Chapter 746: Low Altitude Flight (14)
“You overheard my conversation with the Watchers?”
The Clown’s sudden declaration, claiming to know Victor’s true identity.
But Lennok immediately sighed and shook his head upon hearing it.
He knew that the moment the Clown referred to was the least likely time for anyone to suspect Victor’s identity.
Since he had a foot in both the Eyes of Blue and Pandemonium, he had been meticulously careful about such matters.
His direct conversations as Victor on site were limited to a few words with the twin Watchers, Piyo and Jio.
Even then, it was just pointing out their styles and movements during a rapidly escalating battle.
If the Clown had sensed anything from that, it would be closer to the delusion of a mad illusionist than a fragment of truth.
“Even if you don’t spout such nonsense, I’ll keep silent about your Domain, so shut up and crawl out. Don’t you know how much I have to deal with—”
“A rare disease that consumes your lifespan.”
The Clown interrupted Lennok, speaking.
“An inherent curse-like restraint.”
“……”
“Isn’t that the true nature of the secret you’re hiding?”
The Clown peeked his neck out of the ground, probing Lennok’s reaction.
Lennok, who had been silent, slowly turned his gaze towards the Clown.
“Interesting words. I don’t know where you got such a guess from.”
A faint glow emanated from beyond the obsidian mask, calmly looking down at the Clown.
Lennok, sitting on a rock beneath the grassland where the Clown was buried, met his gaze and smiled.
“It seems you have something to tell me. Go on. I want to hear more.”
“……”
The Clown seemed rather bewildered by the calmer-than-expected response.
However, Lennok knew there was no reason to react hastily to the Clown’s conjecture.
While the Clown’s answer certainly pierced Lennok’s essence to some extent, there was no possibility that the basis for his guess came from the conversation with the Watchers.
If that thought hadn’t changed even now, he must have approached it through other words, actions, or knowledge.
First, he needed to hear the Clown’s explanation regarding that point.
The Clown looked up at Lennok silently, then grinned and replied.
“The twin synchronizers you encountered pointed out your physical strength. Do you remember?”
“……”
“Synchronizers, sensitive to their surroundings, rarely miss information gained through skin contact. According to them, you’re merely perfectly concealing it with manipulation spells; your physical abilities themselves aren’t particularly outstanding.”
Before Lennok could reply, the Clown lowered his gaze.
Looking at the shadow robe Lennok was wearing, the Clown muttered.
“The shadow robe used by plague doctors and rift guardians. A mask and gloves that completely conceal the skin. Abnormal spellcasting talent and a body unable to bear it. I’ve heard of this a few times.”
“……”
“If it’s a type that possesses transcendent aptitude for special-attribute spells yet strongly avoids external exposure…”
Several unreadable gazes crossed over the obsidian mask.
The Clown, grinning as if trying not to miss even a single reaction, and Lennok, watching his mouth with an expressionless gaze.
A conversation as sharp as a blade, precarious enough that the atmosphere could flip with a single word.
As if gaining certainty from Lennok’s silence, the Clown smirked and said.
“One of the oldest wizarding families, the lineage of Ban-gung [반궁], cursed by the world. Victor, you must have inherited the bloodline of an Ascendant. Isn’t that right?”
“…What?”
“Huh?”
Lennok had inadvertently retorted, and a low silence fell between the two.
The Clown, who hadn’t expected such a reaction, tilted his head, then triumphantly shouted as if he had found the answer.
“Puh-hah-hat, I won’t fall for such a bluff!! How about it, my sharp deduction!!”
“……”
“If I got the answer right, quickly take off your mask and reveal your identity— Urgh-gurgle.”
A shower of earth fell onto the Clown’s half-powdered face.
Lennok, who had stuffed a clod of earth into the Clown’s mouth, stood up without hesitation.
“There’s a chance Jillian will send a pursuit team, so we’re moving to the border zone. Let’s go now.”
