WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 615: Right-Handed, Left-Handed

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Banished from the floating castle by the Green Tower Master, Lankart did not die, against everyone's expectations. He did not even fall.

Even as he fell, Lankart perfectly controlled Reverse Gravity and returned to the floating castle unharmed.

"Right-handers really are old-fashioned. Predictable and boring."

Lankart was a genius. That held true even in the floating castle, where only renowned geniuses gathered. There were plenty of stories about gifted people who believed themselves geniuses, only to face reality and fall into despair. Yet Lankart had not suffered anything like despair since coming to the floating castle.

"I can't blame right-handers. They're simply riding the great current that leads the world. They become right-handers and wield power because they're wise and rational... But that doesn't make them any less boring."

That was not because Lankart was an extraordinary genius beyond all standards.

It was because he had already suffered one great setback.

"For a 'leap,' you need a left-hander. Only then can you look toward a higher dimension."

Muttering to himself, Lankart returned to his workshop and suddenly sensed someone's presence. It was a presence that should not have been there, and he shook his head.

Sorcerers were granted workshops in Babel. Lankart's mansion stood in a particularly remote corner of Babel, nearly impossible to find without Rene's map.

Yet someone had slipped into his mansion while he was away.

"Hui? Is that you?"

There were many other possibilities. Still, Lankart instinctively believed it was him.

And just as Lankart had expected, it was him.

Hughes was calmly fiddling with cards in the workshop. A quick glance showed that he had casually used several of Lankart's gems and alchemical coins.

One of the things mages hated most was having someone make a mess of their workshop. Still, Lankart's first thought was, How?

"How did you do it? The Green Tower Master couldn't have simply let you go."

"I got caught. I was locked up, then escaped."

"The gravity barrier?"

"It was manageable."

Shff. Hughes shuffled the clover cards inscribed with magic, then strode over and sat on the sofa as though he owned the place. Watching his back, Lankart smiled with barely restrained delight.

"As expected, you're remarkable. You're different from that right-hander. Your mana is weak, and your internal energy is meager, but you always manage to accomplish whatever you set out to do."

"That's right. I'm weak."

"It doesn't matter if you're weak. You're a left-hander. A left-hander who made me see this world anew as a world of right-handers has more than enough value simply by existing...!"

"Then why do you keep making things difficult for me?"

Hughes looked at Lankart coldly.

"You keep trying to test me. Since I, the weak one, overcome difficulties in ways you, the strong one, never imagined. You keep pushing me into danger because you want to see how I'll get through it this time... Should I still be your friend when I know that?"

At the cold tone from an old comrade, Lankart jerked upright and hurriedly made an excuse.

"N-No. This time, it wasn't even a test. I was going to free you as soon as I got back!"

"'As soon as you got back' isn't the right way to put it. You could have paid a little more attention. I learned standardized magic, so I'm an ignorant commoner here, or a black mage. Someone the floating castle rejects. You're the only person I can rely on."

Hughes's narrow, chilling eyes seemed to pierce straight through Lankart's heart.

Lankart was intelligent. People said geniuses did not understand human hearts, but that was only because they were not interested. Lankart understood humans well enough as a phenomenon.

The Green Tower Master's actions had followed an almost predetermined course, and Lankart had not tried to stop it.

Restricting and controlling Shei and Hughes's movements benefited him.

"You said we should cooperate, didn't you? Yet you're only a right-hander in the end. Old-fashioned, predictable, and boring. You're riding that current because it benefits you. Even the 'politics' you found so tiresome when it was used against you becomes an acceptable tool when you're the one using it, right?"

Mages were rational. They lived by different rules, but their principles rested on cool reason and rational judgment. Using politics was also the result of rational judgment.

Lankart had only done the same, though he may not have wanted to become that way.

"Should we end our cooperation here?"

"I'm sorry!"

Lankart abruptly raised his head, then immediately bowed deeply.

It was a shocking sight.

Lankart Spendry was an unparalleled genius, someone who could turn the military state's Six Generals into seven. Even after betraying the military state and coming to the Arcane Federation, Lankart might have been envied, but never disregarded.

Arrogant, self-important, and gifted enough to justify every bit of it, Lankart was now groveling before an ignorant commoner from outside the floating castle.

"I made a mistake. I forgot my duty and ended up riding the right-handers' current. Hui, I must have forgotten for a moment because I'd been apart from you for too long!"

"What do you mean, forgotten? You've barely forgotten anything since the day you were born."

"Then perhaps my judgment was clouded. I'm not as much of a genius as you are."

It was not flattery. Lankart genuinely believed it. When Hughes seemed to soften a little, Lankart raised his head again and cautiously asked,

"Would you like something to drink? Water, tea, coffee, milk. I have anything you could want."

"Milk? Do you raise dairy cows in the floating castle?"

"I brought it from the lower world and stored it with the Crystal School's preservation magic. Here."

Lankart took a milk crystal from the cupboard, put it in a cup, and snapped his fingers. The crystal shattered, turning back into a white liquid that filled the cup. Lankart set it before Hughes and quietly watched until he picked up the glass.

