Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Magic Tower Genius Hides Physics
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Working for the Imperial Magic Investigation Bureau was an incredibly honorable job.
The salary itself wasn't impressive, but it came with a solid pension for old age, and being close to the levers of public authority made life convenient in all sorts of ways.
It wasn't something to boast about loudly, but the under-the-table money flowing in was decent enough.
However, there was one major drawback.
New recruits had to work day and night without rest.
Even Jonathan, the top graduate of Magic University, was no exception.
Jonathan's eyes snapped open at three in the morning, thanks to the glowing crystal orb.
The orb's color was red.
A summons to report for duty.
"I'm gonna die of sleepiness..."
He threw on his uniform and hurried to work.
He arrived at the underground interrogation room and spoke the moment he entered.
"Sorry I'm late. Rookie Investigator Jonathan reporting for..."
His words trailed off unfinished.
Jonathan's gaze locked onto a man sitting in the interrogation chair beyond the reinforced glass.
Messy hair, vacant eyes.
But that face—he remembered it clearly.
"Holy shit... it's Malakai!"
Jonathan's eyes went wide. His senior nodded grimly.
Blood Mage Malakai.
A few years ago, a warrant had gone out across the entire Empire, but the dark underworld mage had vanished into the shadows, his whereabouts unknown.
"The Capital Guard handed him over this morning. They say this bastard was the one who loosed orcs on the outskirts."
"Whoa... so that's what happened. I figured it'd spread beyond the guards, but looks like they handled it quietly."
"The guards didn't handle it."
"Then who did?"
His senior flipped through the file at Jonathan's question.
A single name was written on the parchment document.
[Capturer: Isaac Uphills]
"...A civilian? And an individual at that? Not to mention that famous 'hero' lately?"
"Yeah. That Magic Tower freshman."
Malakai, bound in mana restraints, stared blankly into space, his mind broken.
From behind the glass wall, he repeated the same words like a parrot.
-"A disaster... that's a disaster..."
Jonathan asked his senior.
"Why's this guy acting like that? Did he hit his head?"
"Doesn't seem like it... He just won't talk properly. You give him a poke. See if you can get something else out of him."
"Got it."
Jonathan grabbed the mic and spoke to Malakai beyond the glass.
"Who told you to mess with blood magic? Why not learn proper elemental magic like everyone else?"
Flash.
Malakai's eyes flew open.
-"That guy! That guy!!"
-"He stole the blood magic I'd devoted my life to... It isn't magic. It's a scam! A scam!"
Jonathan's senior fell into thought upon hearing Malakai's ravings.
"Stole it, huh..."
"Did he absorb the guy's mana or something?"
His senior shook his head at Jonathan's guess.
"The Dean wouldn't let him get away with something that blatant."
"True... yeah, that makes sense."
Grrrrrr.
Malakai started foaming at the mouth.
Impossible to interrogate him like this.
Instead, they headed to the analysis room where the demon's corpse was stored.
The demon's state was grotesque.
It had shriveled up like a mummy, not a drop of blood left in it.
Malakai was a Blood Mage.
Naturally, blood manipulation was his specialty.
"And yet the result is... a bloodless corpse. Means he crushed him head-on in his own field of expertise."
Dark underworld mages honed a single technique their entire lives.
For them, magical enlightenment mattered less than raw "power."
Crushed head-on...
How? Why?
Jonathan couldn't make sense of it with his limited insight.
His gaze turned to his senior.
Maybe he knew something?
"What're you staring at me for? I don't know either."
"..."
"Grab the pliers and dig for accomplices. Let's yank out Malakai's nails."
"Yes, sir."
Jonathan picked up the bloodstained tool.
Now the "real" interrogation would begin.
It was early morning before dawn, and I was sitting alone in my lab.
I'd pulled an all-nighter, but my mind felt refreshed.
I'd saved the kids and the guards, and the lunatic lurking under the capital was gone.
My heart felt light, like I'd washed away all the grime.
Then a knock broke the silence.
Giuseppe would've just barged in, so this meant work had come calling.
'Things were nice until just now...'
The Magic Tower was overflowing with tasks.
I opened the door to find the Guard Captain standing there.
"How'd you make it all the way here..."
Snap.
The moment he saw me, he snapped a crisp salute.
I stood there, baffled.
"..."
"..."
I stared at him blankly.
But the Guard Captain held his position firm.
No salute back, apparently.
'No way.'
On a hunch, I returned the salute.
Only then did he relax.
Legally, I got officer treatment, but salutes weren't mandatory.
Why this?
The Guard Captain finally spoke.
"Thank you so much. For saving all my men."
"...Come in and have a seat first."
It wasn't polite to leave someone this earnest standing outside.
I poured him the tea Giuseppe liked best.
"You didn't need to go this far..."
"It's good stuff. Drink up."
"Then gratefully..."
The Guard Captain took a sip and opened up.
"The Capital Guard is usually posted to those who've earned big merits on the northern front."
"I see."
"And earning merits up north means you've sent off that many comrades."
"..."
The heavy topic left me momentarily speechless.
"Thank you. For keeping me from parting with my subordinates."
"Just doing what needed doing."
The Guard Captain looked me straight in the eye.
