Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 197

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 197

At Belinda’s words, Chaser furrowed his brow deeply.

No matter that it was Belinda speaking, this seemed like complete nonsense to him.

Though he was moving alongside the priests, that was only because they shared common goals and mutual interests.

As the head of the Gray Tower, Chaser had a duty to summon the Red Tower Master, a first-class fugitive of the Mage Republic, back to his homeland.

He couldn’t leave the execution of a criminal from his own country in the hands of priests.

Then, Belinda turned her back to the priests and mages, leaned toward Chaser, and whispered in a low voice.

“The dark mage who made the explosive magic tools—you still haven’t found him. Are you planning to ruin everything by fighting with the priests?”

Though he knew her words were right, Chaser stubbornly shook his head.

“If those priest bastards would just give in obediently, then I would too…”

“That’s exactly why I’m saying fight it out after we’ve caught all the dark mages. For now, just pretend to make peace.”

It was a reasonable opinion, but still, bowing his pride to a priest…

“Chaser, do it for my sake at least.”

“…”

“Hmm?”

“Damn, I really…”

At Belinda’s single phrase that made even a mage’s pride bend, Chaser could only let out a deep sigh.

Who was it that said it? That whoever falls in love first loses. He never could have imagined a day would come when he’d relate to those words so deeply.

As Chaser seemed to contemplate, Belinda this time turned to Giuseppe and spoke with ominous sharpness.

“High Priest, is your pride heavier than the greater cause? Right now, Chaser is the only one who can disarm the explosive magic tools, yet you keep being so inflexible? Am I the only one who thinks people’s safety is more important than custody of the Red Tower Master?”

Giuseppe seemed to have no words to refute that statement and didn’t dare open his mouth.

Eventually, Giuseppe and Chaser stood facing each other again. Chaser was the first to speak.

“Let me be clear—this isn’t me bowing down to you priest bastards. I’m only doing this because my master asked me to.”

Though he spoke while looking at Belinda, it was actually meant for Giuseppe to hear.

“So in return, you have to go on a date with me when we get back to the Royal Capital.”

“That’s…”

At Chaser’s words, Cesar, who had been standing a few steps away from Belinda, showed signs of wanting to interrupt.

Before he could be interfered with, Chaser quickly extended his hand to Giuseppe.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

Giuseppe’s gaze swept over Chaser, Belinda, and then Cesar before fixing back on Chaser.

Finally, he grasped Chaser’s hand and slowly shook it up and down two or three times.

Belinda quickly stepped aside so everyone could see the gesture.

“Ahem, if that’s what the High Priest wishes…”

“Hmm, let’s follow Ru’s opinion.”

With the leaders of each faction taking this stance, the priests and mages who had been ready to grab each other’s hair and fight reluctantly stepped back.

* * *

After the confrontation had passed.

It was agreed that Belinda and Cesar would guard the Red Tower Master until the last dark mage was found.

However, unlike before, the priests and mages decided to move separately.

As a result, what had been a pursuit of dark mages motivated by goodwill and justice had somehow become a competition between priests and mages.

The red cloaks that had once given them a sense of belonging had long since been cast aside.

Chaser deflected all the torrential rain and spread his magical power throughout the city, feeling for the enemy’s location.

Then, an old mage who had been assisting Chaser at his side cautiously spoke up.

“Um, Lord Ru.”

“I need to concentrate, so don’t talk to me…”

“Are you perhaps being blackmailed by Marquess Blanche?”

Chaser, who had been tracking with magic while keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide.

“What am I being subjected to?”

Wasn’t that it?

But to the mage’s thinking, the relationship between Marquess Blanche and Chaser was quite suspicious.

The way Chaser addressed the Marquess, and how he bent his pride at a single word from her.

It looked like a relationship where she held his weakness and blackmailed him, forcing him to comply with her words.

However, contrary to the mage’s concerns, the response that came back was utterly carefree.

“Just by shaking hands with a priest once, I get to go on a date with my master. Not a bad deal, right?”

“…”

“Hurry up and say yes.”

“Y-yes, yes. Of course it is.”

Chaser smiled with satisfaction and closed his eyes again, attempting to track with magic.

