The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 57
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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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Episode 57.
Elion Hyacinth was a legendary figure who had become Mage Tower Master at the youngest age.
He crawled into the Mage Tower on his own two feet at three years old, pushed aside the elders and took a seat among them at twelve, and by fifteen had already mastered every form of magic except Dark Magic.
When he celebrated his coming of age by publishing eighty academic papers he had compiled over the years, people already regarded him as an unparalleled visionary of uncommon brilliance.
Yet Elion’s ascension to Mage Tower Master was not solely on account of this.
The former Mage Tower Master, who had spent his entire life shut away in a study pursuing research and died at the age of seventy, had told him he possessed a natural gift for intuition.
Elion could keenly perceive currents that others could not sense.
And his intuitions always proved correct.
Of late, Elion had been watching closely the ominous stirrings along the borders of the Empire.
Sure enough, trouble erupted in Saldwich, precisely the place he had been monitoring with particular attention.
In a single night, not only did all the slaves escape, but the auction house collapsed entirely and all those involved were arrested.
What was more, it was the firstborn daughter of Count Schmidt who had orchestrated the whole affair—a woman the Pope had trumpeted as possessing extraordinary holy power.
People spoke in unison of a new Saint being born. Yet Elion sensed something awry about it all.
Elion realized he had no choice but to act directly.
“What’s happened?”
Upon returning from his covert sortie, he found the Mage Tower in disarray.
The white-bearded elders had gathered in the Grand Conference Room, muttering gravely amongst themselves.
“Master Elion, I believe you ought to see this.”
An elder extended a small box, no larger than his palm.
When Elion examined what lay within, he could not conceal his surprise.
“Is this… Black Steel Stone?”
“We’ve verified it multiple times because we couldn’t quite believe it ourselves, but it appears to be authentic.”
For several moments, Elion could not fathom why a legendary mineral that had vanished thousands of years ago would suddenly appear nestled in a box.
Yet when the elder pressed a letter into his hands, he found himself breaking into an unrestrained smile.
Charlotte Schmidt.
It was a letter from the sole Unique-type Mage on the entire Continent.
The message was concise: if he wished to hear a full account of this Black Steel Stone, they should meet in secret at a time of her choosing.
“How remarkable.”
The words escaped Elion in a sigh—or rather, something closer to a barely contained groan.
At the sight of the Mage Tower Master rendered helpless by adoration for a mere scrap of letter, the elder quietly took a step back.
“Look at this handwriting. Isn’t it utterly endearing? How could even her letters be so delightfully charming?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I never expected Charlotte to reach out to me directly. Truly, one must live long to see such wonders.”
Long indeed—when you’ve barely lived more than twenty years.
The elder had opened his mouth to point out that he himself had lived four times as long, but thought better of it. The young Mage Tower Master was not someone with whom ordinary conversation was possible.
He was indifferent toward Leoni Schmidt, who had been born with the qualities of a Saint once in a thousand years, yet he waxed ecstatic over the Unique-type Charlotte, whom ordinary mages found abhorrent.
What sort of Mage Tower Master stalked a Unique-type mage in secret for years? And that too, a man famous for refusing to reveal his face to the outside world because of his distinctive appearance.
“Can we trust this sorceress? What if it’s a trap…?”
“We should walk into it gladly. Is there anyone in the world who could refuse such a charming letter?”
Everyone but you.
The elder replied only in his mind.
“…Are you thinking of going yourself?”
“This is too precious an opportunity to meet Charlotte in person—I cannot possibly send anyone else.”
Elion’s opal eyes gleamed with excitement.
***
It was a peaceful afternoon.
Through a half-open window, the cool breeze of early summer drifted in gently. The laughter of the maids doing laundry in the garden carried on the wind and tickled my ear.
I lay sprawled across the empty sofa in the office, savoring the leisurely moment.
Perfect.
This is what life should be.
The mere fact that Kaius was absent from the office made me feel so languid and at ease.
I earnestly wished for Kaius to return late, imagining him listening to the progress report of the Griffin Knights at this very moment.
Things have been far too hectic of late.
Contrary to my nature, I’d been running about in all directions, and I had no idea how exhausted and worn I’d become.
By temperament, I’ve always thrived by keeping to myself in a corner, never meeting anyone.
There’s a reason I ended up as a writer, after all.
“I’m so drowsy….”
As I blinked languidly, I suddenly stretched my arm into empty space and splayed all five fingers wide. Pale, slender fingers with visible veins — and between them, the afternoon sun blazed brilliantly.
A week had passed since returning from Saldwich.
To recover from the exhaustion, I hadn’t set foot outside Archduke’s Castle, yet word from beyond my domain kept reaching me.
The slave merchants and their buyers had all been handed over to the Imperial Court by Leoni.
The Emperor flew into a rage, and the Court, putting Fabian at the fore, began investigating Saldwich in earnest. Already several high-ranking officials had been arrested, and rumors circulated that the Lord wouldn’t escape capture much longer.
“Good. Let it flow this way.”
Though raiding the slave auction house in Leoni’s stead had been outside the plan, the outcome was tracking similarly to the original story, so I decided to accept it as a win.
The real problem, however, lay elsewhere.
I folded my outstretched fingers, keeping only the index, and black mana rippled at my fingertip.
“Ever since I swallowed that crystal, this is what I’ve become.”
Black mana.
The mutated power that the Crow Casters used.
They had completely transformed their constitution through forbidden ancient rituals. Because of that, they wielded a form of mana utterly different from ordinary dark mages.
Naturally, other dark mages couldn’t imitate their magic. Just as a white mage couldn’t wield dark magic, when a dark mage absorbed the crystals the Crow Casters created, the mana typically failed to harmonize within the body and was expelled within minutes.
Yes, it should have been that way.
I examined the black mana rising suspiciously, thin as incense smoke. Then I pushed power into my fingertip.
“There.”
The black mana transformed into a deep purple haze.
“Again, there.”
This time the purple haze shifted into a light tinged with blue.
“Oh.”
That’s incredible.
I’m not a hybrid anymore.
I’m a trinity.
How is that even possible?
Is it because Charlotte has a unique constitution?
I pushed myself up with a recoil of my legs and sat cross-legged on the sofa.
“Hey, Golsoon.”
[Chirp?]
“What if I’m actually the final boss of this world?”
[Chirp…?]
“It has to be. I can’t just use black mana — my mana itself has leveled up. Look, I can deploy both dark and white magic simultaneously.”
I conjured a deep purple haze in my left hand and a sphere of blue light in my right.
[Chirp! Chirp!]
“Right? Even you think it’s amazing, don’t you?”
[Chirp chirp!]
“What? Don’t do it?”
Golsoon fluttered his wings in protest, and I meekly dispersed my mana.
Over the past few days, I’d failed to properly control my power and sent furniture flying a few times — Golsoon’s nerves had reached their absolute limit.
“Hmm….”
But really, what am I supposed to do with this?
Becoming a trinity and seeing my mana grow — that was nice enough. And finding out Charlotte had some hidden ability even the author didn’t know about wasn’t so bad either.
So then what?
There’s nowhere to use it.
I’m not going to fight the Crow Casters in Leoni’s place, and I’m certainly not some final boss plotting to conquer the Continent.
“It just feels like I’ve picked up pointless extra skills for no reason….”
I stopped mid-mutter.
Wait.
Hold on.
What if I could use this black mana to restore the Mutants?
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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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