WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 619: King of Magic

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Not so long ago, there was a country whose only point of pride was its clear skies.

That land, which had nothing to boast of but its cloudless heavens, became a destination for those seeking stars glittering in the dark of night. People who admired its transparent sky built towers on the cold, barren ground and recorded the beauty and movements of the stars.

They made telescopes, drew star maps, wrote books, and gradually filled the empty land with knowledge.

The cold, dry, desolate land became a country of sages, shining with knowledge.

Brilliant knowledge was a city's pride and a symbol of civilization. And barbarians were bound to covet the fruits of another's civilization. They invaded to steal the knowledge accumulated by the sages of old and the words inscribed upon the towers.

The sages sometimes surrendered and sometimes compromised, but they quickly realized that dialogue was not such a good solution after all. In the end, they put their heads together and resolved to turn their knowledge into power.

That was magic.

A ritual that converted knowledge into power.

And there was one who stood against a mighty, barbaric empire and protected this land with the power of magic.

The keeper of the tower.

The omnipotent sage.

The raven on his shoulder.

He had countless nicknames, yet even those were not enough. So the mages likened him to the Beast King and called him this.

The King of Magic. The Demon King.

His hair was slicked neatly back, fully exposing his thick eyebrows and sharply defined features. Firm muscles showed beneath his partly open shirt. He wore a light shirt, leather trousers, and had callused bare hands.

He looked less like a mage and more like a handsome sailor from one of the great lakes.

That was the Demon King? He didn't look as terrifying or powerful as his name suggested. If anything, he seemed a little familiar. This was the strongest person supporting the current age?

It was a good opportunity. Even if he was the strongest, he was still human. I cautiously tried to read his mind...

Huh?

Too far away?

"Yet this world is far too fragile to bear your dreams! What could be sadder or more futile than restraining yourself and giving up on your dreams despite having the power to achieve them? It is the duty of the old to lay foundations for the young. I shall make a space for all of you!"

The Demon King made that spirited declaration and curled his hand into a fist.

Bubble, bubble.

Bubbles formed all around us.

At the center of the floating castle was a dazzling artificial sun. It brightened in the morning and darkened in the evening, governing day and night in the world of the floating castle. It was daytime now, and the artificial sun's light poured down brilliantly.

Bubbles rose through the space surrounding the battlefield. As space swelled, the light bent and scattered.

The Black Tower Master, the Green Tower Master, the Cyan Tower Master and Shei standing between them, Lankart and I nearby. All of us were swept into the spatial bubbles. Though none of us had taken a single step, the distance between us grew nearly tenfold.

An innate arcane that ruled space? Depending on its principles and type, an innate arcane could interfere with space, but to rule space itself?

"Now then! This is the space inside my pocket. Break it, burn it, tear it apart, freeze it, collapse it. It all happens inside the pocket! Clash with all your strength, without worry!"

The Demon King spread his arms wide, seemingly excited as he urged them to fight. Yet his arrival had brought the battle to a lull.

"I have shown you an ugly sight, Master. Forgive me."

"Eek! M-Master...! I was only caught up in it!"

The Green Tower Master folded her umbrella and withdrew One-Way Street. The Black Tower Master's Vanishing Point crumbled in midair.

It was hard to fight when someone watched so openly. Even more so when that person was vastly stronger and more mature, smiling gently with an interest in the fight itself.

Vanishing Point and One-Way Street. Compared to the Demon King's power, they were nothing but petty and ugly.

The two Tower Masters stopped making fools of themselves and gathered their power. The Cyan Tower Master, who had intervened to stop them, did the same.

"Haaah..."

The Cyan Tower Master withdrew her power with the utmost care. The air crystals were a storm suppressed by her innate arcane. They were so powerful that they could even destroy her. If she didn't carefully retract her power, the air crystals would be released and sweep through the area.

Just as the Cyan Tower Master took a deep breath and slowly released her innate arcane...

"You're trying to withdraw your power? I'll lend you a hand."

