Chapter 667: Random Box (2)
A vast garden spread within the sprawling mansion.
Strange phenomena, inexplicable and varied, stood rampant across the paths, creating an eerie sight.
Crackling…!!
Above their heads, a heat haze rippled, distorted like a crack in space.
As everyone’s gaze turned towards it, Lennok explained nonchalantly.
“It’s a side effect of the Dimensional Function Isotope Experiment. Don’t mind it.”
“…Don’t mind that?”
[Hehehe… Once it devours our brains, we won’t have to mind it anyway.]
“Shit, that means we won’t be able to think…”
Shriek!!
In one corner of the mansion, a pale, bizarre light leaked out and writhed like a snake.
Scattered magical light fluttered like feathers in various places.
“It’s a byproduct of an Artificial Mana Agglomerate. It has no sentience, so you’ll be fine as long as you don’t get too close.”
“…”
Whoosh!!
Unidentifiable particles, shimmering like the Milky Way, floated through the air, drifting like waves.
“Was that Astrological Magic Mimicry Research Data…? It’s just a hallucination, ignore it.”
“…”
Buzz! Pop!
Crackling electricity stood vertically in the middle of the garden, fixed in shape like a tree.
Beneath their feet, ice flowed like a river, lowering the temperature all around.
Above their heads, spatial cracks shattered, and a haze resembling starlight swirled.
[Kuooooo~]
All around, strange forms of unidentified spirits floated leisurely.
[Praise the great spirits~]
[Offer tribute, foolish organisms~]
Even an inexplicable spirituality, as if someone was whispering in their ears.
Lennok’s lips twitched for a moment as he watched the mercenaries’ expressions turn blank.
“…Seems you’ve been possessed by petty spirits. It’s probably nothing meaningful.”
[Not petty spirits~ Not petty spirits~]
“…”
“It sounds like they’re conversing, though…”
“It’s an illusion.”
At Lennok’s firm reply, Soo-ryun quietly shut her mouth.
Whirr, Clunk!!
“Wh-whoa!”
Rough mechanical sounds echoed everywhere. The forms of various writhing mechanical devices.
All sorts of mechanical equipment moved busily, transporting items between the garden and the mansion.
Dylan, already tense from the various bizarre phenomena, looked at the unfamiliar mechanical arm moving above his head and asked,
“Ban, what on earth is that?”
Lennok glanced at the mechanical arm moving overhead and turned his gaze away.
“I stacked up all the delivered items, and the surroundings got messy. I’m just tidying up for now.”
“These are the delivered items?”
Before the group’s eyes, metal components, piles of thin saw blades, hundreds of talisman papers, and leaves emitting a strange aroma disappeared into the mansion in a continuous stream.
Every single item was highly suspicious, hardly something one would typically order for delivery.
“I had a lot of work to do, so I couldn’t pay attention. I’m only now getting around to organizing it little by little.”
“…Work, huh? You caused quite a stir in Machina, I heard. Are you feeling alright?”
Dylan’s eyes gleamed behind his mask.
“I didn’t know you had the dexterity to work as a craftsman. No, more than that, how did you hide that personality of yours and infiltrate Machina?”
Lennok chuckled at Dylan’s innocent question.
“Personality, you say…? I see clearly what you usually think of me.”
Rumors about Adamant Thunder had been growing day by day, to the point where even Lennok’s acquaintances were reacting this way.
Aside from being decisive in combat, he didn’t think he’d ever ostentatiously shown off enough to spread such a bad reputation, so it was odd.
From Lennok’s perspective, having dealt with several true madmen who treated humans like toys, these rumors were simply incomprehensible.
Only then did the other members, their tension somewhat eased, begin to ask Lennok various curious questions.
“Hey, Ban. Do you normally live in an environment like this?”
“I usually handle most of my work in the laboratory. I just keep the research byproducts outside.”
“I see, so it’s not usually this messy?”
“Oh, Mila. Messy, you say.”
Soo-ryun quickly grabbed Mila’s shoulder and cleared her throat.
“No, I’m just too curious! Look at this!”
The moment Mila pointed at the ground, a pale light flashed behind her.
The ground shook slightly from spatial cracks and mana explosions flowing in various places.
“He invited us to this demonic landscape and said we’d have a party. I need to find out right now if Ban somehow mistook a party for a tournament or something.”
“It’s not good to approach the Fragment of Truth. Our power over life and death is practically in Ban’s hands…”
Lennok, who had been listening to their whispers, replied with a bewildered look.
“I don’t know what you’ve been talking about all this time. Do you think I’d kill you here or something?”
“…”
Silence followed.
Lennok quietly averted his gaze and spoke again.
