The Patient Wizard Chapter 30

Chapter 30 – Calculation (20)

After greeting and walking outside, I found Charles waiting.

“Which department did you decide to go to?”

“I’ve decided to go to the pass manufacturing department. I heard you recommended me. Thank you.”

“I recommended you because you’re diligent. Start work tomorrow, and let’s go introduce yourself.”

They entered the manufacturing room and searched for the pass manufacturing department. A middle-aged man with a partially balding head was inspecting passes.

“Hey, Ogi. This is a new recruit for your department.”

Ogi glanced at Chris.

“He’s young?”

“He’s diligent. And smart.”

Ogi seemed reluctant.

“I don’t need more workers.”

“You asked for reinforcements a month ago, didn’t you?”

Chris bowed deeply.

“I’ll work hard.”

He sighed.

“To be honest, I’m not thrilled about this.”

“I’ll grow older quickly.”

“It’s not about your age.”

“Then what is it about?”

“I heard a wizard tried to kill you?”

“Which wizard… Oh, you mean Alex.”

Many people had seen Alex visiting the smithy and attempting to kill Chris.

“Alex is not a wizard. He’s an apprentice.”

“Apprentices become wizards over time.”

“He’s a poor student. Someone who’s always at the bottom of the class won’t become a wizard.”

Charles patted Ogi’s shoulder.

“It’s the chief’s order. Accept it.”

From Charles’s perspective, it was just a light tap, but to Ogi, it felt like being hit with a hammer.

“Charles, be gentle. You’ll break my bones at this rate.”

“You’re being dramatic. I’m leaving now. Treat him well.”

After Charles had left, Ogi folded his arms and looked at Chris. An awkward atmosphere settled between them.

“Ahem.”

Ogi cleared his throat and said,

“Go empty the trash cans first.”

Chris gathered the department’s trash cans and went outside. He dumped the trash in the waste area, briefly washed the soiled bins, and wiped away the moisture with a cloth.

A moment later, he went back inside and returned the trash cans to their original places. While putting them down, he noticed a bin of miscellaneous items next to them.

“Should I throw this away too?”

“Sort through it first.”

Chris emptied the trash cans and examined each item one by one.

“Oh! This is…?”

“What?”

Ogi turned around. Chris was holding a burned and damaged pass.

“Ah, that. From the Lion Hall that burned… Right, you’re from Lion Hall, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Why is this here?”

“Collecting and recycling damaged passes is also part of our department’s job. Making those passes costs quite a bit of money.”

“But why haven’t you recycled it?”

“It’s bad luck.”

“Bad… Luck?”

“The owner died horribly. It feels ominous to recycle it.”

“Don’t you get paid every time you deliver passes?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, from the blacksmith’s perspective, wouldn’t it be better if more passes get damaged?”

“Yes, yes. It’s good, but not like this. The people in the Magic Tower are surprisingly superstitious. Some technicians refuse to touch things they believe bring bad luck. So I left them aside and forgot about them. We should throw them away.”

Chris gathered the three damaged passes.

“I’ll throw them away.”

Ogi confirmed,

“You really need to throw them away. Don’t try to sell them as scrap out of greed.”

“Yes.”

Chris collected the passes of the victims and searched through the miscellaneous items. Then, he discovered a pass that looked as good as new.

“This pass seems perfectly fine?”

Ogi looked at the pass.

“Ah, that belongs to Prince Mark.”

“Did you set this aside because it feels ominous too?”

“Yes.”

“This seems too good to throw away.”

Ogi shuddered.

“Think about what happened to the owner of that pass. They turned his brain inside out, examining his soul. On top of that, his eyes were gouged out, and the removed eyes were burned. In terms of bad luck, that’s even worse than the burned passes.”

“But still…”

“Are you silently judging us for being superstitious?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Don’t lie. It’s written all over your face.”

He sighed and continued.

“Look, I wasn’t like this before working at the Magic Tower. I thought ghosts and such things didn’t exist.”

“Do you believe now?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw one myself. A female ghost covered in blood floating through the air – it was terrifying.”

He shook his head.

“There are quite a few wizards here in the Magic Tower who research ghosts. There are also wizards who specialize in curse magic. And there are so many wizards conducting live experiments that they’re countless. You’ll see and experience many things if you stay in the Magic Tower long enough.”

He suddenly cursed.

“Damn it, do you know what the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen was? The worst was seeing a wizard dying at seven o’clock in broad daylight, spewing black blood and withering away.”

“Withering away?”

“That’s right, a fat person shriveled up like a mummy in just a few minutes. After experiences like that, you become obsessed with luck. You avoid looking at unlucky objects and stay away from unlucky places. Do you know which place is the most avoided in the blacksmith shop these days?”

“Where?”

“Lion Hall.”

“What? Why?”

“Out of ten passes issued to Lion Hall, four came back damaged. It’s a place riddled with bad luck.”

“Oh, I see.”

…But something seemed off.

“There were only nine passes issued to Lion Hall.”

“No, there were definitely ten.”

Chris counted on his fingers.

“Me, Smith, Alice, the Prince, Alex, Tony, Catherine, Frank, Faye – that’s nine. Did you include Supervisor David the wizard?”

“Not David. Like I said, wizards use identity cards.”

“Ah, right. Then who’s missing?”

“Juan is missing.”

“Juan?”

“He’s the servant at Lion Hall. Of course he uses a pass issued to Lion Hall.”

