Genius Prismatic Mage Chapter 278

#278. Sky Train (2)

Clank! Clank!

The train raced along the tracks at a speed that could almost be called runaway.

Passengers had to grab onto anything in the cabin to avoid falling.

I felt dizzy as I watched the scenery outside the window change in an instant.

Clank, clank, pushii──

At stop number 22, where the train arrived, investigators from the train company and emergency personnel were gathered.

“Start by assessing casualties!”

“This way! Is everyone okay?”

In a chaotic atmosphere.

The engineer was secured as a witness.

“Yes…? Mr. Hudson, are you saying that some boy just injected mana into the engine and made the train move?”

“I guess the shock from the accident was quite severe. Hey, call the mental health center. Someone who needs to recover will be coming soon.”

“Oh, no! It’s true! And I’m of sound mind!”

When the engineer was on the verge of going crazy from frustration, other investigators approached.

“First of all, the testimonies of the passengers are all consistent. They say that the white-haired boy wiped out all the terrorists.”

“That’s right! White hair! That’s the boy I was talking about!”

“It looks like a skilled wizard was on board the train. But no matter what the odds are, it’s impossible for him to move the train alone. Injecting that enormous amount of mana into it alone? That’s ridiculous.”

The investigators first looked around to secure witnesses.

But the boy the driver and passengers had mentioned was nowhere to be found.

Yeah, that's right.

“If you stay here for no reason, you’ll obviously be subject to annoying investigations.”

“Huk, huk…! Let’s, let’s go together…!”

Because I was leaving the station by stairs instead of the elevator.

“You, how are you so strong? How many rings do you have!”

“Four.”

“4 circles? No, that wasn’t enough!”

Ray quickly heads down, jumping down the stairs floor by floor.

Joshua followed behind, barely catching his breath.

Phew!

At that moment, a gust of wind from upstairs stopped in front of Ray and transformed into the shape of a human being.

Translucent sky blue.

A middle-aged woman carrying a briefcase.

Ray stopped naturally, and Joshua, who followed him, shouted in surprise.

“‘The Wind that Carries Horses’! I heard that it was a magic that hadn’t been announced yet, but I’m going to see it with my own eyes!”

“Is this magic you know?”

“I saw it in the article. It’s a magic that the Weed School will release in the next quarter, and the prevailing opinion is that once its performance is verified, the status of short-distance communication magics will be greatly reduced.”

As Joshua continued his passionate explanation, the woman opened her mouth.

─I'm sorry for stopping you so suddenly. But I felt I had to tell you that I was grateful.

The sound of the wind howling was so similar to human voices that it was impossible to tell the difference even with one's eyes closed.

What is the principle of magic?

Ray's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

I listened to her words while calmly analyzing the colors of the mana that made up the magic.

─I'm McQueen, the head of the research lab at the Weed School. I'm the one the terrorists pointed out on the train. Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to keep our valuable research data from being stolen.

“I wasn’t really trying to help.”

─No matter what the intention was, it is true that I received help. I have to deliver some urgent information somewhere, so I can't talk at length right now, but I will give you a favor, so please visit With Matop later.

Ray accepted the business card the woman handed him, and the sky-blue shape disappeared into the cool breeze.

“Are you famous?”

“He’s famous! He’s the head of the research lab at With Matap, the third-ranking research institute in the city!”

“Director of Research.”

“Yes, the head of the research lab. He rarely appears in public, so his face isn’t widely known, but everyone who knows him knows him.”

As we were coming down the stairs chatting, we arrived at the first floor before we knew it.

“I’ll go alone from here.”

“Oh, are you okay alone?”

“Because the road isn’t that complicated.”

“Yeah, I also have a place I need to go to, which is on the other side.”

Joshua nodded, although he looked disappointed.

As we were about to part ways in front of the clock tower where the train stopped, he took something out of his arms and handed it to me.

“This is my business card. Compared to the Weed School that McQueen belongs to, it’s nothing special… but I’m also a member of the school. If you need any help, feel free to contact me!”

Joshua said awkwardly, waving his hand and running to the other side of the street.

“… … .”

Ray is left alone.

I checked the business card.

[Stona School]

[Trainee clerk Joshua]

Judging from the fact that he was a trainee, it seemed like he had not been in the school for very long.

'They said that you have to become an adult to officially join the school.'

Joshua, your face looks young.

Maybe I just became an adult.

Ray, who was putting the business card in his pocket, suddenly felt a rustling sensation at the tip of his fingers.

I took it out and checked it.

It was a crumpled note.

'There was this too.'

In addition to the Doctor's quest and the solution to the Black Cloud, there was one more thing to solve in the wizard's city.

Humphrey, the person who handed over the money he had saved his whole life to Sector 50 and Chaki.

He handed me a note with personal information and asked me to find his younger brother who had been sold to the city of wizards.

Rustle, rustle.

I unfolded the note and checked the important keywords.

[Herne] [Sold a year ago]

[gray hair] [age 16 at the time]

Humphrey, you have gray hair.

It was a fact I didn't know because I was bald.

Hern was a common name in the slums, and some time had passed since she received the note, so she would be an adult at eighteen years old now.

Although there were other things written down, such as speech habits and body type, it didn't seem like they would be of much help in tracking him.

Because people tend to change a lot during their mid to late teens.

[Scar on back]

The only information that would be of any help was a scar that would remain and not be erased.

