The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 79
“In the West, it’s easy to lose your sight because of the sandstorms.”
Aseph shifted his gaze away from the prosthetic eye and thought of Bea again. Bea also had a part of her body that had been affected, necessitating an artificial tool.
“…Do the ears get damaged by the wind too?”
“Ears? Ears don’t easily get harmed, but… Ah.”
The alchemist’s eyes sparkled.
“So, the talk about Zephyr being alive is true. Honestly, I had my doubts… Yes, Zephyr has a disability. It’s common in the West. Congenital disabilities are common, and so are acquired ones.”
“Was it a congenital disability?”
“Well…”
The alchemist shrugged.
“She had it ever since I first saw her. So, I thought it might be congenital, considering her young age. Even if it wasn’t, there are many who hate alchemists enough to harm them. There’s no shortage of people who would.”
Aseph remembered the incident in the mine. Despite being people who had lost their families and their sanity, people easily hated and threw stones at alchemists. It was due to the perception created by Myron Devesis and the alchemists under his leadership. They had antagonized the alchemists on a grand scale.
One could say it was karma, but through Bea, Aseph came to understand what kind of people alchemists were.
Perhaps the general perception was exaggerated.
And he had the same thought while listening to the alchemist in front of him now.
“It will be different here.”
It would be different in Vilkanos. Maybe, just maybe, only Vilkanos, entwined in a different way with that past war, could make a difference. For Bea’s sake, it was a problem that could be gradually resolved.
“…You can be treated better here. You have the right to.”
“Treatment? Who would offer such treatment? The nobility?”
Despite the somewhat flattering words, the alchemist showed a cynical attitude.
“I didn’t come here trusting in the words of nobles or the rewards you offer. I came wanting to know about Zephyr’s whereabouts.”
“……”
“Honor, huh. You nobles might not understand, but in fact, we don’t have such grand desires. It’s hard enough just to survive. Have you heard of the hierarchy of needs?”
A person needs to satisfy physiological and safety needs before desiring more. For the alchemist, securing food to eat and a safe place to sleep was the priority. The West was still an extremely harsh environment. If they were hiding there, it was natural to be overwhelmed by just meeting survival needs.
Continuing, the alchemist shrugged.
“Well, we did once aspire for more. But that’s all in the past. When we thought Zephyr was dead, we believed all hope was lost.”
Finishing his words, the alchemist narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth slightly.
Aseph recognized that expression. Unexpectedly, he felt a sense of kinship in such a place.
While the alchemist was formally polite, he hid a cold, settled anger beneath the surface. Just as Aseph Vilkanos had once been sunk in a swamp of emotion, barely recovering before heading to Frieblenda.
Their anger was undoubtedly directed at the nobility. Vilkanos might not be a house of mages, but in their eyes, it seemed all the same.
However, there was no need for further conflict here.
“Still, knowing that hope is still alive, we can’t just stand by. We can’t leave that poor child to be exploited by that man again.”
“Wait a moment.”
Aseph, who had been listening attentively, had no choice but to interrupt the alchemist’s words.
“Are you saying Zephyr is the alchemists’ hope, not Myron Devesis?”
“Yes.”
The alchemist spoke as if it were obvious.
“It might sound like an excuse now, but we never followed him because we liked him. We were enduring it, trying somehow to take Zephyr away from him.”
“…And you had a reason to think that?”
“Didn’t you see it yourself? Zephyr is a genius. She’s not someone to rot away conducting insane research for such a madman.”
At that point, Aseph locked eyes with Ruslan, who had investigated Zephyr.
They likely shared the same thoughts. Perhaps they had subconsciously suspected it from the moment Zephyr arrived at the mansion.
The period when Myron Devesis gained notoriety coincided with when he took Zephyr under his wing.
There were alchemists before he began to spread his influence. But alchemists were originally insignificant people who dug under the ground for money. Their leap to a level threatening even the well-armed and wealthy mages was solely thanks to one genius.
The world knew that genius as Myron Devesis.
Had he been a more humane figure, the world today might have been much different, to the point where his disappearance as a villain was a relief to the mages.
But what if that talent never belonged to Myron Devesis in the first place?
“If there were no disabilities on Zephyr and it wasn’t for that brainwashing brace attached to her, this would have ended much sooner.”
“…Brace?”
“The cuff she wears on her ear. It’s too close to the brain, so it’s too dangerous for others to remove, and if damaged, the child can’t even stand properly. And if it is removed, it inevitably alerts Myron Devesis. It’s impossible for us to touch it.”
“Ah…!”
Aseph sighed involuntarily and covered his face with his hands.
“Oh, what have I done…”
It was that day when Bea became strange.
The day he happily said it had been fully repaired.
Aseph himself had handed over that device to her.
It was the same day that he had handed over the unsuspecting device that he thought she cherished, while also begging earnestly for her to heal Homun.
It was on that day.
