Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: The Slaughterhouse
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‘...Damn that old man Dalken Dyna. He wasn’t just idling for 500 years. No, I should have predicted this much!’
In the past, he was just a lone wolf of an old man who only cared about his own research, but Beonald blamed himself for not anticipating that his political acumen was better than expected.
Anyway, for now, a major incident had occurred in the Dark Magic Department, and with the death of Lirikel, one of the pillars of this Dyna Kingdom’s Department Head, chaos was inevitable. To find the culprit, the ‘Tower of Truth’ would be turned upside down.
‘In that case, the only thing I can do now is run….’
When the situation is bad, the best thing is to extract yourself. In the current situation where he’d already caused an incident, it was difficult to do anything more.
However, Beonald had a thought that he shouldn’t withdraw now.
First, if he ran now, he would give Dalken Dyna too much time, and since he had already half-declared war by messing with him, there was no telling what variables might arise.
‘Therefore… I must resolve this here as much as possible. First, I need to retrieve my belongings.’
Beonald decided he should first return to the Elemental Magic Department to get the ‘Unfinished Subspace Storage Backpack’.
On the way, he took off the ridiculous Dark Magic Department robes and swiftly arrived at the Elemental Magic Department, deciding to first gather his belongings.
Fortunately, he had left them in the carriage, so he could retrieve them without being seen by Selina or others.
‘Good. Next, I need to go meet that black goat gentleman.’
Next, he needed to quickly inform them of the current situation, so he went up to the Elemental Magic Department and met Professor Gemini again.
Inside, there were plates with breadcrumbs and empty coffee cups, as if they had just finished a meal. Professor Gemini was discussing the magic tome Beonald had brought from the ‘Egg’s Nest’ with Selina.
“So this ritual is… Mehehehe. So, how did things go?”
“No, it’s a complete disaster. To summarize, Dalken Dyna is alive and likely a lich. And Dark Magic Department Head Lirikel was in league with him, and I killed him. Also, the Necromancy Department seems to be on Dalken Dyna’s side, and there’s a high probability he’s exerting influence elsewhere as well. Anyway, I’m going into hiding.”
“Mehehe? Where are you planning to go?”
“I can’t say that. In my current situation, I can’t trust anyone except Selina. Anyway, I’ll hide well, so don’t worry. Also… it seems a disturbance will occur soon, so don’t forget to prepare. Well then~!”
After concisely delivering his message, Beonald immediately left the Elemental Magic Department building.
During that time, rumors and news seemed to have spread rapidly, as the murmuring voices of people carried the names ‘Dark Magic Department Head’ and ‘Lirikel’.
Needing to evacuate to a safe place as soon as possible, Beonald had long since thought of a hiding place.
‘To hide a tree, you need a forest.’
Therefore, to hide an alchemist, there was naturally no place better than the Alchemy Department’s domain.
Only Lirikel and Dalken Dyna had guessed or recognized he was here, and since Lirikel was dead, they wouldn’t know Beonald was the culprit. If he pretended to be an alchemist appropriately, he wouldn’t be discovered.
‘The ones to watch out for are only necromancers or dark mages of a level that could recognize me. Good, let’s go right away.’
Having previously familiarized himself with the internal structure of the Tower of Truth, Beonald headed straight for the Alchemy Department domain without delay.
Located southwest of the center, he headed there thinking it would have its own unique character, as befitting that department. However, he was met with yet another new shock by the bizarre scenery.
“Hmm, what is this now?”
Entering the Alchemy Department domain, he found it divided into two distinct areas along the central main road.
As if split into two departments, one side had clean roads and alleys, with small tower-like buildings lined up, and alchemists in robes and staffs walking the streets. The opposite side was a slum-like sight with dirty alleys, shabby buildings, and piles of all sorts of waste and refuse everywhere.
‘This is strange indeed. Hmm, but to hide… that side is the place.’
Beonald promptly moved his steps toward the slum-like area.
Immediately, pungent and foul smells rose, sewage flowed in places, various trash and waste were piled up, and the humans wandering around all had hollow, listless eyes and moved sluggishly. Although he had come here to hide, Beonald was quite shocked.
