WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Made Magic Easier by Changing the Formula ◈
Chapter 13: The Noble Flees by Night, the Genius Sharpens His Blade
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Count Bergen’s estate, Sophia’s room.
Sophia paced with hollow eyes, as though she had not slept a wink all night.
“Still no word?”
Gale, standing by the door, shook their head awkwardly.
“Yes, my lady. It has been quite some time since Jacob was due back, but they have not returned.”
“What happened? Don’t tell me they failed? All they had to do was bring back one mender!”
“That is what I do not understand. If the Valderk family had discovered them, there would have been an uproar. Yet the estate is as quiet as a grave.”
Gale stroked their beard.
“Could that guy have been caught, Sis?”
Felix asked, trembling with anxiety.
“What if... what if they got caught and gave them our names? If Count Valderk finds out... we’re finished!”
He sprang to his feet.
“You were the one who pushed this, Sis! You came back after being humiliated by Ellen and said that if we brought that guy here and made him kneel, Ellen would come crashing down too... Those were your words!”
“Hey, Felix!”
“I only did what you told me to! I did nothing wrong!”
“You said you wanted this! You said you’d wanted to deal with Hans for ages because you couldn’t stand him! You were the one who called Jacob! You were the one who brought them the money!”
Felix’s face went red, then pale.
“You gave me that money. You take responsibility!”
Gale quietly took a step back.
Their expression said there was nothing to gain by staying here.
Bang!
The door flew open with enough force to nearly break it, and a huge figure stormed into the room.
“You lunatics!”
“F-Father!”
It was Count Bergen.
His eyes blazed.
His expression was rigid.
“You dared to do something like this without my permission?”
The count’s gaze fixed on Felix.
“As though losing money on stocks was not enough, you now intend to drag this entire family into the abyss!”
“F-Father... It’s not...”
Felix’s eyes darted toward Sophia.
“It’s not that... Sis...”
“Speak. What did Sophia do?”
“She ordered all of it. She told me to bring Hans in. I only wanted to help her...”
“Hey! Felix!”
Sophia shrieked, but Felix continued.
“She told me to give Gale the money too! I didn’t know anything!”
“Have you lost your mind? You said yourself that you wanted to crush him!”
“Shut up! Both of you!”
At the count’s roar, both fell silent.
Felix hunched his shoulders and subtly stepped half a pace behind Sophia.
“You are worse than beasts. The family may be at stake, yet all you can do is throw responsibility at each other.”
The count glared at Gale.
“And Gale! You dared to help with this without even consulting me?”
Gale dropped to their knees.
“I have committed a grave sin, my lord. The young master and young lady gave such forceful orders that... I had no choice.”
“You call that an excuse? Tell me first. What exactly has happened to this Jacob person now?”
“...They have yet to return. There is not even a trace of them. Since the Valderk family is being so quiet, perhaps they failed and fled.”
“Failed and fled? What a foolish thought. Do you not know what kind of person Count Valderk is? If they infiltrated and were discovered, they would already have been quietly dealt with.”
The count narrowed his eyes.
“Sophia, act more confidently than usual. Do not show the slightest sign of being intimidated. Pretend you know nothing. This matter has nothing to do with you.”
“Yes... Yes, I understand.”
“And Felix. Leave Rowen tonight.”
“L-Leave? Where am I supposed to go?”
“The Kingdom of Kran. I will send a letter to the House of Duke Broy, your maternal relatives. Receive proper knight training there and reflect on your actions. Do not set foot in Imperial territory until I summon you.”
“The Kingdom of Kran? Their relationship with the Empire has been bad lately... They’ll treat me like a foreigner there! Send me somewhere else instead...”
“This is an order. If you are to avoid the Valderk family’s pursuit, the surest way is for you to disappear from this city.”
“B-But, Father...!”
“Shut up and pack. You leave before tonight is over.”
The color drained from Felix’s face.
His legs trembled.
“...Understood.”
Felix was shoved into a carriage before he even had time to pack properly.
He was fleeing by night.
* * *
The following afternoon.
Rowen Magic Academy, central garden.
It was lunchtime.
Sophia spotted Ellen walking toward her in the distance and stopped short.
‘If something happened last night, it’ll show on Ellen’s face.’
