Chapter 201: Wolf, Alexander, Mobius (7)

“Petunia. The sun must be rising in the west. For you to come looking for me.”

When Mobius spoke jokingly, Petunia Titi lowered her head with a slightly stiff expression. It seemed like she was avoiding his gaze, or perhaps trying to discern what exactly the tea Mobius had brought was. Mobius, exercising the characteristic optimism of an old man, interpreted her gaze to his own liking.

“That tea, you mean? It’s something my disciple gave me as a gift. It smells wonderful, so I drink it often. When I drink the tea and sit on the sofa, catching my breath, I can really get some deep sleep.”

“Really? That’s good. You always said you couldn’t sleep well when you were traveling around the Demon Realm.”

Mobius and Alexander were like water and fire. Mobius disliked Alexander’s vulgarity and uncouth behavior, and Alexander truly hated Mobius’s nagging and whining. Petunia recalled the image of the two bickering back then and smiled.

Mobius nodded and chuckled along. When they adventured together, he had thought Alexander was a truly terrible friend, but strangely, now that they were apart, Alexander’s good points came to mind.

“Is Alexander doing well? I heard things have been noisy lately.”

Petunia shook her head. The reception room seemed to operate on a different timeline than the busy atmosphere of the magic tower. Even the ticking of the second hand felt slower than footsteps, making Petunia feel she should drink her tea slowly too.

“I don’t know. He spends all his time in the Elf Forest. There’s nothing I can find out.”

As she said that, she tried hard to forget the evil deeds she had witnessed at the church. But bad memories were like mold growing on fruit; even if you cut away the rotten parts, you couldn’t go back to how it was before. The black, worm-eaten-like scars and the creeping stench kept bringing back the unpleasant memories.

So Petunia would smile, then contort her face, then sigh deeply and pretend everything was fine, repeating the cycle.

“I see. Since you came all this way today, rest here for a while. I’ll give you one of the rooms our researchers use for overnight stays.”

“It’s okay. I was just planning to chat for a bit and then leave.”

“Chat? What kind of conversation can you have with an old man? I’m no longer interesting enough to be a conversation partner. People tend to become rigid as they age. I’ve just become like a stone statue that can neither laugh nor cry, only talking about stories from the past.”

Mobius threw out a self-deprecating joke. Petunia laughed it off and was about to get to the point. She hadn’t come to laugh with Mobius today.

“I…”

“Petunia.”

Mobius cut Petunia off. Petunia looked back at Mobius. It was unusual for him to interrupt her. Mobius looked up at the ceiling and continued speaking.

“In front of this magic tower, there are old ruins. Have you seen the tilted statues among them? I mean the statues whose bodies are stiffly frozen, staring only at the sky.”

Petunia nodded. She knew well about the statues and pillars lining the front of Mobius’s magic tower. Elves would also emerge from the forest and often rest on the plains where these statues stood.

“People become like that when they get old. They end up only able to look in one direction, like the statues. In the past, those statues could probably look in various directions according to their owner’s gestures. There were probably servants to polish their bodies, and they probably cultivated pretty flower gardens on the ground. But when time passes and even the one person who takes care of me disappears, then I’ll have no choice but to live looking only in one direction.”

Petunia could tell what Mobius was talking about. She also knew why he was telling her this. Mobius was speaking indirectly to her.

He has no intention of stopping his revenge.

Don’t think about stopping me.

“Mobius. You always told Wolf to find another path besides revenge.”

But she couldn’t just leave without saying a word. Petunia offered a futile counterargument that could easily be refuted, and Mobius dodged her point with an obvious answer.

“I’m already old. My body can’t find new things to do. I can only dwell on the past, and all I can do is dredge up unpleasant memories to refine my revenge.”

Mobius’s attitude was defiant. Looking at him, Petunia Titi felt the same frustration and pity she felt when looking at Alexander.

“Don’t you think you’re going too far? There are so many bad rumors circulating about the magic tower. Is revenge worth clinging to all those distorted rumors? It’s revenge that’s already over. The disciples who proposed that theory aren’t even mages anymore. The mage who insulted you and kicked you out of academia is already dead. And you drove out his family from the magic tower too, didn’t you? So what are you trying to achieve by continuing your research now?”

