The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 74

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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 74
‘What on earth is she talking about….’
-Look at her. Her face is flushed and she can’t even meet your eyes properly, can she?
That much was true.
Her sudden arrival was strange, and her inability to face me directly was equally so.
Everything felt questionable.
Then Tracy opened her mouth, her face full of apology.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“For mistaking Zeke for Count Agos and trying to stab you.”
“Ah, it’s fine. I’ve already forgotten about it.”
“I’ve been through so much lately. After experiencing something like that, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating an extreme choice.”
“Even if things are difficult, you shouldn’t entertain such thoughts….”
“I know. That I shouldn’t think that way. That trying to kill the Count was wrong. But without doing so, I had no confidence I could live the rest of my life. After much deliberation, I decided to end it myself. I never expected that Zeke would transform and extract information like this, though.”
“….”
Zeke sipped his champagne in silence.
Either way, it was a story unrelated to him.
He felt sympathy, but nothing beyond that.
Not until Tracy discovered his true identity.
“You’re the Second Son of the McLafflin Family, aren’t you?”
“…!”
“Your reaction suggests I’m right. Somehow.”
“…How did you know?”
“I recognized you from Peter. Our family maintains close relations with the Deporte Duchy, a prestigious magic family, and I often converse with their eldest daughter. Once, when discussing engagement candidates, she showed me a portrait—and the face I saw was Peter McLafflin, the First Son of the McLafflin Family.”
‘She recognized me from seeing Peter?’
Zeke’s eyes narrowed in surprise at something he hadn’t anticipated.
He’d vaguely heard talk of Peter’s betrothal to a daughter of the Deporte Duchy.
But he never dreamed that someone would recognize Peter’s face in a place like this and expose his identity.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone else. They all seem oblivious. I’ll keep your secret.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Not at all. It’s only natural. And I should be thanking you. If it weren’t for you, Zeke, what would have become of our family? I can hardly imagine.”
Was it because of the Count’s death?
Tracy’s smiling face was noticeably brighter.
Though, the Count’s death might bring greater dangers in its wake.
“So your visit to me was….”
“I wanted to apologize, and I also wanted to confirm whether you were from the same McLafflin Family as Peter.”
“I see.”
The misunderstanding was cleared.
Rather than arriving with sinister intent as Carbollearos had suggested, she’d simply come to have a conversation and confirm a few things.
After that, I shared several more exchanges with Tracy as we raised our glasses.
At first, I found her presence somewhat burdensome, but once we actually conversed, she proved far brighter than I’d anticipated.
‘For someone so radiant to endure such brutality….’
I couldn’t fathom the emotional weight she must have carried.
With my unease gradually easing, we continued our exchange.
Flicker, flicker—
A light pulsed from the communication device nestled in my pocket.
Seeing this, Tracy rose from her seat with a smile.
She simply didn’t wish to interrupt the call.
“Then please rest well. I’ll see you when you depart tomorrow.”
“Of course. Do come in.”
As the door closed and I found myself alone in the chamber, I fixed my gaze upon the flickering communication device with grave intensity.
It was, after all, the device I’d seized from the dead Guard.
‘A call at this precise moment—how unexpected. Regardless, I must answer. It’s likely the Guard’s superior. It could even be Brahm’s Illusionist.’
I couldn’t simply answer; I had to mimic the Guard’s voice.
I immediately activated my transformation skill to alter my appearance.
Ripple, ripple—
After my face and voice had shifted completely, I accepted the call.
A man’s voice emanated from the communication device.
-Why are you answering so late, Nathan? Did something happen?
I recalled that the Guard’s name was Nathan and responded with practiced ease.
“My apologies. I had some cleanup to attend to, which delayed my report.”
-How did the assignment go?
“Both targets have been handled with certainty.”
-Then escape quickly. We cannot afford any pursuit.
“Rest assured. I’ve already made my exit.”
-Good to hear. I’ll provide the meeting location for the next briefing. The site is a forest between Elbroad Territory and Yellow Spring Valley. I’ve marked the trees, so finding it shouldn’t be difficult. Gather before dawn tomorrow.
The man ended the call after setting this appointment.
I recalled the location and let out a quiet chuckle.
‘It’s not far from here at all.’
Fortunately, a lead had emerged.
Perhaps because of this—
A Quest window suddenly materialized before me.
【Main Quest: Attend the Meeting】
└You have obtained a clue to locate Azrahil Johnston, Brahm’s Illusionist.
└Proceed to the forest between Elbroad Territory and Yellow Spring Valley while disguised as Nathan.
【Conditions】
└Attend the meeting while maintaining your disguise
【Reward】
└Acquire the skill ‘Sage’s Eye’
At last—the Main Quest I’d been awaiting.

