157 – Dungeon Exploration (3)
The sorcerer opened his eyes.
An ominous feeling ran down his spine. He felt as if someone was about to come and destroy his laboratory.
But he shook his head. It was impossible. The empire was in chaos due to the demonic incursion. They hadn’t even finished cleaning up, and his laboratory was located on the outskirts of the empire.
No idiot would come all the way out to these outskirts. There were demons lurking around, and there were no villages nearby, so the knights had no reason to come here to hunt demons.
It would be a problem if the demons went elsewhere… but that wouldn’t happen. The demons outside his laboratory were all drawn to the magic core he had created, so they had no intention of going anywhere.
So, he could rest assured and continue his experiments.
His endless creation of chimeras and opening of magic circles in the dungeon served only one purpose.
Immortality.
He had dreamt of immortality.
If he replaced his worn-out human body with the vibrant body of a demon, if he continued to swap his body in that manner, wouldn’t he be able to achieve immortality?
The reason he came to dream of immortality was simple. It was because he had grown old. It was because he wanted to further explore magic, to touch the furthest reaches of magic, but he did not have the time.
Since then, the magician had continuously created chimeras. He studied how to transplant parts of a demon’s body onto a human’s body.
Yes. He had not only created chimeras with demons. He had secretly kidnapped vagrants and orphans from the streets and began to experiment on them.
At first, it seemed that he was making progress.
There were no particular problems with the parts connected to the demon’s body. At first, there were cases of rejection where the body exploded, but after developing magic to stabilize the body, such things no longer happened.
However, there was a problem.
The mind.
According to his theory, since he was only replacing the body, the mind should remain intact. However, the chimeras he had created all suffered from mental collapse.
‘Why is the mind collapsing? Is it because it’s combined with the demon’s body? Is there some kind of toxin in the demon’s body that’s affecting the human mind?’
He continued to research. However, he could not find the answer.
He became impatient as he failed to make progress despite investing a considerable amount of time. No, he was already half-mad. This was because he could not find the answer no matter how much he researched.
If he were only 10 years younger, he would not have been so impatient. However, he knew that his own physical life did not have much longer. No, it was not just that he did not have much longer.
His body was like a candle in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished at any moment. He was somehow holding on by wrapping his body in magic power, but even that would not last much longer.
“No……. It can’t be. The path of the dark arts is so vast, I can’t possibly stop at this level…….”
He muttered, looking at the experimental table with nervous eyes.
-Kee-eeek!
He had lost count of how many this was. This time, too, it was a failure. He had successfully transplanted the demon’s body, but the mind had collapsed, causing it to lose its reason and be tied to the experimental table.
“Dammit.”
Boom!
The magician muttered and destroyed the experimental subject’s head with magic.
“Another failure, another failure.”
Evil bloodstains and corpses were scattered around him. They were all failures of similar experiments. Of course, the failures did not end here.
Outside his laboratory, chimeras made of demons were guarding the laboratory.
Is there no answer? What should I do?
Endless questions swirled through his mind, but still, no answer came.
He looked down at his hand with dull eyes.
Wrinkled skin. It was an ugly sight to behold. The moment he released the magic power that was circulating throughout his body, he probably would not even be able to support his own body.
He had no time, and he did not know how.
In that case, there was only one thing left……
To use this worn-out and decrepit body of his own for the experiment. That way, he would be able to figure out why the minds of those he had created chimeras with had collapsed.
This was a huge gamble. If he succeeded, he would be able to dream of immortality again, but…… if he failed, there would be no next time.
He did not hesitate for long. After all, whether he died this way or that, the result would be the same…… He would bet everything on one possibility.
He blocked all the pain from his body with magic and walked toward the place where the demon’s body parts were cut off.
Please, let me succeed. He carefully looked and began to remove his own body parts one by one and implant the demon’s parts. Even his internal organs.
* * *
Today was the day to go to the dessert café. I should go and explain the details of the errand to Aris.
……Well, I wondered if it was okay to leisurely go to a dessert café, but I had already finished most of the preparations anyway. I had already told Adrian and informed my father.
