Genius Prismatic Mage Chapter 8

#008. Broken World (3)

It’s a suggestion.

What on earth are you trying to say?

How do you know that Niles is dead?

“Ray. I’ve been watching you for a long time. I wish you would listen to my story.”

Silent Humphrey.

A nickname given to him because he is usually quiet and carries out his assigned tasks perfectly.

He was now spitting out sentences that had never before occurred in his life.

And he said it in a voice that was both urgent and desperate.

Ray examined the mana in Humphrey’s bowl.

There was no sign of him lying or trying to deceive us.

Ray’s concentration is disturbed.

I came out of the anger I had been immersed in like a shell.

“… … .”

The other person had pretended not to know me when they were with Hector.

You get what you pay for.

Because that’s the rule.

Ray nodded quietly.

Humphrey sighed in relief, swallowed hard, and said.

“Let me get to the point. I want you to leave Sector 50.”

Ray was silent.

There it was again. This man was also telling himself to leave this place.

“Why?”

“I wish you could help me find my brother.”

“You’re my little brother.”

“My brother, whom Hector sold to the city of wizards.”

Ray asked back.

“Did you have a younger sibling?”

“Yes. That’s why I work for Hector. He said that if I fulfilled ten years, he would tell me the exact location of my brother. He should be about the same age as you are now.”

Strictly speaking, Humphrey was not particularly good with words.

But it’s a story I’ve been preparing for quite some time to tell someone.

Thanks to this, there was no problem in conveying information quickly.

“You knew I could use magic.”

“Yes. I had a feeling about this from the beginning. I was convinced after the fight in the warehouse.”

Humphrey lifted his collar to reveal a shallow burn on his chest.

“I saw you come up from the riverbank and head down the street, and I followed you. I could not miss seeing you defeat your men with magic.”

The story continued quickly.

In case Ray changes his mind and takes different actions.

Ray felt his head getting colder as the conversation progressed.

“What is the city of wizards?”

“I heard it’s somewhere up the Elton River. They say only wizards can enter.”

“Find your younger brother yourself. Don’t ask others.”

Humphrey shook his head with a bitter expression.

“… I don’t have the confidence to leave this place.”

“… … .”

This guy was like that too.

An adult who has put down too many roots and has lost the courage to try something new.

Ray said in a cold voice.

“I don’t know why I should do you a favor. And I have to get revenge.”

Humphrey shook his head.

“You won’t win against Hector just because you know a little magic. Especially since he has a terrible wizard by his side.”

A wizard with dark blue mana.

Also a character who controlled the golem.

“How strong is that wizard? What kind of magic did he use?”

“… You don’t know how scary that guy is.”

Humphrey’s face darkened.

In his vessel, pitch-black mana corresponding to fear was fluctuating.

“One of the members of the organization who had been offended had his whole body frozen solid. Another guy had a lump of water thrown over his face and suffocated to death.”

“… … .”

Humphrey told everything else he knew about wizards.

Ray calmed his thoughts.

okay.

Objectively speaking, the chances of him beating the opposing wizard were slim.

He himself did not learn magic systematically.

I had simply been using magic based on my intuition, and perhaps my knowledge was just a corner of the larger picture of magic.

No, there’s a high chance it was.

On the other hand, the opponent was an expert.

He would have all kinds of knowledge that we don’t know, and he even had the cruelty to kill people without any hesitation.

The odds were close to zero.

It may be possible to cause some damage by taking advantage of your carelessness, but that’s the end of it.

Are you really satisfied with that?

Can you call that revenge?

“Hector is currently rounding up children from all over the sector. If you stay here, you will definitely be caught too. You will be sold as a slave somewhere, for sure.”

“… … .”

“Let’s get out of here first. Then we’ll have a chance to get revenge or whatever.”

At that moment, an angry shout was heard from the alley Ray had passed through.

─Over there! The kid ran over there!

─There are fallen guys here too!

It was the voice of Hector’s men.

“There isn’t much time.”

