Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 186

**#186. The Ancient City (4)**

—

Ten days ago.

It was said that a boy wearing a long storm gear appeared on the outskirts of the ruins.

“Even bringing an army wouldn’t have been enough, so it was unexpected that he came alone. Regardless, he was an intruder threatening the security of my kingdom. So I sent soldiers to drive him out.”

But the man, who was about to throw a lure device, witnessed something in the next moment.

The boy chewing and swallowing a few small red gemstones.

“At that moment, the mana radiating from the intruder’s body explosively intensified. Reacting to that, the nearby soldiers charged in with swords drawn.”

Upon seeing that, the boy let out a chilling laugh and formed a sword of red energy in his hand—identical to the others.

And then—

He swung it like a madman, slaughtering the Keepers as he advanced toward the tower.

“Of course, the red sword couldn’t cut through the soldiers’ sturdy armor. He merely aimed at the weaker joints with lower resistance and sliced through them.”

Thus, the fallen Keepers continuously recovered and rose again without end.

But it was meaningless.

Because the intruder was defeating the Keepers faster than they could recover.

“The intruder kept laughing. As if he genuinely enjoyed destroying and cutting things. Like a child, cruel and heartless, killing bugs for fun.”

The man, seized by a kind of fear he had never known before, locked himself inside the cube.

Praying desperately that the intruder wouldn’t notice his presence.

“The intruder entered the fortress, set fires, and slashed everything around with his sword. I had no choice but to curl up like a powerless insect in my bedchamber.”

Fortunately, it seemed the intruder hadn’t realized someone was there.

He simply tried to break the cube, gave up, and left the tower. He wandered the ruins as if searching for something before leaving.

Veronica whispered to Ray.

“Ray, those red gemstones…”

“Yeah. They were Bloodstones.”

**Bloodstones.**

High-quality mana-charging stones distributed to members of Murcred’s organization.

In other words, the intruder was affiliated with Murcred.

Ray asked the man,

“You said the intruder came close to the cube and attacked. Do you remember how many circles were active on him at the time?”

“I do. Exactly four.”

Four circles. An executive.

Obsses, Vicious, Ragey.

It must have been one of the three they hadn’t yet encountered. But before the question of identity, a different thought occurred to Ray.

He looked intently at Walter’s ring, which he had taken from his coat.

‘Detection magic… The arrow showing the location of the remaining three executives has never once shifted from pointing upstream of the Elton River.’

With that in mind, Ray asked the man,

“Was the intruder wearing a ring?”

“He was. I remember it had a red gemstone embedded in it.”

That meant the executive hadn’t handed their ring over to someone else.

There was only one conclusion.

The opponent had manipulated the detection magic, just like Curiosa had done before, to fake their location.

And after a brief moment of thought—

“The Doctor has become aware of our presence.”

At Ray’s conclusion, Veronica asked back.

“You think so?”

“This is the command site of Allager. There’s no reason for unrelated executives, whose routes wouldn’t overlap, to appear here unless…”

Ray took a breath and continued.

“Unless the Doctor has issued them new instructions.”

“Ah…!”

“The opponent arrived here just ten days ahead of us, damaged the tower’s records, and searched the area for the gemstone. Clearly, they were conscious of our movements.”

Veronica, realization dawning on her, spoke up.

“This is what we were hoping for.”

“The reason we’ve been clashing with Murcred was to attract the Doctor’s attention—to meet him directly.”

“But at the same time, it’s also worrying.”

“We’ll definitely be exposed to more danger.”

The girl felt a queasy sensation in her stomach for a moment… but it subsided when she met the boy’s calm gaze.

She then voiced a question.

“But why wouldn’t they just send an executive directly after us? If we’re disrupting their activities, wouldn’t it make sense to eliminate us quickly?”

The boy didn’t know either.

He only got the impression that the Doctor wanted to hide the letters and drawings on the tower wall.

With that lingering doubt, Ray continued questioning the man.

“Was there anything particularly memorable about the intruder?”

“I already told you most of it. Mid-teens in age. That creepy laugh, the long storm gear, and…”

Mid-teens.

An odd age.

According to Curiosa, the executives were adopted by the Doctor about twenty years ago.

By that count, they should all be in their 20s or 30s by now.

‘Is the Doctor keeping them from aging through experiments? Or is this a different person entirely…?’

While Ray was lost in thought, the man suddenly exclaimed.

“Ah, ah! The intruder kept mumbling something while he was up here!”

“What was it?”

“He said he didn’t understand Father. Wondered why he was wary of someone who hadn’t even awakened their imagination yet.”

Ray tilted his head.

Father likely referred to the Doctor, but the part about imagination didn’t make much sense.

Next to him, Veronica murmured,

“Ray does have a slightly, just *slightly*, underdeveloped imagination.”

“……”

In truth, it was catastrophically underdeveloped, so he couldn’t refute her.

Ray turned to Grine.

“Have you heard of Murcred?”

“Only rumors.”

“That comment earlier—does anything about it seem familiar?”

“Hmm… An executive of a powerful group who’s also a 4-circle mage wouldn’t just say something random.”

Grine paused in thought, then said,

“There *was* something in the records preserved in the Last Forest. That ancient mages used magic in a way different from today.”

“You mean a method other than the circles?”

“No, they still used circles. But the way they *manifested* magic was significantly different.”

The records had been damaged, so the full details were unknown.

However, one part remained: that some innate temperament of a living being could amplify the power of magic.