Perhaps she would be crying because that commoner mender had disappeared, or terrified because of the assassination attempt.
“Oh, Sophia? Hello.”
But Ellen looked exactly as usual.
No, perhaps because she was confident after receiving an A+, she looked even brighter and more self-assured than normal.
“...”
Sophia was flustered.
‘What? She looks like nothing happened?’
“You seem to be in a good mood today.”
Sophia casually probed.
“Of course. I did well on my exam, and...”
Ellen’s expression suddenly turned cold.
“...I can’t stand it anymore. I’m going to kill it.”
“W-What...?”
Sophia’s back stiffened.
“Kill...?”
“Yes. I’ll burn it to death.”
Blue flames flickered over Ellen’s fingertips, and Sophia staggered backward in terror.
“W-Wait...! Spare me. I... I didn’t do it!”
Fwoosh.
At that moment, something leaped from Ellen’s bag, burned up, and scattered apart.
“A bug? It was a beetle.”
Ellen smiled faintly.
“...You were talking about a bug?”
“It went somewhere it shouldn’t have. But why were you so startled?”
“It’s nothing... I’m just tired...”
Sophia hurriedly turned around.
Her legs shook, making her steps unsteady.
“I-I’m busy, so I’ll be going.”
The moment she turned her back, Ellen’s brightly smiling expression turned as cold as ice.
* * *
That night.
The basement of the Valderk estate’s annex.
“Here, Hans.”
Ellen placed a heavy leather pouch on the desk.
When she opened it, a vivid blue light poured out.
[10 Intermediate Mana Crystals]
If lower-grade mana crystals were cloudy rice wine, these were clear, potent distilled liquor.
The density of the mana condensed inside was tangible against my skin.
“Thank you, my lady.”
“Tell me if it’s not enough. I’ll get you more.”
“Can I really keep receiving something this precious?”
“Don’t feel burdened. Don’t hold back, and use as many as you need.”
Ellen sat beside the workbench.
“I ran into Sophia today. It was a sight.”
“Did something happen?”
“I didn’t even try to test her, but she started trembling on her own. She said it wasn’t her doing... I didn’t even mention that matter.”
“If it truly wasn’t her doing, she wouldn’t have reacted that way. It’s practically a confession.”
Ellen nodded.
Then she let out a heavy sigh, clearly frustrated.
“I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about the assassin. I keep wondering what would’ve happened if you hadn’t stopped them.”
Her fingers lightly tapped a mana crystal.
“That’s why I brought these. Use them to install stronger magic circles. If someone comes again, make sure they can’t leave alive.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“But what are you making with these?”
Ellen asked, her eyes curious.
“I’ll show you. I designed it last night.”
I picked up one intermediate mana crystal.
A magic circle I had prepared beforehand.
Its circuits were far more complex and precise than the previous one.
I inserted the mana crystal into the groove at its center.
Click.
Hummm.
The entire magic circle shone brightly with a pleasant resonant hum.
When I had used a lower-grade mana crystal, the circuits had flickered as though strained, but now they overflowed with power.
“This is a magic circle called Needle Shower.”
“Needle Shower? That’s a fun name.”
“I’ll now hit that target over there.”
I activated the magic circle toward the thick oak board I had set up beforehand.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
It happened in an instant.
Dozens of blue Mana Needles formed in midair.
[First-Tier Composite Formula: Mana Needle + Rapid-Fire Launch]
Their speed and piercing power were enhanced by the output of an intermediate mana crystal.
Thud-thud-thud!
Large holes appeared in the oak board.
“My goodness...”
Ellen could not close her mouth.
“That could pierce even a knight’s armor.”
“It wouldn’t pierce plate armor easily. Chain mail wouldn’t be difficult, though.”
If I concentrated one hundred shots in one place, could I pierce even an iron plate?
What if I rained down two hundred, or three hundred?
‘No.’
On second thought, that was a brutish approach.
‘Why do I have to pierce the iron plate at all?’
No matter how solid plate armor was, there would be tiny gaps where a needle could enter.
I only needed to drive a single needle precisely into one of those gaps.
‘Then one needle is enough.’
Unfortunately, that would not be easy with the magic circle I had installed.
I could not make a Mana Needle hit a tiny gap with precision.
* * *
I was alone in the hidden room again.
