WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 648: Black Magic, White Magic, and Gray Magic - Finale

──────

I had never met the Red Tower Master before. If I had seen a beautiful woman with such an intense, fiery presence, I would not have forgotten her easily. She was also the kind of person who felt a little overwhelming.

For some reason, though, she seemed to like me a great deal.

"How long are you going to stay trapped in that snow globe, Celsius? Do you think freezing yourself away in a freezer will keep you like this forever? The day will come. The day you break your hardened shell yourself and step outside."

Was she sociable? No, she was more uninhibited than that. Even calling her confident did not quite fit. Her eyes, rippling like flames, were not looking at this place at all. They seemed ready to flare up and vanish at any moment.

"Miss Fahrenheit... Could it be that you were behind all this?"

Elcia's question must not have amused her. Her red hair, which had been scattering like fire, abruptly fell flat as if someone had poured cold water over it.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What more needs to be said? You're the talk of the Temple of the Demon God. If you were working behind the scenes... Then Celsius's defeat as well."

"Behind the scenes? Working in secret? None of that matters! Wake up, Celsius!"

The Red Tower Master seized my shoulder and pulled me toward her. She was a little shorter than I was, but there was no resisting that powerful motion. My body was dragged along helplessly.

"Did you know this man existed? Did you grasp how dangerous and powerful he was? Did you even keep your guard up? Of course not. If you had, you would not have lost even the key to the Heritage Vault and declared defeat so miserably!"

It was a heavy list of facts. Elcia could not refute any of it and bit her lip.

"This man is only one of countless mishaps that might come for you. This one was even a 'human' mishap. He did not wipe you out, burn down your territory, freeze it over, or turn it upside down. Celsius should be grateful. The disaster that came this time was merciful enough to end things here!"

"Huh? It isn't over ye..."

The hand gripping my shoulder tightened. It hurt a little. I did not know what this was about, but I should keep my mouth shut for now.

"Maintaining rules takes strength too! Yet your rules are not strong enough for that. They are not great enough to let you stand still. They are not hard or steadfast enough to face a changing world!"

The Red Tower Master snapped her fingers. Flames rose beneath her hair, and at that instant, a huge burst of fire exploded far off in the sky.

Boom, boom boom. Fireworks of every color embroidered the heavens. Flames bright enough to shine in the middle of a clear blue day. Even the Empire's fireworks could not have been more extravagant. The Red Tower Master, who had unleashed enough arcane by herself to bankrupt an entire province, shouted with blazing eyes.

"Ice crystals? The Cyan Tower Master's Crystal Theory? Laughable! You're tense and frightened by something so trivial, too afraid to even touch it! A mage seeks the means to overcome fear instead of living with it!"

"More empty words... You haven't even found a way to overcome it...!"

"You say it hasn't been found? It has. No, it is plainly right above us!"

The Red Tower Master pointed to the structure visible in the distance. Beside Celsius territory stood a structure absurdly huge. The floating castle occupied one side of the sky with lofty indifference, as though the chaos around Celsius's ice castle had nothing to do with it.

"Not long ago, Lord Demon King subdued the Cyan Tower Master's innate arcane in an instant! With the power of space!"

Not only the Cyan Tower Master's. The Green Tower Master's, the Black Tower Master's, and even the Red Tower Master's. Before the Demon King's space magic, all of them were utterly powerless. No matter how mysterious a spell was, it remained bound by space.

"Lord Demon King is the Demon God of Space! If rules are built with that power, something like an ice crystal won't be a problem at all!"

The nearly omnipotent power of space. Analyze that power and make it the cornerstone of world laws.

Since the Demon King monopolized the power of space, it might even amount to a rebellion against the Demon King.

Yet the Temple of the Demon God had decided to do it. To obtain space magic and leap to greater heights.

"Rules? Trivial! All you gain from locking yourselves within limits is this miserable sense of stability! A tiny scratch makes you bleed, collapse, and whimper for long-dead ancestors who have already vanished. That is all you are!"

"Ugh..."