Countless spatial distortions formed around her. The Demon King's pockets enveloped the air crystals, and the air crystals, freed from the Cyan Tower Master's control, were released.

The air crystals returned to their original form and unleashed a tremendous storm. It was power too dangerous for her to use easily...

Yet even this was nothing before the Demon King's power.

The storm that had churned through the space for some time came to a halt.

Inside the Demon King's pocket.

Even the Cyan Tower Master's full power, enough to threaten the floating castle, was no more than a storm in a teacup to the Demon King.

The fight ended so easily that it felt empty. The Cyan Tower Master smiled gently and bowed to the Demon King.

"Thank you for stopping them, Master. Thanks to you, I was able to calm those excited children down."

She couldn't stop the Green Tower Master and Black Tower Master herself. Mages found it difficult to interfere with another's magic. So the Cyan Tower Master had deliberately used her innate arcane to draw the Demon King's attention. He could end this situation without any trouble.

Realizing that, the Demon King smacked his forehead and laughed loudly.

"Goodness! Have I been used?"

"The Green Tower Master and Black Tower Master wouldn't have withdrawn their power unless it was you, Master."

"Of course. My two beloved disciples have engraved my teachings upon their hearts and followed them faithfully!"

The Demon King smiled proudly at the Green Tower Master and Black Tower Master. His gaze carried affection and trust as firm as his words. I couldn't reach him with my mind-reading, so I didn't know what he truly felt.

"L-Love? You flatter me."

"Hoooii..."

Judging from the Green Tower Master and Black Tower Master's reactions, it didn't seem entirely one-sided. Weren't they his disciples? It seemed their relationship had gone a little beyond that.

After giving his clever disciples a dependable smile, the Demon King turned away. He looked at the Cyan Tower Master with a cold question in his expression.

"Still, Cyan Tower Master. There is one thing I don't understand. Why should they withdraw their power?"

It wasn't the gentle, warm smile he had offered his disciples. His question was cold and rational.

"My castle is a paradise and an earthly utopia for the chosen. Naturally, they must be omnipotent and free within this castle. They must not be constrained by the common sense of the ignorant masses."

It was the awful elitism one would expect from the King of Magic, the king of mages. I'd wondered where the floating castle's pervasive elitism came from. There was no need to look any further.

"Was there any need to summon me to save the ignorant masses? Cyan Tower Master, my interest and love are directed toward you, not the ignorant masses beneath your protection."

"...It was necessary."

"You disagree. Can you persuade me?"

What the Demon King meant by persuasion was clashing his knowledge and opinions against another's. The Cyan Tower Master thought to herself.

'There's no way I can do that... Master.'

Even the Cyan Tower Master, who had always been so confident and arrogant, was as insignificant as an insect before the Demon King. Even her innate arcane, which she couldn't fully use because it endangered her, was nothing more than an awl in the Demon King's pocket, a typhoon in a teacup.

'Once you know, you can't pretend you don't. The gap between Master and me is greater than the gap between me and the ignorant masses. The way Master looks at me is also the way I look at them...'

Refutation and debate were meaningless. Under that silent pressure, the Cyan Tower Master clasped her arms and lowered her head.

She looked so pitiful that I quietly approached and draped my coat over her shoulders. She was still frozen stiff.

'Warm...?'

The Cyan Tower Master hadn't even noticed me approaching. Feeling the touch on her shoulders, she raised her head.

"Ignorant mass? Why are you here?"

"Huh? Ah, you looked cold."

She did look cold. Ice crystals had been stuck to her like scales. Seeing my awkward posture, the Cyan Tower Master gave a small laugh.

"Thank you, ignorant mass. I was cold."

"I thought so. Even mages get cold, huh."

After answering casually, I carefully gauged the atmosphere.

Did I approach because she looked cold? That was true. Of course, that wasn't all. I was also trying to ease the mood.

I couldn't stand by and watch someone who had taken my side get lynched.

"Hold on. The two Tower Masters are the ones who didn't do things properly, Your Right-Handed Majesty."

