How to Play a Villainous Boss 44

Chapter 44 – What Is That, 10duck Bird!! (6)

Arriving in El Harda, the capital of the Kingdom of Elheim, Luke and his party encountered the ‘Smoke Witch’ who turned the capital into a mess. Whatever her purpose, what she was doing was technically bad, but the hero did not dare to point it out and fight.

One witch might be able to do it, but the first reason was that it would be difficult to deal with all those bizarre creatures lined up behind her at once. The second reason was that it was hidden.

Didn’t the old saying say that the enemy of an enemy is a friend? Thinking that perhaps this insignificant number of enemies could become a reliable ally if done well, the hero was invited by Cigarete Tabacona, the ‘Smoke Witch’, and arrived at the old tower where she was staying.

“The inside is cleaner than I thought…”

“What? Hey, then this is also a place where people live, so it must be dirty? This is why bloody bastards who don’t even know how to use magic don’t work.”

“…Nice to be old, you Laurie Hal…”

Turn up! Sensing an ominous feeling, the brave man closed Viola’s mouth, and at the same time, Cigarette’s cold gaze fell on her. If he hadn’t interrupted his words, Luke swallowed dry saliva at the murderous look in his eyes that would have reduced the viola to ashes at least three times.

“…Heh. Stupid gore bastard, you should be able to live thanks to that hero or something.”

“Hmph. Even so, the magic power itself isn’t much different from mine…”

“You’re an idiot who doesn’t know that the amount of magical power you possess isn’t everything. Don’t go around saying you’re a wizard. I’m ashamed of everything.”

For some reason, seeing the two wizards who quickly got into a fight if they let go even for a short while, Luke seriously thought about whether the people called wizards had homophobia.

“Because I can’t communicate with you, get out of my sight, you. You said you were a hero, right? Follow me for a while.”

“Ah yes…”

Luke followed Cigarete and stepped into her study.

It was hard to say that her study was tidy, even with empty words. Numerous books were scattered on the floor, not on the bookshelf, and even the books on the bookshelf were jagged.

Cigarette sat down on a chair using a pile of thick books piled on the floor that looked like they had nothing to do with being used as weapons. Unable to act the same way in front of the landlord, however, Luke took a nearby chair and sat facing her.

“Then, where should I start explaining. First of all, do you know that there are two witches in El Harda?”

“Yes. I’ve heard of ‘Smoke Witch’ and ‘Mist Witch’.”

Cigarette puffed out the smoke from her cigarette and nodded.

“I’m the ‘smoke witch’. And the bitch who’s hiding in that damn mist mansion is the ‘mist witch.’ The reason I fought with that year is that you have been chased by Ragna Armade Don, the owner of the beasts who have been chased.

“What exactly happened between you two?”

Another act of Baron Ragna Armageddon. Thinking he might get some information that would help him deal with him, Luke asked for more details, but Cigarette looked reluctant to reveal it and asked for a pipe.

“It’s not a very interesting story. It’s not a story I’d like to retell. If you’re still curious… Watch it.”

Cigarette said that and took a deep breath, then she blew out enough smoke to fill her large study. She suddenly wondered what this was all about, and Luke, who was about to get up, lost consciousness as her vision flickered black with a ringing sensation in her head.

*

In the past, not too long ago, there were two wizards in the Mage Tower. The two wizards, who were orphans, had unusual brains since childhood, and their talents were recognized and they ended up living in the Mage Tower.

If they had continued their victories, a historical autobiography of brilliant geniuses could have been made, but unfortunately, such an opportunity was not given to the two wizards. While studying magic more diligently and passionately than anyone else, unfortunately, they reached their limits as quickly as their passion.

There was no one who could follow them in terms of their understanding of magic, the ability to compose magic formulas, and so on, but they were missing the most important thing.

Just magic power.

No matter how much magical knowledge they had, they were not geniuses, but geniuses, as long as they lacked the mana required to use magic. The amount of mana possessed is not a matter of effort, but a matter of constitution. And it was a fatal wall that could not be solved with effort alone.

