Chapter 85
Iruma the Wizard did not reproach the Zombie Witch for awakening him through zombification rather than resurrection. He had judged that reproaching her for something that had already happened would be pointless.
Zombification is a method of revival that comes with severe weakening.
First, even the slightest graze from a magic-dispelling spell would undo the zombification and kill him instantly.
Moreover, if his body sustained severe damage, it would trigger a magical death and turn him to dust. Once that happened, he could never be revived again.
According to the Zombie Witch's experiments, healing magic did not work either. He could not use vampiric self-enhancement.
He also lacked natural mana regeneration.
Iruma the Wizard was far easier to kill than he had been in life, and was in a state subject to many restrictions.
Rather than waste time complaining, he should devote his efforts to removing those restrictions and regaining his strength, even if only a little.
For the time being, Iruma the Wizard began examining the multiple unknown magical tools the Zombie Witch possessed while listening to her talk about the six years he had been dead.
"I see. I didn't know that either. I was only controlling that mushroom as a simple fighting force; I never intended to start a pandemic."
"You're really hated, you know? They call it a time bomb left behind by Iruma."
"They don't understand. I'm a ruler, not a mass murderer. I don't kill people pointlessly when it doesn't help me rule. Hundreds of thousands of lives wasted for nothing... What a waste."
Iruma the Wizard spoke with genuine sorrow, set down the mass-produced magic wand, and picked up the amulet to examine it.
For the Zombie Witch, the world Iruma sought was paradise.
Iruma would conquer the world, while the Zombie Witch would gather exotic, handsome men and beautiful women from foreign lands.
Iruma would turn the living into puppets and control them, while the Zombie Witch would control the dead whom Iruma could not manipulate.
That way, they would take everything into their hands.
To propel Iruma forward once more, the Zombie Witch passed on all the knowledge she possessed and gave him every tool she owned. She knew that doing so would surely bring her returns greater than her investment.
"That's an amulet. Wandmaker 0933 invented it based on that mushroom monster's Gremlin, and Professor Handa of the Magic University improved its performance. It's a magical tool that accelerates mana recovery."
"Hmm... I wonder if this field interferes with the unobservable magical organ in the head. The fields are subtly different from one another, too."
"Apparently, it only has a recovery effect if it's a custom amulet made with your own blood mixed in."
"I see. Very interesting."
As he spoke, Iruma the Wizard brought over the tables and chairs that had been used to display the handsome male zombies, arranged them around himself, and began placing and moving the multiple amulets in various configurations.
The Zombie Witch had no idea what he was trying to do. But he had not told her to stop talking, so she continued.
Iruma was cheerful throughout his account of the remaining four of the old Five Great Survival Zones—the Tohoku Hunting Association, the Hokkaido Monster Farm, the Lake Biwa Accord, and the Arataki Group—which had begun interacting with the Tokyo Witch Gathering because of the pandemic. However, he looked displeased when she told him about the Arataki Group's invasion.
"Are they stupid? If they have an inferior version of my magic, they should have started undermining them from the edges. Unlike my magic, if there was no way to tell whether someone had been affected, they could have spent ten or twenty years slowly infiltrating from the bottom up. Instead, they caused pointless casualties and needlessly killed valuable people. It was the height of stupidity."
"Is that so? I thought thwarting Future Sight with a multi-front operation was a good idea."
"Yes, you're right about that. But from what you've told me, the Arataki Group's actions seem terribly disjointed. They must have had a brilliant strategist separate from their field operatives. The sort who never went into the field, but watched the situation from somewhere safe. Judging by the circumstances, they made a run for it once the Blue Witch was unleashed."
Iruma the Wizard stacked chairs and tables, placed an amulet in a high position, and thoughtfully analyzed the changes in the overlapping field where it intersected with the fields of the amulets at his feet.
"If the Arataki Group leader dies, the brainwashing in Lake Biwa and at the Kyushu headquarters will be undone. The mastermind seems to be the sort with plenty of cunning, so he won't flee south, where enraged factions will desperately search for the Arataki Group's remnants. If he runs, he'll go north.
He won't hide in a small community. He seems like the sort who wants to flaunt his power, so he'll definitely aim to make a comeback and lie low in a large community.
From what you've told me, the Tohoku Hunting Association has far too few incidents for its total population and location. There must be an excellent secret police force, or something like a counterintelligence organization. They would surely make it public if they caught the Arataki Group's mastermind, so I think he managed to escape Tohoku and flee to Hokkaido."
"If that's what Iruma thinks, then I suppose that's how it is."
"Haa... That's your flaw. You're reasonably clever, and you're good at going along with other people's plans. But you're a little bad at thinking for yourself. I don't think all my guesses are correct, either. You shouldn't assume they are, either."
"Oh, is this a lecture? I don't mind being scolded by a handsome patchwork shota."
Iruma the Wizard gave a wry smile to the Zombie Witch, who was shivering with excitement.
