It’s Been 500 Years as an Extra, and the Original Story Still Hasn’t Begun - Chapter 88
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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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500 Years as Just an Extra,
The Original Story Still Won’t Begin
Episode 088
Zeke, who had hesitated for a moment, answered with a deliberately calm demeanor.
“…Are there people who don’t know that Grand Duke Retis has black hair and black eyes?”
“Even so, it’s rare to be so certain based on appearance alone. An ordinary adventurer or mercenary would be lucky to see a great noble like me once in their lifetime. But…”
Crack. Termion tightened his grip on the collar he was holding.
“You’re speaking as if it’s perfectly natural. As if you’ve seen me before.”
“Th, that’s…!”
A look of dismay appeared on Zeke’s face.
He desperately rolled his eyes and tried to speak, but being momentarily flustered, no proper words came out.
“Lord Dayford, we need to isolate these men separately.”
Termion threw Zeke to the floor and released his grip.
Now that he knew these men were someone’s pawns, there was no reason to show even a shred of mercy.
They weren’t simple criminals but enemies of Retis. They were likely connected to those who had attacked the manor previously.
“Are you planning to use truth serum?”
“Torture is troublesome work. We’ll just listen to what they have to say, then throw them to the magical beasts as feed.”
“Mmph!”
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“Stay still, you idiots!”
Even in this situation, Zeke shouted angrily. Anyone could see he was trying to keep his mouth shut so no more information would leak out.
“Your comrades seem to have different thoughts.”
“Hmph, do as you please. They won’t be able to babble carelessly anyway.”
“…Don’t tell me?”
Kubera, suddenly remembering something, hastily cast a mana scan. But no traces of magical power were found in the poachers’ bodies.
“Lord Dayford? What’s wrong?”
“Your Highness, do you remember the assassins who attacked the manor before?”
“…You mean those who killed themselves in prison.”
“Yes. There might be a similar prohibition spell cast on them.”
Kubera’s guess seemed correct, as Zeke didn’t even bother hiding his openly mocking expression.
“Do you understand now? There’s nothing you can hear from us anyway.”
“Really? We’ll have to see about that.”
Ailesia, who had been quietly observing the situation, stepped forward. She held her staff in one hand and stood before the man Termion had pointed out earlier.
“A prohibition spell? That kind of thing, I’ll just break it.”
She knew the method clearly. At the Second Prince’s Palace, it was her first time so she had used excessive force, but now there was no need to awaken the Dragon Heart.
Crackle!
Demonic energy flowing from the man’s body began gathering in Ailesia’s palm. In size, it was shaped like an insect about two finger joints long.
“Grraaah!”
The man who had expelled the demonic energy from his body rolled his eyes back and collapsed. Kubera quickly approached to check his condition – it was simple unconsciousness.
“His breathing and pulse are all normal. He seems to have temporarily lost consciousness from shock.”
“That’s fine then. Let’s continue.”
Ailesia nodded and slowly drew up her power.
“If I do this like this.”
The gem at the tip of her staff was imbued with golden magical power. In that state, she brought her palm close.
Pop!
The writhing demonic energy vanished without a trace with a small explosion.
“Ta-da! There was a prohibition spell, but now there isn’t! How’s that, pretty easy, right?”
“…Teacher, did you just annihilate the demonic energy?”
“Yes. It’s a crude method of overpowering it with force though.”
“Would other mages be able to do this?”
Kubera asked with an expectant voice, but unfortunately received a negative answer.
“It would probably be difficult. With conventional methods, it wouldn’t even be detectable, and there’s also the issue of magical power quantity.”
“Ailesia, perhaps…?”
Termion, who had spoken without thinking, quickly trailed off. Ailesia was giving him a meaningful look.
It was probably related to dragons, but he couldn’t carelessly bring up such topics in this setting.
“I don’t know the details either. More research is needed.”
“For now, dealing with the prohibition spells comes first.”
“Alright. I’ll handle it right away.”
