Chapter 25. The Truth of Magical Beastification Experiments (4)
Leopold Administrator Oscar hurried through the dark mansion corridor.
'Something's wrong.'
He hadn't heard from the Vendetta Decurion for a while.
If they had taken care of Enoch, they would have reported to him immediately.
The fact that this hadn't happened yet meant something was wrong.
"...Could it be?"
A nervous murmur escaped his lips.
All the Vendetta combatants stationed at this facility were skilled individuals of Rank 15 or higher with practical experience.
Of course, it didn't make sense that it would take this long to deal with just one non-mage.
Bang.
He threw open the door and entered the study.
This place was a gathering point for Vendetta personnel to establish contact in case of an emergency.
At least he needed to find out what happened so he could plan his next move…
"Ah."
And the next moment.
Oscar stopped in his tracks at the sight before him.
A black-haired boy sat casually on the chair in the darkened study.
In the darkness of the night, his dark blue eyes stared at him, silhouetted against the silver moonlight.
"E-Enoch Elsyde…"
Thud.
Without a word, Enoch tossed something in front of him.
Oscar stared at the object with a blank expression.
The neatly severed head of a Magical Beastification experimental subject rolled in front of him with a squelching sound.
The administrator stared at it speechlessly for a while before finally breaking the silence.
"...How?"
Enoch tilted his head slightly.
"I wonder."
Enoch leaned back in the chair and opened his mouth casually.
"You'll find out soon enough."
"...!"
The moment Oscar met Enoch's dark blue eyes, he instinctively knew that something had gone terribly wrong.
Whoosh.
He raised the staff he was holding.
The crafted magic stone at the end of the Magic Gear reacted to his mana and shone brightly.
Magic circles rotating in the air began to draw elaborate patterns.
At the same time, Enoch kicked the sword that was propped up next to the desk, grabbed it, and rushed towards him.
Thwang!
First form. Explosive Sword.
The mana deployed throughout his body detonated from each part according to his will.
The recoil that engulfed his entire body instantly closed the distance.
Enoch swung his sword directly at the administrator's bewildered eyes.
Swoosh.
In Enoch's eyes, a line cutting through the air was created by the administrator's mana.
That lifeline of magic was severed by the dark blue sword strike.
Crack!
The administrator's magic circle, having lost its power source, shattered into pieces and was canceled.
Oscar's eyes were filled with shock as he clearly witnessed the scene.
'What just…'
But he wasn't stupid enough to just be surprised.
Action took precedence over thought.
Oscar quickly arranged magic circles boasting the fastest construction speed to counter the approaching Enoch.
The magic circle, completed with a dazzling stream of light, rotated and activated.
Immediately, a giant ice spear fell from the air, aiming at Enoch with devastating speed.
Thwack!
As soon as Enoch saw it, he immediately sprinted, kicked off the pillar, and rotated his body to evade.
With a heavy sound, the ice spear missed its target and pierced only the floor of the study.
However, it seemed that he had not completely avoided the sudden ice spear, as a little blood seeped from Enoch's waist.
Seeing that, Oscar twisted the corners of his mouth.
Before becoming an administrator, he himself had once belonged to the Elsyde Main House as a combat mage.
He was proud to have reached the threshold of Rank 13.
The many achievements he had made there were not just for show.
Besides, no matter what tricks this young punk used, he was just a direct descendant who couldn't even control a Follower Family.
Buzz.
The administrator was already activating his second magic circle towards Enoch, who was rushing towards him.
The magic circle constructed by the arrangement of mana was quickly completed and began to rotate according to his will.
Pshew!
Dozens of small ice bullets dragged long tails as they struck Enoch head-on.
However, Enoch was already one step ahead of the trajectory of the ice shards that flew through the air at speeds comparable to the speed of sound.
Sharp ice bullets brushed past Enoch's cheeks as he sprinted quickly.
In that instant, Oscar felt a chill run down his spine.
'He's not even deploying basic defensive magic, and instead, he's taking advantage of openings to evade and penetrate?'
Clearly, that guy wasn't even using basic defensive magic as he broke through.
Even though it was a restraining type of magic, it was an attack of ice bullets that basically couldn't be withstood by a bare body. It was enough magic to tear skin and shatter bones.
But to completely evade an attack flying at that speed with just a bare body. And at the same time, to think of breaking through towards this side in reverse.