* * *
As dawn broke, the Mercenary Company completed their preparations to depart.
“We are deeply grateful for your kindness, Lord. We leave well-rested thanks to your consideration.”
“No, it is I who owe you a great debt. Without you, my family and the people of my territory would not be here today. Thinking back on it, choosing the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps truly seems to have been a stroke of divine providence.”
“Ha, you flatter us too much.”
Count Hamilton, who had been conversing with the Captain, turned his gaze toward the boy.
“Sir Zeke. The martial prowess you displayed was truly remarkable. Have you truly no intention of accepting a title and remaining here?”
“That’s right. I am merely a mercenary who goes where the wind takes me. A life bound to one place does not suit me.”
“What a pity…”
‘Had you stayed, I would have arranged a match between you and my daughter…’
The Count swallowed his unspoken words and gazed at Tracy standing beside him.
Her face, always shadowed before, now shone with radiance as it once had.
‘Thank goodness. It seems she has overcome her trauma.’
His daughter, who had always avoided people, had volunteered to see off the Mercenary Company herself?
Such progress would have been unimaginable before.
‘Looking at it this way, it seems Tracy has taken a liking to Sir Zeke as well… what a shame.’
Though Tracy’s gaze was directed toward Zeke, it was merely the Count’s misinterpretation.
While she did feel affection, her heart was filled only with gratitude and apology—nothing more.
The same was true for Zeke, yet his eyes were fixed upon Tracy.
But it was a gaze of a different nature.
-You must keep the secret.
-Don’t worry, Sir Zeke.
As Tracy answered thus with a smile in her eyes, the Count’s misunderstanding deepened.
“Well then, we shall take our leave. Should you need our services again, please call upon our Mercenary Company!”
“Ha ha, of course I shall. Safe travels!”
The Mercenary Company’s carriage moved forward amid the warm atmosphere.
The journey back after victory in a territorial dispute was always pleasant.
“Ah, finally it’s over.”
“Everyone worked hard. You too, Peter, and Mary.”
“Hard work? You did almost everything.”
“That’s right. Your efforts were the most outstanding, Zeke.”
“It was nothing special.”
Inside the carriage, Zeke brushed off Peter and Mary’s praise without taking it to heart and shared the upcoming schedule with them.
“I heard from the Captain that there’s about two weeks of free time before the next territorial dispute. He said we’re free to act on our own during that period.”
“Really?”
“So here’s the thing—I’ll be getting off near Elbroad Territory in a bit. Alone.”
“What? Without us?”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Mary and Peter asked in surprise, but Zeke kept the details to himself.
“I have some personal business to attend to. So you two should return to the Mercenary Company and rest. I’ve already settled things with Captain Chris and received his permission.”
“Ah… I understand.”
“Hmm.”
The two of them, unaware that I was attending a gathering of the Kelbrige Combination members, cast uncertain glances in my direction.
‘I’m perfectly capable of going alone. There’s no need to drag them along, especially since only I can disguise my appearance.’
With that thought, I obtained a carriage and rode it until we reached the vicinity of Elbroad Territory, where I descended alone.
I parted ways with the mercenaries after claiming I had business to attend to.
‘They said it was a forest between Elbroad Territory and Yellow Spring Valley, right? Since I have some time, should I scout the area beforehand?’
My footsteps quickened.

* * *
Esca was suffering from a considerable headache.
It was because he still hadn’t determined the target’s location.
‘It’s certain that Zeke McLafflin left home for the successor’s trial. But that’s all I know. There are no clues, no clues at all.’
He had attempted to hire a skilled tracking specialist to uncover the trail, but even that had failed.
The trail had gone cold midway, leaving no way to determine where Zeke had gone.
‘If he had used teleportation, I could have tracked the magical traces. But there’s nothing…’
Didn’t that mean he had traveled on foot?
But where exactly?
‘Even when I sought out that bastard Alex, there was no useful information. All he spouted was nonsense about using Dispel. Damn it! I know so little about the target.’
A month had passed, and he still hadn’t completed the assassination mission that Baluduk had ordered.
It was natural for Esca to feel anxious.
‘If Baluduk changes his mind because of this, my position among the 12 Pioneers will…’
He squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to imagine what came next.
To prevent such a reality from occurring, he had no choice but to find and kill Zeke as quickly as possible.
‘But it’s not as though I have no clues at all.’
According to the tracking specialist, the direction Zeke had headed was southeast.
It seemed he had set his destination from the start and traveled only in that direction with precision.
Moreover, there was a footprint that appeared to belong to a woman, suggesting he had a companion.
‘It must be her. That girl who was with Zeke when he killed Nox back then.’
Though there was no concrete evidence, his intuition strongly suggested it.
‘Why would he go southeast? There’s nothing there but provincial cities like Balot, Auk, and Tenjin… Wait!’
A thought struck him like lightning, and Esca’s eyes widened.
‘Now that I think about it, wasn’t the First Son McLafflin exiled to the Tenjin Region? Could he have left to find his older brother?’
The pieces were beginning to fall into place.
The clue had proven helpful after all.
‘I should head to the Tenjin Region. If I search the village where Peter McLafflin lived, I’ll find another clue. Hehehehe.’
Just as he was smiling with satisfaction at this new lead.
Knock, knock—
“Master Esca. You have a visitor.”
At his subordinate’s knock on the Laboratory door, Esca’s smile vanished.
“A visitor? Who are you talking about?”
“Well….”
“It’s me.”
As the door opened and the man entered, my eyes widened in shock.
I shot to my feet in surprise—it was an involuntary reaction.
The visitor who had come was none other than Azrahil Johnston, the renowned illusionist of Brahm’s Illusionists.

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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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