After that, things proceeded swiftly. After Ailesia removed all the demonic energy implanted in the poachers’ bodies, Kubera set up temporary tents and isolated the poachers one by one.
“Ailesia, I’m sorry but we’ll have to postpone the meat for later. We don’t have time for that right now.”
“It’s fine. Just get me some snacks.”
While the two roughly satisfied their hunger with bread and milk, Kubera, who had ordered the knights to interrogate the prisoners, appeared carrying a small box.
“Necklaces?”
“Yes. I’ve collected them all.”
Kubera poured the collected necklaces onto the table. There were only slight differences in string length, but the pendant sizes and materials were all identical.
“May I take a look?”
“I was just about to ask you to.”
Ailesia examined each pendant carefully. She compared the luster of the gems and even smelled them with her nose.
“The amount of demonic energy inside varies. These three are almost empty, these two feel full. The rest are somewhere in between.”
“Can you determine their purpose?”
“They seem like magical tools that temporarily enhance physical abilities. Less demonic energy would mean they’ve been used extensively.”
“For magical beast hunting preparations, they seem rather crude.”
Magic that enhanced strength or reflexes was quite useful, but had clear limitations in duration and power.
Unless you could handle mana like knights, no matter how much an ordinary person enhanced their body, they couldn’t become stronger than magical beasts. The limits of innate physical structure were clear.
For magical beast hunting rather than combat against humans, magical tools with built-in offensive magic would be much more efficient.
“That’s uncertain, Your Highness. If it’s similar to the previous assassins’ methods.”
Kubera mentioned again the assassins that Baron Baton had brought in. They were the ones who had displayed aura powerful enough to give even the knights brief trouble.
“They temporarily exhibited great power, didn’t they?”
“Yes. For a short time, they definitely displayed skills at the advanced to supreme level of aura expert.”
“Is such a thing possible with magical tools?”
“It’s only a hypothesis. There are still no established facts about dark magic.”
An ordinary mercenary temporarily using aura is on a completely different level from simple strength enhancement.
Ten expert-level aura users could adequately face a single Grade 3 magical beast. As long as they avoided pack hunters like Snow Ogres, they wouldn’t need to fear most magical beasts.
“All colonies within a 15km radius of the base have been cleared.”
“If they were targeting other magical beasts, the timing was appropriate too. The problem is how they obtained the information…”
“Do you think there’s an informant at the base?”
“That’s impossible. If I can’t trust the people here, who can I trust? Even if there were an informant, there’s no way to contact the outside.”
“Then there’s only one answer.”
Ailesia, who had grasped the situation immediately, spoke with a confident tone.
“They must be at Tillan Fortress.”
“Yes. That’s the only place where a gap could occur.”
“My thoughts are the same, Your Highness. The Grand Duchess Dowager is not currently at the Grand Duke’s Castle.”
Termion seemed to share the same thought as he immediately expressed agreement. Kubera felt the same way.
The advance base and Tillan Fortress regularly communicate with each other, and classified documents compiling this information are delivered directly to Iolene.
However, since Iolene had been staying in the Imperial Capital continuously recently, there was no reason for Tillan Fortress’s reports to go to the Grand Duke’s Castle.
“Among the retainers at the Town House, two people know about the advance base situation.”
“That would be the Head Maid and the Chief Steward.”
“Yes. Those two also only receive information from the Grand Duchess Dowager for potential situations, but don’t disclose information in meetings.”</Human: Continue with CHUNK 2 of 2 from Chapter 88.
“Then there must definitely be an information courier at the Grand Duke’s Castle too. They wouldn’t be able to leak information directly from Tillan Fortress to the outside.”
Hearing Termion’s words, Ailesia recalled those maids from before.
‘Her name was… Sophia, wasn’t it?’
She had the audacity to not only threaten Hilda but also act arrogantly toward herself.
She heard that Iolene had taken measures, but Sophia probably wasn’t completely expelled from the castle.
“I can’t even begin to guess what methods they used. All the knights at Tillan Fortress should be those who have served as formal knights for at least five years.”
“That’s what puzzles me too, Your Highness.”
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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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