Ch.305305. Experiment (2)

●

Professor Mobius’s habit when angry is quite well-known.

He sips strong distilled liquor on the rocks, plays classical music, and sits silently in a chair in his office, staring pensively into space while taking small sips of his drink.

One might call it an exceptionally old-fashioned way of expressing anger, but those who know his temperament would mostly freeze at the sight of this behavior.

After all, such states were invariably followed by someone dying, or falling into a condition where they might prefer death instead.

“…It was just luck, wasn’t it?”

And into this state, a voice that was clearly difficult to muster fell slowly.

Among the Demonic Spire’s professors, there were some who went beyond merely tolerating Professor Mobius to being quite favorable toward him, and Professor Klein could be considered a prime example of this.

Though not lacking in intelligence, the fact that he deliberately tried to please someone with such catastrophically poor social skills—a professor of the Demonic Spire who never bothered to read the room—was enough to gauge the extent of his goodwill.

“Everyone knew that demons are beings that could escape control. It would be more correct to view it not as a failure of Boris’s research, but as a defeat by the—”

“Defeat, you say?”

“…”

Professor Klein shut his mouth with an audible snap.

Perhaps it’s best not to do things one isn’t accustomed to.

Though his voice itself showed no particular edge as usual, it was clear that the word Professor Klein had just uttered had touched a nerve.

“The premise of science is to identify the principles of things beyond our control and reclaim the right to freely process them. Isn’t that so?”

Still a kind voice, but.

The coldness infused in it was enough to make even Professor Klein, who wasn’t the direct target of that sentence, feel a chill.

“Regardless of who the opponent was, the very fact that there was a result called ‘defeat’ is the problem.”

“…”

No.

That was your mistake.

Well. He had only come to ask for a budget increase for the next half-year, but now he was about to be subjected to misplaced anger.

It was none other than himself who had completely disregarded Darwood Campbell without properly setting up any schemes. He had even accepted Astrid’s proposal as if challenging her to try her best, despite knowing full well she was plotting something.

Why take out his frustration on others after getting hit because of his own carelessness?

Professor Klein thought this while expressionlessly stroking his chin. Of course, he couldn’t voice these thoughts aloud.

No matter what, Professor Mobius was still Professor Mobius. The de facto head of the Demonic Spire.

The problem was that he not only held authority but also possessed the “skill” befitting that authority.

In many ways, indeed.

“Well then. How about this?”

Fortunately, Professor Klein did have a card that could potentially calm his angry counterpart.

“I’ll handle it.”

At Klein’s words, Professor Mobius’s brow furrowed.

“…What do you mean by ‘handle it’?”

“Ah, of course he’s not an easy opponent. Whatever the case, Professor Mobius, he’s someone who has wounded your creation.”

And here was a level of conversational skill unbelievable for a professor of the Demonic Spire—elevating the opponent to avoid unnecessary anger.

Honestly, though his achievements were merely average compared to other professors, this was the source of Klein’s ability to have private audiences with Mobius whenever he wished.

Cunning, trickery, schemes, psychological warfare.

And as someone skilled in such things, his analysis of this Darwood Campbell was:

‘…Without his magic, he seems like a nobody?’

The only issue was that the output of the “magic” he had employed was beyond what the Demonic Spire professors had imagined.

So.

In other words, they just needed to seal that away.

No matter how you looked at it, he was just someone who navigated crises through various strokes of luck, cunning, strange abilities, and divine fortune.

And such types find their range of possible actions severely limited once their “tools” are taken away.

“I have a clever plan. Just trust me and leave it to me this once.”

“…”

At Klein’s words, delivered with a sinister smile, Mobius remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“…Whatever you’re planning. As long as it succeeds.”

At Professor Mobius’s calm statement, Professor Klein nodded with satisfaction.

He could guess what would follow.

“I’ll provide you with everything you need, Professor Klein.”

Easily disposing of such a youngster and then being free to conduct whatever research he wanted.

That didn’t sound bad at all. He had some requests in mind anyway.

“If I succeed, would you increase the budget and… grant me some ‘materials’?”

“Materials?”

After a moment of silence, Klein smiled and spoke.

“About 100 should be sufficient.”

“…”

After a brief silence, Mobius let out a derisive laugh.

“You disgusting human.”

Of course, despite his words, it was clear he had no intention of stopping him.

