Chapter 239: Neighbor (1)

“From Sinclair Magic Tower?”

-Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do this either…

“No. It’s unavoidable.”

Lennok answered calmly, holding his phone.

“Considering Aris’s current situation, it’s probably better to take care of her affairs now.”

-…You knew, didn’t you?

“Watching her once a week, it was hard to pretend I didn’t know.”

-…

Aris, perhaps feeling awkward, was silent for a moment.

It wasn’t surprising. Her truly being on the verge of the Self-transformation’s completion wasn’t particularly strange.

It likely meant she’d rather handle the troublesome issues now than be hindered by the Magic Tower just before reaching the peak of hierarchy and ascending to the Archmage realm.

In fact, once she reached the Archmage realm, the Magic Tower would no longer be able to interfere with her.

Even in a Magic Tower with long traditions and history, the existence of a pure-blood wizard who had completed the hierarchy was exceedingly rare, so it wouldn’t be strange for her to receive treatment equal to the Tower’s elders immediately.

“Don’t worry and go.”

Lennok replied.

“I also seem to have a lot of things to do for a while.”

As usual, after exchanging pleasantries and hanging up the phone, a heavy roar erupted from behind Lennok.

Clang! Clang!

Thud! Bang-bang-bang!!

Unceasing noise reverberated.

But on Lennok’s face, an inexplicable sense of satisfaction, rather than annoyance, lingered.

“Finally, time to move.”

Days when it was hard to even sleep at home, let alone move.

Data from Alchemy and various magic research accumulated day by day.

Whether it was good luck or bad, the provisional lab, created by modifying a room, was so cramped it was about to burst, and only now was he given the leisure to move his dwelling.

In any case, after such a long period of patience, Lennok was finally able to move to a new officetel in the 30th district.

A place not too far from the area where his previous apartment was, yet offering ample space and guaranteed private quarters.

He paid a higher price than before, but it was no longer a significant problem for Lennok.

[You can finally get me a home, can’t you?]

As Davi, perched on his shoulder, spoke with a proud air, Lennok let out a dry laugh.

“Sorry, but I can’t make a separate fuse box for a digital spirit anywhere. If you cut off the electricity here, you won’t see the outside world for a month.”

It was an absurd truth, even as Lennok said it himself, but Davi often took advantage of Lennok’s sleep to sneak into the fuse box and “eat” the house’s electricity.

[It’s not impossible if Master just pays a little more attention, is it? While setting up the lab, it seems you could also secure a useful power source.]

Sensing ominous intent in Davi’s words, Lennok immediately asked.

“…You’re not eyeing my Mana Core, are you?”

[…]

Davi turned her head slightly instead of answering.

Lennok nodded.

“Alright. You won’t get to even look at the Compassion of the Archangel for a while.”

[…!!!]

It seemed this had happened before, but Lennok had no intention of letting Davi consume an artifact he needed to use.

It would be one thing to entrust her with control and use her for combat assistance, but was it sensible to endure the loss of an item for the sake of unguaranteed growth?

Lennok, stuffing the flailing Davi into his arms with a hurried expression, greeted the moving company staff with a smile.

“You’re working hard.”

“Whew… all the moved luggage has been transported, so the rest can be organized by the homeowner themselves.”

The staff member said that and held out a tablet.

“Just sign here and we’re done.”

“Understood.”

He casually wrote Evan’s name and saw the staff off, overhearing them muttering as they got into the truck far away.

“Why does he have so many papers?”

“Must be an archaeologist or something. They say those types prefer analog storage over data.”

“Quite old-fashioned taste.”

“…”

The furniture was roughly in place, so it was time to unpack.

When he first came to this city, he only had a single pistol and shabby clothes, but somehow he had accumulated so many belongings that he now needed a moving company.

Had daily life, unbeknownst to him, quietly settled into Lennok’s time, which had felt utterly devoid of leisure?

The peculiar feeling he hadn’t fully grasped while accumulating things through online shopping was not an illusion; it only settled in after the move was complete.

He tore off the packaging clinging to the furniture and organized the tape.

After closing the ventilated windows and tidying up the outlets and wires, Lennok’s body was drenched in sweat.

“Huu, huu…”

Davi looked up at Lennok, who was pulling out and biting a cigarette with a complicated expression, her own face inscrutable.

With his pathetic physical stamina, even tidying and cleaning the house was a chore.

Only after finishing the manual tasks did Lennok use magic to neatly clear away the remaining dust and debris.

Having finished the tedious organizing, just as he was about to enter the new shower room with a towel.

Suddenly, a boisterous noise began to reverberate from the ceiling.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!

“…?”

