Luckily, Merlin didn’t get too angry about Julia’s escape.
“…Well, to be honest, it’s a common occurrence when playing a party game. Don’t worry too much about it.”
Hearing that, I thought about it.
Especially, I had experienced more escapes than others, probably due to my past life.
For instance, there was that guild master who vanished without distributing dropped items.
“…….”
Thankfully, it seemed that the bloodshed (physical confrontation) I had anticipated would not happen.
Thank goodness, thank goodness.
But that was only because the troublemaker was ‘Julia,’ and my situation would be a bit different.
I calmly caught my breath.
Inhale, exhale.
Slowly calming my deep breathing.
Let’s stay calm.
After all, unless I revealed the truth, there was no fear of my ‘misdeeds’ being exposed to Merlin.
Of course, I hadn’t done anything too terrible.
Generally speaking, a ‘warrior profession’ is as vital as the light and salt of an RPG game.
In a game focused on party play (the typical kind), you could never be absent.
Although when I recommended the warrior to him, there weren’t any ‘raid content’ or similar ‘party play contents’ yet,
that was just a ‘very minor’ issue.
It wasn’t important.
In other words, the possibility of Merlin getting angry if my identity were revealed was very low.
“…….”
However, since it wasn’t a 0% possibility, I was careful with my words.
Imagining the worst-case scenarios if it became known that I was the guild master of the Warrior Craftsman Union…
“What? You were the guild master? Heh, haha. I’m fine, really. But you… you won’t be fine.”
And then he might pull out a grenade launcher.
“Why did you do that?! Why did you do that to me!? Speak, say something!”
Yup, I carefully speculated that such chaos could happen.
“Hey there, Julia’s friend.”
If things went that way, I would need to prepare to burst smoke bombs and escape immediately. I could use smoke pretty much instantly without gathering mana. Creating heat sources here and there would make it easy to escape from the tracking of mechanical eyes.
“Hey, you?”
By the way, when Merlin used invisibility magic earlier, I carefully observed and thought I understood a bit of its principle. Mixing smoke and invisibility magic would make escape easier. It’s kind of funny how I seem to be getting more skilled at escaping.
“Hey!!”
Merlin called out to me.
“What?”
I had gotten lost in my thoughts.
I bowed my head and apologized.
“Sorry about that. What’s up?”
He probably wasn’t going to ask if I was the guild master of the Warrior Craftsman Union,
but if any game-related questions came up, I was firmly resolved to escape right then and there.
Merlin carefully examined every corner of my face before asking cautiously.
“…Are you the ‘unique wizard’ who hangs out with ‘Meteor’?”
“Oh.”
It wasn’t something I commonly experienced. There were so many more famous companions (Meteor, Tech Master, Red Horn) than me.
So, very few people recognized me.
And yet, he recognized my identity.
Yikes, trouble.
Now that I think about it, Julia did say she was a fan of mine back in the day. It seems my face is quite known among wizards, even if it’s not among others.
But then suddenly, Merlin shook his head.
“No, I must have seen wrong. Right, the unique wizard couldn’t possibly be like this. Sorry for mistaking you.”
“…….”
But I am him, you know?
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him.
—
29. Wizards’ Outing (4)
There’s an English proverb that goes, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Maybe having lived long in a cyberpunk world, I’ve started to get the hang of English proverbs too.
Anyway, as the saying goes,
I was really struggling to tell this old man something new.
“No, I’m really the unique wizard! I don’t particularly enjoy my nickname, but it’s just the truth!”
“That’s not possible.”
It was just incredibly frustrating.
“Here’s my city ID, no wait. Here’s my corporate ID. Issued by Monolith, just look. Do you see my name?”
“…Must be a namesake?”
I might as well talk to a wall.
I extended my index finger and created a spark at the tip.
“See that?”
“Did you install some kind of cyberware?”
“…….”
As a wizard, you should be able to read the flow of mana, but it seems the amount of mana I gathered was too little for him to recognize.
Should I strike down lightning through the barrier or something?
I wonder if he even understood my thoughts.
Merlin stroked his beard and said,
“How many wizards have I taught? How could I not recognize a wizard? You clearly don’t look like one.”
Did you teach at Hogwarts or something?
It looks like he has several disciples aside from Julia.
Do I need to create a vortex in the air to prove my purity?
