Chapter 26: On the Airship
“If this thing falls, we’re dead, right?”
Claude, who had boarded the spare airship, felt his groin shrivel as he looked down at the ground receding below them.
“I will not die. No, I cannot die. Not until I magnificently defeat the Black Knights and return this sword to His Majesty the Emperor.”
Whenever Murakumo had a spare moment, he would gaze rapturously at the sword entrusted to him by the Emperor.
(Has this guy switched sides to the Empire?) Claude worried to such an extent.
“By the way, I’ll definitely survive, you know? I can float in the air a little with magic. But it only works on me, so I think you guys will die.”
Yuri said something utterly heartless. Through this precious experience of flying through the sky, he had been constantly pondering whether he could somehow create a flight spell.
The three thieves had been given a fairly large room, but naturally, Siegfried was using the largest room on the ship. Among those who had boarded the airship were not only the regular airship crew and Imperial Guards, but also Eugen and his disciples.
However, Eugen hardly ever came out of his room.
He couldn’t bear to face anyone because he had failed to detect in advance that his former master Garnets would rebel, because Garnets hadn’t even invited him to join the rebellion, and because his rivals Yuri and the others were somehow aboard the airship for reasons unknown to him.
Fighting against Garnets and the others from now on was also extremely awkward for Eugen. He really would have preferred to wait at the castle, but he had been ordered by the Emperor to board the airship.
(How did things come to this?)
Eugen thought as he gazed blankly at the sea of clouds.
What shocked him most of all was the very existence of this airship. An incredible vehicle that could carry hundreds of people at once and fly through the sky. If this was what science could do, then magic had no chance of winning.
Although the Emperor had told him “I’m counting on magic too,” Eugen had lost confidence in whether he was truly needed. After all, even Garnets, whom he had thought of as a comrade, hadn’t trusted him. Though admittedly, it was Eugen who had betrayed first.
Eugen’s three disciples, seeing their master—who was usually brimming with baseless confidence—in such a dejected state, were at a loss for what words to offer him.
Just then, the door to the room suddenly opened. Without even a knock.
“Who goes there!”
Eugen’s disciples protested, but the one who entered uninvited was Yuri.
“Yuri-sama… why are you here?”
The disciples’ eyes widened. They were from the same Kingdom of Grimoire, and Yuri was their superior in both age and status. And originally, he should have been the pinnacle they aspired to reach.
Eugen, who had been brooding, was so startled by this sudden intruder that he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Wh-what? What are you doing here? Did you come to mock me?”
Eugen was flustered in the most unseemly way.
“Mock you? I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need your help. Right now I’m getting ideas from this airship and working on flight magic, but I need to combine multiple spells—levitation, propulsion, control, and so forth. I also need to prepare countermeasures against the Black Knights, and I really can’t handle it all alone. When I thought about it, I remembered that you guys were on this ship, so here I am.”
Eugen and the others were surprised by Yuri’s words. Even after seeing the airship, this crystallization of science, Yuri still intended to compete with it.
“Magic? Magic, you say? No matter what kind of magic you create, how could it possibly match this airship! Magic has lost to science! What’s the point of a mage flying through the sky now!”
His face turning red as a boiled octopus, Eugen shouted angrily.
“What’s the point? We fly because we want to fly, don’t we? I don’t care about science or whatever.”
Yuri tilted his head slightly. He was genuinely puzzled.
(That’s right, he’s always been like this. He really only thinks about magic. People, other things—nothing else enters his field of vision.)
Yuri and Eugen were contemporaries as mages of Grimoire. That was the source of Eugen’s misfortune. The two had once been praised as the twin pillars of Grimoire’s magical community, but they were fundamentally different. Yuri, who had been called a prodigy since childhood, and Eugen, who had earned acclaim through effort piled upon effort. Those without talent suffer from effort that yields little return, while those with talent can enjoy effort that brings reward.
The blood-soaked effort that Eugen had made was nothing but joy for Yuri.
(There’s no way I can match him.)
