Chapter 2449 – 2449. Dark Moon
Quest complete.
To receive my quest reward, I went with Aisa to see Ricardo, the editor-in-chief of the Liberals. Of course, in the form of Eugene, the vampire and blood mage.
“Father! No, Editor-in-Chief! This is a scoop! This one’s a jackpot!”
“…Alright. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
After reviewing the content, he frowned.
“Gods from another world? Transcendence Project? This is more dangerous than I thought.”
“We’ll have to tone this down a bit.”
“What?! Why?! Do you know how much I suffered to get this scoop?!”
“Aisa, calm down. I’m not saying we should rewrite everything. I’m just saying we should tone down the parts about the gods from another world. It’s fine to bash and screw over Alpha Tier. It’s our job to expose the terrible things those corporations do. But not the gods and transcendents. If you mess with them carelessly… it won’t just end with bad luck. We have to draw a line.”
Ricardo’s calm voice was filled with experience.
Aisa, who was about to argue, opened her mouth but then quietly closed it. The reason we suffered there was partly because of the gods.
“That’s… I understand. But I’m going to expose the bio-experiments Alpha Tier did, no matter what.”
“Haha. Of course, that’s fine. Alpha Tier will be pissed… but our company was originally created to bash corporations. Well, Alpha Tier won’t collapse just from this… but their stock price will shake a little.”
“Don’t tell me… you bought Alpha Tier’s stock, did you? Huh? Father?!”
Ricardo didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to me.
“Mr. Eugene, thank you for completing this quest safely. Just from hearing about it, I can imagine how much you suffered. My daughter is quite the handful. And I get the feeling that something… happened between you and my daughter….”
Ricardo narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.
‘Is this a parent’s intuition?’
Aisa and I did have a relationship. But what does that have to do with Ricardo? Aisa and I were adults. Isn’t it normal for an adult man and woman to hit it off and share a bed? I met his gaze.
“Father! Stop gawking and finish up the work! You need to give Mr. Eugene his quest reward!”
“…Ah, right. The separate quest fee has been deposited with the broker, so please check it…. Our reward was for me to tell you the location of the workshop with Illyrio’s vision magic, right? Here it is. Go find it yourself. Ah, I’ll tell you in advance, it’s been abandoned for decades… so I’m not sure if the vision magic is still there. Other guys might have already looted it…. Don’t blame me if there’s nothing there.”
He handed me a small memo. An address was written on it.
Aisa, who was next to me, peeked at the memo.
“Huh? This is near our house! That’s great. I’ll guide you there.”
“What? Aisa, why are you guiding him? Aren’t you going to write an article? You brought back a scoop, you should be working!”
“This kind of big scoop will have your name on it too, Father. Please help me out.”
Aisa grabbed my right arm and pulled me. My right arm was buried in her ample chest. Ricardo was shocked.
“What, Aisa! You’re not that kind of girl! You two! What’s your relationship?! Aisa! Aisa!!”
Aisa ignored Ricardo’s shock and dragged me out of the office.
“…Is it okay to treat your father like that?”
“It’s fine.”
She said in a cheerful tone, as if it was nothing. Well, I had no intention of interfering in someone else’s family affairs, so I kept my mouth shut.
‘…They’re in a relationship, so they’re not strangers.’
But there was no way her father would acknowledge their relationship.
Anyway, thanks to Aisa’s guidance, I was able to reach my destination without getting lost.
“This is it?”
“Yes. Unless Father wrote the address wrong, this is it.”
It was a dilapidated doll shop. Not just any dolls, but a shop selling gothic-style jointed dolls.
“It’s been here since I was a kid. Well, I never really liked the dolls here. They’re kind of… creepy.”
I agreed with that opinion. It was the uncanny valley. The discomfort that comes from something that looks like a human but is clearly not.
“It’s surprising for a workshop of a renowned black mage. Did Illyrio have a hobby of making dolls?”
“Hmm. I don’t really know. I’ve never met my great-grandfather, and I wasn’t really interested in black magic. But since there were a few dolls at home, I guess it wasn’t completely unrelated.”
We opened the shop door and went inside. Luxurious dolls were on display, and an old man was sitting at the counter, dozing off.
Clang. The bell on the door rang, and the old man looked at us. He smiled at Aisa.
“Hehe, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a familiar face. Aisa.”
“…Uncle Jack. Weren’t you working at the factory?”
“I retired three years ago and have been running this shop with Ricardo’s help. Only a few people come here, so the profits are terrible… but I’m getting a salary, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s talk about personal matters later. Right now… I have to attend to the customers.”
He looked at me.
“Is this Illyrio’s workshop?”
