Chapter 291

Tatsuro, fully armed, throws open the window and leaps out alone.

Feeling Ai’s presence waving goodbye through Dispel Magic, he summons a board, calls upon Amaterasu to stir the wind, and soars upward.

(First things first, I need to take that guy down as fast as possible and figure out what’s going on. I can’t afford to move carelessly without understanding the situation. At the very least, I need to know who’s an enemy and who’s an ally. Just wait a little longer, Leah!)

With water orbs conjured by Tsukuyomi floating behind him like thunder drums, he flies north.

Along the way, some people shout at the sight of Tatsuro flying through the air, but he has no time to deal with them now. Adding his own Wind Magic, he increases his speed.

As expected, the sky offers no obstacles, and the massive North Gate soon comes into view.

Even without using Far Sight, it’s clear as day—a man in a conspicuous robe sits leisurely in a plaza slightly removed from the North Gate, arrogantly setting up a familiar tea party set and sipping tea.

Perhaps because he stands out so much from the air, even lowering his altitude slightly draws the attention of various passersby, who stop to stare.

Thanks to this, Aarenfrit notices Tatsuro before he lands, raising his cup with a smirk.

“—That guy!”

Anger surges at Aarenfrit’s flippant attitude, but Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi send a chilling breeze of Wind and Ice Magic to cool his head.

Thanking them, Tatsuro forces himself to think calmly while still airborne, stowing the board and letting gravity pull him toward an empty spot.

Just before hitting the ground, Tsukuyomi deploys Secom-kun, cushioning the impact with slime, allowing him to land with a light tap of his shoes.

Gripping Amaterasu tightly and glaring at Aarenfrit, Tatsuro strides toward him briskly.

“Well, you said you’d leave at noon, but you’re awfully early, Sensei,” Aarenfrit says.

“Don’t play dumb. You’re the one who kidnapped Leah, aren’t you?”

“Kukuku, as expected, you figured it out on your own. I cast a curse to keep your attention off me, but it seems it didn’t even last until noon.”

“You’re awfully quick to admit it. That makes things simple. So, do you want to get beaten up after spilling everything, or spill everything then get beaten up? Pick one.”

“Kukukukuku, either way, I’m getting beaten up, aren’t I? I’d rather avoid that, but I don’t mind talking.”

“Then talk. I’ll beat you up afterward.”

Tatsuro’s resolve doesn’t waver. He points Amaterasu at Aarenfrit, ready to attack without hesitation at the slightest move.

Shrugging, Aarenfrit sets his teacup on the round table and begins explaining the full story.

“First, did you read the letter I left? I know it’s probably filled with foolish nonsense, but I haven’t heard the details myself.”

“I read it. It said you want to make Leah the Exclusive Blacksmith for Lyusiten Territory and have us as your subordinates.”

“Kukuku, just as I heard—ridiculous nonsense. Using it like this makes even fools amusing—ah, don’t glare at me like that, Sensei.”

“I’m in a hurry here. Did the lord of Lyusiten really write that? Is Leah safe? Where is she now? Get on with it!”

Aarenfrit, thrilled by Tatsuro’s intense, anger-charged gaze, smiles and continues.

“It’s true it came from the lord. If you kept the Wax Seal fragments, take them to the Adventurer’s Guild—they’ll confirm it’s authentic. And the dwarf girl is safe. She’s likely arrived in Lyusiten by now and is being treated with utmost hospitality. No harm will come to her, absolutely not.”

“She’s already in Lyusiten? Even at full speed, a carriage would take a day and a half to cover that distance!”

Tatsuro is certain of this, having researched it before in case he needed to travel there. Even though trains are starting to be developed, carriages remain the primary mode of transport in this era. He had assumed Leah couldn’t have reached Lyusiten yet if she was being taken there.

“There’s a guy with a special transport method. A Tree Magic user, apparently with a skill to create tree golems. And not just one—multiple golems, stronger and faster than horses. I heard it directly from him during the handover, and I saw it myself, so there’s no mistake. Plus, at night, when workers are gone, there’s a trench being dug for the trains, right? It’s a mostly straight path with minimal obstacles, perfect for high-speed travel.”

“If there’s a golem that can move at high speed without rest as long as it has Magical Power, using a near-straight path meant for trains… that makes sense.”

If such a skill exists, it could indeed cover vast distances as quickly as air travel.

“So, where’s the proof she’s safe? You said with such certainty that no harm would come to her.”

“Well, you see, they’re desperate right now, grasping for any powerful asset in any field. They’d sooner curry favor with someone like that than harm them.”

“That’s rich, coming from a letter that was deliberately written to rub us the wrong way.”

“They’ve got pride as high as the heavens. They’ll curry favor but never bow their head.”

The Wax Seal can be verified at the Adventurer’s Guild, but Leah’s safety remains uncertain. Unable to fully trust Aarenfrit’s words, Tatsuro can’t afford to be optimistic. He wants to rush to her immediately but holds back, knowing he needs more information to avoid falling behind again.

