Chapter 129 – The Magic City and the Great Detective
“All of these are rewards from our family! Master!!”
“What…?! You’re giving me all of this…?”
“Of course! Master…! Ahhh?! Suh… Are you sure you don’t like it or don’t like it?!”
“It can’t be! It’s because I feel like I’ve given too much compensation for what I’ve done, and it’s burdensome..”
“What are you talking about! If the value of the [Moonlight Night] That Detective Charlotte and Master protected is worth a hundred times this reward!”
“…Was it that kind of painting?”
“Of course! 『Moonlight Night』 Is a national treasure!”
Seong-il, who received an unexpectedly large amount of compensation. He is shocked and at a loss for words when the items he has lacked so far are solved in one shot as a reward.
“…Do you like it anyway?”
Seong-il was awakened by Ilina’s question. She quickly grabbed Ilyna’s hand and shook it vigorously, expressing her gratitude.
“Of course!! You gave me such a big present! Master is so happy!! Thank you!! Illina!!”
Ilya’s face flushed red from such an intense thank you on such a holy day, and she grabs his hand, and she replies:
“You’re happy!! I’m so happy too…! In that sense, when will our next Dalian class be…?”
“Ah…! Dalian class…! Of course I should. However, I have a very important plan tomorrow…”
In fact, Illina looks very disappointed at Seongil’s words, which express her refusal. Her Sungil saw the expression on her face and explained her own situation with her quickness.
“Don’t be too disappointed. It’s related to you too.”
“Yes? What… Huh?! Come to think of it!!”
“Now you have a rough idea, right? That’s right. It’s the ‘The Club’ espionage.”
“Ah…!! I’m sorry! I was blinded by the master’s guidance and couldn’t distinguish between public and private…!”
Having said that, Ilya suddenly falls to her knees in front of her holy day and bows her head to him.
“Hey!! Hey!! What are you doing when everyone else is watching!! Don’t do this!!”
Seong-il held onto Illina, who was bewildered, and lifted her up from her seat and said to her.
“Okay. I’ll explain the situation regarding 『The Club』, So listen carefully.”
Having said that, Seong-il tells her about the situation inside 『The Club』, In an appropriate way to summarize her situation. Then, her expression gradually hardened. Irina’s expression.
“You bastards!! You dare to look at Wyndham Metropolitan Police Department in the water, and you know that we’re grabbing their tails with both eyes open, but you’re doing something like that!! Shall we report to the Inspector and the Chief right away and smash them?”
“Calm down. Their base is the Kowloon Fortress. Kowloon Fortress. Extraterritorial area created by agreement with the Empire!!”
“…Since the Logan faction crossed the line this time, even the Empire won’t be able to say much about the ruin of the Kowloon Fortress this time…?”
Illina’s answer seemed to be lacking in a global perspective as it was a low-level position. Seong-il sighed lightly at her answer and answered Illina.
“No. If you don’t understand my answer, be sure to ask Inspector Lestras why. He says he has a close relationship with the Metropolitan Police Department, but I must refrain from making political statements because I am an outsider of the Metropolitan Police Department. So, first of all, my words Do as you please and let Inspector Lestras listen to the explanation of my actions later.”
“Ah…! If you’re a Master, you must have a deep meaning! I understand!”
“Yes, yes… Anyway, I have support related to 『The Club』, So please listen to me.”
“Yes! Please tell me…!”
Seong-il explained to Ilina the connection between her participation in the ‘contest’ tomorrow and human trafficking, and how she wants to beat them.
“Hmm… Isn’t that too dangerous…? Master?”
“Don’t worry. We’ve done our best to not get caught. Anyway, in preparation for the on-the-spot arrest two days later, please prepare the number of people to attack the ‘Logan faction’. Through Ms. Elysia, we sent Inspector Lestras the report on 『The Club』. Since you’ve been sending it steadily, if it’s Detective Charlotte’s request, Inspector Lestras will support you without hesitation.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Okay. Let’s finish here for now. We have to prepare for the ‘contest’ of 『The Club』 Tomorrow…”
“Yep! You may be nervous, but I hope you have a good night’s sleep!”
