Chapter 48
Chapter 48: The Experienced Hunter (3)
"Jang Du-sik, Imperial Decree!"
A messenger from the imperial court arrived at Jean's Magical Tool Shop.
The messenger holding a crescent of the moon pulled out the Emperor's appointment certificate and solemnly recited the imperial edict.
"……Therefore, Jang Du-sik is hereby formally appointed as Vice-Director of the Possessor Management Bureau."
"Uh, my right arm's more comfortable though—."
"Du-sik."
In the middle of reading the appointment certificate, the Imperial messenger was interrupted by Jang Du-sik, and the Imperial Princess uttered his three-character name affectionately, halting him.
'The words of a messenger holding the crescent moon are the same as the Emperor's own words...'
What an ignorant bastard.
Since the Imperial Princess held no expectations for Jang Du-sik's behavior, she glared sharply at the messenger.
The messenger, unable to say anything about Jang Du-sik's rudeness, finished reading the imperial edict.
His demeanor flowed naturally like water.
"I hereby declare that Jang Du-sik is the Vice-Director of the Possessor Management Bureau of our glorious great empire, effective from this moment."
Jang Du-sik officially acquired a title.
'I'll have to keep watch from the side.'
The Imperial Princess wondered, perhaps.
Just in case.
When she thought of the possibility that Jang Du-sik might become her husband, complicated feelings stirred within her.
'Jang Du-sik's talent is genuine.'
He was certainly a genius in magic.
His constitution was also quite unique—had he been born into a noble family, he would have already made a name for himself as a Mage.
'Since it's a marriage decided by His Majesty anyway.'
Besides, she had been drawn to Jang Du-sik's peculiar charm.
One might wonder what charm a thug-like person could possibly have…….
'He's kind of cute in a way.'
He seemed to match her tastes rather well.
She couldn't understand why she had such an impression of a half-shaved hoodlum.
And so the Imperial Princess decided to observe Jang Du-sik for a while.
What if she really came to like him?
'I could raise him to be useful in whatever position I desire.'
The Imperial Princess of the Great Empire had the ability to seat her man wherever she wished.
However.
"—Haa. Is it all done?"
Watching him stretch and grab the appointment certificate bestowed by the Emperor with one hand, it seemed he had a long way to go.
"Um……."
The Imperial messenger trembled momentarily upon witnessing Jang Du-sik's ridiculous behavior, but upon seeing the Imperial Princess's fierce gaze, he simply left his seat.
One problem had been solved, but a question remained for the Imperial Princess.
"So, who are those masked little ones in the back?"
The Imperial Princess's fan pointed toward the warehouse behind the shop.
Two small masked children were peeking at Jang Du-sik's appointment ceremony while leaning their bodies quietly.
To that, Jang Du-sik revealed the twins' identities.
"Lackeys."
"L-Lackeys?"
"You could say they're half-baked subordinates not even worthy of being called juniors."
Speaking of the small children so proudly…….
'With that way of speaking, my head will spin.'
The Imperial Princess felt dizzy.
Then Jang Du-sik asked the little ones:
"You little lackeys, what's the business coming here through a Magic Circle?"
The Imperial Princess felt the magical wave that occurred in the warehouse. Thus, she became aware of the two little ones' presence.
However, upon actually observing the children, they were just very ordinary little ones with no magical power at all.
Which meant that the children had moved using someone else's Magic Circle…….
'A fixed Teleportation Magic Circle?'
Setting up a fixed Teleportation Magic Circle is an extremely difficult task.
One must enable constant magical power charging, conceptualize the coordinates, and perform the complex work of fixing a Magic Circle containing the phenomenon of teleportation to a stable location.
'So that's why his behavior is like that—his mind is sharp too.'
A sophisticated Magic Circle of the sort that would only be used in the Management Offices of District 1.
"Did you install that, Jang Du-sik?"
"I did."
The Imperial Princess quickly lost interest in the two little ones and focused on Jang Du-sik.
"……How?"
"I memorized it."
The Imperial Princess's head grew even more dizzy.
'He memorized the teleportation coordinates and mixed them into a fixed Magic Circle?'
Even in the Imperial Palace, high-ranking Mages create these while calculating complex formulas.
A small mistake leads to teleportation failure, which causes horrific accidents resulting in death or loss of limbs…….
"By yourself?"
"After memorizing, I just infuse magical power and draw the Magic Circle—what's the problem?"
Jang Du-sik had memorized the coordinates of Ruelle's Church, Jean's Magical Tool Shop, and the Dark Guild's main headquarters.
It was a miracle accomplished through one hundred beatings.
"No, how is that even possible……."
While the Imperial Princess was at a loss for words, the two little ones approached Jang Du-sik.
As Jang Du-sik lowered his head, the twin masks whispered to his ear.
"The Boss says to conquer the Labyrinth instead."