The two wizards, who were praised as geniuses at first, soon found out that even though they were wizards, they did not have much magic power, and their honor fell to the floor overnight. And the fact that they were expelled from the Mage Tower was about a week after the fact was revealed.

A wizard who cannot use magic is not a wizard. Having come to that conclusion, the Mage Tower’s leadership did not recognize the two outstanding wizards as wizards because of their innately low amount of magical power. To them, they were a stain that might leave a stain on the great history of the Mage Tower.

A situation that fell into hell again in the morning. Having only studied magic, they did not know what to do after being kicked out of the Mage Tower. For them, magic was their everything.

The luxurious robes they received from the Mage Tower were also confiscated, and the two became beggars, wrapped in rags and rags.

It was really funny that even that scribble was a habit of unconsciously jotting notes nearby when magic-related inspiration came to me while I was in the Mage Tower.

And, to those who didn’t know magic, the drawing that could only be seen as complicated graffiti separated the fates of the two.

[Is this… A magic formula?]

A man appeared in front of the two of them. A mysterious being that exudes ominous energy from its body.

That was his first encounter with Ragnar, Baron Armageddon.

He was interested in the painting Mystrina had drawn, and he was visibly delighted to learn that it was a high-ranking sorcery. The demon-like man held out his hand to them and said.

[I think I can be of some help to you, how about it? Would you like to hear a story?]

He introduced that he had acquired a huge amount of magical power through an incident, but he was worried because he did not have the magical knowledge to use it usefully, and he asked to make magic for himself.

At that suggestion, Cigarette thought there was no need to worry.

Magic is knowledge that explores the mysteries of the world. A wizard is a noble being who studies mysteries. But to make such magic for the private purpose of a human whom no one will ever meet today? No matter how much she was kicked out of the Mage Tower, her pride as a mage would never allow it.

He was kicked out for not having enough magical power, but when it comes to magical knowledge, even the head can’t do anything about it. Would have come

Cigarete declined his offer. But if there was one thing she didn’t expect, it was that her only friend, Mystrina, who had grown up with her in her orphanage, entered her tower together, and had been kicked out with her, had accepted his offer.

No matter how much help she needed, when Cigarette asked if she was willing to give up her pride as a wizard, Mist Rina answered with a cold face she had never seen before.

[…Sublime? Pride? Pride? What is it all about? How do those things help us? I… I’d do anything to survive. Even if that’s… Even if it’s something you shouldn’t do as a wizard.]

…That’s not funny.

Cigarette had the ambition and desire to succeed as a mage again and make the Mage Tower regret the fact that they had abandoned them, but Mystrina just didn’t.

Denied and abandoned where she had first been recognized, she was already resigned, desperate, and desperate for her life. That’s why she was able to put on an expression of absurdity at Cigarette’s words of pride and honor.

Cigarette refused Ragnar Armageddon’s offer, and Mystrina accepted his offer.

With that, the paths of the two people who thought they would be together forever diverged.

Cigarette has his own way of solving his magic as a new point of view called magic engineering that mixes magic with biotechnology and mechanical engineering.

Magic that requires the least amount of her mana, that is the direction she pursues. Ironically, it was a way to maximally amplify the most basic law of ‘creating maximum efficiency with minimum power’, which is the basis of all wizards’ magic formula.

And the way Mystrina pursued was the exact opposite of hers.

Numerous magic formulas created without considering the amount of mana consumed. It was magic that ordinary wizards could never handle.

The magic she created was for only one person, Ragna Armageddon, whose magical knowledge was poor, but the amount of magical power was unprecedentedly enormous.

And it was after the mage tower, which dismissed them as stains and banished them, was destroyed by Ragnar Armageddon that the two of them began to make a name for themselves as witches.

Of course, it was Rag or Armageddon who used the magic that destroyed the mage tower, but Mystrina created the magic formula.

Collapse of the mage tower. From that point on, the two turned around.

In the past, they were friends and colleagues, but now it’s just a relationship where they have to kill each other while holding different ideas in their hearts.

*

“…Zheouk?!”