Eugen realized this early on. What he found painful, Yuri did with pleasure. There was no way he could win at magic. And no matter how much Eugen was conscious of Yuri, Yuri never even glanced at Eugen, absorbed solely in magic.
—Someday, I want to make him look my way—
It was like an unrequited love.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
However, there was one area where Eugen excelled. That was in winning people’s hearts. People didn’t gather around Yuri. Being a genius, ordinary people couldn’t understand him, and he couldn’t teach magic to others or share emotions with them. Also, since he truly thought of nothing but magic, he paid no attention to human relationships and naturally didn’t engage in political maneuvering.
On the other hand, precisely because he had struggled, Eugen was skilled at teaching magic to others. Having relied on others and been relied upon, he paid attention to human relationships.
Thus, it was ultimately Eugen who rose in the ranks. No matter how talented Yuri was at using magic, he couldn’t lead people. However, everyone thought that Yuri was the pinnacle as a mage. Even Eugen, being an excellent mage himself, had to acknowledge this.
He had gained position and honor, but couldn’t obtain what he truly wanted. Eugen had been living such melancholy days when suddenly an Empire that had revived ancient civilization’s technology began expanding its power. The Kingdom of Grimoire decided to oppose the Empire, viewing ancient civilization’s technology as contrary to magic.
But Eugen thought:
(When Grimoire loses to the Empire, won’t magic have no future?)
The mages were all united in their anti-Empire stance, but conversely, if they lost to the Empire, the mages would likely face persecution. He was concerned about this.
So he decided to betray Grimoire. He established secret communications with Garnets early on and prepared to switch to the Empire’s side once their disadvantage became clear. For the future of magic.
What Garnets demanded from him as proof of his betrayal was the assassination of Yuri.
The Empire too was wary of Yuri as the strongest mage. Ironically, even the Empire he was betraying to valued Yuri more highly than himself.
That instead eliminated his hesitation about betraying.
Yuri wasn’t thinking about anything. The future of magic, the confrontation with the Empire—fundamentally, he didn’t care about any of it, and was simply enjoying the prospect of fighting the powerful Empire with magic.
The person with the talent he had coveted used that talent only for himself.
While fighting together on the front lines, he shot Yuri in the back of the head with a small gun that Garnets had given him.
The rare mage fell easily, and in exchange, Eugen was welcomed into the Empire.
As a cowardly traitor.
To endure that treatment, Eugen began adopting an arrogant attitude toward others.
Yet the person he was supposed to have killed was now approaching him as if nothing had happened, saying “Let’s do magic together.” As if nothing had occurred. As if the confrontation with science wasn’t even in his sight.
(Ah, this is the kind of person he is. He enjoys magic like a pure child, no matter how much time passes.)
—That was unbearably hateful, and unbearably enviable—
“What’s wrong, Eugen? You seem spaced out. Despite how you look, you were good at precise control-type magic, weren’t you?”
The white-robed mage asked insensitively. As always, he didn’t consider other people’s feelings, so his words rubbed the wrong way. His disciples, who had been loyally following such a master, were flustered, not knowing what to do.
(That’s right. I love magic too. In that, I shouldn’t lose to this guy.)
“What do you mean ‘despite how I look’! You’re the same age as me, yet you have no dignity or presence in your appearance! If you’re a mage, dress more appropriately! Using one’s appearance to create psychological effects on opponents is also a legitimate part of magical arts!”
Eugen forcibly raised his voice as if psyching himself up.
“Besides, when it comes to control magic, I’m far superior to you. Tell me your spell concept. I’ll fix it for you. You’re probably just creating it haphazardly so only you can understand it.”
Let’s do magic anyway. The portly mage thought so aboard the airship.
TLNOTE
While waiting for the next chapter, I encourage you, dear readers, to explore other masterpieces written by Daken-sensei :
- Monster Meat Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Wicked Princess and 12 Eyes – The Strongest Squires and the Legendary Evil Woman, the Second Time in Her Life
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
- The Last Magic (translated by my friend narwhal)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
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