Chapter 272 – The City of Wizards (One)

A specific word the man had uttered sharply caught Ray’s attention.

‘City of Wizards.’

A place he had speculated was located above Sector 26, beyond the Distortion Field.

A location he considered highly likely to be his next destination.

Ray checked the business card.

[Ristoa School]

[Vice School Master Gerard]

“Ristoa School?”

“Yes. It’s a school that focuses on researching and practicing healing and defensive magic.”

Ray turned his head slightly and asked Veronica.

“Ever heard of it?”

“First time hearing it. I did see one Mage Tower while passing through Sector 33, but…”

“It wasn’t very large. There was no separate school either.”

It was closer to a small community that recruited talented children and taught them magic, rather than a research group with a clear purpose.

He turned his head back and asked.

“You came from the City of Wizards?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I expect an explanation will be necessary.”

Ray’s gaze flickered downward.

The man’s attitude was extremely businesslike.

But within his Vessel, the emotion of joy was uncontrollably surging.

‘It seems to be because he saw Veronica’s Healing Magic.’

After scanning for other emotions, Ray concluded.

He wasn’t lying.

He truly came from the City of Wizards.

It was a situation where desperately needed information had rolled in on its own.

“If you came from the City of Wizards, you must know it well.”

“Yes, of course. But why does your gaze look like that…”

The next moment, the scene the man saw was a boy appearing before him, holding a thick, red-covered dictionary high above his head.

Thwack!

Thud!

“That’s pretty handy!”

“Effective.”

Ray, who answered Veronica’s remark, stared at the swollen back of the fallen man’s head.

He had no intention of letting the information that had fortuitously rolled in slip away.

“Ugh…”

The place where the man, Gerard, opened his eyes was a dark basement.

Torture devices were visible between flickering lanterns.

“This place is…?”

Just as he was panicking, a voice came from the darkness ahead.

“You’re trembling. You’ve only studied theory at the Training Hall, and this is your first time putting it into practice, you say.”

“I was thinking we could start lightly with just one fingernail. Gradually increasing the number should make you reveal even the location of the secret base.”

“Yes, a good method.”

“What…!”

At that moment, the voices stopped.

After a brief rustling sound, a youth and a boy wearing grotesque iron masks revealed themselves from the darkness.

“Seems you’re awake.”

“We can probably start right away.”

“W-who are you people! Why are you doing this to me!”

Seeing the two figures slowly approaching while holding vicious-looking tools, Gerard thrashed about in terror.

However, his limbs were bound to the chair, rendering him unable to move.

Even when he tried to manifest magic, for some reason, his Mana scattered, and he couldn’t budge.

The youth, who had now arrived before him, hooked a pair of pliers onto Gerard’s fingernail and whispered in his ear.

“Don’t worry. I read in a theory book. It said pain is momentary, but pleasure is eternal.”

“N-no! Wait! Wait!”

“Nice saying. Not sure what it means, though.”

“That voice! The boy from earlier! Why are you doing this to me!”

He felt the cold sensation of metal digging into the underside of his nail.

As he perceived the slowly increasing pressure, Gerard’s face and body began to soak with cold sweat.

“First! First! Stop! Let’s talk! You have to tell me why you’re doing this!”

“If you had just confessed obediently, there would have been no need for bloodshed.”

“You didn’t even ask anything! No! No! Stop, you bastards! I’ll talk! I’ll say anything! Everything!”

The moving pliers stopped.

“Anything?”

“Anything! No, you didn’t even ask me anything in the first place!”

Ray and Solite, who had looked at each other, spoke as they removed their masks.

“What a shame.”

“A shame indeed.”

When Ray conjured a light cluster, the interior brightened as if it were broad daylight.

Veronica, who had been standing to one side, approached carrying three chairs.

Scrape, thud.

Ray, sitting in the middle, asked.

“Why did you follow us on the street?”

“Hoo, hoo, can’t you untie this first?”

“Solite, the pliers.”

“I witnessed the young lady performing a miracle. The sight of making a cripple rise from his seat.”

As if recalling the earlier scene, Gerard’s eyes grew hazy.

“The pure white Light Cluster, the Magic where elements combined in a form that defied the laws of reality… it truly could only be called a miracle.”

“It was a form that defied the laws?”

“Yes, any school that observed it would have called it a miracle.”

“You can do that by utilizing imagination.”

“Huh…? What do you mean?”

Seeing the bewildered reaction, Ray could make one inference.

Imagination, said to have been used by all Wizards of the Ancient Era.

That power which makes elements move beyond laws and limits seems to have been lost not only here but also within the City of Wizards.

Then Gerard, looking at Veronica with eager eyes, said.

“The residents here seem to already call the young lady─.”

“It’s Veronica.”

“─Yes, Lady Veronica, a Saintess. I truly think you are worthy of such a title. Because you possess the ability to save the world in the future. Not only here, Beyond the Wall, but the City of Wizards as well.”

Ray, reacting to the mention of the City of Wizards, interjected.

“The City of Wizards, it exists above Sector 26, right? Coordinates 162, 32, 72.”

“H-how do you know that?”

Gerard’s eyes widened.