“Huh? Oh? Is it really not true? I thought you’d naturally be an acquaintance from that family, since Myeong recommended you when you joined, but your reaction isn’t very entertaining.”
The Clown said, crunching the dirt in his mouth.
“Weren’t you participating in the operation against Kebaek because a bloodline of an Ascendant could endure in the Well?”
“…Were you guessing my identity by linking it to Myeong’s bloodline?”
He’d been wondering what the Clown was thinking when he suddenly pointed out Victor’s identity; turns out he was just spouting nonsense to see Lennok’s reaction.
But the fact that such a randomly thrown guess wasn’t entirely wrong confirmed the Clown’s danger.
He was insane, and his methods and ideas were terribly twisted, yet ironically, precisely because of that, he never completely missed the mark.
The essence of the illusionist, who played with Hierarchy through contradictions and sophistry and fled from madness, was undeniably revealed even in moments like this conversation.
“Hmm, to be honest, I’m interested in the descendants of already deceased Ascendants.”
The Clown nodded.
“Even setting aside the young Lighthouse Keeper, the Doctor and I have some common ground regarding how many generations their vanished abilities persist.”
“……”
Looking back, he recalled hearing that the Clown was conducting similar research to the Doctor within Pandemonium.
Had Freya mentioned it when they escaped the Great Forest where the Well was located?
While Lennok was retracing that memory, the Clown slowly shifted his body, staggering as he spoke.
“Among them, the Ascendant Ban-gung [반궁] is a lineage completely wiped out, leaving no trace. Only chilling anecdotes of being cursed by the world remain, passed down as legends.”
The Clown pulled one shoulder out of the ground and gave Lennok a deep smile.
“So, would you be willing to provide your blood, Victor? It seems you don’t know much about your own origins, but perhaps I could satisfy that curiosity.”
“I don’t particularly want to volunteer to satisfy a mad clown’s curiosity.”
Lennok smiled.
“However, I am somewhat curious what it feels like to kill an illusionist, so if it’s about satisfying each other’s curiosity, I’ll cooperate.”
Whoosh…!!
The sight of the Clown buried up to his neck, and Lennok looking down at him, was quite comical, but the mana swirling around them was as sharp and keen as a blade.
A feast of sharp intent, ready to unleash their blades upon each other at any moment.
But instead of tensing up in such an atmosphere, the Clown burst into laughter.
“Hehe-hee!! Victor, I’ve been thinking it for a while, but you really haven’t changed at all. Personally, I really love that arrogance of yours.”
“……”
“If you asked, I wouldn’t mind humoring you once, but I have things to do myself. Such a deal would be a bit difficult.”
Saying that, the Clown suddenly bit into the dirt with his teeth and swallowed it.
“It seems we, unfortunately, have to part ways here.”
Crunch, crunch!
He dug out his own shoulders, buried up to his neck, by eating the dirt with his bare mouth.
After chewing on the clod of earth Lennok had shoved into his mouth a few times, did he find it quite manageable?
While Lennok grimaced at that insane idea, the Clown, who had crawled out from under the ground, eating dirt, patted his stomach and said.
“I consumed more reserves than necessary at the fortress. I’m worried this might actually interfere with my main job. What should I do?”
“I don’t particularly want to worry about someone who fills his stomach by eating dirt.”
“Kekeke, you’re much neater than I expected. I’ll remember that.”
“Was this a matter of cleanliness?”
When Lennok replied, exasperated, the Clown chuckled as if unable to hold back his laughter.
The Clown, who had been laughing like a madman at something only he found so funny, suddenly stopped laughing as if remembering something.
“Oh, right. Agneta. Stop hiding and come out already.”
The Clown looked around with a serious expression, then put his hands on his hips and raised his gaze.
“Or will I have to pull you out myself?”
“…I thought you two were going to fight again.”
Agneta replied awkwardly, descending on a web from beyond the imaginary dimension.
“Anyway, I had to give Victor the sub-dimensional spell, so I wasn’t going to run away.”
