passed the exam laughed at Sharon’s desperate running away from the stone golem as if it was ridiculous.”
Becky continued in a lower voice.
“I had already crossed the finish line and couldn’t do anything.”
“… … .”
“I would have liked to have gone back to the stadium and helped Sharon, but… … the candidates who passed the exam were blocked by a transparent curtain and could not participate in the stadium in any way.”
-please…….
“In the end, Sharon, exhausted, fell to the floor.”
-Ugh, please, save me… … .
-… … .
-Save me… … .
Crunch──!
“The Stone Golem trampled her to death without any mercy.
“… … .”
[… … .]
okay.
That’s how Sharon Shacklebolt lost her life.
But her death did not receive much attention.
It was just buried as an incident that happened during the screening test.
Since it was common for promising candidates to die during screening, no one questioned her death.
“But I could tell. It wasn’t just some random accident.”
Sigh.
-… … !
The moment Sharon died.
The manager’s bitter smile.
Becky, who witnessed that laughter, couldn’t help but feel that the manager had somewhat malicious intentions.
Even though it was only a gut feeling, Becky was sure of it.
That Sharon’s death was no simple accident.
“That’s why I killed that manager during the second test. It was my way of getting revenge.”
The content of the second test was simple.
If you last a certain amount of time in a one-on-one duel with an administrator, it’s over.
But Becky didn’t choose to ‘hold out’ in her duel with the manager; she chose to ‘win’.
Wooooowow─!
Crunch─!
A middle-ranking wizard murdered a high-ranking wizard. And that too during a selection exam, when the candidate was an administrator.
It took less than half a day for this shocking incident to spread throughout Wilhelm.
Rebecca Duncan.
It was the moment when her name first spread throughout the magical world.
“Then why did Ms. Becky slaughter the applicants the following year… … .”
“Oh, them?”
Becky answered in a calm voice.
“Those motherfuckers were all just watching Sharon die.”
“… … .”
“They’re the kind of guys who deserve to die, you know.”
Most of the candidates who took the test like Sharon failed the second time around that year.
In the first place, they were not eligible to take the screening test.
It was only thanks to Sharon single-handedly shouldering the Stone Golem’s aggro that she was able to pass the first test without much difficulty.
-Sa, save me… … .
Crunch─!
So Becky killed them.
There is no reason to show mercy to idiots who come to take the test without even knowing the topic.
“Even though I got my revenge like that… … my heart still felt empty.”
“… … .”
Finding Becky at the end of my revenge was neither a feeling of relief nor accomplishment.
vacuity.
All I could feel was an emptiness that could not be filled by anything.
The flames of revenge were infinitely strong.
But the embers, which had nothing left to burn, began to consume themselves.
“It’s become unclear why I’m walking the path of magic. The purpose of life has become unclear, and I no longer have any motivation… … .”
As I’ve said many times, the most important thing when walking the path of magic is the ‘goal’.
Those without goals are destined to wander at some point.
The longer the wandering continues, the more the wizard is consumed by the “spirit of the mind”.
And finally.
A magician who has been completely swallowed up by the swamp of “spiritual evil” is no longer able to practice magic.
Becky was also driven to the brink of being eaten by “Simma”.
She wandered.
I wasted every day, lying in bed like a dead person. I was no different from a corpse except that I was alive and breathing.
Becky continued living the typical reclusive life for a while.
Hwaruk─!
Until another new spark is lit.
“The Magic Tower of Eukarya came to see me.”
“… … .”
[… … .]
After a moment of silence, Becky continued.
“She said she found the real culprit who killed our mother.”
“… … .”
“And the culprit is the same guy who killed Sharon.”
