Water Magician

Chapter 130: Genius Alchemist

Extra chapter thanks to MW.

When Ryo and Sera were ordering a cake set at the long-established cafe 『Cafe de Chocolat Capital Branch』, a male Swordsman came into the store and sat at the table next to Ryo.

“Does Abel like this store too?”

“I won’t treat you even if you sit there, you know?”

“I’m not thinking of having my junior treat me!”

Sera called out to him, Ryo refused before he was asked, and Abel yelled back in a whispering voice … skillfully.

“I see … so you’re trying to get Sera to treat you.”

“I think Abel makes quite a lot of money, but … I don’t mind.”

Ryo was astounded while Sera shook her head but agreed to treat Abel.

“No, like I said, I’m not here to get you guys to treat me! I just came here to thank you for the matter just now. Thank you for stopping us.”

Abel bowed his head as he said that.

“Abel is thanking us honestly … Oh, you say thanks honestly when Sera is around. I wish you were always that honest.”

“Eh, doesn’t Abel usually convey his thanks this honestly?”

Ryo teased Abel and Sera asked while tilting her head.

“Yeah. Serious. It’s totally troubling. If only he’s a little more honest … right, Abel, there’s a good way to express your thanks. It’s to give me money. Come on. I am open to receive anytime, any amount you want to give. I’m ready!”

Ryo’s tease went a little too far and Abel snapped.

“Yeah, I thought I’d introduce you to a wonderful alchemist as a token of my gratitude, but I’ll refrain from doing so now!”

“I’m sorry, Abel. Abel is such a wonderful person!”

“Fufu. I’ll never get tired of watching you two.”

Ryo made an 180⁰ reversal after Abel snapped. Sera just laughed.

“Haa … Forget it. The alchemist is Baron Kenneth Hayward. He’s still young, but he’s a genius alchemist who represents the royal capital.”

With a big sigh, Abel decided to introduce him.

“Baron … Abel, I have not really talked to a lot of aristocrats …”

“You’re saying that now? Well, it’s okay. Kenneth was originally a commoner, a man who became an aristocrat with his extraordinary alchemical skills and achievements. And he’s from the City of Rune. Doesn’t ring any bells? The house that you bought …”

“House? The former owner, whose son was an engineer, became an aristocrat in the royal capital and called his parents … No way!”

“Yeah, that’s right. His family was the former owner of that house. When I drank with him a while ago, I told him about Ryo. He was grateful that you bought it for the full amount immediately and he would love to discuss a little about alchemy too. But don’t bother him too much because he’s busy and a core pillar of the country when it comes to alchemy.”

Abel warned him in advance.

“It’s okay. I just have some questions to ask and would like it if he could point me to an introductory book at my level … I’ll start full-time studying after I return to the City of Rune.”

Ryo had inherited an alchemy notebook from the Assassin leader, Hassan, but he could not understand the contents.

However, he didn’t want to show that notebook to others.

That was because Hassan entrusted it to Ryo to inherit his will.

Ryo had to improve his alchemy skills so that he could understand the contents of that notebook.

He was determined.

“That’s fine. His workplace is the Royal Alchemy Workshop. The location is … hard to explain. I’ll get in touch with him today, so come to my place tomorrow morning. I’ll take you there.”

“Okay, so where is Abel staying?”

“I’m staying at the Kingdom Magic Institute. It’s about two blocks from here.”

Abel explained the location of the institute.

Ryo and Sera listened to him while enjoying their cake.

“Did Abel order anything?”

“Nope, he kept occupying the seat without ordering anything …”

“Ah……”

Sera calmly commented, Ryo pointed out the problem, and Abel was stunned.

After that, it went without saying that Abel ordered the cake set properly.

After the three of them finished eating their cake sets, talked a little, and then left the store, they heard a voice from a distance.

“Sera-sama.”

Looking over, he was one of the Knights who came from Rune with Sera.

“Everyone, she’s here!”

The call gathered the knights scattered all over the place.

“It looks like they were looking for you, Sera.”

“Yeah.”

Ryo spoke to Sera next to him and she nodded.

“We finally found you, Sera-sama.”

“Did something happen, Eden?”

Eden was the captain of this transport unit.

Eden handed the letter he had in his hand to Sera and said.

“After we returned to the Margrave’s residence, we received this letter addressed to Sera-sama … It seems to be a letter from the 『Autonomous Region』 and we were asked to hand it over as soon as possible.”