Humphrey’s mana color changed to nervousness.

After a few seconds, Ray said.

“There is a condition. You must collect Guldari’s body.”

“That’s possible. We can handle it without Hector knowing.”

Humphrey’s mana color changed to a deep excitement and joy.

He took a leather pouch and a note from his bosom and handed them to Ray.

“I have no intention of asking for it outright. It’s money I’ve saved my whole life. My brother’s name and characteristics are written on the note.”

Ray opened his pocket.

It contained a stack of high-value coins and a car key.

“Why do you trust me and give me this kind of money? I might not keep my promise.”

“I know you. You’re not the type to break your promises. And.”

Humphrey said after catching his breath.

“From what I see, you have the ability to rise to the upper sector.”

“… … .”

Ray looking at his pocket.

Chaki was about to return it, but changed his mind and kept it in his arms.

The vehicle Niles had prepared was on the outskirts of the sector, but there was no telling what would happen.

Ray stared out of the alley.

It was in the direction of the central square where Hector was.

I haven’t forgotten my anger.

One day I will come back here again and dig up all that buried anger and spread it all over my body.

“Wait. Until I get back.”

fault.

Ray disappeared into the alley with quick footsteps, and soon disappeared completely from sight.

Humphrey took a deep breath.

And then he shouted in a loud voice for the alley to go away.

“This way──!! There’s an enemy over here──!!”

It was to give the boy some time to escape.

Inside a gloomy, gray alley.

A colorful mixture of nervousness, excitement, and anticipation was seething in Humphrey’s bowl.

*

Ray ran and ran.

─There it is!

─Catch all the children without exception!

At every turn of the street, Hector’s gang swarmed like bees.

Dismissed!

They all fell down, shivering under the blue current.

─This way!

─Keep going! I’m chasing you now!

The enemy appeared endlessly.

As the commotion grew louder, all the enemies around were rushing towards Ray.

But there were no major problems.

Because the mana that was applied to the body made it sensitive to all the sensations around it.

This was also a way of using mana that Ray instinctively recognized.

Thanks to this, Ray was able to navigate the labyrinthine alleyways without being surrounded by enemies.

When Ray’s legs finally stopped running.

Before my eyes appeared a wide intersection leading from 17th Street to other numbered streets.

I put my arms on my knees and caught my breath.

I regained some breath and raised my head to run again.

And then I made eye contact with someone on the other side of the intersection.

“… … .”

A person who has existed there and will exist in the future.

Suddenly a story popped into my head.

After making sure there were no Hector gang members around, Ray strode towards the figure.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Strictly speaking, we couldn’t say that our eyes met.

Because the opponent was a blind person who couldn’t see ahead.

Viola was sitting on the mat with her usual gentle smile on her face.

There was not a single scratch on his body, as if he had nothing to do with the commotion on the street.

…perhaps because it was located away from the center of the street where the massacre took place.

“I have a question. I don’t have much time, so please answer quickly.”

Ray stopped as he took out a coin and put it in the can.

It was a 1000 shilling coin I received from Hector.

“… … .”

This won’t work.

Because I’ve already decided how I’m going to use it someday.

Ray took another coin out of his pocket and dropped it into the can.

Ding─!

“They say that if you find a rainbow, you can make a wish. It’s true.”

“It’s Rayguna.”

Viola’s closed eyes turned straight to Ray’s face.

It’s as if invisible eyes are delicately scanning the outline of the face.

She answered with a warm smile.

“Rainbows exist. You can make any wish you want.”

Viola’s bowl still contained only vivid purple mana.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or if what he was saying was true or false.

“The wizard said he came here to find something. A rainbow… I think he said that.”

However, it was thought that the rainbow was not a completely baseless rumor.

According to Humphrey, the wizard of the one-eyed glasses also mentioned a rainbow.

“Can you save people too?”

“Yeah, whatever. But nobody knows where the rainbow is.”

“thank you.”

Ray greeted her and turned around.

Then I thought of something to say and turned my head.

