The Black Mage Hates Landlords (2)
Raban shook his head. No way. Sure, his blood pressure had spiked a bit, but he wasn't the type to lose control over something that minor. He voiced the real reason he'd approached Nai Hyun.
"…Like I said last time. The energy here is bad."
"Come on, mister. That again? You spend all day reading counseling books and talking about psychological approaches, but then you buy into weird superstitions like this."
"Magical girls are real, so why wouldn't feng shui work?"
Raban caught Nai Hyun twitching her toes in his peripheral vision. What was that? Did she have a hobby collecting magical girl merch? Or another possibility: maybe Nai Hyun herself was a magical girl, and the mere mention had startled her into an unconscious reaction.
But Raban's cold, flawless, and utterly thorough intellect (multiple failed attempts to rob the demon world's grand duke's vault notwithstanding) delivered a rational analysis. Hand destructive power like a magical girl's to Hikarius's biggest lump of negative emotions, Nai Hyun? Strap antimatter to a ticking time bomb just waiting to blow?
No mascot's that insane. They'd never do it.
Raban dismissed the idea without a second thought. Rulers were usually cunning, not crazy. Someone sharp enough to run a shadow government wouldn't take that kind of risk.
"Anyway." Raban pieced together the clues hidden in self-proclaimed Charles's deception. A scholarship foundation supporting tragic students worldwide. The numerous buildings he owned, with rents so low he got thank-you calls constantly. If Nachalsu's "buildings" were built on sites like the Black Forest, it led to one very unpleasant conclusion.
A truly horrific one.
Nai Hyun said she sometimes crashes here to manage the lodge.
Exposing his own niece to ominous black magic on purpose? Asking her to do it? A guy that loaded? Sure, he could claim family was more trustworthy than outsiders. Or maybe he was just a normie clueless about magic.
But Raban considered another angle. This lodge included, every building that creep owned was a livestock pen for raising sacrifices. Periodic exposure to black mana to process residents into higher-value offerings—an industrial livestock factory.
Raban ground his teeth.
Sacrificing people whole means no recycling.
Even rich folks needed a sense of reality. Why else was Raban bothering to build rapport with Nai Hyun just to extract her negative emotions? Reuse first and foremost. Poor black mages drilled catalyst recycling into their bones—literally, in Raban's case, since he'd literally sliced off, used, and regenerated his own bones.
His approach to Nai Hyun was similar. Her social isolation wouldn't fix overnight, and more counseling would just pile up negative emotions from the gap between ideals and reality. Can't ignore the mascots either. Dead bodies meant authorities dancing with swords.
Or magic swords here?
Raban imagined magical girls firing destruction beams causing mass devastation and shook his head. Anyway, mascots' cleanup methods weren't the point now.
Before that lunatic black mage Charles offed his precious negative-emotion supplier Nai Hyun, this black mage of justice, Raban, had to step in!
"Nai Hyun. No matter how many times I look at it, this place has terrible energy. I'd love to just smash it flat, but seriously—stay somewhere else if you can."
Nai Hyun got chills from the janitor's calm voice, for no good reason. If she didn't stay here tonight, it'd just be her uncle and the janitor. No matter how you sliced it, that janitor looked one stab away from demanding payback for lost memories.
Her uncle had ditched her alone in Hikarius and run, but she couldn't let him die. She couldn't send that poor, kind janitor to jail either.
Nai Hyun shook her head vigorously.
"Got it. Got it. But Uncle's here today. Family duty means sticking around at least one night, right?"
The janitor's face was still awkward. Nai Hyun sighed and whispered urgently to him.
"Uncle was a director at that… 'company.' But he fought nonstop with Grandpa, the real owner. So, um…."
Her rambling plea ended with an unspoken please don't hurt yourself.
Nai Hyun wasn't great with words. After the Na Ju Pharma disappearance, conversations were just sharp one-way streets aimed at her. Without peer counseling experience, she wouldn't have even babbled this much.
