WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
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◈ The Inept Mage’s Infinite Regression
Chapter 24
Boen seemed stunned for some time, his gaze shifting back and forth between the corpse and Ethan.
Eventually, though, he managed to speak. “How…?”
Ethan pulled a handgun from inside his coat. “I borrowed this Terran magic from the Mage Court. I’ll have to return it.”
“…I see. If it’s Terran, that makes sense…”
Ethan was relieved Boen wasn’t pressing him for details. According to what Ethan had studied about demons, they highly valued logic and efficiency, so they often employed forbidden methods when necessary. That kind of mindset was natural to demons.
The origin of demons traced back to Seshuys Serrenemis, an ancient group of mages from a southern region that was now designated a forbidden land. Believing that true understanding of the world required first casting off their human limitations, they had used themselves as subjects for extensive experimentation, eventually transforming into something no longer human. Their pursuit of “demonic sorcery” had begun there.
Ethan glanced at his Glock 45.
‘Every time I faced Bain, I never actually shot at him. I always shot myself in the head instead.’
Of course, each time had been an emergency, at close range, against someone specialized in mental magic. There’d been no point in risking a head-on confrontation when Ethan could simply regress. It was exhausting, but if necessary, he could repeat the situation as often as needed.
It hadn’t been difficult for Ethan to lure Bain into the Great Library Labyrinth. Professor Bain had taken one of the most active roles in searching for Maya and Koshe, and Ethan didn’t think that was because of his conscience. It was more likely that Bain had found it intolerable for events at the school to be outside his control. Indeed, Boen himself had said as much, since Boen, on Bain’s orders, had had to comb every corner of the school alongside Ethan, looking for Maya’s hidden corpse.
There’d been a chance the gun wouldn’t work on Bain—after all, magic is boundless. According to Rivielton, Bain’s combat magic was quite good but not exceptionally surprising. Considering he was just dealing with a student, it was “outstanding enough, but not beyond that.” However, the Glock 45 had worked on Moraiotz Sing, a demon—a race literally born to wield magic. Therefore, Ethan had expected it to have at least some effect on a mere mage.
‘Besides, Bain’s specialty wasn’t combat magic.’
Ethan had been leading the way. The moment he’d claimed to have taken a wrong turn, Bain had turned around… and the moment Bain’s back had turned, Ethan had drawn the gun. Bain had sensed that something was amiss and glanced over, but Ethan had already had Bain in his sights. Bain probably hadn’t even recognized the handgun at all.
“Anyway, I assume the Contract of Pasitaros is now void. Feel any different?”
“That’s why you asked how I was feeling earlier?”
“Yep.”
“Did I really have to come down here for this? You could have just told me.”
“Seeing is believing, isn’t it? And as you’ve experienced before, even lifting a sheet of paper is easier when two people do it together. It’s the same principle when dumping a body.”
“I… don’t quite follow, but all right.”
Ethan and Boen tossed Bain’s corpse into the same underground water flow they’d used last time, a pool that ran through part of the labyrinth. The body bobbed for a moment before vanishing below the surface.
“Are you really sure it was all right to kill him?” Boen asked.
“Would I have done it without permission?”
“Bain kept his distance from the Imperial Inquisition, but it was for a good reason that he was the only official inquisitor at the Yurmus Magic Academy. He was that capable. Even the Mage Court will find this a huge burden.”
Ethan thought, ‘Oh, was he really that important?’
“Well, they told me to do it, so we don’t have to worry, right?”
“Assuming everything you’ve told me is true.”
“Anyway, once it’s known that Bain is missing, other professors at Yurmus will check out his workshop. We need to make sure there’s nothing suspicious left there, right?”
“…There’s a lot. I’ll have to deal with it.”
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Killing Bain itself brought Ethan little benefit, but there were still some gains.
First, he learned how to access Bain’s workshop. Typically, mages restricted entry to protect their secrets, though they all had their own methods. Bain’s method was to knock on the door softly thrice, then hard twice, then softly twice more. Without that method, whoever opened the door would only see an empty workshop, courtesy of an illusion Bain had created.
“Professor Rivielton doesn’t restrict entry at all.”
“Well… he can just beat up anyone who tries to steal his muscles.”