About the time I was having such thoughts,
I suddenly focused on what he said about ‘many wizards taught.’
….
Could it be?
“Are you a real wizard from the Machine Age?”
“…What age?”
“Oh.”
Maybe not.
After all, that’s unlikely.
A wizard who enjoys using grenade launchers (and doesn’t even recognize that I’m a wizard) is definitely not possible.
With that, it seemed all his interest in me vanished as he walked over to Julia to have the conversation he couldn’t finish.
“Hmm, so you escaped from the organization. Have you found a new hiding place?”
“…Yes, much better.”
“That’s a relief then.”
He had the expression of a grandfather watching his grandchild play.
His face was full of smiles.
If he had used even 10% of that goodwill, maybe he would have believed I was a wizard.
“…Is he really getting old?”
My mumbling was answered by Eve.
“NCPD identification database confirmed, currently recorded as 97 years old.”
He’s indeed a real elderly man.
It’s confirmed that he’s not just cosplaying an old man, but that doesn’t mean his actions seem normal either.
Not believing that I am a wizard seems to indicate some brain disease is clearly present.
“…Sigh.”
I let out a short sigh and scratched my head.
What’s the point of this?
I decided to honor the elderly, following the ‘Joseon Confucian gentleman’ found in my heart.
‘Ah!! How dare I question the words of my elders!’
Right.
No matter what, I couldn’t let myself be tainted by the cyberpunk culture that throws etiquette to the dogs.
With that thought, I felt my heart lift.
Moreover, what’s more important is that my identity as the guild master in the game must not be revealed.
Thinking about it as a sacrifice for the sake of the whole, I wrapped up my thoughts.
“…….”
Still, I have to gather mana.
Respecting the elderly is one thing,
but revealing that I am a wizard is a different matter.
From now on, I just want to see Merlin’s surprised expression at my magic.
How much mana had I gathered by now?
Suddenly, a fallen gang member rose back up.
Even with one arm and one leg completely gone, his movements were incredibly fast. He truly had the vitality of a bug.
“…Die!”
He held a pistol in what was left of his hand.
Naturally, the target was Merlin, the one who made him this way.
Actually, ordinary citizens living in Neon City have naturally come to master ‘playing dead.’
It wasn’t the first time, and through a long mercenary life, I had ingrained it into my body.
So instinctively, my arm moved.
I manipulated the gathered mana around me.
The mana I emitted gathered under the gang member and created a small whirlwind.
I think it was even faster than Eve’s hacking.
In an instant, the vanishing gang member looked like a point in the sky.
If he fell any old way, someone could get hurt. I controlled the mana slightly to help him return to his place.
– Quack.
“Ugh.”
I remembered skydiving without a cord before, but the outcomes of me back then and the gang member now were completely different.
Ugh, that’s disgusting.
Shouldn’t I have just blocked the bullet?
I glanced at Merlin.
Thanks to my quick reaction, no bullets were fired, so of course he was unharmed.
Since he had noticed that the ‘whirlwind’ was created by me, his previously cloudy eyes widened, looking as round as coins.
“…What is this?”
Merlin slowly approached me.
“…There was no mana detected in your body at all, how could you use magic?”
His expression and tone were filled with disbelief.
“…How is that even possible?”
….
I learned it from a video channel on the net.
I introduced the ‘Real Wizard from the Machine Age Channel’ to him who was curious.
—
*
“Let’s keep it short. What you saw was garbage. More precisely, it seems like a video made by a non-expert.”
“?”
“I can’t believe you could use magic after watching such baseless videos… I’m simply amazed.”
Master?
Is that really true?
I felt like I had heard a secret of my birth.
Calming his voice, Merlin looked at me with both hands spread out.
“But it’s not too late. If you learn how to create a vessel for mana inside your body, you can become much stronger than now─!”
“Oh, I’m not learning.”
“Why won’t you learn?! This is an opportunity!”
I silently showed him my account balance, filled with the settlement money I’d received from the chairman of Kojaka.
“……”
Merlin’s eyes grew even wider as he saw that amount compared to when he had seen my magic.
With my account being so hefty, I had absolutely no intention to start studying anew.
An hero (tycoon) doesn’t do studies, you know.
An old song echoed in my heart.
It was after that, when Merlin physically clung to my ankle.
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