The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 29



Only Krnovel

Enoch watched him for a moment, his sword hanging down.

Surprisingly, there was no sign of hostility in Omen’s attitude.

Enoch, who judged that even with his mana senses, he had no intention of fighting, immediately lowered his sword.

“Elseidrani. Is that a guess?”

“It’s a guess. There’s been a lot of news lately that Elseid is starting to take an interest in Vendetta.”

“The information is fast.”

Omen shrugged at those words.

“You’re underestimating the power of the underworld. One of our main products is information. If you don’t even know this much, you’ll just fail.”

“… … .”

Instead of answering, Enoch glanced at the wizards who were now lying on the floor with their wires disconnected.

Beside them, Lien was staring blankly at the guys rolling around on the floor as usual.

As if he was still watching Lien, one of them opened his eyes slightly, but when his eyes met Lien’s, he shut them tightly in fright.

“Heeeeek!”

Enoch, who had been watching it for a while, spoke briefly to Omen.

“It seems like everything is already ruined?”

Omendo looked at them from the side and sighed deeply as if he had no answer before responding.

“… Yes. To be honest, it’s difficult overall. But it’s not like it’s completely ruined. After all, you probably thought the same thing, so you came here to find information, right?”

Enoch agreed without saying a word.

There was a time when the Empire was in utter chaos due to rapid magical prosperity.

A huge dark side of each city that grew in power in the shadows of the magical society, known as the “Shadow of the Empire”.

The underworld.

Even if most of the underworld has fallen, as Omen says, their status in the past empire has not completely disappeared.

‘In particular, many of the wizards from the old underworld who appear in the original work were extremely powerful.’

Just looking at that fact alone, one can sufficiently gauge the power of the underworld before its downfall.

Of course, since those real-life people don’t roam around everywhere anymore, it’s understandable that the reputation of the underworld is gradually declining.

Anyway, as if to support Enoch’s thoughts, Omen gave a powerful slap to one of the wizards hiding behind him.

“Hey, stop joking and get out! I know that no one is dead yet!”

“Yep!!”

They, who had been rolling around on the floor, suddenly got up as if they had been waiting, and quickly rushed out of the room.

After the last guy slammed the door and left, Omen returned to the main topic as if he was annoyed.

“…Okay. What exactly are you looking for?”

“The ‘Persona’ that has taken up residence somewhere in this city, and the location of the vendetta she leads. And all information about the human experiments they are carrying out.”

“What is the purpose?”

“Punishment.”

After hearing that, Omen pretended to be lost in thought for a moment and began to speak incoherently.

“Hmm, Vendetta. I’ve been hearing about it a lot lately. To be honest, it’s not that common for a keyword to suddenly become hot throughout the empire while living in this area…”

“The main point.”

Enoch spoke briefly, cutting off Omen’s words as he deliberately beat around the bush.

Omen, whose words had been cut off, glanced this way and answered quietly.

“… I refuse.”

“Why?”

“You want me to hand over information about that infamous persona and his subordinates?”

He said with a shrug.

“If the source is discovered by the Vendetta bastards, then the residents of this street should just hope that they don’t live up to their reputation. ‘Vendetta’ means revenge in the old language of Arpegia.”

Enoch cut him off calmly.

“Weighing Elseid and Vendetta.”

“Of course, it’s not comparable. But even Elseid can’t give information to just anyone. Unless we’re sure you can back us up.”

Omen continued speaking in a low voice in the darkness of the reception room.

“Both you and the maid seem to have some skills at a glance, but it’s my job to prepare for the worst.”

He looked around slowly and said.

“If there is no follow-up after your failure, then what awaits us is nothing but death. As you can see… we don’t have the luxury of failing twice.”

Even though he had fallen, the title of master of the streets was not just a decoration.

In the darkness that fell like a veil over the living room, Omen’s eyes shone sharply.

“If you’re going to put my life on the line, you need to prove your identity first. Does that sound like an unreasonable request?”

“… No, I understand. Let me ease your worries a little.”

Enoch said this and slowly took off his hood.

