Chapter 93

Continuing Connections (2)

An uninvited visitor suddenly burst in.

"Aaah!?"

Iliana jumped in fright, her blue hair flying in every direction—and her alchemical tools went flying with it. The dropper in her hand sailed into the air. She hastily reached out to catch it, but—

"A-ah...!"

Instead, she lost her balance and fell with a heavy thud. The impact shook the workbench violently, toppling a beaker.

CRASH!

A small, owl-shaped glass bottle shattered, and a silver spoon engraved with magical markings flew across the room. Fine powders of every color spilled from a small container and covered the floor, while the volatile solution in the beaker splashed out and spread like mist.

The room had become an utter mess.

"Iliana!!"

"Eek!?"

Iliana trembled violently at the furious voice. Her hard fall had hurt terribly, but the sound of footsteps striding toward her made her forget the pain as she shook with fear.

Before she knew it, someone stood right in front of her. As she slowly raised her eyes, the first thing she saw was a crest embroidered in gold along the hem of a robe, gleaming brilliantly.

Lifting her gaze a little farther, she saw ornate rings adorning his fingers. Gilded magical markings and glittering gems sparkled on his fine silk robe. When she finally looked all the way up, a hook-nosed old man was scowling down at her.

His name was Kraven. He was an endowed chair mage at Langrid Mage Tower, the institution to which Iliana belonged.

Langrid Mage Tower.

It was the first mage tower founded by Arcanis Rilsein, the first mage. Seeking to teach humanity magic and thereby bring change to the world, Arcanis had opened the way for anyone with an interest in magic to learn it.

Founded with that aim, Langrid Mage Tower had carried on its legacy for thousands of years, producing countless sages and mages. Today, it stood as the origin of all magical knowledge on the continent and the cradle of its mages.

And Kraven held an endowed chair at that very tower. That made him both a veteran of outstanding achievement in the magical world and a high-ranking mage who received the tower's support for special research projects. Leading important research to deepen and advance magical knowledge, he was an authority who instructed and supervised other mages.

"What do you think you're doing!!"

Kraven's voice was aged yet sharp. Iliana's nerves went taut, and she shrank back instinctively.

Iliana was an apprentice mage. Before an endowed chair mage like Kraven, she was nothing 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 determined to tarnish my reputation?"

"N-no! Not at all!"

"Then what exactly am I looking at?"

"It was an accident. I didn't mean to..."

"An accident? Do you think calling this an accident makes it acceptable?"

"D-don't worry! None of the important ingredients were damaged...!"

Iliana scrambled to her feet and showed him the ingredients wrapped in cloth. They were for the commission from the Frecce merchants' guild, outrageously expensive materials worth over twenty thousand gold apiece.

"Hmm. You're certain none of them were damaged?"

"Of course!"

"If anything goes wrong, Iliana, you will take full responsibility. Understood?"

"..."

"Why aren't you answering?"

"... Yes."

Only after she answered did Kraven nod.

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat, drawing her attention. He seemed to have something to say.

"I-is there something you'd like to tell me...?"

"It's about that paper you wrote recently."

"Which one do you mean...?"

"The one discussing the possibility of removing the Madness imprinted in monsters at the genetic level."

"Oh, yes."

"That paper. How about publishing it under my name rather than yours?"

"... Huh? B-but that's...!"

"It will achieve far greater results if people know it as research led by an endowed chair mage like myself, rather than an apprentice like you."

Iliana bowed her head deeply.

"Have you forgotten whose pocket pays for the books you read and the food you eat?"

"I've always been... g-grateful for that..."

"Then we'll be publishing it under my name, won't we?"

"... Yes."

She did not think this was wrong. [Equivalent Exchange] was an absolute law of magic, and one of the fundamental truths of alchemy in particular. To obtain something, one had to pay a corresponding price.

To light a fire, one needed wood. To obtain money, one had to offer something in return. For Iliana to live at the mage tower, read the magical tomes she loved, and pursue magical studies—

"Good, good. And from now on, you must publish papers like these through me. That will be better for you, too."

She had to pay a corresponding price.

Iliana lowered her head slightly. Pleased by her lack of resistance, Kraven smiled.

"Once the medicine is complete, deliver it yourself, Iliana. I need to focus on publishing the paper."

With that, he swept out of the laboratory.

Iliana gently bit her trembling lower lip. Tears welled in her blue eyes... but she fought to hold them back.

She began gathering the scattered tools. Her pale sky-blue hair fell across her face, but glimpses of reddened eyes and faintly trembling lips showed through. Her fingertips quivered as she collected the shards of the glass bottle.

Quietly, she began wiping up the colorful powders scattered across the floor. Then her hands paused, and she looked around the laboratory with empty eyes. She let out a deep breath, trying to comfort herself.

"..."

Silently bowing her head, she kept forcing down the tears she had not let fall, but—

"... Hic."

The sob that finally escaped her circled through the laboratory and faded away.

* * *

The fierce battle with the golden leech went back and forth. For a moment, it strangely reminded me of our race back in the county. Thanks to that(?), I reached Adlan's shop in no time.

I immediately opened the door and stepped inside.

DING!

A bell chimed lightly.

Adlan, who had been sitting behind the counter, spotted me.

"Welcome, Lord Adrian!!"

He sprang to his feet and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

Fortunately, he didn't bang his head this time. He seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

When he raised his head, he spotted Kai following me in.

"Oh, Sir Kai! You're here as well!"

Adlan greeted him with a smile.

