Genius Prismatic Mage Chapter 104

#104. Back to where (6)

Colin, who found Ray on the rooftop, quickly tried to put out his cigarette.

“Ah, Ray.”

“are you okay.”

Ray walked up to Colin.

──.

As I inhaled the bitter cigarette smoke, I remembered the times I had spent with Niles and felt a strange sense of stability.

Colin continued the conversation in an awkward manner, not knowing what to do with the cigarette in his hand.

His attitude toward Ray was still polite.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes. I did.”

Ray’s gaze turned blankly to the support part of the railing.

Familiar names appeared among the graffiti scratched with a knife.

“Oh, these are the graffiti we did when we were kids. Niles, me, and Brooke. We would graffiti every rooftop we went up to. It was the kind of thing that boys that age would do, leaving their mark.”

Ray looked at Colin, who was smiling awkwardly, then turned his gaze forward again.

The sky appeared to be beginning to turn dark.

The rooftop was quite high, allowing a good view of much of the sector.

“I came up here because I have something to ask.”

“Yes. What are you curious about?”

“Why did Niles organize the Nishohwa?”

Ray and Niles didn’t know much about each other’s past.

The boy himself did not know his past.

The man did not look back on the past because of the muscle pain caused by the fatigue of life.

‘We never asked each other in the first place.’

For boys and men, what’s important has always been the present.

Because the boy held the man’s past in his palm, it was nothing more than a fragment.

A man who rarely indulged in sentimentality would let his cigarette smoke drift down the river along with it.

Colin, who had been lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth and looked into the distance.

“When my brother had just become an adult, he suggested that we start an organization. He had a book in his hand.”

“A book?”

“Yes. It was a book I found in a scrap heap. It was a novel. It wasn’t unusual. My brother often searched through scrap heaps for books. When he had extra money, he would buy them at a bookstore.”

Ray nodded.

“That’s right. Niles said he used to read a lot to develop his literary skills.”

I remember hearing something like that.

At that time, I didn’t know what a book was.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then?”

“It was to memorize cool phrases from the book to use when seducing women.”

“Literary knowledge… .”

“no.”

“Literary….”

“absoluteness.”

“… … .”

Come to think of it, Niles wasn’t smoking when he said that.

“Well, that’s what it was like back then. Anyway, my brother read the novel and seemed to be quite impressed. It was basically about a boy from a back alley who doesn’t give up on his dream and works hard to enter high society.”

The name of the book was Nishohua.

A flower that blooms in the mud.

After that, Niles gave each of his brothers in the gang a flower name.

I say that you are all seeds of possibility that can bloom beautifully if given the chance.

It goes without saying that boys in their late teens, who considered proving their masculinity as the value of their lives, staged a coup d’état.

However, it was not successful.

The so-called best hitting boy in the group was Niles, and all the troublemakers who opposed the policy had their noses broken and were reduced to a single flower.

The law was far away, no, there was no such thing in the lower sectors, and the fist was the law that was close.

“For your information, I was Honey Flower.”

“… … .”

The honey flower that Ray saw in the book was a very cute and adorable flower.

Honeyflower continued speaking.

“My brother’s goal was to create a sector environment where children’s potential would not be trampled. He was already an adult and it was too late to realize his potential, so he wanted to help other young people’s potential blossom.”

To achieve this, the most urgent task was to eradicate violence within the sector.

Gangs often viewed street orphans as expendable goods to be trafficked or used as cannon fodder.

There are cases where they scout, but they are a very small minority.

If you had to name the greatest threat to street orphans, it would definitely be gangs.

“My brother was a smart man. He knew that indiscriminately terrorizing gangs was useless.”

Violence cannot be eradicated.

Even if you block one place, it will flow back out like sewage from another place.

“So, my brother, you have made up your mind.”

If you can’t erase violence.

Then you decide to become the biggest force in the sector.

As long as you reign with violence, at least other violence will not raise its head.

“At first, everyone in the group was against it. It was ridiculous to think that street orphans would take on gangsters─.”

“I don’t think that would make sense.”

Colin opened his mouth for a moment.

Then he burst into laughter.

“You’re saying the same thing as your brother back then.”

Although the name was given half in earnest and half in jest, Nishohwa’s activities were very active.

In fact, it was close to a vigilante group.

Like other gangs, they collected taxes from the residents, but the percentage was not that high.

Most of the money collected was used to maintain the organization.

“Honeyful… Mr. Colin. Did Niles have a flower name by any chance?”

“My brother was Lilac. But I like it— ahem. Anyway, it was a nickname we all used as a joke when we were kids.”

Ray remembered what Lilac had said in Sector 50.

“Collecting less taxes? If you collect too much at once, the stores will go out of business. We have to go together for a long time. It’s just something we do to make a living.”

He didn’t rationalize.

“They’re just a bunch of thugs anyway.”

They didn’t call themselves vigilantes, neighbors, or anything like that.

If I had to describe the relationship, I would say it is a symbiotic relationship where they support each other’s roots and grow stronger.

“I hope you guys grow up well. Without getting shot or starving to death. When I see you guys, I think of Parosh and feel sorry for you.”

I said something like that too.

“Do you know who Paroshi is?”

“He is the main character who appeared in Nishohwa.”

I said he was a real person.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I was smoking at that time either.

Anyway, the Niles of the past moved forward with persistent steps to realize his ideal.

In Sector 46, the presence of all other gangs except Nishohwa was erased.

And then he was betrayed by Brooke.

That was two years ago.

“Could I ask what your brother said about Brooke?”

Ray spoke frankly.

“… You are like my older brother.”

Colin continued the story.

Providing the minimum environment for street children to develop their potential.

At first, I felt a great deal of resistance because I thought it was a ridiculous plan.

