Chapter 1918 – 1918. Dark Moon
‘Shall we go?’
I turn the World Door key in the keyhole to the right. The mana within me is forcibly drained, and complex energies and formulas extend from the key, enveloping the door. No, interfering with space.
‘…Impressive.’
It’s a formula only I, who can use the key, can see. Indeed, Merlin. Though his personality is terrible, his skills are worthy of being called legendary.
‘To think I wouldn’t be able to understand the formula at all.’
Even with difficult magic formulas, I could grasp the general idea just by looking at them once. But this, I don’t understand even after looking. It feels like it’s on a different dimension. It feels like forbidden knowledge not allowed to me.
‘…I guess it’s something I can’t understand with my current level.’
The difference between me and Merlin.
That difference was vast.
I could naturally sense what was beyond the door. The Edinburgh ancient ruins. The place where the main body of the World Door is located. The place I’m going isn’t here. I turned the key once more.
Click!
The space beyond the door changed.
I opened the door. Creeeeak. The old door screamed.
It was a rotten shack. A rotten, rotten shack. When I turned around, there was a stone door connected to a warehouse.
This place was also an ancient ruin. But there were no treasures. As you can see from the shack, someone had already settled here and taken everything.
I stepped out of the shack. I knew this place was empty.
Swoooosh.
Under the faint moonlight, dark clouds gathered and poured down heavy rain.
Dark clouds and rain. It was quite good weather for an electrokinetic mage. I pulled the hood of my cape coat down and moved. Soon, I found a road. It was an old road with signs of damage here and there. I walked along the road, rechecking my plan.
‘This is the outskirts of the Heist Empire.’
And even among the outskirts, it was the most remote.
I had business at a certain facility here.
‘Lumen Prison.’
A notorious prison where heinous criminals were transferred. One of the inmates there was my target.
‘There’s a guy who used to be an executive at Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company imprisoned in Lumen Prison.’
Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company.
The world’s best pharmaceutical company that collaborated with the Freesel Kingdom army and the 667th unit to conduct the Battle Mage Project.
I had to meet an executive of Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company, my target for revenge, whom I had to eliminate.
According to my separate investigation, he worked as a team leader at the headquarters. In other words, he knew a certain amount of information about Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company.
‘I’ll extract information and then take revenge. It doesn’t matter if he’s not related to the Battle Mage Project.’
He was an employee of Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company.
That alone was enough reason for revenge. I will kill all the bastards related to Alpha Tier Pharmaceutical Company. I decided that. That’s my revenge.
“Heh, heh heh!”
I laughed at the thought of revenge. The revenge hasn’t even started yet, but just imagining it is enjoyable.
“No, no. Calm down. Don’t get too excited.”
I forcibly calmed my mind.
My plan is this.
I will approach Lumen Prison, kidnap and kill a guard. Then, I will use the Absolute Polymorph of Illusion to transform into a guard and infiltrate the prison.
It’s a bit dangerous, but if I act well, I won’t be caught. And I was quite confident in my acting.
‘After extracting all the information, I’ll start my revenge in earnest. Just killing them is no fun. Those bastards conducted human experiments on me… I’ll do human experiments too. I wanted to experiment with black magic, so this is perfect. I can do revenge and research at the same time.’
It’s not human experimentation for black magic research, but black magic research for human experimentation… but what I get is the same, so it doesn’t matter.
Bang!!
Suddenly, a loud noise rang out. I, who was walking on the road, stopped. It wasn’t the sound of an explosion, but the sound of a car hitting something.
‘Did an accident happen nearby?’
The visibility was poor, and it was pouring rain. It wouldn’t be strange for an accident to happen.
‘It’s not far. Should I check it out?’
I quietly headed towards the direction of the sound. I could hear shouts and the sounds of cold weapons clashing.
‘A battle. It seems like today is the day… why now? Is this going to be a hassle? Or….’
It might be an opportunity.
I approached the battle area, suppressing my presence as much as possible. When I arrived, the battle was over. Seeing how quickly the battle ended, it was likely an attack by assassins.
A black sedan had veered off the road and crashed into a rock. Judging by the completely crushed hood, it seemed like it was beyond repair.
Looking down at the ground, I saw corpses. Several bodies of sturdy men were scattered everywhere. The bodies could be divided into two categories. Those wearing the Empire’s military uniform and those who weren’t.
‘Lumen Prison is run by the Imperial Army. Were they attacked on their way to the prison?’
The Heist Empire was a militaristic country. A country where everything revolved around the military. There were many resistance forces, or rather, rebel forces. It wasn’t strange for the Imperial Army to be attacked.
‘This is the outskirts. And the Imperial Army here are people related to the prison…. I can roughly picture what happened. Did the inmates’ backers attack?’
It was just a guess, so I wasn’t sure. There might be something else.
I walked past the car and into the shade of a tree.
A black-haired man, who looked to be in his 30s, was lying on the ground. His left arm was severed, and his abdomen was torn open. It was a fatal wound.
“Who, who is it?”
The man groaned and looked up at me.
I checked the insignia on his shoulder. The Heist Imperial Army’s insignia are X for soldiers, triangles for non-commissioned officers, diamonds for junior officers, pentagrams for field officers, and hexagrams for generals. On the man’s shoulder, there was a brilliant silver pentagram.
“I’m a passing mage.”
“Ha, so you’re not an enemy?”
