The Mages' Outing (4)
The Mages' Outing (4)
Fortunately, Merlin wasn't all that angry about Julia (the Dealer) deserting.
"...Well, honestly, it's pretty common in party play. Don't worry about it too much."
Hearing that, a thought crossed my mind.
For whatever sins he might have committed in a past life, he'd definitely experienced far more desertions than most people.
For example, some guild master vanishing without distributing the drop items.
"......."
Still, fortunately, the bloodshed (real-life confrontation) I'd been anticipating didn't seem likely to happen.
What a relief. Seriously, a huge relief.
But that only worked because Julia was the one who caused the trouble. In my case, the story was a little different.
I calmly steadied my breathing.
Inhale, exhale.
I slowly let my breathing settle.
Calm down.
Anyway, as long as I didn't reveal the truth, there was absolutely no worry about Merlin catching on to my 'malicious actions'.
Of course.
It wasn't like I'd done anything outrageously bad.
If you think about it, the 'warrior class' is the very lifeblood of RPG games, the John Doe equivalent, the salt and light.
In (typical) games where party play is the main focus, it's absolutely indispensable.
Though, back when I recommended the warrior class to him, there hadn't been any raid content or similar party play content yet.
That was just a 'very minor' issue.
Not important.
In other words, even if my identity were exposed, the likelihood of Merlin getting angry at me was extremely low.
"......."
But since the possibility wasn't zero percent, I still watched my words.
Imagining the worst-case scenarios if the fact that I was the guild master of Jeonjangyeon (Warrior Artisan Union) came to light...
'What? You were the guild master? Hoho, haha. It's fine, I'm fine. But you, on the other hand, won't be.'
Something like that, as he casually pulled out a grenade launcher.
'Why did you do it! Why did you do that to me!! Tell me, I said tell me!'
Or screaming that while aiming a heavy machine gun at me.
That's roughly the kind of situation that would unfold, I cautiously speculated.
"Hey, Julia's friend."
If things went that way, I'd have to pop a smoke screen right away and get ready to run. Something like a smoke screen could be deployed instantly, even without gathering mana in advance. And if I created heat sources here and there, slipping past the tracking of mechanical eyes would be pretty easy too.
"Oi, hey?"
And come to think of it, earlier when Merlin used invisibility magic, I'd been watching closely. I roughly figured out the principle behind it. Mixing a smoke screen with invisibility magic would make escaping even easier. Somehow, the only thing I kept getting more and more skilled at was running away.
"You!!"
Merlin shouted, calling out to me.
"Yes?"
I'd been zoning out way too much.
I bowed my head and apologized to him.
"Sorry about that. What is it?"
No way a question like "Are you the guild master of Jeonjangyeon?" was going to come up.
But if by any chance a game-related question did come up, I'd firmly resolved to flee immediately, just as planned.
Merlin carefully scrutinized every inch of my face and then asked cautiously.
"...By any chance, are you that 'Only Wizard' who runs around with the 'Shooting Star'?"
"Ah."
It wasn't a common occurrence. I had way too many colleagues (Shooting Star, Tech Master, Red Horn) more famous than me.
The number of people who recognized me was extremely small.
But here he was, recognizing my identity again.
Sigh, trouble.
Come to think of it, Julia had also mentioned being my fan before. Maybe my face was pretty well-known among mages, even if not among other people.
However.
Suddenly, Merlin, who'd been looking at me, shook his head on his own.
"No, seems I was mistaken. Right, there's no way the Only Wizard would be like this. Sorry for mistaking you for someone else."
"......."
But it's me, though.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him.
29. The Mages' Outing (4)
There's an English proverb: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Maybe because I'd lived so long in the cyberpunk world, I'd gotten pretty familiar with English proverbs by now.
Anyway, as the saying went, I was having one hell of a hard time teaching this old man a new fact.
"No, seriously, I'm telling you, I really am that Only Wizard. It's not like I like my own nickname or anything, I'm just saying what's true is true."
"No way that can be true."
It was just incredibly frustrating.
"Here's my city ID. No, wait. Here's my corporate ID card. Issued by Monolith. Look. See the name?"
"...A different person with the same name?"
At this rate, I might as well be talking to a brick wall.
I just stretched out my index finger and conjured a flame at the tip.
"There, see?"
"Seems he's installed some kind of cyberware."
"......."
Any mage should be able to read the flow of mana, but apparently, the amount of mana I'd gathered was too small for him to recognize it.
I almost considered breaking through his shield barrier and dropping a lightning bolt.
As if he knew exactly what was going through my mind.
Merlin stroked his beard and spoke.
"How many mages do you think I've taught? There's no way I wouldn't recognize a mage. You, at a glance, are clearly no ordinary mage."