After a brief wait, Hughes lifted the glass and took a sip. Lankart waited until he swallowed a mouthful of milk before asking,

"How did you escape the gravity barrier?"

"A swing."

Hughes answered shortly. Lankart immediately understood the meaning contained in those two words and exclaimed in admiration.

"That method existed! The gravity barrier holds you at that coordinate, but it doesn't contain energy. If you swing back and forth repeatedly like on a swing, you'll eventually reach escape velocity! To think you came up with that just after arriving in the sky. As expected, you're incredible!"

"Incredible, my ass. I barely escaped after trying every dirty trick I could think of."

"That's exactly why you're incredible! You can use absolutely anything!"

Lankart clenched his right hand and shouted excitedly.

"Magic, qi arts, alchemy, sleight of hand. Tools and the body, institutions and systems. Even other people's misconceptions and hearts. You aren't bound by anything, and you don't rely on anything. You simply get it done."

"If something has to be done, I do it."

"That's what matters, Hui. You don't get trapped in a mold or ride a great current. You can read the current flowing in the opposite direction and weigh both sides."

The Right-Handed World. Lankart's unique arcane, which restricted the direction of all power around him to clockwise rotation.

Everyone focused on the absolute defense of that unique arcane, analyzing it and trying to break through it. Yet the image behind the Right-Handed World did not lie in the right hand.

Even while staring at his right hand, Lankart remained conscious of the hand on the opposite side.

"The perspective of a left-hander."

For the concept of positive numbers to exist, negative numbers had to exist as well. Without negative numbers, positive numbers would have arrogantly ruled under the name of natural numbers.

It was the same. A left-hander had to exist to see this world of right-handers clearly.

This world rotated to the right. From the movement of the constellations to the tiniest particles of mana, everything moved in clockwise rotation. Unpredictable chaos occasionally gave birth to a left-hander, but they only disappeared beneath the vast world of right-handers.

One day, after being defeated by Hughes while rising through the ranks in the weak, newly established nation called the military state, Lankart suddenly realized that fact.

He also realized that a left-hander was necessary to make a "leap" to a higher place.

The mage had personally explained his unique arcane, but Hughes only yawned as though bored and drank his milk.

"Like the Demon God?"

"Yes. Demon Gods were left-handers too. But they all got swept up in the world of right-handers and died."

"What about the Demon God in the floating castle?"

"I've figured out where it is. If you want, we can approach it right now."

"Later. Before that, I think I should look around the floating castle. There may be other clues."

For the time being, things would remain as they were. It was the outcome Lankart had expected, so he saw no need to say anything else. Instead, he asked something different.

"Hui. What about that girl who was with you? Are you throwing her away now?"

Bringing the remaining milk to his lips, Hughes answered,

"Of course not. She's useful."

"You still haven't seduced that girl?"

The question must have caught Hughes off guard, because he spat out half the milk he had been drinking. Wiping his mouth, Hughes said,

"Cough. What the hell are you talking about?"

"You came here alone, so you must have had a reason to separate yourself from her. If she's still useful, you aren't planning to discard her. That means you're in the middle of working on her."

Lankart overestimated Hughes. If Hughes truly intended something, Lankart believed he would definitely accomplish it.

Hughes had intended for Lankart to overestimate him to some extent, but as a result, Lankart interpreted his actions instead of trying to guess his intentions.

"Shei was a dangerous person locked up in Tantalus after I escaped prison, wasn't she? You've been together from then until now, and you still haven't slept with her?"

"Slept with her? Do you think I go around hypnotizing women or something? How would that even work?!"

"You did it before, didn't you? There were plenty at Hamelin Military Academy. If that bitch Historia hadn't kept clearing them away from you, there'd be dozens of your children in the military state by now."

"Children, you bastard! No! As a decent human being, I don't make children I can't take responsibility for!"

Surprisingly, that approach was close to the truth. Thoughts could be hidden, but actions could not. Hughes squeezed his eyes shut.

"Lankart. There's one thing I need to correct. Believe me or not, but hear me out."

"I'll listen. Go on."

Hughes chose his words for quite a while. After an uncharacteristic period of hesitation, he finally opened his mouth.

"That isn't the kind of thing that goes the way I want. There are too many variables."

"Women's whims are like that. That's why I admire you. You can manipulate even those capricious hearts as you wish."

"What are you talking about? Even I throw up my hands at women's hearts. I struggle to stay alive by humoring them. And Shei is exceptional even among them."

Hughes shook his head in disbelief as he thought of Shei, then continued seriously.

"Also, I can't let Shei become too fond of me. I need to keep a suitable psychological distance... if I want to plan for the future."

Lankart did not know what had happened or what Hughes was after. Even now, Lankart did not fully understand the person named Hughes. But he felt no regret over that.

Could someone resent a storm for blowing their house away? It would be better to spend that time repairing it. Nature was something to observe, not something to expect anything from. Expectations belonged to religion.

That was what Hughes was to Lankart. Lankart decided to accommodate Hughes's wishes.

That way, he could analyze him in greater detail.

Footnotes:

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