The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 22

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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 22
“What is this?”
“A recording device, sir.”
Dalfred’s face flushed with bewilderment upon hearing the answer.
The brooch emanated no magical energy whatsoever—hardly what one would expect from a recording device.
“How does it operate without any detectable mana?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know the specifics myself.”
“Then why are you presenting this to me?”
“Please press the butterfly-shaped button on the brooch. The recording will play.”
Dalfred pressed the button as his disciple instructed.
“…!”
As the voice emanated from the device, Dalfred’s eyes widened considerably.
The deep wrinkles etched across his weathered brow deepened further.
“This… isn’t that the Tower Master’s voice?”
“Correct. I intercepted a communication between the Tower Master and my son Peter.”
“Intercepted? How?”
“By registering a mana pattern that allows one to eavesdrop on a target’s communications.”
“Where in the world did you obtain such a thing?”
“My youngest son Zeke brought it back from the Dragon Ruins, or so he told me.”
“Your youngest?”
I was already aware that my youngest had ventured to the Dragon Ruins to awaken his latent talents.
The troubling part was that the artifact he’d retrieved was far from ordinary.
‘No, the artifact itself isn’t the problem. It’s the content.’
Not only was Gregor, the Tower Master, using Peter as his puppet, but he intended to kill Zeke as well.
And to use him as a test subject at that?
‘That means he’s conducting live human experimentation?’
Naturally, such experiments were strictly forbidden among mages.
As an inhumane crime, exposure would invite endless condemnation.
Dalfred’s trembling gaze fixed upon the brooch, his expression hardening into grim resolve.
“Who else has heard this recording?”
“No one but you, sir.”
“So only three of us know—you, me, and Zeke.”
“That’s correct. I haven’t even told Peter. I wanted to seek your counsel first.”
“You did well. Bringing this to me was the right choice. This could ignite a war if mishandled.”
“War has already begun.”
Gerard’s eyes had grown cold and piercing.
“The moment he targeted my son, I could no longer afford mercy. I will capture that bastard Gregor and execute him myself.”
“I understand. I do. But given the gravity of this matter, now is not the time for rash action. We need at least to verify the evidence first.”
At Dalfred’s words, Gerard suppressed his rage.
He harbored no intention of attacking the Tower Master blindly.
“What would you have me do?”
“I’ll meet with the Tower Master myself.”
“Actually, I’ve already arranged to meet with the Tower Master before coming here.”
“You have?”
“He said he had something to discuss and wanted to meet tonight.”
“That works out perfectly. I’ll go in your place. Wouldn’t it be better for me to attend rather than you, given your strained relationship? Besides, he was once my student.”
“What do you intend to accomplish by meeting with him?”
“I’ll feel him out through casual conversation.”
“I see.”
Gregor Fontaine, the Tower Master, had once been Dalfred’s student.
Though they had once studied together as senior and junior disciples, they now stood as adversaries.
‘No matter how unstable Gregor has become, he wouldn’t dare treat his former master disrespectfully. The Circle’s standing is far too high.’
Certainly, my master’s words would carry far more weight than my own.
“Understood. I’m grateful for your assistance, Master.”
“Good. And I’ll take this device with me—just in case we find a use for the recording device.”
Gerard nodded without hesitation.
Dalfred was the only person he could truly trust.
“Of course. Please do.”
“How does one operate this?”
“You press the button here and….”
After hearing the instructions, Dalfred nodded slowly.
“I see how it works. Very well. It’s grown late—you should head back now.”
“Then I’ll leave it in your hands.”
Dalfred nodded and soon disappeared with the recording device in hand.

