Retire 345
by Cristae345 A Blessing Upon You (4)
“But even if it’s an automaton, it doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s magic, isn’t it?”
“Magic isn’t omnipotent!”
Saying that while using magic…
Still, I understood what Kim Chaemin was getting at. The automatons of Noah Michel I’d seen were, at best, devices that executed programmed commands precisely. They didn’t become Henry Lehmann.
What do you even call that? What Kim Chaemin fought was undoubtedly Henry Lehmann. I’d never met the man before, but the way he spoke, moved, and thought—those were not things a mere golem born of magic could do. And then, as soon as the magic was broken, he reverted to a wooden puppet…
“Hm, the core is deeper inside. What a needlessly vast dungeon.”
As soon as Kim Chaemin finished checking the dungeon’s interior with his vines, we started moving. We’d all agreed that it was best not to linger here.
None of the monsters inside the dungeon were particularly powerful. But seeing dozens of bizarre crustaceans crawling across the floor wasn’t good for anyone’s mental health. Even so, Kim Chaemin grimaced as he checked the monsters that Hong Seokyeong and I had subdued.
He was searching for traces of Noah Michel.
If there had been any lingering pattern of Noah Michel’s magic, I would have noticed it right away. Still, I waited patiently, wondering if an archmage might have other ways.
Kim Chaemin tilted his head.
“Did you find anything?”
“They’re definitely not monsters. If I had to say, they’re more like golems…”
His voice was tinged with distaste.
“…I need to look a little closer.”
“Any guesses?”
“I’m not certain.”
Kim Chaemin hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
“It seems like Noah Michel… was conducting some very interesting research.”
“Interesting?”
“Analyzing Noah Michel’s magic again…”
Kim Chaemin suddenly stopped speaking.
“……”
The color that had just started to return to his face drained away once more.
Even Hong Seokyeong, who’d been sulking all this time, seemed worried and checked on him, albeit cautiously.
“Mr. Kim?”
“……”
“Mr. Kim!”
“Shit!”
With a curse that was almost a scream, Kim Chaemin threw down the vine he’d been holding. The magic snapped.
“Run!”
“What?”
“Let’s get out of here!!”
Without looking back, he started running.
He wasn’t the sort to pull this kind of trick for no reason. Both Hong Seokyeong and I, faces twisted in distaste, hurried after him.
Rumble…
And only a few seconds later, we understood why Kim Chaemin had acted as he did. The ground began to shake.
Why do all dungeons collapse from the bottom up? This is why you don’t go underground! Damn it, is that why dungeon cores are often found below ground? So they can collapse the place and kill intruders if necessary?
Kim Chaemin ran as hard as he could, but he started to fall behind. Before I could pick up my pace, I grabbed him and slung him over my shoulder.
“Argh!”
“Mr. Kim, you should join us for morning runs.”
“Morning runs? Why?!”
“Do some laps around the field.”
“No way!”
“What if you can’t outrun the kids?”
“…I’ll use magic to manage somehow!”
But soon enough, Kim Chaemin started pounding my back with his fists.
“Run! Get us out of here, now!!”
The walls began to collapse. I knocked falling rocks aside with my spear.
The explosions seemed to go on forever.
“Pfft!”
Water sloshed over the edge of the bathtub. As the water pooled on the floor, soaking her feet, the long-haired blonde woman frowned.
“Ugh, cough. Water went up my nose.”
“Idiot.”
“Noah? When did you get here?”
Noah Michel turned away, eyes cold as ice, and left the bathroom. Henry Lehmann watched the swaying golden hair for a moment, then snickered.
He gave his hair a rough rub with a towel, and in an instant it was dry, as if he’d never been in the water at all. With a towel draped haphazardly over his pigeon-gray hair, Lehmann emerged from the bathroom and waved at Michel, who was heating water.
“I want coffee.”
“Make it yourself!”
“So cranky.”
“Do I look like I’m not pissed off?!”
“Why? I stalled for you, just like you asked.”
Lehmann eyed Michel’s tea instead of coffee. Before Michel could react, Lehmann deliberately slurped the tea, making a loud noise.
Michel glared even more fiercely at him, but Lehmann didn’t so much as blink.
Michel spoke in a sharp voice.
“If that mage was there, you should have come out immediately.”
“The Rose Lady? I had to stall even longer because she was there.”
Lehmann gulped down the steaming tea as if it weren’t even hot. Michel fetched a new teacup.
“Look, Noah. If that mage had had enough time to analyze the remains, that would’ve been a bigger problem. That mage girl—she’s a lot more capable than she looks. It was a good show.”
“……”
“That’s why I kept them busy until Pompeii could be activated.”
“You failed.”
“I’m telling you, that mage is talented! She used three unique magics in succession. Noah, have you ever seen that before?”
Lehmann suddenly stood and bowed over the island counter toward Michel. Through his thick, gray hair, his eyes looked black. But as his voice rose, a golden ring appeared around his irises.
Michel grimaced and pushed Lehmann’s face away. Lehmann blinked, then grinned. The gold faded from his eyes.
“Are you sure? They were all unique magics?”
“The magic was powerful enough to alter the dungeon’s structure—if it wasn’t unique magic, you’d be in even more trouble.”
