Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 155

**#155. Rainbow, Sun, Rain (1)**

—

“This is my laboratory.”

Following Binjin’s lead into the tower, Ray looked around the interior.

*‘It’s much bigger inside than it looks from the outside.’*

That was his first impression.

The structure had no separate floors or rooms; instead, all the space was connected, resembling a massive cylindrical pipe made of concrete.

Looking up, he could see a ceiling that loomed high above.

Lowering his gaze slightly, he was met with a spiral staircase winding its way up along the wall.

And when he looked back down to the floor where he currently stood—

*‘Are these all magical tools?’*

There were countless neatly arranged tables, on top of which lay objects whose exact purposes were unclear.

“It’s primarily a laboratory, but depending on whom I’m introducing it to, I sometimes call it by different names,” Binjin said as he began walking.

“Sometimes it’s a study, sometimes a storeroom, or even a reception hall. But to you, Mage, I’d like to introduce it this way—”

He stopped in front of one table, picked something up, and turned toward Ray.

“—as a museum of the ancient era.”

In Binjin’s hand was a pen.

It wasn’t an ordinary item.

*Click.*

With a flick of the cap, a long blade of wind instantly shot out from the pen’s tip.

*Fwoosh! Fwwoosh!*

The pen
—or perhaps it was a sword
—drew chilling lines in the air a few times.

*Click.*

The cap was returned.

Ray, who had been staring blankly at the pen now returned to its normal form, glanced around and asked,

“These all come from ruins?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’d never find magical tools of such powerful performance in the market.”

Binjin added that although most of them were still under research, there were a few whose purposes had been figured out.

“This one, when activated, becomes a cloak that absorbs external impacts for a certain period.”

“Oh.”

It certainly seemed useful.

“This one lets you see the heartbeat of others visually when activated.”

“Oh.”

That certainly had practical applications.

“This one, when activated, turns into the form of a leaf bug disguised as a fallen leaf.”

“…?”

“This one is a stray cat that comes and goes as it pleases. Parong, you rascal! You came in again!”

“Oh.”

It certainly was cute.

After chasing away Parong, who had been napping on the table, Binjin continued.

“Artifacts unearthed from ruins tend to vary widely in function. As you can see.”

“Seems that way.”

“I haven’t shown you my entire collection yet, but… do any memories happen to come to mind?”

Binjin asked carefully.

There was still no trace of suspicion in his tone.

He still believed Ray to be an elf.

An elf who had awoken from a deep slumber and was searching the ruins to reclaim lost memories.

“I think I need to see more.”

“Understood. This way, please.”

As they walked between the tables, listening to more artifact explanations—

“What’s that?”

Something caught Ray’s eye.

“Ah, that one. It’s an artifact whose function we haven’t yet discovered. If we had something similar to compare it to, we might make a guess, but its shape is too unfamiliar, so it’s hard to even speculate.”

“Mind if I take a look?”

“Of course not. Please.”

Ray stepped closer and picked it up.

It was a square-based pyramid, roughly palm-sized.

Its surface was smooth, and the inside was transparent, giving it the appearance of a glass sculpture.

*‘Glass? No, it’s made from something even more special…’*

Then, Binjin pulled out a notebook and showed Ray a particular page.

“What’s this?”

“It’s an inscription found at the artifact’s location, written in ancient script.”

The notebook contained unfamiliar letters Ray had never seen before.

It was information he hadn’t even gotten from Curiosa.

“I believe it records the artifact’s name and function.”

“You *believe*? You can’t read it?”

“Haha. That’s an elf joke, isn’t it? I doubt anyone in the modern era can read the ancient script.”

Binjin added that due to its complexity and irregularity, ancient script was a field the academic world hadn’t even begun to study.

“I dipped my toes into it myself, but it shares not a speck of similarity with modern grammar. The entire system is completely different. However, after some research… I’ve reached at least one conclusion.”

He took a breath and concluded:

“If the primary mode of communication in the ancient era had been spoken language like it is today, such a writing system would never have come into existence.”

In other words—

There was a high probability that the main method of communication back then *wasn’t* spoken language.

“If not speech, then what?”

“That, I can’t say. Maybe there was a way to understand each other’s intentions and thoughts without words.”

Then, in a voice laced with subtle hope, Binjin asked:

“Do you… remember anything about the writing?”

“It says ‘mirror.’”

Binjin’s eyes widened.

“R-Really?!”

“It says it’s a mirror that shows the user what they desire to see. It requires a special way to infuse mana to function, but… that part’s not written here.”

“G-Good heavens. Could you… say that one more time?”