It was a fighting style that couldn't be considered sane.
'A common body enhancement magic…it far surpasses that level. Is it a Unique Trait that even enhances dynamic visual acuity?'
An extremely aggressive fighting style that even combat mages trained in enough practical experience couldn't easily do.
He clearly thought he was just a young punk, but he was unexpectedly being pushed into a defensive position.
But there was no more time to be surprised.
His instincts were warning him as he saw the sharp blade reaching right in front of him.
If he didn't deal with it right away, he would die by that sword.
He immediately deployed magic circles and shot arrows made of ice forward.
Pshew!
Enoch twisted his body to evade the arrows while sprinting.
But from the start, the place that the magic was aiming for was the huge bookcase in the study on his side.
The large bookcase began to tilt immediately with a great impact.
The books pouring down in front of Enoch stole his vision.
Thwack!
Enoch immediately stepped back to stop, kicking off the edge of the collapsing bookcase with his foot to move to the side.
A bookcase fell with a roar in front of Enoch, who had momentarily created distance between himself and the administrator.
Kuuuung!
The books from the bookcase soared into the air, shattering the stones on the floor into pieces.
Enoch's dark eyes glanced at it.
If he had been crushed there, he would have been crushed to the bone and immediately incapacitated.
But avoiding it wasn't everything.
The administrator had already completed the magic circle during the short time that this side had hesitated.
A satisfied smile was already forming on his lips, illuminated by the light of the magic circle.
As originally planned, he had prevented Enoch's approach by utilizing the terrain and successfully bought time for his magic to activate.
By the time Enoch realized this, Oscar's magic circle was complete.
"This is the end!"
At the same time as his magic circle rotated, a cold aura swirled from all directions, and ice pillars instantly began to rise from the floor, surrounding Enoch.
Crackling!
Sharp ice pillars rose from all directions around Enoch, quickly narrowing towards him like the jaws of a monster made of ice.
This could not be avoided.
Oscar was so sure.
The ice pillars surging towards him while surrounding the enemy were blocking all his escape routes. No matter how nimbly he moved, he couldn't evade it.
Magic that freely manipulates one of the elemental magics, 'Cryo.'
Although it was a type of elemental magic that was the most basic for combat mages, its power varied greatly depending on the user.
Moreover, Cryo magic was the main magic that he prided himself on, having reached the threshold of Rank 13. Its power had never betrayed him even once.
Numerous enemies had fallen at his hands with just this one magic.
The guy who didn't even know his place and came here alone would be the same.
Thwack!
But Enoch didn't care and instead, charged towards the ice pillars, kicked off the ground, and floated his body into the air.
It was an attack from all directions, and it was fast.
It was an attack that was impossible to evade.
But…
'If you can't block an attack, you just need to attack faster and harder.'
Whirl.
Second form, Fire Wheel.
Enoch's dark blue sword drew its first circle, shattering the ice pillars that rose from the darkness.
Numerous shattered ice crystals scattered in all directions, shining beautifully like jewels.
"Thi…!"
Oscar belatedly showed an expression filled with shock, as if he hadn't thought that the highest hardness ice magic he boasted of would be shattered with a single strike.
The administrator's distorted expression was reflected in tens of thousands of ways in the countless ice crystals flying through the air, illuminating him.
And then, Enoch's second strike cut through the air.
Clang!
Oscar unconsciously stretched out the staff he was holding forward for defense, but soon his hand, holding the staff, was cut in half by Enoch's sword and flew away in two pieces.
And in the third consecutive strike that followed, one of his legs spurted blood and rolled across the floor.
"Kuhaaaaack!"
A painful groan bursting from the administrator's lungs echoed through the empty study.
Enoch slowly walked towards Oscar, who was groaning and collapsing on the floor.
And he tossed a pile of documents on the table in front of him, who was writhing in pain.
The documents were stained red with blood spreading on the floor.
On that paper, the words <Enoch Elsyde Death Circumstances Report>, written in the administrator's handwriting, were mixed with Oscar's blood and spread out.
"I guess you've heard the word 'resourceful'."
At Enoch's words, the administrator looked up at this side, rolling his eyes in pain and anger.
But without paying attention to such spirit, Enoch continued to speak calmly.
"By the way, I have a question."
He took out a few letters from his pocket.
