Chapter 83: Prince Maker (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 83: Prince Maker (8)
Two days later, Bell’s father—the man who had essentially abandoned his own daughter—finally returned.
“Did you lose, Dad?”
He looked even more like a heap of rags than before.
“Those cowards... I can’t believe they’d gang up on me like that.”
“You were raiding their village. Did you expect them to just stand there and watch?”
At his daughter’s incredulous expression, the Wolfkin Chieftain, who had just been utterly wrecked by the Canine Tribe, shouted back, “I didn’t lose the one-on-one!”
“Anyone listening would think you actually won the duel.”
Arang, the Chieftain of the Canine Tribe, let out a deep sigh as he watched Bell’s father.
“You only wanted a duel because you were too scared to fight us all at once!”
“I really shouldn’t even bother talking to you...”
The Wolfkin who had gone off to 'raid' had been, quite literally, dog-handled by the Canine Tribe.
Of course, they had been running in circles on their journey to find Bell. After facing various incidents along the way and exhausting themselves by taking down a wild Dark Mage just before arriving, they had charged into the village with inferior numbers. It was a battle they were destined to lose.
The problem was...
“You could have just said you wanted to reward your benefactor.”
He was right.
They weren't complete strangers; as fellow canine beastkin, they were practically cousins. Besides, it wasn't as if the Canine Tribe didn't know who I was. They knew me well, so what reason was there to raid them?
“I wanted to repay my benefactor!”
“Then you should have just said so—”
“But! If I borrow something, it isn't mine! Repaying him with someone else’s property isn't a true reward!”
“So you decided to pillage instead?!”
“If I pillage it, it becomes mine!”
“You’re the reason people think beastkin are idiots, you bastard!”
“That’s what it means to be a beastkin! You lot are the ones who changed because you hang around humans too much!”
The canine beastkin growled at each other, but both had a point.
Beastkin were originally a race brimming with wild nature. Even considering that, however, Bell’s father was single-handedly tanking the reputation of his entire species.
So, if you had to pick who the bigger problem was...
“Dad, are you an idiot?”
“Daughter?”
Naturally, the fault lay with Bell’s father, who had just been disowned by his own child.
“How can you not understand your father’s heart?!”
“I might have understood if you won, but you lost!”
“So it would’ve been fine if I won...?”
Arang sighed as he watched Bell refuse to listen to a loser’s excuses and Bell’s father howl in despair.
“I’m sorry. Most Wolfkin are... like this.”
“……”
I thought Bell was the weird one, but it turns out it was just a racial trait.
“Here, this is your reward.”
“Oh.”
While Bell’s father was being shriveled by Bell’s 'Puppy Punches,' Arang pulled a small box from his robe.
“This looks expensive. Is it really okay?”
“It’s fine. I’ll just squeeze twice the value out of the Wolfkin later.”
Judging by the smile that suggested he wasn't just joking about the 'twice the value' part, I accepted the box without hesitation.
“Are these elixirs?”
Inside were two small, bead-like elixirs. One was red and the other was blue. As someone who had consumed my fair share of elixirs, I could tell the energy radiating from them was extraordinary.
“They are called Yin-Yang Pills. They are quite peculiar, even among the elixirs held by the Canine Tribe.”
I wondered why he was giving me something 'peculiar' instead of something normal, but he continued.
“I can tell just by looking. You’ve consumed quite a lot of elixirs, haven't you?”
“You can tell?”
“Of course. Think about it. We live in an environment where it’s much easier to obtain elixirs than it is for humans.”
In short, the beastkin were a race that knew their way around performance enhancers.
“So I knew that giving you a standard high-quality elixir wouldn't be of much help.”
He was right.
There was no more room in my body to store mana. What I needed wasn't more elixirs, but personal enlightenment—the key to raising my 'rank' to the next level.
An average elixir would be nothing more than a nutritional supplement at this point. While a truly powerful one could provide the momentum to break through, it also carried the risk of making my body explode if I failed. I had no intention of using one.
...I had actually planned to sell it for a high price to the Commander, who was always complaining about a lack of elixirs.
“However, these Yin-Yang Pills are different!”
“How so?”
“The Yin-Yang Pills are crafted by our village shamans, who directly harvest ingredients overflowing with Yin and Yang energies...”
His explanation was as long-winded as a documentary on master craftsmen, so I didn't catch all of it, but...
“So, if you take them, you can do something like this.”
“Whoa.”
The technique Arang demonstrated at the end made everything clear.
“You can do a Fire Punch...?”
“And an Ice Punch as well.”
Watching Arang grin while emitting fire and frost from his hands, I had a thought.
Hey, Fire Spammer.
Why even bother learning magic?
You can just pop an elixir.
Visualizing a future where I could teabag the Fire Spammer, I swallowed the elixirs immediately.
The better an elixir was, the more painful it was to process.
A 'good' elixir meant the energy contained within was powerful. Naturally, the pain felt while absorbing that energy was proportional to its strength.
That was why people usually started with weak elixirs to build up their 'weight class' before moving on to stronger ones that suited their new capacity.
In that sense, having maxed out my weight class through various enhancements, a normal elixir shouldn't have been able to cause me pain.
What did that mean? It meant the Yin-Yang Pills from the Canine Tribe were anything but normal.
“I thought I was going to fucking die.”
My entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
It felt like being dunked into lava and then the Antarctic Ocean every ten seconds. My imagination is too poor to describe it any better, but it was an indescribably shitty experience.
However, the result of enduring that pain was incredibly sweet.
“T-That’s impossible...”
Look at the Fire Spammer’s eyes shaking.
As a magic-obsessed girl from Dale, despair was now etched into the pupils of the girl who had always preached the supremacy of magic.