Lennok tilted his head, and just as he was about to enter the shower room again, the noise returned.

Thump! Thump!

“…No way.”

He hadn’t imagined he’d suffer from noise between floors from the very day he moved in, but Lennok shrugged and immediately entered the shower room.

In about a day, the essential barriers and defensive spells for this house could be completed.

Adding a noise-canceling barrier to block sounds was no effort for Lennok.

It seemed a rather rude neighbor lived upstairs, but thinking about setting up his much larger lab, it didn’t bother him at all.

Until the next morning, when Lennok woke up and the boisterous noise still echoed from the ceiling.

“…”

Lennok, scratching his disheveled hair with a blank expression, asked Davi.

“Was it like that all night?”

[Probably.]

“Hmm, that’s not a good sign…”

Lennok crossed his arms and fell into thought.

If it were just occasional noise, Lennok could just cast a noise-canceling barrier and ignore it, but making noise all night meant it wasn’t just an ordinary lunatic.

While Lennok might endure it, other neighbors likely wouldn’t.

Disputes over noise between floors naturally led to trouble.

For Lennok, who needed to spend his time in his residence as quietly and tracelessly as possible, this wasn’t something he could simply ignore.

“Should I have looked into it more thoroughly before buying the place?”

This had never happened in his previous apartment, and in the studio he’d lived in before that, he’d just accepted whatever happened, so he hadn’t given it much thought.

Back then, he just used force to settle things, but doing that here would be difficult, wouldn’t it?

Lennok, deep in thought, stood up.

[Isn’t there anything that can be done?]

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be solved by force.”

Even after confirming whether the other person was truly a shameless lunatic, there were plenty of things he could do.

“Once I show them what a haunted house is like, they might just move out on their own.”

[…That’s a truly terrifying idea.]

“Let’s go up for now.”

Just as Lennok said that and reached for the front door, a cheerful doorbell suddenly rang out.

Ding-dong.

-Excuse me. I’m your upstairs neighbor.

“Oh?”

Lennok and Davi exchanged glances.

[…So they weren’t completely without conscience.]

“If they’re coming to apologize first, well…”

[What if they didn’t come to apologize?]

-I wanted to apologize for what happened last night.

To the retort, as if hearing from beyond the door, Davi replied awkwardly.

[…That’s a relief.]

“Let’s just accept the apology and send them back. We can just set up a good noise-canceling barrier anyway.”

The important thing was to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to Lennok’s residence due to neighborly troubles.

For Lennok, who intended to convert this space into a lab in the future, an uneventful existence was a crucial factor.

Just as he was about to open the front door, the person standing outside muttered once more.

-Is anyone home?

Lennok’s face hardened.

‘Wait, that voice…!’

It was that of an acquaintance so familiar that he wondered why he hadn’t realized it until now.

In his mind, he instantly recognized who was beyond the door, but absurdly, his body didn’t stop.

The doorknob, already in his hand, naturally turned, unlocking just as the door was about to open.

[Face Off]

Lennok dramatically succeeded in changing his face and mana pattern.

“Ah, you were home. Nice to meet you. I’m your upstairs neighbor.”

Neat black hair trimmed near the shoulders. Green eyes, quite unusual in this vicinity.

It had been a long time since he’d seen her face-to-face, but her neat appearance remained unchanged over time.

The leader of the Agents. A high-ranking archer known as “Missile”.

Evelyn Marcia looked up at Lennok with an unreadable expression.

“…”

How could such a coincidence happen?

His newly moved officetel’s upstairs neighbor, of all people, was Evelyn.

Should he have thoroughly investigated the personal details of his nearby neighbors when he moved?

Lennok unconsciously raised a hand to check if his disguise magic had worked well.

He had momentarily forgotten because it was so long ago, but she possessed the ability to visually discern not only an opponent’s mana but also its pattern.

If he intended to disguise his identity in front of her, he couldn’t let his guard down for an inch.

“N-Nice to meet you.”

“I felt like I caused a disturbance last night, so I came to apologize. This is a gift.”

Evelyn said that and unceremoniously handed a bunch of vegetables she had hidden behind her back directly into Lennok’s arms.

“…”

As Lennok, unable to say anything, accepted the various vegetables and nodded, she spoke again.

“I’m planning to move soon, so I was organizing my belongings, and I got a bit engrossed in work at night and didn’t pay attention to the noise between floors. I’m sorry.”

“No… It’s fine. It happens.”

“By the way, are you a wizard?”

“…”

As Lennok swallowed dry, Evelyn wore a slightly awkward expression.

“No, it’s nothing much, I just had a feeling I’d seen you somewhere… It’s nothing.”

