WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 635: Who Learned Black Magic

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Evil grows from weakness.

It slips into the cracks between people struggling just to survive. When the abandoned fight desperately to stay afloat, it puts on a mask and offers them a hand. From the bottom of a pit, anyone looking up at a shadow against the sky would mistake it for an angel. The chosen weaklings support the evildoer with all their bodies and souls.

That is how evil gives the abandoned attention and affection, then works in secret through them as its hosts.

That is why evil grows in weak, filthy places, and why order agonizes over how to treat the weak.

Still, even if it is evil to order.

Is it truly evil to those abandoned by that order?

* * *

The military state's biometric terminal was a highly complex device. It interpreted bodily information as magical data, processed it into an Arki avatar to be inscribed into the body, and granted its users eligibility for every magical benefit provided by the military state.

Those magical benefits meant using them as living sources of mana, but still.

Compared to the biometric terminal's countless other functions, ritual magic was almost an extra feature. Even in the military state, where universal education was practiced, very few people could properly use ritual magic. What the military state needed was magical firepower, not ordinary people capable of wielding black magic. Ritual magic was only one part of the biometric terminal.

So if I removed every possibility of misuse from the biometric terminal.

And focused only on ritual magic, with pure goodwill, opening that path would be very easy.

The basic principle of ritual magic was to compare the five fingers to the five elements, then use incantations and hand signs to form a simple magic circle.

Though its structure was uneven, mana still dwelled within the human body, and this internal mana was easier to control than the natural mana outside the body. It was difficult to form an orderly structure with uneven internal mana, but the bones, blood vessels, and nerves in the fingers had a tower-like structure of their own.

Building a structure from mana on bare ground was difficult, but it became much easier when a structure was already there. First, form a hand sign to block off part of the blood vessels and nerves. Then, with a little concentration and an incantation, mana flows through specific blood vessels and forms a structure inside the fingers.

In other words, it was black magic that came extremely close to white magic. It used nerves and blood vessels as a magic circle, and the internal mana possessed by every human being as its activation source.

At minimum, one had to be able to make mana flow through the nerves and blood vessels, so a procedure that opened the path and channeled mana through it directly was essential. The military state drilled holes into the wrist, but I had no need to go that far.

I could use the Demon God of Blood and the Lightning Demon God. I could make a clean path with no side effects at all.

A foolish mage from the old kingdom.

Ritual magic was magic for fools, created by Prelvior the War Mage.

I should use it to grant the wishes of fools who wanted to become members of the Arcane Federation.

Casas the missionary did not report Richard. He was a good enough man to deserve the title of missionary. In the meantime, I continued teaching, going back and forth between the school districts and the Outcast quarters.

My teaching was far too effective. No matter which school district they came from, every talented child awakened mana detection. I achieved in just two weeks what others had failed to accomplish for years. The praise for my results only grew louder with each passing day.

Yet the brighter my light shone, the more people fell into despair.

"Teacher...! C-could you spare a moment...?!"

There was no doubting my ability. Countless results had already proven it.

Then what about those who still had not awakened? The poor students who had received my teaching and still could not even get a feel for it?

The education did not suit them?

They had bad luck?

They were not feeling well?

Every one of those excuses was refuted by my existence.

"O-our child can't sense mana. Saturn next door can, and so can Neil next to them! Our child has attended your classes since the very first day!"

Oh dear. What a pity.

Still, everyone was different, and talent varied more than anything else.

Some children were smart and quick to learn, yet utterly hopeless at mana detection.

Some could vaguely sense mana, but did not match any branch of magic, leaving them in limbo.

Some had awakened mana detection but were simply too unintelligent to understand the principles.

And many were simply untalented poor students who could not understand anything at all.

"What makes our child different from those children? Why can't they do it...?!"

They could not blame their circumstances, either. They would probably envy the Outcasts instead. At least the Outcasts were lottery tickets that had not yet been scratched. These poor students... had already come up empty.

I answered with an indifferent expression.

"You know the reason. Do I need to explain it?"

Your child had no talent. Even I could not awaken it.

I conveyed the cold truth with my expression.

"Sniff!"

At my cold words, the parents' gazes briefly turned behind them.

A child stood there, shrinking into themself. They had done nothing wrong, yet their heart was full of guilt. They were inadequate, unable to meet expectations, unable to repay their parents' investment.

I'm sorry I was born this way.

Behind their begging parents, the child was apologizing.

But that silent apology never reached them, and the parents cried out in despair.

"How...? We had seven children, but not one! Not a single one managed it! They're all useless idiots who do nothing but eat...!"

The mother wailed.

The border school districts were home to the people who, aside from the Outcasts, lived in the greatest poverty and hardship. Their only way to overcome that hardship and rise in status was to win the lottery.

A single lottery ticket issued after a man and woman of marriageable age met and waited ten months. They had spent nearly ten years scratching tickets, only for every one to come up empty.

And they had drawn seven of them. This was where greed beyond their means had led.

"No. We still have the youngest!"

"Teacher, we'll bring our youngest to the school! The youngest still has a chance!"

Remembering the one remaining lottery ticket, the parents clung to me again. I was not particularly interested, but I asked out of courtesy.

"How old are they?"

"...Eight, eight years old! They already learned all their letters!"

Actually six, with two years added. They had not even learned all their letters. Did they think that would work?

"I don't have time for that. I have to return to the floating castle in fifteen days."

After saying that, I turned away, but the mother roughly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.

"Y-you can't do this! We still haven't achieved anything...!"

Every child newly born in the Arcane Federation was an unscratched lottery ticket. A ticket whose prize money was distributed according to magical talent.

Thinking of that, I glanced at the hand gripping my shoulder.

"Take your hand off me."

Not letting go? Was she prepared to use force? It made no difference. I did not need magic to shake off someone's hand.

I simply shook her hand off. That was all, yet the mother's hand flew back. A shrill scream rang out, drawing everyone's attention.

Despair, resignation, fear, humiliation. Every kind of negative emotion churned together.

I dusted off my clothes, then turned back toward the sobbing mother.

The longing for magic, stubbornness, and obsession, all of it had been instilled in them by this order. Well, I had no intention of denying that. It was natural to make the goals set by society into one's own dreams.

"I can't teach a dullard to master white magic, but I can teach them relatively easy ritual magic."

So I would make their dream come true.

"Do you want to learn magic?"

The parents nodded desperately. It was a truly frantic sight, as though they understood this was their last chance.

They begged because they did not want to be cast out among the Outcasts, and I granted their wish as well.

Similar situations occurred several dozen times.

Surprisingly, the Outcasts did not seek me out. Those who had already given up on magic did not know what ritual magic was or why it could help them, and they did not even want to try learning. A few young people, Richard among them, who still held dreams and hope came to me and learned ritual magic.

The poor students in the school districts were more proactive. Afraid that they would never be able to learn magic again once I disappeared, they accepted anything, ritual magic or otherwise.

Short incantations, simple hand signs, and magic that took effect immediately. Ritual magic was easy to use, and it was useful besides. Its ability to replace the mana needed to activate magical tools stood out in particular. Even ignorant fools could greatly reduce their mana consumption with ritual magic alone.

The military state's technology had gathered every good thing in the world and honed it solely for efficiency, until it became malicious. I stripped away that malice and made it into a pure tool.

The fools who had gained magic as a tool rejoiced. Ritual magic or anything else, magic was magic. The knowledge they had acquired was precious and too valuable to waste. The fools proudly showed it off.

How foolish.

The magical families awaiting the floating castle's arrival had not heard the news yet.

But they would soon.

Footnotes:

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