WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 247

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(I revised chapters 241 through 246, so I would appreciate it if you could check them over.)

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About a week had passed since the hearing ended.

During that time, Icewall City had been thrown into quite a bit of chaos.

Several organizations disappeared, a few shops collapsed, and people fled.

But the moment the hearing’s result was announced, the outcome had already been decided. The chaos eventually came to an end, and I too had found enough leisure to sit across from someone like this.

I lightly lifted the teacup with steam rising from it.

The rich scent of magical power flowed into my body.

It did not merely fill my body. It seeped deep into the domain within me and scattered a faint shower of rain.

As my tree and the small soul Saplings received those drops of magical power and sent out joyful wills, I smiled in satisfaction.

This tea had also been brewed from a mage’s tree branch.

I never expected it to be this effective. All the trouble I went through to get it had been worthwhile.

As I sipped my tea, I looked at the person seated across from me.

It was Gaon, the head of the puppeteer association in Icewall City.

“Have some too, Mr. Gaon. I think you’ll like it. It’s brewed from Mr. Domitian’s tree.”

Gaon frowned slightly at my words.

He slowly lifted his cup and took a sip. After savoring the flavor for a moment, he nodded.

“So you even tore off his tree branches in the end. No wonder people find you unsettling. It seems the name Stem Collector was no exaggeration.”

I could only scratch my head at Gaon’s words.

It seemed the misunderstanding about me had spread even farther.

Well, since things had come to this, I decided not to worry about it anymore. Perhaps because of that nickname, everyone I met treated me with a little more respect.

There was no need to stop a nickname that helped me like this.

I silently emptied my cup.

After some time passed, Gaon pulled an envelope from his clothes. He held it out to me as he spoke.

“This is repayment for your help.”

I took the envelope and checked what was inside.

There was a card in it.

When I looked at Gaon in confusion, he continued.

“It is a key to a vault at Mookgeumgo. Take it there, and they will hand over the things I deposited. I put several magic books related to puppetry and some materials inside. Collect them once things settle down.”

Hmm. He was giving me magic books?

Considering how carefully he was handing it over, they were surely quite valuable.

I tucked the envelope away and gave him a bright smile.

“What help did I even give you? Still, I won’t refuse.”

“Tch. I seem to have involved myself in this matter for no reason. The losses are too great.”

Gaon clicked his tongue lightly.

I quietly nodded.

The puppeteer association had taken Domitian’s side at the hearing.

That was only natural. Ugo, Domitian’s blood relative, was part of the puppeteer association.

Since Gaon had invested heavily in Ugo’s family, listening to Domitian, who half controlled it, was practically the natural course of things.

But Gaon’s choice ultimately ended in failure.

The hearing to break the agreement ended with Domitian’s defeat, and the puppeteer association had to give up a great deal as a result.

If I had merely watched, the puppeteer association’s territory in this city might have disappeared entirely.

Of course, they would not have been driven out, since the association was also part of the puppet trade. Still, it was obvious that its influence would have been greatly reduced.

But that was not what I wanted.

The puppeteer association was the foundation I had built upon.

So I did my best to lessen the pressure directed at them. Hongryeong and Ailey respected my wishes as well and did not strike the puppeteer association too hard.

The association still had to surrender some of the things it already possessed, but at least it had escaped the storm.

That could be seen as a debt I had placed upon them.

And Gaon had probably expected, at least somewhat, that I would help them like this.

“Still, you gained things equal to what you lost, didn’t you?”

Gaon quietly looked at me.

I refilled his cup and smiled faintly.

Gaon was not someone who did things that only caused him losses.

Looking at it that way, this matter was bound to have brought him some benefit as well.

I only realized what it was after the situation settled down.

I sipped my tea as I recalled the utterly fallen Domitian.

A mage from a great family naturally drew people in simply by existing.

That was the power contained in their bloodline and the depth accumulated over time.

That was why people quickly gathered around Ailey as well.

And Domitian coveted the bloodline of such a great family.

To swallow Ailey completely, Domitian had even called the vault lord to the hearing.

According to the rumors, he had wagered a great number of points, along with half the territory he ruled.

He had put so much on the line, so the vault lord must have moved.

If he had succeeded, Ailey would not have escaped his grasp.

But his plan was ruined by my hand.

He had let his guard down, trusting that the absolute means known as a contract would never betray him.

And naturally, the backlash fell upon Domitian.

Since he had forcibly convened the hearing, he had to compensate Ailey, one of the parties to the agreement, heavily.

Domitian lost most of the territories he ruled, along with a large fine.