"Choose! Will you conform yourselves to the world, or make the world conform to you?"

It was practically a threat made at swordpoint. A demand for change from the defeated, like the treaty a victor presented to the loser after a war.

But Celsius was a family of mages too.

"...Miss Fahrenheit. If you say that, does it mean you have a method?"

Elcia's words carried several implications. Rankin Celsius was startled when he heard them.

"Elcia! What are you saying? Surely you do not intend to accept their demands!"

"Be quiet, Uncle Rankin. They have the key to the Heritage Vault now."

"The key to the Heritage Vault is only a passage! That space is inside Rene's pouch. We only need to beseech Lord Demon King and receive another key connected to that pouch!"

"That is the problem, Uncle."

Saint Rene. The saint said to have founded the Arcane Federation, and the teacher of all mages.

Whether it was a relic or the remnant of something else, that pouch was a subspace that could only be opened by a specific method. It was likely something closest to a Demon God.

"Even if this was my failing, losing the key leaves us helpless. We use Rene's pouch, yet we do not understand it. In the end, if it is taken from us, we must depend on Lord Demon King."

"That is because it is Lord Demon King's authority..."

"If that authority became a rule we could use."

Elcia rose to her feet. Her pride had been wounded, and she did not fully trust us. Still, she was preparing for change in her own way.

'If an opportunity comes, it is better to ride the tide than reject it. The moment Celsius was defeated by a single person, there were no longer any options left for us. The rules have already been broken. Even if we retreat now, Celsius will no longer be as steadfast as before.'

"If we can use even part of the World Rule, we will have no reason to fear the ice crystal. Elisha will also earn the right to return to the family."

"But..."

"Or will Uncle Rankin recover the key and the rules for us?"

It was impossible. He could not even deal with me alone, and there was no hope if the Red Tower Master, one of the five Tower Masters and the essence of the fallen Fahrenheit family, joined in.

Rankin Celsius fell silent. Elcia glared at him briefly, then turned back to me and the Red Tower Master.

"Celsius will accept your demands. You should be pleased. The greatest rules in the Federation will support you."

"Elcia!"

"If there is a way to handle the ice crystal, there is no reason we cannot expand the reach of warmth. Celsius has only stopped expanding because of the limit imposed by the ice crystal. We will adjust the rules so they reach the outlying zones as well, and we will let the matter of black magic pass without question."

Perhaps because I had broken the rules before her eyes so many times, Elcia was much more compliant than before. I thought she would be more stubborn. This was unexpected. I still had more to show her.

"And we will formally invite the Temple of the Demon God to attend the magic demonstration before Lord Demon King."

"Elcia! That is...!"

"You came here wanting that too, did you not?"

The Demon King protected magic. There was only one reason the Demon King, who ruled loftily from the floating castle, occasionally descended to the ground. To see the magic discovered below.

Compared to the floating castle, where brilliant talents gathered like stars in the night sky, achievements on the ground were lacking. Yet diversity had value in itself. The Demon King visited the place of descent, listened to their accomplishments, and bestowed favors suited to them.

Like Rene's pouch, which had become the Celsius family's Heritage Vault.

The Red Tower Master laughed heartily at the answer she wanted.

"I accept!"

Everyone had seen it. They had come too far to pretend a verbal agreement did not exist. A dramatic compromise had been reached between Celsius and the Temple of the Demon God.

Good. That was good, but...

"...Why are you deciding that? What relationship do you have with me?"

She had suddenly shown up, cut off everything I had to say, and started making demands. My magic show had become a sideshow.

The Red Tower Master readily brushed aside my complaint.

"Because we are already in the same boat!"

"Since when?!"

"Were we not?"

"We haven't even spoken before. What connection could there possibly be between you and me..."

I was about to deny it because it was true, until something fell from the sky.

Black figures descended through the drifting sparks. Seven mages in black robes. A circle surrounded by six rings was drawn on their robes.

The Temple of the Demon God.

The most dangerous mages, who treated the world itself as the object of magic.