But gradually, he was influenced by Niles’ ideas, and as the plan came closer to being realized, he wanted it more than anyone else.

“I bet all the other guys thought the same thing.”

As they talked, a lot of the emotions that had been building up in Colin’s bowl were relieved.

The hidden part was revealed.

So Ray found out.

‘That was it.’

What Niles left behind in Sector 46.

Yeah, there’s no way you can find it.

Because it was hidden among such dark colored emotions.

In the center of Colin’s bowl was a shining star.

The starlight that only those with clear opinions and beliefs can embrace.

It was exactly the same shape as the star Niles had been holding.

*

Ray came down to the first floor with Colin.

A table with people sitting around it.

Veronica appeared with a face that looked like she had witnessed the end of the world.

“Once you open your eyes to reason, you’ll change completely. Late winds are scarier than never. Hehe.”

“… … !”

“How could you be satisfied with a woman with that kind of face? I would rather believe in the saying that there is a deer flying in the sky.”

“… … !!”

“Hey, even if it’s an example, that’s too much. How can a deer, let alone a bird, fly in the sky?”

Words being thrown around from the left and right.

Veronica’s pupils caused a strong earthquake.

The subtle emotions that flashed in the eyes of a teenage girl when she looked at a boy had long since been seen through by the bad back-alley gangsters who had been through it all.

There was no malicious intent behind these reckless villains.

However, the girl’s reaction is so transparent and clear that he can’t stop playing around.

Oh, I have to stop.

The opponent is a wizard.

“what’s the matter?”

Ray approached Philip nearby and asked him.

“Um… what’s going on?”

“Why is Veronica so flustered?”

Philip thought that in terms of villainy, this guy was no different from the villains over there.

‘This, this. You didn’t even notice that conversation.’

Philip didn’t think Ray was oblivious.

The surprising sense and wit that is occasionally displayed could never have been displayed without the ability to understand the situation and read the meaning implicit in other people’s words and actions.

but.

‘The problem is that it only applies in situations related to combat or achieving our party’s objectives.’

There were signs that Veronica was showing me that she liked me without me knowing.

Or staring at someone’s face more than necessary.

Or, you can really go around and around trying to get your luck on someone (woman) you’ve met before.

“Woman? The one I’ve known the longest is Mrs. Molly from the grocery store. I’ve been doing delivery work there since I was eight.”

「… … .」

Of course, Ray didn’t notice a thing.

Veronica’s signals were avoided with unexpected evasive maneuvers.

I did have that thought.

Maybe Ray just saves his wits about him?

So that you can just take it out and use it when you really need it?

Or do you know it but just grit your teeth and pretend not to know?

Anyway, in everyday life, Ray’s sense of touch was estimated to be extinct, and the one who was left with the unfortunate outcome was Veronica.

Of course, Ray ‘saw’ the emotions.

But is it possible to perceive Veronica’s mind through special eyesight?

That was also strange.

“You can’t read all of someone’s emotions just by looking at their bowl. I’ve seen them a lot, but there are still a lot of emotions I haven’t been able to define.”

Ray would see the many emotions contained in Veronica’s vessel, but he would not recognize the identity of ‘rational affection’ among them.

You’ll find out someday.

If Ray later realizes the feeling of love and comes up with his own definition of it.

But when will that be?

5 years later? 10 years later? 20 years later?

It seems like Ray’s basic emotional range has expanded recently.

But I couldn’t quite imagine Ray feeling love for someone and expressing it.

‘I happened to like Ray.’

Philip shook his head, expressing his condolences to Veronica inwardly.

“Why is Veronica so flustered? It’s because she’s so happy. She’s so happy.”

“… You like it? What? You like it, so why are you embarrassed?”

I walked towards the table, leaving Ray behind, buffering, not understanding what he meant.

“Oh my.”

With a long sigh.

Anyway, I had to stop those reckless gangsters.

To avoid seeing Veronica, who had held it in for so long, burst out in rage, sweeping the room away with the wind.

*

Ray tells Colin that he wants to help the supporters.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Colin’s face lit up with emotion, while Philip and Veronica nodded as if they had expected it to happen.

“You said there wasn’t much you could figure out about the Murkred that Brooke had brought in.”

“Yes. I’m ashamed to say, but we didn’t have enough men to block the retreating front line, so we couldn’t attempt a proper reconnaissance.”

The group moved to the interrogation room set up in the corner of the hideout with Colin.

Two wizards of Murcred were tied to chairs, sealed in a drum.

Choaaaak──!

“Ugh!”

“Huh?”

They regained consciousness and woke up when the gang members splashed water on their faces.

They looked around and found Ray, groaning and shaking.

“Eww! Ewww!”

“You, you! What are you? What the heck!”

Their emotions contained in the vessel were extremely unstable.

Anger, irritation, frustration.

And now, in this situation, there is joy and pleasure that should not be there.

A variety of emotions, mainly in the red and black ranges, gurgled like sewage water.

Of these, the emotions of the greatest volume were the fear and horror engraved in my mind because of Ray.

widely.

“Oh, don’t come! Don’t come near me! Hehe!”

“Get out, get out! You devil!”

widely.

“Lord, I’ll kill you! If you come any closer!”

The elements released from their rings attempted to transform into magic in the air.

However, due to Ray’s manipulation, it was torn apart into thin air before it could be combined.

Thud!

Ray’s two hands, using metal, grabbed the two wizards’ faces fiercely.

Before they could even react, he dug into their mouths and grabbed their tongues.

“Woof!”

“Aww!”

“The one who is leading you now.”

The grip holding my tongue tightened.

“I am very curious. What kind of person you are. I will have to answer well with this tongue. Otherwise.”

Ray took a deep breath and said.

“I’m going to pull this out.”