The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 15



Only Krnovel

Enoch smiled bitterly at Lien’s question.

The person I want to hear the answer to the most is none other than this.

“Well, I wonder that too.”

As Lien asked, where did the original Enoch go?

Why on earth did I end up in his body?

If only I could find a solution to this situation, which has absolutely no plausible explanation, I would do anything.

Enoch calmly asked Lien.

“Who are you? Why did you attack me?”

Her eyes, looking at Enoch who was questioning her, were cold and thin.

Well, from her perspective, even if I were to be honest, she wouldn’t believe me at all.

If I tell you that this is the world I originally experienced in the game, you won’t believe me.

“… At this rate, the conversation won’t make any progress.”

As expected, Lien had similar thoughts as she said that and took out two small boxes with a soft glow in her right hand.

An object consisting of a pair of exactly identical boxes.

Enoch knew the identity all too well.

An artifact that can also be obtained in the original work, the “Cube of Lies.”

If people have a one-on-one conversation, their magic tools will be able to discern lies from each other’s words and inform them.

It is a magical device that can only function properly if two people, the parties involved in the conversation, each have one, just like a telephone, and it consists of a pair of cubes.

Of course, if either party lies, it will ring. Therefore, if Lien lies, this side will also know.

She continued, throwing a cube towards me.

“This is a magic tool that rings when the user lies.”

Enoch, who caught it, nodded briefly.

Lien’s cold eyes narrowed slightly.

“First, let me change the question from before. Who are you?”

“Enoch Elseid. Halfway.”

Enoch said so, and glanced at the artifact in Lien’s hand.

But as expected, no signal came from the cube.

It may have sounded like a vague answer, but honestly, there couldn’t have been a more honest answer.

But it didn’t seem like a very satisfying answer to Lien.

“What are you talking about? Don’t be conscious of your magic tools and cleverly avoid answering.”

Jiik

As Lien moved her hand slightly, the wires tied to her arm and sword tightened with a sharp sound.

But Enoch answered calmly, showing the cube in his hand.

“It’s not a lie. It’s just that it’s hard to explain logically enough for you to understand. I can’t explain something that even I don’t understand yet.”

Lien’s cold eyes glared at him. At that moment, the sound of people coming and going outside echoed through the quiet room. She looked through the crack in the door for a moment and spoke softly.

“You were too loud. If you make any more noise, people might come.”

She immediately pulled at the wire that bound Enoch’s sword.

The distance between us became so close that our faces were almost touching.

A faint fragrance tickled Enoch’s nose from her long, silvery hair.

She still held Enoch’s shirt collar with one hand and whispered softly in his ear.

“Don’t make any noise.”

Thud.

Lien unbuttoned Enoch’s shirt one by one.

His bare skin was revealed within it.

Lien’s expression, which was as if she had pulled back her collar, hardened for a moment.

“ah…!”

A small scar on his collarbone.

It was a wound she knew all too well.

It wasn’t at the level of something crudely implemented through shape-shifting magic or makeup.

“As expected, it wasn’t just copying the appearance… ”

Lien muttered quietly.

If there had been even the slightest difference, there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed.

Height, shoulder width, and physique that have grown to the point where you have to look up to others.

Even the split shape of his forearms, the circumference of his legs, and the unforgettable scar on his collarbone.

Because she always had ‘everything’ about Enoch in her eyes.

‘Then did you touch the master’s head and not his body?’

Lien glared at him for a moment, then considered another possibility.

Memory manipulation, brainwashing, hypnosis and suggestion. Countless related magics she knew flashed through her mind.

But there were more than a few strange parts to it being simply that. In this situation, nothing could be certain yet.

Lien stopped moving for a moment.

Enoch, who had been watching her lost in thought for a while, spoke while wiggling his sword and arm that were bound to wire.

“It’s uncomfortable for both of us, so let’s put this aside and talk.”

“what?”

Enoch looked at her with unwavering eyes and said.

“Isn’t this just a meaningless threat anyway?”

It was only a matter of thinking that Lien’s overbearing attitude and threats were false.

If the purpose was to kill Enoch, there would have been no reason to come to such a remote place in the first place.

Given Enoch’s standing in the family, it would have been over if he had revealed his identity to the other members of the family from the beginning.

A family where no one raises an objection even though Enoch’s expulsion is openly discussed at regular meetings.

That was the extent to which Enoch was despised.