They might not have been as dangerous as the Red Tower Master, but there were already seven of them dangerous enough to compare to her. I recognized several faces among them.

"Hui! My friend! If you were going to cause trouble, you should have given me a heads-up. If I had prepared beforehand, I could have come to watch!"

"That's Lankart Spendry!"

"The mad mage!"

Why was your name known even in Celsius territory? Tch. It was becoming awkward to deny anything when I had attended the same school as that guy.

...More importantly.

"Hughes?"

The youthful face revealed when the robe was pushed back belonged, surprisingly, to Shei. Shei, who had appeared alongside the Temple of the Demon God for some reason, muttered as though dumbfounded.

"You suddenly went completely silent. What is this? Why are you there?"

That was what I wanted to ask. Why were you there?

* * *

A battle between one mage and the Celsius family. Astonishingly, the winner had been that lone mage. He had won after a close battle against Celsius's finest mages and the rules of the Heritage Vault.

...That was what one might think. But Missionary Casas understood that this battle had been a one-sided victory.

"We played right into the scheme he set up."

It looked as though Celsius, who had held an overwhelming advantage, briefly let its guard down, lost the key to the Heritage Vault, and suffered a helpless defeat. In truth, it was different.

Magic had not worked on him.

Unlike divine power, he overcame magic through pure understanding and by finding a way through it. Celsius would probably have lost even if it had continued using the Heritage Vault. The only reason Celsius had managed to save face at all was because he had staged it so absurdly.

In any case, he had won. Thanks to that, Casas had been able to save the people who had been caught up in it.

"Still, he was a man who took responsibility for what he had done. Teaching black magic was infuriating, but if the rules expand their reach, Richard too..."

The outlying zones lay outside the influence of the rules, so they could not benefit from the altered freezing and boiling points. They survived only by receiving the scraps discarded from the territory. With survival already taking all their effort, they had no room to teach magic.

But if the range expanded, the outlying zones would no longer truly be outside. Their circumstances would improve greatly if they could even bring in greenhouse farms.

They had also said they would let the matter of black magic pass without question, which meant Richard would no longer be in danger. Casas felt relieved, and happy.

"...Father."

Casas looked down at the voice coming from within Casas's arms. Richard had apparently awakened at some point and was staring wide-eyed at the Red Tower Master's flames.

He had probably awakened long ago. He must have kept his eyes shut with the sly calculation unique to children, knowing there was nothing he could do even if he woke up now.

That was better. At least an unconscious child and the priest holding him were not threats. If the missionary had had no one to protect, Celsius might have dealt with Casas.

"Richard. Yes, don't worry. Thanks to the Lord's will, everything ended well. This must also be the Celestial God's protection..."

Casas was relieved that everything had ended so fortunately, but Richard's attention was elsewhere. Richard stared at the mystery beyond with sad yet yearning eyes.

"If I learn magic too... Can I become like that?"

Beyond them, fire and ice danced together. Ice and fire. They were phenomena at opposite ends, but there was no need to distinguish them. Magic was what allowed the two to coexist.

'He has been captivated by magic.'

Richard had been enchanted by that mystery. He would likely spend the rest of his life pursuing mysteries.

He had to give up. Richard had neither the environment nor the opportunity to learn magic. He had learned black magic, but the Celsius family would only overlook it, not recognize it. He was only sly, not exceptionally talented. Even if he was captivated by that light, he would only burn to death like a moth flying into the flames.

It would be better for him to know his place, be grateful for what he had been given, believe in happiness in the next life, and live content with reality. That was right.

A today like yesterday promised the tomorrow to come.

That was why there was faith. That was why there were teachings.

But...

"...You'll never amount to anything if you depend on something like black magic! Seal it away and learn white magic somehow!"

At this point, Richard would not give up because of a priest's words.

And the priest was not someone capable of saying something so harsh and cold that would make him give up.

"One day, an opportunity will come if you live long enough! So keep your head down and wait for your chance, you sly little brat!"

The white lie was gray. It was not true, and the possibility was very low. Still, Casas breathed gray hope into the boy.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried