Two days had passed since Jun descended into the Black Market.
Maya and Eleanor had joined them.
Maya, in particular, looked quite exhausted.
“What’s up with her?”
Jun asked and Eleanor replied quietly,
“She stayed up all night trying to learn that secret art.”
“She’s really fired up, huh?”
“That too, but I think teaching Chairlse drained her quite a bit as well.”
“Ah.”
Well, that made sense.
After all, Maya had always struggled with talking to others.
Still, Jun figured this might actually help her develop some social skills.
“Here, drink this at least.”
“What is it?”
“A mental power recovery potion.”
“Thank you.”
After gulping down the bottle, Maya’s expression brightened slightly as she said,
“So what exactly are we supposed to do here?”
“It’s not a very difficult mission. We just need to capture an herbalist who’s performing illegal procedures.”
“…Leader.”
“Yeah?”
“You should really stop saying things aren’t difficult.”
“……?”
As if it were a jinx, Maya turned to Eleanor with a cold expression and said something like whenever the leader says something’s easy, things always go wrong.
“Prepare thoroughly. I’m sure this one’s gonna be a hell of a fight too.”
“Where do you even learn to talk like that?”
“From the priestess, of course. She was haggling with a merchant and said something about the price being ‘hella steep’.”
“Damn it.”
Eleanor was starting to understand why the Pope constantly nagged her about fixing her speech.
“Haha… But from my experience, it wasn’t all that bad. Most of them weren’t exactly strong or anything…”
“Ooh~ Aiden. Looks like you’ve gained some confidence.”
At Eleanor’s words, Aiden scratched his head in embarrassment, but she wasn’t wrong.
In truth, aboveground and especially here in Morvaty which was so close to the capital, there weren’t any particularly powerful organizations hiding in the shadows.
That was because the Imperial Family had already wiped them all out.
The strongest individuals here were, at best, those who could barely scrape by in the third level of Blackout.
Jun also didn’t expect anything especially difficult to happen in this place.
Problems on the surface were mostly political in nature, which made them tricky to handle. But physically demanding missions didn’t usually appear until the mid-to-late stages of the game.
And political issues?
With Count Mordenain and the Gillenn Merchant Guild involved, most of those can be dealt with anyway.
With that, Jun decided to lighten the mood and clapped his hands.
“Anyway, the mission officially starts early tomorrow morning. Try to get some rest now. Even if it’s just a quick nap.”
He had no idea what would be waiting for them there.
***
For this mission, Jun was to act as Aiden’s agent.
Using an illusion spell, he changed his appearance and headed for the location marked on the map.
As for the Blackguard Knights, they were known faces in the Black Market, so they were to wait nearby and only intervene once Jun and Aiden gave the signal.
Though they had unintentionally taken on the most important part of the operation, neither Jun nor Aiden showed any signs of dislike.
“This place is… really something else.”
“Seriously.”
It wasn’t even inside the mansion, but a rundown stable behind it?
Even the mansion itself didn’t seem like anyone actually lived in it.
Heading into the stable as shown on the map, they were greeted by an old man in a well-tailored suit.
He had his back turned, lighting a cigarette.
“Ah, you must be the one Beneto mentioned.”
“That’s right.”
“……!”
Aiden who was wearing a mask answered in a deep, cool voice that was very unlike his usual tone. And Jun almost turned his head toward him in surprise.
Had he done so, he would have seen Aiden blushing furiously, red all the way to his neck from embarrassment.
Meanwhile, the old man called Enverman lit his cigarette and turned his head.
At that moment—
“…….!!”
From behind his mask, Jun got his first look at Enverman’s face and inwardly, he was horrified.
Wh-Why is this bastard here?
In the future, this man would become a Level 7 powerhouse and a key figure in the Dimension Reversal on the surface. He was a cultist doctor from the Heavenly Church.
Stunned by his sudden appearance, Jun screamed silently in his mind.
***
Back when he was “Lee Jeong-jun”, Enverman’s base in the game had originally been located in Blackout.
But Jun never knew why Enverman had later moved his base there.
He was a villain. There was never a reason to wonder.
Could this be… the future I changed?
That was Jun’s instinctive first thought. But after thinking more carefully, he came to a different conclusion.
The criminal the Blackguard is after… he has nothing to do with me directly.
What if in the game’s original timeline the Blackguard had also come to this place? And what if they had encountered Enverman?
A major incident likely broke out, forcing Enverman to relocate his base to Blackout… that was one plausible theory.
Meanwhile, as Jun’s thoughts raced, Enverman was examining Aiden with visible interest, scanning him from head to toe.
“Impressive. A solid physique with well-balanced proportions… and I sense a distinct aura of mana as well. Violent, heated, very warlike.”
He spoke while puffing on his cigarette, carefully observing Aiden’s presence.
Though known publicly as an herbalist, Enverman was in truth a doctor.
But rather than saving lives, he was a cultist doctor obsessed with the study of immortality.
His skills were undeniable. He had once even taken the infamous Old Crone as a disciple.