It seemed she definitely remembered the mana pattern Lennok had revealed just before opening the door.

Even though nearly two years had passed since Lennok met her with his original face at the vegetable market, she still remembered that mana pattern.

She was truly an incredibly meticulous person. Here, he had no choice but to feign ignorance.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps you’ve mistaken me for someone else… Did you come down here because of that?”

Did you come to apologize because you thought I was someone you knew?

When he gently rephrased it with a smiling face, Evelyn finally looked slightly flustered and took a step back.

…No. That’s really not it, I’m truly sorry. It probably won’t happen again until I move out.”

“Understood.”

“Yes, thank you for understanding. Well then…”

Click.

Woooosh!!

As soon as the door closed, he cast a noise-canceling spell and even set up a barrier to block his presence.

Only after confirming Evelyn’s presence had disappeared up the stairs did Lennok let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew…”

[That was close.]

“I completely let my guard down. No, I didn’t even notice until just before opening the door.”

[Did Evelyn Marcia evade Master’s mana detection?]

“No, rather… her mana pattern isn’t easily readable. It’s no different from before.”

Lennok’s eyes, as he squatted against the wall, shone sharply.

If he faced her directly and confirmed the moment she used mana, he could distinguish it, but without proper awareness, it was hard to perceive.

If Lennok felt this way, others likely wouldn’t even perceive her mana pattern at all.

“The ability to read other people’s mana patterns while concealing her own… very interesting.”

Gritting his teeth slightly, Lennok suddenly stood up.

“For now, serious research will be halted until Evelyn moves out. If someone so sensitive to mana is living right above, there’s a chance they’ll sense something suspicious, no matter how meticulously I convert the lab.”

[You’re running away.]

“…”

Lennok silently grabbed Davi’s tail and lifted her up.

[S-sorry!]

Davi flailed her front paws, but Lennok showed no mercy.

“I should have asked when she plans to move, I made a mistake. Out of all the Agents, it had to be her…”

Although he had interacted frequently with Evelyn due to the recent Cartel incident, Lennok had never for a moment forgotten what kind of monster she was.

Her skill and audacity were enough to momentarily stop even Kraken Ashilus.

Moreover, she was a formidable practitioner with astonishing archery skills, capable of sniping targets from several kilometers away and capturing entire buildings.

There was no way to know her exact achievements, but she, too, likely possessed something similar to what Antares called ‘Microcosm’.

Judging solely by the skill she had shown so far, she was a monster who would absolutely not fall behind or yield to Lennok.

He had no intention of carelessly giving an opening with such a formidable individual as his upstairs neighbor.

If Evelyn hadn’t mentioned she was moving soon, Lennok would have probably started looking for a new place himself.

[If there’s no lab, how will you do your research?]

At Davi’s words, dangling by her tail, Lennok flipped through a research book with his free hand.

“I recorded the mana flow of the Stasis Demonic Eye that Eolara handed over as collateral. I’ll analyze this and modify it in a way that doesn’t strain the body. If it’s just this much, it won’t be easy for Evelyn to notice.”

[Ohh.]

“If I can modify it to project the mana flow onto the retina instead of directly engraving it into the eye, the side effects of mana addiction can be significantly reduced. This means I can use the Mystic Eye in combat without having to endure the side effects.”

[Can you please let me down now?]

Moreover, the Pilates membership he’d canceled just before going to the Autonomous Region needed to be renewed soon.

He didn’t know if Lansia, the studio owner, still remembered Lennok, but Lennok was quite satisfied with her skills.

While it didn’t greatly help in resolving fundamental issues, it was quite useful in regulating Lennok’s constantly fluctuating condition.

It was merely about imprinting how to use muscles onto his body and strengthening his core muscles to gain a little balance, but even that was significant progress for Lennok’s frail body.

“There’s a lot to do. Convert the lab before Evelyn moves out and take care of the deferred tasks one by one. And then, find an opportune moment to gather information about when she’s moving.”

[Was this something that needed to be strategized like this?]

“Davi.”

Lennok tightly gripped Davi’s tail.

“So you really don’t need a fuse box, huh?”

[I’m analyzing Evelyn Marcia’s behavior patterns. In about three days, I should be able to plot a decent predicted movement path.]

“Good.”

Keep distance, erase traces, and carefully ascertain her schedule.

This was not Van’s living space, but Lennok’s home where he needed to sleep and dedicate himself to research.

No matter how long he had known the other person, he had to be extremely cautious in his movements.

But it didn’t even take a day for Lennok and Davi’s efforts to be in vain.

The very next morning, Evelyn Marcia visited Jenny’s bar.