Omen, who was sitting in front, was speechless for a moment and looked into the pitch-black eyes revealed under the hood.

“ha ha ha….”

After a period of silence.

Omen laughed for the first time, making a shrill sound.

Naturally, there was no one on this earth who didn’t know about Elseid’s incompetence.

But he also knew of another piece of news that was a hot topic among the people of the empire these days.

For example, the incompetent man somehow managed to survive unofficially engaging with the Vendetta leaders in Leopolis.

Omen laughed for a moment, covering his face with one hand, then looked between his fingers and answered in a low voice, his eyes shining.

“This is unexpected.”

But whether Omen was surprised or not, Enoch’s request did not change.

He said, slowly pulling his hood back on.

“Stop wasting your time.”

Enoch said to him, extending his free hand.

“Give me the information.”

***

“Are those monsters gone, sir?”

Alley keeper number 17 opens the door to the empty reception room and glances this way.

Omen spat out bluntly, looking at the familiar face.

“You thick-skinned traitor. I told you to get out earlier, but you stayed until the end and peeked inside.”

“Haha… I guess you could call it a rat habit. The conversation was fun.”

The alley keeper, smiling a little awkwardly, asked Omen.

“By the way, can I just let those two go after giving them the information? If we just stalled a little longer, reinforcements would have arrived.”

“You’re like a fool. If you had refused, we would have all died.”

“yes?”

“I honestly don’t know much about the black hair, but the silver-haired maid from earlier was definitely above level 10. Even if we gathered all the rascals living on the streets here, we wouldn’t be able to beat them.”

The alleykeeper tilted his head as if in doubt.

“Then, you too, sir?”

“I hate low-probability gambles. Stop talking nonsense and get back to work. I’ll lose some sleep.”

The alley keeper shrugged his shoulders at his reprimand and looked through the file cabinet in the reception room.

“By the way, the information you gave them probably wasn’t very detailed.”

He said as if confirming.

“At best, we only have information about their locations and experiments, and we haven’t even figured out the details of Persona’s unique magic yet. That’s why…”

In addition to the direct descendant who has the talent to block magic, he also has a maid who is an unidentified 10th-grade magician. In the end, that’s all there is to it.

With only this much information and power, it would be difficult to defeat Persona, the right-hand man of the Vendetta executive, and her subordinate magicians.

That’s what the alley keeper said.

Omen nodded at this.

“It’s a kind of insurance.”

As he said that, Omen slightly tilted his head toward the alleykeeper.

“Even if things go wrong later, if we don’t provide enough information, it’s easier for Vendetta to blame. There’s no justification for outright rejecting the words of someone as close as the main family.”

“You think those two will lose?”

“Yes. If anything, it’s absolutely impossible.”

Omen muttered, tilting his head back from the sofa in the living room and looking at the ceiling.

“After all, whether it’s 10th rank or whatever, as long as they ‘use mana’, Persona can never win.”

He spoke with confidence.

“To subdue them with certainty, real monsters of around level 5 need to come. After all, Persona’s unique magic would be that kind of magic.”

“I guess so. I don’t know for sure, but at least seeing other guys being treated ‘that way’… … .”

With the alleykeeper’s full consent, Omen fell down on the sofa in the reception room and said.

“And I don’t know why, but the imperial atmosphere is a bit strange these days.”

He continued.

“It’s not just the vendetta. There are anti-imperialist forces that are growing stronger and ready to show their teeth to the House of Zhou and the Empire, and there are even rumors of things that shouldn’t exist.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Those Elseid guys probably haven’t even guessed yet?”

The warehouse keeper asked back, looking puzzled.

“Isn’t Elseid’s information power overwhelmingly superior to ours? There are even subordinate organizations that are solely responsible for reconnaissance, and above all, they bring in a large amount of high-quality information from magicians dispatched to various parts of the empire.”

“Even if an eagle flies high above the ground, it cannot see everything, even the depths of the swamp. Besides, what is there more than one or two things the great Zhou family has to worry about?”

“Are you saying that they don’t have enough resources to fully pursue Vendetta?”

