[V11C29] The Man with the Golden Ratio

In the Kingdom of Ridill, coffee houses were often social hubs for gentlemen to discuss politics, economics, and magecraft. Negotiating business deals was also common.

As such, many coffee houses provided a mailbox service in addition to serving coffee, as a remnant from a time when the public postal system was still developing.

Isaac often received personal mail from the private mailbox at this coffee house. This was the main reason he designated this particular establishment for his meeting with Clifford.

After retrieving the letters that had accumulated since his last time in Sazandol, Isaac departed the shop with Clifford.

It was currently midday in early summer, so the streets had many pedestrians. However, everyone seemed to be hurrying to their destinations.

This was likely due to the dark clouds and humid air, hinting at oncoming rain. It was only a matter of time before the showers came.

Meanwhile, Isaac pondered his next location.

(Monica is researching countermeasures against Gluttonous Zoe… In that case, she should be in the Mage Association.)

While Monica’s house had a decent set of research equipment, she was currently dealing with dark magic. Due to the specialized nature of that research, she likely required the research labs of the Mage Association.

Being in the Mage Association also allowed her to respond quickly in the case of an urgent message from the capital.

Either way, Isaac concluded that it would be best to visit Monica’s house first.

Even if Monica wasn’t home, Isaac possessed a spare key. And considering his prolonged absence from Sazandol, her house was likely in a sad state of affairs. He planned to clean things up and prepare a meal while waiting for Monica’s return.

(I hope Nero is there…)

Isaac intended to ask Nero about Monica’s current situation, such as if she was eating properly and getting adequate sleep. This was one area where Nero’s reports were more accurate than Monica’s.

“Walker, are you headed to Monica’s house?” Clifford asked once they had exited the stop.

Having reached exactly that conclusion, Isaac returned a nod.

“In that case, take that guy with you when you go,” Clifford continued, approaching Isaac with a sullen expression.

“That guy?”

“Monica’s second freeloader.”

“…Second? Who is the first supposed to be?”

Since Clifford did not know Monica’s identity, he seemed to regard her as ‘a reasonably wealthy magic geek.’ More importantly, what did Clifford mean by second freeloader?

“You know, that guy calling himself Bartholomew Alexander. He keeps coming over and saying ‘I’m bored, entertain me’ and stuff. Quite the nuisance.”

“…”

The Black Dragon of Worgan, which had once shook Ridill to its core, seemed to be having a lot of fun. How carefree could he get, especially after the ominous prophecy mentioning a black dragon.

“Sure, I’ll take care of it. I happen to have some business with him either way,” Isaac replied.

Clifford gave a silent nod, then started walking towards the Flux Company. Isaac followed after him, but he noticed several people watching.

Isaac had always been sensitive to the eyes of others, so he immediately recognized when people were staring at him. He had a habit of checking who was responsible and the emotion on their face.

Currently, he sensed four sets of eyes on him.

First, the lady behind him diagonally to the right. Isaac was a regular customer at her bakery, so she sometimes threw in a little extra. He turned out and gave her a slight nod in greeting.

Second, the girl selling flowers in front of the bakery lady. She was simply looking around for potential customers.

Third, the pair of young women on his right. Fourth, the group of three older women in front. Both groups seemed to be discreetly glancing at Isaac and whispering about him.

In addition, the pair of young women looked excited enough to approach him for a conversation.

Noticing the atmosphere of those women, Clifford sighed and began grumbling.

“I just can’t relax when I’m around you, huh? It’s like they can tell you’re a freeloader just by looking at your face. How about you try hiding it better?”

“One piece of advice. I tend to lose my cool when people insult my face. There will not be a second warning.”

Isaac glared at Clifford behind his disguise glasses. Clifford, however, did not back down in the slightest.

“You’re incredibly narcissistic,” Clifford said, meeting the glare with exasperation.

“Call it what you will,” Isaac retorted.

Right as he spoke those words, Isaac noticed someone staring at him from a different direction. However, the person in question shouted at him before he had the chance to check their identity.

“Walker! Anderson! Run!”

The voice came from a large, black-haired man running out of the alleyway to his left. It was Anthony.

An icy blade extended from the handle of the sword clenched in his hands. This was the magic sword technique he employed during combat.

Then, an object came flying out of the alleyway Anthony had come from. Isaac immediately recognized that this was an emergency, using his excellent eyes to grasp the object’s identity.

(…A brick?)

A set of five bricks had been launched at Anthony from the height of a two-story building.

Given the momentum behind each brick, a direct hit would result in serious injury. However, Anthony carefully knocked them down one by one with his sword of ice.

Most of the bricks broke apart once they hit the ground, but one remained mostly intact.

That single brick floated into the air, as if pulled up by an invisible thread, and was sent flying at the back of Anthony’s head.

