Chapter 132

"Sir Knight, I'm warning you again, he's really not a pleasant fellow to meet."

"It's fine. I'll handle it."

"Miss, I truly tell you again, he's not a pleasant person to meet! He's extremely rude!"

"I-I'll be fine."

At their consistent responses, Max made an expression that suggested he was truly at his wit's end.

Whatever was happening at the ducal family, if they were looking for someone like this, it must be no small matter.

Max guided the two to a cheap, shabby inn.

"This is an inn where the mercenary band frequently stays. Though it looks like this on the outside, the owner is quick, and the inside is clean. Moreover, the price is cheap, making it optimal for group guests like us."

The two followed Max through a narrow, crowded dining area and up to the upper floor.

The floor creaked, and on the mud-built walls were doors with brass doorknobs that had been so repeatedly touched they'd worn bright.

At the innermost, isolated room, Max again repeatedly requested to the two.

"Are you sure? He's really not someone I should be showing to a knight and a lady like yourselves."

"It doesn't matter. Could you announce us?"

With an expression that clearly said 'this doesn't seem right at all,' Max eventually knocked on the door.

"Werner! If you have time, come out for a moment. You have visitors!"

No answer came back.

Leandros sensed the presence of a living person beyond the door, but almost no sound was heard.

Max exhaled deeply.

"Since he's not cursing, it seems he's in a good mood today. It should be fine to go in, but really, I'm not sure if I should show such a disgrace of the mercenary band to a knight and a lady."

"W-we said it's f-fine."

"If anything happens, please come out immediately. If he was rude, please let me know. I'll make sure to beat him up!"

Amelia gave a gentle smile, and Leandros pushed the doorknob without hesitation.

And the two were left speechless.

After a while, Amelia finally sputtered.

"It l-looks like ten r-robbers broke in..."

The room was like after a storm had swept through.

The bed sheets were stained with unknown substances, and the blanket was nowhere to be seen.

Some unidentifiable piece of meat hung from the ceiling, giving off the smell of rotten eggs,

And the floor was messily covered with dried-up herbs and unknown black powder.

Moreover, as if there had been an explosion, the walls were covered with black soot.

In short, it was an environment dirtier than a sewer rat.

While the two were staring blankly at the room, a rustling sound came from one side.

It was coming from the wall behind the door.

"Oh geez, what the... I'm pretty sure I've told you until my tongue wore out to knock when you come. Don't you have ears? Hm? Should I get rid of them for you now?"

As a yellowish blanket slid down, there was a man sitting against the wall.

His dark green hair, which reached his shoulders, was disheveled from not being combed in a long time,

And his cracked glasses were askew on his ears.

What stood out was a dirty white apron that seemed too filthy for a physician,

Wrinkled pants, and hands stained with soot that hadn't been washed.

The man called Werner yawned widely, smacked his lips, turned his head, and immediately frowned upon seeing the strangers.

"Who're you?"

"...Before that, let me ask. Are you truly the physician belonging to the mercenary band?"

"I am. But why are you so rudely not introducing yourself?"

"Y-you ill-mannered bastard! Do you know who this person is to speak with such obscene words!"

From behind Leandros, Max was enraged.

Jonas was silently pulling at his father, trying to calm him down.

The physician, who showed not a trace of politeness, sluggishly stood up and stretched wide.

"Well, does it make sense that only I don't know the name? I asked something obvious, so why the fuss?"

"I'm Leandros. This is Amelia. We belong to the Hartmann ducal family."

"Ducal family?"

The man, who had been pushing up his glasses and rubbing his eyes, thought for a moment and then let out an "Oh" of admiration.

"That duke who was annihilated but then was successfully resurrected thanks to His Highness the Crown Prince's mercy? Wow, they do say the rich can eat for three generations even after going bankrupt, and it seems true."

"This ill-mannered bastard!"

"Oh my, so noisy. My eardrums might fall off."

The man slammed the door right in the face of Max, who was jumping up and down in rage.

With only the three of them left in the room, he casually sat in a chair and began to polish his glasses with his dirty clothes.