Luke, who came to his senses with the pain as if his head was about to break, looked around with blank eyes. A very old study… It is the study of Cigarette, the witch of smoke. And she, the one who knocked him out, was still sitting in front of him on a stack of books, relaxed.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Ah yes…”

While Luke lost his mind, he quietly recalled what he had seen. Two orphan wizards who entered the Mage Tower in recognition of their superior talent than anyone else, but were kicked out of the Mage Tower due to a congenital constitutional problem.

That was the past of the ‘Witch of Mist’ and ‘Witch of Smoke’. And now I could understand that the ‘Smoke Witch’ spewed murderous intent towards the ‘Mist Witch’ who was once a friend.

The two who were kicked out of the Mage Tower had feelings of wanting to take revenge on the Mage Tower that abandoned them. But the way was different.

The way Cigarette wanted was for her to become a wizard better than anyone else and make the top of the Mage Tower regret the choices they had made, but Myst Lina did nothing but give Ragnar Armageddon a dangerous weapon that should never be given to Baron. In other words, he took revenge on his behalf by handing it over to him.

A bloody vengeance that resulted in countless innocent sacrifices.

The beginning of the rift between the two was Ragna Armageddon’s proposal, and the full-fledged split between them was Ragna Armageddon’s destruction of the Mage Tower.

After all, at the center of this was him, Baron Ragna Armageddon. Then, there is one thing Luke needs to know.

Baron Ragnar Armageddon, why did he destroy the Mage Tower?

Because Mystrina wanted it? No, probably not. She may not have been without her influence, but it’s hard to say that it was a deciding factor.

Speaking of the relationship between Baron Ragnar Armageddon and the Mage Tower, it was all that the Mage Tower metaphorically insulted him, who was not an ordinary wizard. Even that was not the official position of the Mage Tower, but just a personal statement from one of the Mage Tower’s leaders.

It was somewhat unreasonable to believe that the man had taken the lives of so many people just because of that insignificant word. In the first place, the Mage Tower was far away from his territory, and there was no exchange whatsoever between the Mage Tower and Baron Ragnar Armageddon, except for one of the top leaders of the Mage Tower personally insulting him.

If so, what could be the cause? Why did he have to destroy the mage tower and kill countless people? For what?

…I have to think about it for a hundred days, but the answer does not come out. If you really want to know the answer, the method is simple.

Entering the tiger’s den with your own feet.

“Miss Tobacco. What do you want to do, is to kill Mistrina or does she have a conversation with him?”

“…If you insist on arguing, it’s both of them. First of all, that bitch abandoned me and ruined my chance to get revenge. So I can’t stand it unless she pays me back. How desperate you were, and why the hell you took away the chance to get revenge from me.”

“But, Mistress Mistress, you don’t think you’d like to see Lady Tabacona?”

Cigarette responded by chewing on her pipe.

“Well, that’s right, the problem is that fog, that goddamn fog is a real nuisance. That fog is a high-level barrier magic created by Mystrina. Its name must be… ‘Wandering Mist,’ did you say it? I have a good naming sense… Anyway, the effect of that magic is simple. That foggy place is all under her jurisdiction. Whether she lost her way and died of starvation, escaped safely, got decapitated at some point by an invisible blade, or met with the master of the fog. It’s all her choice. It can’t be penetrated by any means. Usually, such a powerful protective magic requires consuming a huge amount of mana to maintain it…”

“Baron Ragnar Armageddon.”

“…Yes, that bastard. They say he’s full of magic power. The person who created that magic is Mystrina, but it’s that bastard who maintains it. But what is that bastard really? Even though the entire leadership consumes enough magic power for a year every day, the barrier doesn’t show any signs of breaking, is that bastard really a human? In fact, he’s a descendant of a dragon that survived in ancient times, isn’t it? “

“Probably not. As far as I know, he’s a normal human being.”

“…What you’re doing is far from normal human beings.”

“I can’t deny it. And since we know the witch’s circumstances, this time our circumstances…”

“Oh, I don’t need that. It’s one thing that’s important to me. Do you need it or not to get through that damn fog?”

“Then you’ll probably need it. Hard to say for sure… But maybe he’ll let us in.”

Luke still had a hard time understanding Ragnar, Baron Armageddon. However, I did know one thing. That he, for whatever reason, had no intention of hurting them right now.