“Ah, so you also had something left to do with Victor? Hmm, in that case…”
The Clown pondered with a much softer expression, then bit his fingernail.
He lifted a sharply filed fingernail and scored his own forearm several times.
After cutting his forearm and writing a few characters, the Clown boldly tore off the skin from his forearm and offered it to Agneta.
An insane idea, using his own skin as paper to write a letter.
The Clown, completely disregarding his flayed, bleeding forearm, spoke to Agneta.
“Once you’re done with Victor, please deliver this to the Fisherman.”
“Ugh, to the Fisherman?”
Agneta scowled, clearly displeased.
“You don’t want to?”
“It takes a lot of time for me to go beyond the continent. Besides, there aren’t many navigable waters in that direction to begin with.”
“That’s why I’m asking you, isn’t it?”
The Clown said, looking exasperated, and flicked the peeled skin from his forearm to Agneta.
The spider, who had caught the skin-letter with mana-weaves, grumbled with a displeased expression.
“I knew it. I shouldn’t have run into you.”
“It might be something that doesn’t strictly need to be delivered, but I feel like I should deliver it nonetheless.”
The Clown said, relaxing his shoulders.
“If any problems arise, he’ll take care of the next step.”
“With a letter written in such messy handwriting?”
“…What I’m about to tell you is classified.”
The Clown dabbed the blood flowing from his forearm onto his lips.
A macabre sight, painting his lips with red blood. But Lennok realized that immediately after this action, the tone of voice coming from his mouth had completely changed.
“While searching through the Varacheta Liberation Front, I obtained information that there’s another ‘Gate’ beneath the royal capital of Kabahim.”
CRACK!!
A sound of something shattering echoed in the air, but nothing happened.
As if something had tried to seal the Clown’s mouth but was blocked by some means.
“I’m going to check that now, and once I move, I’ll need someone to clean up after me.”
The Clown slowly stretched his body and continued.
“If the Fisherman hears this news, he’ll return soon. He’s enough of a pushover… no, a man with a loyal sense of duty, to cooperate in finding Gates outside the continent.”
“Oh…”
Agneta said with a subtle tone of admiration.
“That’s you leaving a will for us right now, isn’t it? The atmosphere is definitely that way.”
“Agneta. Are you going to keep spouting ominous things?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your grave.”
“It’d be a miracle if you don’t just abandon me in the imaginary dimension.”
The Clown chuckled, pulling up his mana.
“I don’t even intend to approach the Gate itself. Like today, I just plan to cause a moderate disturbance and seek advice from the relevant party.”
“Cause a moderate disturbance, huh…”
Could what happened at the Giant’s Fortress today really be described that way?
While Lennok secretly marveled at such an unconventional standard, Agneta asked.
“Who’s the relevant party? Is it another person you know personally?”
“Not an acquaintance. But there’s someone who knows the confidential facilities within Kabahim’s royal capital better than anyone else.”
The Clown said, turning his steps without hesitation.
“Wouldn’t asking the King directly give us the answer?”
“……”
“Ah, Victor. Today was fun.”
Just as he was about to disappear, the Clown belatedly turned his gaze as if remembering Lennok and gave a charming wink.
“Indeed, if there were more people like you, working at Pandemonium would be much more enjoyable. It’s never an easy job.”
“What do you mean, ‘people like me’?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
The Clown laughed.
“Someone who possesses chosen talent, and knows very well that they are chosen.”
“……”
“I don’t like observing trivial fates, but there are people like you who are enjoyable to watch.”
From his toes, the Clown’s form blurred.
He melted away and vanished like winter frost, as if he had never been there to begin with.
It was an illusion so intricate and high-level that it was hard to believe he claimed to be in poor condition.
“Whether that arrogance breaks and gets mired in the mud, or finds meaning at the ends of the sky… on this wretched stage, either outcome would be the greatest entertainment, wouldn’t it?”
Leaving Lennok, who didn’t reply, the Clown smirked and vanished.