Ray, who had put the note back in his bosom, looked back at the clock tower before leaving.

The tracks are tangled messily in the sky.

Above them, trains were running, belching black smoke.

Suddenly, that thought occurred to me.

Even if it were widely proven in the world that the cause of public hazards was the excessive use of magic.

'Will people reduce their use of magic?'

It was something I couldn't be sure of.

Not producing black smoke meant giving up the conveniences of civilization.

Damn it.

Ray, who had been lost in thought for a while, started walking again.

Magical tools and facilities emitting black smoke all over the streets.

After moving while observing them, I was able to arrive at an old-fashioned tower.

Wheeing──

“I came to register for the school.”

“Yes, register for the school…?”

The guide at the desk, who had seen Ray's face, trailed off.

It was because the visitor who came to register for the first time in a long time was so young.

“Are you here by any chance as someone’s representative?”

“No. I want to create my own school.”

“Yes? Your school?”

The guide couldn't hide his embarrassment.

At that moment, a face appeared in the crystal ball on the desk and a voice flowed out.

─Send it to my office. It seems to be the person the head of the Listoa School mentioned.

"All right."

Another employee who answered the call guided Ray to the office on the top floor.

Luxurious carpet.

A bookshelf lining the wall.

A huge desk placed by the window.

In the center of the room was a middle-aged man practicing hitting a ball with a long stick.

There are 5 rings.

It was proof that he was a capable person.

Phew──!

“I received word that a distinguished guest was coming and that it would be best to treat him with the utmost respect. But I had no idea that he would be such a young guest.”

The man with the grim expression continued to swing and speak.

“Do you know where this place is?”

“Isn’t this the school registration office?”

“That’s right. The first school to be established must come to us first. Well, it’s okay if they don’t register and go around calling themselves a school, but then they won’t be able to participate in various official events.”

Phew──!

“We also do a lot of other things. We gather various news from the magic world and deliver them to each magic tower. We organize regular exchange meetings, and we mediate conflicts between magic towers.”

Phew──!

“Well, the latter isn’t going so well these days, since the city has become a powder keg, but it’s acting as a sort of association. But do you know what’s most important?”

Ray answered, following the trajectory of the swing with his eyes as it grew stronger.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s because we are also fundamentally a school. A powerful force that even a mediocre minor school can’t even hand out a business card to. However, the head of the Listoa School, which has not been producing any results recently, has dared to warn me. He said that if I don’t properly serve the distinguished guest, I will miss an opportunity that will change my life and I may regret it for the rest of my life.”

Phew!

The man, who had been looking at the virtual ball flying far away, slowly straightened his posture and looked back at Ray.

“But then, the person you sent away was a child like this. What do you think? Do you think you are the person who can change my life?”

“… … .”

Ray stared at the fire in the man's bowl and the pride that shone brightly.

He was presumed to be a person with very strong self-esteem and self-respect.

“Whether your life changes or not depends on what you do.”

“Ha, I like the confidence with which you talk. Let me hear what you have to say.”

The thing thrown into the air flew by itself and returned to its place on the wall.

With a snap of the man's fingers, the fireplace lit up and the tables and sofas that had been pushed aside flew into the center to make room.

dump!

“My name is Gustav. Prove to me that the head of the Listoa isn’t making fun of me.”

“I’m Ray. I came to create a school.”

“In these times, when it comes to schools, everything that can be discovered has been discovered─.”

“─This is an era where nothing is new anymore. I’ve already heard that.”

Gustav, who had been glaring at Ray as his words were cut off, soon chuckled and said.

“If you are so confident, then tell me the theory that will form the basis of your school.”

“It’s not that difficult of a concept.”

Ray briefly explained about imagination.

If you have a clear image in your head, you can use magic that goes beyond the confines of formulas and equations.

You just have to make the mana move on its own according to the image you have in mind.

Gustav, who had been dazed for a while, burst into laughter and said:

“Hahahaha! Did the head of the Listoa School send you to find a laugh for me? I misunderstood. He wasn’t trying to make fun of me.”

It was the same reaction as when the executives of the Ristoa School first heard the explanation.

Ray knew from past experience what the quickest method of persuasion was.

“It would be faster if you just look at it.”

“Oh, just wait a minute.”

Gustav took something out of his bosom and put it in his mouth.

“Phew─ I wonder if I was taking the situation too seriously.”

It was a small metal rod.

Colorful mana that is sucked into the tip of the stick and clumps up into black.

Some of it flowed through the stick into Gustav's body, and some of it turned into black smoke and rose into the sky.

“Is that strange? It’s a Mana cigarette that will be released by Recop. It sucks in the surrounding mana and gives the user a deep sense of stability. I quit smoking regular cigarettes because I felt that they were making me unhealthy. Since this one is made from mana, it has no side effects.”

There are no side effects.

There was absolutely no way that black mana could be absorbed into the body.

'It's clear that black disease will break out someday, even if it's not for a short time.'

However, the other person's health was not Ray's concern.

The only thing that bothers me is the black smoke that is invisible to others.

Woof!

The mana from the two jewels that Ray had released was directed towards Gustav.

“Instead of just using Mana, I think it would be better to do this.”

“You mean the mana of the ring? I’ve already tried it, but it’s not much different from the one in the air…?”

That was the moment.

Gustav felt as if a flash of light had struck his spine.