“It would be better to move for the time being.”

Ray started running again.

The old scenery of 17th Street watched the boy walk away.

*

The outskirts of sector 50.

Among them, 23rd Street is located on the outermost part.

Ray had no trouble finding the vehicle listed on Niles’ note.

It was a white car parked next to an abandoned building.

4-seater compact.

Even that seemed a little too much to the boy.

“… … .”

My mind was hazy.

It was because I used too much mana.

Body strengthening magic was barely effective, and I didn’t have the energy to use other types of magic.

At that moment, as I approached with my body drenched in sweat and tried to insert the key.

“What? It wasn’t the Niles kids, it was the rats.”

A man appeared across the empty lot with a voice.

A staggering gait.

A look that is never friendly.

The moment their faces met, Ray knew immediately who he was.

The day when black rain fell.

A chase that started from the food warehouse.

He was one of the Hector gang members who had been chasing him at that time.

… one finger was missing.

There was a bandage wrapped around the cut area.

This must be Hector’s punishment for not catching the rat.

But that wasn’t the danger.

A needle mark on my raised forearm.

A syringe containing a cloudy liquid was held in the other hand.

Ray knew what it was.

It was a painkiller that made you forget the pain and a cheap drug that made your body wake up.

“What are you? Why do you have a key?”

The distance narrows menacingly.

Fortunately, the other person didn’t seem to notice me.

“He looks like Niles’ kid. Did you get orders to bring the car? Where is Niles?”

There was a tense atmosphere between the boy and the man.

While they were looking at each other, it was Ray who moved first.

Creak! Crunch!

“Where is this kid!”

As Ray opened the door with his keys, the man also kicked the floor and ran.

Ray, who was in the driver’s seat, inserted the key into the keyhole with his right hand and closed the car door with his left.

Thud!

It would have been closed.

If it weren’t for the man who arrived just in time to grab the door handle.

“This cheeky little brat!”

Ray also pulled the door from the inside, but the basic difference in strength caused the door to slowly open.

Due to excessive mana use, body strengthening magic has become almost ineffective.

The man put one arm through the gap that had formed.

“Get down… you little punk…! Where the hell are you… trying to get… from!”

The man gritting his teeth, swung his arms to grab Ray.

Ray held on as long as he could and continued to put the key into the ignition.

Tick! Tick!

But it wasn’t easy to put the key in because my body was shaking.

Meanwhile, Ray’s hood was taken off by the man’s hand.

The man’s eyes narrowed as he saw Ray’s face.

“This kid─! No way─!”

The man’s pulling force against the door became explosively stronger as he recognized Ray.

The door was more than half open in an instant.

The moment when the man continues his struggle and tries to squeeze his body into the widened space.

widely!

Ray let go of his hand that was holding the door.

The man fell backwards, his posture collapsing.

“You fu*king punk! You fu*king punk! That’s you! That’s the punk from the warehouse!”

The shock of the fall was considerable, but the anger was greater than that.

The man jumped up from his seat and ran straight towards the open door.

The moment the man stretched out his arm, Ray slammed the door shut with all his might.

With my mental power slightly restored, I used magic to strengthen my muscles.

BAM! CRACK!

“Ugh!”

There was a cracking sound in the man’s arm as he was trapped between the door and the car body.

Creak.

And at that moment the key fit into the keyhole.

I turned the key without hesitation.

The car woke up with a loud engine noise.

Ray took the wheel.

I’ve never driven a car myself, but I’ve seen Niles drive a few times.

I still remember how Niles operated the car at that time.

Kkrick! Knock! Woofwoof─!

I shifted into reverse and pressed down hard on the accelerator.

The scenery seen through the windshield quickly receded with a jerk from the sudden start.

The man was getting up from his seat, holding his broken arm.

“This fu*king kid aaaa …

A man’s face was very distorted.

Ray shifted the gear into forward and turned the steering wheel to the right.

Woohoo─!

And then I stepped on the accelerator.

Without hesitation, with all your might.