When Sera received the letter, she opened it on the spot and began to read it.

“Autonomous Region?”

Ryo asked Abel, who was standing next to him, in a whisper.

“The elves that live in the Kingdom live in the commonly-called 『West Forest』 in the west of the Kingdom and are granted autonomy by the Kingdom. So the 『Autonomous Region』 located in the capital is the King’s contact point for the 『West Forest』. Eight years ago when I was in the royal capital, I recall there were only two elves residing in the autonomous region …”

Abel explained very politely.

After reading the letter, Sera supplemented Abel’s explanation.

“In the last five years or so, the Autonomous Region had expanded and the number of elves staying in the royal capital had increased. I hear that more than a dozen of them have been training by joining the Knights and Magic Corp. This time, it is also related to that.”

Sera said and, after thinking a little, she continued.

“Simply put, when they heard that I was coming to the royal capital, the elves in the Autonomous Region wanted to practice with me. And at the same time, the Elder also came to the royal capital for some reason. … The timing seems to be a little too convenient.”

After thinking for a moment, Sera glanced at Ryo and Abel. And she pondered further.

After 20 seconds, perhaps she concluded as she opened her mouth.

“Let’s go together, Ryo and Abel. That would probably be a lot better in many ways.”

After saying that, she started walking briskly.

“Eh?”

“Um, Sera?”

Both Abel and Ryo were confused but nevertheless followed Sera.

After that, only the party of Knights of Rune was left with relieved expressions.

The three walked toward the 『Autonomous Region』.

With Sera in front, the two men follow her.

On the way, they passed through a large square with a magnificent statue of a knight with a sword pointed at the sky in the center.

Abel explained as he noticed Ryo glance sideways.

“That is the statue of King Ashton, the founder of the Kingdom.”

“It’s a fine statue him in knight’s armor …”

“Well, King Ashton was a knight before he built the kingdom, so it’s not a mistake. That’s why the royal family’s surname is Knightley and the country’s name is Knightley for generations. It’s a knight’s country.”

Abel nodded heavily and explained.

“A Knight becomes the King … huh, don’t tell me he killed the King and usurped the throne …”

“No!”

Abel sharply retorted Ryo who sounded like he had noticed something that should not be noticed.

“He received permission from the country he was serving to establish a country here.”

“The country he served?”

“Yes. According to legend, it was called the Grand Empire Babylon.”

“Babylon …”

Ryo muttered and was at a loss for words.

『Babylon』 … It was one of the two giant ancient empires, along with 『Canaan』!

Both were names that appeared in the Old Testament …

Babylon, hostile to God.

Canaan, the land of promise of God.

Their cultural backgrounds were the exact opposite … polytheism or monotheism. Devilish or angelic?

It was a name that brought such magnificent meanings.

Interestingly, the word 『Babylon』 meant 『Gate of God』 in the Akkad language but was negatively referred to in the Old Testament because of that country.

But even if that fact was ignored, anyone could derive just one fact.

It was that the one who named the Grand Empire Babylon was undoubtedly a reincarnated person.

Of course, it was not hard to imagine that they had Chuunibyo syndrome either.

Thinking that far, a sudden question passed through Ryo’s head.

“You mentioned that King Ashton was allowed to build a kingdom here … where was that Grand Empire in the first place?”

When Ryo asked, Abel replied with the index finger of his right hand.

“Sky.”

“Yes?”

Ryo’s reply was crazed.

“The Grand Empire was said to have been a floating continent.”

(Such a fantasy! This is the proper way for fantasy and the right way!)

“I-is that floating continent still floating somewhere in the world …?”

Abel’s reaction to Ryo’s excited questioning was calm.

“It’s just folklore. A story from thousands of years ago. I’ve never heard of the discovery of a floating continent … so I wonder.”

“Of course! In such cases, a floating continent or a castle in the sky would always be in thick clouds and cannot be seen from the outside!”

Ryo told Abel naturally.

“I-is that so.”

Abel was pushed by his intensity.

They then heard Sera who was walking in front of them.

“The folklore of the floating continent was also passed down within the Elves. It depends on which elder came to the royal capital … If you’re lucky, you might be to ask them about it.”

Her words made Ryo’s face brighter.

“Wonderful! As expected of Sera. Compared to Abel …”

“What! I’m not at fault.”