Having said that, Ilya said goodbye to the people of the Moriarty Detective Agency and left the office.
‘It was an unexpected hit…’
Seong-il, who is absent-mindedly looking at the gift Ilya gave her. Elysia, who approached him before he knew it, asked.
“Oh my~ Is this the reward you received for stopping ‘Phantom Thief Yuftesia’? I hope~”
Seeing Elysia like that, Seong-il whispered while looking at her Charlotte.
“…That’s okay? By the way, you just told me how to infuse magic into jewels, right? Tell me how to make dolls, too.”
“Here? It’s a bit difficult here because of the great detective…?”
“…Then let’s go to my room for a while.”
Having said that, Seong-il goes to his room with Elysia and locks her door.
Clap.
“Now. Is this enough?”
“Um… That’ll be fine. Just lower your voice. What about the mask?”
According to her, her holy day is revealed to her after she takes her magic mask from her arms without speaking.
“Okay. Try on the mask first.”
Seong-il wears a mask without saying a word at Elysia’s words. Elysia then comes to her holy day and she takes a sapphire and she puts it in his hand.
“Now… First of all, try injecting magic into the jewel as I told you last time.”
“Yeah. Hold on…”
Seong-il holds a rough sapphire the size of his thumb nail and injects magic power into it.
‘Whoa… It feels weird.’
A strange and unpleasant feeling that arises when her internal energy is sucked into the jewel. It took a considerable amount of time for the magic to be injected into the jewel, probably because it was considerably larger than the jewel Elysia gave before.
“Ha ha… Ha… I’m done.”
“Wow… What kind of wizard are you, partner? At this size, it would take about 3 days for an average person…”
“Ha ha.. Ha.. What? That’s enough? But you said to fill it all at once?!”
“…What are you talking about. I never asked you to fill it all up.”
“Huh? Can I fill it up less?!”
“Of course. If you fill it less, the ‘automata’ will move as much as the less filled capacity. But…”
“But…?”
“As a matter of course, automata using jewels that are not fully enchanted have unstable abilities.”
“To what level?”
“Well… If your agility or strength is greatly reduced, or if you give excessive commands, you’ll sometimes run amok and go crazy…”
“Hmm…”
“For this reason, if possible, make an ‘automata’ after fully injecting magic into the jewel. Otherwise, there is a high chance of problems.”
“Right…”
“Well… But if you do simple experiments like now, there’s no big problem. There’s nothing wrong with being careful. Isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
Her Seong-il nodded her head and expressed her affirmation. After Elysia smiled lightly, she took a rag doll the size of her fist from her arms and handed it to him.
“Okay… Now, insert the charged jewel into your chest. By the way, you can’t use any doll! You must use it on a doll in the shape of a ‘human’ like this. If you use it on a ‘non-human’ doll, it won’t activate. Got it?”
“Yes. I understand. But can I use any doll? Like a toy doll sold on the street…”
“Yes. Any doll can do. However, the spell must be a handmade doll made by a ‘person’. The higher the quality of the doll, the stronger the ‘automata’. For example, it is made of magical materials. Dunn…”
‘…Fuck, then you’re saying you can’t use the factory-made dolls you buy at the mart.’
Seong-il makes a face of absurdity at a new restriction that pops out of nowhere. He expresses annoyance or bewilderment at the unexpected restriction. However, Elysia, who does not know his circumstances, soothes him and continues her words.
“I can’t help it. Magic usually needs to be limited like that, so it becomes stronger when implemented. As magic is a technology that distorts and deceives reality, there are many cases where it is strong only when there are many restrictions.”
“Ah… I see… Anyway, how do you get dolls? You can’t… Make them yourself?”
Saying that, Seong-il looked at the cute rag doll in his hand. To his question, Elysia smiled and answered.
“No! These are dolls made by children at an orphanage I regularly sponsor.”
“Oh…”
Seong-il is surprised by Elysia’s remarks that unexpectedly precede. Towards such a holy day, Elysia answered.