Meanwhile, Ailey began swallowing him up instead.

Hongryeong and the People’s Council also gave Ailey significant help.

I lightly cleared my throat as I recalled Orgot grinding his teeth at the sight of Domitian.

Obtaining Domitian’s tree branch had also been something Orgot arranged with the People’s Council’s help.

He said he would repay what had nearly been done to him.

It was understandable that Orgot was so full of resentment.

The agreement Domitian had tried to break was the means by which Orgot could advance.

If the agreement had been broken, Orgot would have been driven from the Trading Company and ended up much like Jegang.

Of course he could not help but be filled with murderous intent.

Watching Orgot radiate that hostility from nearby, I felt a little guilty.

Domitian’s side might have been the ones who kidnapped him, but I was the one who provided the information about him.

Since he was kidnapped at the meeting I called, he surely knew I had cooperated with Domitian as well.

Perhaps he even held a grudge against me deep down.

So I gave him many gifts to ease his feelings.

I smacked my lips lightly as I recalled the third-generation puppet I had given him last.

Still, perhaps because I showered him with such gifts, Orgot treated me as he had before.

Since he even gifted me Domitian’s tree branch, his resentment must have completely disappeared.

I shook my head slightly and looked down at my teacup.

Yes, the tree branch.

This was the last thing I could take from Domitian.

Ailey’s counterattack had put Domitian in danger, but that did not mean he was going to die from this.

Domitian had the years he had built up and the families he had stolen.

With help drawn in from outside, he managed to protect his own life.

The matter ended with him giving up only a portion of his tree branches.

Still, because the power he hurriedly gathered to stop this had been borrowed, Domitian also lost some of his influence over those families.

And Gaon, seated before me, did not miss that opening.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him.

“What do you plan to do with Ugo now?”

“...Hmm. Ugo bears some responsibility for this matter as well, so I intend to control Ugo’s actions. Within the next three years, I plan to force Ugo to advance in realm and send Ugo outside. That is what you want as well, after all.”

I quietly nodded as I listened to Gaon.

So that was how he intended to handle it.

Ugo had wielded considerable influence over the puppeteer association through Ugo’s blood relation to Domitian.

Perhaps Domitian had arranged for Gaon to become Ugo’s teacher after Isabella in order to awaken Ugo’s talent.

That was why Ugo naturally had no choice but to take Domitian’s side during the hearing.

But through this matter, Domitian had fallen greatly.

To the point that he could no longer reach into the puppeteer association.

Gaon did not miss that opening and took Ugo into his hands.

The Vengeance Association, seeking revenge for those Ugo had killed, had been unable to move because Domitian and Ugo’s family had promised them a great deal.

Like I had done for Orgot, they had given them enough benefits to make them forget their resentment.

But when Domitian fell, those promises became scraps of paper.

Naturally, the Vengeance Association would begin moving again.

So the moment Domitian fell, Ugo had no choice but to rely on Gaon.

And Gaon had no intention of keeping Ugo at the university after Ugo fell into his grasp.

There was no reason to keep the risk of a connection to Domitian.

So he clearly intended to remove Ugo from the university and use him as a tool outside.

Perhaps, as Domitian had previously intended, Gaon might even seek to tie Ugo to his own bloodline.

Even as the puppeteer association suffered losses, Gaon had succeeded in securing benefits for himself.

Perhaps he had intended to create a situation like this when he put Ugo at the forefront during the previous competition and drew everyone’s hostility toward him.

I clicked my tongue lightly as I caught a glimpse of his sinister calculations.

Getting rid of Domitian did not mean the brutality spreading through the university would disappear.

Someone was already appearing to fill the empty space he left behind.

Still, unlike before, the brutality Gaon carried would benefit me as well.

I glanced at Isabella beside me.

Isabella had died by Ugo’s hand.

That was why I had helped Gaon.

To bring Ugo the same fate Isabella had suffered.

Isabella’s eyebrows trembled slightly at Gaon’s words.

After thinking for a while, she slowly nodded.

“...Please handle it as you see fit, Mr. Gaon. The past means nothing to me anymore.”

Isabella looked at Gaon with a resolute expression.

Gaon rubbed his chin as he met her gaze.

“By the way, I was quite surprised. I never thought you would escape the contract like this. Is this why Professor On takes an interest in you?”

Gaon looked Isabella up and down.

His gaze was full of greed and interest.

Well, that was to be expected.

Gaon was not the only one showing such interest.

I shook my head as I recalled the many inquiries that had come from others.

At this hearing, Domitian killed Isabella according to their contract.