"If you can't find that potion, you get beaten."
Today is Sunday, and tomorrow is the day the Labyrinth opens.
Jang Du-sik moved urgently.
He approached the three Possessors who had been suppressing their presence like corpses throughout.
"Possessors! Tomorrow in the Labyrinth, you must find the hidden piece or whatever!"
When Erik orders Jang Du-sik.
Jang Du-sik pushes the Possessors around.
It was a common chain of command.
"If you can't find it, look forward to it."
Jang Du-sik's club exuded magical power infused with sanctity.
The three Possessors targeting his club flinched.
'These fucking.'
Nishida Ryo and Kang Pung-ho stared through Park Chang-ho.
***
Inside Duke Raffin's Magic Tower.
Erik was beyond bewilderment, at a loss for words at the shocking sight.
'He built a factory?'
Erik fell into a moment of contemplation.
He recalled his childhood when his identity as Park Ji-hun was stronger.
'How did he…?'
Once, Park Ji-hun also harbored the ambition of achieving great inventions in this world and recreating modern civilization.
Of course, this proved realistically impossible.
"A potion? You mean a Recovery Potion?"
"……What? It reduces fever if you drink it? We have Sacred Water, so why bother?"
Park Ji-hun, born in a slum and living in a conflict zone, initially took interest in pharmaceuticals.
He knew that penicillin was born from blue mold on bread, but he doesn't know how to refine and cultivate it.
'I can't make it anyway, and it wasn't needed in the first place.'
To begin with, in this world, Purification magic and Sacred Water solve most illnesses, so the concept of pharmaceuticals doesn't exist.
Thus, he abandoned pharmaceuticals and turned his interest to technology.
"What's that? Filament? What's electricity?"
The humanities student Park Ji-hun possessed considerable miscellaneous knowledge, but even implementing a single light bulb was difficult.
And because the world had developed ambiguously through magic, most things already existed.
'Mana Stone Lamps, Communication Magical Tools, Teleportation Magic Circles.'
Still, wouldn't it be nice to have transportation?
When he explained the concept of automobiles to Riferoze.
"A maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour is slower than me? Erik, why do you keep trying to make garbage? Last time you were spouting nonsense about growing some mold to make potions."
He was treated half as an idiot.
In a world teeming with monsters handling Divine Power, Aura, and magic, the necessity for transportation didn't exist.
There were horses, but weren't they also treated as luxury goods for formal occasions?
It was already a world where trade goods were transported via Teleportation Magic Circles for cargo.
"Oh, this 'newspaper' carries information and transmits it—how wonderfully novel!"
And that ambition found a compromise after just one year of attempts.
In the end, what he could do was trade.
Moreover, the simple kind where anyone could follow if they had the idea—a method of simply adopting systems and items seen on Earth.
"A food cart? A mobile food store that looks quite interesting indeed."
The majority of Possessors went through a similar process as Erik, taking up business.
Clothing, adopting shopping app systems, spouting half-hearted financial knowledge.
'Rocket delivery, multi-level marketing, some fool making stock companies…….'
Most of them were clumsily copied, leading to the gallows.
Actually creating something with Earth's knowledge was extraordinarily difficult and nearly impossible.
Wiiiing! Click! Boom!
An automated facility factory manufacturing Magical Tools?
Does this even make sense?
Erik was utterly dumbfounded.
"Saint Erik, why are you standing there so blankly?"
Duke Raffin's words brought Erik's spirit back to reality.
"Isn't that a molding die?"
"Indeed."
"Injection machinery……. And even robotic arms for assembly."
With his mind returned, Erik pointed to each piece of the factory's equipment and asked various questions.
To which Duke Raffin began his explanation gladly.
"There's no need to make them identically, right? I just borrowed the concept and applied magic to it."
"So you're saying all those mechanisms move through magic?"
"Exactly. I heard something about electricity and programming, and making machines learn through repetition—."
Erik leaned in to hear the secret.
The secret to Duke Raffin's success was simple.
"The point is, you shouldn't apply the laws of that uncivilized world that can't even use magic."
In other words, he only accepted the functions of civilization transmitted by the Possessors and created the technology directly himself.
'I thought he brought the Royal Guard because he had other ideas in mind…….'
Seeing Erik's admiration, Duke Raffin smiled contentedly.
Meanwhile, Erica was at her wit's end.
'No…… Erik, if you like it that much, what do you want me to do?'
Vice-Commander of the 2nd Knights of the Royal Guard, Erica.
Plus twenty other Imperial Guards.
A total of twenty-one people stared blankly at Erik's back.
"So you were planning to create Divine Magical Tools."
Having heard all of Duke Raffin's explanation, Erik was deeply impressed.
"Since it's not a person handling Divine Power, the stability would be even higher."
"Exactly! No wonder you're called a Saint—can you see that at a glance?"