“Yes. Since Elseid is interested in the subordinate knight order, the ‘Deputy Commander of the Nemesis’, they must have already heard the news. It’s just the tip of the iceberg, though.”

“That’s true. It’s also true that my direct descendant came all the way here on a mission.”

Omen nodded and spoke slowly.

“In the end, the stock families cannot stop the vendetta that hides thoroughly in the shadows from gradually growing in power. Not going against the trend is the way to survive in these collapsing streets.”

“Of course, that’s a valid point, but… … ”

The warehouse keeper tilted his head slightly and asked.

“What if. What if, really, that direct lineage defeats Persona?”

Omen laughed out loud after hearing the alleykeeper’s words.

“Of course, it’s still a good deal for us. We’ll regain control of this city, and if we get caught up in something with Vendetta and get hit by Elseid, we’ll be completely wiped out. That risk factor has been eliminated.”

“As expected from the boss. You never do business at a loss!”

“That’s obvious.”

Omen smiled and responded to the alleykeeper’s obvious flattery.

“But even putting all those pros and cons aside, if that guy really wins… … .”

Just before Enoch left the reception room.

Omen’s lips twitched without him realizing it, as he recalled the short ‘words’ he had said in passing.

To be honest, the chances are incredibly low.

But if that really happens… .

“… Maybe he’s the ‘sign’ I’ve been looking for.”

Soon, the alleykeeper was about to leave the room.

Omen, who was lying on the sofa as usual and covering his eyes with his forearm to take a nap, muttered to himself in a slightly excited tone.

“They say even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

He turned his eyes to the side, which were covered by his arm.

A ‘torn page’, stored in chains with numerous chain-like artifacts on one side of the reception room.

Omen glanced at it and smiled faintly.

“Sometimes, the so-called ‘prophecies’ of the past may be true.”

***

In the middle of the night, when darkness is thick.

Between the regular maze of tall skyscrapers in the northeastern city of Elseid.

Enoch slowly pulled the hood of his robe down.

The cool night air brushed the tip of my nose.

It’s time to move.

His conversation with the Omen of Day flashed through his mind.

[There is a tall building that symbolizes the city’s past prosperity. It is large enough to be seen from afar, but it is currently officially closed due to lack of capacity to maintain it.]

[The vendetta forces led by Persona are using that place as their temporary branch.]

Enoch raised his head.

A gigantic high-rise building that towers over the maze of buildings that spread across the city.

It was clearly a building built in the past when this city was at its peak of prosperity, as a backbone for the underworld.

─Casino.

In the past, it was a symbol of the city’s wealth and vanity.

Instead of people around the closed casino, all you could see were giant signs with letters falling off and losing their shine.

And the countless city buildings that surround the casino.

As he passed through the regular labyrinths, Enoch was reminded of the objective of this mission.

[Geographically, it seems that guards have been placed at key points in the surrounding alleys. Their elimination is a priority.]

Enoch crossed the alley with his hood pulled down and a black cloth bag slung over his back.

‘It was a good thing I found Omen, who played the role of information agent in the original underworld.’

Thanks to that, I found out that the casino had a persona.

But where Enoch was headed now was not the final destination, the casino.

Before removing the persona, the number of its subordinates had to be reduced.

[If you really want to deal with Persona, you need to block as many forces as possible beforehand.]

I memorized the city map that Omen gave me during the day.

Moving into the blind spot of the surveillance network, Enoch used his mana sense to identify enemies around him.

Not long after.

A small voice was heard from the roof of the building in front.

“What’s strange? The communication magic response isn’t working.”

The sound of two wizards grumbling.

They were the wizards of vendetta.

“We just suddenly lost contact with the guys on the other side of the point. There’s no response from anyone near us either.”

“There’s no way everyone who knows how to use communication magic would be asleep. Let’s at least check…”

Enoch casually approached the two men talking on the roof of a low building.

Then he lightly tapped one of them on the shoulder with his hand.

“Huh? What is…?”

Enoch punched the man in the face as he turned around with a start.

Phew!

A definite taste was transmitted to my arm.

