Before he knew it, time had passed, and the final day of the holiday dawned. Ian set to work on alchemy with the materials he had prepared in advance.
As he had decided before, the first item he would make was the “Blood-Chasing Compass.” It was an item specialized more for tracking than searching, but it had more uses than one might think.
For example, say he lost a companion during a commission. Then he would have no choice but to go searching for the whereabouts of his missing colleague.
At such a time, the compass would become an excellent tool. Not only would it confirm whether the other party was alive or dead, it would even tell him their exact location. There was hardly a better means of tracking.
It did have the drawback that he needed to collect blood in advance, but that much was not difficult.
Of course, not every business partner would readily hand over their blood. But that did not matter.
If they provided it, he would go looking for them. If they did not, he would abandon them. That was all there was to it.
“Ughhh…”
Just before beginning the work, Ian sat in his chair and stretched wide. A refreshing sensation of his stiff muscles and joints loosening circulated through his whole body.
Rotating his aching wrists, he neatly piled the materials on the table. He placed the most important item, the compass, in a corner, then carefully set the blood and the leeches beside it.
The amount of blood required was fairly large, but since he had received some in advance, it was not a major problem. The leeches had also been purchased through the Cartel shop, so they were in good condition.
In alchemy, the quality of the materials was always the most important thing. Just as a sharp knife was better than a rusty one, and soft silk was better than worn cloth. Naturally, fresh blood was better than dead blood, and leeches that wriggled vigorously were better than sickly ones.
Fortunately, both were of superior quality.
Ian smiled in satisfaction and began drawing a magic circle on a sheet of paper. A fairly complicated pattern slowly took shape, and after drawing the final stroke, he set the pen aside and poured blood into the jar containing the leeches.
As the cold blood flowed in, the leeches reacted at once. Ian quietly waited until they had drunk all the blood.
A short while later, the red liquid in the jar had completely vanished. In its place, the bellies of the leeches had swollen slightly plump.
“Ugh…”
Ian frowned at the grotesque sight, but he immediately took the leeches out one by one and placed them on the magic circle. The writhing leeches spun round and round in place, as if trapped by an invisible wall.
Next, he poured in the blood. The blood, poured precisely into the center of the magic circle, did not spread anywhere else and remained fixed there like a puddle. On top of it, he carefully placed the compass.
Tzzzzk…
The blood seeped into every extreme of the compass. Its pure white surface was stained crimson, and the needle spun madly clockwise. From beyond the curtained window, he began to feel an unpleasant gaze, as if something were searching for something.
He paid it no mind. Ian opened the grimoire as it was and recited the spell.
“O gaze of the hungry ghost. O being that deceives the eyes of god, commands the wicked, and hunts. Offer me your tongue, and receive the grace of the Great One. Thus shall your hand forever crave blood.”
The moment the incantation ended, the magic circle vibrated. The leeches all turned to dust and disappeared, and the compass needles twitched left and right before stopping motionless at the N pole. The pooled blood gathered at the very center of the compass, and the tabletop was left clean, as though there had only ever been the compass from the start.
“Hmm.”
Ian picked up the lone compass and, to test its effect, let a little of his own blood drip into the puddle of blood gathered at its center.
At that moment, the needle of the compass snapped around, pointing precisely at Ian. There was no warning at all. As though it had been pointing that way from the beginning, the needle fixed on him. In a sense, it was as if he had become the N pole.
“It works well.”
The test ended successfully. Ian nodded in satisfaction and tapped the compass a few times. The blood he had poured in began to trickle out through the gaps at the bottom of the compass. Each time a drop fell, the needle slowly turned away from Ian and back toward the N pole.
It seemed that time was needed to replace the blood. It appeared possible to extend the tracking time by continuously injecting the same blood, but impossible to keep changing the blood midway through.
Well, that much was acceptable. After carefully setting the compass in front of the bathroom mirror so the blood could drain properly, Ian came out into the living room of the workshop and flopped down onto the sofa.
“Phew…”
Fatigue pressed down on his whole body. Alchemy was all well and good, but this inexplicable sense of enervation after using it felt truly unpleasant. It was not severe, but the sensation of his concentration scattering was not enjoyable at all. If anything, it was closer to discomfort.