"So, why have the subordinates of a noble lord come looking for me? Just so you know, I'm tired from not sleeping. Let's just state our business and part ways."

"W-we've heard that y-you don't even b-blink at most things."

"That's correct. Can't be a coward while doing physician's work. But did you come to ask about that?"

"W-we want to r-request a job. We were r-recommended by M-Max..."

"I refuse."

"W-what?"

Amelia looked at the man who was sitting crookedly.

He rejected them right away without even properly listening, less than a second after she began speaking?

"If y-you could at least t-tell us the reason."

"First, I dislike nobles. Second, I'm busy treating the mercenary band members and doing my research. Lastly, I don't like you two who barged in so suddenly. That's all. No more questions? Go, shoo."

"W-we can give you w-whatever compensation y-you want."

"I don't need such things. How annoying. Worse than summer flies."

Amelia felt dizzy.

She had never seen such a rude person in her life.

Rather than having her life threatened, how could someone be so blatantly offensive?

As Amelia fell silent in bewilderment, Leandros chimed in.

"You seem to have a great interest in wounds and the human body."

"Isn't that natural for a physician? Ah, of course, other physicians don't do this sort of thing."

The man pointed to the meat hanging from the ceiling.

There were about five or six pieces of meat, each decomposing separately.

"Things like how many days it's been since death, what kinds of insects and worms gather, that sort of thing. These days, most think just checking the pulse and pronouncing death is enough. If someone's head isn't empty, they should understand some forensic thinking."

"Indeed, you seem to have a deep interest in what we're about to request."

"Interest? Can you guarantee that?"

"Listening doesn't cost anything. I think it won't be a loss."

The physician's sharp eyes and Leandros's indifferent gaze confronted each other tensely.

After a brief moment, the physician arrogantly lifted his chin.

"Go ahead."

"Recently, His Grace the Duke was injured. It was such a severe injury that we weren't even sure if he could properly recover, and there was no proper physician around."

"And then?"

"So we... froze him using an artifact."

"What?"

The reaction was immediate.

The physician leaned forward from his backrest, immediately showing interest.

"How did you do that? Can an artifact be used for such a purpose? More importantly, was there a reason for such a choice?"

"He was bleeding heavily and losing consciousness. Literally, because he was on the verge of crossing death's threshold, we had no other choice."

"That would be different from a general state of suspended animation. Patients in a state of suspended animation or coma usually have their autonomic nervous system functioning normally. But freezing... Does his heart not even beat?"

"It seems so."

"This is the first time I've encountered such a case. Interesting."

Amelia suppressed the urge to hit the man.

This wasn't an interesting situation for Amelia and Leandros at all.

While Amelia took small deep breaths to calm her anger, Leandros continued his explanation impassively.

"The frozen state can be released at any time. But the moment the thawing process begins. In other words, from when his heart starts beating again, the wounds need to be treated swiftly."

"That's not particularly concerning, but why did you come looking for me?"

"Everyone thought His Grace was a corpse."

"You showed him to others? You don't seem to be in your right mind either."

The man truly sounded like he was dying of amusement.

He jumped up and extended his hand.

"Let's formally introduce ourselves. My name is Werner. Let's go see His Grace immediately. Time is golden!"

After grabbing Leandros's hand and shaking it vigorously, he crammed dusty bottles, bundles of herbs, and bandages haphazardly into his grimy bag.

As Werner was about to leave while humming, Amelia stepped in front of him.

"What? Move aside, didn't you hear me say time is golden? Let me see this precious Duke."

"B-before that."

Amelia took a deep breath and shouted loudly.

"Wash your filthy body right now!"

"What?"

"Y-you're dirty! Filthy! You s-smell! It's u-unthinkable to see a p-patient in such a h-horrible state!"

Good heavens.

Werner, stunned by this unexpected criticism, gaped as he glared at Amelia who was blocking his way.

Leandros almost let out a 'heh' of laughter.

* * *

Naturally, there were no facilities like elevators or escalators in the tower.

So he had to use the stairs, much against his wishes.