“…Of course, I wouldn’t say it’s not dangerous at all, but there’s something you all are fully capable of doing.”
“I’m getting out of here.”
“Ban said it’s dangerous. We’re all dead.”
“Jenny, answer the phone! Save me!!”
[Have you reached level 8?]
It was Manson who broke the loud, dramatic atmosphere first.
“Ma-Manson!! How could you say that!”
“Shit, asking that straight away…!!”
Soo-ryun and Mila recoiled, trying to stop him, but they couldn’t shut the mouth of Manson, who had brought both a male and female body.
[If a monster like you had to cause a ruckus in Machina, there must have been a reason for it.]
“…”
[When was it? Honestly, I’d believe it if you said you reached it ages ago. We’ve come too far to be surprised by something like that.]
Manson’s two bodies tilted their heads in different directions.
[The wizard who handled the Cigar Bang Gang case has grown so much. Hehehe… Was causing a commotion in Machina to deal with the backlash of your growth?]
“Manson.”
Lennok replied with a smile.
“Aren’t you speaking too normally now?”
[…What?]
“I prefer the crazier version of you from before.”
As Manson fell silent at the sudden critique of his speech, Mila too nodded quickly, silently agreeing.
“He’s just faking it, I tell you. He’s a fake madman who suddenly acts normal when faced with the real thing.”
[There’s nothing to say. It’s merely that my linguistic system has stabilized somewhat due to an personality program update.]
Manson scoffed lightly, refuting Mila’s words.
[I’ve given too difficult an explanation to a luddite with no programming knowledge. Come to think of it, it’s my mistake.]
“Oh-ho, so you drank some gasoline and your head grew, did it?”
[It was always bigger than your blockhead.]
Lennok chuckled, watching Mila and Manson bickering, unable to endure even that brief moment, and turned his gaze.
“We’re here. We have to wait until the others arrive anyway, so I’ll continue preparing.”
“Preparing? No, what’s th—”
Dylan saw what Lennok was working on over his shoulder and fell silent.
The others also belatedly identified the object and silently looked away.
Rumble, rumble…!!
Even in the middle of the vast garden, its size was quite noticeable.
Various components and circuits were installed on the platinum-colored metal plates, emitting a clear magical light.
It was a strange shape, like a large box that had been inflated several times over.
From within it, ghostly, hazy figures, mana splitting like roots, ashen darkness, and the sound of time rewinding emanated.
They realized that a significant portion of the countless strange phenomena and magical light currently occupying and squirming around the mansion were leaking from that box.
“…Ban. What on earth is this?”
Hundreds of thick wires were meticulously plugged into the back of the mechanical device, neatly extending towards the mansion’s basement.
Lennok briefly glanced back, then tightened a screw inside the device as he replied.
“I’m making a random box.”
“…A random box?”
Mila’s mouth fell open blankly at Lennok’s completely unexpected answer.
Her other colleagues also couldn’t hide their bewildered expressions, exchanging glances.
[A random box… Is it what I’m thinking of?]
“Like the ones they sometimes use for events at those venues?”
“I never thought a brilliant wizard like you, Ban, would consider such a reliance on luck.”
“No, more than that, you’re building a random box yourself, even mixing mana into it?”
Dylan asked again, dumbfounded.
“Was the skill you went all the way to Machina to learn meant to be used for this?”
Everyone gathered here knew that Lennok had caused a disturbance in Machina, infiltrating as a craftsman.
Even if they hadn’t heard the specific details of the incident involving the Ascension Gate within Machina.
They had all heard various rumors through their connections that Lennok had made a name for himself as a craftsman.
That’s why the fact that Lennok was suddenly building such a device seemed different.
“A mana device personally crafted by a high-level wizard who even learned artisan skills…”
“It’s quite elaborate for a party event prize…”
“Are we really here for a party?”
“I’ll explain later. As I said, I won’t ask you to do anything dangerous.”
Lennok nodded lightly towards the group, who were asking questions with a hint of anxiety, and pointed to the garden.
In one corner of the mansion, temporary tables and folding chairs were casually stacked, still in their packaging.
“Could you help me set these up?”
“Oh, sure. We also brought some drinks and snacks.”
“Hmm, I have no experience with this kind of thing… Would it help if I assisted with the heavy lifting?”
Dylan and Mila, with familiar ease, arranged the tables and set out the various foods and drinks they had brought.
Soo-ryun clumsily set up a nearby tent, and the two Mansons perfunctorily cleaned the garden.
[It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought when I touch it.]
“He said it wasn’t dangerous, so Ban’s words were true.”
“Hey, look at this. It reacts if you poke it like this!”
