The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Natural Enemy of Mages Has Been Reincarnated – Episode 16
-Why did you come all the way here? Didn’t you say you’d contact me through the communication conduit?
-I lost the communication conduit, so I came to find you directly.
-So? What’s your reason for coming all this way?
-I’ve come to report on the results of the assassination you commissioned.
-You certainly report quickly.
-My apologies. I have no excuse.
-Of course you don’t. My hard-earned money went up in smoke! What are you going to do about it now?
-We will see it through to completion.
-Even if you do, there will be no final payment. You failed despite being given the route details, so that’s on you!
It was a recording that made the sequence of events crystal clear to anyone listening.
The fact that Alex McLafflin had commissioned a murder to kill Peter McLafflin and Zeke McLafflin.
It was only natural that Gerard McLafflin would be furious.
“With evidence this clear, you’re going to deny it? Right in front of me?”
“Ah, Father. That, that’s a misunderstanding…”
“Then why was Dalton strangling Zeke’s neck when I walked in?”
Watching Russell interject during the conversation, Alex McLafflin ground his teeth inwardly.
‘That bastard older brother won’t even side with me, after all I’ve done for him!’
Though furious, Alex McLafflin wasn’t foolish enough to throw a tantrum in front of his father.
“Come now, older brother. Siblings can quarrel sometimes, so why make such a fuss over that?”
“From what I saw, it looked like you were having your guard knight kill Zeke.”
“No, no, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding.”
He thought that if he called everything a misunderstanding, he could brush past it vaguely.
But Gerard McLafflin was not such an easygoing man.
“Where did you obtain that communication conduit?”
“Th-this? I got it to contact a friend…”
“Hand it over.”
At Gerard McLafflin’s demand, Alex McLafflin hesitated briefly before handing over the communication conduit.
However, the communication conduit did not function.
“…It appears to be broken.”
“Is that so? Ah, I didn’t even realize it was broken.”
There was a reason Alex McLafflin had handed it over so readily.
He had already destroyed it with his mana before giving it up.
‘When they investigate, they’ll find my mana pattern, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll just play dumb again when the time comes.’
No matter what, there was no clear evidence.
They didn’t even know the name of the assassination guild.
Alex McLafflin believed he had plenty of ways to escape.
Though it was ultimately a miscalculation.
“Dalton.”
“Yes? Yes, my lord.”
“Tell me yourself. What did Alex order you to do?”
“That is… well…”
Under Gerard’s gaze, sharp as a predator’s, Dalton felt as though death itself were upon him.
A mere escort knight could not withstand the overwhelming presence of an 8-Circle Grand Mage.
“If I tell you the truth, you’ll spare my life, won’t you?”
“Do you truly believe you’re in a position to negotiate?”
The moment Gerard’s eyes flashed with lethal intent, Dalton’s lips began to move of their own accord.
“I… I’ll speak. Not long ago, the Third Son asked me if I knew of any skilled assassins, saying he wished to kill the First and Second Sons.”
“D-Dalton!”
“So I introduced him to an assassination organization called Black Moon, which I had come to know during my mercenary days. The Third Son then made contact with them and paid them with accumulated gold and forbidden texts stolen from the Magic Library.”
“W-What are you saying? Have you lost your mind?”
“Everything I’ve said is the truth. So please, show me mercy as vast as the ocean and spare my life. I merely did as I was ordered. Lord of the House… *sobs*.”
Dalton, who had spilled the truth like rapid gunfire, shed tears of remorse.
For Alex, the world seemed to spin beneath his feet.
“Father! This bastard is lying! He’s betraying me and framing me!”
“Framing me… *tsk*.”
Displeased by Alex’s continued denial despite the overwhelming evidence, Gerard clicked his tongue before speaking.
“Then you speak. Can you answer my questions with nothing but the truth?”
“Of course! I would never lie to Father.”
“Then you’ll have no problem swearing the Oath of Mana.”
“…”
The Oath of Mana was a technique that read the target’s mana pattern to observe their biological responses.
Mages typically used it when making important vows, each wagering their own Circle.
They would set it so that lying would result in the destruction of one’s Circle.
Because of this, it was useful for demonstrating trust between parties or determining falsehoods.
“I will ask you one question. If you answer honestly, it will not activate. But if you lie, your mana will reverse course and your Circle will shatter. Will you do this?”
“…”
“I’m not forcing you. This technique cannot be forced in the first place. I’m simply offering you a method to prove your innocence, since you claim it so earnestly.”
“W-What happens if I refuse?”
“Then your innocence remains unproven, and I’ll have to hold you accountable based on the evidence before us. What will you do?”
“I will…”
Alex fell into deep contemplation.
If I back down now, I’m undoubtedly guilty. But if I answer this one question correctly, I might overturn the entire situation in an instant.
‘Could I possibly deceive the Oath of Mana? If I believe the lie to be truth, wouldn’t that work?’
If truth must be spoken, then I need only believe it to be so.
“I’ll do it.”
“Very well. We begin at once.”
Gerard approached and grasped Alex’s wrist.