“Why even learn magic? I genuinely don't get it.”
It wasn't just my fists that were ignited. Surprisingly, even when I channeled mana into my sword, I could conjure fire and ice at will.
Of course, it consumed more mana than usual, and since the bonus damage from the elements wasn't actually that high, I probably wouldn't use it much in a real fight. But...
“Oh...”
“It looks cool, at least.”
As Uncle Aeryun and Taylor’s reactions proved, it looked cool, and that was all that mattered.
“I heard stories of a dual-wielder in the past who used a magic sword of fire and a magic sword of ice simultaneously.”
“Those were magic swords. I’m doing this myself. Isn't this what a true Magic Swordsman looks like?”
“T-That’s not magic?!”
The Fire Spammer had a fit at the term 'Magic Swordsman.'
“If I go outside and ask people what this is, they’ll all call me a Magic Swordsman.”
“That’s only what ignorant fools who know nothing of magic would say!”
It was a verbal outburst that insulted every non-mage in existence, but it would be difficult to get an apology out of the Fire Spammer when her eyes were already rolling back in her head.
So, I decided to provoke her more.
“Look at this. Fireball.”
I clumsily detached some mana and threw it like a baseball. The Fire Spammer’s mind snapped.
“Look closely! This is what true fire magic looks like!”
She began to gather mana with a chilling intensity, forming a fireball in her hand that radiated terrifying heat.
Wait, but...
“If you had used that from the start, I think you could have beaten Daisy in the first semester...”
I could tell just by looking. That was a spell even the 'Prince of the Magic Department,' the strongest freshman, would find difficult to block.
“Wait... did you lose on purpose just to become a 'losing heroine'?!”
“Gaaaaah!”
At the mention of 'losing,' the quality of the flames upgraded by another level.
“Hey, hey! Stop poking her! Her eyes have gone totally blank!”
A pale Uncle Aeryun grabbed me by the collar and shook me.
“Was I the only one enjoying it? You were enjoying it too, Uncle!”
It was a bit unfair for him to blame me when we were both having fun.
“You crazy brat?! This isn't a spell you use indoors!”
Taylor, sensing the danger from the growing mana, tried to stop the Fire Spammer, but it was too late.
“Everyone just die!”
BOOM!
The blazing fire literally blew the building apart.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Thanks to the Fire Spammer’s rage, one of our secret hideouts had vanished. Fortunately, we weren't at the Academy.
“...Haa.”
It was a bit pitiful to see Taylor, the provider of the location, staring desolately at the ruins of the secret base while thinking about the incident reports and the cleanup he’d have to do.
So, as a sort of compensation...
“Ah. I actually came here to tell you something.”
“What is it now...?”
“I think I found that magic circle the Dark Mages were looking for.”
I tossed him a major achievement.
“……Why are you only telling me this now?”
“I forgot because I was too busy making fun of the Fire Spammer.”
“Fuck.”
One more achievement unlocked. I had finally successfully taught a swear word to someone from this world.
When I first heard that the Wolfkin had taken down some Dark Mages, I didn't think much of it. I was so used to Dark Mages by now that I treated them like common goblins.
However, it was naturally no small matter that our diligent and hardworking Dark Mages had shown themselves.
“Come to think of it, why did you lose the gift if you met Dark Mages? Did you get robbed by them too?”
“As if. Those bastards were preparing some weird sorcery, so I just sacrificed the elixir I was going to give as a gift to stop them.”
“……?”
I had overheard this unexpected bit of information during the bickering between the Wolfkin and Canine Chieftains. I had intended to pass it on, but the Fire Spammer’s reactions were so delicious that I simply forgot.
But hey, I delivered the info in the end.
So it’s fine, right?
“So, did you check it?”
“Yeah...”
As soon as he heard the story, Uncle Aeryun had begged the resting Wolfkin to take him and Prince Erild to the site where the magic circle was found. It seemed they had successfully located it.
“It’s an unidentified magic circle.”
“Oh.”
An unidentified magic circle. In other words, the Dark Mages had developed something new again.
“Seriously, those bastards work way too hard...”
It was true. Honestly, if the mages of the Leon Magic Tower worked even half as hard as the Dark Mages, Leon wouldn't be called a magically underdeveloped country.
“So. Did you get caught?”
“Not yet.”
When I whispered the question to Uncle Aeryun, he replied that they were safe for now.
“Prince Erild seems a bit suspicious, but most of the Academy students already credit Prince Esid for everything.”
“Can’t we somehow add the credit for finding this magic circle to his list too?”
“You brat, the Wolfkin found this one. How are you going to spin that?”
“Maybe say Prince Esid was the one who helped Bell...”
“Are you trying to make the Imperial Intelligence Bureau look like complete morons?”
“It’s not the Leon Intelligence Bureau, so I don't really care.”
“You little...!”
Planting seeds of paranoia in the Imperial Family and the Intelligence Bureau...
“...Actually, wouldn't that be a good thing?”
“I can hear you, you brat!”
To be honest, as a citizen of Leon, it wasn't a bad thing for the Empire—the wall Leon had to overcome—to be shaken.
However, knowing that this world was a RoFan novel with an original plot, I had no intention of destabilizing the Empire myself. It was already scheduled to be shaken even if I did nothing. If I caused unnecessary trouble and the scale of the disaster grew, it might affect the entire continent, not just the Empire.
In fact, the issues with the Ilias Merchant Guild during the Founding Festival had already had a noticeable impact on prices back in Leon.
So, for the sake of the Empire, which was destined to suffer in the future...
I planned to cooperate, at least a little.
“……?”
Fuck, I didn't mean I’d go this far.