‘...This isn’t a place to stay long. And what on earth do they do to make it like this? First, I need to change clothes.’
The neighborhood was so shabby that decent fashion would stand out. Beonald endured the stench and changed his clothes, and though it was disgusting, he splashed the dirty water flowing below on his hair to achieve perfect camouflage.
Then, to understand the reality of this place, he wandered around, observing things, glancing at people’s appearances, or listening to their conversations.
“Damn, why am I doing this… To fall here just because a magic experiment failed… Cough! Cough!”
“Shut up and stir the reagents properly! It’s better than becoming an experimental subject over there, isn’t it? Damn! It’s toxic!”
“Then how about downing this in one shot and dying? Cough! We don’t even need graves. Kahahaha! Corpses go straight to the Necromancy Department as experimental materials, you know.”
“There’s even talk that the souls are collected by those Dark Magic Department bastards. Damn it!”
This place was showing the fully dark side of the Tower of Truth.
He had expected what treatment those who couldn’t use magic because they didn’t receive the blessing of ‘Mana’ would receive from the moment he arrived, but it was worse than he imagined. No matter how much discrimination there was, Beonald couldn’t understand managing things in such a lawless manner.
‘...The foundation must be solid for a building to stand.’
Of course, he didn’t mean they should eliminate discrimination altogether.
That was something even Beonald could never do, as he himself was part of the ruling class of a social hierarchy composed of nobles, clergy, commoners, and slaves from the start. He naturally recognized the existence of a class system, but knowing that if the bottom collapses, one cannot enjoy power either, he was the type to at least pay that much attention.
To eliminate the poor or idle people, he launched various national projects; to prevent epidemics, he implemented all sorts of policies; and the increased national profit, excluding fixed operating costs, could be pocketed, which made him work even harder.
From Beonald’s perspective, having lived his whole life like that, no matter how much they discriminated against non-mages, general labor couldn’t be ignored, and commoners who prioritized making a living were far more efficient than slaves.
‘These guys, obsessed with truth or whatever, wouldn’t know worldly calculations and political engineering. Anyway… this place might be unexpectedly useful. No… rather, isn’t this my home ground?’
If he missed this opportunity, the name ‘Grand Alchemist’ would be disgraced.
The feeling hit him—*Pahk!*—that if he played his cards right, he wouldn’t just be hiding a tree in a forest, but he could become the king ruling this forest. Beonald first set out to find the person managing this domain.
Looking around here and there and observing people’s movements, he found that the department management building existed in the central area of the main road that divided the Alchemy Department in two.
‘Hmm, well, this is suitable for transporting reagents and various potions. Oh… the horses pulling these carts aren’t ordinary either. Seeing they have three eyes, are they failures?’
“Damn! Busy, so busy! No, why did Lord Darion suddenly increase the quota?”
“The next order is… the Necromancy Department and the Alchemy Department, so…”
“What are we supposed to do if they just throw slaves at us?”
“Move quickly! Hurry up!”
“Move the corpses fast!”
Still, perhaps proving that people existed even in this hellhole of an Alchemy Department, countless people were coming and going, busily working.
Administrative mages in robes were giving instructions to slaves or workers, applying pressure, and carts were moving everywhere transporting supplies, but things weren’t running smoothly.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Not working fast? Want another Lightning Bolt?”
“Damn! At this rate, we’ll definitely be late…”
“What about the potion work?”
‘Hmm~ Is it because these friends have no work ethic?’
The managing mages seemed to have no idea how to work efficiently; besides using violence to pressure the workers, they didn’t seem to know any proper methods.
Since they looked down on everyone except mages, there was no reason to train specialized personnel for administrative tasks, and such talent wouldn’t stay. So, in the end, mages from low-ranking factions or hierarchies had to take on that role, making inefficiency inevitable.
‘The best would be for someone who can handle both magic and administration to appear… but with the prerequisite of being able to use mana, it’s impossible. Then, shall I step forward in earnest?’
It was an opportunity to reuse the clothes of the late Dark Magic Department Head Lirikel, which he had brought when fleeing.
He put the clothes back on, dirtied them, and decided to act the part of a young dark mage who had fallen and wandered into this place.
