LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 40
Chapter 40 – The White Mage (9)
#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations
—–CROW—–
“*Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*”
—*Flutter, flutter.*
Hair whiter than the racist’s skin floated through the air of the Mage’s Guild.
I watched the swirling hair with an indifferent gaze. The bloody streaks visible amidst the falling white strands were the death throes of his ravaged hair follicles.
“*Ugyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!* My, my, my hair!!! My hair!!!”
Usrate clutched his head and fell to his knees. The copious tears streaming from his eyes weren’t just from the pain.
But even seeing his pathetic state didn’t evoke any sympathy or satisfaction. I just felt disgusted, like watching a bug writhing after losing a leg.
I approached Usrate with an icy stare, my boots crunching mercilessly on the garden soil.
—*Thud.*
*Flinch!*
Usrate flinched at the sound of my footsteps and looked up, trembling. Our eyes met through the mask. Like the true asshole he was, he immediately started ranting.
“You damn savage!!! Do you have any idea who I am?!”
*Whirr!*
Usrate cast a spell in his rage. A translucent spherical shield enveloped his body.
“I’ll kill you! If it weren’t for your surprise attack, I, Usrate, would never have lost to a barbaric warrior like you—!!”
“Pathetic excuses. Are you so busy using your few remaining brain cells to lust after others that you can’t even come up with a decent excuse?”
I scoffed and closed the distance. A 7th-rank alchemist. On paper, he sounded tough.
But Usrate was just an alchemist. Magic was secondary.
Could a bodybuilder beat a boxer? Maybe. The bodybuilder would probably have greater strength. But I knew there was a huge difference between someone experienced in fighting and someone who wasn’t.
Usrate wasn’t a warrior. Even as a mage, he clearly lacked combat experience.
His stance was ridiculously awkward, and his reflexes were shit!
Even mages, as mana users, possessed a certain level of physical ability, yet he hadn’t reacted at all to my surprise hair-pulling attack.
A skilled mage would have used an instant-cast spell to stop me the moment I grabbed his hair. Usrate’s failure to do so proved he was a combat-inept moron!
Even a 7th-rank alchemist was just a fattened chicken in a coop, living off his own inflated ego!!
“Vector—Punch!”
*Thud!*
My punch slammed into the shield, making it tremble. The pain in my wrist made me yelp!
“*Yow!!!*”
Shit! That hurt like hell!
Now that a shield was up, combat skills were useless! If I couldn’t break through it, shitty reflexes didn’t even matter!
“Oh, fiery mana of the south—”
That fucker was chanting a spell! I was screwed! That crazy bastard was going to blast me with magic just because I pulled some of his hair!
“I told you to shut up!!! Rapid-Fire Punches!!!”
*Bam, bam, bam, bam!!!*
I got serious and unleashed a barrage of punches with all my might. Beast Regression, somehow having leveled up significantly, absorbed my mana like a sponge and amplified my power.
*Whoosh!*
*Thud, thud, thud!*
—*Crack!*
“Huh?! *Gah?!*”
Usrate, chanting his spell, stopped abruptly as he saw cracks appear on his shield. He was a fucking idiot! If he saw that shit going down, he should have chanted faster, not stopped talking!
It was like a jaywalker freezing in place three seconds before getting hit by a car! His brain couldn’t process the situation, and his body refused to make a rational decision!
And unlike the jaywalker, Usrate was the one at fault!!
—*Shatter!!*
The eternal law that justice always prevails was on my side. The hastily erected shield shattered under my relentless assault.
*Crackle!*
Faster than the scattering shards, I closed in and grabbed Usrate, who was hiding inside the shield.
*Grab!!*
“*Aaaaaaaaaah!!!*”
I grabbed him without thinking, and only then did I realize I had grabbed his… *forelock*.
The few remaining white hairs clinging precariously to his bloody, mostly bald scalp!!
“Let, let go! Let go of me, you uncivilized master’s student!”
“M-master’s student?! This asshole is still running his mouth?!”
Calling a master’s student a “master’s student” was as sensitive as calling a bald man “baldy”! Most people with a master’s degree weren’t proud of it!!
Why would you brag about having a master’s when the university was full of doctors and professors?!
This guy would probably be pissed if someone called him a “7th-rank alchemist” in front of younger, higher-ranking mages!!
“You need to experience what it’s like to be bald!!!”