On reflex, Isaac took the dagger hidden in his coat and used its hilt to knock the brick down to the ground. The brick shattered and went motionless.

(Someone is imbuing mana into these bricks to control them…?)

Imbuement magic was the school of magic used for enchanting substances with mana and manipulating them. The prime example being the plant manipulation used by the Thorn Witch for controlling vines.

The greater the mass of the object, the more difficult it became to manipulate. Lifting even a single brick required a considerable amount of mana and skill.

(Imbuement magic is said to be inefficient because of the high cost of mana and low power output, so only a few people use it in actual combat…)

While pondering this, Isaac shifted his gaze toward the alleyway.

The mage responsible was not visible, but he could see at least ten bricks floating in the air. Knocking all of them down would be a challenge.

Isaac drew a second dagger and braced himself, as Anthony slammed his ice sword into the ground and performed a chant. His spell created a wall of ice blocking passage through the alleyway.

At this point, the passersby began to notice the fight taking place, growing concerned.

“A dangerous mage is causing havoc! Evacuate!” Anthony shouted.

Upon hearing his warning, the civilians scattered in all directions.

Among them was Clifford, who had been next to Isaac just a moment ago. He was one of the quickest to ditch them and escape.

“Request assistance from the Mage Association!” Isaac shouted at Clifford’s back.

In response, Clifford raised a single hand without turning around. Hopefully he would actually go through with it.

Isaac turned to face the ice wall again. The bricks were visible in the air, having exceeded the wall’s height.

“Sorry about this, Walker. Lend me your strength.”

“Who’s the enemy?”

“A mage named Samuel Throth, who is a master of imbuement magic… He’s also using some strange magic that I’ve never seen before.”

“…Strange magic?”

Before Isaac could get a response, the bricks came flying over the ice wall.

Anthony went up front, swinging his blade to strike down the bricks. Meanwhile, Isaac took care of the bricks that were out of Anthony’s reach, making sure to thoroughly destroy each one.

While crushing a brick under his feet, Anthony shouted, “Watch out for the black spears! He got my brothers with those!”

Isaac had no clue what Anthony meant by ‘black spears’, but that doubt was quickly answered.

A black spear struck Anthony’s ice wall from the other side, leaving a giant crack. The wall stood tall during the onslaught of bricks, yet a single spear had all but destroyed it.

This was clearly a spell packed with high density mana, so Isaac’s ordinary weapons were powerless against it.

“It’s coming again!” Anthony shouted.

The ice wall collapsed, allowing dozens of bricks and black spears to fly through.

(The civilians have already evacuated, and we can’t hold our ground with only two people.)

Isaac analyzed the situation, before ultimately deciding to dive through the barrage of bricks and black spears and further into the alleyway.

If there was only one enemy, Isaac judged that it would be faster to defeat them than to buy time for reinforcements.

Anthony made the same decision, advancing forward while parrying the rain of bricks and black spears.

“Nwooooh!”

Anthony’s momentum was incredible. Not only was he quick on his feet, but his swordsmanship was incredibly accurate, shattering bricks and crushing black spears with each swing.

Non-magical weapons could not affect the black spears, so Isaac evaded them while knocking down the bricks as he advanced.

As they proceeded down the sloping path, their assailant eventually came into view. It was a man in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair, who looked poorly dressed and visibly worn-out.

But most importantly, there were dark shadows covering his entire body, some slithering across his skin, and some crawling above his clothes.

The black spears raining down on them had come from those shadows.

Only after seeing this did Isaac finally understand.

(Ah… So that’s what this is about.)

Isaac had not witnessed Gluttonous Zoe in action. All he knew was that the artifact could use dark magic for putting people in a coma and absorbing their mana.

Even so, it was easy enough to assume the connection based on all the information available.

(So this is Theodore Maxwell? …No, he isn’t carrying any sort of box. If the guy in front of us is Samuel Throth, then Theodore is…)

Isaac was aware of Theodore Maxwell’s presence, because he knew whenever someone was staring at him.

“There!”

Isaac threw the dagger in his right hand at the man on the roof behind him.

“Ahh! Wah! Uwah!”

The man rolled off the roof while letting out a pitiful scream. Isaac’s dagger failed to land a direct hit, but it seems the surprise attack had caused the man to slip.

Upon closer inspection, the man had messy reddish-brown hair and there was a black box in his hands.

(Found you!)

This man was undoubtedly Theodore Maxwell. He needed to be eliminated immediately.

But right as Isaac raised the dagger to strike, Anthony warned him with a shout.

“Coming on your right! Dodge!”

There was an object flying at Isaac from the right.

His left eye recognized it as a black spear, but the next instant, he felt a sharp pain in his right eye.

“Gah! Argh!!”

Isaac roared in pain, making a guttural sound that he couldn’t believe was coming from his own throat.

He swung his dagger at the spear lodged in his eye, even though he knew that non-magical weapons would have no effect. All the while, he felt something invading his body through his right eye.