“With an aura like that, I can think of all sorts of ways to put it to use.”
“…You’ve got a good eye.”
Aiden had no idea what Enverman was talking about, but he replied smoothly anyway.
“Still, for all the skill I’ve shown you, we know nothing about you. Why should I trust you enough to hand over my body?”
“Hoho. That’s what makes youth so delightful. You’re so full of curiosity. Just wait a moment. I do enjoy showing off my creations.”
Adjusting his coat, Enverman pointed toward an entrance leading underground.
“Inside, you’ll find a piece I’ve been pouring my soul into lately. Care to have a look?”
“…Okay.”
Aiden glanced briefly at Jun for reassurance, then gave a heavy nod. The two of them soon followed Enverman down into the underground.
Before long, they arrived at a laboratory.
Despite being located below ground, the room was shockingly spacious. Enverman led them toward a section where large cylinders with each seemingly large enough to hold five people stood in place.
“……”
As they walked, Aiden caught sight of the figures floating inside the liquid-filled cylinders, and his face turned deathly pale.
Chimeras?
Human-like beings with monstrous body parts fused onto them.
Realizing they had once been people like himself, Aiden barely managed to stifle the urge to vomit.
His head spun, as if struck by cognitive dissonance.
“Stay on guard.”
Jun spoke quietly from beside him.
“……!”
Aiden’s expression changed immediately.
It was the same tone Jun always used when he sensed danger.
Senior…
Didn’t you say this was just a simple mission…?
Suddenly, Maya and Eleanor’s faces flashed through Aiden’s mind, and a different kind of color washed over him.
They’re not going to quit the mercenary group over this, are they…?
***
Though they had just encountered an unexpectedly dangerous figure, Jun had no intention of fighting Enverman right away.
Danger might drive growth, sure, but this is too much.
Why should he fight someone now who, in the game’s future, appears at Level 7?
Jun was planning to slip away for now and formally request the Count to subdue him.
If things went that way, there’d be no need for him to shoulder the risk of dealing with Enverman himself.
Of course, if things went that way, the Imperial Family’s secret plan to infiltrate and annihilate the Heavenly Church in one sweep would be ruined. But then again, most plans in this world tend to fall apart anyway.
If the Imperial Family became aware of Enverman’s existence, they’d come running immediately.
A Level 7—perhaps even Level 8—chimera being cultivated beneath Morvaty, a city so close to the capital? There’s no way they’d just sit on their hands.
And if a fight breaks out here, the odds are stacked against us.
Even with the Blackguard Knights stationed outside, the cost of engagement could be high.
There was no guarantee that the casualties wouldn’t include members of the White Whale Mercenary Group.
“…Now, as for how I created this one…. see, I grafted orc muscle cells onto it to boost its aggression. The subject had an overly timid personality, so I wanted to correct that.”
Enverman wouldn’t stop talking. He was too caught up in boasting about his creations. Jun and Aiden simply stood there, silently listening to his explanations.
Aiden’s expression was visibly worsening the longer it went on… but fortunately, his mask did a good job of concealing it.
“Seems I’ve completely captivated you all with my lecture. Hahaha.”
Enverman gave a satisfied smile as he adjusted his disheveled coat, straightening up after his lengthy monologue.
With Aiden still too shaken to speak, Jun stepped in.
“Indeed, quite a few of them are fascinating. But with such distorted appearances, it’d be hard for them to walk around outside.”
“You’re not wrong. Frankly, I never intended to perform these procedures on either of you. Most of what you see here is purely experimental.”
“Then?”
“The real ones are over there.”
Between the dozens of cylinders—
As they moved deeper in, the chimeras inside began to look increasingly human.
“I dream of immortality. Naturally, that means I’ve had to give up many things. But even so, I never wanted to destroy the essence of what makes us human.”
Coming from a madman, those words didn’t carry much weight.
“If I did, I wouldn’t be able to wear such a fine suit, now would I?”
“……”
“And in truth, aside from a few flaws, the human body possesses near-perfect balance. There’s still room for evolution, of course. But I intend to accelerate that process artificially.”
With that, Enverman approached a huge cylinder covered by a heavy cloth.
“This here is the most perfect chimera I’ve completed to date. The procedure you’ll receive, Golden Demon, uses just a fragment of the techniques I employed for this one. Open your eyes wide and behold!”
He yanked the cloth away, revealing a fully intact body floating inside the fluid.
Jun’s expression twisted into shock once more.
This time, the horror was so intense it could be seen even through his mask.
“Hoho. Looks like you recognize it. You must understand the value of this magnificent creation! You wouldn’t believe what I went through to get my hands on this corpse. It’s been ages since I’ve run around enough to wrinkle my suit.”
Ignoring Enverman’s rambling madness—
Jun could only stare in horror.
Ser…gey?
The body—no, the chimera floating before him—
It was unmistakably Sergey, the man whose mind he had shattered and handed over to Count Mordenain.
The master of the Volcatornic Mage Tower.
Leave a Reply