They were the children's letters that he had found together in the safe in the study earlier.
As much as Enoch was embarrassed when he first discovered them, it was quite different from the hypothesis he thought was the whole story of this incident.
「To Oscar, who always takes care of us」
The children's handwriting, crooked but carefully pressed. Letters decorated with clumsy drawings.
Oscar had neatly stored those well-worn letters in a deep place in the safe every year.
It was a very strange thing.
If he had tried to use these letters as an excuse or for disguise, he could have done so, but instead, Oscar kept them carefully in a deep place in the safe.
The contract with Vendetta to use the children as experimental subjects.
The children's sincere and heartfelt clumsy letters.
Oscar, who kept both hidden in the safe so they wouldn't be discovered.
Enoch wanted to ask about that strange duality at least once.
"Surprisingly, it wasn't a lie that you cared for the children. You've been putting the children's letters and gifts in the safe for years, writing replies to each one yourself. You even supported additional educational expenses with your own money if the children wanted."
Moreover, the backstories of the documents that could not be seen in the game.
When he examined everything closely, he found some interesting content.
Oscar Wise, who was only thought of as a simple villain supporting character and a minion of Vendetta in the game.
The corrupt administrator of Leopold, who briefly appeared in the side quest, did not build the orphanage for Tantalus's human experiments from the beginning.
Rather, Tantalus took notice of and came to the orphanage for non-mages that Oscar had established and was running well.
The sequence that was commonly guessed was completely reversed.
"But you cooperated with Tantalus, a Vendetta Annihilation Officer famous for suddenly carrying out human experiments, and offered the children of the orphanage. I can't understand."
And after cooperating with that guy, Oscar proceeded to remodel the underground facility of the original mansion into a laboratory for them.
This was the story of the incident where they tried to carry out human experiments in the orphanage.
Oscar, who sincerely cared for the children of the orphanage.
That he would offer the children as experimental subjects himself.
Why could such opposite actions happen at the same time?
People say that humans are like onions no matter how much you peel them.
"Judging from the circumstances, it doesn't seem like you were threatened by Vendetta and Tantalus."
Even based on what he heard through the surveillance lens last time, he definitely didn't feel like he was being threatened by Vendetta.
That's why he couldn't understand Oscar, who could be said to be the mastermind of this incident, even more.
He didn't care about other things, but Enoch sincerely wanted to ask him about this one thing.
"What is Vendetta?"
He didn't accompany Lien on purpose just for this question.
"What meaning does that name have to you?"
「Vendetta」
In the original work, a secret society that had many members throughout the Empire.
One of the main villain forces that opposed the Empire, the Main Houses, and many mages.
But now that the world that he thought was just a game has become a reality.
It was necessary to find out in more depth what the hell they were doing.
For example, what would be the motivation for Administrator Oscar, who loved children so much that he kept all of their letters, to voluntarily hand over the children to Vendetta as experimental subjects and cooperate with them.
An extension of such questions.
"……."
But the administrator didn't open his mouth for a while.
Enoch raised his sword slowly above his head, as if he had roughly expected it.
Just as he raised his sword like that, Oscar opened his lips, suppressed by pain.
"...You wouldn't know!"
Oscar said, spitting out pooled blood.
"It's better for those non-mage kids that way!"
***
Of course, the world is unfair.
People who had to realize this fact painfully from the time they were just newborns had always existed everywhere.
Even the Magic Empire of Atlas, where anyone could succeed if they had excellent talent as a mage, was no exception.
This was because magical talent was often inherited through bloodlines.
For example, if the parents were mages of Rank 15 or higher, their children were often born with the talent to reach Rank 15 or higher.
Oscar was the same.
One of the children whose value was somewhat guaranteed from birth in the Empire.
Children who inherited the blood of a prestigious magic family.
Even if they were not descendants of the Main Houses, they were children of those who had been active as Follower Family or mages. Or those who inherited their blessed powerful blood.
Oscar belonged to the latter among them.
He was a child who inherited the talent of an excellent mage.
But he didn't know from the beginning that he had magical talent.
Oscar Wise, 「Abandoned Bastard」.
It was around the age of ten that he fully understood such an unfair label attached to him.
His weak mother died of illness at an age he couldn't even remember.
Of course, he had never seen the face of the guy called his father even once.
