WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 608: A Reunion with an Old Classmate

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Lankart Spendry. A genius who awakened his innate arcane at thirteen and attained strategic-grade formulaic magic at fifteen.

Following his assessment, the military state celebrated the birth of a talent who would lead its future. The military state had always been weak in mysteries and magical power, so it needed him all the more desperately.

Yet the vessel called the military state was far too small to contain Lankart. He had long since overflowed it.

"Ha ha ha! Right. I heard there had been a mysterious explosion at the Tree of Origin, so I wondered who it was! Hui, it was you after all!"

But the military state would never know.

Lankart and I had remained in contact.

"No. I didn't do it."

"When I heard the Abyss had vanished, I knew it was your doing. I went looking for you, but you had already left! Why did you do that? If you'd left even a word, I would've come to get you!"

"That wasn't me either. Jiseon did it."

Lankart ignored my explanation and went on.

"It doesn't matter! The essence of the Demon God is knowledge. Even if the Abyss disappears and the Tree of Origin burns, that knowledge won't vanish. It might affect the power of a mage whose innate arcane is the Demon God, though!"

"Mm. I didn't do it, but we need to run before the enraged Nevida comes looking for me."

"Wait a moment. Moving three people wasn't part of the calculations. These idiots mass-produced the scrolls, so it'll take some time to alter the formula."

He really didn't seem interested in listening to me. I said I hadn't done it, yet he didn't seem to believe me.

Lankart kept modifying the magic circle even as he talked without pause. He drew lines for mana to travel through, then alternately placed gems and ores at their intersections.

White magic. Magic that recreated the mysteries of the world through high-value alchemical mediums. It was practically the mainstream of the magical world.

Formulaic magic was widespread only in the military state. In truth, it was a kind of black magic that used one's own body as a sacrifice. The mages of the Arcane Federation did not even consider formulaic magic to be magic. Not because it was black magic, but because its potential was extremely limited.

If one's own body was the only available sacrifice, the spells one could use were limited as well.

"If you want this done quickly, help me. I don't even want to understand why these idiots drew it like this."

"You need mana to fix a scroll. I don't have that much mana."

Remembering my pathetic amount of mana, Lankart clicked his tongue.

"Tsk. What a pity. Why did the world give you such knowledge but no mana?"

I got that knowledge by reading other people's minds. Neither was originally mine.

"Better than having neither. And don't try to fix the scroll in such a complicated way. One look tells me this scroll was never designed with expandability in mind. They sealed it so it couldn't be modified."

"Do idiots not realize the scrolls they make are idiotic? You should've been in the Scroll Design Department instead!"

"If we're moving three people, we'll need three scrolls. Even you will have trouble modifying this scroll."

"What are you talking about? I'm different. Even a scroll sealed by idiots can be fixed."

Grumbling, Lankart finished modifying the magic circle. During the brief pause, Shei came over and cautiously asked me.

"Hughes. That person is..."

Ah, this was probably the first time Shei and Lankart had met in this timeline. It would be cleaner if I introduced him.

"Ah, yes. That's Lankart. He's a friend I studied with during my time in the military state."

"That's not all, is it? You didn't seem like you were merely friends if you knew each other until recently."

"We didn't meet often, but we stayed in touch."

"You stayed in touch? With Lankart Spendry?"

"I never told you his full name. But yes, that's right. Is there a problem?"

'The Temple of the Demon God. A secret organization within the Arcane Federation that handles and investigates only the Demon God. You're saying you were more than just schoolmates with Lankart Spendry, one of its members... that you remained in contact until recently?'

It seemed Lankart had been quite famous even before Shei regressed. For a former schoolmate to become famous enough to catch a regressor's eye. As Lankart's best friend, I felt a little proud.

'That lunatic called the Mad Mage who swept away two cities of the Empire in a whirlpool?'

...But Historia was still closer to me. Lankart only admired me unilaterally.

I'm not cutting him off. That's just how it is. I only stated the facts plainly.

Lankart, still working on the magic circle, saw Shei and me standing together and asked.

"More importantly, Hui. Who's that? Another woman you're taking around?"

"Huh?"

Shei frowned, clearly displeased. Worried Lankart might cause a misunderstanding, I said,

"What do you mean, another woman? Anyone hearing that would think I change women all the time."

"Don't you? In Hamelin, it was that wild boar. In Amitenggrad, it was the holding company's heir. Every time I saw you, you had a different woman tucked at your side."

"What?"

Shei's displeased gaze now turned toward me. No, why was she looking at me? Lankart said it, so she should take it up with Lankart.

Without caring about my predicament, Lankart continued.

"I thought your taste had changed from violent wild boars to something more obedient, but you've returned to your old ways in the end. Hui, I don't think you'll fail, but let me give you some advice. It's better to keep women at a distance. The only joy and pride those bitches have is putting a leash on men and yanking them around."