Behind him, the snowman followed with light, floating steps, while he was becoming increasingly exhausted climbing the endless stairs.

"Where in this tower is the grimoire?"

"This tower is about 175 floors. I'd guess it's around the 96th floor."

"This is insane... Even the Signiel Hotel's top floor is only the 101st."

"Signiel? What's that? You're speaking words only you know, worshipper."

"Seeing you say that with Leandros's face just makes my insides churn even more."

Why did he feel that climbing Barad-dûr from The Lord of the Rings would be easier than climbing this?

What's more, there were no signs indicating which floor it was, so he had to rely entirely on the snowman's guidance.

He had lost count around the 57th floor.

Fortunately, the physical burden in Dreamland was much less.

If this had been reality, he would have been hanging onto the railing with sweat-soaked, trembling legs around the 30th floor.

When the clouds visible through the windows densely pierced into the walls were suddenly level with his shoulder,

The snowman following behind muttered.

"We seem to be nearly there. Worshipper, climb just three more floors and enter inside."

Finally!

After climbing three more floors as the snowman instructed, a space different from what he had seen so far appeared.

Most of the other floors had been wide open, filled with altars decorated with flowers and ivory, and furniture of unknown purpose.

But this floor had about half of the round floor blocked by walls.

The wall was also made of ivory, and in the middle was a bronze door just big enough for one person to pass through.

It was clearly extraordinary at first glance.

As he pushed open the door, crossing the silent hall, it opened smoothly without even a creaking sound.

The room was small and round.

Light sources burning red without fuel on the walls made it as bright as day.

A large reading stand in the center of the room.

And a book with a red cover placed on it.

All this structure was familiar to his eyes.

"This is..."

The secret room in the Duchess's study.

The book on the reading stand, this structure, everything was similar.

He approached as if entranced and placed his hand on the red book.

There was no marking on the red cover decorated with gold.

But he could tell that this book and the one the Duchess had in the real world were the same.

He didn't know why he felt that way.

He just had that certainty.

"Is this the Pnakotic?"

"They say there are various copies of the grimoire in the real world. Grimoires recompiled in human language are called 'Pnakotic copies.' But as far as I know, there are no Pnakotic copies on this planet. So this is the original of all copies, and essentially the only grimoire on this planet."

"Wait, does it need to be translated into human language? Then isn't it useless to me?"

It wasn't as if he knew any alien language.

While he was examining the book in various ways, the snowman circled around the room and stood opposite him with the reading stand between them.

"Do you think a mere human and a worshipper blessed by the great me are the same? You're underestimating me, worshipper."

"But."

"Worshipper, worship me with a reverent heart. The Lord of the Extreme Realm, the infinitely burning cold flame, bestows a blessing upon his only worshipper right here, right now."

A hand approached his face.

Beyond the hand that gripped his face, white eyes were smiling.

Simultaneously, the red book opened by itself and its pages began to turn roughly.

Unknown languages from the snowman's mouth, clear melodies that couldn't be heard, penetrated his mind.

Characters he had never seen before surged into the air, writhing violently like living organisms.

The room slowly tilted, but his feet neither slipped nor fell from the floor.

The wildly swirling letters imprinted themselves white in his eyes.

At that moment, the world completely flipped over,

And a new horizon opened, not the universe he had known.

Everything that a human mind couldn't perceive.

The flow of blood in his body,

The heart and organs still pulsating alive even at this moment,

The muscles, mucous membranes, and each individual cell that composed them,

The atoms that made up the cells and something even smaller moving within the atoms, all could be sensed.

At the same time, an even more distant universe witnessed him.

Beyond this planet, things sleeping in places far beyond human imagination, beyond celestial bodies.

As if forcibly opening closed eyes, the sensations these languages gave came crashing in.

His entire body overloaded, and his whole body creaked.

Complete overclock.

His brain tissue burned, his brain melted and flowed.

This was the end of humans who explored the unknown.

The conclusion reached by wizards who tried to understand an incomprehensible world.

His completely overwhelmed body began to melt.

The snowman looked at him and smiled brightly.