* * *
“Ugh! This is infuriating, absolutely infuriating, infuriating!”
Theo Baldor found himself breaking into a cold sweat trying to soothe Luna McLafflin as she continued her hysterical outburst.
“Please, don’t take it so hard.”
“How can I not? That pipsqueak Zeke laughed at me!”
‘Though I wouldn’t exactly call him a pipsqueak anymore….’
He wanted to object to her calling him a pipsqueak given how thoroughly he’d been defeated, but even with ten mouths, Theo would have had nothing to say.
After all, the fact remained that he had lost the match.
“Aren’t you frustrated as well?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then why are you being so calm about it?”
‘Perhaps… I’ve simply come to terms with reality?’
At the time, I had been so consumed with rage that I’d declared we would settle this another day.
But as time passed and reason returned, I began to see what I couldn’t before.
‘Despite all my desperate struggles, I never once managed to cross swords with him. That means the gap between us is insurmountable.’
Recalling how Zeke had subdued me with such ease, toying with me as though I were nothing, the realization struck me belatedly.
No matter how many times I challenged him, the outcome would always be the same.
‘Damn it. Even with magic secretly woven in, I still lost ground. What kind of monster is he?’
Part of me wanted to flatten his nose with a confident magical duel, but what good would that do against a non-mage?
Even if I won, everyone would point fingers at me.
‘I have no choice but to accept it. This is my complete and utter defeat.’
But unlike me, Luna seemed to believe there was still hope.
“Theo. Let’s challenge him again.”
“Eh? A-again?”
“We can hire a skilled swordsmanship instructor, train under them, and then take our revenge.”
‘What exactly did you see? Do you really think that’s possible?’
She had watched with her own two eyes as I was overwhelmingly outmatched, yet she still said such things.
Fiancée or not, her lack of sense was truly astounding.
“Hmm. I think it would be better to pursue a different approach rather than another duel.”
“Is there some other good method?”
“That’s something I’ll have to think about….”
“Hmph.”
At my words, which fell short of her expectations, Luna turned her head away in disappointment.
I had intended to humiliate him, only to be humiliated myself.
The frustration was so intense I doubted I could sleep tonight.
“It’s late. You should head back now.”
“Eh? But didn’t we agree with your family that I would stay the night here?”
“I’m not in the mood for that. Just go.”
Theo couldn’t help but be taken aback by the cold dismissal he heard—something he’d never heard from her before.
“Heh, Luna. What’s gotten into you….”
“Should I contact the Baldor Family directly?”
“Ah, no. I shall do it myself….”
Theo Baldor turned his head listlessly like a dog with drooping ears, reaching for the communication conduit.
“It is I, Theo Baldor. Send someone to the McLafflin Family at once. I am returning home.”
After ending the communication, an awkward silence descended.
Theo could only read the room like a dog desperate for the bathroom.
“Well then, I shall excuse myself to the restroom for a moment.”
“Do as you wish. Hmph.”
Theo slipped out of Luna’s room with a quiet sigh.
‘I shall have to endure some hardship to appease her.’
Theo wandered the corridor, shaking his head, and gazed out the window.
Moonlight dimly illuminated the Duke’s Mansion.
‘My circumstances are truly pathetic. I must listen to lectures from a five-year-old fiancée and suffer humiliation before my future brother-in-law.’
It was shameful to speak of anywhere, but there was no helping it.
All I could do, having been pushed down the succession line, was to forge a betrothal with a superior house and prove my worth.
‘If I become connected to the McLafflin Family, Father will acknowledge me.’
This was why I had readily accepted Father’s suggestion to seduce Luna.
To earn the recognition of the family head, my father.
‘If that happens, at least my eldest brother won’t look down on me.’
I was not particularly fond of Luna’s personality, but I did not mind greatly.
Would affection not blossom naturally as we lived together day after day?
‘Yet my circumstances remain so wretched.’
It was then, as I lamented my fate while gazing at the moon floating brightly above.
‘Hmm? What is that?’
Something was moving beneath the moonlight.
A human shadow.
‘What is it? The escort knights?’
My curiosity was soon answered by a maidservant who appeared.
“Young Master! You must leave at once! An assassin has infiltrated!”
“What? An assassin?”
“Take Young Miss Luna and escape this place immediately!”
“Ah, understood. I shall do so!”
At the maidservant’s urgent cry, Theo rushed back to Luna’s room in a panic.
“Luna! We are in grave danger!”
“What is all this commotion?”
“An assassin has infiltrated. There is no time to waste. We must escape at once!”
Luna’s eyes widened in alarm, and she quickly grasped the hand Theo extended.
“Let us go.”
The same maidservant waited in the corridor with an anxious expression.
“This way, please! Hurry!”
The two of them followed the maid’s guidance without hesitation.
Yet no one could have anticipated that it was a trap.

* * *
Deep darkness had settled over the hour.
As drowsiness began to claim me, a sudden message forced my eyes open.
[An Urgent Quest has occurred!]
‘A Quest?’
In the fifteen years since my reincarnation, I had never received a Quest before.
I hadn’t even heard of such things existing in my previous life.
Yet there was nothing strange about it now.
After all, wasn’t this the same system that had commanded me to grow stronger?
‘Whatever it is, I should take a look.’
As I tapped the flickering message with my finger, a new window opened.
【Urgent Quest: Stop the Assassins】
└Assassins have infiltrated the peaceful McLafflin Duchy.
└Subdue the assassins and protect the Duke’s Mansion.
【Conditions】
└Assassins Subdued: 0/6
【Reward】
└Random Stat Increase: 300
[Do you accept this Quest? Y/N]
‘What? A stat increase of 300?’
Currently, the maximum stats I could raise in a single day was 10.
Three hundred would let me accelerate a month’s worth of progress.
‘I have to accept this. Besides, it doesn’t seem like there’s a penalty if I fail anyway.’
More importantly, assassins had infiltrated my home—I couldn’t simply sit idle.
Reincarnated or not, this place was still my sanctuary.
‘I need to move quickly. My family might be in danger.’
I accepted the Quest and rushed from my room.
-Zeke. Where are you going so suddenly?
‘Assassins have entered the mansion.’
-Assassins? How do you know that?
Carbollearos asked, but I had no time to answer.
Finding the assassins took priority.
‘But how do I find them? Should I check on my family first?’
Whoever the assassins were targeting, it was likely my family.
‘They wouldn’t be foolish enough to target Father—he’s an 8-Circle mage. They must be after Mother or my siblings.’
For now, I needed to check on my siblings’ rooms, the closest ones nearby.
It was then, racing through the corridor with such thoughts, that I heard it.
[60m point: Magical energy detected.]
‘Magical energy?’
-What are you talking about? Magical energy?
Carbollearos asked, but Zeke turned his head without answering.
A surge of magical energy emanated from down the corridor.
‘Someone’s over there.’
-Surely it’s just servants or guard knights?
‘No. The magical energy I’m sensing… they’re definitely mages. And not just one—multiple.’
Multiple mages wandering about at this ungodly hour?
‘It can’t be. They’re the assassins I’ve been searching for.’
Zeke bolted toward the source of the magical energy without hesitation.
Then he encountered a sight he never expected.
“Luna? Theo?”
“Z-Zeke!”
Both of them were being held captive by assassins.

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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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