The Crazy Mage Reincarnated into a Fallen Family

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 159: Are you going to take care of those guys alone?

Before the cheers of the onlookers could even die down, I slipped away from the crowd with my squad.

As we headed towards the regular branch office, Zion looked at me.

“Commander.”

“Speak.”

“…Hmm. Never mind.”

He had a strange expression on his face.

A somewhat complicated emotion, perhaps.

I didn't press him further.

When we arrived at the branch office, the guards approached us first.

“Oh, it's the Samael Clan, isn't it?”

The guards, who used to be intimidating, now greeted us with smiles and utmost respect.

“Is there anything we can help you with?”

“It’s alright.”

We went straight up to the third floor and checked the ranking board.

I entered the three characters ‘Crazy Mage Squad’ in the empty space, and the letters appeared, surrounded by a halo of light.

[Samael Clan's Crazy Mage Squad, Contribution Points: Undetermined]

“Undetermined?”

“It looks like it'll take some time this time.”

Arin's words made sense.

I didn't know how the contribution points were calculated, but at least based on my experience so far, the situation inside the demon realm was reflected quite accurately.

It was probably the work of the old fogies from the White Magic Tower.

However, since this was an exceptional situation, it seemed like it would take some time for the contribution points to be calculated.

I looked at the bottom of the ranking board.

[1000th. Gurun Mercenary Corps, 6,043 points]

[999th. Kashit Clan, 6,044 points]

.

.

I continued to scan upwards, looking for the section where the leading digit of the scores changed.

[217th, Inca Clan, 9,757 points]

[218th, Hasan Powell, 10,248 points]

The scores were clustered closely together at the lower ranks, while the score differences became larger as you went up.

Perhaps once this ranking calculation was complete, we would not only have our name on the leaderboard but also gain enough contribution points to qualify for higher-level demon realms.

It was a bit of a shame that the Heaven-rank monster I killed wasn't a demon, but since contribution points had considerable uses, it wasn't a bad thing either.

“Huh?”

Zion, who was scanning the leaderboard, frowned and pointed at a spot.

“What? The Jugmund Merchant Guild?”

I checked the ranking that Zion's finger was pointing at.

[37th, Jugmund Merchant Guild, 223,737 points]

[36th, Platinum Palace, 231,358 points]

“220,000 points?”

I suddenly remembered the first time I saw Palge. He had clearly said that his family was one of the top merchant guilds in the West.

“Was that not a lie? Was he really telling the truth about being well-off?”

The others all looked at Palge with betrayed expressions.

There was no way the son of a wealthy merchant family would join a crumbling, rural magic clan as a trainee.

37th wasn't a low rank. The ranking board listed individuals and groups alike. It was actually quite a high rank.

Palge responded dismissively,

"I told you, nyaa. Why didn't you believe me, nyaa?"

Zion stared at Palge in disbelief.

"We needed proof before we can believe you."

"Hmph."

"Perfect. Let's get some sponsorship from your family then."

"That won't do, nyaa. I want to show them I can do well on my own, nyaa."

At that moment, some of us noticed that Palge's behavior was unnatural. His gestures were somewhat exaggerated.

Sensing the strange atmosphere, Palge abruptly changed the subject, looking at the ranking board.

"Wait a minute. What's that, nyaa?"

"Don't change the subject, fatty."

"It's true, nyaa."

I glanced at the ranking board and frowned slightly.

"Arin."

"I'm looking at it too."

"What was their score originally?"

"I don't remember exactly. But I'm sure they weren't on the leaderboard."

"Hmm."

[258th, White Horse Knights (Samael Clan), 8,265 points]

Zion tilted his head and muttered,

"Did they enter a demon realm in the meantime? Are they in Keplan now, then?"

I suddenly remembered the conversation I had with Bravo Khan. Blair was also preparing to go to Keplan.

“…Nevermind. We've checked everything we need to, so let's go.”

It wasn't something to worry about.

As we went down to the second floor, I checked the office, but the lights were off. Porter hadn't returned yet.

Bao appeared out of nowhere and greeted us, so we exchanged a few words. After asking about the contribution points, we left the regular branch office.

Fortunately, the crowd that had gathered in the street had dispersed.

Our next destination was a tavern in a corner of the city that we frequented, known for its illicit liquor.

As soon as we sat down in a corner and ordered drinks and snacks, Zion asked,

"What are we going to do now, Commander? The official said it would take a while for the rankings to come out. He said this had never happened before.”

It was something I was also pondering.

Once the contribution points were calculated, we would easily surpass 10,000.

We would qualify to enter higher-level demon realms.

I had no intention of entering low-level demon realms anymore.

We had confirmed that demons appeared in low-level demon realms, but we couldn't obtain any more information than that.

We couldn't wait indefinitely for guys like Parin to reappear in low-level demon realms.

It seemed we needed to explore other options.

"Let's go back to the City."

"Are you going to the Alliance Headquarters?"

"I need to check if there's anyone suspicious there."

In any case, we had confirmed the appearance of demons.

I was certain that Kant's mention of Parin's secret organization was behind it.

It seemed we needed to move up our visit to the Blue Mage Tower.

"Alright. Are we going with you?"

“You guys, look into some rumors. See if there’s been anything strange happening in the higher-level demon realms. It’ll be easier to gather those rumors in the City than here. Zion, you’re in charge of that.”

“Strange things?”

“Like people going missing, or something like that.”

“Understood.”