“How did you cast Curse Magic on us?”

“How, you ask? Well, since you’d figure it out eventually with time, I’ll tell you now as a special treat. The answer is conversation, Sensei. I send tiny amounts of Magical Power—smaller than dust, invisible even to Dispel Magic or Magic Vision—through sound to the ears, using that as a starting point to weave a curse through the body. It takes time, but it subtly draws the target into magic without them noticing.”

Tatsuro furrows his brow, questioning if this is true. He knows of magical tools that can deliver Curse Magic through sound, and such methods exist.

But such magic should be detectable by Dispel Magic or high-level Magic Vision—more specifically, his Spirit Eye. Yet Aarenfrit claims he slipped through by using Magical Power so minute it’s invisible.

But even if such tiny foreign Magical Power entered his body, Tatsuro’s high magic resistance should neutralize it instantly. Aarenfrit, anticipating this doubt, provides the answer before Tatsuro can ask.

“As you’re thinking, Sensei, for an ordinary person, such tiny Magical Power would vanish quickly. But someone like me, with thousands of years of magical research, can make it linger for two or three months—though not a lifetime. It’s not for nothing that I’ve studied magic for so long.”

“—Damn it, so that’s possible too. So that’s why you were so eager to talk to me every night. Wait… but how did you get to Jeanne and the others? You barely spoke to them, right?”

“I don’t know how those mysterious beings came to be. But I figured out they rely on your Magical Power. That made it simple.”

“So the curse I accumulated flowed to them through my Magical Power?”

“Exactly. And I always cast Curse Magic on myself to deter others from investigating me closely, guiding their vision to unconsciously avoid scrutinizing me. That seemed to work on sealing the dwarf girl with those troublesome eyes.”

Magic resistance is more effective when the target is aware and resists, especially if the magic causes tangible harm, like pain.

But if it’s subtle, merely diverting attention without notice, even high-ranking individuals can be affected. That’s how Tatsuro’s Curse Vision could induce illusions in someone with strong resistance, like Beverly, the leader of Fornacis, without seeming unnatural.

It seems Aarenfrit did the same, and Tatsuro realizes he hadn’t thought to examine Aarenfrit closely with his Spirit Eye until now.

“So you planned this thoroughly from the moment we met?”

“Hmm, not quite. Back then, I genuinely just wanted to talk. The curse through sound was more like insurance. But then I heard an interesting story about this territory’s lord, and I thought intervening would be fun.”

“Interesting story?”

“Yes, you see—”

Aarenfrit then explains the current lord’s situation.

The lord of Lyusiten six generations ago was highly capable, but the quality of successors declined with each generation. The current lord, raised indulgently and inheriting the title early due to his parents’ untimely deaths, lacks self-control even past a hundred years old.

Greedy and vain, he turned a blind eye to corrupt merchants, which led to his territory shrinking and his reputation with the king hitting rock bottom.

As a result, there’s talk in the capital of deposing the current lord and appointing a new, capable individual, potentially making Holmes the capital instead of Lyusiten. If that happens, the current lord would be reduced to near-commoner status, stripped of his lavish lifestyle.

Panicking, the lord began frantically gathering talent to prove his worth. Using somewhat forceful methods, offering money and status, he’s already secured several promising individuals, but not enough to reverse his situation.

That’s when Aarenfrit approached one of the lord’s recruiters and told them about Tatsuro and his group.

The effect was immediate, particularly because of their youth, which the current king favors. The lord believed that recruiting young, talented individuals could give him a chance at a comeback.

“But with that much talent, they could find high-paying, stable positions anywhere. Why would adventurers like you agree to become mere subordinates? That’s where I came up with a plan.”

“And that plan was to kidnap Leah? Did you think we’d agree to that?”

“No, but it would get you to the negotiating table, wouldn’t it? Don Lyusiten Morrow believes he can win you over if he gets you to negotiate. I merely set the stage.”

“I don’t get it. Why go to all this trouble? Do you find it fun to be someone’s errand boy?”

“Not at all. My only goal was to mess with you, Sensei.”

“—Are you screwing with me?”

Tatsuro’s anger surges again at the nonsensical reason, and Tsukuyomi reacts, a tentacle briefly darting out from a water orb. Despite the tense situation, Aarenfrit remains seated, wearing a relaxed smile.

“I’m not joking. Among elves, those who live for thousands of years—except for the original species—tend to go a bit mad over time. It seems living so long without being an original species is unsustainable. Because of that, I developed two bad habits. One of them is wanting to be hated by the people I cherish.”

“—!”

Aarenfrit’s beautiful face twists into an ugly, vulgar smirk, his gaze licking over Tatsuro. Goosebumps rise, and Tatsuro instinctively steps back but forces himself to hold his ground, glaring back. (T/N: WTF Bro’s gay???)

