WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Inept Mage’s Infinite Regression

Chapter 41

Thanks to all the time he’d spent training in primordial magic, Ethan had relived the second semester multiple times, so he knew what would happen.

At the beginning of the second semester, most students were busy catching up with their new lectures. Especially first-year students, who were occupied with the significant task of Basic Magic Practice. They often gathered to discuss how to pass and how to achieve better grades.

About a month after most students passed Basic Magic Practice, autumn was in full swing, and many events were set to take place.

First, preparations for the Harvest Festival were underway in Yurmus City. While farmers were busy preparing for the harvest, many merchants in the city were also bustling to prepare for the festival. In relation to this, Ethan received a note from the leader of a gang of thugs, a man known as Fat Johnny.

" 'Want to work together on something?'… Really?"

Fat Johnny had been a great help to Ethan throughout the first semester, when he’d been preparing the ritual to use dark magic, but now, Ethan no longer needed that kind of help, and he didn’t feel the need to meet Johnny again. After all, it wasn’t good for an academy student to be seen frequenting back alleys.

Johnny was good at putting the right people in the right places. He had only assigned Ethan manageable tasks, and had always offered an appropriate reward in return. If Ethan wanted to spend the second semester diligently, working with Johnny wasn’t a bad idea.

However, Ethan had more important things to focus on in the second semester, so he used one of the magic academy’s automatons that went into Yurmus City to buy supplies to send a rejection note.

Another upcoming event was the Hunting Competition held in the Yurmus Gardens.

The Viscount of Yurmus didn’t directly govern Yurmus City, nor did he have direct authority over Yurmus Magic Academy. He wasn’t even a mage. However, he highly valued his connections with mages and maintained good relationships with the surrounding nobility. He had multiple wives and many children, whom he married off to various noble families. He was a well-known figure among the nobility.

Viscount Yurmus wasn’t particularly skilled at hunting, but he loved it all the same. Every autumn, he would invite nobles, and their children, from neighboring territories to participate in his Hunting Competition. While winning the Hunting Competition was a matter of honor for knights, it wasn’t a big deal for mages. Even though mages often politely declined the invitations, the Viscount’s influence was hard to ignore, so many still participated.

Of course, it wasn’t Ethan who received an invitation, only Arca.

Arca Wiz Charasen, Ethan’s sister, would attend as a representative of their father, Quill Wiz Charasen, and she asked Ethan if he wanted to join as a temporary attendant. At first glance, it seemed like she was asking him to be an errand boy, but Ethan knew better. The Hunting Competition wasn’t open to just anyone. It was an opportunity to mingle with the surrounding nobility—Arca was offering Ethan a chance to enter the social stage.

However, Ethan politely declined the Hunting Competition as well. Arca seemed a bit annoyed, but Ethan wasn’t too bothered. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

The event that had Ethan’s attention was the Cario Victory Day celebration. If he managed his time well, it wouldn’t be impossible to attend all three events, but Ethan wanted to focus on what mattered most.

There were many Savior’s Days in Damarth Yumaha, with each region honoring its own important savior. The most famous of these was Cario Victory Day, which celebrated the day Emperor Cario Arnesia, became a savior and reclaimed Yumaha from the four great evils. In fact, Yumaha meant "reclaimed land" in the ancient language. Regardless of how Emperor Cario Arnesia was evaluated, praise for the savior, or even the messiah Cario, was universal.

On Cario Victory Day, students of Yurmus Magic Academy would parade around the school wearing masks resembling either Cario and his companions or the followers of the great evils. They would also set up stalls to sell food and drinks or invite bards to sing along with them. While the lax deviations allowed during Victory Day were accepted, there were also events related to the celebration. One of them was a play.

The heroic tales of Cario were performed as a play, with students taking on all the roles. The most popular students would play the more famous roles, including Cario, and be recognized as celebrities among the students.

If the Yurmus Hunting Competition was a classical social gathering, Cario Victory Day was more of a social event for the younger crowd.

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Ethan wasn’t interested in making friends, however. He was more focused on making enemies.

[Main Quest triggered!]

[Main Quest: Calm Before the Storm (C)]

[You’ve been through tough times and have risen to a new level. A new landscape unfolds before you. The sun shines brightly in the clear sky, and a gentle breeze blows. A butterfly dances gracefully before disappearing from view. It feels like everything is over, doesn’t it? But though you may rest, your enemies never do. Never. Something is happening. Something terrible. Detect it early. You’ll surely find signs of it around you.]