Erica knew that the joy in Erik's expression came from genuine happiness.
Wasn't it the same face he made when she donated a large sum as tithes?
"Haha! Indeed, worthy of being the head of the Mage Alliance!"
"Hehehehe! I was an atheist, but seeing Saint Erik makes my heart waver!"
Laughter and guffaws exchanged at the scene.
'What on earth should I report to the Imperial Palace…….'
Erica was already treating the mission failure as a done deal, thinking up excuses.
Thud.
Suddenly, Erik's expression hardened.
"Ah, but there's a problem, you utilized Possessors without permission."
"Huh……. Between us, must we be so formal?"
At Erik's sudden change in demeanor, Duke Raffin narrowed his eyes.
The way this young man picks people up and puts them down…….
'How rude.'
The mood of a 9th Circle Mage grew uncomfortable.
Rough magical waves arose from mere ill-temper.
Erik also raised Divine Power and pushed back his magical aura.
"The Divine Magical Tool business seems quite feasible, but—."
And then calmly recited his intention.
"It's only right that you resolve the wrongs committed by your subordinates, isn't it?"
"……What do you mean?"
"If your hand is brilliant but your limbs move recklessly, how could I do business with you, Duke?"
The Duke lessened his momentum.
"Aaron the Marquis of House Aaron has committed an unforgivable sin against Priestess Ruelle."
Erik reversed the momentum.
With the descending Divine Power, the factory equipment in the Magic Tower came to a halt.
A Magic Tower was a Mage's home, their nest, and the heart containing all their essence.
To make such a threat in such a place?
It was no different from declaring war itself.
'She touched the Church of all things?'
However, Duke Raffin endured it.
For he too was called one of the Four Pillars of the Empire.
He had connections in the intelligence service and a separate intelligence organization he operated.
Thus, he knew well the beings Erik particularly cherished.
'The Saint's reverse scale, was it called.'
Moreover, he possessed proper information about 'Priestess Ruelle,' whom Erik held so dear.
Ruelle had become something of a celebrity in the Empire in recent times.
'The Archduke Fernasia even courted her, didn't he?'
Having stirred up the black market searching for that Blood Diamond, there was no way he wouldn't know.
'And I told him to be careful with his behavior.'
Aaron the Marquis was practically the left arm of the Duke.
Even so…….
Compared to bearing a connection with this Erik, a left arm was disposable.
"What should I do, then?"
Duke Raffin decided.
"I trust you, Duke, so I'll grant your request first."
Having achieved his intention, Erik lessened his momentum.
Suppressing his slightly rising smile, Erik turned away.
"Suddenly a request?"
"You asked me to look into the Granary District and Elven Autonomous Territory, didn't you?"
"Y-yes, I did say that……."
"When I return, bring that Marquis here."
***
Erica had observed Erik for a long time.
These days, having met with great personages, he hides his expression somewhat. But originally, Erik was not someone who concealed his feelings.
In fact, Erik's emotional changes couldn't be hidden even if he wanted to.
'His eye lids twitched slightly when talking about the Duke, and yet his mouth corners rose subtly.'
Even now, with expression management, Erica clearly perceived Erik's state.
'He's genuinely angry at the Duke, but he's in an even happier state from meeting the Duke.'
She understood what Erik was feeling, but couldn't precisely understand why he felt that way.
As Erica was having such thoughts.
"I had to give up seeing that magnificent factory."
Erik called Erica to a halt.
Behind him rose the 'Raffin Magic Tower,' towering awesomely high, and it seemed Erik regarded that tower as his own.
Anyway.
The point was this.
'Am I the reason he couldn't see it?'
Erica tilted her head.
To that, Erik approached Erica with large strides.
"The Minister of State is trying to use me for political strife, which complicates matters."
"Ah, that's……."
"Of course, it must be His Majesty's will."
Erik calmly looked at Erica and conveyed his intention.
"Would His Majesty be satisfied with merely cutting off the Duke—the left arm of the Mage Alliance—using the Duke's wrongs as pretext?"
Erica then understood the entire flow.
'Using the Duke's sins as an excuse, he made sure the Duke couldn't harbor him.'
Yet he kept the thread connected to the 'Divine Magical Tool' business.
"……Remarkable. No, His Majesty should be satisfied with that."
"Then I'm relieved."
Erik smiled deeply and, passing by Erica, looked down at the base of the Magic Tower.
The southern region of the Empire had no resident Knights, and the nobles there had almost no military power unlike other regions.
'The pact with the Elves, was it.'
A condition that arose from accepting the Elves into the Empire.
"The Elves seem to be doing their work very badly."
Erik muttered while gazing at the shimmering distant horizon.
Erica let out a screech at his eyelids twitching.
After that, Erik said:
"I feel black magical power from the southern region of the Empire."
His voice was profoundly unsettling.