Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 47
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 47
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Chaser gazed at Belinda, who was leaning drowsily against the armchair with her eyes closed.
Seeing the faint wrinkles between her brows, she didn’t seem to be sleeping deeply.
Chaser gathered his mana and released her hand, whispering quietly.
“You look very tired.”
He said it out of concern.
Suddenly, Belinda’s eyes snapped open and she shot back with an annoyed tone.
“That’s because you… No, it’s nothing. You’re the one who looks like you could drop dead any moment.”
“I had a terrible cold.”
Chaser stood up, making an excuse about a cold he’d never actually had.
As she said, his physical condition had been terrible lately. He could really feel that the end wasn’t far off.
Still, fortunately, he had been able to complete the soul magic circle before the traces of dark magic remaining on her completely disappeared.
It was about time to prepare to leave.
“Chaser, dark magic… is it something you can learn if you just set your mind to it?”
A sudden topic sprang from her lips.
“Why do you ask? Don’t tell me you’re planning to learn it, master?”
He spoke jokingly, but Belinda’s face was quite serious.
Only then did Chaser realize this wasn’t simple curiosity.
He chose his words carefully.
Desire, a dark magic circle, and a sacrifice to pay as the price.
Though he had spoken as if anyone could handle dark magic with just these three things, in truth, not everyone could wield dark magic.
Dark magic could only be reached by those with desires so vicious they bordered on hatred or love, and only when they went mad.
For example, parents who had lost their children.
They could only awaken to dark magic when their desire reached the point of being willing to sacrifice dozens of other children as offerings just to revive their own child.
So even if Belinda wanted dark magic, she would never be able to obtain it.
“Give up. Even if you died and came back to life like Child, you would never be able to handle dark magic, master.”
Because she was someone who knew that other children’s lives were just as precious as her own child’s life.
Chaser still trusted no one, but he wasn’t a fool who would deny what he could see with his own eyes.
Probably only Child himself didn’t know how much she cherished the boy she coldly called a servant.
After firmly stating that she couldn’t learn dark magic, Chaser naturally changed the subject.
“And master, this is sudden, but today is my last lesson.”
“…Last?”
“I’m leaving the Magic Tower. I’m going on a journey.”
Even though it must have been sudden news, Belinda stared up at Chaser as if she had expected it, then spoke.
“Have you finished tracking down who cast dark magic on me?”
“Of course.”
In fact, he had been able to tell who had cast dark magic on Belinda the moment he saw the traces of dark magic remaining on her.
Magic circles reflect the caster’s habits as well as the structure of magic circles modified to fit the era.
Since part of it had been erased, he couldn’t know exactly what effect the dark magic had on Belinda’s soul, but traces of the caster remained in the dark magic traces left on Belinda.
“The person who cast dark magic on you, master, died hundreds of years ago.”
It was such an old form of magic circle that even Chaser, who had crammed vast knowledge into his head, had only seen it in ancient texts.
“My guess is that you touched some dark magic someone had created, master. Have you ever touched any old objects or things that looked suspicious at first glance?”
Belinda’s expression became strange.
She crossed her arms and tapped her index finger while thinking for a long time, then shook her head.
“I can’t remember. Anyway, since it wasn’t targeting me specifically, then it was just…”
“Just incredibly bad luck.”
Chaser spoke the words that Belinda couldn’t bring herself to say.
Chaser could understand the deep sense of futility in Belinda’s following sigh.
“Since you say this is the last time, let me ask you one more thing. Are you really confident you won’t regret it?”
He seemed to know what she meant without asking what he would regret.
Belinda seemed to have vaguely sensed that he would use dark magic tonight.
Well, she had always been quick to catch on.
‘Even though I tempted her so much, she immediately figured out it wasn’t sincere.’
Normally, he would have deflected or avoided telling the truth with vague answers.
But perhaps because he knew this was their last meeting, or perhaps because of Belinda’s unusual attitude today.
