WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 653: I'll Bring You a Floating Castle

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"I'll give you the floating castle."

It was as fanciful and unrealistic as saying I would pluck a star from the sky. Perhaps that was why neither Shei nor Elcia took my words at face value.

Elcia, in particular, dismissed it as a tasteless joke.

"Even if we're doing this verbally, it's still a contract, Hughes. I'll take unclear and easily misunderstood language as an attempt to deceive me."

"Really? I thought it was full of consideration for you. Couldn't you feel it?"

"What consideration can there be in lies and deception? Consideration comes only from conveying knowledge in clear language. If you don't want to divide your allies, speak plainly."

There were such things as kind lies, but those only worked on innocent children. Elcia adamantly rejected my consideration.

It couldn't be helped. Since she wanted it, I'd have to teach her the hard way.

"Fine. I'll explain it one point at a time. Once you've heard everything, there'll be no backing out, so use your imagination and understand at the right moment. Then I'll stop explaining."

"I don't understand what you mean, but I'll listen for now."

"Your goal is to obtain one of Rene's pouches, correct?"

"Yes."

'We lost the key to the Heritage Vault, but we were promised it back if we helped with this matter. As long as we obtain one more set of keys from Lord Demon King, the Celsius family gains from it. If we can connect spaces with two keys, handling ice crystals will become far more convenient.'

So far, this was something both Elcia and I already knew.

"The Temple of the Demon God wants Rene. Not Rene's pouch, but the Demon God itself."

"...I expected as much."

It wasn't all that surprising, even if it was extreme. It was common knowledge that the Temple of the Demon God was after the Demon God. Elcia could easily have anticipated it.

"But Lord Demon King still only hands over Rene's pouches. I don't know how many there are or how plentiful they are. Rather than teaching us how to catch fish, Lord Demon King only takes one fish from the net and gives it to us."

"Even if Lord Demon King is everyone's teacher, there is no obligation to reveal dangerous, advanced magic that manipulates space to everyone."

'Then again, there is no reason to hide and monopolize it either. Unless Lord Demon King wishes to keep that authority firmly in hand.'

A hint of suspicion crossed Elcia's mind.

In the Arcane Federation, knowledge was power and authority. It was natural for the Demon King to monopolize knowledge of spatial magic. Revealing it for no reason might threaten both life and power. The Celsius family did the same.

Still, it felt different when someone else did it to you. Even though I had said nothing further, a slight sense of resistance grew in Elcia's heart.

'...If we combined that knowledge with Celsius's excellent rules, we could gain endless possibilities. For everyone's advancement, it could be disclosed like gravity magic. I don't know why Lord Demon King hides it.'

That was enough to plant the seed.

Smiling inwardly, I spoke as though making a casual remark.

"That's right. We have no choice but to watch and learn among ourselves. The question is how we watch and how we learn..."

The Demon God was the unique arcane of a human who had awakened to this world's truth. It was great knowledge that a single genius had found like a miracle over the course of this long history.

How were we supposed to discover it when it was hidden away so thoroughly and never taught? Learning to catch fish? In terms of difficulty, it was comparable to hunting the Sea Calamity. Calling it practically impossible was more accurate.

Even so.

What if someone had already found the Demon God, and we only had to follow the trail left behind?

"Perhaps taking fish out of a net can also count as learning how to catch fish."

"...A net?"

"Then we need to find the moment when Lord Demon King rummages through that net."

'Does he mean we should target the moment Lord Demon King takes out Rene's pouch? Does he understand what he's saying? Climbing Babel Tower is an enormous trial in itself. That place is another realm. Unless one is among the chosen few, one cannot even set foot there.'

Babel.

The largest and greatest tower, piercing straight through the floating castle.

At the floating castle's core stood Babel Tower, its summit the very center that generated inverse gravity and supported the floating castle. It was said to be a tower that reached the gods, but ordinary humans could not approach it.

The inverse gravity grew stronger the closer one came to the floating castle's core, while distorted space protected the core like a barrier.

Only the Demon King could reach that place.

Naturally, Rene's pouch would be there as well.

"You're saying you intend to climb Babel? Your resolve is impressive. Well, the Temple of the Demon God has many talents like you. I'll cheer for you. I hope you don't go and get yourselves killed on Babel Tower."

