Chapter 24
Chapter 24
“Apologize to the Trading Company Owner right now.”
Fwaaaash!!
A fierce aura rose from Emily’s body.
For the record, Emily was a Fifth Star Rank mage.
She was a genius with an extraordinary talent for magic, despite being the daughter of a great merchant house.
They said that in the past, whenever ‘Ban’ went too far and Emily finally revealed her power, he would tremble and back down.
But Ban reacted in a way no one expected.
Instead of getting scared and retreating like before—
“Even after I pointed it out to you this openly, you still haven’t caught on. I guess all that talk about the great talent of a merchant house was just a rumor.”
“…What?”
Ban opened his palm.
Flash!
A First Star Rank star appeared.
One Emily had never seen before.
“Demon Chaser. A First Star spell I just developed. It detects anyone concealing demonic energy. Watch.”
Light flashed from Ban’s palm and swept through the room.
As if it truly were hunting for demonic energy.
“According to this spell, the black mage is…”
Ban stopped mid-sentence.
Then—
“…This is unexpected.”
“…What?”
“We have to get away. Right now.”
It was impossible to understand what he was saying.
“Everyone here.”
“What are you talking about? Explain it so I can understand.”
Ban took a step backward.
Even as he retreated, he looked graceful and dignified.
“Everyone in this room is a black mage.”
Emily let out a hollow laugh at the absurd, outrageous claim—
Stiff.
Everyone in the company froze like statues and silently turned their eyes toward her.
At the same time, a strange chill crawled up Emily’s spine.
Fwaaaash!
Demonic energy came flying at her.
Straight for her throat.
‘W-what?’
Emily’s face went pale.
‘A defensive spell? Too late!’
She had reached the Fifth Star Rank, but she had spent so long working on the family’s business that she had grown distant from magic.
Caught off guard, her mind went rigid, and she couldn’t react.
But then—
Crash!!
“…Didn’t I tell you to get out of the way?”
His voice was reproachful.
Ban’s Shield blocked the way in front of her.
‘Ugh. What is this? Was this place really a nest of black mages?!’
When I first set foot in the Altran Company, I’d been confident and hadn’t worried at all.
I knew the Trading Company Owner was a black mage, but he was no more than a subcontractor.
And his level would only be Lower Rank, at most.
‘There’s nothing to worry about if they’re Lower Rank. The best they can manage is probably Second to Third Star Rank. Besides, I brought knights from the Guard, too.’
As it turned out, the Trading Company Owner really was a Lower Rank black mage.
The problem was their numbers.
Every last one of the people in this company was a black mage.
‘At this point, you could practically call this a “cave”!’
I bit down hard on my lip.
‘The exits are already blocked. They’re planning to kill all of us to keep us quiet, then run away. Damn it, what do I do?’
Just then—
-Win rate: 25%
A pitiful win rate.
That meant a 75% chance of dying.
But then—
-When you put a dazed Upper Mage to work like a sucker: 100%
I blinked.
‘A dazed mage? Oh.’
I immediately realized who it meant.
My former fiancée in this body, Emily.
‘She was a merchant from a great merchant house who’d learned magic as a second field of study, and was a genius who’d made it all the way to Fifth Star Rank.’
That said, she’d learned magic as nothing more than a hobby.
She had no combat experience whatsoever, and even now she was standing there stiff as a board.
‘I have to snap her out of it. If I want to survive!’
Fortunately, I had a fair amount of experience with things like this.
I recalled the times I’d snapped new hires out of their panic when they froze up during their first sales calls.
‘The right treatment depends on the new hire’s personality.’
For Emily, a kick in the pants was the answer.
“Pathetic. What are you standing there spacing out for?”
“…Ban.”
“Did you know these bastards were selling people who’d been hounded by debt to a high-ranking black mage as experimental subjects?”
“!!”
Emily’s eyes wavered.
“T-that can’t be. When we investigated…”
“After seeing this, are you still going to deny it? Get a grip and face reality. They were able to do something this horrific because your trading company was indifferent.”
“!!”
The truth was—
It might have been unfair to say that.
These people were subcontractors of subcontractors of subcontractors.
They’d laundered the indebted people’s identities by passing them through several allied trading companies under the guise of arranging jobs, then handed them over as slaves to high-ranking black mages in some distant land.
But I deliberately spoke harshly.
“You’ve done something wrong, and all you can do is freeze up. You were always going on about how much better you were than me, but was this really all you amounted to?”
“…No.”
Emily gritted her teeth.
I gave her the final push.
“If that’s not true, prove it with your actions. Prove that you’re the Golden Lion, not some money-grubbing parasite.”
“!!”
The emblem of the Rapalt Ducal House was the Golden Lion.
But people actually despised the Rapalt Ducal House, calling them money-grubbing parasites.
“…My family—the Rapalt Ducal House—isn’t a bunch of money-grubbing parasites. We’re the Golden Lion. I’ll take responsibility for this myself, no matter what.”
That did it!
Fwaaaash!
A fierce aura rose from Emily’s body.
It was power worthy of an Upper Mage at the Fifth Star Rank.
Now all I had to do was watch with a satisfied smile as the new hire… no, Emily, took the lead.
‘Is there a good spot to watch from?’
Hiding behind the bookcases seemed safe.
But there were already people there.
Hans and Linden.
“…When did you two hide back here?”
They’d definitely come with us, but at some point they’d disappeared. I’d wondered where they’d gone, only to find them hiding like rats.