Demi didn’t have much to say in response to Ethan’s questions. She wasn’t the one creating the main quests, after all. The system was the system, and Demi was Demi.

<But there are hints,> Demi said.

<I’ve reached this point in time many times before, but I’ve never seen this main quest before.>

<That’s also a hint. Read the flavor text of the main quest. It mentions a "new landscape." It’s a conditional statement. The fact that it didn’t appear while you were training in primordial magic but did afterward means that you need primordial magic to solve the quest.>

Ethan ruled out the Harvest Festival. Fat Johnny had hired Ethan even when he wasn’t a mage, so that couldn’t be it. He also ruled out the Yurmus Hunting Competition. Arca would undoubtedly be the main focus there; Ethan now being able to use magic wasn’t significant.

Demi was puzzled. <However… why would primordial magic be needed for Cario Victory Day?>

<Elimination? I don’t know about that, just… my mother taught me that if you don’t know the right answer, start by ruling out wrong ones. Even if you don’t understand why, whatever’s left is the answer.>

Boen agreed with Ethan for different reasons.

"I’m not sure about the other two, but someone suspicious is participating in Cario Victory Day."

"Like who?"

"Jimonail Eurogia."

Ethan was familiar with her. She was a petite girl with pale white hair and red eyes.

"The first-year students can be roughly divided into three factions. One is comprised of commoners, wealthy families, and new nobles like myself. They don’t have the opportunity to get close to real nobles, so they stick together. Well, they’re not particularly close, but when Maya Onik and Koshe Ludyrock were around, there was a clear focal point. Now, though, what little cohesion they had has faded."

"Like you and me."

"I’m not in the same faction as you, Ethan. These are nobles who aren’t particularly social. They’re here to study seriously, not forgetting their roots, and they maintain friendships with a select few students who have useful knowledge."

"You think of me like that?"

"No, I belong to the second faction. Let me explain the third faction: the classical mages. They strive to maintain the central power of the Mage Council and build relationships with other mages and nobles for the future. They have deep bloodlines and no lack of ability. They’re the ones who will shape the future: People like your sister."

"I think my sister is in the second faction. She attends social gatherings because of our father, not because she needs to. But I don’t think I’m in the third faction either."

"You’re in the fourth faction."

"Didn’t you say there were three factions?"

"I left the fourth faction out of the explanation because it’s just you. You’re the lone-wolf faction."

Ethan was suddenly reminded that he could save at any time, hit Boen over the head, and then reload.

"Jimonail Eurogia is definitely in the third faction, right?"

"Of course. She comes from the immortal Eurogia."

House Eurogia, one of the five great families alongside Charasen, were experts in necromancy: the magic of resurrecting corpses and controlling them at will. Because of this, they were the great family most feared by knights, and they had left a significant mark on history with their power. Many nobles and kings had persecuted the Eurogia family, and eventually, they had migrated from Damarth to Yumaha, allowing them to be closely involved when Savior Cario liberated Yumaha. Since then, the Eurogia family had served the Empire.

"So they’re definitely on the Empire’s side."

"Well, there’s not much to worry about," Boen said. "A family like Eurogia wouldn’t be swayed by the Inquisition or the Mage Court, they’d take orders directly from the Emperor. They wouldn’t engage in clumsy espionage. A duke like Eurogia wouldn’t send his child to study abroad in a distant land and expose them to such risks. After all, the Eurogia family is also part of the Mage Council."

"Then why do you think Jimonail Eurogia is up to something?"

Boen shrugged. "Arca and that foolish prince… Yejoff Asgasil said they couldn’t prepare for Cario Victory Day because they were practicing for the Hunting Competition. Because of that, the pool of candidates narrowed and Jimonail became a strong candidate to play Cario. Jimonail wasn’t a particularly standout student, but her family name alone gives her great potential. If Jimonail plays Cario, many students will follow her. If the Empire is planning something, they can’t ignore Jimonail’s influence in the magic academy."

"…Hmm, that speculation seems right."

Ethan checked the new quest. For Ethan, it was a kind of milestone. If a quest appeared, it meant he was on the right track.

[Quest triggered!]

[Quest: Prevent Jimonail Eurogia from Playing Cario (C)]

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