Chapter 42
An unprecedented incident had occurred: the grimoire was pouting. Ian stared at the grimoire huddled in the corner and let out a deep sigh.
“No, Hand of Re-Creation. I really don’t know why you’re angry. I didn’t exactly use you as a bludgeon or a shield.”
[Humm.]
“What, you’re vibrating to say I don’t even know that? Then how am I supposed to know? At least say something.”
[Humm!]
“It’s not my fault you can’t talk.”
[Humm……!!]
“Ugh, forget it. Just stay like that. I’m going to read this one.”
In the end, Ian gave up on communicating and picked up the Deep-Sea Chronicle, opening it. The Deep-Sea Chronicle seemed delighted to have been chosen, and it trembled with excitement as it accepted Ian’s touch.
As he lightly brushed the cover, the pages turned without the slightest resistance.
Ian leaned back against the bed and slowly reread the introduction from the start.
‘The blurb isn’t anything special.’
It only recorded the Outer God’s aliases and the magic it had written; its true name was hidden.
It was much the same as the Hand of Re-Creation. He skimmed it and turned the page.
[The author of this grimoire and its original owner, the Master of the Outer Sea, bears very deep goodwill and interest toward the 100 percent compatible vessel she is seeing for the first time. Before the destruction of the constellations, she swore that, aside from disadvantages caused by magic, she would inflict no harm whatsoever upon the master.]
The destruction of the constellations.
Out of nowhere, something on a ridiculously grand scale came up, but he wasn’t surprised anymore. He already knew that Outer Gods were mysterious things swimming beyond the universe.
What mattered was the mention of a vessel with 100 percent compatibility.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to need to worry about being driven insane.
That was welcome news indeed. Apparently, the only thing he needed to watch out for was the summoned creature turning around and eating him instead.
‘Still, maybe I should carry some meat around with me just in case?’
The thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he soon shook his head. It didn’t seem like it would help much.
The weakest creature in the Outer Sea was only satisfied after eating three man-sized aberrations and one huge beast carcass whole.
To prepare that much meat, he’d need at least five iceboxes packed to the brim with meat. That would be far too inefficient. It would be better not to summon them at all.
Besides, if even the weakest creature craved that much meat, the stronger ones would surely eat at least twice as much.
If he prepared meat for those things in advance, all that would be waiting at the end was bankruptcy.
‘It’d be better to just summon them as needed.’
In truth, it wasn’t just a money issue; he also couldn’t possibly bring an icebox every time he went out on a commission.
If he were a mage who had nothing but his body, that would be one thing. But Ian was an alchemist who always carried piles of stuff with him. If he had to lug around an icebox on top of that, he wouldn’t be able to respond flexibly to other situations.
If the summoning spell were instant, it wouldn’t matter, but otherwise the meat was nothing but dead weight.
“Hmm…….”
Ian gathered his thoughts, grabbed a glass of cold water, and went back to the bed. As he read the grimoire and casually glanced aside, he saw the Hand of Re-Creation, which had been pressed into the corner, crawling its way into the middle of the room.
“…….”
[…….]
Silence settled between Ian and the grimoire. Neither said a word, but an awkward atmosphere hung in the air for no reason.
[Humm!]
It was the Deep-Sea Chronicle that broke the silence. Perhaps it didn’t like Ian’s attention shifting to the Hand of Re-Creation, because it shuddered and kept opening and closing its cover.
It was a clear display of jealousy. Ian let out a long sigh and stroked the chronicle’s cover. Then he quietly held out his other hand.
“……Summon.”
As he murmured with resolve, the grimoire in the center of the living room was caught in Ian’s grasp.
The Hand of Re-Creation, which had been trembling only moments ago, accepted his touch quietly without so much as a twitch.
That meant it had calmed down somewhat. Or maybe it had simply resigned itself.
Whatever the case, he couldn’t keep letting the two grimoires stay jealous and push each other away forever.
Ian stopped reading and set the grimoires on the table.
“Let’s sort things out.”
He set the two grimoires down neatly and sat on the bed.
Since he couldn’t use both grimoires at the same time, there was no choice but to handle them according to the situation. Sometimes he would have to use only the Hand of Re-Creation, and other times the Deep-Sea Chronicle. If they got jealous every time, it would only turn toxic.
He wasn’t expecting the grimoires to be reasonable and throw a fit every time he went out on a job, but he couldn’t keep soothing them every single time a situation like this came up.
It’s not like he was their nanny or their lover.
As they were clearly in a symbiotic relationship, they had to learn to give and take.
He didn’t think it would come to that, but as he’d seen on the community forum, there was still a chance they could start fighting and lunge at each other with a ‘If I can’t have it, I’ll break it’ attitude. So it was better to prevent that in advance.
Thinking that, Ian opened his mouth with a stern expression.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be jealous of each other, but let’s not make it obvious by getting sulky. If I die, you two are in trouble too.”
It felt pretty strange, talking seriously to books that gave no reply and only hummed softly. Even so, he kept talking to the end.
“I’ll treat you as both companions and treasured books. If there’s anything else you want, write it on a page and show me.”
[Humm.]
[Humm! Humm!]