It was obvious that if Enoch’s true identity was discovered by members of the family who held grudges against him, he would soon be in a worse situation than death.

But Lien didn’t do that.

Rather, she was cautious enough to bring him to this place where there was no one, even though she was suspicious.

As if he was careful not to cause any further damage to Enoch. Or rather, to Enoch’s body.

Enoch spoke slowly, feeling Lien’s fingertips trembling slightly as they touched his neck.

“You can’t harm Enoch, can you?”

Lien tightened his grip without saying a word.

Even though they were in a deadlock with weapons pointed at each other, the wire had already bound his arm and sword.

In fact, if she wanted to, she could subdue Enoch right away.

However, the reason why they fought in a battle-like format like before was to quickly subdue Enoch in front of them and interrogate him about what happened to the ‘real’ master.

But the man had already figured out that he couldn’t harm himself.

Normally, the excitement of battle and the fear of being subdued wouldn’t have made me think that far.

“… … .”

But in the end, Lien’s fingers holding the wire did not move.

“I see.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly at Enoch’s words.

It was frustrating, but Enoch was right.

At least, if he wasn’t sure that the original Enoch was definitely, irreversibly dead and gone from his body… Lien couldn’t harm him.

Absolutely not, as long as he occupies Enoch’s body.

“How can you be sure?”

“If you doubted me and still brought me to a place like this, then you must know what kind of consequences spreading Enoch’s situation would have.”

Lien’s eyes shook slightly.

“And that’s probably the situation you want to avoid the most.”

Of course, that situation would be one where Enoch’s body would be damaged in some way.

That’s why I agreed to come to this banquet hall in the first place. Because I judged from the beginning that Lien would not harm him.

Enoch smiled as he looked into the slightly agitated silver eyes once again.

From the moment I first saw Lien, everything I had inferred from observing her reactions turned out to be perfectly correct.

If even one guess was wrong, I might have died, but in the current situation, there was no other choice.

“So, let me make a suggestion.”

And from Enoch’s mouth, words that Lien could never have imagined echoed throughout the dark banquet hall.

“Cooperate with me.”

The wires stretching out in all directions in the empty banquet hall trembled faintly like stringed instruments to Enoch’s low voice.

A thin metallic sound played through the deep silence for a while.

There was a moment of silence, then Lien glanced at the wires that bound Enoch and asked in a bemused tone.

“… A suggestion? Can’t you grasp the current situation?”

“Does it look that way?”

Enoch, who had been asking questions, turned the handle of his sword with an expressionless face and aimed the tip of the sword straight at my neck.

A drop of bright red blood flowed from the white wire that dug deep into Enoch’s wrist.

Lien bit her lip when she saw that and glared at Enoch.

At that moment, Lien found a familiar gaze in his eyes, which was hard to believe.

Pitch-black eyes. There was a deep, sunken calm in them.

Just like the real Enoch she knew so well.

“… … .”

She closed her eyes for a moment, then lightly swung her arm to retrieve the wires scattered around the room.

As if to show that at least there is no intention of engaging in combat.

Enoch, who confirmed that, also dropped the sword he had pointed at his neck to the floor.

And in the silence that followed, this time Lien was the first to speak.

“If it’s like you said. One day, when you opened your eyes, you were a different person?”

“Yes. To be exact, it was a few days ago when we had the regular meeting where the expulsion was discussed.”

As Enoch spoke, he held up a magical cube that glowed faintly in his left hand.

“It may be hard to believe, but I think this is the basis for what I am saying.”

“Are you a victim too?”

“okay.”

As Lien talked to him, her doubts deepened.

This strangely decisive and calm look.

Although it was very brief, it felt like seeing Enoch as he usually was.

That’s why I’ve been confused and unsure several times up until now.

There were quite a few things that resembled him, so he wasn’t exactly Enoch.

But he is not Enoch.

The feelings that were nothing more than an illusion have long since disappeared.

Rather, it was a mistake to not have been confident until now.

Lien said even colder.

“…Cooperation? Don’t make me laugh. I will remove you from Master Enoch’s body and return him to his original state. If I have to kill your soul for him to return, I will do so without hesitation.”

“doesn’t care.”

“what?”

“I never wanted to be Enoch, and I want to go back to my original life as soon as possible. You are the same in that regard. I want Enoch to go back to his original life. But neither you nor I know when that will be, and we don’t even know the proper way yet.”

Lien closed her eyes for a moment due to severe dizziness.