Bain’s workshop looked more like a scholar’s study than a mage’s lab. But that made sense; mental magic typically required fewer magical tools and reagents, instead focusing more on scholarship itself. Moreover, Bain was a “sorcerer” who used his magic actively in the field, so maybe he had no reason to keep research materials in his lab. Given the sort of research Bain was doing, it was probably best that he didn’t store it in an esteemed professor’s workshop anyway.
“All of these volumes are banned, as far as I know. This pile of papers is full of documents about the Empire. Some of these books contain Bain’s unpublished theses—not because they’re incomplete but because he had nowhere he could present them.”
“The Mage Court will find them valuable.”
“You plan on giving them everything?”
“I need to earn some points, don’t I?”
Boen hesitated, then handed it all over.
“What about anything that’s worth money?” Ethan asked, and Boen shot him a disapproving look.
“Are you a thief?”
“Hear me out: If a professor suddenly disappears, will people assume he was murdered, or that he left because of some entanglement?”
“Neither would be surprising.”
“But if money is missing, they’ll be more inclined to think he ran off.”
Boen conceded that Ethan’s logic was sound. “I’d better grab some of his travel gear from his quarters as well, to make it look like he departed. That stuff we’ll need to burn. As for the money…”
“We’ll keep it.”
“So it ends up in our pockets either way?”
“If you don’t want your share, I’ll take it,” Ethan offered.
“…I know where his valuables are.”
Gathered up, the goods amounted to roughly fifty imperial gold coins in value. Ethan gave Boen all the coins and silver, and kept the jewelry and gems for himself.
“This is actually thoughtful of you,” Boen said.
“I’m taking more than you, though.”
“…Sure,” Boen replied.
But that wasn’t exactly true, and they both knew it. While the jewelry might be worth more in theory, the difference wasn’t that large, and it was stolen property, so Ethan would lose some of the money to the middleman. In other words, Ethan was doing more work for less gain.
“…With this kind of money, I could build a mansion with ninety-nine rooms in my hometown,” Boen remarked.
“Are you planning to go back?” Ethan asked.
“No, what use would that be? And now I apparently owe a debt to the Mage Court, so they’ll probably want to make use of me in some way. Don’t you think so?”
“…They might.”
They carried the things they wanted to burn to a small cabin in the woods—used occasionally by hunters. Lighting a fire there wouldn’t raise suspicion.
“I feel lighter, somehow,” Boen said. “When I first saw Bain’s dead body, so many emotions surged up that I wasn’t sure what to feel. Thinking back on it, I’m surprised to realize that, in some small way, I actually liked the man. While I’m thrilled to be freed from the Contract of Pasitaros, I also feel a tinge of regret, or perhaps loss, at the thought of never seeing him again.”
Ethan replied, “Oh, I have an older brother, and I can’t stand him. But he’s still family, so I guess… if he died, maybe I’d be a little sad. Probably. Something like that?”
“Are you talking about affection?”
“Yeah, that. Not sure what it is exactly, but sure.”
“Bain wasn’t always cruel to me. After all, he was the only person I was able to rely on after I was sold from my homeland. So… it’s not too surprising.”
“Still, he deserved to die.”
“Yes, he did.” Boen smiled. “Thank you for that, Ethan.”
Ethan realized this was the first time he’d seen Boen smile.
“Hey, hold on. You’ve got something under your eye.”
“Hm?”
Pretending he was going to wipe it away, Ethan spit on his thumb as if to rub it off. Boen pulled back, covering his cheek.
“That’s a mole! Have you never noticed it before?”
Ethan burst out laughing, but as the laughter faded, he became aware of the colossal predicament he now faced.
He had lied to Boen about belonging to the Mage Court. He had kept silent about killing Maya. Now, he had killed Bain, all the while insisting it was all right.
But it wouldn’t be all right. The Empire had made a major move when Bain’s true identity was revealed. They were certain to move again.
That logic appeared plainly before Ethan’s eyes:
[Main Quest triggered!]
[Main Quest: The End of Lies (C)]
[You have lied and lied again, all in order to survive. But you cannot deceive the world forever. Sooner or later, the truth will out. In the near future, the troubles caused by your lies will come to a head, and you will have to confess the truth to those you’ve deceived. Will you have the courage to face this real catastrophe?]
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