Iruma's patchwork body naturally looked different from his appearance in life. That was only to be expected. His appearance in life was hated beyond measure. There was no reason to deliberately give himself a disadvantageous appearance after going to the trouble of remaking his body.
Even so, he possessed a beauty different from his appearance in life, and the Zombie Witch liked the new Iruma.
As they discussed the major incidents and technological innovations that had occurred after the Arataki Group's invasion, they reached the invention of scrolls following the arrival of the Black Ships. At that point, Iruma the Wizard, who had been fiddling with the amulets without stopping, called for a halt.
"I've been listening for a while, and it's always 0933, isn't it? Gremlin's spherical finishing, multilayer structural processing, fractal processing, Möbius processing, and ritual-magic implements. This amulet too, as well as the improved Monster Shears, sealing rounds, the miniaturization of the Mana Training Coffin, and the Kvant-style magic compression ring—those are all essentially 0933's work too. And the scrolls are 0933's as well. Who are they?"
"Who knows...? The Blue Witch is guarding 0933 as if it were her most precious secret, so no information has gotten out at all."
"Hmm...?"
"I suspect there's electronic fabrication machinery in Ome that escaped the Gremlin disaster. Otherwise, something like this would be impossible. My evidence is――――"
"No."
When the Zombie Witch tried to confidently lecture on her own theory about the mystery of 0933, Iruma cut her off and flatly denied it.
"There's nothing special in Ome. I had every person in Ome whom I turned into a puppet report what they knew, and confirmed it myself, so there's no mistake. More suspicious is Okutama, which the Blue Witch uses as a summer retreat. A fog of confusion has been spread over both Ome and Okutama, and if Ome is a dead end, the secret must be in Okutama.
And the secret's true nature is either a person or a Transcendent.
The Blue Witch is a woman who acts on emotion. She wouldn't spend effort protecting machinery in a place that isn't even her hometown. Either she is close to one member of a group of craftsmen in Okutama who are highly skilled at Gremlin processing, or she has a deep relationship with an individual Transcendent who acquired magic or innate dexterity equivalent to twenty-first-century cutting-edge electronic-control processing technology.
That artisan who is close to the Blue Witch is extremely difficult to contact. They probably lived in Okutama originally and simply remained there after the Gremlin disaster. Whether it's an individual or a group, they seem to possess some desire for recognition. They engrave inscriptions on wands, add logos, sell to influential people, and try to increase their fame.
They have no interest in their own fame and are an artist at heart, fiercely attached to their creations. A woman... no, a man? I can't tell their gender. But they continue working enthusiastically on new creations. They're probably somewhere between their late teens and forties. Before the Gremlin disaster, they must have been involved in an art club, hobby, or profession. It's impossible that they suddenly started making wands from scratch at this level.
They might be a friendly group of like-minded people who stick together in an insular circle, or a misanthropic, eccentric individual...
If I can get Okutama City's resident registry, I think I can narrow the candidates down to around fifty."
Iruma concluded his smooth, flowing account and laughed happily.
"There really are exceptional people out there. 0933 is worth more than twenty mediocre Transcendents. I'd love to have them along with Professor Handa."
"Oh, sorry. Didn't I tell you? Professor Handa died during the Arataki Group's invasion. He was left as a mangled corpse, and he apparently didn't have much mana, so zombifying him is impossible now."
"........ What a terrible waste. If I had been there, I wouldn't have let it end so sadly. I could have prevented the tragedy and turned every member of the Arataki Group and every talented person at Tokyo Magic University into puppets."
"Yes... If my adorable stoat-chan had died, I could surely have dug up his grave and made him into a zombie."
For a while, the two mourned the tragic outcome of the Arataki Group's invasion.
After hearing about the conclusion of the Demon King War and learning most of what had happened up to the present timeline, Iruma the Wizard stood amid a rippling geometric field constructed by arranging multiple amulets three-dimensionally and sank into deep thought.
As they talked about the long, long six years, dawn began to approach.
The Zombie Witch fidgeted and asked Iruma the Wizard a question.
"Hey, what are you planning to do now? Are you going to continue with the plan for world conquest?"
"Mm, of course. But the situation is completely different from six years ago, so I'll need to make major changes to the plan. I can't simply take information filtered through your perspective at face value and act on it, so I'll spend some time verifying it... After that, shall we start by going after 0933?"
The mana overflowing from Iruma the Wizard's patchwork body had increased slightly compared to immediately after his revival.
The Zombie Witch noticed and was left speechless.
"Wait a second. Has your mana recovered? Zombies aren't supposed to recover mana, are they?"
"Ah, great 0933! I'm truly glad you invented these amulets. Every one of 0933's creations is the best! What kind of craftsman are they, I wonder? I can't wait to control them."
As she watched Iruma sneer after he had brought about a technological innovation in a single night, the Zombie Witch became certain.
No matter how much he had been weakened, Iruma was still the strongest wizard. He had the makings of a king, able to learn everything, make it his own, and rise above everyone.
He would surely bring the entire world under his control and create a wonderful world.