“Wow~ I rob the rich to help the poor! It’s cool. As a bonus, I also enjoy the thrill through the process~ and collect my favorite treasures~”
“Yes. That’s right… I’ll add some if the donation amount is reasonable, so can you provide me with dolls on a regular basis…?”
“I’ll just do it. I’m a salaried worker who earns pennies. What kind of sponsorship… I’ll give you enough of the donation money, so I’ll give it to you. Wait a minute.”
‘…Fuck. In my own way, in the world of 『How to Become an Alchemist』, I was a pretty good kid…’
When her holy day is sad, thinking about her old days, Elysia, who had gone back to her own room, returns and she hands him about 10 dolls, to which she replies:
“Sleep. This should be enough for a while. You only have two jewels anyway.”
“Yeah… Jewelry is also a problem.”
“…Actually, that’s more of a problem. If you lose a jewel or the jewel reaches the end of its lifespan and breaks, you have to pay for it again.”
“Eh?! The jewel is broken?!”
Confused by the extra penalty that comes out of nowhere, Seong-il asks Elysia a question. Seeing him like that, she sighs and replies.
“Whoa… Of course. Is there anything eternal in the world? Besides, it’s a powerful spell that creates an ‘automata’ that is nothing other than jewels. Rather, it’s great to be able to use ‘only’ jewels…”
“Well… I think I understand when you say that… Anyway, how many times does it break?”
“Um… About 4-5 times on a small basis? If it’s the size of the jewel your current partner is wearing, 10 times would be enough.”
“…How do you know you can’t use it?”
“You’ll know when you use it. If you keep injecting magic power, the gem’s light will gradually become darker and eventually turn into powder or stone. You’ll understand when you use it.”
“Ah… I see.”
“Okay! That’s the end of your questions right now? Stop asking questions now! Put the jewel on the doll’s chest and recite the spell in your mind.”
After injecting jewels into the doll as Elysia had said, Seong-il held the doll and began to recite a spell quietly. OK…
‘Aaaaa!!’
An eerie cry in Seongil’s ears. He stiffens and recoils at the sound of the demon’s scream.
“Don’t be scared. I understand why you’re so nervous… But there’s no need to be nervous because it’s just a natural phenomenon when a soul gem spell is manifested. And as much as the user’s emotions are shared with the doll, keep as calm as possible. Otherwise, side effects are likely to occur.”
Seong-il stayed alert to Elisia’s advice. He ignores the ghastly screams and constantly recites incantations in his mind.
Kkeudeuk… Kkeik…!
A doll that begins to move by twisting its limbs like a cursed doll. The doll swells around the jewel for a while, and then it grows to the size of a person.
Hey hey profit…
A doll that emits unique smoke that is similar to the steam we know, but completely different. Soon after, the doll assumes the form of a faceless person.
“Now… I’m going to recite the second spell, and I’m going to embody this doll as an alter ego. But! There’s a word of caution here.”
“…Which?”
“I have to put restrictions on it…”
“Restrictions?”
“Yes. They are hung up in case the doll gets out of the owner’s control. In my case, I usually hang three.”
After saying that, Elysia picks up one of her notebooks and starts writing down about constraints.
1. Do not attack the owner.
2. Self-destruct when unmasked.
3. Will self-destruct if moved to a distance beyond the owner’s control.
After writing her constraints like that, she tore up her notebook and handed it to her Seong-il, continuing her words to him.
“Now… I usually always put these three things on ‘Automata’.”
“Hmm… I understand the first one, but what about the other two?”
“The second is, of course, because I am a thief.
“Ah…”
“The third is to hang the dolls because you don’t know what accidents might happen. However, if you put too many restrictions on them, the automata won’t work, so don’t exceed 3 restrictions.”
“Okay.”
In this way, Seong-il learns from Elysia how to control dolls and how to share senses.
After that, the second spell was memorized. Then, an alter ego appears in front of his eyes, strikingly identical to her.
Except for the fact that the alter ego he saw was wearing a mask and his face could not be identified, he was Seongil himself.