“If I were an enemy, I wouldn’t be standing here like this.”
“…Can you help me? I will repay the favor.”
“You know my answer. You’re as good as dead.”
“The pain is bearable. I even have the strength to talk like this.”
“It’s a deathbed rally. You know well that the mana accumulated in your body is rapidly burning. You’ll die when it’s all gone.”
“I see. …It seems like the passing mage has something to say.”
“I’ll make you a deal.”
“In this situation?”
“I’ll listen to your last words. In return, give me information about you.”
“……”
His eyes sparkled. As someone who rose to the rank of major at a young age, he seemed to have realized what I was trying to do.
He closed and opened his eyes repeatedly.
“…I have a family.”
“You want me to take care of your family?”
“No, the opposite. Don’t touch my family.”
“Understood.”
I wasn’t interested in this guy’s family in the first place.
“Find the guys who attacked me and kill them all. That’s my condition. Do you agree?”
“It’s not a difficult condition.”
“My name is Leon Schneider. I graduated at the top of my class from the Northern Military Academy….”
He recalled the past and spoke about the major events that had happened to him. He said little about his family. It seemed like he was intentionally avoiding it.
‘Leon Schneider. A common story. He was competent as a soldier, but he made too many enemies.’
Even though it was during a war, the Heist Empire was currently in a lull in external wars due to internal problems. Leon was envied by his colleagues and was demoted to warden of Lumen Prison due to politics.
“Be careful. Lumen Prison is not an easy place. Among the past wardens, only a handful have left the prison alive or without disappearing. It’s called the graveyard of generals for a reason. As you can see, I’m in this state too.”
“I wouldn’t have died like you.”
“…I see.”
He closed his eyes. He wasn’t breathing. He would never open his eyes again.
I smeared his still-warm blood on my hand.
[Absolute Polymorph]
My appearance changes. I gained more muscle, and I felt more vitality. Conversely, the senses related to mana disappeared. The mana road was fine, but the output was reduced.
I glanced at a puddle. I had become Leon Schneider.
Whoosh.
Flames rose on my palm.
“I’ll burn the corpses.”
It would be a hassle if the corpses were discovered.
• • •
I walked confidently towards the entrance of Lumen Prison.
The entrance opened, and guards in military uniforms came out in droves and lined up on both sides. One of them, a middle-aged man, walked out from the center as if it were natural. He walked with arrogance, as if he were the king of this small castle.
“Are you Leon Schneider, the newly appointed warden of Lumen Prison?”
“That’s right. And you are?”
“I am Captain Kevin Wexler, the deputy warden. You’re late. Did you have an accident on the way?”
“Yes. Some bastards attacked me. My subordinates died, so go and clean it up.”
“It’s too late now. We’ll clean it up after dawn.”
“It seems like my orders are not important. Isn’t obeying orders a basic thing? Disappointing, Captain.”
Click.
I pulled out a pistol from my waist and cocked it. Kevin’s face hardened.
“…Warden. Why did you pull out a pistol?”
“Insubordination is subject to immediate execution. You’re disappointing me again, Captain.”
“P-Please calm down. I’m not refusing your orders. It’s raining and dark now. I’ll send soldiers to clean it up as soon as it’s dawn, so please wait a little longer.”
“You’re disappointing me for the third time. In my day, when a superior gave an order, we would jump out of bed and get to work.”
“……I have twice as much experience as you, Warden.”
“A subordinate talking back?”
I frowned and pointed the gun at Kevin’s forehead. Kevin’s eyes widened. Everyone gathered here held their breath and looked at us.
“Warden. Your joke is going too far.”
“Does it look like a joke?”
“It was a slip of the tongue. But if you kill me for such a thing… what will the military think? The military will be disappointed in you.”
“Hmm. I can’t disappoint the military.”
I lowered the gun and pulled the trigger on his thigh.
Bang!
“Ugh?!”
“If I just let it go, what will happen to my reputation? Especially since my subordinates are watching, I can’t just let it go. I’ll let your insubordination slide this time, Captain.”
Shocked gazes turned towards us. Kevin and the guards seemed to have not expected that I would actually shoot him.
‘It’s a bit extreme, but it can’t be helped.’
The real Leon Schneider was known as a crazy bastard even among his colleagues. To avoid suspicion, I had to act like a crazy bastard.
I grabbed Kevin’s shoulder as he fell.
“Captain. Don’t make a fuss. I shot you lightly.”
“You son of a…”
Kevin, who was about to curse, suddenly came to his senses.
“T-The bullet hit my thigh! P-Please send me to the infirmary.”
“I told you I shot you lightly.”
I clenched my fist and punched him in the face. I didn’t forget to secretly enhance my fist with magic. Otherwise, my fist would hurt.
Whack!
“Cough!”
“Captain.”
Whack!
“Captain.”
Whack!
“Ugh! Why, why are you doing this?!”
“Disappointing, Captain.”
Whack!
“Captain.”
“C-Captain Kevin Wexler!”
“Yes, Captain. You shouldn’t forget your rank and name. If you’ve been promoted to captain, you should set an example for the soldiers.”
I shook my fist. About two teeth fell out with the blood. It seems like my teeth have weakened with age.
“Captain. Clean up the corpses outside and report back within an hour. Please, I beg you, don’t disappoint me.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
I walked past him and entered the prison.