Once she finished, the janitor stared at her blankly. Suddenly embarrassed, Nai Hyun flushed and yelled louder than necessary.
"Tell me when the mugwort rice cakes are done! I'm heading up!"
"Hold on, Nai Hyun."
"Huh? What?"
"Don't tell Charles I lost my memories because of that incident. It'll just make things awkward."
The sharp hostility bubbling in the janitor's core faded. Nai Hyun smiled faintly and nodded.
One thought filled Raban's mind after Nai Hyun's words.
Whoa, I survived….
He finally got why that bold kid had blurted out something random about stabbing Charles. Raban's public backstory was "(almost certainly) a mana disaster victim who lost his memories in the Na Ju Pharma disappearance."
But a black mage that evil could peer into the souls sacrificed to his rituals—evidence was lacking, but Raban was dead certain Charles caused it. Average black mage skill level, really.
Spilling that mana disaster victim bit in front of Charles would just raise needless alarms. For now, send the guy packing and focus on extracting negative emotions from Nai Hyun before his plan finished.
What are those mascots doing letting a black mage like that roam free?
Black mages hated everyone who wasn't one, and bourgeois black mages hated other black mages too—so Charles should have zero allies. Average black mage life.
How the hell has he survived this long?
[Nachalsu has arrived in Hikarius City mohu.]
[Sudden, but that's just how he is mohu. No need to report unless something unusual happens mohu.]
[Made contact with Raban mohu.]
[That wicked fiend's finally sticking his nose into the Na Ju Pharma disaster! Maximum alert!]
Nachalsu, the sole surviving top exec from Na Ju Pharma, was a trusted ally of the guardian fairy.
From the moment Na Ju Pharma started researching ancient mana, he'd secretly liaised with the guardian fairies to curb their rampage. Despite all his efforts, the disappearance happened, and he fled Hikarius, unable to take it anymore….
But Nachalsu hadn't just run from the world. He aided the guardian fairy's operations on all fronts to prevent repeats. Buying up land tainted by ancient remnants for personal sealing and management, supporting magical girls via his scholarship foundation. Without him, recent surges in mana beasts (aka Evil Pings) would've been much tougher.
Nachalsu's devotion stemmed from knowing the horrors ancient mana could unleash. In other words, he was closer to forbidden knowledge than any human in Hikarius now.
[Absolutely! Never let that fiend meet Nachalsu alone mohu!]
[He's in the Black Forest now, so approach is tough mohu. Luckily, Magi Black is nearby, but….]
The guardian fairy's mind grew complicated. Internally, she pegged Raban as a fiend suspect—specifically under Salamandine. His approach to Nachalsu was probably about the recent Ochan Clan sightings. The Ivory Tower had Ebon's legacy, but it was incomplete. They'd want Na Ju Pharma's forbidden secrets for stronger power to crush the Ochan.
The fairy sighed in relief. Worst case, a Magical Somersault Kick would take him down. What a tiring day.
The brown-haired man glanced toward the boundary between the Black Forest and Hikarius.
Guardian fairies lurked in the treeshadow's edge, eyeing the mansion.
Fools who seize thrones but can't enjoy them.
He sneered at their rigidness, then recalled the guy named Raban who'd just left the gate. Digging magical catalyst herbs like mugwort, eyes subtly probing him. He'd wondered if this was the one who'd destroyed his clone in one hit, giving it brief attention.
But no black mana when we shook hands.
To be precise, there was mana. Just too faint for a mage. In a city like Hikarius, even normies accumulated that much. Just a young guy with healthy tastes, like loving mugwort rice cakes.
"Raban, was it? We should have tea sometime. Hope he likes ssanghwatang."
"…Uncle. I doubt the janitor's that sophisticated."
He still wasn't used to the title. Charles finely controlled his muscles into a smile, brushing off Nai Hyun's reply.
Raban whistled toward the dorms, two black bags stuffed full.
One held perfectly boiled mugwort for actual rice cakes; the other, premium Black Forest herbs. Special-grown with fertilizer from well-tenderized, dried parasites for rapid growth.