82 – Experimental Subject
After agreeing to become Mariel’s research subject, I received the promised money.
Her hand trembled as she handed me the money.
I thought she was a wealthy eccentric who would buy a mansion without hesitation, but it turned out that she had spent a considerable amount of money buying the Bellafork Mansion.
She said she would call me again once the preparations to turn the mansion into a laboratory were complete.
First, I received the money, and what remains is the part where I ‘grant whatever you want’.
“Yunoa was excited at the thought of being able to do whatever she wanted with Mariel.
But there must be a limit to the requests she can fulfill, and she might have already given up on being human.”
Stop saying strange things without any basis.
You’ve been quiet lately, and now you’re getting excited because you caught one prey in your narration.
Of course, I have no intention of doing anything perverted like the narration suggested.
First, I’ll save this wish ticket.
I still don’t know what Mariel is capable of, and there’s nothing urgent to do anyway.
They say she’s a pretty talented magician, so there will surely be a day when I can make good use of her.
* * *
While waiting for Mariel’s call, I performed simple requests for a few days.
I purposely chose tasks that were not too far away and could be quickly completed with a single target monster subjugation.
I had enough money to just relax and play at home, but it was to maintain the spirit of an adventurer.
Now, the requests that come out as silver-grade requests can be easily solved, like catching mice in a warehouse.
Thanks to the Dragonite Sword suppressing the magical power rampage, there was no significant inconvenience in using magical techniques.
Moreover, the performance of this sword as a sword itself was exceptional, so I could easily cut down the same monsters without much difficulty.
I thought that the difference in cutting power between a dull sword and a good sword wouldn’t be that great even if I increased the destructive power of the sword with magic power, but I was wrong.
As much as the money and effort I put in, the difference in the taste of cutting between a good sword and an ordinary sword with the same amount of magic power was greater than I thought.
I was enjoying a peaceful daily life after a long time, but the rumors I heard while going to and from the guild every day felt unsettling.
“Hey, did you hear about that? They say the Demon King’s power has gotten stronger again.”
“The number of mutated demons strengthened by the power of the Demon King seems to be increasing in the fortress.”
“It might be fine for now, but it will become dangerous if it continues like this for a few more years.”
The adventurers overheard a conversation in the guild waiting room.
It is said that the power of the Demon King grows stronger as time passes.
As the power of the Demon King strengthens, the demons become more powerful, and as the demons become more powerful, the threat to the kingdom increases.
When I first became an adventurer, the requests on the bulletin board for subjugating bronze-grade demons and silver-grade demons were almost evenly split. But these days, the requests for subjugating demons of silver grade or higher have increased to about 70-80% of the total.
There were no requests on the guild’s bulletin board that required a minimum of gold grade.
That doesn’t mean there are no difficult requests, but it’s because the highest rank for ordinary adventurers is silver or something similar.
In my opinion, reaching the gold rank was like entering a hall of fame for adventurers.
Of course, when you become a gold-ranked adventurer, you can act as the leader of a large-scale subjugation force summoned by the kingdom or qualify to participate in various important matters.
There are cases where gold-ranked adventurers, like Mireia, reach the pinnacle with overwhelming power alone, or like Algott, become guild masters as gold-ranked graduates, or even venture into politics.
After realizing such reality, I lost my desire to be promoted to gold rank.
I heard from here and there that the promotion process is very complicated and difficult.
Although I’m a little tempted by the rarity of the gold adventurer badge, it seems like it would just bring unnecessary trouble.
While I was thinking such thoughts, the adventurers in the waiting room shifted their focus to the topic of the hero.
“But still, that hero has finally set off on an expedition to defeat the Demon King, so it will be resolved soon, probably.”
“That guy who was involved in all kinds of shady things at the Central Church. But still, a hero is a hero.”
“But because of what he has done so far, who knows what will happen to that hero after he defeats the Demon King.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard that because the hero has done too many despicable things, there seems to be a commotion even in the royal palace. After defeating the Demon King, he won’t be a hero anymore. He could be sent to prison or even have his head chopped off, it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s… what goes around comes around.”
I see.
The hero set off on a quest to defeat the Demon King…
For a while, the rumors about the trashy hero who wouldn’t stop had quieted down, but I guess it was because he left to subdue the Demon King.
But just how strong is this hero?
I’m not a hero, so I don’t really know, but I recall the overwhelming aura that Queen Ludmilla displayed in Einblad.
And the sight of Bloodstain, one of the Demon King’s direct subordinates, facing off against Milaia and Horgak in the Horn Gorge.
To overcome all of that and reach the Demon King’s castle to defeat him, he must be an incredibly powerful being.
I wonder what kind of being the Demon King is.
With the extent of influence he has across the entire continent… could he kill someone like me with just a look?
I wonder what he looks like, a giant and grotesque monster? Or maybe someone emitting an overwhelming aura like Ludmilla.
Well, unless I become a hero in this world, I won’t know anytime soon.
If I knew how the Demon King and the hero started, I might not even want to become a hero.