Mobius stared intently at Petunia. His dark skin, contrasted by his piercing blue eyes, made Petunia flinch. Mobius said.

“First of all, the rumors you’ve heard are true.”

Petunia shook her head. With a crestfallen face, she said.

“Don’t say that. You always acted like a good person. You even lectured us when we tried to live even a little bit wickedly.”

Mobius remained unfazed even as Petunia argued. He stroked his beard with an expressionless face and said.

“People get shameless when they get old. Don’t try to talk to me about other things, Petunia. Aren’t there many better stories than that? Yes. Let’s talk about you and Wolf. What do you think?”

Petunia flinched slightly at Mobius’s words, but she didn’t back down.

“Don’t change the subject. I want you to live a little happier. You can’t say there’s no one who cares about you. Right now, there’s me, and there’s Alexander. Wolf cares about you too. Why are you trying to crawl into the abyss alone? What exactly do you want to do?”

“Wolf. Alexander. Fabian.”

Mobius shook his head as if singing while listening to Petunia. He swayed weakly as if dozing off while fishing, then opened his eyes and met Petunia’s gaze. He continued speaking like this.

“They were all good companions. When I traveled to the Demon Realm, I could even boast that I had lived the most enjoyable life since deciding on revenge. Have I ever told you about when I first met Wolf? Back when I was confined to a small room in the magic tower, living like a wreck, someone knocked on my door. As soon as the door opened, Wolf blurted out to me, ‘Let’s get revenge.'”

Petunia had never heard Wolf utter such weighty words. She couldn’t feel the weight of the revenge they carried. Mobius said.

“They are good companions, but they can’t replace family. They are people who must eventually go their own way. How can I shift my loneliness onto good friends I see only occasionally? How can I try to pass on my misfortune? Petunia. Don’t think about persuading me. After all, everything is coming to an end now.”

Saying that, Mobius leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. When Mobius was being stubborn, he always closed his eyes and shut his mouth. Like someone who believed that everything in the world would pass him by if he did that, he would just stay still, like a stone statue.

Petunia said.

“What on earth, what do you want to do? The people you wanted revenge on are all dead. After you took the position of head of the magic tower, rumors spread even to the Elf Forest. That the man who recently became Archmage drove his competitor to death.”

Mobius opened his eyes again. He looked intently at Petunia and asked.

“Why do you think he died?”

“Huh?”

“Petunia. Do you really think I would kill the bastard who ruined my life so easily? I lost my granddaughter and lived in agony for years. So do you think I’d let that bastard die peacefully?”

Mobius stood up from his seat. He walked to a corner of the reception room and reached out towards a portrait. It was a portrait of a man with a mustache, wearing a uniform. As Mobius’s gnarled fingers pressed firmly on the mustache area, the entire room began to shake strangely.

“W, what…”

Secret door.

Petunia was horrified to see the space between the bookshelves in the reception room open up, revealing a secret area. Mobius walked forward and said.

“Did you ask what I want to do? I have nothing I want to achieve. I’m not looking for glory, nor do I want to kill more people.”

Mobius’s blue magic illuminated the dark stairs. At that moment, Petunia, following behind, turned literally pale. The deeper they went down the stairs, the more concentrated the mana energy felt from below, and desperate moans, like those of wailing ghosts, echoed out.

And in front of the iron bars at the very bottom floor, Mobius reached out his hand. A pitch-black shadow reacted to his magic, illuminating the entire underground facility.

“Ah…!”

Petunia realized it at that moment. There was no way to persuade Mobius now, nor any way to turn back.

“Petunia.”

Mobius called Petunia’s name and looked at the facility beyond the iron bars. It was a space filled with complex magical devices. In a corner, an old man, wearing a mana suppressor and bound in chains, was suffering continuously.

Mobius said.

“I just want to go back to the past. I just want to see my granddaughter.”

Petunia realized she couldn’t persuade Mobius.

And looking into his sad eyes, she knew she couldn’t kill him either.