TN: Please read my translations only on my website nyx-translation.com since I never give my permission to any site to host my translations. And if you like my translations, please support this site on Ko-fi, and join our Patreon to read up to 12 chapters ahead for this novel!
Enjoy~
TL: ALT
Chapter 211 – Day 42 of Management Life
Countless round shadows formed on the surface of the swamp. Haze turtles floated in the air.
I’m the one keeping them afloat.
I’m practicing levitation magic, but levitating myself and levitating others are worlds apart.
“Floating an entire island? That’s beyond comprehension.”
Even if the ancient people developed levitation magic, their idea of floating an island is clearly out of this world.
The larger the target’s body, the harder it is to generate sufficient buoyancy. Also, gravity pulls downward, requiring massive amounts of magical power.
It’s possible to float something the size and weight of a Haze Turtle; my magic power can handle that. However, when it comes to the giant magical beast, I doubt buoyancy alone could ever lift it.
“What should I do, huh?”
Even when I called out, the floating Haze Turtle just basked comfortably in the sunlight on its shell. There was no reply.
If it were just floating, I could sustain the magic supply for a full day. The problem isn’t endurance; my raw output simply isn’t enough.
There’s probably no training that could increase my magic output enough to handle the giant magical beast approaching in three days.
“Damn…”
Splash!
As I climbed out of the swamp, the delicious smell of Katan’s cooking wafted over.
This morning, we once again carried supplies from the entrance of the demonic land to the room deep within the cave.
The elf guards gasped in surprise when they saw the supplies floating.
“I still can’t raise it much more than this. If the soldiers have any training to boost magical output, could you tell them to teach me?”
“Sigh.”
A listless reply came back.
“Are you okay?”
“No, probably not.”
“What’s wrong?”
As I asked, the two elves steeled themselves and began crossing the river. They must have sprinted across, dodging the slime’s attacks the whole time.
They were panting heavily on the riverbank.
“We finally crossed the river and can now enter near the entrance to the demonic land.”
“We thought we had grown quite a bit, but Makyo-san, are you growing at an unseen speed?”
The elves seemed convinced that the gap between us had widened again.
“Sorry. I don’t think I’m growing at all.”
“Huh…?”
“How should I put this? I only developed and practiced magic because it was necessary in the demonic land. As for monsters or the Nushi, I only hunt them if they get in my way or make me hungry. So, I’ve never really trained in proper magic. I do think I should start soon, though.”
The elves looked utterly devastated.
“Do you realize how strong you are?”
“Strong? Nah. I think things like, ‘This part’s weak,’ or ‘Whoa, that’s slow.’ But even if I thought I was strong, there’s no one I want to beat up.”
The elves seemed confused. Maybe they were questioning their own lives.
“What’s up? Want to go back to the Elf Kingdom?”
“No, it’s just… Why did the Elf Kingdom attack the demonic land? It’s beyond foolish.”
“Ask them that yourself.”
“We received a request from an elf envoy to survey the demonic land’s military strength. Is it okay if I tell them, ‘Don’t think you can measure us’?”
“Well, do as you like. Things are about to get busy up ahead.”
“Understood. Also, a special envoy from East Kenya is coming to the military facility. They want to discuss the trading village matter.”
“To me?”
“Yes, they said it’s directed to the Margrave, but…”
“I don’t have anything to say to them. I might send someone else.”
“Understood.”
“Kahiman, do you want to go?”
“No.”
Kahiman declined without hesitation.
“Ah, this is fine. It’s not too tiring.”
As a sort of compensation for declining, Kahiman was teaching the elf guards how to scatter slimes using a magic rotation.
“Magic?”
“No.”
Although Kahiman had only recently begun living in the demonic land, he could now teach others. Those within the demonic land should share their techniques.
That’s what happened early that morning.
After training in levitation magic and while still soaking wet, I was climbing the slope when Kahiman came rushing out of the forest entrance, looking flustered.
“What’s wrong? Did you kill someone?”
Maybe he didn’t know how to control his strength and did it by accident.
“No, I was teaching the elf guards about magic rotation when soldiers came from the military facility and said, ‘Teach us, too.’ What should I do?”
“Just teach them, right? The women and I aren’t very good at teaching people anyway.”