“By the way, Abel, during the battle with the Hero, Rihya was sitting down. Is she okay?”

When Ryo said that, Abel replied with a slightly sunken expression.

“Yeah. That Fire-Attribute Magician suddenly fired magic at me. Rihya prevented it with a <Sanctuary> … the flames were extinguished but the magic momentum remained and she was blown to the wall. For now, she has recovered with potions, but she returned to her church and is resting at the Sanctum.”

Abel started speaking with a depressed expression, but by the time he finished speaking, he had a vexed expression.

He couldn’t accept how his lack of awareness caused Rihya to suffer injury.

“I see. Oh, now that you mention it, there was a young man who looked like a Magician on the road. I guess that’s the Fire-Attribute Magician. Well, Fire-Attribute Magicians are like that. I’m considering it would be good to just freeze all of them.”

“No, I think that’s a little …”

Naturally, Abel couldn’t agree with Ryo’s radical opinion assuming all Fire-Attribute Magicians to be the same as the one in the Empire.

“It seems that the incident was caused by that child who was their guide, but she disappeared after the battle … After that, they split up to search for her.”

“I’m sure the stupid 『Fire-Attribute Magician』 was led by the nose. It’s what we call the Badger Game or Honey Trap in my hometown. It would probably be effective for foolish Fire-Attribute Magicians.

Ryo emphasized the foolish 『Fire-Attribute Magicians』 part very much.

“Yeah, I realized once again how much Ryo hates Fire-Attribute Magicians.”

Immediately after that, they arrived at the 『Autonomous Region』.

There was a section of aristocratic mansions lined up.

“Before, it was an ordinary house …”

Abel looked at the buildings of the Autonomous Region and muttered softly.

The Autonomous Region was three-story stone buildings on all sides surrounding a large cobblestone courtyard.

Ryo thought it looked like the Somerset House in London, which often appeared in movies.

“They moved here to make the building larger. It was apparently the site of a fallen count’s residence. I also preferred that cozy Autonomous Region.”

Sera replied with a bitter smile to Abel’s mutter.

At that time, Ryo suddenly felt the sun go dark.

However, when he looked at the sky, there was no cloud.

Seeing Ryo, Sera looked at the sun closer.

“It’s an eclipse. The sun is eclipsing.”

“Partial solar eclipse …”

In response to Sera’s words, Ryo’s body tensed.

Ryo remembered what happened during the total solar eclipse in Rune.

It was that event that led to the battle with the Akuma Leonor in the 『Sealed Corridor』.

He was worried that he might be caught in the 『Sealed Corridor』 once more … but nothing happened this time.

Seeing Ryo, Sera said with a slight smile.

“Ryo, it’s okay, there is no dungeon in the royal capital.

Sera misunderstood a little.

Conversely, Abel muttered when he heard it.

“Dungeon? Great Tidal Bore?”

It seemed that Abel did not yet know the relationship between the solar eclipse and the Great Tidal Bore.

The Sanctum of the Royal Capital.

A man in a white priest’s robe was going down the stairs to the basement.

The basement of the royal capital sanctum was a huge underground tomb where preceding great priests, saints, and saintess rest.

The man went down the stairs to the lowest fifth-floor basement and opened a door that required a special key.

As he was told, it was not locked.

At the location as instructed, what the man took out of his bosom was what looked like a fist-sized crystal ball.

However, if examined closely, something that looked like purple smoke was moving around inside the crystal ball.

The man placed it on the floor and passed magic through a necklace that hung from his neck.

The necklace was a disposable undead avoidance necklace.

It was disposable and very expensive, but it lasts for two hours and almost all undead would not target him for the duration.

It was not something an ordinary priest could get.

However, the man did not hesitate to activate the necklace and then pass magical power through the crystal ball.

Then, the sound of shattering glass echoed around him.

The crystal ball did not break, but purple smoke spewed out to the extent that it seemed to have been compressed inside, covering the area.

After a while, undead, mainly skeletons, emerged from the smoke.

In the thousands.

Thousands of undead spawned as they fill the fifth-floor basement.

“It was earlier than planned, but it can’t be helped. Fufufu, this will destroy the sanctum and the royal capital will be in turmoil.”

The man’s lips twisted in a grin and he muttered to himself.

But his mutter froze.

Behind the undead, another being appeared.

“Why … only undead should appear.”

With the flash of a hand … the man’s head was sliced off, and those were his last words.