WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Inept Mage’s Infinite Regression

Chapter 54

Cascail Eurogia had never been regarded as particularly magically talented by the Eurogia family. Later, in order to avoid being dragged into the family war, he wed a princess of Ysoren and subsequently served as Ysoren’s royal court mage.

Even in Ysoren, Cascail’s reputation had not been particularly favorable. Though the Eurogia family was indeed one of the great families, nonmages derided their work as “filthy” because they dealt with corpses. As for the marriage between the Ysoren princess and Cascail, it served only as a diplomatic catalyst with one of the great families, nothing more. Cascail would have remained just another unremarkable mage whose name would never appear in history… if not for the carriage accident.

The carriage carrying the king and princess was crossing a bridge when a wheel broke, causing the whole thing to plunge into the river. Two days later, their waterlogged corpses were found… leaving Cascail the only valid successor to the royal family.

Because Ysoren’s political situation was stable, its nobles were slow to respond to the crisis. In contrast, Cascail quickly seized power and ascended to the throne, almost as if he had been waiting for this opportunity. This led some to claim that he had caused the carriage accident himself. However, based on various objective facts known at the time, the accident was deemed nothing more than pure coincidence, confirming only that Cascail was adept at exploiting opportunity.

As a ruler, Cascail’s aptitude surpassed his abilities as a mage. Indeed, Ysoren was a small country whose nobles largely remained loyal to the royal family, and it enjoyed a mild climate that made life comfortable for its people. Even if he were not especially brilliant, governing Ysoren would not have been difficult.

It appeared that, as long as he did not damage his own reputation, Cascail wished to compensate for the hardships he had endured by devoting himself to magic research. Though lacking any real magical talent, he took advantage of the assets available to him as king to purchase vast quantities of magic tomes, arcane tools, potions, and magical materials.

Cascail continued what was known as “Emperor Myu’s Fifth Research.” Among the mages of Damarth Yumaha, the story of Emperor Myu’s research was widely known and was told as follows:

In ancient times, there was a great emperor named Myu. He was an archmage who ruled over vast lands, possessed treasures from around the world, and commanded innumerable slaves. He enjoyed supreme status from atop his grand palace, yet there was one thing he could not overcome: death.

Believing magic to be the only way to conquer death, Myu summoned mages to research spells that could thwart it. First, Myu reasoned that to block the approach of death, one had to be able to see it.

When Myu’s first research concluded, Myu could see the shape of death. Using magic, he observed an old man on the verge of dying from an illness. The old man’s soul fought desperately to remain in his body, but when death casually snatched it in its grasp, Myu saw the man’s soul pulled up like a newly planted seedling. Horrified, Myu hurriedly began his second research.

Myu’s second research involved touching death. To overcome death, he had to be able to lay hands upon it. Myu had the bravest warrior of the Patala Empire drink a concoction created through that research, then ordered him to fight death.

Even upon beholding death, the warrior felt no fear. Obeying the emperor’s command, the warrior fought using a net and a spear. He ensnared death with a magic-laced net and stabbed it with a spear specially fashioned to kill death. Death let out a long, agonized shriek and went limp.

At first, they believed they had succeeded. However, from afar, a second death could be seen approaching. It had come to collect the soul of the first death. The brave warrior showed no sign of cowering, he said death could come for him as many times as it pleased as he continued to strike it down—but not forever.

In the end, even that courageous warrior died. Myu’s third research sought to flee death, and Myu’s fourth research to hide from it. Neither was successful. Thus, Myu commenced his fifth research.

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No record of this so-called Fifth Research had ever been found. However, every mage who studied magic related to death claimed to have discovered or inherited Myu’s Fifth Research, because it made for stirring conversation.

The Eurogia family was no exception. In fact, the origins of the Eurogia family were directly influenced by Emperor Myu. For that reason, many believed that only the Eurogia family could solve the mystery of Emperor Myu’s Fifth Research. Cascail believed so too. The difference was that he believed it would not be any other member of the Eurogia family but rather he himself who would uncover it.

Indeed, Cascail’s magical research was not in vain.

At 52 years old, Cascail was respected as a monarch but mocked by other mages. Even as king, they saw him as someone who refused to admit his lack of magical talent, instead squandering valuable resources on his research.

At 86, talk spread that Cascail had gone senile. People said he was still shackled by the regrets of his youth, calling him a “living corpse.” As he had not named an heir, matters grew complicated, and assassinations proliferated within the royal family as nobles planned for the day he might die. Cascail was uninterested in these affairs.

