episode_0241

Lucian Blackveil found it uncomfortable to face Violet.

From the perspective of someone who had lived his entire life believing he was superior, Violet was an uncomfortable presence.

‘It was good not seeing her all this time, but why here of all places?’

Objectively, Violet was a beautiful girl. Her golden hair, fresh as an autumn wheat field bathed in sunlight, fell to her shoulders. Stimulating and vibrant red eyes, as if condensed from pure blood and fire. Even her plump, round cheeks looked like molded flour. Compared to her peers, she could certainly be called a beautiful girl. That was something Lucian himself acknowledged.

Not only that, but she was an Awakener with powerful abilities. With her clone-creation ability, she could expand herself like a hive, facing dozens or hundreds of enemies, or create self-destructing clones to break down enemy formations. Through the utilization of her abilities, she compensated for her slower learning speed with sheer quantity, growing at an incredibly rapid pace. For him, who had been called a magic prodigy since childhood, it was a bewildering matter.

It wasn’t a matter of pride. There’s no reason for a human to feel inferior to a computer. Her abilities were on a completely different dimension, so what more could be compared?

However, there was still something that made him reluctant about the girl named Violet.

‘That girl is a monstrous troublemaker who brings disaster everywhere.’

As someone who had witnessed Violet’s actions firsthand, Lucian truly understood this fact. Immortal hive mind, self-destruction, human wave tactics. Hadn’t she even committed terrorism against a giant clan comparable to a nation, shaking the entire organization? The biggest problem was that every time he worked with her, he always got caught up in a major incident.

So, when he heard her bright voice from afar, Lucian instinctively flinched. He turned his head, and Violet was approaching him.

“You, you! Why are you here!”

Lucian unconsciously stepped backward. He had tried his best to keep his distance even at Aegis Academy, but to meet her again here of all places!

Then, startled, Lucian slipped backward.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh. Uh-huh.”

She stared into his eyes. Even though it was her usual clueless expression, Lucian, overwhelmed by her strange red eyes, eventually sighed and nodded.

“Wow, you came to see the artifacts too!”

“No, I just… came to look around.”

“Just looking? Then do you want to walk around with me?”

Lucian, who was about to refuse, felt some burden from Violet’s unwavering gaze and changed his words. For some reason, it was uncomfortable to refuse.

‘Around here, I feel a lot of mana flows similar to hers. Are they clones?’

He figured they’d just run into each other again if they separated, so he decided it would be better to keep her in sight and maintain a proper distance.

“Haa… Fine, let’s walk together.”

Violet smiled contentedly and pointed towards the artifact exhibition hall.

“Great! Then let’s go this way first.”

Violet led Lucian into the artifact exhibition hall. As she looked around at the displayed artifacts, smiling brightly like a child, Lucian watched her smile and muttered softly.

“Nothing will happen this time, right?”

Just then, familiar people were behind Violet. If it was the stuttering Ballista girl and the former Inspection Bureau agent, they would surely be able to keep that troublemaker in check somehow.

But his uneasy premonition didn’t last long. The moment Violet peered closely at a crystal-like artifact, an alarm began to blare.

-Beep! Beep!

“Violet!”

“Huh? I didn’t do anything!”

Sophieel quickly approached Violet, but it was too late. With the alarm, security drones installed around the display flew up and surrounded Violet. Security guards also approached with wary eyes.

“You there, step away from the artifact immediately!”

Surrounded by drones, Violet looked around, bewildered.

“Wow, I’m surrounded.”

Lucian clutched his head and sighed.

‘Here we go again…’

**

I had just started looking around the artifact exhibition when suddenly security guards approached and stopped me. I thought something serious had happened. It turned out to be just a machine error.

“Hmm, I apologize. It seems our sensor malfunctioned.”

With a brief apology, the guards disappeared, and the tension completely lifted.

「As expected, our Violet is innocent!」

They called it the Academy City’s biggest expo, but it was utterly pathetic. If security errors happen this often, a big accident might occur later. It seems like it’s full of idiots.

「Don’t worry too much, let’s just look around!」

We diligently observed the wondrous items as if we were in a museum.

「Look at this. If you use this together, you can share each other’s vision. They say if you look closely, you can even see other people’s spell formulas?」

「But, where would we use this?」

As I looked around the exhibition, there were many interesting artifacts. For example, a pair of sunglasses that allowed you to share each other’s vision.

Then, I found the location of the artifact we were looking for. There was a long line of people in front of a small box.

「This is that box!」

The description had the following text written on it.

「Overly grand wishes cannot be granted, and currently, only food items are possible.」

Really?

Just then, a long line of people was forming, so I also quickly joined the queue, eager to experience the artifact’s power.

After waiting for a long time, it was finally my turn. I stood in front of the box and earnestly wished inwardly.

「Give me money! Gold! Or something else awesome!」

But the artifact showed no reaction.

The attendant next to me kindly explained.

“Currently, nothing but food items will appear. If you imagined something else, I’m afraid it won’t work.”

“I see…”

I was disappointed for a moment but soon changed my mind and tried as instructed.

「Give me a delicious hamburger set! Large size!」

Then the box trembled, and in the blink of an eye, a hamburger set appeared before me.

「Wow! It’s a real hamburger set!」

I exclaimed in admiration and sat down at a nearby table, beginning to eat the delicious hamburger.

“Levi! Go stand in line quickly. You can eat something delicious too. Sophieel Unnie, you go quickly too!”