“Juan…”

Ogi snapped his fingers.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

Chris put his hand back into the miscellaneous items. But instead of organizing them, he was just absentmindedly touching them. After Ogi had been doing other work for a while, he noticed Chris was still doing the same thing.

“Sort things properly. If you don’t want to do it, then don’t.”

“Oh, yes.”

Chris suddenly stood up and went outside. Ogi was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t stop him.

“What’s with that guy?”

None of the miscellaneous items had been sorted. In fact, the trash bin had been overturned, making things even messier.

“I heard he was smart, but he seems unhinged.”

Ogi grumbled as he sorted the miscellaneous items. While organizing, he noticed the pass was missing.

* * *

Chris went down to Stratton Village. After stopping by Brian’s Magic Shop to gather information, he moved to an undisclosed location, and finally went to Stan’s General Store to purchase an item.

When he returned to the dormitory, people were grilling meat in the yard. Chris squeezed in between Ralph and Paul.

Paul said,

“Here comes the overnight success.”

“Overnight success?”

“You skipped from the warehouse straight to the manufacturing room, bypassing the processing room. That’s overnight success.”

Chris picked up a fork and pierced a sausage.

“The overnight success ends today.”

“Why? Already fired?”

“I think I’ll be fired soon.”

“Early success is never good.”

“Is early success not good?”

“Of course. It’s counted among life’s three major challenges, along with middle-aged injury and old-age poverty.”

Ralph pointed downward and said,

“Who’s that person running over there?”

Paul said,

“Looks like Juan.”

“Why is Juan coming here? Oh, he seems very angry.”

As Juan approached, Chris stood up and stepped aside.

“Chris!”

Juan shouted thunderously.

“Give it back!”

“Give what back?”

“My treasure!”

“Ah, that. It’s not in my hands right now.”

“Where is it?”

“I buried it in the ground so that bad people wouldn’t steal it.”

“Give it back.”

Juan screamed and lunged forward. Then he grabbed Chris’s neck and twisted it. Ralph and Paul rushed over in surprise. They each grabbed one of Juan’s arms and tried to stop him.

“Juan, what’s wrong with you? Calm down!”

“Let’s talk this out!”

As if their pleas worked, Juan released Chris’s neck and staggered back.

“Yes, that’s the right choice.”

“There’s nothing in this world that can’t be resolved through conversation.”

The two were trying to lighten the mood to stop the fight, but their mouths fell open in shock. Juan hadn’t calmed down and backed off. There was a dagger lodged in his chest. The dagger Chris had purchased from Stan’s General Store.

“You… You…!”

Juan approached with the dagger still in his chest. His bloodshot eyes overflowed with malice.

“I… Curse you.”

Chris spat in his face.

“Go to hell, you idiot!”

“Aaaah!”

Juan let out a beastly cry and grabbed Chris’s neck. But there was no strength in his grip. Juan gasped for breath and then died.

The blacksmith shop employees were so shocked by the sudden murder that they couldn’t move. Their breathing could barely be heard.

Paul broke the silence.

“What are you trying to do?”

Ralph said,

“Run away.”

Chris laughed.

“Where would I run to?”

Chris had nowhere to go.

“If I had somewhere to go, I would have fled right after Jan choked me.”

At that time, he had only hoped to avoid punishment. He thought there was a good chance, estimating the probability of the knights forgiving him to be over fifty percent. But that was over now. Since he killed Juan, punishment was unavoidable.

Chris removed Juan, who was still gripping his neck even after death.

“Let’s eat.”

The blacksmith shop employees looked at him with disgusted eyes as he sat down and chewed on a sausage.

A little later, Charles arrived, perhaps having received a report. Charles looked at Chris with a hardened face, then sighed and pulled him up.

Charles dragged Chris to the warehouse, put him inside, and locked the door from outside. Chris spent the night confined in the warehouse like that.

* * *

The temperature seemed to have risen a bit, suggesting the sun had risen, but no one was coming to work. After quite some time had passed, the warehouse door finally opened.

Michael, the Vice commander of the Royal Knights, stood in front of the warehouse door clicking his tongue, then beckoned with his finger.

“Come out.”

Chris did as he was told. As he walked casually, Michael followed and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“To the VIP Hall.”

“Why the VIP Hall?”

“Since Commander Jan called for me, that’s why you came, Vice Commander.”

Then he stopped walking.

“Why did you stop? Keep going.”

“I know the roundabout way to the VIP Hall, but I don’t know the direct route.”

Michael took the lead. Chris followed behind and said,

“I’ve learned a new path.”

Michael found it strange that Chris was so happy about something so trivial, but he didn’t ask. What he was most curious about was why Chris killed Juan, but it would be impolite to ask before his superior did, so he held back.

Eventually, they arrived at the VIP Hall. Chris went ahead of him and entered the dining room. He didn’t even greet Jan, John, and Bianca who were standing in the middle of the path.

Only after sitting down in the dining room did Chris bow his head in greeting and say,

“Have you had lunch?”

Judging by the level of his hunger, he estimated it was around 1 PM.

Jan answered,

“Not yet.”

“Let’s eat together.”

“Can food go down your throat in this situation?”

The knights looked at Chris as if he were some strange creature.

“I should eat good food before being punished. This high-quality food that I might never have access to again.”

“I see.”

Bianca placed an order, and they sat waiting for the food.

“The last supper, I see.”

“If I’m lucky, I might get away with it.”

“You’d need to be incredibly lucky.”

“Have you made a decision yet?”

Jan tilted his head.

“What decision?”

“The punishment for deceiving a noble.”

“I have.”

“What’s the conclusion?”