“Huh? What, who are you? Haven’t seen you before? That look…”
“Fufufu, comrades caught in the crucible of chaos, now rest assured and dry your tears. I shall gather this chaos and establish a new order, bringing the dawn of tomorrow. And when the day comes that seeds sprout in this land, you shall sing my song…”
“…Are you dispatched from the Dark Magic Department? You guys go to the slaughterhouse over in the east. The Dark Magic Department uses the most meat and blood for demon contracts… Still, you guys can summon demons and put them to work, so it must be convenient.”
‘I knew the administration was slapdash, but I didn’t think it was this backward. Do they consider parchment too precious to use for paperwork for anyone but mages?’
Normally, they would use paper or parchment, but here they were recording on wooden boards, and there seemed to be no system of organization.
Well, they probably thought the mages here were those who had failed in their research, experiments, or promotions and were serving punishment. Everyone moved based on their departmental faction, so cooperation was low, and they just moved to secure and send supplies needed by their own department first. Thus, they couldn’t suspect Beonald at all.
‘…Well, slaves enter with brands or spells from the start, so if not them, it’s merchants. If not that either, then by process of elimination, the conclusion is a mage living in this same Tower of Truth.’
It was ad-libbed, but the disguise was successfully achieved. Also, thanks to perfectly implementing the Dark Magic Department’s uniquely difficult-to-understand and exaggerated speech, Beonald was accepted without suspicion as a mage who had rolled in from the Dark Magic Department.
And he went to the slaughterhouse, which produced the goods most in demand by the Dark Magic Department. The situation there was truly indescribable.
“…Horrifying.”
There was no proper division of labor or classification earlier; did he expect anything different here?
Dark mages and necromancers were working in a complete mess, just grabbing beast carcasses, live beasts, or dying people or corpses brought in haphazardly, each trying to secure more for their own department.
‘No attention to hygiene at all, not efficient either… *Sigh*~ Even primitive savages would be better than this.’
“If we’re short on meat… should we just kill these guys to fill it?”
“That sounds good, right? Kekeke.”
Especially, ordinary humans would at least accumulate experience through trial and error and improve something, but here, there was no time for experience to accumulate. They even slaughtered experienced slaves for immediate profit, so there was no development.
However, the more of a mess it was, the more Beonald’s improvements would shine. He relaxed his body for a moment and decided to first gather the ragtag dark mages and necromancers working here to seize control of this slaughterhouse.
‘First, it’s best to show the gap with magic, I suppose.’
A mage’s rank is ultimately determined by their ‘magic tools’. Beonald secretly took out a scroll inscribed with a spell from the ‘Unfinished Subspace Storage Backpack’, instantly tore it, raised his hand to the sky in a pose as if he had chanted it himself, and shouted the incantation.
Dread Light Saber
Crimson magic blade
“Crimson magic, lend me your power to illuminate the darkness! Dread Light Saber!”
A crimson magical blade shone brightly into the sky, momentarily parting the black clouds.
The sudden casting of intense magic and Beonald’s shout drew the attention of everyone in the slaughterhouse. His dark magic-like appearance and exaggerated pose made anyone mistake him for a dark mage.
“You who gather blood, flesh, and souls! Listen. To act like demons entrenched in hell, only to fill your own bellies! Have you abandoned your own pride to become beasts? Even if we stray momentarily from the path to reach truth, we are those who seek to advance through the blessings of wisdom and mana, and pacts with the abyss. I shall redirect your path, so follow me obediently.”
“…What’s that? Who is he?”
“But judging by the power of the magic he just used, he seems like a considerable mage… Of course, he must be from the Dark Magic faction?”
“Ooooooh! Did you see? Finally, a savior has come for us trapped in the abyss!”
“Our world has finally called for change!”
“…He seems like a gentleman who was pushed out in faction fights? His appearance is like ours, but his dignity and confident posture are extraordinary…”
The necromancers and dark mages who were working talked among themselves, guessing Beonald’s identity. Because of the high-level magic he had just displayed, they all pieced together his identity and naturally submitted to him.
Thinking it was easy, Beonald naturally took control of this slaughterhouse and began improvements in earnest.