The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 80

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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 80
“The milk you brought made everyone act strange! They get irritable, angry, and obsessed with the milk!”
“Leon, you brat! You haven’t learned your lesson yet…!”
“That’s enough. We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
At my frost-laden voice, the villagers who had been approaching flinched.
I relaxed my expression and met Leon’s gaze once more.
“So what you’re saying is that the villagers have been acting strange because of the milk I gave them?”
“Yes. So please don’t come anymore. We don’t need milk or anything like that.”
“Are you certain it’s because of my milk?”
“I’m certain. People started acting strange after the day you gave us the milk.”
His eyes held not just firmness but absolute conviction.
This child had instinctively grasped what the villagers had failed to perceive.
That the milk contained some kind of strange drug.
‘Based on the child’s testimony, it seems that consuming the milk makes people irritable and temperamental. The dependence and addictive properties to the milk are quite strong.’
It appeared they had mixed something similar to a hallucinogenic drug into the milk.
‘Did they feed the villagers drugged milk and observe their reactions? To test its efficacy?’
Whatever their scheme was, one thing was certain.
If Chad had still been alive, this child would have been a dead man.
But how had Leon managed to escape the hallucinations?
“You didn’t drink the milk, did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I hate milk.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Now you understand, right? Please don’t come to our village anymore.”
“Understood.”
At my unexpectedly quick agreement, Leon’s eyes widened in surprise.
The villagers, however, turned pale.
“C-Chad! Don’t listen to that brat!”
“You must continue providing us with milk. Yes?”
“Please. Come again next time. I’m begging you….”
Such desperate pleas over the loss of mere milk.
The addictive properties put any drug to shame.
“But Leon, before I leave, I’m curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“Have you noticed any other strange changes in the villagers? Is it only that they’ve become impulsive and irritable?”
I asked because it seemed unlikely that the hallucinogen contained only those effects.
“Oh! There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“People who never believed in religion suddenly started believing in some strange religion.”
“A religion? What religion?”
“They called it the Mados Religion, I think? That’s right, isn’t it, sirs?”
Leon’s question was met with the villagers turning their heads away, evading any answer.
“We have nothing to say to those who aren’t believers of the great Mados Religion!”
“If you want to talk with us, you should join the Mados Religion too.”
“But you said you don’t believe in religion or anything like that.”
“What? Religion or anything?”
“You little brat!”
“That’s blasphemy, you hear me! Take back what you just said!”
The villagers pointed their fingers at the ten-year-old child and shouted at the top of their lungs.
Had Zeke not been present, they likely would have used the pretext of discipline to beat the child with a club.
‘Hmm. The Mados Religion, huh…’
I had never heard of such a religion before.
Partly because I had no interest in such matters to begin with.
‘I know of the Holy Empire, but I’m unfamiliar with other religions.’
So I called out to Leon again.
“Leon. Is the Mados Religion located anywhere near here?”
“No. It’s quite far from here.”
“Yet all the villagers believe in that religion?”
“Yes. There’s never been a missionary here, so it’s strange that they suddenly do this, isn’t it?”
“It certainly is strange.”
“It must be because of that milk they drank.”
Leon’s words made sense.
They became believers of a specific religion without any missionary ever visiting?
And only after drinking that milk?
It was too coincidental to be mere chance, and the hallucinogenic substance in the milk seemed suspicious for merely creating dependency.
‘I’ve figured out roughly what properties the milk has.’
There was no need for further experimentation.
With that thought, I took the milk away from the villagers.
“Huh?!”
“Why, why are you doing this, Chad?”
“Why are you taking back what you gave us?”
I casually loaded the milk back onto the cart and answered nonchalantly.
“I tasted it earlier and found it had spoiled. I’ll bring fresh milk instead.”
“Is that so?”
“You’ll bring it soon, won’t you?”
“We’re dying of anticipation waiting for it.”
“Yes, yes.”
I gave a perfunctory response.
I had no intention of bringing new milk.
It was also to retrieve the claim about the spoiled milk.
Leon, unaware of this fact, couldn’t help but be startled.
“Sir! How can you do this? You promised you wouldn’t come back again!”
“I know. I won’t come back.”
“What?”
“I’m not delivering milk anymore. So don’t wait for me. Understood? And try to get your heads on straight.”
Zeke McLafflin, having finished retrieving the milk, smirked and climbed onto the driver’s seat.
Soon after, he set the carriage in motion.
Leaving the bewildered villagers in his wake.

