Chapter 620: Right-Hander, Left-Hander
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 620: Right-Hander, Left-Hander
Lankart, exiled from the Floating Castle by the Lord of the Green Tower, defied everyone's expectations and did not die. He didn't even fall.
Even as he fell, Lankart perfectly executed a Reverse Gravity spell and returned to the Floating Castle unharmed.
“As expected, right-handers are so conventional. Predictable and boring.”
Lankart was a genius. That was a truth acknowledged even in the Floating Castle, a place where only the most renowned geniuses gathered. There are many stories of prodigies who believed themselves geniuses only to face reality and despair, but Lankart had never experienced such a thing since arriving.
“You can't blame the right-handers. They're just riding the great current that leads the world. They become right-handers and wield power because they're wise and rational... But still, that doesn't make them any less boring.”
That wasn't so much because Lankart was a genius beyond measure... but because he had already experienced one great setback.
“For a ‘leap’ forward, you need a left-hander. Only then can you gaze upon a higher dimension.”
Muttering to himself, Lankart returned to his workshop and suddenly sensed a presence. A presence that shouldn't have been there. Lankart shook his head.
Mages are granted workshops in ‘Babel’. Lankart's residence was in a particularly secluded corner of Babel, nearly impossible to find without Rene's map.
And yet, for someone to have snuck into his residence precisely when he was away…
“Huey? Is that you?”
There were many other candidates, but Lankart intuitively believed it was him.
And just as Lankart had hoped, it was ‘him’ who appeared before his eyes.
Hughes was casually fiddling with a set of cards in his workshop. A quick glance suggested he had freely used some of Lankart's gems and alchemic gold.
One of the things a mage hates most is having their workshop disturbed, but the first thought that came to Lankart's mind was, ‘How?’
“How did you do it? The Lord of the Green Tower wouldn't have let you go.”
“I was caught. Imprisoned. And I escaped.”
“The gravity barrier?”
“It was manageable.”
Shffk. Hughes shuffled a deck of clover cards inscribed with magic, then strode over and sat on the sofa as if he owned the place. Watching his back, Lankart smiled, half in ecstasy.
“Of course. You're incredible. Different from those right-handers. Your mana is weak and your qi is pathetic, but in the end, you can do anything.”
“That's right. I am weak.”
“It's fine if you're weak. Because you're a left-hander. A left-hander who can truly see this right-handed world for what it is—that alone is of immense value…!”
“Then why do you keep making things difficult?”
Hughes looked at him coldly.
“You're always trying to test me. Because I, the weak one, overcome difficulties in ways you, the strong one, could never imagine. You keep pushing me into danger, just to see how I'll get out of it this time... Knowing that, should I still be your friend?”
At the cold tone from his old comrade, Lankart’s head snapped up, and he quickly made an excuse.
“N-no. This time, it wasn't a test. I was planning to free you as soon as I got back!”
“‘When you got back’ isn't the right way to put it. You could have been more careful. As someone who learned Standard Magic, I'm considered a plebeian, or a black mage, here. An outcast in the Floating Castle. You're the only one I have to rely on.”
Hughes's narrow, cool eyes pierced right through Lankart's heart.
Lankart is smart. They say geniuses don't understand people's hearts, but that's only because they lack interest. He fully understands humans as a ‘phenomenon’.
The Lord of the Green Tower's actions were almost a foregone conclusion, and Lankart made no attempt to overcome it.
Because it was to Lankart's advantage to limit and control Shei and Hughes's movements.
“You said we should ‘cooperate,’ didn't you? But in the end, you're just another right-hander. Conventional, predictable, and boring, but you go along with it because it benefits you. The ‘politics’ you found so tedious when you were on the receiving end is a fine tool now that you're the one using it, right?”
Mages are rational. They may live by different rules, but their principles of action are based on cold reason and logical judgment. Using politics is also the result of rational judgment.
Lankart was no different, though he probably hadn't wished to become that way.
“Should we end our cooperation here?”
“I'm sorry!”
Lankart, who had just raised his head, immediately bowed it deeply.
It was a shocking sight.
Lankart Spendry was a once-in-a-generation genius, the man who would have turned the Military State's Six Generals into the Seven Stars. Even after betraying the Military State and coming to the Mage Federation, he was met with jealousy, but never disrespect.
Arrogant, insolent, and damnably talented enough to justify it all, Lankart... was now groveling before a plebeian from outside the Floating Castle.
“I made a mistake. I forgot my place and went along with the right-handers' world. Huey, I must have forgotten for a moment because we were apart for too long!”
“What's there to forget? It's not like you've forgotten much of anything since the day you were born.”
“Or maybe my judgment was clouded. I'm not a genius on your level, after all.”
It wasn't flattery. Lankart genuinely believed it. When Hughes showed signs of softening, Lankart raised his head again and asked subtly.
“Want something to drink? Water, tea, coffee, milk. I have everything.”
“Milk? Do they raise dairy cows in the Floating Castle?”
“It's brought from the Lower World and preserved with Crystallography magic. Here.”
Lankart took a milk crystal from the cupboard, placed it in a cup, and snapped his fingers. The crystal shattered, and the milk became a white liquid again, filling the cup. Lankart placed the cup in front of Hughes and watched him cautiously until he picked it up.
