WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Made Magic Easier by Changing the Formula ◈
Chapter 24: The Smile Behind the Mask
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[Third-Tier Orthodox Magic: Invisibility]
An ancient concealment spell used by mages, twisting the weave of light to erase the body from sight.
A spell I had not even dared attempt at the second tier now activated with a single gesture at the third.
“...He really died?”
Count Valderk clicked his tongue.
“...What a waste of talent. Record him as dead. Say he was buried while working for Valderk.”
I calmly walked past them.
No one saw me.
Leaving the estate was easy.
Neither the guarded gate nor the bolted iron gate mattered. If I was blocked, I stitched the seams and walked out through the gap.
The towering walls and soldiers patrolling the garden were nothing more than passing scenery to me.
* * *
The outskirts of Rowen.
A deserted abandoned house.
‘I’m planning to leave Rowen soon enough.’
But first, there were things I still had to settle at the Magic Tower and the Stock Exchange.
‘I can’t use this face.’
I couldn’t walk around a city half-controlled by House Valderk with Hans’s face.
A hood wouldn’t be enough.
“I need to become someone completely different.”
I opened my subspace and took out the materials.
Special silk processed thinly.
Threads infused with mana.
Pigments for color.
‘I’m a repairman. I can mend a face just like I mend clothes.’
First, I made a mold of my face.
Then I laid silk over it and stitched it one stitch at a time with Mana Needle.
[Third-Tier Transformation Formula: Biological Synchronization]
The fabric reacted to the mana waves, squirming like human flesh.
Sliiide.
At the second tier, this was work that would have taken three days and nights, and it still would have been crude.
Fortunately, it now took only an instant.
“...Done.”
I placed the palm-sized membrane over my face.
Ssshh.
The mask sank into my skin without the slightest foreign sensation.
I took a small mirror from my subspace and looked into it.
A strange man stood in the mirror.
Mid-thirties.
A square jaw, sharply slanted eyes.
A faint scar carved into his forehead.
He had the weathered look of a seasoned man who had been through it all.
“Even Count Valderk himself wouldn’t recognize me.”
When I lifted the corners of my mouth, the man in the mirror smiled naturally as well.
Even the faint wrinkles around his eyes were perfect.
This face needed a fitting name.
“...Jeron.”
Not bad.
I put on a black long coat and pulled up the hood.
“I’m heading straight to the Magic Tower shop.”
I had used alchemy to turn Depleted Mana Crystals into real mana crystals.
Now it was time to turn them into real money.
* * *
Magic Tower shop.
When I showed the clerk a high-grade mana crystal, the clerk looked startled.
“You’re saying you have more?”
The clerk swallowed hard.
“Of course.”
I picked up the high-grade mana crystal I had placed on the table.
“But there’s an order to these things. This comes last.”
“...Excuse me?”
Confusion crossed the clerk’s face.
“First, this. I’d like to know the purchase price per piece.”
I took a lower-grade mana crystal from my subspace and placed it on the counter.
The clerk picked it up and poured mana into it.
The clerk’s eyes widened at once.
“Oh! This one’s purity is extraordinary as well. Where in the world did you obtain such a high-quality lower-grade mana crystal?”
“Since when did Magic Tower rules allow you to pry into a customer’s secrets? The goods and money should be enough.”
“Ah, no. My apologies.”
“The price is what matters. That’s all I’m interested in.”
“Lower-grade crystals normally have a purchase price of eighty silver and a sale price of one gold, but...”
The clerk swallowed again.
“With this purity, we can purchase it at the full sale price of one gold. That is an exceptional offer.”
“One gold and twenty silver.”
“...Pardon?”
“Do you take me for a fool? A mana crystal of this purity would sell for at least one gold and fifty silver if the Magic Tower resold it. Adding another twenty silver is hardly an unreasonable demand.”
Apparently unable to rebut, the clerk’s expression turned awkward.
“...How many do you have?”
“Four hundred and eighty.”
The clerk’s eyes went wide.
“You intend to sell all of them?”
“If the price is right. If not, I’ll trade elsewhere.”
“Please wait a moment. I’ll bring the branch manager.”
The clerk ran into the back.
Shortly afterward, the branch manager emerged in an expensive robe.
The branch manager gave me a sharp glance, then picked up the lower-grade mana crystal on the counter and examined it.
