Chapter 121

Chapter 121

Mad Scientist

For some time now, outsiders have appeared, indiscriminately scraping together the corpses of otherworld species.

I hear a young magical engineer has shut himself away, and I am deeply worried he may be connected to them.

I once met the magical engineer who has now vanished.

He was a young man named Franken.

He approached me, saying he admired me, and showed great interest and affection toward otherworld species.

Unlike the half-baked fellows one sees so commonly these days, chasing nothing but money, Franken possessed the rare “spirit of magical engineering.” I remember liking that about him.

It is common enough here in Delgrad for magical engineers to shut themselves away in secret workshops so their research does not leak out, but the timing is rather unusual.

When I asked a magical engineer close to him about this, he said Franken had not recently been conducting any research that would warrant such behavior.

In the worst case, I intend to judge that he has been kidnapped and ask Sicily for her opinion.

Recently, Sicily has often been looking out the window and sighing, as if she has many worries. I can only sincerely hope that her concerns do not increase any further.

—Excerpt from Isaac Windless’s <​Secret Journal>.

The blind man who suddenly stormed into the “laboratory” was not particularly talkative.

The threats of the useless humans I called subordinates had no effect on him either.

Was he not only blind, but deaf too?

“Hey, what the hell are you? When someone asks, you answer...!”

The moment the fellow who was always swaggering around, the one who frivolously wandered about shirtless, shoved him...

A red blossom suddenly burst from the fellow’s shoulder blade.

“Kraaaaaaagh—!!”

At the fellow’s scream, I rubbed my eyes, and my subordinate’s shoulder dropped to the floor with a thud.

The red flowers scattered across the ceiling and walls were blood spraying from my subordinate’s body.

Had I taken too many drugs?

Somehow, I felt as if my head was throbbing too.

Glancing at my desk, I saw stimulants scattered all over.

...Perhaps I had overdone it because the goal was right before my eyes and I had grown impatient.

In any case, that blind man, who had just mercilessly cut off my subordinate’s head, was by no means good news to me.

For now, I could only hope that the “not especially trustworthy humans” I had tossed a few coins to and called my subordinates would take care of him.

As my subordinate’s head flew into the air, the blind man indifferently pushed aside the torso standing there without its neck. In his hand, he held a finely honed red sword in reverse grip.

At least in this region, I did not remember hearing any stories about a swordsman who held his sword in reverse grip.

Much less a blind swordsman.

None of them should have committed crimes severe enough to draw a pursuer.

It was strange.

“...”

The lips of the ink-haired blind man, who was practicing the saying that silence was golden quite thoroughly, remained tightly shut.

“Why the hell are you scared of a blind bastard?!”

“You’re not moving either, boss...”

“Ah, fuck... I’ll give the signal, so rush him together!”

“Then that bastard will hear it too, won’t he?”

“...M-maybe his ears are busted too!”

At the words of the man called “boss,” the subordinates tilted their heads.

The boss, who stammered under their logic, did not give up and stubbornly counted.

“One, two... three!”

Was he giving those fools no time to leisurely think? Apparently, it worked.

““U... Uoooooh—!!””

At the signal, the subordinates let out bizarre battle cries, kicked off the floor, and charged fiercely toward the blind man.

Except, the one called boss did not move his feet even though he was the one who gave the signal.

So a boss truly was a “boss,” was he?

At that level, he could be considered a little more cunning than the others.

“Uaaaaaah—!!”

The blind man’s leisurely steps and the subordinates making my ears ring met head-on.

Red swordlight flashed.

Immediately after, there came a crisp, clean sound. Tsfit!

...Did they truly meet at all?

Every last one of them collapsed to the floor before they could even approach within a few steps of the blind man.

Soon, blood spilling from their bodies reached the shoes of the blind man, who had stopped briefly.

—Splash.

The blind man, walking on as he stepped through the pool of blood without avoiding it, had no expression.

Whether because his eyes were hidden beneath white bandages, or because his lips did not so much as twitch, there was no expression on his face.

Ahh, as expected, they were useless.

Just as I had calculated, they were only good enough to gather materials in my place.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.”

The “boss,” backing away in terror, fell onto the floor and spat curses without even taking time to breathe.

The blind man was taking one very slow step after another.

The “boss” hurriedly pushed himself up from the ground and ran toward where I was.

The composure of the blind man, who had appeared out of nowhere and mercilessly slaughtered his subordinates, revealed a difference in level as vast as heaven and earth, drawing fear from those who watched.

Not that I was afraid.

It simply seemed that human currently running toward me felt that way.

Soon, I drew back the head I had stuck out.

Why was he looking for me?

I was far from anything like a savior or redeemer.

As nothing more than an “ordinary magical engineer,” I could not save him from the blind man.