Ray obliged, and Binjin hurriedly jotted it down like it was a divine revelation.

“No other information, by any chance?”

“No. That’s it.”

“Ah…! That’s a shame, but even so, this is already an incredible breakthrough. But… Mage, you really *are* from the ancient era, aren’t you? To read ancient script so easily…!”

Binjin looked at Ray as if hoping to confirm his own words.

“Yes. I can read ancient script.”

“…!”

As soon as Ray spoke, Binjin shoved the notebook into Ray’s hands and ran off somewhere between the tables.

Most likely to fetch more items related to the script.

“Please wait just a moment!”

As Binjin scurried away, Ray looked back down at the “mirror” in his hands.

*‘A mirror…’*

As Binjin had suspected, the inscription did indeed indicate the name and function of the artifact.

But the object wasn’t a mirror.

It was a prism.

An unfamiliar word he’d never heard before, but it was clearly written in the notebook.

…For some unknown reason, Ray could read ancient script.

Why? How?

Countless questions swirled in his mind, but none of them yielded answers.

All he could say was that the moment he saw the letters, the meaning naturally entered his mind.

Like breathing—something done unconsciously.

*“I can read ancient script.”*

So that statement wasn’t a lie.

*“It says ‘mirror.’”*

Only the interpretation had been incorrect.

The object’s true name was—

*‘Prism.’*

Not something used to reflect, but something crafted to revere and honor someone.

Unfortunately, the notebook’s passage was too short to glean more than that.

*‘Revere and honor… whom?’*

To revere meant to deeply admire.

To honor meant to praise and remember someone great.

…Could it be that someone in the past had achieved something monumental?

There was no way to know for sure.

But one thing was certain: those who had used the prism held immense longing and deep gratitude toward the one they revered.

Because—

“……”

Those feelings were conveyed clearly through the ancient text in the notebook.

It was… strange.

There was no other way to describe it but to say that emotions were embedded in the writing.

It felt as if well-preserved emotions had transcended time to reach the present.

*‘What’s the mechanism behind this? Could the writing itself be imbued with magic?’*

He pondered.

*‘No… probably not.’*

According to Binjin, the passage had simply been transcribed from the ruins.

Believing there must be some kind of principle behind it, Ray stared intensely at the ancient letters.

About five minutes passed in a tense mental standoff between him and the text.

Then—

“Could you take a look at this one too!”

Binjin returned.

*Thud!*

A heavy object landed on the table.

“Uh…? Mage, your eyes are really bloodshot.”

“Elves are always like this.”

Ray, momentarily releasing the mentally-taxing text, turned his gaze to what Binjin had brought.

A weathered gray stone tablet.

Its surface was filled with ancient inscriptions.

Ray instinctively realized what it was—just like Curiosa had once mentioned.

He recalled their conversation in Sector 46:

*‘There was a tablet in the ruins that described how to create the Element of Destruction.’*

*‘The final sentence was cut off just as it began something new. The Element of Creation.’*

*‘Then Curiosa must also know how to read ancient script.’*

But judging by the content of the first sentence, this was clearly a *different* tablet than the one Curiosa had seen.

Ray asked first,

“What’s this?”

“A tablet I found in the ruins. It was stuck to a wall, but hey, who am I? I managed to pry it off somehow.”

So he was a looter, not a scholar.

“I’ll read it.”

“Knew it…! Please!”

Ray calmly began reading the inscriptions.

[This is the tale of the one who waits.]

The first sentence went smoothly.

[In the sky of the beginning, there was always a rainbow.]

But the moment he read one word in the next sentence—

*‘Rainbow.’*

*Vwooooom!*

Brilliant yellow mana surged explosively inside the vessel.

*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*

His heart pounded furiously.

With breathless excitement, the boy hurried on.

[The radiant seven-colored rainbow was immensely beautiful. The sun, clouds, rain, snow, and wind all thought so.]

And then?

[But the rainbow fell to the earth. Thus, the world shed its monochrome shell and was dyed with color.]

It fell? Why?

[Though the world became more beautiful, the rainbow no longer adorned the sky. The sun, who loved the rainbow, grew despondent and began to lose its light.]

The sun?

[So the sun too chased after the rainbow and fell to the earth. Once it had descended…]

The boy involuntarily swallowed.

But—

“…?”

The story ended there.

He flipped and rubbed the tablet, but no more text could be found.

*Schwick!*

Ray picked up a hammer from the next table and raised it high.

*Thud!*

“W-What are you doing?! You mustn’t break it!”

Binjin ran over, panicked, and clung to Ray’s arm.