Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Hero Candidate (2)
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I looked at Jenjen and asked,
"Have you learned any magic?"
"Well... around the 2nd Circle..."
Hearing that, I picked up a random piece of parchment from the desk Jenjen had been using.
I approached Jenjen, knelt down to meet his gaze at eye level, and held out the parchment.
"Infuse it with mana and draw a line on it."
"A line... you say?"
"Yeah, don't ask questions—just do as I say."
"Y-yes, sir."
Jenjen hesitated for a moment before channeling mana into his finger and drawing a horizontal line across the parchment.
Of course, the parchment showed no reaction whatsoever.
Looking anxious, he kept moving his finger, drawing the line longer.
His expression was almost desperate.
"Stop. That's enough."
"...Is this really the right way...?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Jenjen still looked uneasy, his eyes darting around as he muttered to himself.
"It isn't... a curse or something, is it?"
"Curious?"
"N-no..."
He hadn't said it outright, but of course, it wasn't a curse.
This was simply to leave a trace of his mana.
"No one would believe you if you went around blabbing about this. You know that yourself."
"No, I..."
He started to protest but trailed off when our eyes met, then bowed his head deeply.
"...Yes."
"And yet, I'm giving you one more chance."
"Really? Th-thank you, sir!"
"You shouldn't be so thrilled. Think it over carefully."
"..."
This time, he pondered deeply before swallowing hard.
"It means you could kill me anytime."
"There won't be a next time. Wherever you are, I'll find you and kill you."
"I swear I won't say a word."
I stood up and turned away. Jenjen called out frantically from behind me.
"Thank you for sparing me. I pledge my utmost loyalty!"
As I slipped out of the tavern, I spotted Lina waiting apart from her escorts.
"Handled it well? He's got quite the network—could've been a headache."
"No need for you to worry."
"Good, you've got to have that confidence. By the way, what's your name?"
"Cedric."
"Oh... cool name. You didn't just make it up now, did you?"
...Maybe she's not actually an idiot.
Perhaps she's just playing dumb to hide her incredible insight.
As I stared at her silently, she pouted and sidled up next to me.
I took a step back, showing my wariness.
She gestured reassuringly and spoke up abruptly.
"We're going to kill a Transcendent."
"..."
I understood her meaning instantly.
The job she wanted to entrust to me.
It was nothing less than assassinating a Transcendent.
She's insane.
At first, I'd planned to get involved for the Hero Candidate's sake.
But this was on another level.
I immediately scrapped my plans in my head.
Instead of watching over the Hero Candidate during the mission, I needed to pull her out of it.
There had to be a reason the Hero Candidate had thrown herself into this.
She'd come of her own accord without Lina summoning her, which meant she knew something.
Whatever the reason, I had to get her out.
It was a straight path to death.
"I've gathered twenty-four so far. They're all waiting on you."
"...So we start as soon as I join?"
"I'd follow your lead as much as possible... Oh, but I just found another strong contender, so I might need to consult with them too?"
The new contender must be the Hero Candidate who wielded an Aura Blade.
"Let's do that."
"Wow... you don't even ask about the Transcendent rank."
Of course not—I'm not doing it.
Contrary to my thoughts, Lina beamed with satisfaction.
The Hero Candidate and Lina.
And me.
We three sat face-to-face.
"Uh... who's this?"
"Someone to lead us alongside you."
At Lina's introduction, the Hero Candidate calmly scanned my face.
I observed her in return.
She'd changed out of her Academy uniform, but she looked about the right age.
She seemed to finish her assessment of me quickly and looked away.
No need to scrutinize for long anyway—everything was hidden.
"A mage...?"
"That's right."
At Lina's reply, her expression brightened slightly.
"He'll be a huge asset to our forces. Mages are rare. Especially a high-rank one... Oh, my name is Roselin."
"Cedric."
Roselin's eyes were resolute, as if she bore some unshakable mission.
Just from her gaze, it was clear she desperately wanted to kill that Transcendent.
Why?
To prove her strength?
I turned to Lina and asked,
"How far along is the situation?"
"Alright, I'll start with the basics. The Transcendent we're targeting is a Probe Rank one. Not human like us—he's of the fairy race. But he's a half-human hybrid."
Hybrids with humans weren't uncommon. Fairies were naturally palm-sized, but they instinctively knew polymorph magic to take human form from birth.
I knew this well because I'd met a fairy once before.
During my imperial tour.
The reason I'd cut my tour short after just a year was entirely because of that fairy.
A fairy again this time.
I seemed to have some strange bad blood with fairies.
Fairies were known for being playful, sociable, and quick-witted, but they could be summed up in one word.
Psychopaths.
"Even before becoming a Transcendent, he lived among humans, but he must've inherited only the bad traits—he was a criminal causing trouble since childhood. It's from very old records, so he's been at Probe Rank for a long time."
See? Psychopath was definitely a racial trait.
At least it wasn't Dragon Rank...
Words didn't come easily. I wasn't sure where to even start.
A Probe Rank was still a Transcendent. Long adaptation to that realm meant he was fully settled in.
What difference did it make from just charging in to die?
If there was another Transcendent among the twenty-four excluding me, it might change things, but them putting me and the Hero Candidate forward as representatives proved there wasn't.
