C96
“Master! How did it go? Was the experiment successful?”
Yes, we succeeded! Our magic has succeeded!"
But Alpheas couldn't be happy. No matter how he looked at it, Erina's condition was strange.
"But why is my wife like this? Honey! Pull yourself together!"
Arcane looked at the instrument panel once again and was shocked. The balance of each item was normal, but the overall body rhythm was dropping simultaneously. It was as if life itself was fading away.
"Why- Why is this happening? It didn't happen in clinical trials."
"Honey! Erina! Open your eyes!"
Erina half-opened her eyes and smiled faintly.
"Honey... I'm fine."
"Erina! What happened? Why are you like this? What's wrong?"
"There was a rejection reaction from the terminal nerves. The human brain must have some differences. But you've done something amazing. With a little more research... Huuk!"
Erina took a deep breath and convulsed.
"Honey! Don't talk! I'll do something! I'll save you no matter what...!"
Alpheas cursed his intellectual ability, realizing that it was already too late to turn back. But he had no choice but to say so.
Erina shook her head slowly. She knew what her husband knew.
"Honey... hold my
Alpheas gripped his wife's hand tightly. If there was even a 1 percent chance, he would have tried. But now, all he could do was stay by her side.
"Erina, this can't be happening. How could this...?"
Erina smiled sadly.
"Honey, I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? What..."
"For being a fool."
Alpheas' heart was torn to pieces. Trying to change his wife, why had he forgotten her words that she was beautiful just by existing?
"No... why are you sorry? What are you sorry for! It's me! I was the fool! I'm the fool!"
"Meeting you was a blessing."
Erina was finally able to understand her husband. A wonderful world where rationality reigns. He had been living here. She was happy to be with him for a brief moment and to take his memories with her.
"Honey! Open your eyes! Please… I was wrong, Honey!”
As Erina's eyes closed, Alpheas hugged her face and sobbed.
“Uwaaah! Honey! Honey!"
Arcane lowered his head with a solemn expression. What's different between a human brain and an animal's? If they had started with human experiments, there would have been no tragedy.
But it was a meaningless assumption. There was only one condition that Erina had set for experimenting on herself. They absolutely could not experiment on anyone else.
That's why they had put in more effort. The data they had obtained so far would be valuable for humanity.
'I'm sorry. I won't let your sacrifice be in vain.'
A dull thud sounded. When he turned his head, Alpheas was banging his head against the wall.
“Uwaaaah!”
A breaking sound was heard every time his forehead collided. It was impossible to tell whether the wall or his head was breaking.
"What? The light of the Mirhi Family? Light? Light!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Alpheas's body bounced off like a rubber ball after hitting his head repeatedly. But he didn't stop. The horror of having survived alone, leaving his wife behind, turned his insides upside down.
"Arrogant Alpheas!"
Alpheas rushed into the wall again.
Thud!
Klump grabbed Alpheas. If left like this, he would surely die without being able to do anything.
"Alpheas! Get a hold of yourself! What are you doing now1"
"Let go! Damn it! Aaaaah!"
It was difficult to stop Alpheas even with Klump's physical strength. It was as if he was burning his soul, rushing towards death. But eventually, the shock seemed to take effect, and his consciousness faded away as his pupils dilated.
"Erina... Erina..."
Klump also shed tears when he called his wife's name even in his unconscious state.
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Erina's funeral was held. It was a gathering of only family members, and Alpheas was prevented from attending by her relatives. There was no wedding ceremony and no post-funeral gathering. In the end, the two had to part ways as strangers.
Alpheas sat down helplessly in front of the funeral hall. Then, as the sun set, he got up like a madman and went somewhere.
The place he arrived at was Arcane's dungeon. The records of numerous experiments conducted over the past two years remained intact.
"Erina..."
Alpheas took an oil canister and scattered it all over the laboratory. Every time the oil splashed, tears flowed from his eyes. The moments when they laughed and chatted together were as vivid as if they had happened just yesterday.
When the oil canister was empty, Alpheas sat down with his back against the wall. It is knowledge that should not exist in the world. How could a human perform such cruel experiments?
"Have you come, Alpheas?"
Arcane entered the laboratory. He knew that Alpheas had not even been invited to the funeral. In the end, this place was like his wife's tomb.
"Erina's incident is regrettable. Take care of your mental and physical health for a while. Then come back again..."
Arcane turned his head as he realized something. The smell of oil was too strong to have leaked from the machinery.
"Alpheas... You can't be serious?"
Alpheas stood up with dark eyes. With just one fire magic spell, the entire laboratory would be blown away.
"No! What is this madness!"
"Master, from the beginning, it was something that shouldn't have been done."
"I understand that you've become weak due to your wife's death! But no! The experiment was almost successful! Have you forgotten Erina's sacrifice? Destroying this place is like turning your back on Erina's sacrifice!"
"I don't need anything. Now, without my wife... I have nothing left."
"Even so, you can't! This is not just yours and Erina's. My lifelong knowledge is also accumulated here! There are documents that cannot be destroyed without my permission."
Alpheas cast fire magic. Arcane absorbed it with dark magic, but it couldn't be helped as the temperature rose above the ignition point.
Flames engulfed the room.