“You’ll see me again soon.”
“Who’s calling whom a clown?”
Leaving Agneta to grumble, Lennok silently gazed at the spot where the Clown had vanished.
Despite possessing such excellent illusion magic that he could disappear so completely that even Lennok’s senses couldn’t trace him,
He still resorted to the utterly crude idea of eating dirt to pull himself out from underground.
Just like pilfering refreshments in the fortress’s audience chamber, he was still an utterly unpredictable madman.
Even his last attempt to deduce Lennok’s identity must have been purely due to an impromptu urge to see Lennok’s reaction.
It ended as a meaningless misstep, but a moment will surely come when the coexistence of different identities becomes necessary.
He could only hope that Gyro’s Coffer and its key, which he obtained today, would become the means Lennok desired.
“I’m tired…”
Lennok muttered, sitting blankly on the grass and looking up at the dark sky.
Agneta, who had been quietly watching Lennok silently touch his mask, asked softly.
“I’ve been wondering this for a while, are you really covering your face because you’re a descendant of a noble bloodline?”
“……”
“A spellcaster like you would be respected anywhere, even without hiding your identity. Myeong is the same, always refusing to explain.”
Agneta, too, seemed to have inwardly grasped something from the Clown’s reasoning and logic.
Knowing Myeong’s family, it wasn’t strange for her to think that Victor, who seemed close to him, came from a similar family.
Lennok was about to ignore Agneta’s words but changed his mind and spoke.
“It’s part of a deal I made when I joined Pandemonium.”
“A deal?”
“Excess is always worse than scarcity.”
“……”
“Perhaps Myeong knew this would happen.”
“I don’t understand anything you’re saying.”
Ignoring Agneta’s words, Lennok silently recalled the time he joined Pandemonium.
Myeong had consistently persuaded him, saying he needed Lennok’s talent, and had even helped him conceal his identity.
The obsidian mask he used as Victor was proof of identity gifted by Myeong.
But why would Myeong specifically give him a mask, even knowing that Lennok usually maintained multiple identities?
Perhaps Myeong thought Lennok needed to conceal his face in a way other than disguise magic.
Did he also foresee him receiving such mistaken conjectures about his identity, like now?
If that was foresight gained through experience, then there was no need to say who Myeong might have been inspired by.
“Where is the Director now?”
“You’re suddenly talking like Soryu. Are you looking for the Director now too?”
Agneta shook her head as if bewildered, then said.
“I can only reach the Director when he sends his consciousness to the imaginary dimension. And even then, I can barely find him unless he directly summons me.”
“……”
“He doesn’t move unless it’s an operation he himself initiated. It’s common for him to appear at the last minute, deal with the critical parts, and then disappear. You know that, don’t you?”
She shrugged.
“Not a few people want the Director to maintain that method. Perhaps the Director himself knows that.”
“That method, huh.”
Lennok murmured, repeating her words, and let out a faint chuckle.
Even now, having somewhat understood the Director’s power and background, he still partially sympathized with that ambiguity.
How far his true intentions extended, to what extent his remaining presence in this world was what he desired.
Whether he had finally found answers upon reaching the third stage.
He wanted to ask about all those doubts right away, but he also knew that he wouldn’t get an answer.
If the Director intended not to care how Lennok moved within the plans and organization he himself had set up, then Lennok would simply interfere with Pandemonium’s plans and direction as he pleased.
At least knowing what the Director desired and why he planned all this, Lennok was sure that if he continued his activities as Victor, they would inevitably meet again someday.
What he would talk about with the Director at that time, Lennok didn’t know either.
But the certainty that such a moment would eventually arrive was enough.
Having thought that far, Lennok slowly dusted his robe and stood up.
It was time to check the harvest he had obtained, which was harder than expected.
“Agneta, take out the Coffer.”
Lennok nodded, reaching his hand inside his robe.
“I need to take out the Guide’s remains here and confirm them myself.”