novelbin Chapter 158 : Chapter 158
Chapter 158 : Chapter 158
Chapter 158. Theological Research
A cool, indifferent voice came from the doorway, interrupting the touching atmosphere.
Lucia whipped around and saw the man in the black trench coat and sunglasses leaning against the doorframe, carrying a bag of apples in one hand like some neighborly old uncle dropping by for a visit.
“M-Mr. Leon?” Lucia froze for a moment, then hurriedly tried to stand, only for her legs to give out and nearly send her to her knees.
Logaris did not help her. He merely stuffed the bag of apples into the arms of a drooling child nearby, then reached up and removed his sunglasses.
“Let me introduce myself properly,” he said in the same calm tone. “My name is Logaris West, Professor of Magitech at Saint Arcadia Academy, a Fifth-Tier Mage, and currently the Chief Advisor of the Northern Territory.”
Lucia went completely still.
“Lo-Logaris? That Logaris?”
Her voice cracked. The expression on her face shifted from shock to disbelief, then finally into something close to fervent excitement.
“You are the Logaris who proposed in On the Unified Field Theory of Mana that ‘all supernatural powers are fundamentally the same’?”
“If there isn’t another mage in this world with the same name, then yes, that would be me.” Logaris shrugged.
Lucia drew in a deep breath, then another. She stood there trembling as if she had just been struck by lightning.
“M-my thesis was an extension of your theory! It was your research that made me realize that Holy Light and mana are not fundamentally different at all! It was you...”
“I know,” Logaris cut in, a trace of complexity in his tone. “That’s why I came to find you.”
He paused, those pale blue eyes resting calmly on Lucia.
“Your thesis is highly original. It is a little rough, but the core idea is correct.”
Lucia’s eyes turned red at once.
That thesis—the one that had gotten her branded a heretic, had her legs broken, and had her exiled here... the thesis that had cost her everything... had actually been acknowledged by the scholar she admired most.
“But... but the Holy Church said I was a heretic...”
“The Holy Church would call it heresy if you said the earth was round. They would call it heresy if you said the sun rises in the east.” Logaris let out a cold laugh. “Their standard has never been right or wrong. It is threat. Your theory threatened their monopoly over divine authority, so you became a heretic. That’s all.”
He took a letter from inside his coat. It bore the wax seal symbolizing the highest authority in the Northern Territory.
“Winter City is in the process of founding a Magitech Academy. I happen to be lacking someone to head the theological research branch. The funding is unlimited, room and board are included, and you will even get your own private laboratory with floor heating.”
Logaris held the letter out to her.
“There is nothing wrong with your field of research. What is wrong is the prejudice of this age. But in the Northern Territory, no one will be nailed to a stake for challenging the old order. Are you coming or not?”
Lucia gripped the letter so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
She looked at the wounded people all around her, groaning in pain, then lowered her gaze to the heavy recommendation letter in her hands. If divine healing devices could be mass-produced, if healing arts were no longer the exclusive privilege of the lofty clergy...
“I’ll go.”
Lucia lifted her head. In those eyes that had once held a trace of timidity, a flame suddenly blazed to life.
“But I have to finish saving these people first.”
“As you like.” Logaris waved a hand and turned to leave. “Just don’t work yourself to death. Oh, and pack your things. A carriage will come pick you up tomorrow.”
When he reached the doorway, he seemed to remember something and stopped.
“Where is that man called Reynard? Where did he go?”
Lucia blinked, then shook her head. “He left yesterday after leaving behind a note.”
“He left?” Logaris raised a brow.
“Yes. He said he found a lead in that ledger, something connected to the upstream source of Siren’s Dream. It seemed to point to some island in the east. He said... time waits for no one.”
“Swift and decisive as ever.”
Logaris shrugged.
...
Just as he stepped out of the church, a faint mechanical buzzing drifted down from overhead.
Logaris raised a hand.
A mechanical carrier pigeon made entirely of brass, its joints etched with delicate glowing magic patterns, landed precisely in his gloved palm.
That craftsmanship, and that solid gold beak reeking of nouveau riche excess, made it obvious at a glance that it was the work of the Golden Griffon Merchant Guild.
“This bird is heavier than a real one,” Logaris muttered. With practiced ease, he pulled a tiny metal tube out of the pigeon’s belly.
He unrolled the slip of parchment inside, and a familiar handwriting came into view.
[Old classmate, nicely done! I’ve long been sick of looking at that old Tarassa bastard!]
[By the way, Whiteport’s harbor belongs to your side now, doesn’t it? Perfect. Shall we talk about some “deep cooperation”? Also, as a gift to congratulate you on taking office, I’ve already had ten ships of grain and steel sent to Whiteport. This one’s on me! —Your most loyal old classmate, Phoenix.]
“Crooked merchant.”
Logaris crumpled the note into a ball, though the corners of his mouth still curved upward. “He’s seen that Whiteport is about to take off and came early to stake out a position. Ten shiploads of supplies in exchange for an exclusive operating right. I could hear that abacus rattling all the way from Winter City.”
Still, only a fool would refuse a mutually beneficial deal like that.
...
At noon.
There were no flowers, no red carpet, and no common folk weeping as they saw them off.
Logaris and Sylvia changed into inconspicuous adventurer’s clothes, mounted two swift horses they had quietly borrowed from the camp, and slipped out through Whiteport’s western gate without a sound.
The city was still in an uproar. Firecrackers were being set off everywhere in celebration of the tyrant’s downfall. If they showed themselves now, the enthusiastic crowd would probably trap them there until tomorrow morning.
“Finally out.”
After riding several kilometers and watching the city’s outline gradually shrink behind them, Sylvia removed her hat and let the sea wind scatter her silver hair.
“I thought you would enjoy the feeling of being cheered by the masses a little more,” Logaris said, riding beside her with a foxtail grass stem between his teeth from who knew where.
“Forget it.” Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Being surrounded by tens of thousands of people shouting long live is nothing but awkward and noisy. If I have that kind of time, I would rather go back and practice my sword a few more times.”
The two rode side by side along the desolate official road, with nothing but the steady clatter of hooves filling the air.
After a moment of silence, Sylvia suddenly spoke, her tone a little strange.
“By the way, about the West family...”
Logaris’s body stiffened slightly, though he recovered almost at once. “What is it, my Lord Governor? Have you started investigating family registries now?”
“Drop the sarcasm.”
Sylvia did not look at him. Her eyes remained fixed on the far horizon. “You know how efficient the Shadow Guard is. Since you made such a commotion in Whiteport and claimed it was for family revenge, of course I had to send people to dig through the old records.”
She paused, and her voice lowered.
“I found Baron Galahad West—your uncle. And... your mother who ran away from home, Elvira.”
Logaris said nothing. He merely spat out the grass stem from his mouth.
“The intelligence report says that twenty-two years ago, Elvira eloped with an ‘unidentified outsider.’ That man’s identity... seems to be completely blank.”
The words Sylvia had almost spoken were ultimately swallowed back down. Her silver-gray eyes flickered once.
“Forget it. I have no interest in digging too deeply into old debts from the previous generation.” Her tone shifted as she reined in her horse, and the animal came to an uneasy halt, pawing at the ground with its forelegs.
She lifted her riding crop and pointed toward the bleak-looking fork in the road ahead.
“But since we’re already this close, aren’t you going to take me there and let me see the place?”