Seeing this, the mage shook his head weakly. It seemed their Ru had indeed been caught by a truly terrible weakness.

East or west, there was no weakness more fatal than love.

* * *

Rain poured through the hole in the roof, soaking the half-destroyed round table.

A place that clearly bore the traces of battle.

There, a man of small stature crouched, trembling and holding his breath.

The man had been hiding in their base all along, exploiting the loophole that exposed places wouldn’t be searched again.

Fortunately, he had plenty of magic tools specialized for escape and concealment, so he hadn’t been discovered yet, but…

‘I-I don’t want to die.’

The problem was that he was too terrified to move even a single step.

To execute the Ascetic’s plan, he needed to act right now, but he lacked the courage to move from this spot.

In fact, it wasn’t coincidental that all the magic tools he made focused on escape. He was an utterly hopeless coward.

“Ugh…”

Just as he was shedding tears and snot, unable to do this or that.

Though it was dark due to the typhoon, realizing that the time to execute the plan was imminent, the man began to crawl forward.

Startled by his own shadow several times, the man barely managed to escape the abandoned house and surveyed the eerie street for a long while.

After confirming multiple times that no one was around, the man carefully cast location magic to determine the Red Tower Master’s position as planned.

‘The town square? Why would he be in such a place?’

Something must have gone wrong. The pessimistic thoughts he had barely suppressed began to dominate his mind.

What if all his comrades had been captured by the priests?

What if they knew all about the Ascetic’s plan?

Or perhaps…

“Wh-what if they’re all already dead?”

Just as he voiced the worst possible assumption.

“Correct.”

A chilling answer came.

“Hyeeeeek!”

The man let out a shriek and, without even thinking of running away, ridiculously fell backward on his bottom. Then he immediately knelt down and began begging.

“Th-they’re all dead… P-please spare me… Huuuung.”

Faced with the pathetically crying man, Chaser and the other mages burst into hollow laughter.

“Hah, how did someone so cowardly ever think to stray from the righteous path?”

Everyone clicked their tongues as they bound the dark mage’s hands to prevent him from using dark magic and even fitted him with magic-sealing stones.

Even during this, the man offered no real resistance.

Just as they finished binding the dark mage and turned around, they encountered a group of priests who had arrived a step too late.

Unlike the mages who had found the enemy’s location through tracking magic, they had been thoroughly searching every area to take advantage of their numerical superiority. Because of this, the priests were panting heavily.

Seeing their state, the mages didn’t miss the opportunity and began mocking the priests.

Despite the brief peace under Belinda’s mediation, the war of words between priests and mages began anew.

“Tsk! The reason we let those dark mages slip away earlier was because you mages were too weak!”

“No, these fools still haven’t come to their senses! How is that our fault! It’s because you idiots are stupid!”

Only Chaser stepped back from the fight and let out a sigh.

Just then, the dark mage, who had been trembling as if he might faint at any moment, spoke up.

“You let the dark mages escape…? That, that means… they’re not all dead, right?”

Chaser detected something like faint hope in that voice.

Feeling a strange sense of unease, Chaser warned in a dismissive tone.

“Even so, they’re like rats trapped in poison. We found and removed all the explosive magic tools long ago. Don’t even dream of immortality.”

However, Chaser’s words didn’t seem to register properly in the man’s ears.

Finally, he began to cry tears of joy and laugh, then muttered as if he had lost his mind.

“Ugh, ugh… I don’t want to die. But, but the world’s destruction… the Ascetic will create a new world…”

He’s completely lost it.

The moment I shook my head and turned my back on the dark mage, I felt a strange magical fluctuation from behind.

The mages’ heads simultaneously turned toward the dark mage.

They had sealed the man’s mana with sealing stones and taken measures to prevent him from using his own body as payment for dark magic.

So he shouldn’t be able to cast even the most trivial magic.

As if mocking the mages who thought this way, the dark mage threw something toward the priest and the group of mages.

“Damn it, block it!”

Chaser belatedly spread his mana to shield himself and those around him, but it was a step too late.

The explosive magic tool the dark mage had thrown exploded with a thunderous roar before it even hit the ground.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————