When he made items in the workshop that did not need to be made there, there had been no such sign. It was a real shame.
Ian leaned back against the backrest and shifted his gaze toward the Records of the Deep Sea lying on the table.
“…”
Since the Pygmalion incident, the Records of the Deep Sea had been asleep without the slightest movement. Occasionally its body would twitch, but that was all. It did not vibrate as usual, nor did it show any sign of coming into his arms.
He could not use summoning magic either. However, the other spells were usable. Breathing underwater, withstanding pressure, talking with fish, and so on. The useless yet useful spells worked well. The same was true for attack and defense magic.
‘It looks like some problem occurred on the outer sea side… The cause is probably because an Outer God descended, even if only for a moment. The grimoire was overloaded.’
Just because it was a grimoire written by an Outer God did not mean the grimoire possessed the same rank as an Outer God. It was a far mightier book than an ordinary grimoire, but it was not at a level where it could contain a fragment of an Outer God and remain perfectly fine. Naturally, it was bound to be overloaded.
‘If it had been summoned with magic, that might be one thing. But it briefly manifested using the grimoire as its core, so there’s no helping it.’
Still, if only the summoning magic had been sealed, the situation was not too bad.
Summoning magic was a concept similar to a kind of ultimate move. To begin with, it was difficult to use if the conditions did not align. Even if the opponent was an extremely powerful anomaly, if there was only one of them and it was small in size, using summoning magic would not guarantee survival. He might instead be eaten by a creature of the outer sea.
It was a typical spell that was strong against the strong and weak against the weak. No, in this case, should he say it was determined by the size of the prey?
In any case.
The fact that only one of the many methods Ian could use had been sealed was nothing to worry about. He could still use re-creation magic, his alchemy was intact, and the other spells in the Records of the Deep Sea could be activated without any problems. He should be able to resolve commissions without much difficulty.
But, well, that was that.
Personally, he hoped it would recover quickly and vibrate and act playfully as usual.
It seemed he had grown attached to the grimoire without realizing it. Ian gave a small laugh and tapped the cover of the Records of the Deep Sea with his finger.
Bzzzt.
It was then. Suddenly, the cell phone he had tossed beside him vibrated.
When he checked, he saw that Kim Iseo was calling. Ian narrowed his eyes slightly and answered the phone.
“Hello.”
[Ah, Mage. Hello. Did you enjoy the holiday?]
Kim Iseo spoke in an even tone. Ian answered roughly.
“Well enough. More importantly, why did you contact me?”
[To send you a Lunar New Year holiday gift. Is there any gift you would like?]
“…A holiday gift? You take care of things like that too?”
[You may think of it as a kind of welfare service. Please tell me what you want without feeling burdened.]
At her question, Ian let out a low hum and thought it over.
She was not the type to call out of the blue to play a prank, so the claim that she would give him a gift was probably true. In that case, there was no need to refuse.
“Just pick something appropriate and leave it there. If I have a reason to stop by next time, I’ll take it with me.”
[Understood. Then, can you come tomorrow?]
“Tomorrow? Why?”
[Something has come up that requires cooperation.]
A faint clack rang out between Kim Iseo’s words. Ian broke into a small laugh.
“So this was your real purpose from the start?”
[I will not deny it. However, I judged that arranging the order in this way would be a good method to avoid offending you, Mage.]
Kim Iseo answered without the slightest agitation.
An order meant to avoid offending him. It was quite a fine judgment in its own way. If she had brought up the matter of cooperation first, Ian would not have responded smoothly either. It seemed she had a fair grasp of social maneuvering.
After a brief silence, Ian stared at the fish swimming in the aquarium and opened his mouth.
“What’s the mission?”
[It’s something that occurred in a small village in the countryside.]
Kim Iseo answered.
[It is a truly small place called Happiness Village, a place rarely seen in this day and age. Not many people live there, and the average age is close to the fifties.]
“…”
[There, a certain child made a wish. Please let everyone in our village continue to live happily, they said.]
“Was that wish corrupted?”
[No. The wish was granted. But the being that granted the wish is the problem.]
As if adjusting the position of her phone, Kim Iseo continued speaking amid a rustling sound.
[Have you perhaps heard of the Monkey’s Paw?]