“Ah! Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty! We were just waiting for a chance to land a blow on the enemy.”
“Y-Yes, that’s right. I was admiring the professor’s gallant bearing.”
Hans and Linden replied obsequiously.
‘…Is our party going to be all right like this?’
A slick professor, a sycophantic old man like Hans, and a garbage graduate student like Linden.
It was quite the disastrous trio.
“But, Professor, why are you here? Were you hoping to hide with us?”
“Now, now, Linden, you little scoundrel! How dare you speak that way to Young Master Ban?! Young Master Ban has come here with some grand purpose in mind!”
Hans flew into a rage at Linden’s tactless remark.
To maintain my dignity as a professor, I came up with a suitably plausible excuse.
“I came to see what books the black mages had hidden in the library. They might have stashed away an evil grimoire or something.”
Naturally, it was a lie.
But then, at that very moment—
‘What’s that book?’
One of the books on the library shelf caught my eye.
Principles of Commerce.
It looked like an ordinary book you might find at a trading company.
‘No. There’s something to it.’
It was a gut feeling.
As if entranced, I took the book down and opened it.
Just as the title suggested, it was packed with long, tedious passages about commerce.
“Professor, why are you suddenly reading a book about commerce?”
“Linden, you fool! Young Master Ban is a genius who will turn the magical world upside down. He’s searching for the truth of magic even in that book about commerce!”
“No, uncle, that’s a bit much… You’re not just pretending to read it because you feel awkward standing around doing nothing, are you?”
They were both wrong.
‘This isn’t a book about commerce. It’s a grimoire.’
The densely packed writing was a smokescreen.
Magic was written within it, encoded in occult ciphers.
‘Maybe it’s because of my Grandmaster of Magic ability, but I can read it.’
I swallowed hard.
It was because of the following words:
—This book is a grimoire that defies Heaven. Whoever makes this book their own shall reach the end of the heavens.
Heaven.
It meant Level Nine.
The strongest people in this world, called “Ascendants.”
And “the end of the heavens” meant the next realm.
The very peak of Level Nine.
The realm of the Heavenly Rank.
‘Out of the sixteen protagonists, only two can reach that realm.’
Katrinne, the Saint Hero of Light—the true protagonist.
And the other half of the top two, the strongest, most overpowered “one-man-army protagonist” in Hero Academy, who was called the second true protagonist.
Then, a voice that sounded like a hallucination began to ring in my ears.
—Take me for your own. Then you’ll reach the end of the heavens and look down upon everyone.
It was a sinister voice that could beguile anyone.
But—
‘No thanks.’
—…What?
‘What am I supposed to do after reaching the end of the heavens? It’ll only make me tired.’
The reward wasn’t tempting enough to seduce me.
‘Maybe I’d have fallen for it if you’d promised I could spend the rest of my life lazing around and living off someone else.’
—W-Wait! H-Hold on! I am a great grimoire, and—
The grimoire tried to blabber something pathetic, but I didn’t listen. I put it back down on the shelf.
I glanced over at the situation in the main hall.
There were a lot of black mages, but they were all Lower Rank, at Second to Third Star Ranks.
Emily, a Fifth Star Rank, had awakened and was joining forces with the knights to drive them back. The black mages were being routed like a rabble.
‘It’d be awkward to keep standing around doing nothing, so I can wait for the right moment, go out there, and pretend to be useful.’
I was inwardly delighted with my perfect plan when—
A sudden shiver ran down my spine.
‘…What is it?’
My expression stiffened.
The hairs on my arms were standing on end.
“What’s wrong, Young Master?”
“…Hans, Linden. Don’t you feel that something’s off?”
“No, not at all? Aren’t our side winning just fine?”
“From my perspective as an investment genius, unless an unexpected adverse event comes along, our side’s going to the moon…”
Adverse event.
The moment that word grated into my ears, a chilling voice suddenly rang out from empty air.
[Well, well. This is troublesome. These children are my precious slaves, you know. How dare you.]
“!!”
Fwoooosh!!!
Darkness surged, and a figure appeared in midair.
It wasn’t human.
Despite its adorable appearance, its lips were torn, its neck bent backward, and its eyes were filled entirely with blood-red color, without a trace of white.
Strings held up its limp arms.
A marionette—a “puppet.”
‘Could it be?’
My face turned pale.
I knew of one person who controlled puppets like that.
They were famous beyond measure.
A knight from the Guard shouted the name as if screaming.
“…Abyss’s Puppet?!”
[Hehe. So you know who I am. That’s right.]
“!!”
Shock spread through the crowd.
Ordinary villains hid away like cockroaches.
But there were a very few exceptions.
Some showed themselves openly, and the group they formed was called the Abyss.
The worst villain organization, made up only of superpowerhouses of at least Level Seven.
‘Puppet is a Seventh Star powerhouse, too. For someone like that to show up already is a scenario bug!’
Of course, the one who had appeared now wasn’t the real body but a puppet. Even so, the situation was hopeless.
Its durability was weak, but it could still use black magic at Level Seven.
The puppet’s torn lips twisted into a hideous smile.
[If you know who I am, then you must know what fate awaits you. I’m going to kill every last one of you.]
“!!”
[Now, choose. A painful death or a horrible death. To be more specific, a miserable death right here, or being dragged away by me and dying as a test subject. Hehehe. Either way, I’m happy.]
A deathly silence descended over the room.
Just then—
<Faced with a powerful enemy, Gambler’s Judgment manifests!>
-If no miracle occurs: 0%