[V10C27] Chaka-Chan!
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con ManShortly after noon, two days after the Wedge Tower fell to the Monsters’ attack, the Wedge Tower’s mages gathered around a small stage in the village square to attend a briefing held by the three Spiremasters.
There, they explained that the Wedge Tower’s true nature was an Ancient Magical Artifact that maintained the Western Wall.
That the Wall was holding firm thanks to Assistant Headmaster Miriam and Director Linke putting their lives on the line, and that it would disappear the following night.
They were thoroughly explaining the situation, with Spiremaster Abel taking the lead, but the dour expressions on the assembled mages’ faces never lifted.
‘Well, that figures.’ Hütter whispered in his mind.
(If you think of them as troops who just lost their fortress and were forced to flee… Of course morale is going to be in the pits. Not to mention there’s basically no chance of reinforcements.)
All of the mages looked up at the three Spiremasters with sullen faces, filled with disillusionment.
Usually, Extermination Office Director Haydn and Protection Office Director Böll would take the lead at times like this. Now, in the light of their old friend Anneliese Röhm’s betrayal, both stood still in silence.
The Headmaster and Assistant Headmaster were in critical condition.
The capable fighters they’d dispatched to the Lange and Oks Hamlets had yet to return.
It was hard to imagine things being any more hopeless. However, fleeing was not an option.
“Before long, the Monsters will cross the wall and begin to invade the entire Empire. We absolutely must stop them here.”
Abel spoke more forcefully than usual. Still, her voice was far too weak to drum up any sort of morale.
Now that everything has come to light, it was impressive that she was able to maintain her usual composure, but she was simply not built for the job of inspiring warriors to fight.
Her ever-gentle voice was much better suited for getting others to lower their guard.
“Early tomorrow morning, we will execute our operation to retake the Wedge Tower.”
Tension ran through the air as Abel made that declaration.
(This is it.)
“To that end, I would like Spiremaster Lowein to explain the details of…”
Just when Abel turned her attention towards Lowein, Hütter wasted no time climbing onto the stage.
The stage was a rickety wooden one, about four steps off the ground. It was only wide enough to fit five adults standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and three of Hütter’s feet would be enough to cross it from front to back.
Rather than dash, Hütter slowly and confidently approached Abel.
All three Spiremasters eyed Hütter with suspicion. Of course they did. Dream Mage Caspar Hütter was an outsider from the Mage Association. He had no business addressing everyone at this juncture.
Curious gazes needled Hütter, each one of them asking ‘What’s this? What’s going on?’
Hütter lifted his chin and kept his face composed. Then, with the face of ‘Honest Mr. Hütter,’ he spoke.
“Terribly sorry to interrupt such an important discussion, Spiremaster Abel.”
“Surely you have a reason for climbing up here, knowing full well that this moment will decide the fate of the Wedge Tower. Let us hear it.”
She spoke gently, but he could clearly feel her thorny gaze.
Well, it was now or never.
“All of you here at the Wedge Tower have been very kind to me. So, I’d hate to see even one of you die. It would pain me to see you throw your lives away in a hopeless battle.”
“Are you suggesting we hand over the whole Empire to the Monsters then? We’ve already suffered several deaths; do you truly believe we have the time to entertain your platitudes?”
“I’m serious. People’s lives are on the line here.”
‘Mainly my life,’ he left unsaid.
Indeed, his life was on the line. If he turned tail here, the Black Lion Emperor would kill him for sure.
“I want to bring at least a speck of light to this hopeless battle. Yes… a piece of that light we call ‘hope.’ To do that, I was thinking of pulling off a teeny little miracle.”
He turned out to the crowd addressed that last line to those who were watching the kerfuffle on stage.
“But I’m gonna need everyone’s help to pull this miracle off. I would be delighted if you could lend me your voices. It doesn’t have to be much.”
The crowd murmured, wondering what was about to happen.
“What are you planning, Hütter!?” shouted Director Hegelich.
