[360] Magic Association (6)
Sirone took a carriage to the Magic Association. My head was still tingling from how many honey chestnuts I had hit.
Flew sneered and said as she pouted her lips as she cradled the metal box in her arms.
“what? Do you feel bad about getting hit? So who would jump into the scene without permission? Do you know what the matter is? Using magic by someone without a wizard license is against the laws of the kingdom.”
“I’m sorry about that. But people almost died.”
Flew couldn’t argue with that either.
“Hey, that’s it, and this is this. You were determined to take responsibility anyway. Then don’t mumble.”
Since it was true, Sirone kept her mouth shut. Most of all, the terror I experienced today completely changed the image of Baska that I had so far.
“I’ve heard about Radum.”
Flew, who had been looking out the window with his chin on his chin, looked away.
“My classmates from school used to live there. They said it was a terrible place.”
“Hmm, yes. Because the residents of Radum are banned from economic activities.”
“Why does the kingdom just leave such a place unattended? Terrorism is obviously bad, but can’t we find a more peaceful solution?”
Flew was silent for a long time before opening his mouth.
“You… do you know what happens when there are no trash cans in the house?”
“yes? A trash can?”
“Eventually, the whole house becomes a trash can. But in reality, it’s always clean because there are trash cans. Radum is such a place. The capital’s garbage cans. They don’t do anything productive, but they are valuable just for being there. That’s why even nobles can’t get rid of it.”
“But that’s…”
“I know what you’re thinking, but don’t bother saying it. Beliefs are not something that can be forced. If you have a certain belief, you can achieve it yourself.”
Sirone bowed his head sullenly. It seemed that discussing an ideal that could not be practiced was not applicable in the world of professionals.
“But today’s events will make politicians think a little differently.”
Sirone raised her head again.
“Bat imitation is a unique ability of vampires. However, cases of manifestation in broad daylight have not yet been reported in the academic world. Something is changing within Radum. Whether it’s species improvement or fusion…”
It was definitely a possibility.
Radum is an area inhabited by numerous sub-species who have fled from the continent. If living organisms can be experimented on, there is no better place for experimentation than this.
Sirone turned his head out the window. The scenery of the capital was splendid no different from when I first came. But now there was a shadow in his eyes too.
light and darkness. That too would be a law determined by each other referring to each other. However, Sirone did not know which came first.
* * *
Crossing the front gate of the Magic Association, Fleur turned to Sirone.
“I’ll report back, so go to the engine room and bring the stuff to the maintenance team. And stay still! Don’t leak anywhere else!”
Apart from running errands, I’ve never been anywhere else. However, Sirone also turned away, thinking that it would be like that now. I was cautious in walking to the engine room, fearing that any items might be damaged.
Fortunately, the maintenance team inspected the item and determined that there was nothing wrong with it.
Fleur arrived in front of Sirone, who let out a sigh of relief and left the engine room. His expression became colder than before, as if he had heard what he was saying to his superior.
“Looking over there, it’s over…!”
“Oh really!”
Fleur slammed Sirone in the head.
“ouch! Why do you keep hitting me on the head!”
Sirone had been patient enough, so he widened his eyes and got angry.
“I can’t live because of you! Do you know how much I struggled to stop this incident? Learn to be proud of yourself even if you don’t have a license!”
“I’m not bragging, but a person dies, so what do I do?”
“shut up! More than anything else, rumors spread that you came to the Association! This is a really serious problem. It seems that the president of the association wanted to meet you quietly, but I don’t know now!”
Sirone was also sorry about that.
“If you regret it now, it can’t be helped.”
“aha? It’ll stop when you go back, right? He was really determined to kill me! Follow me!”
Fleur grabbed Sirone by the ear and dragged her to the inn. Slamming the door open, she shoved Sirone as if she were thrown into a prison cell, pointing her finger at her and shouting.
“Don’t take a step forward! I mean, stay as if you’re dead until it calms down.”
Sirone touched her tingling ear and frowned.
“Isn’t that too much? When to run errands?”
“Say that this was well done until the end…!”
Just as Fleur was about to shout a second time, Gando’s voice was heard from the hallway.
“What’s up with the flu?”
Fleur turned her head away with a look of regret.
“I don’t know, Gando-sama, this little boy…”
The words were cut off and Fleur’s body froze. Two people were following behind Gando, who was approaching with a worried expression.
Kang Nan, the chief secretary of the Magic Association.
And the person with the black fur coat over his shoulder was Mikea Gaold.
The moment he saw Gaold, Flew’s heart skipped a beat.
I knew you were returning today, but I didn’t even expect to see you here. The cases in which the president of the association came down to the third floor were only a handful of times after she took office.
‘Why are you here…?’
He would have taken Sirone on his own if he gave instructions, but he started looking for him from the third floor upon his return.
Above all, it was before he had to fix the mistake Sirone had made. The fact that rumors of Sirone’s arrival spread to the Magic Association was unforgivable under any excuse.
Flew raised his head and shouted as his body remembered.
“army unit! attention!”
Gando rubbed his forehead and shook his head. Gaold, on the other hand, raised the corners of his mouth in interest.
“Is it that only my eyes can’t see it? What troops should I prepare when there is no one?”
“Ah… sorry! Stop being nervous!”
Kang Nan removed his face from Gaold and asked.
“Have you been okay? On the way, I heard there was an incident a little while ago.”
Flew said, eyes wide open, thinking that it was finally here.
“ah! I have something to report. At the scene of the recent terror attack, Sirone accidentally…”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Gaold cut off his words in annoyance and walked past Flew. Flew’s face, still in an immobile posture, hardened like a stone statue.