“I had no idea you felt that way about me. But I have someone I love dearly. Give up and go harass someone else.”

“Kukuku, it’s not about romantic feelings, so don’t worry. I was never capable of such emotions to begin with.”

“Still, wanting to be hated is insane. If you blame it on being a long-lived species, I might pity you, but that’s it.”

“From my perspective, I don’t even know what’s insane about it. From my own experience, the memories that stick most in a human’s mind are negative emotions. Over decades, joyful memories fade, but sadness, anger, disgust—they remain vivid. So, by piling negative emotions onto someone I cherish, I can etch myself into their soul, staying in their memory until their dying breath. Isn’t that wonderful?”

In front of a crowd watching curiously, Aarenfrit stands as if giving a grand speech, shamelessly proclaiming this.

Tatsuro, unable to see him as human anymore, grips Amaterasu, channeling Dragon Force, ready to fire a Laser Cutter at any moment.

“Enough. Shut up. I get your bad habit—wait…”

Something clicks in Tatsuro’s mind, a flash of insight suggesting everything might connect. He questions the now fully unhinged Aarenfrit.

“Just to be sure, what’s your other bad habit?”

He doesn’t want to hear more from this man, but something tells him he must. Aarenfrit’s beautiful face, now grotesquely distorted, twists further as if delighted that Tatsuro is interested in him.

“I’ll tell you. The other one is watching talentless, self-important people fall to rock bottom up close!”

“…So that’s it. In this case, you made me, someone you ‘cherish,’ furious, kidnapped my high-ranking adventurer comrade, and forced a meeting, ensuring Don Lyusiten Morrow falls even further. A perfect two-for-one pastime for you, huh?”

“Kukuku, exactly~”

Aarenfrit stares into Tatsuro’s eyes as if peering into his soul, suggesting there’s more to understand.

“And Leah’s incident. Moritz wasn’t exactly talented either, was he? Helping Leah was just another way to satisfy your urges through a pastime.”

“Exactly. He was an ugly, arrogant piece of trash, the likes of which I’d never seen before.”

Despite calling Moritz trash, Aarenfrit’s face lights up with joy as he speaks of him.

“A sandcastle that collapses when a single girl disappears. How pathetically would the man sitting atop it dance? Just imagining it made my heart race back then.”

“So you gave Moritz an environment to run wild in?”

“Yes.”

“The person you casually mentioned, who was erasing evidence of Moritz’s mass murders so thoroughly—it was you, wasn’t it? You wanted to watch him fall even more pathetically up close. If I hadn’t been distracted, you’d have been the obvious suspect.”

“I cast Curse Magic to make it hard to suspect me, so you unconsciously ruled me out.”

“Curse Magic is such a nasty trick.”

By consciously resisting, Tatsuro could easily dispel the Curse Magic and realize Aarenfrit was behind Moritz’s mass murders. Not only does Aarenfrit not deny it, but he seems thrilled by Tatsuro’s growing disgust.

“Now that you’ve so brilliantly figured out the culprit, what will you do, Sensei?”

“Obviously, I’ll beat you senseless until you never think of harming us or anyone we know again.”

“Oh, scary, scary.”

Despite facing Tatsuro, whose forte is attack magic, Aarenfrit remains eerily calm, stirring an inexplicable unease. Still, there’s one more thing Tatsuro needs to confirm.

“You were the one who kidnapped Moritz on his execution day, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do with him afterward?”

“Oh, him? He got too excited, and just before getting caught, I’d tampered with his mind too much, and he broke. So, for disposal, I had him kill the dwarf girl’s family, which I’d kept alive until then, leaving obvious evidence. I figured the kingdom would handle the rest. But then I thought meeting the dwarf girl might elicit a different reaction, so I searched for her until the last moment before his execution. When I couldn’t find her, I took him back. But he was so broken he couldn’t even be dragged around anymore. While looking for the girl in a neighboring country, he became a nuisance, so I dumped him near the border. A broken toy’s no fun to keep, after all.”

“So, is Moritz alive?”

“Probably dead by now, nine times out of ten. Even if he’s alive, he can’t function as a human anymore. By the end, he couldn’t even speak human words—kuhahaha!”

A man who once gained wealth and status through others’ power, envied by many, was reduced to something less than human by Aarenfrit’s hand. This fact exhilarates Aarenfrit, and realizing it fuels Tatsuro’s negative emotions only heightens his excitement.

“I see. Not everything was entirely your doing, so I don’t pity Moritz. If he’s no longer a threat, that’s fine. I’ve got no more questions.”

“Oh? I think there’s more to ask.”

“Shut up. Now I’ll deal with you, and then we’ll go take Leah back ourselves!”

To prevent further meddling, Tatsuro unleashes a merciless Laser Cutter at Aarenfrit to crush him once and for all.