“I can’t believe lower-grade mana crystals of such quality exist. Impressive. Very well. We’ll purchase the entire lot at one gold and twenty silver each.”
“You’re decisive.”
“However, I have a condition.”
“A condition?”
“The high-grade mana crystal you showed earlier. You must agree to trade that with us as well. What do you say?”
It seemed the branch manager had been watching what was happening from the back.
I smiled faintly.
“Before that, this.”
This time, I took out an intermediate mana crystal.
The branch manager’s eyes lit up.
“Good heavens! This intermediate-grade crystal has an extraordinary mana concentration as well. Where did you find something like this? Did it come from the Western Continent? I heard many ancient ruins have been discovered there recently...”
“You’re prying again. Do I need to tell you?”
“No. It is only personal curiosity, so you need not answer. In any case, at this quality, we could offer around twelve gold...”
“Fifteen gold.”
“...!”
The branch manager’s face stiffened.
“That is excessive. The sale price is ten gold. At fifteen gold, you are asking us to sell at a loss.”
I rolled the intermediate mana crystal across my fingertips and smiled coldly.
“Mana crystals become rarer the higher the grade.”
“Would you resell an intermediate-grade crystal of this purity at a loss? Then forget it.”
Just as I was about to put it away,
“W-wait!”
The branch manager hurriedly raised a hand.
Sweat had formed on the branch manager’s forehead.
“Fine. Fifteen gold. But.”
The branch manager’s eyes gleamed.
“That high-grade mana crystal from before. How many do you have? No... before that, show it to me once more.”
“That isn’t difficult.”
I took the high-grade mana crystal back out.
A mysterious scarlet crystal.
The branch manager’s gaze was fixed on it.
The branch manager’s expression had gone beyond admiration and bordered on greed.
“How many?”
“Fifteen.”
“Really?”
The branch manager drew a sharp breath.
The branch manager calculated quickly before speaking.
“Do you have a price in mind?”
This time, he asked me first.
‘The market price for a high-grade mana crystal is roughly one hundred gold.’
That was for ordinary ones.
But the ones I had brought were high-concentration high-grade mana crystals.
Naturally, they would be treated as far more valuable.
I had received above-market prices for the lower-grade and intermediate ones, so if I followed that ratio exactly, the minimum would be one hundred and fifty gold.
‘It could go higher.’
Possibly even two hundred gold.
Upper-grade mana crystals were always scarce.
I decided to test the waters.
The higher, the better.
“Two hundred and fifty gold each.”
“Two hundred and fifty?”
The branch manager jumped.
“That is truly absurd. It is more than double the market price! No matter how good the purity is, two hundred and fifty gold is out of the question.”
“Is that so?”
I placed the high-grade mana crystal back in my palm.
“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll ask another Magic Tower. I intend to sell them wherever pays even one gold more.”
“Damn it...! Then two hundred gold. What do you say?”
‘Two hundred.’
Twice the market price.
‘Not bad.’
In truth, that was the highest price I had expected.
I had only named a higher figure to get that much.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to push once more.
“Two hundred and thirty gold.”
The branch manager’s face twisted.
“...Two hundred and ten gold. That is my limit. Anything more is impossible.”
The branch manager raised the offer by ten gold, then continued before I had a chance to refuse.
“I will offer other benefits instead.”
“Other benefits?”
The branch manager brought something from the back.
“This is a token given only to preferred customers of our Magic Tower.”
A small token.
“With this, you will receive preferential treatment at any branch.”
The branch manager held out one more item.
A palm-sized leather bag.
“It looks like a handbag, but it contains a subspace the size of a backpack. The bag alone would cost dozens of gold. What do you say? This seems like a fair offer.”
‘A backpack-sized subspace.’
It was a pitiful amount of space compared to my vast Subspace Fold.
‘Still, it’ll be useful in its own way.’
It was burdensome to reveal my secret Subspace Fold every time I took something out.
It would be convenient to keep small items in this bag.
“If you’re willing to go that far, I can’t refuse to compromise either. I’ll sell the entire lot for two hundred and ten gold each.”
“...Haha! A wise decision.”
I nodded as though I had been forced to yield.
But I had received 5,856 gold from selling the mana crystals.
A Magic Tower preferred customer token.
And even a subspace bag.
It had been quite a profitable deal.