The symptoms he was talking about were clear.

The magic of ‘soul infusion’.

It was a possibility I had expected, but the one I hated the most.

It was one of the worst types of black magic, commonly known as ‘possession’.

Currently, the forbidden magic has almost been erased, even the spells and precedents. Lien opened her mouth, trying to calm the confusion.

“… So what do you want to do?”

“It’s simple. You want Enoch back, and I want my original body and life back. But we need to buy time until we can find a way to do it, just like you said.”

Enoch looked straight at Lien and answered.

“You won’t be able to resolve this by threatening me right now. So until you find a proper solution, at least help me remain as Enoch. If this situation becomes known to the family, won’t it be difficult for you and Enoch?”

I don’t even want to imagine a development where I’m subjected to biological experiments under the pretext of black magic.

And the same would be true for Lien.

As long as she wanted to return Enoch to his original state, it wasn’t like killing or torturing him would bring about a new method, and it couldn’t be done.

“After all, our interests are somewhat aligned. You need to protect Enoch’s body. I want to survive and return to my original life. In that case, it would be more efficient for us to help each other. If what we both want is the same, is there any need to have an uncomfortable relationship?”

Lien lowered her head.

“… … .”

Her silver hair cast a pale shadow over her white cheeks.

I never imagined something like this would happen.

But ignoring or denying what has already happened doesn’t make it disappear.

Lien opened her mouth calmly.

“… Even if there is a cube, I can’t believe everything you say.”

“I don’t think there’s any other choice. You or I.”

It is known that most black magic ends in tragedy, because it is magic that was designed with such an evil purpose from the beginning.

So, the empire classifies black magic as forbidden magic and strictly prohibits it.

I don’t know who used it, why, or how.

But before things got worse, we had to save the young master as quickly as possible.

Before it becomes irreversible.

“…Help someone you don’t even know pretend to be that person.”

A bittersweet smile appeared faintly on her face.

Lien herself already knew that there was no other way. Nevertheless, it was quite difficult to readily accept.

But it must be done.

Because as of now, there was no other better way than what this man suggested.

“Even if I believe everything you say, you’re surprisingly confident in this situation.”

“Nothing gets solved by just sitting still.”

Lien held her breath at that moment.

For a moment, memories of Enoch from the past overlapped.

[Because nothing gets solved by just sitting still.]

Enoch had clearly told her that in the past.

I have never forgotten those words for even a moment.

She slowly released her mana from the wires that bound Enoch. Enoch’s arms regained their freedom from the wires that had lost their hold.

“…Okay, I’ll do as you say.”

“Are you willing to cooperate?”

“Yes. Even if we investigate a way to return the master to his original state, it will take a long time to figure out a way. And we cannot put the master’s body in danger before that.”

Lien spoke softly as he watched Enoch raise his body.

“What exactly do you want from me?”

“Stay by my side and help me. I need information first. I need to know about this Elseid family, his relationships, and Enoch’s situation. That way, I won’t be suspected.”

“Okay, but there is a condition.”

Lien approached him slowly and said.

“I can’t completely trust you yet. Even assuming that everything you’ve said so far is true, you may change your mind and act impulsively at any moment. For your safety, I need a means to control that.”

widely.

She flicked her fingers in the air.

Then, in the next moment, silver-white mana manifested from her fingertips and quickly formed two magic circles at Enoch and Lien’s feet.

Enoch asked Lien, looking at the rotating geometric patterns.

“…What is this?”

“It’s a kind of detection magic. I can tell if you feel your life is in danger.”

Enoch nodded.

So to speak, it’s a GPS tracking device.

“This spell requires mutual consent. It is my condition that I cast this spell on you. If what you say is true, then this should not matter.”

This time, the lie detection magic tool was silent.

‘It’s not a lie.’

It was a perfectly acceptable offer, compared to getting help from a 10th-grade wizard.

Lien, a powerful sorceress, could be a trump card for this side where everything is uncertain.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

The moment Enoch answered like that, a silvery halo of light enveloped him and Lien.

Woof

A silver halo formed around his and Lien’s necks, almost like a necklace.

But the light soon faded as if it was absorbed into the skin. I felt no sensation when I touched my neck.

‘Is this the detection magic that Lien spoke of?’

Lien approached and spoke in her usual calm tone.

“… I think I’ll be busy for a while, Your Majesty.”

Standing before Enoch’s eyes, she added in her usual emotionless tone.

“There are so many things to know.”