“Walker!”

Anthony quickly destroyed the black spear with his magic sword, but unfortunately, his attempt to save Isaac had left him wide open.

Samuel Throth and Theodore Maxwell launched a rain of spears from two fronts. Evasion was no longer an option.

With his sword still in his hands, Anthony spread his arms wide to shield Isaac.

“Walker!! Run!!”

The spears impaled Anthony all over his body.

While he did not spill any blood, the shadows spread to cover his entire body, very similar to an expanding bloodstain.

Anthony ceased movement and fell to the ground with a thud.

“——Hah… Guh…! Argh…!”

Meanwhile, Isaac was breathing heavily, holding the wound on his right eye as he knelt on the ground.

Presumably, these black spears——or rather, the shadows that composed them——possessed the property of spreading throughout the target’s body from the point of contact.

Thanks to Anthony’s swift intervention, the corrosion of Isaac’s eye was kept to a minimum. His right eye was still too painful to open, but the feeling of the shadows invading his body was gone.

“How did you notice me watching from the roof? Your field of vision must be as wide as a herbivorous dragon.”

Theodore, the man holding a jeweled box, looked down at Isaac with a slight smile. His tone wasn’t malicious in the slightest; if anything, he sounded apprehensive.

The fact that he could speak so casually in this situation was chilling.

“HUNGRY! HUNGRY! OFFERING! OFFERING!”

Was that the voice of a child?

The jewels adorning the box in Theodore’s hands seemed to contain an eerie flicker. This must be the voice of Gluttonous Zoe.

Theodore stroked the box, as if soothing a child, and spoke in a relaxed tone.

“Dang, we spent quite a bit of mana. You seem to have plenty of mana though, so I guess this is good timing.”

Shadows spilled out of the box’s half-opened lid, spreading across the ground. Slowly but surely, they closed in on Isaac.

“Hey, blondie. What’s most precious to you?”

The shadows covered everything, and Isaac’s consciousness fell to black.

＊　＊　＊

Isaac awoke to the sound of falling rain.

(How long have I been unconscious…?)

The pain in his right eye had eased somewhat, but there was still a discomfort, like the skin around his right eye getting tugged at.

Enduring the severe nausea and fatigue, Isaac slowly lifted his body.

Next to him was the collapsed Anthony, his entire body consumed by dark shadows.

(He shielded me…)

The lingering regret ate at Isaac’s chest, but the rational part of his brain had already started analyzing the situation.

If reinforcements from the Mage Association or the city guards had arrived, both he and Anthony would have been transported to the Mage Association or a hospital.

Considering how they were still lying on the ground, it was reasonable to assume that not much time had passed.

Though he felt sorry to leave Anthony behind, Isaac needed to escape as quickly as possible. As a duke traveling incognito, he could not afford to be found collapsed in an alleyway.

Isaac forced his weakened body to rise, leaning against the wall as he dragged his feet forward.

(Theodore Maxwell is lurking in Sazandol… I need to tell Monica…)

The raindrops felt heavy, like they were pushing his body into the ground. That was a sign of how utterly exhausted he was, likely from the mana depletion. Even his soaked clothes felt like bulky weights.

His right eye could no longer see, so Isaac had lost half of his vision. His remaining left eye was blurred by the fatigue, hardly able to make out anything.

——Sooner or later, you will lose half of the world before you.

This was the fate indicated by the Starseer Witch’s prophesy.

(I was careless. I knew about my weakness to attacks from the right. Perhaps I should have prioritized taking down Samuel Throth? But there’s no way I could ignore Theodore Maxwell when he was aiming for an ambush from the rooftop.)

His consciousness was turning hazy. His mind was losing coherency.

(Monica, Monica… Please be safe…)

Nevertheless, Isaac desperately held onto his fading consciousness by thinking about Monica.

Eventually, Monica’s house came into view.

Lacking even the energy to knock, Isaac pushed the door open by leaning against it.

Through his blurred vision, he made out the figures of Monica and Nero’s human form. Both were staring at Isaac in surprise.

Monica seemed puzzled, while Nero was giving him a suspicious glare.

“Who the hell are you?” Nero asked, looking at Isaac as if he were a complete stranger.

Had it really been that long since they last met? Had Nero forgotten not only his name but even his face?

Confused, Isaac turned to Monica. For some reason, she was scrutinizing Isaac’s face, examining him from head to toe.

“…The golden ratio… Could it be Ike? …Ike, is that you?”

Those words sent a shiver down Isaac’s entire body.

Isaac turned his hazy left eye at the mirror hanging on the wall. This was the small mirror that Monica often used to comb her hair.

However, the mirror did not reflect the handsome face of the prince who was always smiling.

It displayed a man in his early twenties, with a large scar above his right eye.

The boy who had once discarded his face, now grown into an adult.

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