Seeing her expression filled with strange concern, as if she were looking at Child, Chaser had no choice but to answer honestly.
“I will never regret it.”
Because all of this is a gift for my brother who died because of me.
Chaser’s fingertips touched Belinda’s magic-sealing stone, swallowing his last words.
Chaser had realized on the first day, the moment he held her hand, that this magic-sealing stone was what bound her magic circuits, preventing mana from being contained in Belinda’s vessel.
And also that some mass of magic power dormant within her, though not hers, would soon shatter this magic-sealing stone.
“This is a farewell gift, master.”
Several layers of very small and precise magic circles appeared and disappeared over the magic-sealing stone in a moment too brief for Belinda to notice.
“Don’t be alone tonight, make sure to keep people nearby. Reliable people like the butler and the knight.”
“When you speak so meaningfully like that, it really makes me feel disgusted.”
Chaser burst into laughter and left behind Belinda, who had whispered mischievously.
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Before the great principles of magic, all things are equal.
The Mage Republic of Babel was founded under such ideals, but ironically, that very magic created all inequality.
The twin brothers Kiss and Chaser were each born with high-purity mana and enormous mana vessels, but ultimately, the fact that they were slaves by birth never changed.
Therefore, to mages suffering from innate mana deficiency, the twin brothers were like precious magic stones that could recharge insufficient mana at any time.
The two had meaning by being together.
‘If we transplant the magic circuits of the brother who produces high-purity mana into the younger brother who has an enormous mana vessel, wouldn’t it be more convenient to use?’
Until some mad mage came up with a terrible idea.
And in the end, he executed that vicious plan, and Chaser thus gained the qualifications of an Archmage.
The mad mage used the mana stolen from Chaser to claim the top of the Gray Tower.
Everything seemed to go smoothly.
No, it would be more accurate to say it was made to appear that way.
The side effects of the biological experiments that the Magister failed to notice. Through the four-hour gap in his memory, Chaser belatedly realized.
That Kiss’s soul was dwelling within him.
Chaser slowly reviewed the plan he had been making for a very long time as he climbed the stairs of the Magic Tower.
‘First, I will kill the Magister.’
Only then could he be free from the slave’s mark that bound this body.
‘Next, I will activate the dark magic that banishes souls.’
Originally, the dark magic Chaser had been researching to kill souls required an enormous price.
Even if innocent mages of the Magic Tower were sacrificed as that price, Chaser wouldn’t have hesitated. That was the nature of dark magic.
However, through the traces of dark magic remaining on Belinda, Chaser was able to discover a loophole that required a lesser price.
Thus, the dark magic circle that banishes souls from the body was completed.
What was needed to eliminate one soul was ten souls, or the soul of someone precious enough to substitute for the value of ten lives.
However, Chaser had no one precious enough to substitute for the value of ten lives.
Except for his own.
Once everything was finished, his brother would finally be able to fully possess this body and enjoy freedom under the bright sun.
‘Using my soul as the price to eliminate my soul. That sounds incredibly inefficient.’
Chaser, who had let out a snicker, took one last look around his dormitory.
Though it was a place where he had spent over ten years, Chaser’s eyes as he looked around his room were utterly cold.
Soon, an ominous violet light flickered in his eyes as the world began to be dyed entirely in black and white.
His gaze turned toward the letters he had been sending to his brother, stuck in one corner of his desk.
The letters that could never reach their recipient were more like a diary.
Yet the reason he wrote them every day and kept them despite the risk of being discovered by others was because of that damned hope.
The hope that perhaps his brother might miraculously read his letters.
But was it his imagination? The letters seemed to be scattered differently than before.
As if someone had secretly read them.
His heart beat ominously.
If someone had discovered those letters and reported his plans to the Magister…
Chaser quickly pulled out the letters and examined them.
And he discovered it.
A reply from Kiss that should never exist—no, could never exist.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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