WeTried Translations
Translator: Nemui
Editor: Nemui
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Reincarnated as the Villain's Heir
Chapter 50: Sorry While You're Busy Acting Like the Mastermind, But...
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"The seed-sowing seems to be going smoothly."
This moldy old fortress site had once been used by the Kingdom of Sailrand during the neighboring-country war.
In that place, we were reporting our progress to one another.
To execute the plan with certainty, local investigation including the terrain was indispensable.
The plan would be fairly large in scale.
Aside from local investigation as preparation, seed-sowing was also essential.
That said, seeds were not something you could simply scatter at random.
For a seed to bloom and sprout, proper soil was necessary.
Finding that soil had been quite difficult, but it seemed our comrade who had been hiding in this country for years had handled it.
That comrade had just returned to the fortress.
"Comrade Krantz, you have done well."
"Yeah, it was long. But thanks to that, I found good soil."
Comrade Krantz had searched for soil all across Sailrand.
Gathering information to find soil where the seeds could grow must have been difficult.
Comrade Krantz let out a breath and relaxed.
"Then the seeds have been sown?"
"Yeah. Student children are easy to deal with. If you do a little preliminary research, you can find as many openings in their hearts as you want."
"With your demon's ability, was it not easy?"
"One was the young master of a duke house, one was a girl with mana dysfunction, and one was the son of a troupe member. Listen and be amazed. All three of them were able to make contracts with one corner of the Thirty-Two Pillars of the Netherworld."
I doubted my ears at the truth Comrade Krantz spoke.
Those were beings that surpassed even our contracted demons and magic beasts.
The Thirty-Two Pillars of the Netherworld.
Their existence was written in grimoires and picture books for young children, and no small number of people suspected they were fictional.
Whether it was the emperor of ancient Eldia or anyone else, those called overlords in history had always obtained power beyond humanity.
The Thirty-Two Pillars of the Netherworld were said to rival the Eldian Emperor's magic sword.
If one researched history deeply, one would learn that the hero who raised a rebellion against the Eldia Empire had commanded one corner of the Thirty-Two Pillars of the Netherworld.
That fact was likely not widely known.
For that reason, to me, the Thirty-Two Pillars of the Netherworld were far more terrifying than any magic sword.
"...If that is true, then victory is all but ours!"
"Yeah. Once they are finished, we can carry out the operation. By the way, I do not see Comrade Amto."
"He seems to have detected rats. He will return soon."
Comrade Amto's range for mana detection was no ordinary thing.
Even if rats sniffed us out, there would be no problem.
Hmm, was that Amto?
He had come staggering back?
"Comrade Amto, that was quick. What happened to the rats?"
Amto fell forward.
Beyond him stood three shadows. One was a well-built warrior-like man, and another was a boy.
The remaining one was a young girl. Who were these people?
"...Do not tell me you defeated Comrade Amto."
"It seems he reached his limit."
When I looked at Amto collapsed on the floor, I could tell his mana was completely depleted.
These two had made Amto exhaust all his mana?
Unbelievable.
"To think you found this place."
"Enough sneaking around. Now, show me."
The man readied his greatsword.
His fighting style was so outdated that it was embarrassing to watch.
Had Amto lost to a primitive man like this?
"Brother Vaid, let me take at least one of them."
"You take the man on the right. I want to see the one in the middle."
"You're taking the best one. Well, it was your mission to begin with, so I won't complain."
What were these people?
Were they perhaps looking down on us?
On us?
No, Comrade Amto had been defeated.
There was no way we could let our guard down.
I could tell the boy beside him was no ordinary person either, but something was strange.
My mana detection could not pick up his mana.
There was a black haze around him, and when I tried to sense it, it felt like peering into pitch-darkness.
As if seeing through me, the boy gave a fearless smile.
By contrast, the other man did not have mana worth fearing.
It was not low, but it was average.
Then should we be wary of the boy?
"Now then, all of you, show me."
"Every word out of your mouth gets on my nerves! You old-era barbarian!"
We would not hold anything back.
Comrade Krantz faded out from the scene, while Comrade Ihalt and I deployed magic circles.
Comrade Krantz's contracted demon was Phantom, the demon spirit.
Its ability was to make his body invisible.
It erased even Comrade Krantz's mana, so detection was impossible.
With this, he had continued hiding in Sailrand for many years.
Using information gathered by infiltrating every kind of place, he had probably found talented candidates as Summon Masters.
And what we used was summoning magic.
What I released was countless tentacles. This was the power of my contracted demon, Diabaran, the Demon Duke Flower.
Comrade Ihalt used Epsilon, the Demon Flame Beast. He released countless beasts that burned and devoured every living thing until it turned to ash.
"Hmm! Magic similar to that man's from earlier...!"
It was only natural to be surprised.
This was our country's cutting-edge magical technology, which had not been passed on to other nations.
Summoning magic could directly release the power of contracted demons.
Because of that, it stood apart from conventional Summon Masters, who only handled the abilities of their contracted demons.
In other words, all the power a contracted demon possessed could be manifested in the form of summoning.
By outputting the contracted demon's power at high speed, we could use the demon's power more efficiently.
Furthermore, it was possible to minimize the user's mana consumption.
In other words, they should assume we would never run out of mana!
With this, we had completely overcome the weakness of magicians.
Wait.
Then why had Amto run out of mana?
"Splendid!"
The voice of the man named Vaid echoed through the fortress, and small bits of rubble fell from the aging ceiling.
At Vaid's feet lay Diabaran's tentacles, minced to pieces.
When had that happened?
"Again, you have shown me something fascinating. That is summoning, yet not summoning. At least, the summoning magic I remember had nothing noteworthy beyond letting one use the abilities of a contracted demon. Perhaps physical ability rose according to the contracted demon. Summoning is extremely powerful, but one could say its flaw is that it does not exceed the user's limits. But your summoning magic is as if you have become one with the contracted demon. My interest is endless. If Mirei learned of this, she would surely be very excited. And also, chatter, chatter, chatter..."
He spoke unbelievably fast. What was this man?
No, more importantly, what kind of feat had that man with no great mana performed?
Was the secret in that greatsword?
"Brother Vaid. Thanks for bringing me. They're decent opponents."
As for the boy, the last flame beast was being swallowed by something black.
Was that dark magic?
No. The dark magic I knew could not fight so aggressively on the front line.
Comrade Ihalt was even more shocked than I was.
"My Hell Beast Rush...!"
"I see. So the current me can handle the Demon Flame Beast Epsilon."
"You know my contracted magic beast..."
He had seen through Comrade Ihalt's contracted magic beast?
Who were these people? Why were we being handled so lightly?
No, calm down.
Comrade Krantz should be able to finish them without being noticed.
He could erase his form, presence, and mana as he approached.
"This is splendid too!"
"Guh!?"
The moment Vaid grabbed the air, Krantz's form began to appear.
Krantz's neck was gripped tightly, completely sealing his movement.
"Comrade Krantz! Overpower him with mana reinforcement! He cannot use much mana reinforcement!"
"I am... using it... He won't budge...!"
Comrade Krantz was unable to move from in front of Vaid while being held by the neck.
He had pinned down Comrade Krantz even with mana reinforcement included?
When I glanced over, Comrade Ihalt had been cut apart by the boy.
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