And he dared to call *me* a “master’s student” without putting himself in my shoes!!!
I lost it. This guy needed to experience balding and feel self-conscious about every single stare he received before he learned to watch his mouth!!!
I tightened my grip on his hair!! It was time for another round of the Earth Hero’s special move!!!
“Vector—M-Shaped Balding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Stoooooop!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*”
*Rip!!!*
*Thud!*
A highway was carved into Usrate’s scalp. It was *my* highway, meant to demolish his Britannian supremacist worldview like the Berlin Wall.
I hoped this incident would open him up to new perspectives, like South Korea after its highway development boom, as I brushed my hands clean. I couldn’t get Francesca’s gloves dirty with his filthy hair.
—*Drip, drip, drip.*
Blood flowed freely from Usrate’s scalp, where his hair had been ripped out from his forehead to the crown of his head. Blood trickled into one of his eyes, forcing him to close it, effectively turning him into a one-eyed monster.
—*Thud.*
I took a step towards Usrate, who was writhing on the ground. The pathetic alchemist convulsed at the indifferent sound of my boots on the soil.
“*Hic, hack, huuurgh!!* W-wait! No, please wait! Mr. Wayne!”
Covered in blood and dirt, he looked like a zombie. His appearance finally matched his personality.
“I’m so sorry! I lost my temper for a moment! I apologize! Please forgive me!”
“Cut the crap.”
One more apology, and I’d be pouring alcohol on his grave.
What was he going to do, apologize his way out of this? We had crossed the point of no return.
We had paid Charon his fee and boarded the ferry to the underworld with a quirky lawyer. Just like the dead and lost hair, there was no coming back. After this disaster, our only option was to move forward.
—*Thud, thud.*
“*Gaaaaaaah!!* Don’t come closer! Stay away from me!!!”
Usrate gave up on chanting and cowered against the wall. He knew I would attack him the moment he started chanting.
For him, chanting now was more foolish than pulling out jerky in front of a cheetah in a crouching start.
But no matter what Usrate did… I wasn’t stopping.
—*Stop.*
I stopped right in front of Usrate.
I clenched my fist and said,
“—Remember me every time you look at your scalp.”
“*Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!”
The racist baldy screamed like a banshee, clutching his head!! With his screams as my BGM, I stomped my foot!
—*Special Move.*
“Vector—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Friday!!!”
Vector—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Friday! It was a legendary combo, each blow infused with the Earth Hero’s courage and the sorrows of a graduate student!
A secret technique capable of up to 108 hits, a deadly skill that wasn’t over until it was over!
And it was especially effective against professors or professor-like creatures!!
This was my divine punishment for this scum who exploited, abused, and sexually harassed his innocent apprentice!!!
*Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!!!*
*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*
Usrate’s mana-enhanced body was tough. So I channeled the power of Beast Regression and pummeled him relentlessly!
“Do you know these words, villain?!”
“*Ugyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*”
I shouted as I continued my assault!
“Early retirement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
*Bam!!!*
A finishing uppercut, infused with green mana, slammed into Usrate’s jaw!!!
—*Thump.*
The old man, suitable for retirement, collapsed on the spot, blood spurting from his nose, after being hit by my rising dragon fist. I had controlled my strength, using what little rationality I had left, but the blow to his jaw had knocked him out.
*Hiss—*
Green mana, like gunpowder smoke, rose from my clenched fists.
—Victory.
The feeling of victory was tangible. This technique only ended when the opponent was beaten beyond recovery.
I exhaled, my fists at my waist in a taekwondo stance.
And I muttered,
“…Shit. Did I go too far?”
I felt a pang of regret as I looked at Usrate, sprawled out like a broken mannequin. I had gone overboard. I should have stopped sooner!
But despite my self-reproach, I felt a sense of relief.
A refreshing sensation, like clearing a blocked drain.
“—Ah, so this is what ‘satisfaction’ feels like.”
…Bullshit.
It was satisfying, but it felt like mainlining it through an IV. A classic case of substance abuse.
‘How am I going to deal with this?’
A master’s student from Carmine had just beaten the crap out of a 7th-rank alchemist from the Mage’s Guild. Would this just be a personal matter? No way.
The Mage’s Guild had its pride. They wouldn’t just let it slide after one of their own got their ass kicked. It wouldn’t set a good example for other groups.