"Praying isn't enough. We should prepare. For what might happen in the unlikely event that we succeed in our assault."

Just as Celsius territory had rules, the floating castle also had rules. Rules so mysterious they defied even awe.

"The floating castle's rule is inverse gravity. It uses that power to stay high in the sky and lets people live with their feet on the walls."

"I know the floating castle's rule too. I was taught at the floating castle for a time. You don't need to explain it."

"The rule isn't important. What if what happened in Celsius territory also happened in the floating castle?"

Elcia fell silent after considering that far. At last, she understood what audacious thought I had in mind.

'The floating castle has two rules. One creates inverse gravity inside the floating castle, and the other keeps it in the air...'

"The floating castle happens to have descended upon Celsius territory right now. What if the rules are disturbed and the floating castle can no longer take off?"

'When he said he would give us the floating castle, surely he didn't mean...!'

Then the floating castle would end up grounded in Celsius territory.

Like every other castle, the floating castle would become fixed to one city. The Demon King, the Five Towers, and countless mages would come down into the territory. Falling from the sky would be a disaster, but now that it had already descended, it would be an unexpected windfall.

'Celsius territory would effectively become the capital of the Arcane Federation!'

If the floating castle and Celsius territory had been evenly matched enough to oppose one another, Elcia might have disliked the idea. Two powers could not coexist on the same land.

But the difference in strength between the floating castle and Celsius territory was as great as heaven and earth. That remained true even if the floating castle wasn't in the sky. There was no room for a power struggle to arise. Having all that incredible knowledge and magic nearby would be beneficial enough.

After giving Elcia enough time to think, I quickly walked it back as though I had misspoken.

"Oops, I shouldn't say something so dangerous. Surely that won't happen."

"That's right. Not even a one-in-a-thousand chance of that can be allowed to happen."

The Temple of the Demon God would do something in the floating castle. Its goal had never been Celsius territory in the first place, but the Demon King's Babel.

The more incidents occurred in the floating castle, the more Celsius stood to gain. Elcia understood that.

This should do nicely. I held out the key to Elcia.

"I'll return the key to the Celsius Heritage Vault that we held for a while."

"...Hmph. It's only returning to where it belonged in the first place."

Elcia casually accepted the key. Still, the returned key seemed to hold less of her attention than something else now.

"Although the Celsius family was defeated and is complying with your demands, we will not betray Lord Demon King or the floating castle. Whatever the Temple of the Demon God does has nothing to do with us."

It was a declaration of boundaries.

In other words, Elcia wouldn't interfere no matter what we did. And as long as it remained possible to pull away, Celsius would help.

"But it isn't right to leave such remarkable guests standing around like folding screens. If you have nothing to do while staying with the Celsius family, would you refine the magic to be demonstrated at the exchange meeting? We would like to learn from all of you."

They were passing off work to us while giving us an excuse to participate in the exchange meeting. That was quite active support.

"We look forward to it, members of the Temple of the Demon God. I'll leave you to rest comfortably, while you tend that fireplace over there."

Elcia rose from her seat, then suddenly turned back to me as though something had come to mind.

"Elisha isn't with you anymore, correct?"

The Cyan Tower Master? Right. According to Lankart, the Cyan Tower Master had withdrawn not long after.

It seemed Elcia still worried about a younger sibling. I nodded.

"That's right. It's regrettable. Losing someone as talented as Elisha was a great loss for the Temple of the Demon God as well."

"...My sibling has always been like that. Always running away at the most important moment. It was probably for the best for all of you too."

"Is there some story behind it?"

"What story could there be? Do I need some special reason to speak ill of an inadequate younger sibling?"

'Unable to control the power to handle ice crystals, Elisha ran away into Lord Demon King's shadow... And now Elisha has run away from the Temple of the Demon God too.'

It looked like something had happened. Shall I read a little more?

The Cyan Tower Master seemed likely to be deeply involved in this matter too.

'She ran away from the family saying she didn't want to turn anyone into a relic, yet she hasn't accomplished anything. Hmph. Fine. At least she herself won't leave behind a relic.'

Footnotes:

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