“And Arin, you and Palge find a suitable house somewhere. A good place for training.”

“Alright.”

Training was essential, anytime, anywhere.

Especially for these guys. This wasn’t like Khaoto. You never knew when or where a dangerous situation might arise.

“Here’s the stew you ordered.”

As soon as I took a spoonful of the stew the owner brought, I spat it out.

“Ugh.”

“Are you an idiot? If it tastes bad, why do you order it every time?”

“You don’t understand.”

With the bitter taste lingering in my mouth, I took a gulp of the illicit liquor.

“This makes the liquor taste even better.”

“You’re crazy.”

Perhaps it was because they heard that.

A rough-looking group who had just entered the tavern looked at us sitting in the corner and widened their eyes.

“The Crazy Mage Squad?”

They whispered amongst themselves excitedly, and then one of them, a man in loose-fitting clothes, approached.

“Are you the Crazy Mage Squad?”

“No.”

What a strange combination: a rough demeanor with such polite speech.

The man, who had spotted the demonic core casually placed on the table, suddenly bowed his head respectfully.

“Thank you.”

I looked at the man and tilted my head.

“…I don’t think we’ve met?”

“Thanks to you, my sworn brother returned safely.”

“Sworn brother?”

“Small build, uses a mace. He’s badly injured, but his life is not in danger. Thank you very much.”

I had no idea who he was talking about.

I wondered why he was making such a fuss, but his sworn brother must have been in Section 1's demon realm.

Probably one of the swordsmen.

“Don’t worry about it.”

As the man bowed his head again, the group at the entrance bowed their heads simultaneously.

“We apologize for disturbing you. Please enjoy your meal.”

Suddenly, the atmosphere became subdued.

I picked up my drink again. For a while, there was no sound except for the clinking of glasses.

“Commander.”

After a few rounds of drinks, Zion looked at me.

“Speak.”

Zion hesitated for a long time before speaking.

“…Weren’t you an attention seeker? It’s strange. Back then with Urek, and even now, why were you suddenly pretending to dislike it?”

It was a rather rude question, but I remained silent.

Because he had hit the nail on the head.

The reason for this uncomfortable feeling, like someone was constantly scratching the back of my head... I thought for a moment and replied,

"I had no intention of saving those guys."

I simply defeated the monsters.

'Thank you for saving us.'

Such words were unnecessary. I didn't want to hear them.

During the hellish expedition, I had saved others countless times while frantically fighting demons, but that was simply a matter of course among us.

I was a man who did what he wanted.

I was also a man who was good at ignoring others.

But why was it that the words of Urek and that swordsman felt like they were piercing my eardrums directly, making them hard to ignore?

It was difficult to explain this to Zion.

"Hmm, I think I understand."

Zion's answer was unexpected again.

I looked at Zion with surprise.

Now that I looked closely, he had the same expression as before.

A somewhat complex and subtle expression.

I poured liquor into my glass and offered Zion a drink as well.

"I have a question too."

This time, Arin narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

"What was that from earlier?"

"Earlier?"

"'Remember the crimson rain.'"

I took a sip of the illicit liquor and replied bitterly,

"It's not 'blood rain,' it's 'rain.'"

Suddenly, all eyes were on me.

Even Makan, who rarely showed any emotional changes, had his eyes sparkling.

"I was curious too. The Commander's voice changed a bit. It didn't seem like a meaningless phrase."

Zion, whose expression had returned to normal, said,

"I'll tell you. It's just showing off. You know, when you try to say cool things to boast while fighting? It's similar to that. But you have to do it well. If you do it wrong, it's cringey."

Makan tilted his head and asked,

"Cool things?"

"Think about it."

Makan recited a line he had heard somewhere.

"Kneel. This is the difference between us."

"That's too obvious. It needs some tweaking."

"How?"

After a moment of consideration, Zion replied,

"Crawl. This is the difference between your crotch and mine. How's that?"

"Not bad."

Palge asked,

"Is it like the third form of the fire spell, 'Blooming Flame Technique, Mediated by the Souls of Myself and Sarins,' nyaa?"

"Shut up, pig."

I looked around at the fools.

These guys were the Crazy Mage Squad, but they didn't know the Crazy Mage Squad yet.

The chants of the Crazy Mage Squad, imbued with the same image. The song of Samael. The funeral song for themselves.

But I had no intention of lecturing them.

In the past, I had only watched those moments pass by.

"Commander, by the way, can't I have that?"

Zion pointed at the red demon realm core with a playful expression.

"Why would you need that?"

"You took my gloves, Commander. You said you'd give me something good. Let's call it even with that."

"No way."

The demon realm core had a clear purpose.

If we processed that demon realm core, we could get at least twenty S-rank magic stones out of it.

"Why not? Are you going to sell it secretly?"

"I have a specific use for it. I'll get you something else later."

As Zion grumbled, the streetlights began to dim and darkness fell.

When we were almost out of the illicit liquor we had ordered, Arin asked,

"Shall we get going?"

"You guys head to the City first. Go and do what I told you."

"Are you going to take care of those guys alone?"

Everyone knew who Arin meant by "those guys."

I glanced around the darkened street.

"There's no need for several people to go. Let's each do our own thing. Now's the time. Let's get going."

I was a man who never forgot revenge, a man who repaid what was done to him.

I had been keeping an eye on the people coming and going in the tavern.

I had deliberately pretended not to notice a few guys from the Sahwa Party loitering at the end of the street.

It was clear who was behind those guys.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]