They weren't ignorant of Transcendents either—they knew the rank system, so they had some intel.
Yet they still planned to go through with it... What was their reason?
This seemed even more reckless than Parovian Eldis heading to the battlefield under orders, accepting death.
"If you were just waiting on me, do you have a plan ready at least?"
Lina gave an awkward smile.
"That was just talk... We're still tracking his movements. Actually, twenty-four... no, twenty-five now with you. That's nowhere near enough, so we're gathering more. Focusing on traces in the meantime."
So, still in the preparation phase.
Despite the daunting feeling, I was relieved we had some time.
I had to pull the Hero Candidate out somehow during that.
To do that, I needed more information.
"How many more people are you planning to recruit?"
"You think the numbers are low too? We originally planned way more than this."
I nodded and said,
"What traces have you found so far?"
"That bastard... oh, sorry. The Probe Rank Transcendent's name is Partan. Partan never outgrew his childhood habits—causing chaos everywhere. That's why his trail is pretty clear. Last sighted near a coastal city in the west. At first, we thought he might've sailed out to sea, but a Transcendent has no reason to do that. We're focusing investigations there now."
Causing disturbances everywhere meant he wasn't one to honor the covenant.
Forces of Evil? Could be the Evil Lord's direct subordinate or just a follower.
Even Transcendents could serve a greater master.
Destroying the northern forces didn't mean the Forces of Evil were eradicated—I'd realized that talking with Joart.
We lumped them all under "Forces of Evil."
Philip Deran's diary called them the Moonshadow Conclave—the evil forces stirring in the north under the son's lead.
But the Moonshadow Conclave wasn't all of the Forces of Evil.
Above them was the being called "That One," and Moonshadow was just one branch among many.
No—perhaps even "That One" was just a larger branch.
Either way, it raised the difficulty inevitably. Messing with Partan meant tangling with whatever backed him.
What if he's not with the Forces of Evil?
Then he was just someone living wildly, unable to control his instincts.
I had to consider that possibility too.
That might actually be better—he'd crumble easily on his own.
He clearly had no intention of keeping the covenant, so he'd be at odds with Joart's group too. They wouldn't just ignore open violations.
"Bring all the traces you've gathered so far."
"That was the plan."
"Then let's talk compensation."
"Perfect. Been waiting for you to say that. You're in for real? What do you want?"
I'd never planned to take this job to the end.
Still, I brought up compensation for a reason.
"What rewards did the others get?"
I glanced at the Hero Candidate as I asked.
Lina smiled evasively.
"Hard to say. Just tell me what you want."
At that moment, the quietly listening Roselin spoke up.
"Mr. Cedric isn't joining for the reward, is he?"
What did she mean?
"...Problem?"
"No. Quite the opposite—I like that it shows confidence in your abilities."
"So you're not getting paid separately."
"I lost both my parents to that Transcendent, Partan. I have to kill him with my own hands."
"..."
Damn.
I'd brought up rewards to figure out why the Hero Candidate jumped into this recklessness.
But I hadn't expected this answer.
I'd planned to pull her out... but now there was a glaring reason I couldn't.
Lina added with an awkward laugh,
"Truth is, most of the people we've gathered were wronged by that guy. Me included."
...So that's it.
I hadn't understood why they'd undertake something so reckless—it wasn't mere folly, but grudge.
This was a headache.
"So, what do you want?"
"Magic tomes for all attributes, 6th and 7th Circles. At least one each."
"..."
Lina's generous smile froze instantly.
That level of reward would require substantial resources to nod off lightly.
But it was fitting for assassinating a Transcendent. Plus, all attributes made the intent hard to read.
...Not that I expected to actually get them.
"Official editions?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Hmm... then it's doable."
I took the materials on Partan and decided to withdraw for now.
We still had time. Lina planned to recruit more.
Normally, I'd look for ways to buy even more time.
But stalling alone wouldn't cut it now. The situation had gotten far more complicated.
"We meet again in ten days. Be there."
"Got it."
After booking a room at a nearby inn and settling in, I sat on the bed, lost in thought for a while.
Let me sort out my remaining options.
First: Confirm if the Hero Candidate is the real deal.
To verify, make her wield the sword.
But I couldn't retrieve the sword from that grave.
Nor could I pull her into my consciousness.
Ultimately, I'd have to forge the Hero's Sword myself, but at my current level, that was impossible.
Even if she proved to be the real Hero, I doubted I could stop her from pursuing the Transcendent.
Rejected.
Second: Kill the Transcendent as requested.
This should be rejected first, but surprisingly, it lingered in my mind longest.
Of course, not with Lina's group.
Ask Anonymous (1)?
With his power, it was possible. Maybe this dilemma could be resolved right now.
But the issue was justification. A solid reason.
If motiveless killings repeated... If I started arbitrarily killing Transcendents using his power, and Anonymous (1) later sensed something off, it could lead to irreversible fallout.
So, one thing was decided.
Investigate what kind of Transcendent he was.
If he deserved death, was a Follower of Evil, or if I could slap on a plausible pretext under the "0" mask.
Everything hinged on that.
I needed to research this Transcendent named Partan.
The west coast connects to the Barkus Ocean too...