Thousands of documents, intricate magical devices, and difficult-to-handle alchemical materials were all denatured.
Alpheas, who had been looking at the flames indifferently, left the dungeon.
But Arcane couldn't leave. He had to put out the fire. No, even if he lost everything else, he had to protect the experimental data at all costs.
"N- No!"
Arcane was preoccupied with gathering the documents as he moved through the fire. Eventually, the fire caught a box containing volatile materials, and an explosion occurred.
The entire laboratory was blown away, and the shock was enough to shake the entire underground dungeon.
The terrifying fire raced through the tunnels, sucking in the air.
"Ahhhh! Alpheus! I won't forgive you, Alpheas!"
Arcane gritted his teeth. Losing the data just before completing his life's work was more bitter and frustrating than death itself.
"I'll definitely... definitely survive. And then I'll take revenge. Wait for me, Alpheas!"
Arcane hated Alpheas even as he was consumed by the fire. Arrogant Alpheas remained arrogant until the end.
Surviving on the sole thought of revenge, he gathered his strength and sought Alpheas throughout the continent using all his connections. However, no one knew Alpheas' whereabouts.
It was 7 years later that Alpheas reappeared in the world.
It was at the main house of the Ogent Family in the city of Creas.
"Alpheas! Hey, you bastard! What the hell happened to you?"
Klump stared blankly at Alpheas, who had become a completely different person. His once-neat face was gone, and he had grown a beard like a madman. His clothes were ragged, and his skin was burnt black.
Klump took Alpheas to the bathroom and washed him himself. Numerous scars were engraved on his body. Scars from being attacked by a beast, scars from torture, and obvious self-inflicted scars.
"Did you wander around looking for a place to die?"
Alpheas didn't answer, covering his face with his wet hair. After a long time, he finally opened his mouth.
“I had no intention of dying. But I didn't want to live either. I just wandered around as it came."
“I see….”
“I heard it. You became an official knight. Congratulations."
"What congratulations between us? I was the last one among our peers, you bastard."
Klump awkwardly brushed it off. He wasn't particularly proud of his achievements while his friend had experienced hell in the wilderness.
"I'm sorry. I have nowhere else to go. Can I impose on you?"
Klump stared at Alpheas' withered back sadly.
What on earth had brought him to this state?
He, who was once called a rising star in the world of magic, had fallen to being an outcast, with no noble acquaintances and expelled from his own family.
After finishing the bath, Klump had the maids prepare a meal. But Alpheus, whose stomach seemed to have shrunk, couldn't eat much food.
Klump knew. It wasn't like Alpheas to come here just because he had nowhere else to go.
After taking Alpheas into the study, he offered a drink. Alpheas didn't even look at the drink. Just like the look he had seven years ago, his sharp eyes flashed past him.
"Tell me. You've appeared in the world because your wandering is over. You need to make a comeback too. I'll help you with whatever I can."
Alpheas cut straight to the point.
“Lend me 100 million gold.”
"1 million… gold?"
It was an enormous sum.
Of course, Klump had gained the qualification to inherit the family by passing the public examination. However, even if he became the head of the family, there was a limit to the amount he could invest.
"I'm not asking you to lend it all at once. I'll withdraw it over four years. Hire a financial advisor. If you set the monthly limit to 7 million, it should be manageable without any significant impact. . I'll pay interest too. But no compound interest. Instead, set the annual interest rate at 20 percent. I'll be able to start repaying the principal in a year."
Although the repayment method was usually decided by the lender, Klump didn't mind. If it was the Alpheas he knew, he would have thought of the most optimized transaction conditions before coming here.
In the end, he was talking about making a profit of 80 million gold excluding the principal after four years, but Klump was more curious about how he would do that.
"What are you planning? Did you develop a new kind of magic?"
Alpheas shook his head.
"I no longer have any passion."
"Then what are you going to do with 100 million gold?"
“I will build a school.”
"What? School?"
Klump opened his eyes wide. Alpheas, who regard himself as the best between heaven and earth, would teach others.
“What on earth are you thinking…"
Seeing the tears flowing down Alpheas' cheeks, Klump was speechless.
"Never again…someone like me must not appear. I'll teach students while atoning for my sins until the moment I die. So that talent isn't trampled on by a momentary mistake, I'll live by gnawing at my own pain."
Alpheas covered his face with both hands and sobbed. Still, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing.
Klump's eyes also turned red.
Bastard Erina. Alpheas probably wouldn't be able to forget her. Maybe he would have to suffer for the rest of his life.
But that's why the decision was easy.
If the pain Alpheas had to endure could be transformed into someone's growth, if it really could, perhaps his friend, who once dreamed of happiness rather than success, would have a day to smile in the distant future.
"I'll lend it to you. 100 million gold."
Alpheas founded a school named after him in the city of Creas. He worked as a mage during the construction period, repaying the interest, and studied at night to get a teaching certificate.
And 4 years later.
Mirhi Alpheas, principal of Alpheas Magic School, paid 180 million gold to the Ogent Family.
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As the effect of Abyss Nova disappeared completely, Alpheas slowly opened his eyes. All his memories returned, but he was speechless for a long time. The 40 years of time rewound and repeated was so long and heavy.
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Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
