WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
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Chapter 176: This Is the True Form of Magic
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* * *
“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”
Rubel boiled water and warmed the teacups.
A spoonful of tea leaves went into the teapot, followed by snacks to have with the tea and a book to read.
It was hardly something an employee of a shop should be doing during business hours, but Rubel paid it no mind and leisurely prepared for tea time.
The morning was already nearly over, and noon was drawing close.
At least at this hour, no Britons, much less Londoners, would come looking for a Magic Hall that was neither a restaurant nor a café.
Clatter!
“Gah?!”
That was why Rubel could not help being startled when the door suddenly swung wide open.
So startled that the book they had set out slipped from their grasp, Rubel reflexively pointed a wand at the door.
But all Rubel received in return was an indifferent voice.
“Is this how you welcome customers?”
“...Pardon? You are customers?”
“What else? Do I look like a robber?”
“N-No. My apologies.”
Only after hearing that sharp retort did Rubel realize the other party was an ordinary person and hurriedly apologize.
Then, belatedly clearing their throat, Rubel offered a polite greeting.
“Welcome to [Orna the Unraveler’s Magic Hall]. What mystery have you come seeking?”
“Before I answer, I need to confirm something. Is this really a Magic Hall of the Twenty-Seven Lineages of Magic?”
“Pardon?”
“If you only put that up on the sign, I’ll leave. Let’s not waste each other’s time.”
“Ah... Hahaha. I take it you have seen quite a few low-quality Magic Halls.”
‘Must be a tourist who got taken for a ride.’
Rubel laughed heartily.
Tourists who held strange fantasies about the Twenty-Seven Lineages of Magic came here all the time. So did tourists who had been taken for a ride by fake Magic Halls preying on them.
It was an everyday occurrence in this city.
“But rest assured. Our Magic Hall is the original among originals, truly carrying on the Twenty-Seven Lineages of Magic.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. Just look at this Magus seal. Doesn’t it prove that we are an orthodox Magic Hall?”
Unlike unlicensed Magic Halls that merely gouged tourists, this place was different.
Rubel grinned as they proudly showed the business permit and certificate hanging on the wall at the front of the shop, both stamped with a six-pointed Magus seal.
Ordinary tourists would be impressed the moment they saw that Magus seal.
“...This place too.”
“...?”
“Well, whatever. It’s obviously a waste of time, but I should still check.”
Regardless of Rubel’s puzzlement at the customer’s gaze, which had somehow turned even colder, the black-haired woman dressed as a man stepped forward from behind the customer and placed a small case from her pocket atop the display counter.
“Do you know what this is?”
“This is...”
Rubel opened the case.
Then, after checking the object inside, they wore a dumbfounded expression.
“Isn’t it just broken junk?”
Perhaps it had been crushed beneath a rock. It was a half-broken piece of metal, shattered into fragments and so badly mangled that its original shape was hard to make out.
As Rubel looked uneasily at it, the customer frowned and asked.
“So you don’t know what it is?”
“Even if you ask what it is... Ah, is it a broken item? Then you should go to an item repair shop, not a Magic Hall.”
“If you don’t know, that’s enough.”
“Excuse me? Sir? Sir!”
As though that concluded their business, the black-haired young man with a bluebird perched on one shoulder immediately turned and left the shop.
Rubel blinked as they watched the woman dressed as a man retrieve the case and silently follow after him. Only much later did they mutter blankly.
“...What was that?”
* * *
[That was another dud.]
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
[Though showing something like that to a Magic Hall and expecting an answer may have been a bit much.]
“What do you mean, a bit much? It’s far worse that a place like that is using the name of the Twenty-Seven Lineages of Magic.”
Rimon snorted.
Rubel might have found him strange.
But to Rimon, Rubel was the stranger. Rubel was just a Player in robes, showing off a Magus seal as proof that this was an original Magic Hall.
The Magus Guild might be one of the Ten Great Guilds, but its history only went back a few decades.
The very idea of getting a Twenty-Seven Lineages of Magic certificate from people like them was nonsense.
“Those lunatics at the Magus Guild... They really have remade London entirely to suit their tastes.”
[Well, it is one of the Ten Great Guilds, with ninety percent of all magic-focused Players affiliated with it. It’s only natural that they would want to remake their headquarters to their liking.]
“The Infinity Guild didn’t pull this kind of crazy stunt.”
[That’s because the Infinity Guild is unusually easygoing.]
Yoo Na-gyeong shrugged her wings.
In truth, Infinity was famous among the Ten Great Guilds for being easygoing, or, to put it bluntly, a mishmash.
Its guildmaster, Lee Cheon-gi, possessed an Absolute Skill that allowed him to learn any Skill, so its requirements for joining were comparatively loose.
The other Ten Great Guilds, on the other hand, often had membership skewed according to their Monarch’s disposition.
The Demiurgos Guild, where production workers made up the majority. The Saint Guild, which only holy-type Players could join. The Utopia Guild, which consisted entirely of summoners and tamers.
They selected guild members based on the Skills they possessed.
Naturally, the Magus Guild, which only accepted magic-type Players, was the same.