He was a bastard and an orphan from birth, and as he got older, he naturally roamed the streets.
Paradoxically, his childhood, who was born with excellent talent as a mage, was no different from that of a non-mage.
The unfairness of the world revealed its cold teeth to him as well.
Because he had noble blood, he inherited the blood with magical talent, but before worrying about the manifestation of magic. He had to rummage through the trash to avoid starving to death.
His hands were frozen and cracked, and his stomach was ruined by spoiled food.
The winter of his childhood, when he couldn't manifest magic, ruthlessly strangled him.
Even so, no one passing by on the street cared about the dying child.
Because no one in the Empire was interested in a non-mage who was about to die.
As he was collapsing from the cold and hunger in the shaded corner of the street, just before his life was extinguished. A non-mage boy in the same situation reached out his hand.
A boy one year older than him, who didn't even have a name.
He was also an abandoned child living in the shadows of the street.
After that, they relied on each other and wandered the streets in the winter.
They, who could not rely on any part of society, had no choice but to rely on each other like brothers.
The two slept in the sewers on the street, using them as a hideout, and picked up food from the trash cans.
In that way, they lived as parasites in the shadows of the Empire.
And on the last day of one winter when Oscar turned ten years old.
When he returned to the sewer with food as usual. The boy who was like a brother was lying dead on the pile of trash on the street.
He was falsely accused of stealing as a non-mage, and his whole body was torn to pieces by the magic of the bad mages who acted as problem solvers.
Even after the real culprit was identified later, his body was left abandoned in the trash heap in the alley.
Oscar, who was only ten years old at the time, knelt in front of the corpse day and night, weeping endlessly.
The boy's blood, which endlessly spread on the pure white snow along with the garbage of food waste, engraved unforgettable memories on Oscar's retina.
The nameless boy's body was thrown into an incinerator and incinerated all at once, just like the garbage thrown away on the street.
Until the very end, non-mages were not even treated as people.
As he blankly watched the body of the non-mage boy engulfed in flames in the trash heap, Oscar recalled.
[It's better to die than to live as a non-mage without talent in the Empire.]
Those who are powerless and despised are not protected within the fences of the Empire, but are despised and wither away.
The bodies of non-mages who died in that way are treated as garbage and incinerated on the trash heap.
And on that very day.
The end of winter in his childhood.
In the middle of a night when the cold seemed to permeate into his bones and freeze everything, Oscar 'realized' the magic that flowed in his blood.
He slowly stretched his hand forward.
Clear mana, as if containing cold, was arranged in a geometrical shape in front of him.
Crackling.
Oscar, who had frozen all the flames of the incinerator with a cold ice pile, dug up the boy's body from the trash and buried it in the ground.
He dug the frozen ground with his cracked hands to bury the body, and he looked back at the alley where the nameless boy died and vowed.
- I will rise to the rank of official in the Empire.
To create a society where non-mages can be treated with respect someday.
He was prepared to do anything to achieve that.
As soon as he awakened his magic, his life changed.
People no longer despised him.
Before he knew it, he regained the family and position that he didn't think were his.
The Wise family, his father's house that had abandoned him, had no legitimate heir.
Although he was a bastard, they belatedly heard the rumors of Oscar, who had become a mage, and welcomed him.
Thanks to the fact that he fortunately had the aptitude of a mage, he escaped that hell late.
But the perception and treatment of non-mages in the Empire was still at its worst.
So, he wanted to cut off that deeply rooted evil habit.
The flames of the incinerator that burned the body of the non-mage boy on that winter day never faded and were still burning in his heart.
However, the world that unfolded before his eyes as he advanced into politics was too cruel to pursue that ideal.
The non-mages of the Empire are thoroughly despised and alienated, and the existence of the Demi-humans who cannot manifest magic or have only weak talents, or who have been rejected for various reasons, is on the verge of extinction.
The reality that most foreign non-mages cannot even set foot in the Empire is not something that an individual can change.
It was natural.
Because the Atlas Magic Empire was that kind of country from birth.
On the land where the shadow of the huge airship crossing the sky of the Empire, that magic engineering crystal, fell, Oscar realized that infinitely cold reality and had no choice but to give up in vain.
Eventually, he was recognized for his achievements and rose to the rank he had longed for, but he could not do anything.
The society of the Empire had been blinded by the omnipotence of magic for hundreds of years.
