The Midnight Elixir
Even by rough estimate, dozens of people were hurrying about, carrying boxes of Megirurun without a moment's pause.
The movements of those bustling below looked frantic and rushed, as if they had no time to spare for anything else.
'Everyone is heading over there.'
The lowest floor. But not the entrance I had come through—everyone had moved to some deeper, hidden place.
I slipped in slowly, silencing my footsteps behind pillars or other structures where little light penetrated.
"What's going on?!"
"I don't know. It's the vice tower master's order to hurry and move the Megirurun."
Then they opened the firmly shut door and descended into the depths.
Soon, the lowest level of the tower fell silent, empty of anyone.
'...What's the situation? Do we really need Megirurun?'
I had heard the vice tower master was finishing his research down here. He said he'd only come out after dawn.
Yet he had summoned Megirurun at such a midnight hour. Something must have gone terribly wrong.
I could guess why he had brought them, but I'd only ever heard that Megirurun was precious as a material. I didn't know its effects.
'Still, something feels off.'
Just the boxes I had seen would fill twenty or more. Carrying that much so urgently was already suspicious.
The scent and aura felt heavy and acrid, making my instincts scream to turn around.
The tower's stale smell masked it, but the feeling was clear.
'Why is there a scent of Magi here?'
Faint, but unmistakable.
Only the tower's usual aura, no other impurities mixed in.
In other words, the thick, murky odor of monsters—definitely the distinct scent of the demon race.
The staircase leading deeper into the underground of the tower was so dim I could barely see my hand in front of me.
A few flames burned in the gaps, and the excavation looked strangely deep.
'What's happening down there.'
Mana and Magi were swirling together, leaving a heavy residue. As a mage who had no connection between the demon race and Megirurun, I decided I had to go in.
I gripped the handle of my short knife and began slowly descending into the tower's basement.
Enhanced Senses
My nerves were stretched thin from carefully entering the underground.
I had no idea what was happening below, and I might be walking straight into a trap where the demon race was waiting.
In the worst case, I might need to escape at any moment, so I focused my senses from every direction while descending.
I stepped forward one careful footstep, scanned my surroundings, then lowered myself slowly again.
I kept my hand on the knife handle, ready for anything.
Time passed. When the light from the entrance I had come through had faded to a distant glow, a faint light grew brighter from deeper inside.
A voice drifted out from within.
When I had fully descended, I quickly hid behind a pillar to avoid the crowd.
I peeked around the edge. A large number of mages surrounded a massive cube—some kind of transparent rectangular device.
Boxes of Megirurun were stacked inside as well.
'What in the world... this is insane...!!'
But that wasn't important. I stared at the object inside the cube and couldn't help but be startled.
Human-like appearance. Yet horns sprouting from its head proved it was no human.
The thick Magi aura it emitted filled the entire space.
The demon race looked unconscious, eyes closed, bound in place, with thin tubes inserted into its arms.
"Is this all the Megirurun?"
"Yes, that's all of it."
"There's no choice then. We have to change everything into blue petals before dawn."
A woman's voice, laced with a metallic edge, rang out urgently to the surrounding mages.
The mages pulled out something from each box—purple leaves, but not just the leaves. The entire plant, from stem to root, was connected.
'That's... Megirurun.'
A tube connected to the demon race's arm ended in a pouch.
One mage removed the pouch and caught the flowing Magi-mixed blood in his palm, then dripped a few drops onto the Megirurun's roots.
At that moment, the dark red blood was absorbed, emitting a faint light. The roots darkened slightly. The petals began to glow blue.
The mage inspected it once more, then carefully placed it back in the box.
He repeated the process on nearly twenty boxes of Megirurun, applying the demon race's blood.
The mages began lifting the boxes.
I watched carefully, then turned my gaze back toward the stairs. I hid my body behind the pillar once more.
After a while, the sound of footsteps faded. When all footsteps had disappeared, I cautiously peeked out again.
The demon race still appeared unconscious inside the transparent cube.
A golem as tall as me had collapsed to the floor, which had been hidden earlier by the crowd.