As the group gradually relaxed and adjusted, inadvertently touching various things while cleaning different parts of the garden, others began to arrive one by one.
“This seems to be the address Ban mentioned. Hmm, though it already looks like something’s seriously wrong.”
“…Looking inside the garden, it certainly seems like it. Is Ban perhaps not trying to kill us all?”
“Bellita, this isn’t the time for this. We need to recover the losses we incurred by investing in Machina Workshop stock…!!”
“Bellver, nobody cares about your lost investments, so shut up.”
Bellver and Bellita, the mercenary twins obsessed with stocks. Jordan entered, carrying a simple drink and some snacks.
Even the always composed Jordan paused for a moment when he saw the various strange phenomena still lingering throughout the garden.
“I came here using a company holiday. I want a drink quickly… but where is this hell?”
“Ban!! You said you caused a ruckus in Machina, tell me about it… Huh?”
“This must be the mansion where a high-level wizard resides. May I go home now?”
Dray and Weian, who worked at Jenny’s distribution company, along with other employees, arrived late, pale-faced and profusely sweating.
“It’s not very dangerous, so don’t chicken out and come in, you idiots.”
“Hmph… Pathetic fools. Don’t go around saying you work with Ban.”
[…]
Dylan and Mila, completely forgetting their own appearance from moments ago, brazenly chided them.
Seeing the mercenaries who had arrived earlier working naturally, they seemed to adjust easily.
Even without Lennok saying anything, they started sharing the food and drinks they’d brought, chattering loudly.
With a glass in hand, they often approached Lennok to ask him various questions.
Meanwhile, Felix, the eagle-headed giant, and Jenny arrived late, opening the mansion gate and walking in.
“Quite a crowd. Has it started already? Ho… This is quite a curious stellararium.”
“Ban!”
When Jenny called out to Lennok, he finally straightened up and turned to face her.
Jenny, who had walked up to Lennok, briefly looked up at him.
She didn’t seem surprised at all by the rampant magic and cracks of light all around.
“What on earth were you doing in Machina? And where did you get this fat refrigerator?”
“Fat refrigerator, you say…?”
Lennok chuckled at the unexpected notion and shook his head.
“I’m making something far more interesting than a refrigerator. It’s also why I asked you to gather everyone today.”
“So it was just an excuse after all… I knew it.”
Jenny sighed softly and lifted the hem of her dress with both hands.
“Then I wore this for nothing. I thought, since you invited me to a mansion, perhaps… I should have just worn something comfortable.”
A long, flowing, pitch-black dress.
This attire was rarely seen on Jenny, who preferred a casual broker’s style, perhaps once a year.
It seemed she, too, had made preparations, just in case, after hearing the word ‘party’.
Most of the invited guests seemed to have similar thoughts to Jenny, with the majority dressed in suits and dresses.
Of course, most of them had immediately shed their ties and hats and started drinking casually once they realized it wasn’t that kind of gathering.
Lennok didn’t pay much attention to that and just gave a faint smile.
“That dress. I think I’ve seen it once before.”
“What?”
“You wore it when we went to the auction house together a long time ago.”
Jenny’s expression changed slightly at Lennok’s calm words.
“…You remembered?”
The memory of secretly infiltrating the Teina auction house, disguised as customers with Jenny, to acquire the Compassion of the Archangel.
Hadn’t they been caught in a pursuit after attempting to snatch an artifact from the Arashak Artifact Expedition, fleeing together with Jenny?
It was an event from before Lennok had even properly completed his Hierarchy.
A memory that felt like a very long time ago in his perception.
“I don’t forget things like that easily.”
Lennok said that, then put down the hammer he was holding and stood up.
The other people, who had been loudly chattering in various places, slowly stopped talking one by one and looked at him as he stood.
The mansion garden quickly grew quiet, and all eyes converged on Lennok.
Dylan, who had been hiccupping, dispelled his intoxication with mana and asked,
“Ban, are you finally going to explain things to us?”
“As you all know, we haven’t gathered here to celebrate anything.”
As Lennok said that, he snapped his fingers, and the mechanical device behind him began to slide into the center of the garden.
Whirrrrr!!!
The gigantic, rectangular mechanical device, like a refrigerator.
Lennok placed one hand on the equipment, which floated while attached to hundreds of wires, and looked around, saying,
“It’s to confirm the results I obtained in Machina, and to show its significance to others.”
“Why don’t you just confess that you wanted to experiment on us?”
“Exactly. If you tell us honestly, we might even help.”
“I know what you think of me, but I’m not lying.”
Lennok chuckled at Mila’s unenthusiastic reply.
“This [Door] is the most important asset I acquired in Machina.”