“Didn’t you come here knowing that? It’s the workshop of the black mage Illyrio. Hehe. All the mages who come here ask that.”
“…I’m not the first one?”
“Ricardo isn’t a black mage or a mage, so he’s not interested in Illyrio’s vision magic. But he’s not stupid enough not to use what he’s given.”
For a black mage like me, Illyrio’s vision magic was a tempting bait. Ricardo used it for his own gain.
‘That’s why he didn’t directly tell me the vision magic, but only the location of the workshop.’
“You’ve probably already realized it. Whether or not you get your hands on Illyrio’s vision magic is up to you.”
“…Is Illyrio’s black magic related to puppetry?”
“I wouldn’t normally tell you… but since you came with Aisa, I’ll tell you. Illyrio used necromancy using dolls, not corpses. It’s just that he mainly used dolls with grotesque appearances, so it wasn’t well known.”
“So he was a necromancer and a puppeteer. If he replaced corpses with dolls… that’s not bad. Where is Illyrio’s real workshop hidden?”
“It’s here.”
He pointed to a doll displayed on the counter.
A doll with blue blonde hair and a black dress. It was a very well-made doll. It was so lifelike, as if a small human had been created. At the same time, it was just as eerie. Most of all, what was eerie was that the parts where the eyes should be were empty.
“…Wait. Is that doll made of human flesh and skin?”
“Oh, Aisa. You noticed right away. As a druid sensitive to living things, it’s natural. You’re right. This is a doll made of human flesh and skin by Illyrio.”
He tapped the doll’s head.
“…I don’t feel any magical presence at all.”
“That’s because your level is lower than Illyrio’s. Ah, I don’t mean to belittle you. Most mages are lower level than Illyrio.”
“Enough with the useless talk. What do I have to do?”
“Create two eyeballs with black magic and insert them into the doll. One thing to note… no one who has entered Illyrio’s workshop has ever come out alive. Honestly, I don’t want to see Aisa’s friend die. Don’t you want to give up here?”
“Wait! I didn’t hear anything about it being that dangerous?! Eu… no, Mr. Eugene! Let’s give up here. There’s no need to take such a risk, right?”
Aisa exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s the vision magic of a 7th-grade black mage. It’s worth taking the risk. And Aisa, do you think I’d be intimidated by this kind of danger? I don’t know what’s in Illyrio’s workshop… but it’ll be better than facing Rahu.”
I put my hand in my pocket. I opened the inventory and took out the Dark Hole. I needed the Dark Hole to use black magic since I wasn’t a real black mage.
“…Hmm. That’s true. The battle with Senior Rahu… it wasn’t just about facing Senior Rahu. Okay. I’ll cheer you on. I want to have dinner at the best restaurant in Zone A… you’ll treat me, right?”
“I know a few good places. Look forward to it.”
I created eyes with black magic. It wasn’t difficult.
[Evil Eye]
I created two eyeballs that cast an evil curse in the air. They were floating in the air.
‘3rd-grade black magic. The curse of the gaze isn’t very powerful, so black mages mainly use it for scouting. Since they can share their vision.’
An unknown force emanated from the doll. The two Evil Eyes were forcibly drawn to the doll and settled into the doll’s eye sockets.
Roll, roll.
The doll’s eyes rolled, and then it stared at me intently.
Giggle.
The moment the doll laughed, I was teleported to another space. I could have resisted, but I didn’t.
It was a wide, dark space. Since I was the vampire Eugene, darkness wasn’t a big problem.
‘The ceiling is high. It’s not a natural cave… it’s an artificial structure. It’s a damp place… it definitely feels like a black mage’s workshop.’
I didn’t let my guard down.
A high-level mage’s workshop was like a dungeon.
I was about to use detection magic to examine every corner when a doll appeared from behind a wall pillar. A small doll floating in the air. It was a cute-looking doll with black hair and a small body, but… given the situation, it felt eerie.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had an intruder. Unlike the other idiots, can you plunder the workshop?”
“Are you a doll trying to act tough? Die.”
[Blood Spear]
A spear of blood appeared in the air and pierced the doll’s head.
“Wait! Are you going to come out like that? Isn’t it polite to talk first?”
A new doll appeared from another pillar.
I swung my arm. Blades of blood surged and tore the doll’s body apart. Again, the doll was destroyed. But the doll’s voice echoed throughout the space.
“How rude.”
“Much more than the other mages.”
“It’s been rude since the moment you came here.”
“It can’t be helped.”
“Shall we begin the elimination.”
“Eugene Meyer.”
“Good luck.”
……How do they know my name?
There was no time to ponder the question as dolls with undead appearances were pouring out from all directions.