Carmine University, on the other hand, would probably cut me loose. It wasn’t worth jeopardizing their relationship with the Mage’s Guild for a measly master’s student like me.
“Um…”
Just as I was considering ditching my Arthur Wayne identity and running, Tirshi spoke to me. Oh, right, she was still here.
“Thank you for your help. I’m Tirshi Armashunas.”
“…Arthur Wayne.”
I nodded, pretending not to know her, and used my best Vector—Speak Sternly voice.
Tirshi would have forgotten the voice of a guy she had only worked with for a day, but I wanted to be cautious.
Fortunately, Tirshi didn’t seem to recognize me and continued,
“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Mr. Wayne, I might have been seriously hurt by that… that man.”
“I’m glad I could help. I happened to overhear your conversation… It seems there are other victims as well.”
“…Yes. My close friend and her partner suffered greatly because of him.”
Tirshi said gloomily, taking off her nurse’s cap. I felt bad for bringing it up, but she quickly composed herself.
“But are you alright, Mr. Wayne? That man deserves what he got, but… he’ll definitely try to retaliate against you.”
Tirshi asked, her eyes filled with concern.
“I heard from him. You’re a field researcher with a master’s from Carmine University here to request a magic analysis, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. So you’re the apprentice McIver said he would send…?”
“That’s me. My minor is magical history. But that’s not important right now.”
Tirshi frowned, looking at the unconscious Usrate lying on the ground.
“That man, when he wakes up, he’ll definitely report you to your university. Do you have a plan?”
“…I’m thinking about it.”
But I didn’t have any good ideas.
I racked my brain. My neurons were firing at 3000%. Tirshi, watching me struggle, said,
“If you don’t have a plan… would you entrust this to us?”
“Entrust it to you?”
“I’m not the only one who wants to see that man punished.”
Come to think of it, she had mentioned something about a plan in their earlier conversation.
“Many others have suffered from his tyranny. I’ve been gathering testimonies and evidence to have him expelled from the guild.”
“…McIver boasted that he could use his connections to stop you. Are you sure you can handle it?”
“His connections are nothing special. Just some ass-kissing he did with executives from other Mage’s Guilds. But he can’t contact them for help or object to his arrest and trial while he’s unconscious, can he?”
Tirshi said calmly, ticking off points on her fingers.
“So now, while he’s unconscious, is the perfect opportunity. I was originally planning to execute the plan while he was away at a seminar, but he hasn’t left the guild recently.”
“He must have sensed your plan and was trying to counter it.”
“Most likely. The fact that he revealed it to me means he was almost ready to retaliate. I should have realized it when he bought another carrier pigeon…”
Tirshi sighed, then her expression turned resolute.
“But it’s still possible. Whatever he was planning, we can resolve it within half a day.”
Tirshi’s eyes gleamed.
“If we hide him and report to the Guild Master, he won’t be able to call witnesses or defend himself.”
“…I see. That seems like the best course of action.”
I agreed. As with most things, it was better to go big or go home.
Like how reporting military hazing was more effective at the battalion level than through a suggestion box, and online petitions only worked if they gained enough attention.
‘Running away wouldn’t solve anything.’
Even if I ditched my Arthur Wayne identity and ran, someone would come after me.
I wasn’t a murderer. Living in constant fear of being chased wasn’t an option, especially with Francesca.
In that sense, Tirshi’s suggestion was timely.
It was better to ride on someone else’s well-laid plan than to fuck things up by trying to handle it alone. I nodded.
“I’ll leave it to you. …Oh, but I have one request.”
I pointed at the unconscious Usrate.
“Could you add to the testimony that he insulted my Ulster friend and tried to smear my reputation?”
“Hee hee. Is that all?”
Tirshi, in her nurse’s uniform, wiggled her index finger.
“Don’t you need a heroic tale about how you couldn’t stand his despicable behavior towards a woman and fought him out of chivalry?”
“Hee hee. Sure. Might as well go all out.”
—And so, before nightfall, we had the racist piece of shit expelled from the Mage’s Guild and thrown in jail.
Justice had been served in the corrupt Mage’s Guild.
But I still had one complaint.
“So, when are you going to examine my dick?” I muttered after being released without charges, following a lengthy testimony.
The magical urology clinic in this town seemed to have a ridiculously long wait time.
—–CROW—–
#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations