WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 239

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I organized my magical power and poured it into the carving knife in my hand. The golden magical power within it began intertwining with my own. At the same time, the carving knife connected to me as naturally as if it were an extension of my hand.

I carefully moved the carving knife to the tree branch floating before me and slowly drew it across the surface. This was the most important moment, so I needed to focus. I even held my breath and devoted my full attention to the sensation at my fingertips.

Perhaps sensing the magical power approaching it, the tree branch released magical power in resistance. But the carving knife delicately brushed aside that resistance and dug into the branch.

I moved the carving knife along the flow of magical power filling the tree branch. I needed to create a hollow space large enough to contain something else.

Before I knew it, the tree branch had split in half, revealing its interior. Even after I had hollowed out half its insides, it had not lost the flow of its magical power and still gave off vivid life force.

After confirming that, I put the carving knife into my robe. The fact that it could control magical power without any problem despite having its body split apart was largely thanks to this carving knife. As expected of a gift from the Professor, it had not disappointed me.

Of course, if I left it like that for too long, it would eventually lose even its magical power and wither away. I needed to fill it quickly. I brought over another tree branch I had prepared.

It held less magical power than the one before me. It was also something I had thoroughly trained by pouring magic into it over time. I slowly extended my magical power and inserted the smaller tree branch into the hollowed-out branch.

This could be called a kind of grafting. Grafting performed with the tree branches of mages.

Tensely, I quickly activated the surrounding magic circles.

Then the shadow domain I always used when making puppets formed and began reversing the direction of everything. Magical power scattered, life vanished, and light sank away.

In that empty space, only the two tree branches remained. Perhaps the branches felt it as well, because they began flowing magical power toward each other.

At the same time, I could feel immense magical power rising between them. Greater magical power than either branch had contained.

I gave a small nod at the sight.

This could not be called a successful reaction. The two trees were similar, so I had tried it on a whim, but was this resistance really inevitable?

Grafting was one of the excellent methods of propagation that took only a plant's strengths. I used it often myself when growing things I needed for cooking or research.

It was also a byproduct of research conducted among mages. I placed a hand over my chest. I could feel my tree regulating magical power.

Mages grew trees in their chests like this. Naturally, they researched grafting the trees of others onto their own. It was the easiest way to increase one's strength.

The method of grafting that had spread throughout the world was born from that research. It had begun as a way to grow one's own tree larger.

But a mage's tree rooted itself in the soul and body, feeding on them as it grew. Naturally, trying to plant someone else's tree branch would create resistance.

A tree was complete in itself and did not wish to accept impurities. That was why mages had failed so often in grafting trees. The magical power raging before me now was no different.

If this continued, the tree branches would surely burst apart from the magical resistance. With a sigh, I sent my will to the tree within my chest. At the same time, intense pain rose within me.

My tree had begun splitting its own body.

After enduring that familiar pain, I felt something rising up. I coughed lightly, and a piece of my tree emerged along with a little clotted blood.

I threw it straight into the magic circle where the tree branches were being joined. My piece of tree slowly seeped between the two branches. Wiping away the blood running from the corner of my mouth, I gave a faint smile.

Many mages had previously researched grafting magic and suffered failures. I was no exception. The points that had gone up in smoke through that research must have exceeded tens of thousands.

But those failures were stepping stones toward success. Since I had finally found a method like this, the points I had invested were not wasted. I silently watched the scene before me.

The magical power that had seemed ready to burst at any moment was gradually settling down. The spells I had prepared beforehand were binding the three tree branches together.

A mage's tree was perfect. But a tree branch was only a part of it. That was why it instinctively wished to fill what it lacked.

Of course, if I grafted only two tree branches together as I had earlier, they would surely consume each other and collapse.

But if I used the tree branch containing my soul as a buffer between them, they would naturally feed on my tree branch.

They would assimilate into the magical power of my tree branch, then become entangled with the magical power of the other branch grafted onto it, and eventually be bound into one. Of course, it was not as easy as it sounded.

I had to make components perfectly suited to that collision of magical power, which was why I had needed to tear off a branch of my own tree on the spot. There were also many materials consumed to suppress the collision.

Still, it did not change the fact that I had succeeded in grafting tree branches together. I carefully stepped back as I watched the branches gradually stabilize.

This magic would remain in place for about a week. At the end of it, a tree branch containing greater magical power would be complete. A new tree branch containing the mingled souls of two people, no, three people.

I slowly looked around. Several more similar magic circles had been set up nearby. All of them were things I had made before.

Once those were complete, I planned to conduct another experiment combining them into one. If I could bind together the tree branches of dozens of people, that too could be another possibility.

Researching tree branches directly made the experiments progress incredibly quickly. Coming to Icewall City had been worthwhile after all. This was the only place where I could obtain branches cheaply.

Of course, this alone would not be enough to grant Tiena's wish. Narrowing my eyes, I stretched lightly. This was ultimately nothing more than simple tree grafting.

A mere method like this was nowhere close to creating a perfect soul, a single life. In that sense, this too could be called a failure when viewed broadly.

Still, I had learned how tree branches needed to be joined. This misguided direction would surely help resolve Professor On's request someday. I had built another step toward success.

Then where should I use this tree branch once it was complete?

I smiled at that pleasant concern. But somehow, I could feel that smile fading.

Regardless of how my research was progressing, the sense of unease filling my chest was gradually growing.

I quietly closed my eyes and recalled the banquet from before.