“Did you hear it from someone? Although many have been coming Beyond the Wall lately, so information might have spread, but no, even so, to know the exact location… Who is it? Who revealed the location?”

He hadn’t exactly heard it.

He had merely guessed based on the location of the massive Distortion Field he saw from the top of the World Tree.

“How I know isn’t important. What’s important is that you must now tell me everything you know about the City of Wizards.”

“…….”

Gerard sank into heavy thought.

He didn’t flinch even when the pliers were waved before his eyes, and only after a long while did he speak, as if having reached his own conclusion.

“I will tell you everything. About the City of Wizards, since you seem to already know to some extent. Also, it’s something that will be revealed to the world someday anyway, and to ask for help, we can’t just keep hiding it forever.”

The story continued in a low voice.

Gerard knew nothing about the city’s history.

Things like its origin being the people of the Red Guardian wandering the world after winning a war and settling upstream of the Elton River.

Or that its original name was the Red Citadel, and those who lost in power struggles were exiled outside the walls.

‘He seems to have no idea.’

It seemed the history had been lost over a long time.

All the stories from Gerard’s mouth concerned the current state of the City of Wizards.

“First, Magic has developed to an extent incomparable to here.”

There is no place in daily life where Magic is not used.

All residents possess Rings through technology.

“Also, we are aware of the world Beyond the Wall.”

However, we have hidden the city’s existence and not come outside.

Because we held the belief that there was no need to mingle with an inferior world.

“The overwhelming majority hold that fundamental sense of chosen people. It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t.”

Then Solite, who had been listening, spoke with displeasure.

“You said earlier that many have been coming Beyond the Wall lately. You would be included among them. What is the reason those who said they would live well among themselves, ignoring the outside world, are now coming Beyond the Wall?”

“…….”

“Answer.”

Silence persisted.

Solite shouted angrily.

“Answer─! me─!”

“…To survive.”

Gerard hung his head deeply as if ashamed.

According to his subsequent words, countless schools exist in the City of Wizards, and conflicts are also fierce.

A school’s authority is established through powerful Magic.

Everyone poured their passion into Magic development, and excessive experiments and Magic use generated continuous pollution.

“Does that pollution refer to the Black Cloud?”

“That’s correct. It has reached a level that cannot be handled just by diverting it Beyond the Wall, and now the entire city is…”

Bang!

Solite, who had pushed his chair back and stood up, grabbed Gerard by the collar.

Unlike his usual self, he revealed extreme anger and growled fiercely.

“Have some shame! You’ve been shifting the cost of your comfortable lives onto us all this time, and now you come asking for help because you’re in a difficult situation!”

Rip!

As the top button of his shirt tore off, the nape of Gerard’s neck was exposed.

A black stain larger than a palm covered it.

“Kgh! Kgh! B-but please understand! Not all schools hold such selfish attitudes. The R-Ristoa School is one of the schools that has argued since the early days for opening the Wall to the outside world and has strived to solve the pollution problem!”

Gerard, lifted along with his chair, desperately cried out.

A moment later.

Thud!

“Kgh! Kgh! Hoo, hoo.”

Solite coldly shot a glare at Gerard, who was catching his breath.

“Live the rest of your life with guilt. No matter what efforts you made to solve the problem, the fact that you lived a comfortable life Inside the Wall remains unchanged.”

Then he turned his head and apologized in a shameful voice.

“Ray-nim, Veronica-nim, I’m sorry. My fault caused a brief disruption in the conversation.”

“No need to worry on my account.”

“It’s okay. You did well, actually.”

After the atmosphere had calmed down somewhat, Ray asked Gerard.

“So, ultimately, what you want to say is that you want us to treat you?”

“No. I don’t care what happens to something like this. But my daughter… that young child, what fault do the innocent people of the city have?”

The disease caused by the Black Rain, the Black Sickness.

According to Gerard, because of it, as many patients are occurring Inside the Wall as Beyond the Wall.

No, rather, the situation is more severe in terms of the types and severity of symptoms.

“I know it’s shameless. But please come… kgh, could you please just take a look, just once, at my daughter who is falling into an eternal sleep?”

Gerard, perhaps overcome with emotion while speaking, began to shed tears.

Ray, staring at the genuine emotions contained within his Vessel, looked back at Veronica and said.

“The choice is yours.”

“…….”

Solite also spoke to Veronica.

“The miracle that occurred on the street, although I didn’t see it directly, Veronica-nim, you truly possess a blessing-like ability. But the Order will respect your will and intentions. Not only in this matter, but if you wish, you don’t have to become the Order’s Saintess either. If you turn your steps and continue on your original path, we will not resent you.”

“…….”

Veronica moved her lips with a complicated expression.

Then, after a long while.

“I want to go.”

She opened her mouth and spoke decisively.

“If there are sick people there.”

Tap— tap— tap.*

Veronica, who stopped before Gerard, placed her hand on the nape of his neck.

“I don’t mean we’ll depart immediately. I will leave only after fully understanding my abilities and tending to all the sick people here. I don’t know when that will be, but if that’s okay, please wait.”

A bright Light Cluster emanated and covered the nape of Gerard’s neck.

The black stain gradually disappeared.

As if darkness faced with light.