“Huff... huff... We’re under attack, under attack...!”

The “boss,” who burst into the “laboratory,” looked at me while panting, his face begging me to do something.

The blind man’s footsteps, which must have sounded like the trumpets of the end to him, were coming from the far side of the corridor.

There was time to respond.

“Huff... I don’t know what he is, but he’s not someone I can deal with... The golem... is that golem not complete yet?”

The fellow pointed to the far side of the laboratory and asked.

Following his finger, I turned my head and looked at my “child.”

Unfortunately, it was incomplete.

Of course, even if it were complete, I would not activate it just to save one fellow like this.

“Shh.”

I raised a finger to my lips.

The fellow, unable to understand, opened his eyes wide.

“I told you this would cause trouble.”

Shaking my head, I threw out that question, picked up a tool lying on my desk—something that could now be called a blunt weapon—and immediately struck the fellow’s head.

—Thwack.

The fellow, struck hard in the head, dropped his head to the floor without resistance.

Bending at the waist and lowering my knees, I lifted the blunt weapon in my hand once more and whispered softly to him.

“I clearly told you.”

—Thwack.

“I am supposed to be...”

—Thwack.

“...a pitiful magical engineer who was kidnapped.”

—Thwack.

“Ah.”

I wiped away the filthy, disgusting blood that had splattered from the fellow’s crushed head.

This is why I hate doing things myself.

Checking whether more blood had gotten on my face, I threw the “blunt weapon” carelessly to the floor.

Not long afterward, the blind man’s footsteps came close. Somehow, I had finished in time.

“...”

Soon, the blind man entered the room and tilted his head.

“...Thank you, truly, thank you... khup...”

I looked at him, then suddenly covered my mouth and made my eyes tear up. Perhaps thanks to that, the blind man did not attack me.

From now on, according to the scenario.

“...I am a magical engineer named Franken. I was kidnapped by those men and threatened into conducting research by force... Thank you so much for saving me... khuhuk... ngh...”

Acting was not very difficult.

No, rather, I was confident in it.

Was there any need to shed tears against a blind man?

That thought flashed through my head as I sat collapsed, covering my face and crying.

Soon, the blind man’s voice reached me.

“...So that is what happened. You may be at ease now. I have come.”

“Hup... whew... thank you.”

I wiped away my tears and pretended to calm my excitement.

The blind man seemed to have been thoroughly deceived, because he offered a warm smile to me, who was sitting on the floor, and held out his hand.

“...Your eyes seem inconvenient. Can you perhaps feel me? No, if not, you would not have been able to deal with those people... You are truly remarkable.”

Taking his outstretched hand and raising myself, I roughly spouted words of praise.

Right now, my head was full of thoughts about what actions a perfectly ordinary magical engineer whose life had been saved should take to seem natural.

“Haha, I am not remarkable to that extent.”

“...Once again, I sincerely thank you.”

“By the way, you said you were being forced to conduct research. What research was it?”

Perhaps because the man with bandages around his eyes was blind, he seemed to ask because he could not see the thing proudly sitting inside the laboratory.

“They gathered the corpses of otherworld species and told me to make an ‘otherworld species.’”

“Hmm... making an otherworld species... Is that what is over there, perhaps? I sense a strange energy from it.”

In the direction the blind man pointed was my lovely “child,” made by stitching together otherworld species.

Parts from humanoid otherworld species were so expensive that I had only been able to obtain fragments.

With no other choice, I stitched together body parts from beast-type otherworld species and reconstructed the form of a humanoid otherworld species. Perhaps because of the limitations of the materials, it had many crude parts, and above all, it was not yet complete.

I had removed the power organs of the otherworld species, so all that remained was to insert a golem’s “core” to become the new power organ, and it would be complete.

In truth, I was more confident in handling golems than otherworld species.

Unlike humans, golems listen well and do not put forward unnecessary emotions. They are good children.

I could not know by what method the blind man with bandages over his eyes perceived surrounding objects and humans, but seeing that he accurately pointed out the golem standing still in one corner of the laboratory, he seemed to possess a considerable detection ability.

“...Yes, that is it. It feels a bit strange to say this, but it looks bizarre, haha... Still, otherworld species tend to be quite valuable, so if it is entrusted to the guard unit, they may disassemble it, sell it on the market, and recover some value.”

While answering sincerely, I was anxiously conveying the meaning that the city guard unit would handle it, so it would be better if he did not touch it.

Of course, I had not the slightest intention of obediently handing it over to the city guard unit.

Surely he would not break it, would he?

As long as it was not broken, there were many ways out.

Judging by the swordsmanship I had just seen, physically stopping him would be rather difficult.

Troublesome.

Soon, the blind man, who had been standing with arms crossed, opened his mouth again. I had thought he preferred silence, but perhaps not.