He poured his mana into Alex, recognizing his mana pattern and manifesting the magical power that would activate the Oath of Mana.
With Alex’s consent.
“The oath has been activated. You should be feeling the foreign link attached to your circle. Now, I will ask my questions.”
While Alex tensed, Gerard spoke.
“Alex. Did you truly hire assassins to kill your brothers?”

* * *
‘Wow. This is brutal, absolutely brutal.’
Zeke was taken aback by the raw honesty of it all.
He never expected such a sinister aura to emanate from his father’s body—an 8-circle mage.
‘That’s the face of someone desperately wanting to kill but holding back with sheer willpower.’
I understood perfectly what it meant to kill with nothing but a glance.
Though he would never actually kill his own son.
‘If Alex weren’t his child, he’d be dismembered on the spot.’
The atmosphere was such that it wouldn’t have been strange at all.
I understood it completely.
How could a father not rage when his own son attempted to assassinate his brothers?
‘But I never expected him to use the Oath of Mana on Alex.’
There was no better method to uncover the truth, but the Oath of Mana was a dangerous technique that held the opponent’s circle as collateral.
Because of this, even mages kept quiet about it, and families rarely employed such a technique.
‘Well, in any case, it’s over now. With the Oath of Mana in place.’
Once the oath was sworn, one could not speak falsehoods.
A single misstep would destroy one’s own circle.
And if one refused to answer the oath, guilt was automatically admitted.
Alex was trapped in a situation where he could do neither.
‘Unless he’s a complete fool, he won’t try to resist the oath.’
I’d heard that occasionally some audacious person tried to test the oath’s limits.
From what I read in books, every single one of them had their circles destroyed and lived as cripples.
‘And yet… was that fool actually here?’
In response to Gerard’s question about hiring assassins to kill his brothers, Alex foolishly lied.
“No, sir. I absolutely never intended to kill my brothers.”
He must have thought he could deceive the oath through sheer will.
But according to what I had read in a book titled “An Introduction to the Oath of Mana,” that was impossible.
The Oath of Mana worked by detecting falsehoods through the vibrations in the user’s mana pattern.
In some ways, it was far more precise than modern lie detectors.
‘He probably thought that if he just answered correctly, he could escape suspicion… but his greed got the better of him.’
A terrible consequence awaited Alex.
“Cough-hack-hack!”
Blood spilled from Alex’s mouth as his eyes rolled back.
“Gahhh, gaaahhhhh!”
He clawed at his throat in agony, then suddenly clutched at his heart.
“Haaah, huff! Ghhhhh!”
He gasped as if each breath caused him agony, yet Gerard merely gazed down at him with cold, unfeeling eyes.
“I suspected as much, but you actually lied before the Oath of Mana. How audacious of you.”
“Ugh… ugh… Father… please… spare me…”
“Do not worry. That alone will not kill you. Breaking an oath merely destroys the Circle.”
Though it sounded almost like consolation, no one heard it that way.
Once a Circle is destroyed, it cannot be restored.
So a child of the Prestigious Magic Family would become a cripple with a shattered Circle?
It would be no surprise if he were treated as a worthless invalid.
And he would have to bear the stigma of a murderer who attempted to assassinate his own brother.
Alex, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, trembled as he looked up at his father.
But the gaze that met his was glacial.
“Do not make that pitiful expression. You brought this upon yourself.”
“…”
“Good heavens, attempting to kill your own brother. What possessed you to do such a thing?”
“That is…”
“No, never mind. I have no desire to hear pathetic excuses at this point.”
Gerard spoke with deliberate gravity.
“Alex McLafflin. From this moment forward, you are no longer my son. I hereby decree your expulsion from the family. Leave at once.”
“Father… please…”
“Be grateful that I spare your life in consideration of the affection we once shared.”
“Ugh… ugh…”
Apparently unaware of the consequences his actions would bring, Alex wept tears of remorse.
The murderous intent and venom he had displayed while strangling me were nowhere to be found.
“Guards, remove that wretch Alex and Dalton from my house immediately.”
“We obey your command.”
“And Peter, Russell, Zeke—I need to speak with you.”
‘What is this about?’
At Father’s summons, I tilted my head in confusion and stood alongside my other brothers.
Once the guards and servants had all departed, only four of us remained in the room.
“Are you alright?”
“Pardon? Me?”
Faced with Father’s concerned gaze directed at me, I felt momentarily bewildered.
The contrast in temperature between how he had just coldly cast out Alex and how he now looked at me was so stark it was almost unbelievable.
“You were being strangled by Dalton just moments ago. Are you truly unharmed?”
“Ah, thank you for your concern. I am fine now.”
‘In truth, I am perfectly unaffected.’
I swallowed the rest and stood there blankly as Gerard spoke.
“The reason I asked you three to remain is simple. I have an announcement to make.”
“An announcement?”
“Due to this unfortunate incident, I have made a sudden decision…”
Gerard took a measured breath before making his declaration.
“It seems the successor trials will need to be postponed until next year.”
At those words, I caught something in that fleeting moment.
Peter, the leading candidate, furrowed his brow.

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