What was he, some Hogwarts professor?
It seemed he had several students besides Julia.
Was I supposed to conjure a whirlwind in the air to prove my purity?
Just as those thoughts were creeping in,
I suddenly
focused on the part where he said he'd 'taught many mages'.
.......
No way?
"By any chance, are you the Real Mage of the Machine Age-nim?"
"...What age?"
"Ah."
Guess not.
Well, there's no way that could be it.
There was zero chance that a rootless mage who enjoyed using things like grenade launchers (who couldn't even recognize that I was a mage) could be my teacher.
Merlin, as if he'd lost all interest in me over that, went up to Julia and continued their unfinished conversation.
"Hmm, so you've left the organization. Found a new hideout?"
"...Yes, it's much better."
"That's a relief, then."
He wore the expression of a grandfather watching his grandchild's antics.
A smile filled his face.
If he'd used just 10% of that goodwill on me, maybe he'd have believed I was a mage.
"...Was he really that old?"
Eve answered my muttered words.
"Confirmed from NCPD identity database. Recorded as 97 years of age."
So he really was an old man, after all.
It had been confirmed that he wasn't 'cosplaying as an old man,' but that didn't mean his behavior as an old man looked normal.
Not believing that I was a mage.
Clearly, some sort of brain disease had set in.
"......*sigh*."
Letting out a short sigh, I scratched my head.
What was the point of it all.
I decided to channel the 'Confucian scholar-official' inside my heart and respect my elders.
'Gah!! How dare you quibble with every word spoken by an elder!'
That's right.
No matter what, I couldn't let myself be stained by the manners-devouring cyberpunk world.
Once I made up my mind, I felt considerably more at ease.
On top of that, what mattered more was that my identity as his in-game 'guild master' wasn't being exposed.
Thinking of it as sacrificing the small for the greater good,
I wrapped up my thoughts on my own.
"......."
Still, I had to gather mana.
Respecting elders was respecting elders.
Proving I was a mage was another matter.
From now on, I just wanted to see the shocked look on Merlin's face when he saw my magic.
How much mana had I gathered by then?
Suddenly, the gang member who had been collapsed on the ground scrambled to his feet.
Even though one of his arms and one of his legs were completely gone, his movements were incredibly fast. His vitality was truly beyond that of a cockroach.
"......Die!"
In his intact hand, he was gripping a pistol.
Naturally, his target was the mage who'd reduced him to this state: Merlin.
In fact, one thing that ordinary citizens living in Neon City naturally learned in their bones was 'playing dead.'
It wasn't my first or second time dealing with this, and it was something ingrained in my body from years of mercenary life.
Thus, my arm moving was pure instinct.
I seized control of the mana gathered around me.
The mana I emitted instantly collected beneath the gang member and formed a small whirlwind.
I think it was faster than Eve's hacking.
In the blink of an eye, the gang member vanished, reduced to a dot in the sky.
If he fell back down carelessly from there, someone could get hurt. I delicately controlled the mana and gave him a little help so he could return right back to his original position.
- Kwajik.
"Oof."
I'd had the experience of skydiving without a parachute before too, but the result for me then and for this gang member now was completely different.
Ugh, gross.
Should I have just blocked the bullet?
I looked toward where Merlin was standing.
Thanks to my swift reaction, no bullet had been fired, so naturally, he was unharmed.
Maybe Merlin had caught on that this 'whirlwind' was my doing, because his previously cloudy eyes had widened to the size of a coin.
"......What in the world."
Merlin walked toward me with slow steps.
"...No mana was detected in your body at all. How can you use magic?"
His expression and tone were filled with the emotion of 'incomprehension.'
"...How on earth is that possible."
.......
I learned it from watching a video channel on the net.
I introduced the curious old man to the 『Real Mage of the Machine Age Channel』.
* * *
"I'll be brief. What you've been watching is garbage. More precisely, it looks like videos made by a non-expert."
"?"
"To think you can use magic after watching such rootless videos... Truly, it's nothing short of astonishing."
Master?
Is that the truth?
I felt like I'd just heard some secret about my origins.
Merlin, having composed his voice, looked at me and spread both hands.
"But it's not too late even now. If you use magic by creating a vessel of mana within your body, you could become far stronger than you currently—!"
"Ah, not learning it."
"Why on earth won't you learn it! This is an opportunity!"
I quietly showed the shouting Merlin the amount of credits in my account.
"......."
Upon confirming the sum, Merlin's eyes widened even more than when he saw my magic earlier.
With my account sitting pretty fat thanks to the settlement money from Koozaka's Chairman, I had absolutely no desire to start studying again.
Heroes (chaebols) don't bother with studying.
An old tune rang out in my heart.
The thing where Merlin physically hung onto my ankle came next.