The face of the man who was hit by the fist suddenly turned in the opposite direction of the direction his head had been turned.

The guy who was hit square in the face by a surprise attack fell hard onto the rooftop railing and fell down.

Next to him, his fellow wizard shouted in panic, aiming his staff in his direction.

“This is crazy…!”

But Enoch had already caught the wand that was flying through the air as it fell down after being hit by a punch.

He then immediately struck the second bastard in the head with the edge of the metal wand.

Phew!

The bastard fell to his knees on the floor, unconscious, without even being able to scream.

“Shit!”

I confirmed that the guy who got hit first was trying to cast some kind of magic towards me.

Enoch immediately turned around, grabbed the unconscious man by the head, and slammed him against the wall.

Vendetta’s fighters fell unconscious to the ground, shattered by the impact and shards of the wall.

‘I think this pretty much sums it up.’

Enoch looked down at them and bowed his head.

Judging from their chatter just now, Lien must have cleaned up the street on the other side.

There was something else I had to do now.

[To enter the building they’ve set up as their temporary headquarters, you need a master key, and of course, the guards are likely to be using it. For now, all we can do is lay them down one by one and search through them… ]

Rummage.

Enoch searched the pockets of the man who had hit his head with the wand, looking for the key to the building.

But there was no key among his belongings.

Omen’s words overlapped in his mind.

[… If no copy of the master key was given to the regular officers, then the leader of the guards probably has one. It may be cliche, but it’s the most cliche of cliches.]

widely.

In front of Enoch, who skillfully climbed down the pipe on the outer wall of the building from the rooftop.

There was a large road leading to the Vendetta’s temporary headquarters.

But under the blinking streetlights on the deserted road, someone who wasn’t there just a moment ago was standing there.

The man with the black shadow.

He was watching this side silently.

There was no need to investigate the bastard’s identity.

‘That must be the big boss.’

Enoch, carrying a thousand bags, stepped forward without hesitation.

The man who had been looking this way while maintaining silence was still staring this way with a calm attitude under the streetlight.

“… I came here because I lost contact with my subordinates.”

And finally, when they were within earshot of each other, the man spoke for the first time.

[But be careful.]

And then Enoch remembered Omen’s warning.

[The ‘Captain of the Security Guard’ of the Vendetta branch led by Persona is someone who has reached the 12th level.]

Just looking at his appearance, he was a man of considerable build. He was a head taller than me, who was quite tall.

[According to the information, the captain of the guard of Persona is a battle magician who mainly uses close-range magic warfare. He also has considerable practical experience. He is by no means an easy opponent.]

The man stood motionless for a while under the flickering streetlight, watching Enoch approach.

widely.

Outside the streetlight, Enoch stopped walking.

Meanwhile, the man who had been looking up and down nodded and asked.

“I see, you killed all my men.”

“well.”

In the darkness, Enoch slowly lowered the black cloth bag he had been carrying on his shoulder.

At the same time, the captain of the Vendetta guard, standing under the dim streetlight, slowly raised his horse.

A magic book tied tightly with a leather strap.

Clang!

He unfolded it and instantly released mana. The fluttering pages of the grimoire glowed with light.

Immediately behind the captain of the guards, a magic circle quickly rotates and activates.

The next moment, dozens of bizarre, seemingly alive tentacles were summoned from the back of the creature’s body.

Wiggle.

Enoch calmly placed his hand on the knot of the cloth bag as he watched the tentacle man.

‘Is this a derivative magic of biomimetics?’

As expected, once you reach level 12, the magic becomes more diverse.

I remember seeing something similar in the original, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.

First memory.

Suddenly, according to the man’s will, the unidentified tentacles all aimed their tips at Enoch.

The captain of the Vendetta guard raised his head from under the flickering magic lantern and said with a grin.

“I’ll listen to what you have to say as a last resort.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Enoch slowly drew his sword.

The cold grip of the one-handed sword sharply awakened all the senses in my body, from my fingertips to my whole body.

Woof─

Beyond the dark blue stream of light rising above the long sword blade, driving away the darkness.

Enoch added simply:

“Give me the keys.”