●

“—they’re likely plotting something similar?”

“…”

“This situation happened because they underestimated me too much. A guy like that is practically nothing once his magic is sealed. So all we need to do is block that. Don’t you agree?”

“…Well, I suppose so.”

Alpha agreed with Darwood’s words in a disgruntled tone.

Professor Mobius, who had left with a hardened expression after the first “experiment,” was still maintaining his silence. He was probably preparing something to deliberately inflict “pain” on them next time.

And this man was sitting there, yawning and predicting what might come next.

“Always, those who think they’re better than others see the obvious. They’ll think there’s nothing left once they remove that one thing.”

Of course, the professors of the Demonic Spire are distinguished intellectuals. They are undoubtedly much smarter than Darwood himself who is saying these words.

However, what blocks such brilliance is always the human mind itself.

Namely, arrogance. Contempt. A sense of superiority.

And the bad habit of people who possess such traits is:

They mistakenly believe that jokers are cards only they can possess.

Despite the fact that strategies can be held not only by themselves but by their opponents as well.

“That guy called Klein or whatever, you said he’s more vicious than Professor Boris?”

“Quite so. Even Professor Astrid always shuddered at the thought of him.”

“That’s why I’m bringing this up now.”

“…Pardon?”

“I want to set the stage so it’s okay to kill that bastard.”

“…”

“As a sort of appetizer before killing Mobius—”

“…Wait, wait a minute.”

Alpha rubbed his face with an expression of headache.

“You really talk about it as if you’re actually going to devour an appetizer. I can’t even imagine what process would be needed to make such an act comprehensible within the experimental structure—”

“You said this Klein guy is the one most interested in ‘brains’ at the Demonic Spire, right?”

“…That’s right. That’s also why he receives the most ‘human’-related materials among the professors.”

“Yes. Just return that favor.”

“…”

What are you talking about?

Alpha thought this while looking at Darwood, but instead of explaining in more detail, he just shrugged his shoulders.

“I just need help with a few things. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“…I’ll listen first and then decide. If it’s within the bounds of common sense, I’ll do whatever I can.”

“You make it sound like I always make crazy demands.”

Darwood Campbell replied curtly, then suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke.

“By the way, where’s Elnore? I don’t see the Prime Minister either?”

From what he heard, they had been called away by Alpha, saying they had somewhere to go. Wasn’t this conversation happening because he had caught Alpha who had come to tell him about that?

“Well, I’m not sure about the Prime Minister, but as for the Grand Duchess…”

And in response to Darwood’s question, Alpha stroked his chin and answered.

“I heard she went to receive the promised ‘reward’ from Professor Astrid.”

“…What?”

●

“Hmm.”

Elnore Erinarise la Tristan stared intently at the brain inside the culture vessel with an interested gaze.

Her eyes were sparkling so brightly that Astrid, who had called her here first, was bewildered.

-…What are you staring at so intently?

“It’s my first time seeing a living human organ so vividly. It’s amazing that it can maintain this level of vitality even outside the body.”

-…

Come to think of it.

The mental state of this woman, who lavished the most attention on her son, was far from normal.

-…Well, that aside.

Astrid sighed deeply and opened her mouth.

-Do you know why I called you?

“To teach me how to deliciously eat Darwood?”

-…Eat him?

“Or, well, I wouldn’t mind if you said ‘fuck him’ either.”

-…

Child.

Please choose your words more carefully.

As Astrid clutched her increasingly dizzy head with such thoughts, Elnore’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Don’t tell me that’s not it?”

-…

“Are you deceiving me?”

I never said I’d share such unprecedented knowledge…

Astrid barely held onto her increasingly dizzy consciousness and opened her mouth again.

-…No. I said I would tell you ‘something others wouldn’t know’ about our son.

“So that’s—”

-No, not that. Not that!

“…”

Astrid, who had urgently cut off Elnore’s sentence, inwardly groaned at the sight of Elnore glaring at her with a disgruntled gaze.

Was it really okay to share her son’s “secret” with such a person?

-…Truly, you could call it a match made in heaven.

But still.

It can’t be helped.

-In any case, Darwood seems to trust you the most. That’s why I’m asking you.

“Asking me?”

-There’s something I want to show you.

It’s someone’s memory.

Perhaps something he would most want to forget.

●