When he heard the word “imagination,” that part came to mind.

**The blooming of imagination.**

Ray tried to imagine what the phrase might mean—but lacked the imagination to do so.

So he opened his eyes wide and glared at the man.

“There were letters and drawings all over the walls, right?”

“B-Before the intruder damaged them, yes.”

“What did they say?”

“Uh, um. I don’t really remember…”

“You don’t remember?”

“Th-They were just doodles, weren’t they? I’ve never really paid them any att—”

*Zzzzap!*

The man’s face turned pale at the sight of the blue lightning crackling from Ray’s hand.

Veronica quickly grabbed Ray by the collar and pulled him back.

“Your Highness, are you *sure* you don’t remember anything? This is really important to us. You’re incredibly smart—if you just think hard, something’s bound to come back, right?”

“Ugh… well, if you put it like that…”

Soothed by Veronica’s praise and flattery, the man quickly calmed down.

Soon, with a lifted mood, he opened his mouth again.

“There’s a place that even that vicious intruder didn’t dare step foot into.”

*
*
*

The place the man guided them to was the first floor of the tower.

“Please wait a moment while I open the door.”

Kneeling on one knee, the man infused mana into the floor.

Streams of multicolored mana spread across the floor in intricate patterns, and soon—

**Gugugugu──**

The floor split in half, revealing a deep staircase descending underground.

“Your Majesty, how did you even know about this?”

“Hahaha! Isn’t it only natural to know every inch of one’s own home?”

“Then how come you don’t remember the writing and drawings on the wall—”

Veronica twisted Ray’s lips to shut him up.

“You really are amazing! Would you mind continuing to lead the way?”

“Of course! Follow me!”

The grinning man led the way down the stairs.

Letting go of Ray’s lips, Veronica mimed zipping them shut with a gesture above his mouth.

Ray mimicked the same motion and followed the man along with the others.

**Tap— tap— tap—**

Under the floating light conjured by magic—

The four sets of footsteps echoed softly.

With each step, the light of the surface receded, and the sloping stairs gave the eerie feeling not of walking down, but of falling.

How much time had passed like that?

**Tap.**

They reached the end of the stairs.

Suddenly, the swelling light dispelled the darkness that had been resting in the space.

“Wow…!”

“This is incredible…!”

Veronica and Grine exclaimed in awe at the scene before them.

It was a wide chamber.

At its center stood a stone tablet that easily surpassed the height of an adult man.

Surrounding it, encircling the space, the walls were filled with countless unknown drawings.

“Your Majesty, this place is…?”

“I’m not sure what the original purpose of this place was either. But if you were curious about the doodles on the wall earlier, there are plenty of similar ones here to your heart’s content—”

It was in that moment.

The boy’s footsteps moved forward, as if drawn by a spell.

**Tap—**

Neither slow nor fast, his pace—

**Tap—**

Left deep impressions in the silence pooled within the chamber.

**Tap.**

And where it finally stopped was in front of the stone tablet.

The ancient letters, holding a pool of violet mana, reflected in the boy’s white pupils.

Though the short sentence couldn’t be read aloud or parsed phonetically, its meaning was conveyed clearly.

**[We are waiting for your return.]**

In that moment, the boy couldn’t form any coherent thought.

He simply wanted to ask.

Who are “we,” the ones waiting?

Who is “you,” the one returning?

And who etched this sentence into the stone, and for what purpose?

“…?”

The boy suddenly realized that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Looking closely, the mana pooled within the ancient letters wasn’t just violet.

There was soft pink sorrow. Scarlet gratitude.

Dark purple longing. Rosy yearning, and so on.

It seemed he had momentarily resonated with the emotions of whoever had inscribed the writing.

Just then, he heard Veronica and Grine’s voices from behind.

“Grine, these drawings—they look like a continuous story flowing along the walls, don’t you think?”

“They do. Then the starting and ending points of the story must be to either side of the entrance we came through.”

Since there was no further content on the stone tablet, Ray turned his body toward the two.

“Ah, Ray. Come look at this! I think this is where the story begins!”

The mural was formed in a simple style composed solely of dots and lines.

At first glance, it resembled a child’s scribbles, but upon closer inspection, each figure was distinguishable.

Ray, gazing at the mural to the right of the entrance, said,

“This curved line looks like a fruit—”

“Hmm? Ray, I don’t think so. There are lots of people gathered inside it. I think it’s a plaza.”

“Then this square here must be a bench—”

“Ray, that’s obviously a staircase.”

The bludgeons of those with abundant imagination were merciless.

Nearly losing his composure, Ray barely managed to retreat and just listened to their conversation.

“Could this mural be depicting various races living together in a single place?”

“I agree with Veronica. These sharp-eared ones are likely elves, the short ones are dwarves, and the very tall ones over here must be giants.”

I’m not sure about that…

As Ray silently questioned them, he suddenly realized something the other two hadn’t noticed yet.

**‘The mural in front of us—has no color.’**

Only black and white.

Those two shades alone.

When he turned his gaze to the murals continuing along the wall to the right, he realized they too belonged to a monochrome world.

However, that history wasn’t long.

At a certain point, the murals began to be rendered in color and continued on from there.

Ray walked over to where the monochrome and color murals blended together like mingling currents.

“……”

It was a mural slightly larger than the others.

Floating above the black-and-white world was the only object depicted in color.

Seven overlapping layers of hues.

A ring, halved in shape.

Beneath it—

Someone was walking toward the ancient races.

 

 

 

 

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