He said,
"The Capital Guard will always be on Uphills's side."
"Within legal bounds, of course?"
"..."
He paused at my joke.
"...Sometimes, a comrade turns a blind eye to flaws."
His face was utterly serious.
"Gah!"
Marcus jolted awake in shock. Looking around, he seemed to be in the medical ward.
The faint smell of disinfectant confirmed he was alive.
'Main force support must've arrived just in time.'
He let out a sigh of relief, but the kids' faces flashed through his mind.
'I went down... they probably didn't make it.'
Then he felt a heavy weight on his stomach.
"Huh?"
Looking down, a black-haired little girl was leaning against him, fast asleep.
"This kid..."
Uphills. The spirited girl with a hero's surname.
"Good. At least one survived."
As he sat up, a voice came from the next bed.
"Awake, Sergeant Marcus?"
"Huh? You guys... how are you all still alive?"
"What's with that reaction? Hoping we'd die?"
"That's not it..."
Hadn't all the other guards except him become orc chow?
"Researcher Uphills saved us all."
"..."
Marcus's junior recounted everything that had happened.
In a total wipeout crisis, Isaac had appeared, saved everyone, and obliterated the enemy...
It sounded like a fairy tale.
"So the kids all made it too?"
"Yes."
Whew...
Marcus exhaled deeply. Tension melted away.
"Sergeant, you really like those kids, huh."
"No reason not to."
"Fair enough."
Marcus stared blankly at the ward ceiling and muttered,
"If I'd known it'd turn out like this, I should've just shut up and let Uphills convince me to come along."
Might've meant zero casualties.
Then Anna Uphills, leaning on him, woke up.
She said,
"No. I'm really grateful to you too, mister."
"Whoa! You scared me! ...You heard that?"
"Yeah. I sleep lightly."
Anna wriggled off the bed and bowed clumsily.
"Thanks to you, I survived. Thank you."
Marcus waved it off.
"Nah... Uphills did it all. I just collapsed."
But Anna shook her head.
"Sure, he beat the enemy and saved everyone. How could ordinary folks like us do that?"
"..."
'Ordinary folks like us'? The uncharacteristic phrasing left Marcus speechless.
"But I think you did plenty. You stood in front of us knowing you couldn't win."
"...Yeah?"
"Yes."
Silence fell over the ward.
All eyes turned to Anna. Feeling the stares, her face flushed red.
"Anyway. Someday, I'll definitely repay this debt!"
She bowed deeply once more and scampered out of the ward.
Marcus stared blankly at the door she'd left through.
A ticklish pride swelled in his chest.
Far from soldierly spirit, but... not bad.
For the first time, Marcus thought retiring after the war and coming to the Capital Guard was the right call.
Heroes had their role. He had his.
Princess Isolde was meticulously rereading a stack of reports on her desk for the third time.
She tapped a specific section of the parchment with her finger and said,
"Dean, could you take a look at this?"
"The Malakai incident report?"
"Yes. The outcome is satisfactory, as you know. But the process..."
"Doesn't sit right with you?"
"No, no."
Isolde continued,
"I just wonder if this is really possible..."
[Report on the D-7 Underground Sector Incident in the Capital and the Capture of Blood Mage Malakai (Classified)]
The author was Isaac Uphills.
The report dryly listed the battle's progression.
Infiltration team: all survived.
Enemy: subdued.
Isolde quietly recited a passage.
"The target was adept at blood-mediated magic, which falls under the category of 'fluids.' Thus, by continuously calculating approximations of the fluid flow, control of the system was seized."
The Dean's eyebrow twitched faintly.
Isolde continued excitedly, unable to hide her thrill.
"Do you know what this means, Dean?"
"He didn't counter blood magic with blood magic. He usurped ownership itself with a higher law."
"You think... this is possible?"
"..."
Even the Dean couldn't answer easily.
Was it? Wasn't it?
Calculating approximations every instant would accumulate errors geometrically, inviting massive rebound...
Isaac wasn't a mage with exceptional mana reserves.
'That means he completed all calculations on-site with high precision...'
That was odd too.
How?
The Princess rose and gazed out the window.
She said,
"Always something new. It's exhilarating."
"..."
"Predicting a dark mage behind the orc outbreak, then repelling him with unprecedented new magic. Could he have... sought out the perfect stage to prove his theory himself?"
"Doubt it."
"No, no. He saw that far."
"..."
The Dean gave up persuading her.
Isolde was already head over heels.
But was it really just blind infatuation?
The Dean tilted his head at her utter lack of doubt.
'No way that kid really foresaw all this...?'
Even now, Isaac's reputation soared sky-high.
High profile attracted flies, naturally.
Political threats, the Princess's name would shield.
But not underworld ones.
'If he preemptively eliminated the threat with his trump card to warn the underworld...'
It wasn't implausible for such a wise kid.
Drip.
Tea overflowed from the cup.
"...Dean?"
"Yes?"
"The tea's spilling."
"Oh dear. My apologies."
The Dean calmly set down the cup.
Isolde spoke.
"Anyway, perfect commission. Double the reward."
"Glad you're satisfied."
Heh heh heh.
Heh heh heh heh.
The two powerhouses' laughter echoed through the office.