Genius Prismatic Mage Chapter 293

#293. People of the Old World (3)

Rael's gruff appearance before he collapsed was gone, and he was now showing a polite attitude.

Ray was puzzled.

'You're finally back?'

I could tell that the person I was talking to was not wrong because Rael's gaze was directed straight at me.

But I wasn't the one who collapsed and regained consciousness, so shouldn't the expression "I came back" be used for me?

When you have such doubts.

Rustle─

Rael lay down on the floor, leaned close to Ray, and said.

“…Thank you for coming back.”

A voice soaked with moisture.

A body trembling slightly.

I felt like I was dealing with a real, living Rael, not a robot.

“You’re coming back?”

“How could we not recognize Him? The One who breathed emotion into the creatures of our earth.”

“There is some misunderstanding.”

“No, Rainbow.”

rainbow.

The moment those short words reached my ears, it felt like the whole world was vibrating.

The heart starts beating.

Rapidly increasing breathing.

Ray turned his head and told the dwarf elders about his enlightenment.

“This one is less repaired.”

“Hmm… I’m sure it was done according to the blueprint.”

“Did we make a mistake?”

“Will it be fixed if I hit it?”

While opinions were being exchanged busily, Rael slowly stood up and spoke.

“I am not making any mistakes. I remember who I am and what my mission is.”

Ray looked at Rael again and asked with seriousness.

“Who are you?”

“I am Rael, or rather, a clone who inherited Rael’s personality and memories.”

“What is the mission given?”

“It’s about supporting the rainbow that has returned so that the world can return to its original state.”

Up to this point, we already knew this from Rael's journal discovered in Acrasium.

The only problem was that Rael was making a huge mistake.

“I am not a rainbow.”

“That’s possible.”

Rael, who had a faint, hazy smile on his face, took off his top completely.

He made delicate manipulations on the skin with his short, blunt fingers, and soon the chest cracked and the flap opened.

The center of a complex mechanical device.

There was a small, transparent, colorless jewel fixed there.

“You have scattered all your colors into the world and exhausted your strength. This is the last trace that remains where you left off. The Guardians have engraved an imprint on this trace so that it will resonate with your soul.”

Rael swallowed his trembling voice and barely managed to continue speaking.

“But… I guess I didn’t need such a device. Just standing in front of you gives me such a strong feeling. Yes. How could we not recognize you, our great one?”

Click.

The jewel taken out of the device was vibrating with a brilliant light.

The moment I accepted it, the blue memories associated with the colorless gem came back to me.

‘… So this is the way to find out about the reincarnation of the rainbow.’

At the same time, I could see that everything Rael said was true.

But that and whether Ray could accept that he was the reincarnation of Rainbow were entirely separate issues.

'I am the reincarnation of the rainbow?'

It was a premise I had never thought about before and which I still cannot accept.

Of course, during the long journey, there were moments that I couldn't clearly understand.

Why is it that he can freely manipulate the rainbow fragments?

The doctor said that your world has failed, and why did he seem afraid of this side?

Why does Veronica's white sun only rise when she looks this way?

I was lost in thought for a moment, but I still had a hard time accepting the situation.

'It's not enough.'

Because there were only 72 circumstances in total that raised doubts about identity.

'Isn't it?'

Ray asked, his emotions still confused.

“… I’ll think about whether I’m the reincarnation of the rainbow later, but first, can you tell me what happened yesterday?”

“Yes, I will tell you.”

Lael nodded and continued his story calmly.

“That guy, Redran, came to see me last night. Of course, I was still working yesterday without regaining my memories of Rael, so I didn’t realize who he was.”

He said that at first he thought he was just a simple client.

It's common in Dark Alley to cover your appearance with something like a mask.

“… After confirming the client’s appearance through CCTV, I focused on the work. All consultations regarding the request were conducted by the employee. However, in the middle of the process, I heard a scream of pain and ran over to see that the employee was lying on the floor with his entire body melting. Redran was standing next to him, his hands blazing with heat.”

Rael said he couldn't forget what Redran said when he looked at him at that time.

─It's been a while, Rael. You survived too. I've been looking for you for so long, but I had no idea you'd be hiding in a place like this.

“What does that mean… I couldn’t tell who they were, but I had a gut feeling that my life was in dire danger. I was caught while running away, and I heard a terrifying voice threatening me. It said to create equipment that would allow me to safely pass through the disaster zone.”

“Land of Disaster?”

“This is a land that must be passed through in order to reach the ruins where the Guardian of the Blue is sealed. It is a place where the fairies have set up thousands of barriers and traps, and it is absolutely impossible to pass through by normal means.”

Then Rael told me the coordinates.

Ray took out the map and checked the location, and was able to find out one thing.

'That's the place I saw when I climbed to the top of the World Tree.'

Lightning strikes ceaselessly from the sky.

That place at the end of the horizon, where fierce flames burst out through the gaping gap.

Rael continued the sentence.

“… Anyway, I activated the security device installed in the workshop, and barely managed to escape Redran’s grasp and hide in the bunker.”

“The doctor would have burned down the entire workshop after that. It’s fortunate that he didn’t die.”