At age 127, the Eurogia family secretly approached him, convinced that his immortality magic had achieved some measure of success. Cascail, though, drove them away to safeguard his research. Because he refused to die, the royal bloodline saw no way to pass on the throne and withered away, while the nobles sought a new relationship with their undying king.

At 175, Cascail was invited to the Mage Council. High-ranking mages announced that, despite having no formal academic ties, he would be granted an honorary degree for independently achieving immortality magic. Cascail did not attend. The unprotected royal bloodline had disappeared, but he still sat upon the throne, and the nobility remained loyal to him.

When he was 231, a large raven arrived with a letter warning that its sender knew the secret of Cascail’s magic, and that it would destroy not only him but everything he might love. Cascail twisted the raven’s neck with his hands, which were now little more than leathery skin and bone. There was no one he loved. When a territory rose in rebellion over harsh taxes, Cascail suppressed it and raised taxes by an additional five coppers.

In 239, Cascail’s magic was exposed. Word spread that he was trading with Death, exchanging gold for years of life, and the mages of the Mage Council scoffed at him. A similar spell had existed for centuries and was poorly regarded even among immortality magics for its inefficiency. It was an error he might have avoided had he ever received proper instruction or interacted with other mages. The royal treasury was empty, so knights fearful of rebels fled, and the nobility planned to depose him by allying with the rebels. From his throne, Cascail pondered what had gone wrong. However, his brain, so shrunken and brittle inside his skull, could not articulate such thoughts. Deciding he needed more time for his research, he resolved to extend his lifespan once again.

At 251, Cascail Eurogia was called the Undying King, having expanded Ysoren’s territory to more than eight times its original size. Countless nations fell, more than could be counted on both hands, and still more mage families were destroyed. No one mocked the Undying King now. Always ready to bargain with death at a moment’s notice, he decked himself in gold, wore rings on every finger, and replaced his eyes with massive rubies and sapphires. He wore clinking gold bracelets and necklaces along with a golden crown. By this point, nobles and commoners alike were loyal to him. Those who were not were killed, loyalty inscribed upon their corpses by the Undying King himself.

In that same year, the Undying King was defeated by the hero Cario Arnesia. He believed he died then, and he was not wrong, yet the Undying King’s contract with Death remained in effect.

When Emperor Cario paid the Undying King’s debt to Death, the Undying King returned from death’s grasp. The Emperor pardoned his crimes, telling him that if he wished to live on, he had to remain king, and to remain king, he had to reclaim his lost territory. The Undying King did not bother gauging the Emperor’s motives. He was now little more than a mechanical apparatus that preserved itself.

Whether his forces were large or small, whether the enemy was disorganized or united, the Undying King always knew precisely how to maneuver his army. After deliberately accepting two defeats, the Undying King struck Cora.

Next, rather than Tobira or the capital Kardien, he targeted Dilloso, a small but troublesome fortress in Yekatan. Having already assaulted Dilloso twice, and thus expecting it to be the last place his foes would suspect, the Undying King believed he could overrun Dilloso in a single day.

Three thousand soldiers attacked Dilloso. They lost.

It was unthinkable.

Within his war carriage, the Undying King received news of the defeat. Though he was but a mechanical device, he lifted the head he had been letting hang.

A strained voice issued from the Undying King’s withered throat. “Defeat… you say?”

From outside the war carriage, Count Yumuran relayed the message. “Yes, Your Majesty. It seems there was a unit commanded by Count Osmal Saikal of Cora.”

“He… is no great commander.”

“Dilloso’s commander is Baron Yocamna Dilloso.”

“No… the Dilloso line is worthless… The alliance?”

“Are you referring to the allied forces? As far as I know, they haven’t formed yet. Just as you intended, Your Majesty.”

“My intention…!” The Undying King roared. Seemingly inured to such outbursts by now, Count Yumuran looked on impassively. “My intention… was to occupy Dilloso!”

“The commander moved the troops exactly as you said. I don’t believe your tactics were flawed. Something unexpected must have happened.”

“Then… the strategy was at fault. My mistake. Why is Osmal there?”

“…I do not know. Until you gave the order, Your Majesty, only you knew we were going to strike Yekatan.”

“I… do not make mistakes.”

“This time, you did.” Count Yumuran did not hesitate to speak plainly, even to the Undying King whom all others feared. The surrounding officers worried that, like in some legend, Yumuran’s head might soon roll, but it never happened.

The Undying King muttered, “…An exceptional… existence.”

“Pardon?”

“…Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Cautiously, Yumuran asked, “What do you plan to do now?”

The Undying King’s eyes gleamed.

“I will lead the army myself. Dilloso shall fall tonight.”

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