“I would like the payment in gold coins.”
“The most gold coins we can provide immediately is eight hundred and fifty-six. We can issue drafts for the rest.”
That was fine.
If they were Magic Tower drafts, I could exchange them for gold coins at a bank immediately.
“Do that.”
A while later, I received a heavy sack containing 856 gold coins and five 1,000-gold drafts stamped with the Magic Tower’s seal.
“You said your name was Jeron? If you obtain more mana crystals in the future, please visit this Magic Tower branch. We will always offer you a generous purchase price.”
“Have a safe trip, Mr. Jeron.”
The branch manager and clerk bowed deeply.
* * *
I left the Magic Tower shop with my hood pulled low.
While I was at it, I intended to visit the Stock Exchange too.
But when I reached it, I was met by firmly closed doors.
‘Ah, the market is closed today.’
It didn’t matter.
Nothing could hold back my freedom now.
‘I can come tomorrow.’
More importantly, could I be dreaming right now?
Was this really reality?
I had become incredibly rich today.
Yet it still didn’t feel real.
I paused in an alley and glanced into my subspace.
Heavy sacks of gold coins.
Bundles of drafts stamped with the Magic Tower’s seal.
A huge sum I had never even imagined before.
All of it was safely stored in my personal subspace.
‘...A day like this has come for me too.’
A satisfied smile slipped out.
At the same time, I thought of my parents, who had fought poverty their entire lives.
They had closed their fabric shop and moved to my mother’s hometown.
‘I should visit them soon.’
My chest felt heavy.
‘What should I do with this money?’
Various thoughts branched out.
Buying more stocks once the exchange opened tomorrow was one option.
Or I could head straight for the Imperial Capital.
The Amos Magic Tower, where the Empire’s finest mages gathered.
It would not be easy to enter its doors as a commoner.
But if formal admission was difficult, I could simply buy spellbooks with money.
The path to the high tiers, the fourth tier and above.
It was no longer impossible.
Because I had money.
A full 5,856 gold!
‘...No.’
It was even more than that.
Besides the money invested in stocks,
‘I can obtain more mana crystals.’
Beneath House Valderk was my own hideout, which I could enter and leave whenever I wished.
There was no reason to let that endless mana go to waste.
‘I should buy more depleted crystals.’
I immediately headed for a shop in the back alleys of the market.
A shop piled high with Depleted Mana Crystals.
“Depleted Mana Crystals. Give me all you have, regardless of grade.”
The clerk’s eyes widened.
“Depleted crystals? You mean the empty husks with all their mana drained?”
“Yes.”
“Wh-what are you going to use those for? Practice processing them?”
“My hobby is a little unusual. I plan to use them as garden gravel. Are you selling them or not?”
“Ah, yes! Of course we’re selling! They’ve been piling up in the warehouse, and we haven’t known what to do with them. I’ll give them to you cheap!”
The clerk excitedly called over the warehouse keepers.
Depleted Mana Crystals that had been shoved into the corners of the warehouse were brought out in sacks.
Over a thousand lower-grade crystals, several hundred intermediate-grade crystals.
There were even dozens of high-grade crystals mixed in.
“The price?”
“Hehe! Just two silver for all of them. Shall we deliver them?”
“No, I’ll take them.”
Right in front of the clerk, I slipped the sacks one after another into [Subspace Fold].
Watching dozens of sacks vanish into a gap in space, the clerk could not close their mouth.
“S-subspace magic...”
The clerk’s gaze changed to one of awe.
A mysterious mage with money and skill.
The image of Jeron I had intended to create was working perfectly.
‘To the hideout.’
I crossed through space in perfect concealment.
[Invisibility] [Seam Connection]
A short while later, I arrived beneath House Valderk.
Beyond the collapsed entrance.
Quiet, cozy stillness greeted me.
The space overflowed with cool, dense mana.
‘All this mana will become money.’
I took the Depleted Mana Crystals from my subspace and placed them one by one atop the charging magic circle.
That was all.
The mana in this cave would take care of the rest.
I only had to wait.
Of course, I would not waste that time waiting.
I sat on the Mana Reflux Magic Circle and began training.
* * *
The next morning.
After training through the night, I moved again with Jeron’s face.
I headed for the place that had been closed yesterday.
The Rowen Securities Exchange.
Today, its doors stood wide open.
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