“…Is that so.”
“Anyway, I stalled as long as I could. It wasn’t quite enough, but if I’d waited any longer, I wouldn’t have made it out…”
A faint twitch flickered at the corner of Michel’s eye.
Turning away from Lehmann, Michel added milk and sugar to his tea. A mage who hated humanity but was revered by humans didn’t know how to deal with them. Lehmann hid his smirk and raised his voice in mock indignation. If you only listened to him, he sounded like the most wronged man in the world.
See, Noah? You should have listened to Alex. If you hate humanity, you should have abandoned your humanity long ago.
Like I did.
“Until I left, Hong Seokyeong and his apprentice were busy smashing up the remains without a clue… so the mage girl probably didn’t have much time to look around.”
Lehmann’s voice was at once like a rain-soaked foxtail and sweet as honey.
“So I really did my best.”
“……”
“I wasn’t slacking off—I worked hard. Aren’t you going to thank me? If it hadn’t been for the mage girl, I might not have made it. If I’d run into Hong Seokyeong, I might not even have left a corpse.”
This, at least, was sincere.
He hadn’t expected Schneider and that dungeon to be wiped out in one blow. He’d thought he could keep them occupied for at least another week.
Lehmann reflected on having underestimated Hong Seokyeong’s strength. No, he hadn’t underestimated him—he’d simply misjudged what the man was capable of. When Alex had mentioned Hong Seokyeong and told him to try to survive… he should have realized.
‘Alex, for all his faults, never lies.’
“And thanks to that, you got to test your doll, too.”
That seemed to pique Michel’s interest.
As Michel turned back to Lehmann, teacup in hand, the irritation on his face had clearly lessened.
Ah, blessed be the human heart! Lehmann struggled to keep his lips from curling up.
No matter how much Noah Michel tried to resist, as long as he remained human, there was no escaping it.
“…How was it?”
The desire for recognition from others.
‘Does Noah still have that kind of adorable side?’
Lehmann corrected himself.
‘Or maybe it’s just the urge to confirm one’s own achievements… That’s probably more accurate.’
It was proof that, in the end, Noah Michel was still a human mage.
“You’d know the improvements better than I would.”
Whatever he was thinking inside, on the surface, Michel looked as docile as could be.
Lehmann sat quietly on a stool, hunching his back. With Michel standing tall and aggressive, he wanted to seem no more threatening than a big dog with its tail tucked.
“And besides that? Honestly, it was more than I expected. Not to disparage your magic…”
“It’s not a finished product.”
“Right. You know what I mean? But even as it is, it’s good enough to get inside. As for run time… maybe an hour?”
“If you load physical data?”
“Fifteen minutes. Combat… that depends on how hard I push it. If I go all out like this time, it won’t last five minutes.”
“Because the opponent was an archmage?”
“Exactly. That mage didn’t subdue me right away because she was being cautious. That’s why I lasted as long as I did. The compatibility was bad, too.”
“Compatibility? Oh. The sea.”
“Roses don’t bloom underwater. Like I said, if Hong Seokyeong had been there, I’d have died on the spot.”
Michel nodded.
“But if it’s destroyed while you’re inside, you can’t do anything about dying, can you?”
“I could, but then there’s no point in making the doll and overlaying it.”
“No point?”
“It’d be no different from sitting here, watching a screen and controlling it. I could do that much anyway.”
“Ah, I see… Still, even this is pretty impressive. But you can’t leave the dungeon, right?”
“Not three months—three minutes, and I’d be dead.”
“That’s a problem.”
Lehmann chuckled.
“Ah, but this really isn’t enough. I just finished working—I need caffeine.”
“…Who said you could—never mind, forget it.”
Michel looked like he was about to snap, but gave up quickly. Long experience had taught him that raising his voice would only tire himself out.
Lehmann hummed as he walked into the kitchen. He checked the water temperature and took a new cup from the cupboard.
As he pulled out the coffee beans, Lehmann said,
“If Alex were alive, could he have solved that part, too?”
“…It’s possible.”
“Being able to fly around dungeons like that—I was always jealous… Sometimes I wonder. Did he fake his death because he figured out your plan?”
“He might have.”
Michel acknowledged the possibility without emotion.
“Whatever. I hope he’s really dead, but even if not…”
“You think Alex might still be alive?”
“No. I just don’t care.”
The smell of coffee filled the air. Lehmann closed his eyes and savored the aroma.
“If he’s alive, he’s already been branded a traitor… so I’ll just catch him. Catch him and—”
“Catch him and?”
“I’ll dissect him.”
“You’re terrifying.”
Lehmann giggled.
But then he abruptly stopped laughing.
“Wait, how long has it been since I went in there?”
“Why?”
“I came straight from work. Sorry, Noah. I’ll have coffee next time. I’ve got to go!”
“What?”
Before Michel could say anything, Lehmann collapsed to the floor. The sturdy man with gray hair was gone, and in his place lay a wooden puppet, its surface rough and joints protruding.
Michel glanced between the puppet and the coffee on the table, frowning.
“Honestly… all useless.”
With a wave of his hand, the cozy, music-filled country kitchen vanished. The teacup in his hand disappeared as well.
Noah Michel stepped through a blue door and out of the dungeon.