And when similar people gathered together, it was only natural for where they lived to change accordingly. Even more so when the Ten Great Guilds, the rulers of this age, stood behind them.
“What were the Azure Dragon Clan doing while their homeland became this mess?”
“The Azure Dragon Clan has an agreement with Magus.”
“An agreement? Don’t tell me it wasn’t enough for them to tolerate this mess. They even helped them do it?”
“I don’t know the details of the agreement. I have only heard that they pursued several ventures together afterward.”
“Did the Azure Dragon Clan, of all people, tolerate this mess merely for money?”
“Given the nature of the ventures, it was probably not for money.”
Rimon looked suspicious.
Even if the Seven Dragons Society had become corporatized, it was strange for the Azure Dragon Clan to accept an agreement that even the Gold Dragon Clan would not.
But Weiling’s next explanation completely dispelled his suspicion.
“Charity work.”
“...Ah. That figures.”
It happened in an instant.
The doubt on Rimon’s face was replaced by the look of someone thinking, That would explain it.
Though a sneer soon followed.
‘Still the same, those goddamn bastards.’
Having grasped the general circumstances, Rimon found himself even more displeased.
Noticing how he felt, Yoo Na-gyeong shrugged her wings and spoke.
[Team Leader, don’t let it bother you so much. Things may have changed greatly since your day, but this is still magical in its own way, isn’t it?]
“...Magical in its own way?”
Rimon wore an odd expression.
He looked at Yoo Na-gyeong with a face full of disbelief and contempt, mixed with an unreadable mockery and cynicism. Then he suddenly asked.
“Na-gyeong. Doesn’t it seem like there are far fewer people on the streets?”
[Now that you mention it, it does. Is it because it’s lunchtime?]
“No. It’s because it’s time for magic to be magic.”
[What?]
Yoo Na-gyeong tilted her head.
There did seem to be fewer pedestrians, but she could not understand what that had to do with magic being magic.
A sound ringing out from somewhere beyond the sky answered her question in Rimon’s place.
Dong!
The strange toll, like a thousand pickaxes striking iron, rang throughout London.
Then the streets suddenly grew busy.
The already sparse pedestrians hurried their steps, street vendors hastily packed up their wares, and shops closed one after another, drawing curtains across their windows.
And as Yoo Na-gyeong watched in bewilderment, there was no longer a single person to be found around them.
Dong!
“Hmm, from this height, I should barely be able to see it.”
While Yoo Na-gyeong stared at the suddenly empty streets in shock, Rimon headed toward a nearby clock tower.
He had Weiling pay the admission fee, then took the elevator inside to the observation deck at the top of the tower.
“Watch carefully. It’ll happen soon.”
[Soon? What do you mean by...?]
Dong!
Yoo Na-gyeong could not finish her question.
Because she saw it.
The instant the thirteenth toll ended and the bell sound filling the air abruptly stopped, the London skyline, which had been visible despite the haze until just moments ago, was swallowed by fog in the blink of an eye.
Shhhhh.
It was not merely a sudden change in weather, nor was it simply that the fog had grown thicker.
If it had to be compared to something, it was a sinking ship.
Like a vessel with a hole in its bottom being dragged beneath the water, the vast city of London itself was being swallowed whole by the fog.
And when the transformation was complete, the city covered in every kind of brilliant magic was nowhere to be seen beyond the observation deck.
Only the silhouettes of several spires rose faintly above a sea of fog so thick that one could not see even an inch ahead, like the wreckage of a shipwreck.
[...W-What is this?]
“What else would it be? This is the true form of magic you wanted to see so badly.”
Yoo Na-gyeong froze with her beak hanging open, like a child seeing a person inside a costume for the first time.
Rimon spoke with the mockery of a mischievous adult showing her reality.
Then, breathing in the scent of magic spreading softly through the fog, a scent almost indistinguishable from a curse, he continued quietly.
“It is also why London alone remained safe during the Demon God War, while other European cities were burned to ash.”
* * *
When the Demon God descended in the past, Paris, the place of its descent, was the most thoroughly destroyed. But that did not mean other places were safe.
The Demon God wanted more blood and sacrifices, and so the more prosperous a European city was, the sooner it became a target.
When the Demon God, having reduced European cities to ruins one by one, finally reached London, all its citizens despaired.
But that despair came too soon.
For at the moment the Demon God sought to burn London, figures suddenly stepped forward.
Twenty-seven witches who had passed down magic for countless ages, from the Silver Age to the present day.
Having originally remained hidden behind the scenes of history, they stepped into the open to stop the Demon God. Gathering their power and wisdom, they revived an ancient spell.
That was the Great London Barrier.
One of the strongest spells in history, considered legendary even in the Silver Age.
Thanks to that barrier, London endured unharmed until Rimon returned and cut down the Demon God.
That was also why the British Empire had been able to dominate all of Europe.
Other nations, having lost their capitals and most of their major cities, had no choice but to become dependent on the British Empire, economically and politically.
In that sense, the Great London Barrier could have been called a blessing bestowed upon the British Empire.
That is, if the Great London Barrier had vanished after the Demon God was defeated without leaving behind any side effects.
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