Stupidity and laziness were not actually very correlated. It would be difficult to say there was no connection whatsoever, but neither was there any guarantee that a stupid person was unconditionally lazy, or that a lazy person was unconditionally stupid. After all, there were plenty of lazy geniuses in the world.
In that sense, the reason Ian’s head was slightly addled was not because he was congenitally stupid. It was simply that lethargy had also affected his cognitive ability, making him too lazy even to think. There was no particular problem with his intelligence.
A side effect great enough to brutally crush a mage’s intellect. An ordinary person would have had their brain melt into mush and be unable to do anything at all, but Ian had not reached that point. He could think if he tried. He had simply stopped thinking like a perfect being drifting through the universe.
Well, if it had been anyone else, they wouldn’t have been able to use magic in the first place. The moment they touched a grimoire, their body would have burst like a balloon—what magic, indeed.
The most famous flight magic spell used in the outside world lasted thirty seconds and caused temporary paralysis of the lower body as a side effect, so the magic Ian had used was of considerable value. It was not without reason that mages did not fly through the sky and instead used cars or motorcycles.
Anyway.
“Hmph.”
It had already been two hours since he had used flight magic. Feeling as though he was gradually returning to his right mind, Ian slowly raised his upper body.
Whooooosh…!
Perhaps because he was sitting on the back of a Recycler moving at high speed, the wind blowing against him was quite strong. It was difficult to keep his eyes open properly, and his hair had already been a mess for quite some time. Even so, his mood was quite good. He had always been fond of speed, so a little wind meant nothing to him.
As for his hair, well… it wasn’t as though he was trying to look good for anyone, so it hardly mattered. Ian put the grimoire that had been clinging to him back in its place, adjusted his waist to match the Recycler’s movements, and began to think properly.
‘If Miss Eunha has pinpointed my location, there’s no need to leave this vicinity. If I wander around for no reason, I’ll only complicate my movements.’
They had confirmed each other’s existence through magic, but Ian did not know the Matriarch’s exact location. Only the Matriarch had figured out his position.
He could trace the magic to find out where she was, but that would take too much time. Reverse-engineering a spell was no easy task, so even for Ian, he would have to spend a full day.
Moreover, that estimate was based on ordinary magic. For a mage of Eunha’s caliber, who possessed the Lemegeton, causing interference in a spell to prevent tracking would not be difficult at all. To pinpoint the correct location would probably take at least three or four days. Rather than investing that much time, it was better to stay put.
“Stop for a moment.”
Having organized his thoughts, Ian blurted this out while patting the Recycler’s back. The Recycler, recognizing his voice, halted its sprint as if drifting, scraping the asphalt as it came to a stop. With a screech, smoke and sparks flew.
[Krrrk?]
The Recycler tilted its head as if asking why they had stopped. Ian got off its back and stretched with a long groan.
The joints that had been stiff from lying down for so long loosened refreshingly.
“I’m just going to check roughly where we are, so wait here for a moment. If anything approaches nearby, feel free to eat it.”
[Krrk!]
Nod, nod.
Ian tapped the snout of the Recycler, which was shaking its head vigorously, and looked around. It wasn’t for any grand purpose—he simply wanted to confirm whether or not they had left Incheon yet.
Finding a landmark was impossible. How could one find an intact landmark in a ruined world? Most of the infrastructure, including the airport, had already been destroyed, so there was no way such things remained.
Thanks to that, figuring out his location required quite a bit of effort.
And by effort, it meant capturing and interrogating Fanatics or Reptilians wandering nearby.
“Y-you son of a bitch!”
“P-please spare me! Is there really a need for this between fellow humans?”
Out on the exposed asphalt road, Ian dragged one captured Reptilian and one Fanatic before the Recycler. The Reptilian had resisted fiercely, so both its arms had already been severed. Being a lizard, it was already showing signs of regeneration, but since Ian intended to kill it later anyway, it didn’t particularly matter.
Ian took out a revolver, loaded bullets into the cylinder, and tilted his head. Behind him, the Recycler’s growl rumbled low.
“Now then, you two. I’m in a state where deep thinking is bothersome, so I’ll get straight to the point. Do you know exactly where this is?”
“This is where our Reptilian stronghold lies…! Our kin saw you rummaging around here for hours…!”
The Reptilian spat out. Ian scratched his head and planted a bullet in the creature’s severed arm. As expected, the firearms and bullets manufactured by the Cartel tore through the Reptilian’s defense like paper and mangled the muscle.
“AAARGH?!”
The Reptilian, which had completely disregarded the gun, opened its eyes wide at the piercing pain shooting through its brain. Regardless, Ian turned his head toward the Fanatic this time.
“Do you know where this is?”
“…It is where our order resides. It is not too late, Child of Hell! I have seen the light in your heart! Break free from the demon familiar controlling yooou—AAAAARGH!!”
The Fanatic spewing useless words changed his nonsense into a scream as a bullet lodged in his thigh. Ian clicked his tongue and flicked his revolver.
‘Is everyone here nothing but thick-skinned fools who can ramble nonsense even after seeing a Recycler?’