But to him,
A very accidental opportunity came.
[If we go through appropriate experiments, there is a possibility that we can find a way to turn non-mages into mages.]
A genius researcher belonging to Vendetta, a mage who surpassed Rank 10, casually uttered such a miraculous sound.
Tantalus.
He, who revealed that he belonged to the organization called Vendetta, showed Oscar his 'achievements' and proposed.
If he was provided with sufficient facilities and subjects, he could create a way to turn non-mages into mages.
Even if it required the sacrifice of children for now, someday.
[While I'm conducting the experiments I want, I can also grant that much of a wish. After all, what I need is a supply of non-mage children who are valuable as experimental subjects.]
The man surrounded by green cigar smoke said that.
That simple proposal brought new hope to Oscar, who had been blocked by the wall called the Empire.
A twisted smile once again appeared on the lips of the frustrated administrator.
"...The Empire is crazy."
Oscar smiled in a twisted way like then and slowly opened his mouth.
"The Atlas Empire is so crazy that you, who grew up gently in one side of the Main House, can't imagine. And what I couldn't stand more than anything else was…"
He chewed on the pain and said lowly.
"There are those who are born to be despised."
Non-mages.
The weak who are alienated in the Empire.
That was the harsh reality that Oscar saw in his childhood.
All the people he saw in the Empire naturally despised non-mages.
"Don't you still understand? In this damned Empire that has been blinded by the omnipotence of magic, they give mages the justification to despise those who were not born with magical talent from the beginning!"
Whatever the world, whatever the era, there are talents that are wanted there.
And the various talents that are not that, the talents that everyone has, are destined to be abandoned.
The Magic Empire is the same.
Those who cannot even receive fair treatment for the sole reason that they are incompetent in magic.
Oscar raised his head to Enoch, who was looking down at him, and raised his twinkling eyes.
"You asked me what Vendetta was earlier."
Oscar shouted at Enoch with a twisted smile.
"I'll answer you. Vendetta is the revenge of the weak to quell the madness of the Empire. It is the only bond of all beings who are unfairly alienated and despised!"
Enoch nodded roughly.
The real identity of Vendetta, which had been shrouded in mystery, was roughly like that.
Enoch tilted his head slightly and asked the administrator, who was shouting enthusiastically.
"Madness. But. Isn't using children as materials for human experimentation madness?"
"As expected, you can't understand even if I tell you! It's better for those kids who can't do anything this way. Even if there are some sacrifices, it's a hundred times better for the non-mages who will be abandoned by society because they are incompetent!"
Oscar said, suppressing the pain as if spitting it out.
And the next moment, Enoch's emotionless voice pierced his ears.
"...Incompetent non-mage."
At that time, one fact suddenly flashed through Oscar's head, which was full of pain.
One fact that he had never dared to think of since he started fighting that boy.
Enoch Elsyde.
A non-mage who is a disgrace to the Main House.
Wasn't he a direct descendant who was even announced to be disowned soon?
- That boy must have been a non-mage.
The same as the young Oscar, despised in the Empire society, and whose existence itself was denied in the family.
Enoch must also have been an infinitely weak and incompetent fellow.
A boy who should have been abandoned and died without any value.
That he, a non-mage, could defeat a mage like himself.
What does that fact mean?
Swish.
Only then did Oscar slowly raise his head with a dumbfounded expression.
Above him, the dark blue eyes looking down at this side were burning coldly in the darkness.
"...Who the hell are you…."
And as he muttered like that, he realized it himself.
Those were not the eyes of a boy, of a child who was only seventeen years old.
Oscar was unknowingly overwhelmed by those cold eyes.
"Open your eyes wide."
The next moment, Enoch's cold blade came into Oscar's neck.
Looking at Oscar's dumbfounded expression reflected on the bluish blade, Enoch said lowly.
"You're going to die to that incompetent non-mage."
Soon, the sword drew a fatal straight line in the darkness.
The painful groans that echoed through the study subsided.
Enoch retrieved his sword and looked out the window of the study.
Before he knew it, the curtain of night had lifted. And from beyond the sky, the colors of dawn were faintly falling.
The dawn comes, signaling the success of the second mission.
Enoch slung his cloth bag over his shoulder and moved his steps.
He would be busier in the future.
Now, the story to live as Enoch has entered its main orbit.