If Rael had been captured or killed, the fog over the Doctor's footprints would not have cleared.

“But I don’t quite understand why Redran would want to head to the sealed ruins. There, what is going on…?”

“I intend to absorb the power.”

“Strength?”

“The power of the blue guardian.”

Rael was silent for a moment.

Then he nodded and said.

“… I think so. Redran has had a strong desire for power for a long time. However, even if he were to release the seal and absorb the power through some special method, it would be virtually impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because the power of the Guardians is based on the emotions given by the Rainbow.”

The source of the blue guardian's power was his sense of superiority and inferiority toward others.

“There is no one other than the Blue Guardian who can perfectly hold two conflicting emotions of superiority and inferiority at the same time. Even if Redran successfully absorbs the power, he will not be able to handle even 1 percent of his original power.”

“No, there is.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In addition to the blue guardian, there is also someone who can perfectly feel both superiority and inferiority at the same time.”

Ray was thinking.

The man the doctor brought in, with a vessel full of dark blue mana.

*

After talking enough, Ray gave instructions to Rael.

“Go to Lael Row for a moment.”

It was partly because of the eager eyes of the dwarven elders, but also because I needed time alone to collect my thoughts.

Of course, whether Rael would follow the instructions obediently or not was a separate matter.

“It’s been a long time since we last met, but we can’t just part ways so easily! We have to spend the next 100 hours or so reuniting to let go of our regrets…!”

“Ancestor! Let’s go together!”

“We have so many questions to ask!”

Squeak─ bang!

Ray looked at the door through which Rael had disappeared, then looked away.

‘…I am a rainbow.’

I understood it with my head and reason.

But I couldn't understand it with my heart and emotions.

This completely unexpected change in identity, is this what it must have felt like when Veronica heard she was a saint?

Ray, who had been summoning rainbow fragments and staring at them for a while, came to a conclusion.

'There's no need to overthink it.'

In any case, his goal of eliminating Indiago, taking revenge, capturing the doctor, and collecting all the rainbow fragments remained unchanged.

In the distance, there was a brightly shining light from a lighthouse, so all I had to do was run towards it.

After leaving the tower, Ray took the train again and arrived at Dark Alley.

With Nilla's information and the help of a thoughtful local guide, we located the homes of the residents who had been acting strangely after their encounter with the Doctor.

Soon, we arrived in front of a shabby door.

“This is it. So, can I really go now?”

“You can go. It was hard to guide the way and to move the unconscious Rael.”

“Yes, yes, then!”

Dismissed!

Ray, who had struck the rascal in the face of the rascal trying to get out of his seat in a hurry, opened the door and went in, hearing a snickering sound behind him.

Squeak─

The yard of a small house appeared.

A woman was hanging laundry to dry.

His eyes were unfocused and his movements were extremely mechanical.

Even when I spoke to him, he just glanced at me and went about his business.

'There is no emotion in the bowl at all.'

It wasn't the first time I saw it.

Because homunculi didn't have emotions either.

But this time, the situation was different in that it was a real person, not an artificial life form.

The doctor's goal is to return the world to its original, emotionless state.

…I wonder if some kind of experiment of his is coming to fruition.

Woof.

The orange gem that had been taken from Aurea's tears and absorbed next to her heart was summoned onto Ray's hand.

I closed my eyes and let my emotions run wild.

Comfort, stability, gratitude, and… .

The orange jewel's mana resonated with him and shot towards the woman, and all the harmful imprints attached to her mind began to disappear.

It was thanks to the high-purity element of purification and stability contained in the orange mana.

The power of the orange gem did not end there, Rael said.

“I can’t guarantee it, but if you have the orange gem, you should be able to pass through the Land of Disaster easily. The Land of Disaster is a place built by fairies, and the orange gem is something that the yellow guardian, the queen of fairies, guards.”

That must have been the reason why the doctor sent Madame Philia to the auction house to get her hands on the tears of Aurea.

Since that plan fell through, he must have come to find Rael in the workshop.

'And the reason for wanting to absorb the power of the Blue Guardian is.'

…perhaps to stop me.

Then the woman, whose focus returned with the emotions of the bowl, spoke.

“Uh… here… I… what…?”

“I have a question.”

“Uh, you…?”

The woman was taken aback by her surroundings, but soon calmed down and answered Ray's questions.

“Haven’t you ever met a big man? Oh, right! I felt a hot sensation, like I was standing next to a fire, and then he suddenly reached out his palm toward my face, and I came home in a daze… And then… ? I kept hanging out the laundry… ? And it didn’t stop, huh… ? Why did I do that? I felt like I had just woken up from a deep sleep.”

Hot and steamy.

It seemed that the doctor met this woman after he had visited the workshop.

After that, I listened carefully to the woman's story, but there wasn't any information that was particularly helpful.

Ray took out a large coin and showed it to me.

“Was there anything else? Something about where you were going, a way of speaking, something unusual on the outside? Any little thing would be fine.”

The woman who saw the coin became lost in thought with her eyes shining.

And after a while, he opened his mouth.

“City, where in this city is there the most children?”