The Hand of Re-Creation responded seriously, and the Deep-Sea Chronicle vibrated eagerly. The chronicle immediately opened its cover wide and showed him the newly written sentence beneath the blurb.
[This grimoire wants its master, ‘Shin Ian,’ to keep it beside him when he sleeps.]
It was a trivial request. Ian said he would, then turned his head toward the Hand of Re-Creation.
Just then, the Hand of Re-Creation had also revealed its own request.
[I want you to take care of the cover often, like you usually do.]
Fortunately, this request was trivial too. Ian granted the grimoire’s request on the spot and filled in the gaps in his knowledge by alternating between the two grimoires.
Fortunately, after that, the two grimoires did not end up jealous of each other again. Thanks to that, Ian was able to focus fully on his reading.
‘As expected, the Hand of Re-Creation was superior in sheer versatility.’
The magic written in the Deep-Sea Chronicle wasn’t actually all that special.
It mostly just contained extensive descriptions of the summons’ traits and explanations, while the other spells besides summoning were more ordinary than expected. Of course, spells that ignored water pressure or could pierce the darkness of the deep sea did seem quite useful, but not enough to use every day.
By contrast, the Hand of Re-Creation had recorded plenty of spells useful in everyday life, such as magic to clean a messy room or smooth out wrinkled clothes. Not only that, it also listed quite a few spells useful in combat.
Ian planned to focus more on this magic than on alchemy for the time being.
He couldn’t keep relying only on tools he made himself forever.
There was always the chance that all his alchemical items might disappear, so it was right to prepare in advance.
“I should start by trying a spell that lets me climb walls…….”
He murmured that and drew the magic circle inscribed in the Hand of Re-Creation before chanting the spell.
It was long after that before the lights in his room finally went out.
*
[Why are kids these days all so damn shameless?]
[UnicornLoverDog]
How come there are so few virgins? I’m using magic right now to search for virgin women and virgin men, but there are hardly any.
Quit with the sex stuff!
[Upvote 0][Downvote 0]
[Comments]
-BugInYourEar: What the hell are you doing to be looking for a pure body?
ㄴUnicornLoverDog: Magic.
ㄴBugInYourEar: Oh.
ㄴUnicornLoverDog: I’ve been doing this crap for months now and have even managed to evade the bureau’s tracking, but damn it, there’s no one with a pure body, so I can’t use the magic.
ㄴBugInYourEar: So? You’re not planning to go after ordinary people too, are you? If that gets found out, the matriarch won’t let it slide.
The man standing in the alley, looking down at his phone, clicked his tongue and turned off the screen.
“Who cares what the matriarch says? If you’re going to ostracize me, you shouldn’t have taken me in to begin with.”
It was a remark that would have made the matriarch feel very wronged if she had heard it.
But there was no matriarch here, only the thick smell of alcohol and the stench of piled-up trash.
The scent the man loved, familiar and disgusting at once.
“Phew.”
He shoved his phone into his pocket, then dripped the red blood from the glass bottle into his eyes. Then he quietly moved his lips.
“Find a clean body. Show me that flesh.”
Tzzzt.
The whites of his eyes turned red. The man pulled his hood low and stared fixedly at the citizens walking the streets.
‘Not a virgin, a slut…… damn it. How are even the ones who look like minors all that filthy—’
Just then, a man came into view. He looked ordinary, and his clothes were neat and tidy. He seemed to be about college age.
‘A pure human.’
At last, he had found the material he was looking for. The man poured artificial tears straight into his eyes to wash away the blood, then trailed after him.
He left the brightly lit street and entered a dark alley. Sensing something strange, the man looked back and spoke to the mage who had been following him for some time.
“Hey, who are you? Are you a stalker? Why do you keep following me?”
“I’m not a stalker.”
The mage smiled faintly and strode right up to him. Then he threw the glass bottle he’d tucked into his pocket onto the ground and shattered it.
With a crash, the blood inside spilled out. It wriggled like a living creature, then rushed at the man and blocked his airway.
“Mmph!? Nghh!?”
The man flailed in alarm at the blood covering his face. The mage, however, waited from a short distance away until he lost consciousness.
A moment later, he rolled his eyes back and fainted. The mage immediately poured water over the blood to wash it clean, slung the man over his shoulder, and stuffed him into the car parked nearby. He didn’t forget to wave at the CCTV, either.
He tied the wrists of the man he’d tossed into the back seat to the door handle. He carefully bound his ankles with five cable ties so he couldn’t escape, and layered tape over his mouth so he couldn’t shout.
With that, the preparations were complete. The mage hummed to himself, sat in the driver’s seat, and inserted the key.
“One human has roughly 5L of blood…… If I draw it out while managing it properly, that’ll last me for a few months. Nice.”
Just as the mage was chuckling to himself and starting the car, his phone suddenly vibrated and a message came through.
He checked it.
English letters reflected in his eyes.
[Eddie: Has a mage who recently picked up a grimoire appeared in Korea? If so, I’d like you to let me know.]
A message from an old partner he hadn’t heard from in a very long time. The man turned the car skillfully while typing with his other hand.
[Me: $5,000.]
[Eddie: You fucking bastard. Send me your account number.]
The man chuckled and sent him the account number.