Then Isabella escaped that contract and trapped Domitian in return.

Naturally, people sent inquiries.

Contracts were absolute.

Since she had cast one off, they could not help but be shocked.

As a puppeteer like me, Gaon probably understood more deeply than anyone else what I had done.

That was why he was showing his desire so openly.

I glanced at Isabella.

She met my eyes and placed a hand over her chest.

At the same time, a faint flow of magical power reached me through my connection with Isabella.

It was quite different from the magical power I had felt from her before.

Naturally.

Her soul had changed.

What I had sought to make while preparing for this hearing was a fake tree.

It was meant to replace Isabella’s old, half-collapsed tree and free her from the contract.

But escaping a contract was not easy.

A contract was a chain that bound the tree, and beyond that, the soul.

Simply replacing the tree was not enough to undo it.

Moreover, the tree I meant to replace it with was only a patchwork made by gathering many tree branches.

The patchwork tree I made was nothing more than a collection of torn souls.

That massive mass, held together with my soul fragments as glue, could not be called a perfect soul.

That was why it could hardly function as a soul.

It had no center to speak of.

But now, that patchwork tree occupied the place where Isabella’s soul and tree had once resided, keeping her alive.

The reason it was possible was simple.

I shook my head lightly.

“I did not do much. I only prepared the vessel. I think Isabella is the amazing one for creating this form with such an uncertain vessel.”

“I understand that you do not wish to explain deeply. It must be directly connected to your magic, after all.”

Gaon clicked his tongue as though he did not believe me.

Then he slowly rose from his seat.

“Are you leaving already? There is still some tea left.”

“Unlike you, I do not enjoy eating other people’s tree branches. Our discussion is over, so I will see you on the day of the auction.”

Gaon looked down at the teacup with faint contempt in his eyes, then turned and walked away.

A puppet that had been waiting nearby began to see him out.

I slowly sipped my tea and smacked my lips.

Hmm. I really could not understand why he found this so unpleasant.

It tasted good.

Perhaps because he was not so open-minded, he could not believe my words either.

I had only spoken the truth.

I shrugged as I watched Gaon’s back.

As I said, Isabella having a new soul was entirely due to her own talent.

When I first thought of replacing her soul, I considered planting a soul Sapling in Isabella.

That was the thing most similar to life itself.

But after repeated experiments, I realized it was impossible.

The moment I planted a soul Sapling, resistance arose between Isabella and the Sapling.

That resistance was only natural.

Isabella possessed an overwhelmingly powerful mind.

The method I used to create soul Saplings centered on the soul, one of the three elements of life: mind, soul, and body.

The birth of a soul Sapling was the process of gathering many soul fragments, allowing them to break apart and merge on their own, and eventually transform into a single life.

During that process, the flows held by each soul fragment naturally fused into one.

But Isabella’s mind endured even that process of fusion.

Considering that she had maintained her form even when her soul was shattered to pieces before, the shock that arose from such unification must have been nothing to her.

That was why a soul Sapling made with the soul as its center could not take root in Isabella.

Her mind, already free of such limits, controlled her body.

In that situation, planting a new soul within Isabella was nearly impossible.

So I could not help but think it over again and again.

And during that process, I came up with an interesting thought.

Life was created when three elements came together.

At its center was the soul.

But did life truly have to exist with the soul as its central axis?

I already had beings sustained by powerful minds alone at my side.

Treasures like Mira.

Of course, these treasures fell short of being called life.

Nothing that could clearly be called a soul had formed within them.

But they possessed a power even stronger than life.

The ego that bloomed from their endless desires.

In a way, Isabella was similar to such treasures.

Even as her soul was crushed, her mind continued to shine intact.

At the same time, Isabella possessed the form of life.

Unlike treasures, she contained enough domain to shape a soul.

So I decided to make her mind, rather than her soul, the center of life.

That was what I prepared the patchwork tree for.

The patchwork tree was a collection of torn souls grafted together through my soul fragments.

Because of that, it had a form more imperfect than any other soul.

But that imperfection was exactly what I wanted.

To be imperfect meant it could be shaped according to the will of the one who held it.

Thus, when her soul and tree collapsed under the contract with Domitian, Isabella planted the patchwork tree she had held against her chest in that empty place.

The patchwork tree entered the gaps left by the tree that collapsed with the contract and took root in her body.

Then Isabella began coloring that tree with her mind.

Just as I had thought, she was shaping the soul with her mind.

There was only one problem.

Her mind could fail to overcome the soul’s flow and collapse.

That nearly happened at the hearing.

I had been so nervous then.