'That demon race... it's alive.'
I peeked outside the pillar. The demon race's body gave a slight twitch, confirming it lived.
Its appearance was almost pale, but otherwise seemed fine. Or perhaps this was the normal state for a demon race.
It might have been put to sleep by some spell or potion.
I scanned the surroundings for a better look.
"Why is a student from Farnike Academy, specifically from the Knight Faculty, hiding here? Did Professor Remediela instruct you to hide?"
The woman's voice echoed sharply. The age-toned voice with a metallic quality made me reflexively grip the knife handle.
From the shadow of the pillar slightly away from me, a figure emerged in the round underground experimental space.
It was the same mage who had greeted me that morning, the one who had spoken first in the group.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
In the basement research room with only two people, the vice tower master approached me. He was taller than a short knife.
"This is a serious crime. You must already know that research inside the tower is classified."
"Isn't it even more serious to have captured a demon race and kept it here?"
With monsters already hard to handle, what about the demon race?
Naturally, the kingdom held the right to dispose of captured demon race. Even the knight orders and royal magic squadrons had long given up on capturing them.
Even when captured, they were used to extract information, and at minimum, turned into unusable husks.
To think they were being captured here just for alchemy or magic purposes.
"Students are still young, so you probably don't understand how necessary this is. Or how desperately humanity is cornered right now."
"......"
Yes. Let's hear it. Let's see what kind of excuse they come up with.
I listened in silence, looking up at the vice tower master's face as he spoke in front of me.
"The momentum of the demon race and monsters is intense. In fact, it's almost miraculous how human beings have survived this long."
"Our tower has more adventurers and battlefield mages than other towers. We know better than anyone how dangerous humanity is right now."
"Now is the time to abandon old methods and seek new ones. Even though they are enemies, we must acknowledge that the Magi they use is extremely efficient and has many possible applications."
I crossed my arms and quietly chewed on my words.
"The mass production of Megirurun you just saw is one example. I don't know if you know, but Megirurun is rare, yet extremely unstable. Extracting and refining it is an extremely difficult plant."
On the contrary, the demand is endless. Megirurun is used not only in alchemy but across countless fields from magic to engineering.
"But we have accidentally confirmed that by incorporating Magi, we can stabilize Megirurun. We believe that just as Magi shatters old concepts, it could bring new benefits we haven't thought of before."
That's why they were extracting and using the blood of the demon race infused with Magi.
Clearly, if we could mass-produce the top-tier material Megirurun in any field, it would be a huge help to humanity.
Even as a knight, I had to admit that.
"Otherwise, humanity will slowly but surely perish. Therefore, we must use even this benefit to find more efficient and useful methods. A smart student like you should understand my words."
In other words, capturing demon race arbitrarily and using them was to seek new solutions that actually benefit humanity.
Moreover, this method was far more efficient and versatile than what we had used before.
I looked at the vice tower master, who spoke as if gently scolding me, and let out a dry laugh, shaking my head.
"...No, that's too dangerous. After all, Magi isn't even subordinate to humanity, right?"
That was reckless.
Although I hadn't used anything beyond Sign in the magic-related field, my experience was enough to know how dangerous it was to touch the unknown.
That guy thought of it as a double-edged sword... but to me, it felt like hugging a bomb and jumping into a pit of fire.
"Moreover, the demon race isn't so easy to handle. Didn't you wonder if a demon race that is clearly superior in mana could reverse that against us?"
"You speak as if you've actually faced a demon race. Right, since you haven't seen the results, you can't acknowledge it."
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
The vice tower master placed his hand on the golem sitting in the middle of the experimental room and began channeling mana into it.
"Student, do you know why golems aren't used in battlefields and only serve as dolls?"
"The durability of the circuits that can withstand the output is insufficient. In other words, if we only reinforce the internal circuits, it could replace soldiers and knights."
With a low humming sound, red light entered the golem's face and slowly began to stand up.
"Would you like to test it? How useful a golem using Megirurun and Magi could be."
Kong, kong, kong.
The golem, taller than me, began walking toward me.