After a short wait, Hughes picked up the cup and took a sip of milk. Lankart watched until Hughes had swallowed before asking.
“How did you get out of the gravity barrier?”
“A swing.”
Hughes answered curtly. Lankart instantly understood the meaning packed into that single word and marveled.
“So there was a way! The gravity barrier holds you at a fixed coordinate, but it doesn't confine energy. If you swing back and forth like a swing, you'll eventually reach escape velocity! To think of that right after arriving at the fulcrum... As expected, you're incredible!”
“Incredible? I barely escaped after trying all sorts of pathetic methods.”
“That's what's incredible! Because you can use anything and everything!”
Excited, Lankart clenched his right fist and exclaimed.
“Magic, Qi Arts. Alchemy and dexterity. Tools and your body, regimes and systems. Even the misconceptions and hearts of others. You're not bound by anything, nor do you rely on anything. You just get it done.”
“You do what you have to do.”
“That's what's important, Huey. Not being stuck in a mold, not riding the great current. The ability to read the opposing current and weigh both sides.”
World of the Right-Handed. A Unique Magic centered on Lankart that restricts the direction of all forces to a clockwise rotation.
Everyone focuses on the Unique Magic's absolute defensive power, trying to analyze and break it. But in truth, the core concept of the ‘World of the Right-Handed’ doesn't lie with the right.
Lankart stared at his right hand, yet he was conscious of the hand on the opposite side.
“—The perspective of a left-hander.”
To establish the concept of positive numbers, negative numbers must exist. Without negative numbers, positive numbers would have arrogantly reigned under the name of natural numbers.
It's the same. You need a left-hander to be able to look the right-hander's world straight in the eye.
This world spins to the right. From the movement of the constellations to the tiniest elements of mana. Everything moves with a clockwise rotation. Unpredictable chaos sometimes gives birth to a left-hander, but they are simply buried and lost in the vast world of the right-handers.
One day, Lankart, who had been enjoying a string of victories in the small, up-and-coming Military State, was defeated by Hughes and suddenly realized this truth.
And the fact that to ‘leap’ to a higher place, he needed a left-hander.
The mage explained his own Unique Magic, but Hughes just yawned as if bored and drank his milk.
“Like a Divine?”
“Yes. The Divines were left-handers, too. Though they were all swept away and killed by the world of the right-handers.”
“What about the Divine in the Floating Castle?”
“I've already located it. If you want, we can approach it right now.”
“A little later. I need to look around the Floating Castle first. There might be other clues.”
For the time being, they would maintain the status quo. It was the expected course of events, so Lankart didn't bother saying anything else. Instead, he asked about something different.
“Huey. What about that wench who was with you? Are you abandoning her now?”
Hughes brought the rest of the milk to his lips and said, “Of course not. She's useful.”
“You haven't managed to seduce that wench yet?”
This question, at least, seemed to be unexpected, as Hughes spat out half the milk he was drinking. Wiping his mouth, Hughes said, “Cough. What are you talking about?”
“The fact that you came here alone means you had a reason to get away from her, right? If she's still useful, you're not trying to abandon her. So that means you're still in the middle of working on her.”
Lankart overestimates Hughes. He believes that if Hughes truly has a plan, he will unconditionally succeed.
While Hughes has intentionally fostered this overestimation to some extent, it causes Lankart to interpret his actions instead of guessing his intentions.
“Shei... isn't she that criminal threat who was imprisoned in Tantalus after I broke out? You've been with her ever since, and you still haven't fucked her?”
“Fucked her?! What do you think I am, some kind of hypnotist? How is that even possible?!”
“You've done it before, haven't you? You had plenty at the Hamelin Military Academy. If that bitch Historia hadn't cleared everyone out from around you, you'd have dozens of kids in the Military State by now.”
“Kids, you bastard! That's not true! As a matter of human decency, I don't make children I can't take responsibility for!”
Surprisingly, that approach was close to the truth. You can hide your heart, but you can't hide your actions. Hughes squeezed his eyes shut.
“Lankart. There's one thing I need to correct. You're free to believe me or not, but hear me out.”
“I'm listening. Go on.”
Hughes chose his words for a long time. After an uncharacteristic amount of deliberation, he finally spoke.
“That's not the kind of thing I can control. It's full of variables.”
“A wench's whims are like that. That's also why I respect you. Because you can control even those fickle hearts as you please.”
“What are you talking about? I'm at my wit's end when it comes to women's hearts. I just struggle to please them to survive. And Shei is exceptional, even among them.”
Shaking his head as he thought of Shei, Hughes continued in a serious tone.
“And I can't let Shei like me too much. I have to maintain a certain psychological distance... to prepare for the future.”
He didn't know what had happened or what Hughes was aiming for. Lankart still hadn't fully grasped the man named Hughes. But he felt no regret about that.
Can you resent a storm for blowing away your house? It's better to spend that time repairing it. Nature is an object of observation, not expectation. Expectation is the domain of religion.
To Lankart, Hughes was such a being. Lankart decided to play along with Hughes's wishes.
That way, he could analyze him in greater detail.