Chapter 165: " The Raven"

Based on their reactions, my notion is ridiculous and scary. They said she is a literal monster, not just in a sense, but the literal meaning. There is not a single thing you can describe her aside from the Raven and a monster which means she is pretty strong for her to be described like that. And she made a bigger name for herself after she managed to gather some intel on the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder. Since most of the magicians deployed did not even get the chance to live up to the mission even though most of the deployed magicians are elite ones, they all fell victim to the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder.

Only "The Raven" managed to escape its grip and live to tell the info she knows. Of course, she didn't say much on how to stop the disease. She only said to leave "it" alone. Although her words are cryptic about it, she keeps on stopping further magicians from getting involved in it because it is not on the league of someone to tackle it. The only thing that can be done with it is to avoid it or wait for someone who can handle the sickness.

Still, these people's shock seems strange enough for me. Is she that scary?

"A-are you sure she is the one you are looking for?!" the receptionist stuttered as she looked at me with a face saying, "Are you out of your mind?" or something on that line.

"Yes. If possible, I want to meet her today."

Not only the receptionist paused, she shook a little bit when she heard what I just said. However, she quickly recomposes herself and smiled.

"I will try to contact "The Raven" and check if her schedule is fine, please wait a minute," she smiled and bowed.

After that, she left her post and went upstairs using the elevator near the counter. Without the receptionist, I took a seat on one of the vacant chairs and waited for her return. The people staring at me ticked me off a little bit. Not only does it feel annoying but they seemed to pierce me with those gazes of theirs.

"You seemed to be getting popular, kiddo," Blue said to me.

"Oh, shut up. That is not the gaze of someone trying to idolize a person. That is a gaze of disdain and judgemental opinions!"

"Still, it means you are garnering attention to other people!"

"If this is the attention I will be getting, I will gladly decline on it. That is not a good thing even for me."

"Still, those reactions from other people were strange as soon as they heard the nickname, "The Raven." Maybe she has a low reputation despite being the leader and founder of the Mercenary Magician Guild in Akihabara?"

"I think that's not it. She might be a symbol of fear since she is described as a "Monster" by many magicians. Maybe that is the reason why these guys are afraid of her and mentioning just her nickname might invoke the wrath of "The Raven".

"Huh... For once, you seemed to be thinking much more logically."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing~"

It took the receptionist to return to the counter. When she returned, I saw her so wet from her sweat like she just took a bath. Seeing her in that state made me frown. Just what did she experience to go from a presentable state to a wet state?

"Ha... um... she said she is available right now and...if you wanted to talk to her...ha... you can take the elevator and... go to the top floor..."

After that, she went to her chair previously and sat there in a daze. Her subordinates looked at her for a bit before they turned back to their work as nothing happened. I wanted to ask her but seeing the reaction of the others, I decided to just not ask instead. Whatever she has experienced there, I hope I won't experience it either.

While entering the elevator, I can feel the gazes of everyone behind my back. However, whatever things that will happen upstairs, I can only endure. Besides, if they knew something, they should have told me.

...

Around 30 seconds later, I arrived on the top floor. Now that I think about it, whenever they are higher-ups or important people, their offices would be always at the top of the floors. Is there any particular reason why?

"You have some random thoughts Kazuma. I don't really know why you always think random things like you are speaking to someone."

"Shut up, I am not even saying anything and here you are, saying things like this and that."

"Oh well, I never cared less about what you are doing but maybe you should lessen the talk all by yourself? I might think that you are going mad already. Anyways, here we are. "The Raven" is currently on the other side of this door," Blue said as I stop in front of the big doorway.

"This is a big door, why is it so big?"

"You can go in and see for yourself."

Blue didn't say anything about what is on the other side so I have no choice but to push the door open.

CREAK...

As I push the door open, I saw a woman sitting on a chair, in front of her is a table full of papers and books. She is currently writing something so I can't see her face a bit. However, I can tell that she is around the age of 25 above. Her short black hair which is around the length only on her neck catches my eye. It might be the usual black hair but it exudes a little bit of bluish to me which looks similar to how the mana flows in the air. My only question is that, how can she still write using a pen? She isn't using braille so I am wondering how.

"You must be the visitor that the receptionist earlier told me who wanted to schedule a meeting with me."

Just by her voice, I can immediately feel the pressure she is exuding out. But to me who already experienced severe pressure before, this amount of weight being forced on me is nothing for me.

"Yes, I am the one who did requestto meet with you. My name is Kazuma, one of the magicians sent by the Magicians Society to investigate and put to a stop the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder."

As soon as she heard the name of the sickness, she stopped writing and raised her head to face me. Just like what Blue said to me, she is indeed blind.Her eyes are all pure white, it wasn't a normal eye feature and some blind people manifest the white pupils after it was damaged on sickness or accident. Aside from that, her face is quite pretty though there are scars present that somehow add more charm to her face. Still, I must say that she is one hot mature woman and she is not that old yet. But why the other people are afraid of her though?

"I see. So that sickness has once again resurfaced. But you should have known now the sickness is a curse itself that will keep on eating on you once you started searching for it. Why did you accept it?"

"Because I needed to do so, to save someone," I said firmly without shaking and getting nervous. If I don't do this job, I might not have a chance to get the medicine for Anya to wake up. If these jobs will help to have a chance to obtain that single medicine, then I would take as many of this as possible.

"To save someone, huh..." she smiled as she muttered those words.

Then, the pressure in the air starts to get heavier all of a sudden. But just like what I said earlier, this is nothing to me compared to the pressures I experienced the past few months.

"Ho~ a person who can withstand my intimidation ability. That is quite rare for someone to possess."

"You can see what is happening even though you can't see?"

"I am a magician. I have a variety of abilities and opening the third eye to see things through is easy for me. You don't have to be surprised about it. Now tell me why you wanted to meet with me so badly that you wanted to schedule our meet up already. Is this about the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder?"

"Yes. I have heard that "The Raven" is the one who managed to survive and tell the tale of the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder for the first time."

"So that thing is still going on in the Magician Society eh? I never expected them to remember that since it has been a long time ago since that happened."

"I researched on my own about your circumstances about your escape on the Crazed Phenomenon Disorder's grasp. If everything about it is true, then perhaps you know some sort of spell or whatever ritual to stop reduce its effects?"

"The Raven" looked at me with a serious eye and smiled. "If you are someone who wanted to get the effects of the sickness reduced, then first prove you are worthy enough."