Quite a few people had attended the banquet held to commemorate Hongryeong joining the Trading Company. There had been visitors from other organizations, as well as influential figures from the city.

People I could not easily meet even if I sought them out had gathered in one place. So I focused on building connections with them. I had participated in the banquet to advertise my puppets in the first place.

In that respect, Isabella and Mira had been excellent promotional tools. People gathered there naturally noticed that the two were puppets. The two of them did not hide the fact that they were puppets at all.

Those drawn in by them naturally became interested in puppets, and I was even able to arrange for them to visit my shop. I had gained enough customers and connections.

But ever since the banquet ended, unease had lingered in my chest. Even as my shop expanded and my research succeeded, it continued to grow.

I let out a quiet sigh.

A mage's intuition was not something I could ignore. A warning like this meant something harmful to me might happen.

For some reason, Hwaryeong's words came to mind. She had said she needed to prepare a gift for Hongryeong. Hongryeong had also believed she was planning something.

Then what exactly was the gift Hwaryeong had prepared?

I lightly rubbed my chin. But that train of thought was soon interrupted when I felt a strand of will flowing through my tree.

It was a message from Isabella at the shop, asking me to come quickly. There was a distinct sense of urgency in it, so I slowly set off.

Business had already stabilized. Why would she need to call for me?

With that question in mind, I headed to the Arcana Puppet Workshop in the center of the city. That was where she had called me to.

The Trading Company's puppet workshop I entered was doing quite well. It could hardly be otherwise. Their puppets might be inferior to mine, but the functions carved into them were excellent.

All the special magic they had plundered before, including the filtering magic, had been carved into them, so they naturally could not help becoming popular. I had heard that mages on the lower floors favored them.

I had also heard that puppets were a great help in the process of carving away the city's underground. Just as corpse puppets had done in Stalactite City, they rapidly drew in customers through the Trading Company's system.

Having eliminated all their competitors, they had succeeded in swallowing up the city.

Yet the person before me looked as though he had far too many worries for someone in that position.

I tilted my head when I saw Orgot, who had clearly come to greet me. He was the person in charge of this workshop. This was the first time I had seen him lose his composure like this.

“Orgot, what is it?”

“Please come this way. Isabella is waiting inside.”

Orgot lowered his voice as his eyes shifted about. I silently nodded and followed behind him.

When I opened the door to the semi-transparent reception room and entered, I found Isabella deep in thought.

[Welcome, Master.]

Isabella rose from her seat and bowed. I waved a hand and sat down in front of her. Then I glanced at the stack of papers spread across the table.

“What is it that you called me for? And what are these?”

Isabella sat back down and organized the papers. Then she held them out to me. This appeared to be why she had called me.

I took the stack of papers from Isabella and slowly read through them. I could not help frowning slightly. Then I met Isabella's eyes.

“Is this true?”

[Yes. As you can see, the number of broken puppets is increasing.]

The papers contained records of the corpse puppets that had been brought in and sent out over the past while. And I found something strange in those records.

As Isabella had said, the number of puppets breaking down was gradually increasing.

[It seemed like more people had been complaining that their puppets had broken down, so I conducted a full investigation. I confirmed that the number has increased sharply recently.]

I frowned.

Puppets breaking down? It was something I could not understand. How much effort had I put into designing them?

“Do we have a sample?”

I needed to inspect a puppet first. That was how I would determine where the problem had occurred.

But Isabella only shook her head.

[The broken ones have already been collected by the puppeteer association. New puppets were provided to the customers.]

I tapped the table quietly.

Without the puppets, all I could do was sit here and speculate. There were two possibilities for something like this happening.

One was that the puppets had been defective from the beginning.

If the puppets contained a fatal flaw, like they had in Stalactite City before, the current situation would make sense. A puppet with a weak point would eventually break down.

But there was no way defective puppets had been made.

All the puppets sold by the Trading Company contained my magic. I also knew how long the puppets would last.

No matter how harshly they were used, they would surely function properly for at least ten years. There were some differences between individual puppets because they used corpses as materials, but even that was within a predictable range.

I had worked to design perfect puppets for my business partners. I had made them able to accept my magic naturally.

There was no way the puppets had been made defective.

That left only the second possibility.

Someone was deliberately damaging the puppets.

I creased my brow.

Over the course of doing business, I had occasionally seen people deliberately tamper with puppets. They did it to receive compensation from the Trading Company. But they never got what they wanted.

The moment a puppet broke, the security magic within it carved evidence into the puppet.

Anyone trying to forcibly damage a puppet would leave traces behind.

Then there was no way the puppeteer association could have failed to notice. Isabella, right before me, would have noticed it as well.

Yet the fact that compensation had been given meant they had found nothing unusual.

The puppets could not have broken on their own, so someone had clearly touched them. And anyone capable of damaging them so precisely would have to know their internal structure well.

I lightly tapped the table.

Beside me, Orgot let out a sigh and dropped heavily into a seat. Though the reception room was already surrounded by security magic, he had activated several more spells, as though he still could not feel at ease.

At this level, even someone trying to infiltrate from outside would surely have difficulty peering inside.

Orgot clicked his tongue and looked at the Mookgeumgo person outside.

Like Elmeshi, who was stationed at my workshop, the Mookgeumgo person in a black uniform was a guard mage protecting the Trading Company's workshop here. It almost seemed as though the guard's gaze was directed toward the reception room where we were sitting.

“They are targeting me.”

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