Objectively speaking, the Recycler’s appearance was savagery itself. There would be nothing strange about an ordinary person foaming at the mouth and fainting on the spot.
But as expected, perhaps because they were residents of the apocalypse, though they were somewhat fearful, they stubbornly said their piece. They certainly had strong convictions.
He couldn’t tell if this was admirable or just stupid.
Well, either way, it was a good thing. Ian opened his mouth once more toward the two groaning in pain.
“This is your last chance. Where exactly is this?”
“I-It’s Seo-gu, Incheon!”
The Fanatic answered immediately. Ian’s gaze turned toward him.
“Seo-gu?”
“Y-yes! If you go straight to the left from here, our temple will appear! And in Namdong-gu, there’s a city occupied by the Reptilians! It’s the district with the city hall!”
The Fanatic shouted, drooling saliva and snot and shedding tears. Ian nodded and sat on the Recycler’s foreleg. The Recycler tactfully retracted its claws.
“Good. So that means we’re still in Incheon.”
“Y-yes! That’s right! If you require a guide, I can personally—”
“I don’t particularly need that.”
“Huh?”
The Fanatic questioned. Without engaging in further conversation, Ian pressed the gun barrel against his forehead. And pulled the trigger just like that.
BAAANG!!!
With a massive gunshot, the Fanatic’s head flew off. His body, with nothing left above the neck, slumped down. The Reptilian glared at Ian, feeling the hot blood splattered on its face.
“…You kill your own kind so casually? As expected, the extinction of you humans would be best for all.”
“Is that so?”
Ian replied perfunctorily and embedded bullets in both of the Reptilian’s eyes. The Reptilian tried to block the bullets with its eyelids, but they easily pierced through, crushing the eyeballs. That wasn’t enough—they shattered its brain as well.
That was how the Reptilian died, unable to resist any longer. Ian holstered his gun, tapped the Recycler’s arm, and rose.
“You can eat.”
[Krrk!]
The moment permission was granted, the Recycler buried its head in the corpses and began to chew away. Ian sat on a relatively intact bench nearby and organized his thoughts. Perhaps because the side effects had almost completely faded now, aside from slight annoyance, his mind worked without any errors.
‘I’ve confirmed that this is Incheon. Then there’s no need to go any further out. Even if I move, I should only move within Incheon.’
If the Matriarch came up to Incheon, she would definitely spot the Recycler with her naked eye. It might be difficult if the distance was far, but the Recycler was a creature that moved at high speed anyway. If she wandered around, she would inevitably witness it at least once.
Even if not, if she summoned a demon in Incheon, the unique aura of the demon would spread in all directions.
Simply tracking that would allow him to meet Eunha.
At any rate, all that mattered was not leaving Incheon. With the help of the Recycler, which had already finished its meal, Ian settled onto its back and summoned his grimoire.
He could have just wandered around as he was and waited for Eunha and Yuna, but… doing so felt a bit boring. Until just now, he had been lying comfortably at rest, his mind completely idle, but now that the side effects had almost disappeared, that was no longer the case. On the contrary, his body itched as if rebelling against the lethargy.
‘Should I go to Namdong-gu and hunt Reptilians? Or find the Fanatics and wipe them out?’
Both were attractive choices, but what his heart was drawn to was hunting Reptilians.
Fanatics were, in the end, ordinary humans… there wasn’t much benefit to killing them. Perhaps if he were the type of mage who derived pleasure from murder, but Ian was not that kind of mage. If he was going out of his way anyway, hunting Reptilians that could be used as materials was far better.
Truthfully, to obtain things like eyes, tongues, or ears, killing humans was the correct approach. But since he was going anyway, it was only proper to fill the Recycler’s stomach with Reptilians first. If he went human-hunting for no reason and the Recycler ate everything, it would be a massive headache.
It didn’t matter if the Reptilians were devoured. Their corpses were difficult to use anyway.
With proper processing, the story would be different, but Ian had never learned such processing. Therefore, it was better to seek out the Reptilians first, from whom he could crudely harvest materials through Recreation Magic.
‘I don’t know how many Reptilians are in the pack, but even if there are many, it doesn’t matter. The Recycler can probably eat them all by itself anyway.’
Danger? There wasn’t really any. Even if there were national-power-level Reptilians, if the Recycler sank a single fang into them, they wouldn’t be able to move.
If he stormed in, converted a few into materials, and threw the rest to the Recycler as feed, the Recycler’s stomach would be sufficiently filled.
No matter how one looked at it, it was a place with nothing but benefits. Ian organized his thoughts and tapped the Recycler’s body.
“Let’s go, Recycler. To Namdong-gu. Just move by following the Reptilians’ scent.”
[Krrreng!]
The Recycler answered, dripping blood from its mouth.
That was when.
“…Oh my, what is that now? Walter never said anything about something like that existing.”
A voice came from behind. Ian whipped his head around.
“…? There’s a person sitting on top. Could it be an evolved Reptilian? No… no. It’s a human’s aura.”
“…”
“What sort of person are you?”
The owner of the voice.
Wearing a black gothic lolita dress and holding a parasol, she narrowed her eyes at Ian.
Ian furrowed his brow, recalling the word “Walter” she had muttered.