But Isabella ultimately overcame it and took control of the soul.

She succeeded in holding within herself a new soul that she had forged.

A form of life born from the mind, another Fake Life, had taken shape.

And as Isabella came to possess life, I felt that I had moved forward a little as well.

I quietly placed a hand over my chest.

Then I began to feel my own domain beyond it.

Among the flows of soul Saplings spreading widely around my tree, I could sense a strange will stirring.

That will was rising from a small glimmer floating in the sky above my tree.

The glimmer scattering magical power felt like a tiny sun.

I smiled faintly.

That tiny sun was the form of life Isabella held.

Rather than simply being bound to the shadow tree’s domain like the other puppets, she had become a puppet that functioned as an independent existence.

Was that why?

The flow of magical power connected to Isabella felt less like a connection to a puppet and more like one linked to a familiar.

It was a form that bound and supported each other firmly.

As Isabella changed like this, my domain also became wider than before.

The soul Saplings beneath it would grow further through the powerful will she gave off.

The feeling that I had taken another step forward made my chest feel full.

“Hmph. If you like it that much, make one for me too. Watching this is making me jealous.”

I coughed as something sharply poked my side.

When I turned, I saw Mira leaning against me with her cheeks puffed out.

As Mira once again gathered magical power around her finger, I quickly raised my hands.

“If I get the chance someday, I will make one for you. It seems difficult for now. Isabella is not perfect yet, after all.”

It was not that I had never thought about making another puppet like Isabella.

It had been a long time since I felt my domain expand like this.

But there was a problem.

I could not find anyone with a mind as powerful as Isabella’s, along with the talent to match it.

If I had tried to reconstruct a soul based on the mind of any mage other than Isabella, it surely would have failed.

And there was an even more serious problem.

Isabella had been left with side effects.

I turned my head in the other direction and looked at her.

She looked somewhat pale.

Although she had forged her soul, it was not as easy as it sounded.

Even now, Isabella was continuously enduring the resistance within her soul.

The moment she lost control even slightly, the patchwork tree planted within Isabella would fail to overcome that resistance and burst apart.

That was why she was like a ticking time bomb.

The moment I saw Isabella’s condition, I had no choice but to give up on making new puppets.

Even Isabella had ended up like this.

It was obvious what would happen if I tried to plant souls in things without self-control, like treasures.

I let out a soft sigh and stood.

“Then we should get ready to leave as well.”

“Are we going back to the tower?”

I nodded as I looked at Mira.

I had nearly finished everything I needed to do in Icewall City.

I had expanded the puppet workshop and eliminated all the other competitors. I had also dealt with Domitian, who had blocked my path.

There was no reason to remain any longer in this ambiguous city.

Of course, Domitian would remain as a future trouble.

But he was no threat to me now.

His influence and power had both been stripped away.

If anything, Domitian should fear me now.

I pulled out the mirror bug from my clothes.

It gave off a bright light and displayed the points I had.

Fifty million points.

Seeing that amount for the first time, I stroked the mirror bug with unfocused eyes.

Just a few days ago, I had been completely broke. I never expected to receive such a large number of points.

This was what Domitian had given me according to the contract.

Originally, he was supposed to give me one hundred million points.

But even after selling everything he owned, he did not have enough points. The rest became a debt.

And according to Mookgeumgo’s interest rates, that debt would continue accumulating interest over time.

The Domitian of the past could probably have repaid this much quickly.

But after his fall, the territory he held was quickly filled by others.

There were simply too many people who wanted to expand their influence within Mookgeumgo.

Hongryeong and Ailey were among them.

Having been stripped of most of his influence, Domitian was now no different from an ordinary 8th-floor mage.

So from now on, he would have to focus on repaying the interest.

Of course, I did not think Domitian would be able to repay it.

How many people in this city would allow him to swagger around again?

Domitian had climbed to a high position by accumulating resentment.

Before, everyone had kept quiet because his power was strong. But now, there was no need to do so.

So his difficult road would continue for as long as the resentment he had built up.

Ailey would not leave him alone, for one.

There was no need for me to concern myself with him.

His future had already been decided.

Amid his mounting debt, Domitian would eventually fall into my hands.

Just as Isabella had before.

That was the path I had prepared for him.

I put the mirror bug back into my clothes and smacked my lips.

I had not received the full hundred million, but fifty million points alone was an incredible amount.

Just thinking about where to use it made my heart race.

Of course, I had already decided how to use most of it.

I left the workshop and said my final goodbyes to the people I had met in the city.

Then I left Icewall City and set out for the tower.

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