***
“I never wanted something like revenge,”
Violyana said firmly.
Her face was already twisted with complicated emotions.
“But Delight, not knowing your true feelings, sought revenge.”
As Luciel continued speaking, Violyana’s expression grew increasingly darker. She finally spoke heavily.
“But when did things go wrong with Mana?”
Luciel’s story missed the crucial point about when Delight’s Mana started to go awry.
“Well, it seems it happened around the time when I was being avoided.”
I didn’t know either.
Despite his precarious state, Delight was making great strides. I just thought he had become incredibly strong.
“I only found out about Delight’s condition long after the symptoms had started showing.”
Delight had grown so hostile towards Luciel that he thoroughly concealed his Mana issues from him. Luciel found out only by accidentally witnessing Delight’s Mana going out of control.
“It happened right after I released him from confinement, during the time when Delight had gone missing.”
Unable to do anything against Luciel, Delight decided he needed to become stronger.
To achieve this, he first set the goal of earning as much money as possible, by any means necessary.
During this time, he signed up for an experiment that paid well, without knowing it was actually a dangerous human experiment involving mages.
“It was an experiment on mages’ Mana to create counterfeit magic stones.”
Only later did he realize what he had been subjected to and managed to escape from the laboratory.
He then began gathering allies and strengthening himself. Luciel found Delight after that.
At that point, Delight hadn’t yet realized the changes in his body caused by the experiment. The signs of his Mana going berserk only appeared some time later.
Ironically, because his Mana was so abundant and powerful, the side effects of the experiment didn’t show up immediately.
As a result, it took him too long to realize that the experiment had caused the problems with his Mana and the subsequent rampages.
When he started investigating the causes and solutions for the Mana outbursts, the laboratory had already vanished without a trace.
It seemed like the lab had been packed up and hidden elsewhere, making it impossible to find.
However, there was one strange thing. The land where the lab had been was completely barren, as if life could no longer exist there.
***
Who else in this world knows their dirty secrets and pettiness better than I do?
Even without evidence, there was no doubt in my mind.
It was the Ilnord Empire.
The experiments that the Ilnord Empire conducted in the past.
The Great Archmage Sherina was their silent accomplice.
Even if she didn’t know the horrific truth.
Even if I was just a puppet for them.
Everything I did only fueled their cruel deeds.
Great Archmage Sherina.
A grand and glorious title.
I had always believed that it suited me perfectly, that it was only natural.
There’s always tragedy in war, but as long as the war doesn’t stop, the strong will inevitably win, and the weak will lose.
And I was strong.
The wars I participated in always ended in victory.
Once the victory was secured, I would leave immediately.
I never paid any attention to what happened in the defeated lands after the war.
Not knowing the responsibilities I had to bear was my first mistake.
Thinking that those insignificant and trivial matters were not my concern was my second mistake.
My foolishness in not realizing that the people left behind were being used for the Ilnord Empire’s human experiments was my critical error.
‘If only I had known sooner…’
Claiming ignorance was no excuse.
If I didn’t know, I should have made it my business to know.
While I was busy showing off my greatness, the Ilnord Empire was committing inhumane experiments as the byproduct of my wars.
When I finally discovered the existence of the laboratory and witnessed the site myself, I painfully realized what I had done.
It was nothing short of my worst nightmare.
The horror was so unbearable that I had to live in a drunken stupor just to get by.
I wanted to atone, even if it cost me everything.
So after my final war, I abandoned everything and made my last farewell to Ilnord.
I destroyed the laboratory beyond repair and erased every trace of it to prevent any reconstruction of the data.
Even though I couldn’t save the people who had already fallen victim, I made sure that nothing like this would ever happen again.
I rendered everything irrecoverable.
And with my death, I thought it was all over.
‘But instead, they’ve been operating the laboratory even more meticulously.’
They never gave up on their atrocities; they kept committing them.
As a result, even my disciple fell victim.
The consequences of my actions came full circle, and in the end…
The life of the person I wanted to protect the most was now in danger.
Is this divine retribution?
At that time, the experiments they were conducting weren’t related to counterfeit magic stones.
Perhaps they started researching counterfeit magic stones after creating a new laboratory, once all their facilities were destroyed.