“An artificial otherworld species... What were they planning to do with it?”

“Mm... From what I overheard, they seemed to intend to release it into the city.”

“If that had happened... many people would have been hurt. What a relief.”

The blind man showed me a smile.

For now, it did not seem like he would break it immediately... More importantly, one thing remained.

“...By the way, how did you find your way here? Things were so hectic that I still have not heard your name. May I perhaps ask where you belong?”

“Where I belong? Ah, as for me...”

The blind man trailed off and opened his hand toward me.

Wondering what he was doing, I watched quietly. Black energy gathered, and soon a black droplet the size of a fist rose above his palm.

Filled with curiosity toward something I was seeing for the first time, I lifted my head and looked at his face.

Then the blind man’s lips opened.

“...In truth, I am a demon.”

“A... a demon...?”

What... what did that suddenly... mean...?

—Thud.

Soon, as I stepped backward, my waist struck the desk.

A demon.

The enemy of humanity.

A race that eats humans and stores their strength.

“No... that is...”

At the blind man’s shocking statement, my mouth would not close.

He had not revealed the horns that could be called a demon’s symbol, but after hearing those words, somehow, from the black droplet in his palm, I felt as though wicked and unclean energy was spreading.

The blind man watching me suddenly burst into laughter. Suppressing chuckles, his mouth opened.

“...It was a joke. I am human. There is no need to be so frightened.”

“Yes...?”

At his following words, my brow furrowed on its own.

What was he doing right now?

He was not a demon?

For what purpose had this blind man done such a thing?

Meanwhile, he still had not revealed either his affiliation or a single name.

Soon, scratching his head, the blind man threw out meaningful words.

“...Tsk, it seems you did not find it amusing. Since you were putting on such a ridiculous ‘play,’ I tried joining in...”

“...A play? What do you mean by that...?”

...Could he have found everything out?

I naturally leaned against the desk and fumbled over it to find the scroll that should be there.

It was so I could raise a golem at any time.

If I simply infused mana into the scroll, a golem would immediately spring from the floor.

It would be nothing special, an ordinary golem made of dirt and the like, but if used well, perhaps it could buy me time.

Soon, the blind man pointed at the thing that had been called “boss” lying beside the desk and opened his mouth.

“...Because I heard everything. That conversation you were having so intimately with this gentleman here. My ears are quite good, you see.”

“...Damn it.”

So he had noticed long ago.

I immediately placed a hand on the scroll and tried to move my arm to infuse mana, but for some reason, my body would not move.

“...Kgh...”

Quickly rolling my eyes to look at my arm, I saw something black and viscous that had sprung from a shadow coiling around my body.

What... is this...?

—Shing.

“Unfortunately, shall we bring the curtain down here?”

He drew his red sword and spoke softly.

“Haa...”

At last realizing I had reached an unfavorable ending, I gave up struggling and let out a deep sigh.

Behind the blind man, who held his sword to my neck, I saw the “child” I had not managed to finish.

I had not even been able to give it a name, and it seemed it would be difficult for it to see the light of the world.

***

With this, the cleanup around the city seemed roughly finished.

The underground illegal arena, the band of robbers, and Franken, who intended to release an otherworld golem into the middle of the city.

Franken, in particular, was better cleaned up in advance, since his matter would result in residents being injured.

In the game, he pretended to be a good-hearted magical engineer who had been unjustly kidnapped, then stabbed the players in the back.

One would have found it strange that the battle phase did not end even after meeting him, but perhaps no one would have expected that he was the one who had planned and arranged all of it.

I had been the same on my first playthrough.

[ It was a worthless little play. ]

Sierra said this while glancing at Franken’s severed head lying on the floor.

Well, this was the current situation.

I had no intention of letting him stab me in the back, nor was he capable of it.

Even if my keen hearing had failed to catch their conversation, Sierra was there, so I would have discovered it somehow.

Even if not, deceiving me, who knew the inside story of the incident through the game, would have been impossible.

When I lifted a finger slightly, the surrounding corpses were swallowed by shadows and vanished without a trace.

Shady absorbed not only demons, but human corpses as well.

“Krrng.”

Shady, who had been running around the laboratory floor, let out a satisfied cry.

When he had eaten demons, he had never shown that kind of reaction. Was it different with humans?

Did this also count as his “meal”?

Information on darkness spirits was extremely scarce, so I could not know.

Now all that remained was Franken’s unfinished work in one corner of the laboratory, made by stitching together otherworld species.

I judged it dangerous to leave something that could become a golem harming people at any time.

I lifted a finger, wondering if this too could be swallowed, but Shady soon refused to swallow it.

“Perhaps because it is not a ‘living being.’”

Then there was no choice but to take a simpler route.

Having finished thinking, I slowly raised my sword.