Lankart was the same. Unlike me, he probably hadn't calculated the atmosphere before acting. He simply didn't like this situation.

"The way Hui was brought here was justified. The Green Tower Master went wild and ordered everyone arrested. If you're going to complain about someone acting however they please, you should worry about your own disciples first."

It was hard to tell whether his speech was polite or casual. Sparks flew from the Green Tower Master's eyes at Lankart's arrogant attitude, even before the Demon King, but the Demon King didn't care.

"Lankart. The dragon that leaped through the Dragon Gate. Is this the ignorant mass you brought here?"

"Ignorant mass? Hui is different. Right-handers keep looking at left-handers and saying they're undereducated or stupid. He's just left-handed."

"Hmm. This left-handedness and right-handedness you speak of must be related to your innate arcane, the Right-Handed World."

That was unexpected. The Demon King seemed to respect Lankart quite a bit. Was it because Lankart wasn't his disciple? Or because he was a dragon who had leaped through the Dragon Gate?

I could know for certain if I read his thoughts... but he was still too far away. My mind-reading could reach quite a distance if I concentrated. Yet he was even farther than that?

The Demon King, whose thoughts I couldn't know, soon softened his attitude.

"One who did not inherit the wisdom of their predecessors, but built a tower alone and reached the floating castle, deserves that much respect. Very well. I will not press the matter."

"Master! Lankart brought a dark mage here!"

The Green Tower Master spoke up, but the Demon King shook his head.

"I will not press the matter, Eliot Pascal. This time, overlook it for your master's sake."

"...Urgh!"

It was the word of her respected master. The Green Tower Master couldn't argue further and swallowed her words.

'It's not an exaggeration. Master may be defending Lankart, but Lankart is a madman who reveres that unknown ignorant mass more than Master!'

If the Green Tower Master got the chance to meet the Demon King alone, she would probably try to persuade him even more fervently. It likely wouldn't make much difference.

With the situation finally settled, Shei, who had barely managed to steady herself, approached.

"Hold on. Demon King!"

As though he couldn't hear Shei's voice, the Demon King ignored her and addressed the Green Tower Master and Black Tower Master.

"Eliot Pascal. Ryune Francesca. If you wish to refute the Cyan Tower Master and Lankart, clash everything you have within the space I made! If you withdrew your power with half-hearted resolve, I can only regard you as no more than that."

"Demon King, I have something to say! It's about the floating castle's crisis! The King of Sin may be revived. And if that happens, that thing above this floating castle won't belong to you anymore!"

With nothing left to hold her back, Shei shouted the most shocking knowledge from before her regression. Yet the Demon King gave her no response.

I didn't know whether he heard her and ignored her, or whether he couldn't hear her at all. I couldn't read his thoughts, either.

Then the expanded space fell away.

The space that had swelled like bubbles returned to normal. The only difference from before was that the two Tower Masters and the Demon King had disappeared at some point.

It seemed the Demon King had awarded our side a win by decision. More precisely, he had favored the Cyan Tower Master and Lankart, but still.

"Phew. That was a close one."

"Thanks to you. You have good instincts too."

"Even the puppy you raise can tell friend from foe. That's the bare minimum."

"I mean the coat. It was warm for something you just draped over me. Magic?"

Ah, she noticed? My small act of consideration.

"Even formulaic magic can warm clothes. Isn't it all in how you use dark magic?"

"I can't agree with that, but I think it would have been better if you had learned white magic. Or I could teach you."

"Come to think of it, maybe I never learned white magic because I didn't have a wonderful teacher to teach it to me."

"Hehe. That might be rewarding."

Thanks to the Cyan Tower Master's help, I had achieved my goal of joining up with Shei. The Demon King had decided to let us off as well, so we would be safe for a while. Now I just needed to go to Shei and hear what she had meant earlier.

When I turned to look at Shei, she was staring at the Cyan Tower Master and me with a deeply displeased expression.

"...Since when did you two get so close?"

That was strange. Was it because I'd taken off my coat? It suddenly felt cold.

Footnotes:

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