It was a fascinating artifact, but truthfully, it wasn’t that amazing. However, since I was hungry, I was quite satisfied.

But Lucian, who was beside me, looked at me with strange eyes.

“Hey, you didn’t seriously come all this way just to see *that*, did you?”

“Yeah! It was really amazing! This is a revolution!”

When he heard my words, his expression turned bewildered, and soon contorted into one of absurdity.

“What’s so great about a trivial artifact like that? Maybe ordinary people or kids would find it interesting. But the real core of this exhibition is that.”

“Oh, what’s ‘that’?”

Where Lucian pointed, a spherical artifact with intertwining red and gold colors was displayed.

“It’s the Heart of Sunset.”

All the Violets started to get curious.

“What does it do that makes it so great? It just looks like a huge gem.”

“Don’t say something so ignorant. Does that look like a simple gem to you?”

Hearing my words, Lucian, as if excited, poured out explanations.

“That can amplify or convert almost all existing types of energy, including Aether. It’s even known to be usable for amplifying and converting information.”

“Oh… I see. Then how do you use it?”

“Even Restraid’s mana amplification power glove technology was actually inspired by that artifact. It’s that amazing. Didn’t you know something like that?”

He shook his head, asking how on earth I had defeated Sebastian. He really looked like he couldn’t understand.

“Uh… I didn’t know. You’re really smart!”

Listening to Lucian’s explanation, it seemed like a truly important and amazing artifact. But suddenly, as I listened to his words, a great idea came to mind.

「I’ve got a great idea! We’ll use Lucian as our artifact guide!」

Artifacts are magic-related items. And Lucian knows a lot about magic. So, if a friend with extensive knowledge like Lucian explains it, it will be a great help.

「That sounds like a really good idea!」

Just then, Sophieel Unnie and Levi returned, each holding a coffee and a shake.

“Alright. So, could you explain that one too?”

“Hah, fine, just listen closely. That one is…”

With a triumphant expression, Lucian eagerly began to explain other artifacts, even adding interesting stories related to their characteristics.

「Yahoo! We’ve got a free artifact guide!」

And so, we had fun exploring the artifact exhibition hall.

**

As Lucian, who had confidently volunteered to be a guide, realized he had fallen into his own trap, agents of the Obsidian Legion smoothly surveyed the expo hall, looking for an opportunity.

-I apologize, the backdoor we planted earlier didn’t activate and caused an error, so…

-Don’t rush. The operation is still proceeding without issues.

Aspen, listening to his subordinate’s report, clicked his tongue inwardly. He recalled the commotion from a moment ago. The alarm sounding and drones deploying during the attempt to breach the security system was unexpected.

‘Was Restraid originally such a security-thorough organization?’

It was a rare sharpness from the usually dull “tin can knights.” The fortunate thing was that the surveillance system was more focused on detecting magical elements. Otherwise, they would have had to employ more covert and difficult methods.

Dressed in a regular suit, Aspen moved between the clan booths and artifact displays, carefully observing the red orb located in the center of the exhibition hall. The Heart of Sunset, the artifact the Obsidian Legion hoped to secure, was placed in a position that seemed almost within reach. It had been a very long time since this genuine artifact, usually kept at the heart of Restraid, was publicly displayed.

-Remember this. Securing it during the day is the easiest. Intercepting it at night after the event or during transport will only cause unnecessary friction. Securing the artifact is the priority.

Ten minutes before the operation began, after making his subordinates aware of the situation, he looked around. Strangely, among the expo crowd, more and more people felt like lifeless dolls. It reminded him of the praying person he almost bumped into a moment ago.

‘Is it my imagination?’

As his mana-amplified sight and hearing, combined with the unique physical abilities of an enhanced human, kicked in, he was able to confirm that it was not his imagination.

‘Who are these guys?’

He discovered that suspicious individuals had intruded, but he judged that it would not interfere with their mission.

‘If they cause a disturbance at the expo, we should be grateful.’

Thinking that, he scanned his surroundings, when he accidentally bumped shoulders with a girl.

“Screech!”

“Oh dear, I apologize. Are you alright?”

The agent calmly offered an apology to the one he had bumped into. The girl said she was fine and left. Just as he was about to calmly wait for the time again, Aspen felt something was off.

‘Wait a minute, that girl just now… where have I seen her before?’

He raised his head at the sense of déjà vu, but the girl had vanished without a trace. He felt something strange, but by then, the time to begin the operation was just around the corner. Should he trust his uneasy premonition and halt the operation, or continue?

The agent made his decision.

-Begin.

Before the main operation began, a diversionary tactic was launched. Ten seconds later, violent explosions and gunshots echoed from outside the expo hall.

-Rat-a-tat! Bang!

“Aaaargh! Long live the Ariel Group! Die, clans!”

A group of people shouted, fired guns, and caused a disturbance. As people were agitated by the unexpected commotion, the entire convention center plunged into darkness.

“What, what? It’s a blackout!”

“The lights went out!”

Amidst the commotion, Violet felt bewildered.

“Oh? Violet, that sound just now…”

“It wasn’t me! It really wasn’t me!”

Sophieel had merely asked with pure curiosity, but Violet, feeling interrogated, shook her head vehemently. Soon, she quickly realized the truth.

「Who is it?」

「This is trademark infringement!」

Someone had illicitly used their organization’s name.