"Hey, you bastard! Watch what you say! Do you know who you're talking about?"

"Why? Is she your patron or sponsor?"

"Uh..."

It was similar. She gave me money and help. She even gave me information from the future. Honestly, she was a patron I didn't want to lose.

"What do you mean, patron? Deny it!"

"Then I'd be lying."

"Really? ...So you're saying you think of me as a patron?"

"In a way?"

"In a way, my ass!"

For some reason, Shei got so angry that she tried to give me a light smack. It was a sudden gesture closer to a pout than an attack. Normally, even if I read her thoughts, I wouldn't have been able to react in time.

"What do you mean, not a companion but a patron...?"

Without thinking, I caught Shei's arm. Her eyes widened as I held her wrist.

Huh. What was that? Normally, she would have already touched me before I could react.

"Shei. Are you tired? You don't seem like yourself."

Was it because her arm had been severed and reattached? Did it not feel the same as before? When I asked, Shei answered with a puzzled expression.

"...No. The one who doesn't seem like himself... isn't me."

'My arm was stopped. I'm controlling this arm entirely with qi because of the injury it sustained. Rather than me having become weaker, it's Hughes's strength...'

"Done. Get ready."

At Lankart's words, Shei flinched and quickly pulled her arm free from my grasp. Lankart had modified the scroll for three people in that short time. Pointing to one part of the magic circle, he said,

"Tsk. Increasing one to three isn't easy. Hui. Grab that bitch and stand in that spot. I treated the two of you as one bundle, so you need to hold on like you're one body. If you want to leave the troublesome bitch behind, you can let go halfway through."

He still spoke without the slightest consideration for the listener's feelings. Shei was the type who never let a provocation go unanswered, so she responded sharply.

"Want that bitch to kill you? Just activate the magic circle. You're making such a fuss over a single Reverse Gravity."

"Oh? You can read a magic circle? It seems you aren't completely one of the rabble."

Lankart was more impressed that Shei had recognized the type of magic circle than threatened by her killing intent. Raising his assessment of her slightly, he said,

"Bitch. Make sure you understand one thing."

"What?"

"The reason Hui always keeps one bitch at his side is purely because he lusts after women's bodies. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for him to drag around idiots like you who only shriek and squawk."

"...Hughes."

"No, why are you looking at me? I never said that, I've never lusted after anyone, and Shei has been dressing as a man in the first place!"

This is unfair! I hadn't done anything anyone could hold against me!

Besides, what would be wrong with lusting after women? Men were supposed to like women! It was the natural order of things!

More importantly, why was Lankart suddenly slandering me like this? If I'd actually done a lot with women, I wouldn't even feel wronged. All I'd done was earn a little goodwill and say some flattering things!

"It's obvious if you think about it for a moment. Why else would Hui have taken Historia, whose intellectual level was far beneath his own, around with him? It couldn't have been for her brain, so naturally, it was for her body."

Lankart casually pushed me to the brink, then tapped his temple and declared,

"But I am the only one who can share a truly intellectual and spiritual exchange with Hui! Unless you're one of the chosen like me, you can't even look at things from the same level as him!"

"...Ah. I see."

Shei seemed to be catching on to what kind of person Lankart was.

Arrogant, conceited, convinced of his own superiority, and contemptuous of idiots. Yet if he felt someone could communicate with him even a little, he acknowledged them. Then he tested them relentlessly.

And if he ever thought he had been defeated in knowledge...

He suddenly praised them to the skies like a madman, muddying the waters as if he were trying to justify that defeat.

Thanks to that, I had suffered a great deal trying to live up to Lankart's expectations.

"Ah. Don't worry. It's natural for you to devote both body and heart to Hui and cling to him. Females are drawn to capable males by nature."

"Shut up! No, I'm not! I haven't devoted anything to him yet!"

"You're the noisy one, bitch. You've delayed us long enough, so shut your mouth and stand still. Tsk, this is why you shouldn't listen to every shriek women make."

"No matter how I look at it, you're the one who delayed us!"

Lankart ignored Shei and began chanting.

"Trajectory of the celestial axis that holds the world. At the center of the great right-handed spiral, I shall walk against heaven. Twist and open, the path toward the universe."

Mana flowed along the magic circle. Light originating from Lankart spread like flowing water. The mana that touched the gems merged and changed, then began to whirl with even greater power.

I hurriedly led Shei onto the magic circle. After a brief flinch, she stood close to me while maintaining a subtle distance.

Having finished the chant, Lankart poured in mana one final time and completed the spell.

"Reverse Gravity."

The moment he finished the last word, the magic circle was engulfed in light, and I began to "fall" toward the sky.

Footnotes:

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