“I can’t talk!”
“You don’t need to talk. Just show them. Maybe we talked too much. Oh, and Kahiman, since you’ve been with me a lot, you know quite a bit, right?”
“True…”
“Tell them about the demonic land, too. The captain probably doesn’t know the details.”
“Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. If you need a title, call yourself a special envoy or a retainer.”
“I was supposed to become a Trapper, though…”
“The demonic land rarely gives you the position you expect. Just try everything. Your talents might shine in unexpected places.”
“Got it. I’ll give it a shot.”
Kahiman took the lunchbox from Katan and headed toward the entrance. His hands and feet were steady; he must be nervous.
“He might come back unsuccessful.”
Katan looked worried.
“Everyone fails, so there’s no need to get down. Think about it. No matter how much I teach them, no one will help me with my levitation magic experiments.”
“Now that you mention it, yeah.”
“So, what are you guys doing? Neither the night owl Hel and Sylvia seem to be around.”
“Well, they left early this morning, muttering something about ‘the awakening period’ or something like that.”
“So they’re awakening? Can’t they just work? The dragon relocation and the magic stone transport road aren’t finished. What the hell are they doing?”
Katan and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast of sleeping bird eggs, field boar bacon, and a salad of wild herbs and cam berries.
“Katan, please don’t go back to the Elf Kingdom.”
“Yeah, I don’t plan on going back anyway.”
While we were eating breakfast leisurely, a disheveled Lipa rushed out of the cave in a panic.
“Huh? Did everyone already leave?”
“Yeah, I have no idea where they went. If you’re running late, shouldn’t you eat breakfast first?”
“No, I can’t! The Awakening has begun! If I miss this, I’ll fall behind again!”
Lipa hurriedly wrapped the breakfast Katan had made in large leaves and prepared a bento.
“Katan, thank you, as always.”
He thanked her as he left.
“It’s fine.”
“What kind of awakening is starting?”
“The one in the demonic land.”
“An awakening in the demonic land?” I don’t know anything about that.”
“Of course not! Makyo-san is causing the awakening!”
Lipa had prepared a wooden sword and a broom. But perhaps thinking the wooden sword wasn’t enough, he broke off a branch from a nearby tree and began crafting another wooden sword.
“I haven’t awakened anything!”
“Even if Makyo-san doesn’t think so, everyone else does! Think about it. Think about everything that’s happened these past two months.”
“Did I do something? It’s been business as usual.”
“That’s from Makyo-san’s perspective! You’ve learned martial arts that channel magic through bones from the Sealing Clan. You’ve mastered magic manipulation to defeat Nushis. You’ve somehow gained the ability to sense deep underground earth veins. You’ve even pulled the sealing wedge from Cliff Garuda. You’ve hatched dungeons, and now you can fly into the sky. All this happened in just a few weeks!”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Now that you mention it, I guess I’ve gained quite a few abilities.
“Normally, people don’t change that much in such a short time.”
“Huh? Really?”
“The flow of the earth veins has changed, and monsters and Nushis are gradually transforming, too. Monsters and plants are awakening for a new battle. If you don’t ride this wave, you won’t be able to adapt to the demonic land.”
“I wonder…”
I traveled the earth’s veins, but it didn’t seem like much had changed. Yet, within the demonic land, there was plenty of transformation.
“The dragon woke up in the first place. If you can’t handle a dragon by yourself, you won’t survive in the demonic land.”
“Is that so?”
“Just like Hel and Chel said.”
“What did they say?”
“It won’t do any good to tell Makyo-san. Anyway, we’ll be training in various parts of the land, so please take care of everything.”
“You say ‘take care of everything,’ but the giant magical beast is coming in three days!”
“Yeah. But preparations are already in place, aren’t they? We’re transporting the supplies, and Hel-san wrote the letter to Midgard inside the giant magical beast ahead of time.”
To transport the supplies to Cliff Garuda’s “Great Hole,” negotiations with those inside Midgard are necessary. Suddenly saying we should turn back time would only cause chaos. Even if we spent three months getting everything ready perfectly, only one day would have passed inside the giant magical beast.