Sirone looked up at Gaold and swallowed.
It was taller than I had imagined. He was the strongest wizard in the kingdom, who had only heard about it through rumors and who had come here to arouse even more intense curiosity. Perhaps it was an illusion, but his body seemed huge enough to touch the ceiling.
Gaold raised a corner of his mouth and said.
“Are you Sirone?”
*Episode 3. The strongest wizard
Sirone finally boarded the long-awaited Magic Association elevator. However, the atmosphere was strange, so I couldn’t like it openly. I had to press the button to go anywhere, but no one was moving.
Gaold put his hands behind his back and looked at the dashboard showing the floor number. Kang Nan was meditating in the corner, and Jiandao couldn’t hide his embarrassment, as if Gaold’s side was burdensome.
‘Gaold-nim…’
In Fleur’s eyes, as she lowered her head, sadness and sadness coexisted.
Until now, I did my best not to tarnish the name of the Gaold Guards. But all her efforts are useless in front of the name Sirone.
Sirone’s name became known to the Association, and the fact must have reached the ears of the wizards who were keeping Gaold in check. Above all, this project was a once-in-a-lifetime construction that Gaold had prepared for 20 years.
But Gaold said:
-doesn’t care.
Feeling infinitely shabby.
He had admired him since his school days, and eventually joined the association and played for him for two years, but felt sorry for him that he was not worthy of Sirone, who was not even a formal magician.
Kang Nan opened his eyes and walked towards the panel.
“Then I will go down.”
Sirone put on a puzzled expression.
‘I’m going down?’
This is on the 3rd floor, so if you go down there is only 1st floor. I’m not going to take the elevator to the second floor.
Kang Nan took out the key, opened the board, and put his fingerprint on the glass plate. A thin light came on as it scanned, and the internal mechanism was ejected. It was a panel with a total of 36 buttons, six horizontally and six vertically.
Kang Nan took a deep breath and entered 24 patterns.
When approval was given, a woman’s guidance voice came from the ceiling.
-Go to the 10th basement floor. This is a Level 1 security area.
Gando and Fleur came to notice Gaold. Although they rode the lift together, it was entirely Gaold’s authority to decide how far they could accompany them.
“Hmm.”
Gaold didn’t care about that and looked at Sirone. Then, realizing that Sirone’s eyes were fixed on the panel, he burst out laughing.
“Are you curious?”
“yes? Ah yes. It’s my first time riding an elevator. Now I know that the password is locked.”
“He must have memorized it like a gentleman.”
“Oh no!”
Shirone, who hurriedly waved her hand, confessed after a while with a red face.
“yes. Actually…”
“Ha ha ha! You are thorough! Well, if you’re a wizard, that’s it. But it will be useless. Passwords change every day. Besides, what’s really important is that no one in the Society knows the password.”
Sirone tilted her head.
“Nobody knows? But just a moment ago, Mr. Kang Nan…”
“Yes, you entered the pattern correctly. But even Kang Nan doesn’t know what he pressed.”
Is that possible? Sirone asked himself.
“How could that be?”
“You store patterns in your unconscious, not your memory. It’s easy when you think of an instrument. If you practice the same song every day, your hands move before you think. It’s a similar principle. Kang Nan goes to a random password generator and looks at the pattern for about an hour each day. It’s important not to think about anything. Then I just press whatever my hand takes me to.”
Gaold pretended to press any button in the air.
“Of course, it is different from musical instruments, so training is required, but if you learn the skill, it is more secure than any other encryption system. The more you try to be conscious, the harder it is to remember.”
Sirone stuck out his tongue at the security system that transcended common sense. Just looking at the fact that the cryptographic system, which could not be learned from books, was already applied to the association, one could see the association’s technological prowess.
‘Very excited. Can’t you see that the president of the association is doing good for you?’
Fleur, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, glared at Sirone viciously.
Even he himself had never exchanged more than a few words with Gaold. However, Sirone was not enough to take me to the first level security area, but kindly explained the secrets of the encryption system.
The elevator went down through the first floor and into complete darkness. It was a miscalculation to think of the distance as about 10 floors above ground just because it was 10 floors underground. The elevator went down for about a minute and finally the door opened.
It was the first time for Flu and even Gando to come here, so I was naturally nervous. Waiting for Gaold and Gangnan to come down first, Flew looked around excitedly.
“Is this…?”
It was a huge colossus. The ceiling was as high as the sky, and the interior without even a pillar expanded completely unrelated to the area of the Magic Association building.
Even Sirone, who had been to places outside of common sense, couldn’t help but be surprised at the scale of the basement. The temples and heavenly buildings seen in the space-time of the labyrinth were great, but the emptiness of this place gave another sense of pressure.
‘But why did you come here?’
It was unnecessarily spacious for a place for an interview.
When Sirone looked back at Gangnan, she raised her glasses and explained.
“This is the largest area in the Magic Association. Although it is an empty lot, its durability is beyond imagination because it is used as a bunker. Besides, it’s one of the few places that are free from the magic control device. It’s built for a purpose, but when it’s not on display, it’s mostly used to demonstrate secrecy magic.”
“okay.”
The Magic Association was the place where all magic in the kingdom was analyzed, so at least one space like this had to exist.
Then, realizing that, Sirone looked back at Gaold with a surprised expression.
“Are you demonstrating magic?”
When Gaold looked back with a smile on his face, Sirone shook his shoulders.
His speculation heated up the air in the bunker. He was a completely different person from when he saw him from the elevator.
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