The two seemed to have become quite friendly in the meantime. Still, it wasn't worth asking about, so I got straight to the point.

"How did it go?"

"First, if you mean your younger sister's medicine... Ahem!"

Adlan cleared his throat. From the look of him, he was about to launch into another long-winded explanation.

"I gave a great deal of thought to your instructions, Lord Adrian. I asked myself what would be the cleanest way to handle this situation—"

"Just the result. Briefly."

"... I'm told it was completed three days ago."

Adlan answered with a thoroughly crestfallen expression. He looked like a weasel that had just received a severe scolding, though only for a moment.

"But I commissioned an alchemist whose skills are simply breathtaking!"

Already, his eyes were shining like a weasel hoping for praise.

"An absolute genius of a mage, they say! Every paper and theory he's published lately has turned the magical academic world upside down!"

Well, if Adlan was that confident, the alchemist certainly seemed to be skilled.

"Good work."

"Oh, not at all! It's nothing compared to what you've done for me, Lord Adrian!"

"Still, all that running around can't have been easy."

"Oh, come now! This was for your own younger sister, Lord Adrian! Of course I'd do everything I could!"

Adlan waggled his weaselly eyebrows as he spoke. Whether this was another effect of Perceptiveness[R] or not, he was as slick as they came.

"Above all, Sir Kai was an enormous help."

"The golden leech?"

"Pardon...? The golden leech?"

Adlan tilted his head. When I waved it off as nothing, he continued.

"Sir Kai neatly dealt with all the shitflies that came swarming at the smell of money."

True, a full million gold was changing hands. As Adlan put it, that was bound to attract all sorts of shitflies.

"It's entirely thanks to Sir Kai that we were able to place the commission with Langrid Mage Tower without trouble."

Well, that was precisely why I'd assigned Kai to help him, but—

"Sounds like there was more trouble than expected."

"Don't even get me started. If it hadn't been for Sir Kai, I honestly... He's an extraordinarily capable man!"

Adlan spoke with fervent enthusiasm. I didn't know what had happened, but Kai seemed to have done quite a lot.

"So where's the completed medicine?"

"Oh! I've received word that it'll arrive shortly, so it should be here any moment!"

That settled the medicine, then.

"What about the mage I told you to contact?"

"You mean the mage named Iliana?"

Adlan cleared his throat.

"Well, you see! I racked my clever little brain to work out the quickest and most effective way to approach this mage, Iliana—"

"Just the result. Briefly."

"... Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make contact."

Adlan suddenly looked crestfallen again. Why did he keep doing this?

At any rate, he hadn't said he didn't contact her. He said he hadn't been able to.

"Why not?"

"The mage you mentioned, Iliana, is an 'apprentice mage' at Langrid Mage Tower."

"And?"

"Apparently, the tower's rules strictly forbid apprentices from meeting outsiders without permission from the endowed chair mage supervising them."

The intention was to protect apprentice mages from outside powers. I could understand that, but it was an unexpected obstacle.

"And that endowed chair mage won't give permission..."

"Have you tried contacting the endowed chair mage?"

"Of course!"

Adlan answered emphatically, as though that went without saying. But his shoulders soon slumped.

"That bastard is so incredibly rigid! He turned me away at the door without a second thought."

... That left us with no options. Langrid Mage Tower was the home of every mage on the continent, an institution that wielded tremendous influence across the entire land.

In other words, being an officer of the merchants' guild meant nothing beside an endowed chair mage of Langrid Mage Tower. Even my authority as the eldest legitimate son of a count's house wouldn't give me the upper hand. An actual count couldn't afford to treat such a mage lightly. Which meant that, for now, there was no way to contact Iliana.

'It's not as though I need to contact Iliana immediately.'

Laying the groundwork for the allied army and building up my own forces and strength took priority.

Still, she was someone I would have to meet eventually. Above all, considering my understanding of Infinity[M], it would be best to establish a connection early.

'Do I need to spend more money?'

Fortunately, I had ninety million gold in my Inventory. Pouring in a massive sum could persuade the endowed chair mage supervising Iliana, but—

'I'm spending more than I expected...'

As I was sorting through my thoughts—

"For an absolute genius whose every recent paper and theory has turned the magical academic world upside down, he certainly has an attitude...! Good grief!"

"... Hmm?"

"But I gave it a great deal of thought, Lord Adrian! I kept searching for a way to carry out your orders faithfully!"

"Wait. This genius mage—isn't he the same one you said accepted the alchemy commission?"

"Exactly! The fellow is skilled, after all. I thought that if I gave him the alchemy commission, it might give us an opening to contact the mage named Iliana—!"

It happened before Adlan could finish.

DING.

The shop door opened, and someone stepped inside.

"Um... I'm here about the alchemy commission..."

Judging by the voice, it was a woman. From what she said, I could immediately tell she was an alchemist from Langrid Mage Tower whom Adlan had hired. My gaze naturally turned toward the voice.

Robes in a harmonious blend of blue and silver. Sapphire-blue eyes. Pale blue hair that seemed to hold the sky within it. A slender nose and rather thin lips. Delicate, sculpted features in perfect harmony with clear skin.

The moment I saw her, my eyes widened so far they felt as though they might split. Because I knew her. The name of the woman lingering by the shop door was—

"Commander Iliana...?"

Iliana Segretus. The very person we had been discussing. A hero of the allied army. The continent's last mage, and at the same time—

"Huh...?"

The allied army's Archmage, hailed as the greatest mage in the entire history of the continent.