“If we don’t transport it to the ‘Great Hole’ during this attack, wouldn’t we mostly just be confirming that the relief supplies can be transferred?”
“That’s true.”
“If we have to transport magic stones to the Meiju Kingdom before winter, we need to quickly grow strong enough to handle everything, from mining the stones to managing the dragon’s food. It just so happens that the demonic land has entered its awakening phase, so we decided to awaken as well.”
When he pleaded so earnestly, I couldn’t deny him.
“Alright. Do as you wish. But you don’t have to rush—I won’t kick you out.”
“Sometimes getting kicked out for being underpowered is easier.”
He seemed to be dwelling on something.
Lipa straddled his broom and tried to channel his magic.
“Lipa!”
“Yes?”
“Take it easy. The demonic land is a survival game. Flip that around, and if you survive, you can do whatever you want. If you tense up too much, your punches won’t be powerful. It’s okay to relax where you can.”
“Ah…huh? Thanks for the advice.”
Lipa flew off toward the eastern sky, looking like he’d been caught off guard.
“Are you sure you don’t need to awaken, Katan?”
“I don’t know what awakening is. But Saketsu seemed pretty desperate about it…”
Katan had heard secondhand that Saketsu was trying to build a new magical machine at the desert military base.
“Makyo-san, what exactly is awakening?”
Katan asked while clearing the dishes.
“Awakening, huh. Well, when Chel returned to the Meiju Kingdom, everyone who was left behind suddenly mastered new techniques. Special skills, I guess. Jennifer strengthened her defensive magic, and Lipa learned to spot monsters’ weaknesses.”
“So it’s a time of change?”
“Yeah. Everyone changed around the same time. It seems that time has come again. I didn’t notice it myself.”
“Should I change too, maybe?”
“Nah, it’s fine. Just do what you always do. Take care of the crocodile farm and the dragons. If the giant magical beasts come, the dragons at the Midgard ruins will get crushed.”
“Okay.”
We headed to the crocodile farm for some post-meal exercise. We circled around the swamp, checking our surroundings. No monsters were attacking us in particular.
The nearby treants were gradually retreating toward the swamp, and the imps were as noisy as ever.
At the crocodile park, the rock crocodile had stacked rocks into pillars with magic and was cooling off in the shade.
It was late autumn, and while it wasn’t overly hot, the temperature was probably comfortable.
I tossed some venison to feed it.
When we arrived at the Midgard ruins, most of the dragons were asleep.
Purple, magic-rich tubers were scattered around the area, and some dragons were digging them up to eat.
The charred black Spider Guardian lay sprawled out, perhaps exhausted from babysitting the dragon cubs or drained of magic. When I infused it with magic, it moved its legs and headed out of the ruins.
Armed dungeon dwellers were challenging the dragons, but were blown away by their snorts.
“How do we defeat them?”
The shrunken goat-headed demon king asked.
“Hm? Punch them…”
Simply deflecting the dragons’ fire breath with a magic vortex astonished the dungeon dwellers.
“It’s not difficult, so everyone should learn this much. The giant magical beast is coming soon, so the dungeon dwellers should evacuate.”
“Understood.”
The dungeon dwellers also seemed to be practicing magic manipulation.
“You should evacuate, too.”
I tried telling the dragons, but they were burping potatoes.
“You bastards!”
While playing and wrestling with the dragons, I rediscovered levitation magic.
When I suddenly pressed down from above, their muscles reflexively resisted, trying to return to their original state. Using magic to interfere with that force sent the dragon popping into the air. It was fun, so I kept doing it, and soon the dragons gathered around.
Dragons are simple creatures—their bones, muscles, and magical energy flow are straightforward. If you want to break them, it’s easy. They’re not much different from lizards. On the flip side, sprains and fractures are easy to heal.
I also realized that even without magic, I could use my opponent’s magic.
“But the giant magical beast move by sucking up magic, you know.”
I gazed at the ruins of Midgard, where I had previously sensed no magic at all.
The sky was beginning to cloud over.
“I guess I might have to awaken, too.”
Since Katan said such things on the way home, I suggested, “Let’s buy a new pot.”
If you like my translations, please support me on Ko-Fi and subscribe my Patreon to read up to 12 chapters ahead for this novel!