“It would be great if magic stones could be manufactured,”
Moreover, the Emperor of the Ilnord Empire had once mentioned something similar in passing.
Could it be that they had been planning to artificially create magic stones indefinitely since then?
Did they experiment on mages to achieve that?
“How dare they mess with my disciple?”
Whether they knew Delight was my disciple or not didn’t matter.
The only thing that mattered was that they dared to lay a hand on my disciple.
‘Now I understand.’
Merely destroying and eliminating the laboratory wouldn’t stop the Ilnord Empire’s atrocities.
Or perhaps the laboratories I knew of were just the tip of the iceberg.
Ultimately, only the destruction of the Ilnord Empire itself could end this vicious cycle.
“If there’s a darkest period in my life that I’d want to erase, it would be the time I spent as the Great Archmage.”
If I were to judge my past life with a ‘ding’ or ‘buzz,’ it would definitely be a buzz. If I had to score it, it would be zero.
The darkest period of all was my time as the Great Archmage.
But that dark period also made me the most knowledgeable about Ilnord’s dirty secrets.
In summary, if I could figure out the components of the counterfeit magic stones, I could find a way to solve Delight’s Mana outburst problem.
Knowing the method was enough. It didn’t matter how difficult it would be.
“It can be done.”
A smile naturally formed on my lips.
Why else would the Ilnord Empire have been so relentless in trying to kill me?
Because I was the person who knew best about the misdeeds of the Ilnord Empire.
So, I was confident.
But first, I needed to wake Delight.
“Undilarod. It’s supposed to stabilize Mana.”
“Isn’t that a weed?”
“Yes, but for mages, it’s also a medicinal herb.”
Oh, my pronunciation was quite clear just now.
I barely had time to be impressed.
“It’s a weed, so we should be able to find some in the garden.”
No matter how carefully it’s managed, we should be able to find at least a few plants.
I’ll let Luciel know that he can use Undilarod as a remedy for Zaire.
Thanks to Luciel showing up, I didn’t need to come up with an excuse, which was a relief.
Just as we arrived at the garden.
“Terdin?”
“I knew you’d come back.”
“Huh? You’re still here?”
Serdin was still there, and as soon as he saw me, he greeted me with a bright smile, as if he had been waiting all along.
“Is this the right one?”
“Huh? Uh, uh?”
The weed Serdin was holding was exactly the Undilarod I had been looking for!
Judging by his appearance, it seemed he had been searching all over the garden for this plant.
As I stared at him in surprise, Serdin, looking flustered, opened his mouth.
“Is this not it? Should I look again? I was pretty sure it was the right one.”
Since I didn’t say anything, Serdin misunderstood and anxiously started searching through the garden weeds again.
“No, no. This is it! Where did you find it?”
Therdin’s face brightened at my words.
“It was under that large rock over there.”
He pointed to a stone that had been placed under a tree as part of the landscaping. Without hesitation, I took small steps towards the spot he indicated.
Since there are many similar-looking weeds, it’s best to inspect them closely.
Let’s see.
As I leaned forward and examined the area, I noticed a few more plants that looked just like the one Serdin had shown me.
Their irregularly split shape was very similar to Undilarod.
The most definitive way to identify it was by lightly touching it with my hand…
“Ouch!”
“Careful, it’s prickly.”
As soon as I touched it, Serdin, startled, grabbed my hand to check if I was hurt.
But the slight pain didn’t matter.
This was definitely it.
The prickly sensation, like being stuck by thorns.
“That’s the one.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
Serdin smiled with satisfaction.
“Did I do well?”
“Yes! You did great!”
I gave him a thumbs-up. But Serdin wasn’t satisfied with just that.
“Aren’t you thankful?”
Serdin asked playfully with a grin.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Very, very thankful indeed.
I made a note to repay him for this kindness in the future.
“If you ever need anything else, just ask.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll take care of it for you!”
Serdin said confidently, thumping his chest.
Since he was offering to do anything, I had no reason to refuse.
“Great!”
I carefully tucked the Undilarod, which Serdin had given me, into my arms.
Despite being more commonly known as a simple weed, it was now a valuable find for me.
And I made a vow.
“Thank you.”
Whether you had other intentions or not, I would never forget what you did today.