My father suggested taking the entire Order with me, but I flatly refused. I knew he was worried, but it would be a waste of manpower. Besides, if I relied too heavily on the Order, the growth of the truly important figures would be stunted.
They needed to gain experience. In a world where experience directly translated to tangible power, I couldn’t afford to squander opportunities for them to gain it.
I had intended to dress casually, but Asti insisted otherwise, fussing over my appearance to an unusual degree. She was jealous of me meeting other women, yet she was the one encouraging it.
Normally, one would be angry at such behavior… but then again, Asti was a being who had fallen from grace, from angel to demon. Perhaps she didn’t care much for human sensibilities.
No, but even so, she had been quite jealous at first… Perhaps it was because I had given her a definite answer.
Was it because of her unshakeable belief that she was my first? Now, she didn’t get as jealous when other women approached me. Of course, if I were to show more concern for another woman than I did for Asti, she would be angrier than before.
It wasn’t difficult to see why. So, I had to be careful in my actions. Asti always came first.
She wasn’t just a lover; she was someone who knew my secrets to some extent, a companion who walked beside me. I couldn’t treat her lightly.
From Noble mtl dot com
In any case, as I approached the academy gates, I saw Aris standing there in a beautiful dress.
Indeed, she was eye-catching. Even without her stunning appearance, Aris was already famous in the academy.
The fact that she had dressed up to this extent and was waiting for someone at the academy was enough to draw the attention of those around her.
“Ah, Prah!”
She must have spotted me too, because she called out with a bright smile. Her appearance was met with murmurs from the crowd.
– They seem to have made up completely?
– A fight between husband and wife is like cutting water with a knife.
– But isn’t there Asti too? Wasn’t he dating her?
– Maybe he’s dating both of them? Polygamy is allowed, after all.
– … He’s skilled too. Anyway, I thought Asti and Aris would have a huge fight.
– They look good together. He’s handsome, skilled, and high-ranking. It’s not just those two; I bet there are other girls who have their eyes on Prah.
– I’m envious.
– No, wait. Come to think of it, there’s also the Saintess. Wow… He’s really something.
– What on earth does he do that makes every woman he meets fall for him? He used to be all about Aris.
Those were the kinds of things they were saying.
Of course. To them, I must have seemed like an incredible womanizer. After all, the only ones they knew about were Asti, Aris, and Adrian.
In any case, I ignored their gazes and waved at Aris.
“Didn’t you come too early? I thought I was pretty early.”
“That’s how it’s always been. You may come early enough, but I come even earlier than you.”
“…That’s true. Let’s go. To the dessert café.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, you could have just come to my mansion instead of the dessert café.”
“Asti is at the mansion. I don’t want to deal with her.”
“You never cared about other people’s opinions before.”
“T-that was then. I’ve gotten pretty good at it now.”
“Really?”
As we entered the dessert café, I was once again struck by the unfamiliar atmosphere. It was like a different world, something I had only just begun to realize.
The menu, however, was familiar.
“So, what did you want to talk about that you had to call me out here?”
I asked Aris. Well, I had a pretty good idea what her intentions were. After all, there was only one reason why a woman would take a man to a dessert café, just the two of them.
A date.
“W-well…”
She trailed off at the end. Unexpectedly. I would’ve thought she’d be embarrassed about this kind of thing… Ah. Come to think of it, she had this same kind of reaction when she asked Ruslan out on a date in the original work.
“I was wondering if you’d… spend the day with me.”
“Okay.”
“I guess that’s a no… Huh?”
“It’s fine. I don’t have anything I particularly need to do anyway… I’ve pretty much finished everything I needed to do. So, is this a date?”
“U, uh? Oh, yes!”
“Do you have anything in mind for what we can do?”
“W, well, I just thought we could chat at a café and walk around the neighborhood. I don’t like crowded places.”
“I see.”
Perhaps because I accepted her offer for a date so readily, she started to relax a little and talked about this and that.
She talked about how she had too much homework, how she didn’t have as much time as she thought she would, and how it was a pain that exams were just around the corner before she knew it.
After some more mundane conversation and when we had almost finished our desserts, she took my hand and led me out of the dessert café.
Saying that she had something she wanted to talk about.