The horrifying moment when I cut off someone’s neck with my own hands last night returned to me.
So did the faces of those who had sent the assassin.
Felix.
Sophia.
From what Ellen said, Felix had not acted alone.
That bitch of a sister had egged him on, and that bastard of a brother had carried it out.
Those ugly siblings had put their heads together and sent an assassin just to crush one commoner mender.
“...”
Seventeen years of growing up as a commoner.
The days when noble children beat me for no reason, and I still had to bow my head and say I was sorry.
Even when I was falsely accused or spat on, I had endured it all for one reason alone.
Because I was a commoner.
But not anymore.
‘I will make them pay.’
Felix and Sophia.
I would not let either of them live.
But not yet.
I was a commoner, and they were the children of a count’s family.
‘If I act rashly, I will die.’
I could not draw my blade in a fit of rage.
‘I will grow stronger. Until the time comes.’
And for now, preparation came first.
I did not know when another assassin might come for me.
Yesterday, I had been fortunate enough to lure that one into the trap here, but what if I encountered one outside?
With only first-tier mana, I would die without being able to put up any resistance.
‘I need a countermeasure.’
The thought that had occurred to me in front of Ellen earlier would not leave my mind.
‘If I want one needle to do it without waste...’
The limitation of the magic circle.
It concentrated power to attack one point, but because it activated automatically and fired in bursts, it was impossible to drive a single needle into the exact gap I wanted.
‘I need to rewrite the formula.’
If possible, I would make it into something I could carry.
‘A leather bracelet I can hide beneath my sleeve. To do that, I need to inscribe an intricate magic circuit along the inside of the bracelet.’
Mana would flow through the circuit, meet the mana of an intermediate mana crystal, and gain explosive propulsion.
I would only inject the minimum mana necessary to activate it.
The intermediate mana crystal’s immense mana would handle the actual compression and launch.
[Spatial Stitching Needle Bracelet]
Sweating profusely, I fixed the circuit in place with fine thread infused with mana.
After hours of struggle, it was finally complete.
‘That used up another intermediate mana crystal.’
A fresh mana crystal had become a Depleted Mana Crystal, but all of its mana had been infused into the Spatial Stitching Needle Bracelet.
Hummm.
A pleasant vibration ran through my hand as the device activated.
‘Good. Perfect.’
I stood the oak board against the wall and began a test shot.
I extended my left arm and injected my mana into the bracelet beneath my sleeve.
‘Fire!’
A blue Mana Needle shot out without a sound.
Thwack!
A direct hit!
A needle-thin line pierced through the board and protruded from the other side.
“It worked.”
It could fire up to one hundred shots.
Unlike the magic circle, it could fire single shots without waste.
Once the bracelet’s mana was depleted, I could obtain a new intermediate mana crystal and inject its mana.
As long as the circuit did not break, it was a weapon that could be used continuously, with mana crystals serving as fuel.
I hoped I would never have to use it.
‘But something like yesterday could happen again.’
I completely concealed the bracelet beneath my sleeve.
It was impossible to notice from the outside.
Wearing a weapon that cost ten gold gave me an odd feeling.
‘It’s expensive, but there’s no helping it.’
What if I developed my mana core and reached the second tier?
Then I would be able to fire Mana Needles freely without borrowing a mana crystal’s power.
‘Until then, this is the best option.’
This was not the end.
I immediately began making a second weapon.
[Invisible Thread Launcher]
Invisible Thread had played a decisive role in killing the assassin yesterday.
I needed to be able to use it outside as well.
‘A bracelet form would be best for this too.’
If I laid this thread in the air beforehand in a dark alley or narrow terrain, then lured an enemy in?
They would experience the horror of their own body being sliced to pieces without ever knowing why.
“This can be retrieved, so it can be used for quite a long time.”
When activated, the device could produce up to several hundred meters of sharp Invisible Thread.
Unlike Mana Needles, which disappeared after a single shot, this Invisible Thread could be retrieved within a certain period and used again.
That was its advantage.
It also consumed one intermediate mana crystal.
Twenty gold in total!
The Spatial Stitching Needle Bracelet went on my left wrist.
The Invisible Thread Bracelet went on my right.
They were my own lethal magical weapons, known to no one else.
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