* * *
“Wow…”
Upon receiving Mariel’s call that preparations were complete, I arrived at the Bellaforte Mansion and stood there with my mouth agape, looking at the mansion’s changed appearance.
It wasn’t that I was surprised by the fact that the mansion had transformed so neatly.
It was because the mansion hadn’t improved at all from its dilapidated state when I sold it.
The windows were still broken, and the garden floor was covered in charred marks as if some explosion had occurred.
At least minimal cleaning had been done inside the mansion.
The broken furniture and the piled-up dust disappeared completely.
However, the place was still messy, filled with strange and bizarre tools.
In one room, there were magical symbols drawn on the floor.
It was a scene that suited the name of a witch’s abandoned mansion rather than a magical research laboratory.
“Oh! Have you come! I’ve been waiting for you!”
Marie ran towards me with excitement as soon as she saw me.
And she started poking my chest and stomach with her index finger.
I’m not a fish or a fruit…
“…Well, I’ve come, but is it really safe?”
“What do you think of me! I am Marie, the greatest magical researcher on the continent!”
“Sigh…”
Seeing Marie’s excited expression, I feel a strange sense of dread.
But I remember the narration that says there must be something to gain by becoming her experimental subject, so I endure it.
Honestly, every time I see Marie, I can’t help but feel uneasy, as vivid memories of her failed teleportation magic, where she flailed her legs, come rushing back.
And so, Marie’s research began in earnest.
At first, it started with infusing magical power into the objects she instructed me to.
Ordinary stones, crystals, swords, branches, and various other objects were infused with magical power, and Marie observed them.
Marie seemed excited, with an expression that said she found it fascinating every time I infused magical power.
“Your magical power is truly fascinating! It’s as if it’s a mixture of half demon and half human magical power!”
She’s subtly sharp.
But I didn’t bother to explain how I ended up with this kind of magic power.
As Mariel’s experiments continued, I became more and more relieved.
I thought I would experience something extraordinary, considering the eccentric magician’s experiments, but they turned out to be surprisingly ordinary experiments.
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Experiments that were simple observations and checks, with no major consequences even if something went wrong.
If all the experiments were to end like this, it would truly be a profitable situation…
While experimenting and recording the results, Mariel handed me something like a gemstone-made dice.
“You! Can you transfer the magic power embedded in this object to the one next to it?”
It seemed that this object, shaped like a dice, was imbued with magic power.
As instructed by Mariel, I closed my eyes and tried to feel the magic power embedded in the object.
The sensory perception of magic power allows me to feel the color of the magic power embedded in the object.
Ordinary people feel blue magic power, the magic power I felt in Ainblad was red.
The magic power imbued in this dice was closer to red, but unlike what I felt in the magic stone prison in Ainblad, the color was very faint.
I focused my mind on the magic power contained in the dice and tried to gradually transfer it to the object next to it.
Since it wasn’t my own magic power, it was difficult to control, but as I concentrated my mind, I could feel the magic power slowly transferring to the object next to it.
It was a bit challenging, but it wasn’t impossible.
After transferring all the magic power embedded in the dice to the object Mariel wanted, she trembled all over.
“You… You… You’re truly a special human!”
“Me?”
“That object contains the magic power of a demon! The fact that you can move that magic power… my eyes were not mistaken!”
“W-what… what do you mean…”
“Let’s just try one experiment! Come outside for a moment!”
I followed the excited Mariel out into the spacious garden of the mansion.
What on earth is she planning to do?
Mariel positioned me in the center of the garden and spoke.
“I’m sure you can do it! I’m going to throw a fireball at you now! Try to take control of the magic and neutralize it!”
“Wait…what did you say?”
“Then let’s begin!”
As Mariel raised her index finger towards the sky, a blazing fireball appeared.
Without any hesitation, she pointed her finger at me, and the massive fireball started flying towards me.
“No, wait! Mariel, what are you doing? aaah!”
Boom!
The fireball exploded with a loud noise.
I barely managed to dodge it and threw myself to the side.
Mariel shook her head and said.
“No, that’s not it! I want you to control my magic and neutralize it! Don’t try to avoid it!”
“But if I fail, I could die!”
“It’ll be fine! You’ll just get a little burn! Anyway, let’s try again!”
Mariel summoned another massive fireball and started throwing it at me.
Now she’s showing her true colors, this psycho witch.
Boom!
I leaped to the side, avoiding the fireball once again.
Mariel frowned with discontent.
“That won’t do! We won’t make any progress like this! Ugh!”
Mariel suddenly extended her palm towards me and began using a strange spell.
After a moment, my senses started to dull, and I couldn’t move my arms and legs properly.
“Um, Mariel? What did you do? I can’t feel my arms and legs!”
“I just temporarily numbed your senses because you were disrupting the experiment! Don’t worry!”
“What…?”
“Well then, let’s go again!”
Mariel summoned another fireball.
I became a body unable to move, with no feeling in my arms and legs.
At this rate, I would be hit directly by the fireball she threw.
“You can do it! Focus on the magic concentrated in my spell and try to control it!”
“Wowww!”
The large fireball Mariel threw came flying towards me, blazing and sizzling.
* * *