* * *
Clop-clop-clop.
As I drove the swaying carriage, my thoughts grew heavy.
‘What do I do now? The information the kid gave me was helpful, but it’s not enough.’
Despite receiving the information, the Quest remained incomplete.
I’d only learned the drug’s efficacy, not their exact scheme.
‘I need more information. I won’t complete the Quest until I uncover their true objective.’
To do that, I brought the carriage to a halt.
Then I picked up Chad’s communication device.
To contact another Mage Guild member.
‘I don’t know who it connects to, but it won’t be Azrahil. Judging by the promise to meet in a month.’
Not knowing who would answer, I tapped the communication device.
After a moment, the flickering light ceased and the connection established.
-Chad, sir? What’s the matter?
‘That voice… the third-ranked member?’
Was his name Greg?
I remembered him handling Lubo Village during the reports.
“Greg. Have you arrived at Lubo Village?”
-Yes. I’ve already delivered the milk and I’m monitoring the situation. But what’s this about…?”
“I accidentally broke a few bottles of milk. Do you have any extra?”
-Of course I do.
“Then bring it all here. I’ll be waiting at the entrance to Daikin Village.”
-But I need to keep watch over the situation here…
“Bring it if I tell you to bring it, you bastard.”
-Ah, understood.
“Hurry. Don’t keep me waiting long.”
-Yes…
Having finished the communication, I wore a cold smile.
It didn’t matter where Lubo Village was.
I just needed to summon him here.
I need to ask him directly when he arrives. What his true purpose really is.
Greg had no way of knowing.
That he had already stepped into a trap leading straight to hell.

* * *
“Damn it, so being ranked second means everything? Who does he think he is, ordering me around like this?”
Greg grumbled incessantly the entire time he drove the carriage.
Most of his muttering consisted of complaints about Chad.
“He actually consumed the medicine Azrahil prepared on the way here. Does he have any sense at all? What an idiot!”
Despite cursing up a storm, Greg steadily drove the carriage toward Daikin Village.
What could he do when his superior ordered him to come?
Annoying as it was, he had no choice but to bring the milk.
“If that bastard causes problems with my work, I’m going straight to Azrahil and reporting him. Not only did he consume the milk, but he also wasted a junior member’s time. Maybe he’ll get expelled and I’ll be promoted to second rank. Hehe.”
If that happened, he would essentially become first, but they didn’t know that Derol, who held the official first rank in the Mage Guild, was already dead.
The guild members had different assignments and rarely communicated with each other anyway.
“Is that it?”
Then he spotted a carriage stopped far ahead on the road.
“Damn, took long enough. If I were a 7th Circle mage, I’d teleport here in an instant.”
Grumbling Greg fell silent only as Chad’s carriage drew near.
He silenced his curses internally and examined the carriage.
Where had this man gone? To relieve himself?
The driver’s seat was empty.
More importantly, the milk bottle he said was missing was sitting intact in the cargo bed.
It was then that something felt wrong.
“Gack!”
An arm wrapped around him from behind, strangling Greg’s neck.
The sensation of his airway closing was brief.
Thump.
Greg lost consciousness and collapsed.
“We can’t interrogate him here. Let’s go somewhere more secluded.”
Zeke McLafflin, releasing the chokehold, dragged the unconscious Greg into the Forest.

* * *
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
Excruciating pain jolted Greg awake.
Looking down at my leg, a dagger was inexplicably embedded in my thigh.
“You’re awake?”
At that voice, I lifted my head thinking it was Chad, but the figure before me was a boy I’d never seen before.
“W-who are you?”
“Doesn’t matter who I am. You only need to know one thing.”
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
Zeke McLafflin wrenched the dagger from my thigh.
“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, you’ll die.”
Fear crept into Greg’s eyes.
“I-I’ll talk. I’ll tell you anything!”
“You’re surprisingly loose-lipped. I like that.”
Zeke McLafflin smiled with demonic cruelty, brandishing the dagger as he spoke.
“Now then, let’s begin the interrogation.”
Greg nodded vigorously.
As if he’d surrender his very liver and gallbladder.
“What’s your group’s objective?”
Greg spilled the information readily.
Nothing was more effective than pain at loosening tongues.

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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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