—’Sorry, Director. I’m gonna make a fool of myself.’
Casually slipping up to the stage, Sombart motioned for the Spiremasters to clear the stage. “Things might get a little dangerous, why don’t you step over here~.”
Once he confirmed that the stage was clear, Hütter folded his right arm in front of his body, lifted the hem of his robe with his left hand as if it was a lady’s skirt, and bowed.
The robe would act as a curtain to hide Armster, crouching behind the little stage as he sent his dolls out.
“Listen close, as Dream Mage Caspar Hütter shows you all a taste of hope.”
Without a sound, the door opened to the room where Assistant Headmaster Miriam slept.
The old woman lying in the bed — Miriam — thinly opened his eyes.
“…I knew you would come, Lutz Otto.”
Otto’s hand wordlessly grasped the hilt of his sword.
Miriam considered screaming out for someone to come, but there was no sign of anyone else around. With eyes that showed she understood everything, she gazed at Otto.
“Ah, you… You’ve accepted that I would kill you from the very beginning, huh?”
“Möbius has as well. Although his reasons are quite different from my own.”
From Möbius’ perspective, both Otto and his wife Satie were his treasured friends.
He was overcome by the guilt of stealing away Fiene, his best friends’ daughter. Should the day come that the Monsters are eradicated and Fiene is finally free, he thought it was only just that Otto or his daughter Fiene would come to kill him.
But Miriam was different.
“I’ve always seen you as the one who corrupted Satie. An enemy to be eliminated.”
“……”
“I am prepared to be killed by my enemy.”
Otto slowly exhaled a long breath. However, his hand did not leave the sword’s hilt.
His usually relaxed, pitiable smiling face was now entirely expressionless.
“I never liked you, but I know Satie cared a lot about you.”
“……”
“Back in the day, you’d always be at my throat, Satie would come to my defense, and Möbius would always say something completely tone-deaf thinking it was helping… I didn’t hate those days.”
While reminiscing on days gone by, Otto drew the sword from its sheath.
The cold blade reflected the midday sun streaming in through the windows.
Miriam did not beg for her life. She knew it would be meaningless.
“You stole Satie from me, and I stole Fiene from you. That is the truth.”
“Yes, that’s right. We both have our grudges. There’s no reason to say any more — so…”
Otto pressed the tip of the blade against Miriam’s throat.
“I’ll kill you, then save Fiene.”
Suddenly, a commotion rose outside the window.
At the moment, the three Spiremasters were holding a briefing. Because of that, there was practically nobody inside the village hall here.
That must have been why Otto chose this timing, when no one would disturb them, to come kill Miriam.
Yet out of the blue, Miriam’s ears picked up on a faint vibration. It was the sound of someone activating voice-amplification magic.
A familiar voice resounded from outside the window.
Armster’s dolls, hiding beneath the stage, tossed up a hidden string instrument.
Hütter twirled the sleeves of his robe around as he caught the instrument. From an observer’s perspective, it should have looked as if the instrument magically appeared from thin air.
With a face that conveyed ‘Indeed, I have been concealing the talent for chantless illusion magic,’ Hütter lifted the instrument.
He had borrowed the instrument, a lute-like stringed instrument known as a mandora, from some grandpa living in the village. It was a stroke of luck that he was able to borrow this on such short notice.
Hütter wasn’t a musician. So, his whole theory on stringed instruments boiled down to:
—If you just strum it loud enough like ‘chaka-chaka’, people will get excited.
Especially when it was dead silent like this, a loud chaka-chan! was incredibly effective. It sent a signal that something cool was about to happen.
In accordance with this theory, he strummed loudly on the mandora, then Sombart activated a bit of voice-amplification magic.
With all the charisma he could muster, Hütter addressed the crowd.
“Everyone, it’s time for Poppo Exercises!”
“Poppo!”
Responding to Hütter’s call, the village children cheerfully shouted back.