Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~

Chapter 7: The Madman Is Only Interested in Magic

Noiche Levi—

The genius among the Levi sisters. To her, a researcher is an object of respect.

The Levi family’s astronomical magic had been thoroughly researched by their ancestors, leaving scarcely any room for further pursuit.

All the necessary knowledge was already within the family, and moreover, Noiche had exceptional talent. From her perspective, having reached the level of a first-class magician without much hardship at all, the sense of guilt over “not creating anything on her own” could be called a kind of complex.

Or perhaps that feeling stemmed from having watched the desperate training of the prodigy among the Levi sisters—Zaria Levi—more closely than anyone.

Before such a Noiche, a new object of respect appeared. That was Haro Moscaneira.

The boy made his way through the dense mountains.

Though he had said he wanted to investigate the mountain, Haro had more experience with this kind of mountain hiking.

With the boy walking at the front and the sisters following behind, Noiche vaguely followed Haro’s white hair with her eyes.

What a strange boy, she thought first in a straightforward way.

At the beginning, he had been intimidated by the authority of the ducal family, but once she told him not to worry about it, he really stopped worrying. He did not react to status or appearance. Most men acted strangely in front of the Levi sisters—

“…He really is only interested in magic.”

“Huh? Did you say something?”

To Haro, who asked without even turning around at her soliloquy, Noiche answered, “Nothing.”

She disliked the sticky feeling like that of his brother or father, but being ignored so completely was a bit amusing in a displeasing way.

At that moment, footsteps approached from ahead.

They came rushing down a gentle slope.

“A monster is coming. Sounds like a beast’s footsteps.”

“Haro! Can I ask you to handle it again?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it. It can serve as monster repellent too.”

With those words, Haro deployed Ink.
The unknown magic called Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains, seemed quite handy just from watching it. It had tremendous power, was maneuverable, and moreover, did not block the dominant hand.

The only drawback, if there was one, was the intense friction sound it produced… but this time, that was serving as monster repellent.

The monster that appeared from beyond the trees, resembling a wild boar in form, stopped its feet in fright before the unfamiliar sound of the Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains—

And in that gap, Haro slammed in an attack.

“—Gyaaah!?”

“Boar meat, huh… It’s a waste, but no time to drain the blood, so I’ll pass this time.”

A blow that split the skull.

Seeing Haro look regretful before the falling boar, Zaria tapped his shoulder while looking exasperated and said, “I’ll treat you to some delicious meat later!”

Not all monsters were belligerent. Many monsters were as timid as ordinary animals.

So by occasionally making a loud noise like this, the number of approaching monsters decreased. Their progress was going well.

“You’re using the Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains non-stop, but… doesn’t Ink run out of magic power?”

“There is a limit, sort of. But magical creatures like slimes recover magic power quickly, and with the original amount of magic, it’s holding up. When it’s bad, I give it medicine.”

“Ah, like potions?”

“Powder medicine, I think. I don’t want to dilute it too much.”

While exchanging words with Zaria, Haro rummaged in the pouch at his waist with his left hand. What he took out was not powder medicine—it was dried fruit. A faint sweet aroma wafted.

“Ink, good job.”

The black slime swallowed a piece of dried fruit, rubbed against its owner’s palm, and then returned to the glass bottle as if satisfied.

…This part was strange too.

Because he called it something as straightforward as “Ink,” she had assumed he saw that slime merely as an experimental animal… but apparently, he had some affection after all.

And there was one more thing that bothered her.

“…Haro, you don’t use your right hand?”
“Oh, you noticed? As expected.”

At Noiche’s observation—

When she voiced her doubt about Haro stubbornly refusing to use his right arm, the boy smiled faintly and answered.

“I can’t use it too much. It tingles.”

“Tingles…?”

“Numbness. I messed up and injured some nerve somewhere.”

Noiche, who did not know Haro’s previous memories, had no way of knowing the concept of “nerves.”

But she vaguely recalled hearing phrases like “connecting even the brain nerves” from his mouth, and she could guess that it was some kind of self-inflicted injury—no, a medical accident.

She shuddered.

At the fact that a boy of this age had conducted an experiment with such risks all by himself.

“N-next time, we’ll fight!”

“Haro! You take a little break!”

“Huh? No, I’m fine, really…”

To Noiche and Zaria, who spoke in unison in a flustered way, Haro nodded while looking puzzled.

Really, why had he kept something so important quiet?

“Sleep, rabbit, cradle, come, night’s silence.”

A stealth magic that borrows the quiet of the night.

The astronomical magic of the Levi family that Noiche favored was a “magic dependent on natural mysteries” and a “magic of analogy,” likening her own magic to celestial bodies, quoting the state of the night sky, faith, star positions, and such within the spell formula. Due to its nature, the effect weakened while the sun was up, but it was better than nothing.

“Sorry, Noiche, leaving it to you again today.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

While Noiche’s magic was active, the twin Zaria could not use magic. It could not be helped; that was the curse.

They walked the mountain again.
Even with their presence concealed, they could not always avoid encountering monsters. In those cases, Noiche would finish off the monster with a surprise attack and force their way forward.

“Float.”

Bullets that were simply magic power materialized—

She fired countless ones in an arc, slamming in consecutive shots with time differences. It was the basic technique called magic bullets, but Noiche liked this one.

Piercing the enemy’s vital points with low magic cost—this was very efficient. Thanks to Noiche’s extraordinary precise control, it produced power unmatched by ordinary mid-level magic.

“Haro, what do you think of Noiche’s magic?”

“What do you mean…?”

“Advice!”

Zaria and the others were getting excited on their own behind him.

But certainly, she was interested in what could be seen from Haro’s perspective.

“…You’re firing the magic bullets in an arc to imitate the movement of the stars?”

“Yes! For ‘magic of analogy’ like ours, the more we overlay magic and reality, the stronger the effect.”

“I see.”

Haro nodded and continued, “In that case.”

“It would be better to imitate more precisely. Just drawing an arc isn’t the only movement of the stars.”

“What do you mean?”

To Zaria’s question, Haro pondered a bit… and, thinking it was hard to explain, took a small black slate from his pocket.

This was the thin board that Haro called a “blackboard,” a rather innovative item where lines were drawn with a drawing material made by kneading and hardening lime.

Even the usually composed Noiche grew curious and peeked at his hands.
Haro was drawing a circle on the blackboard. This shape, with multiple circles overlapping around a central point—

“—The northern sky?”

“Yeah, the movement of the stars in the north-facing sky. If you’re imitating star orbits, I think this is the easiest one to mimic.”

The stars revolved in circles around the North Star. She remembered studying that the north-facing starry sky moved that way.

She should have known it as knowledge, but she had never thought to incorporate it into her magic.

“Well, star movements—you understand them in your head, but you don’t really feel them, right?”

There was no such thing as a camera’s fast-forward function in this world—and at Haro’s soliloquy, the sisters tilted their heads, but Noiche considered how to incorporate it into her own magic.

“Fix the central point and draw a perfect circle… that’s a bit difficult.”

“Instead of embedding movement in each magic bullet, it might be easier to link the magic bullets’ orbits to the installed central point.”

“I see, indeed…”

First, define the North Star at a point in space—

Then control the orbits of the magic bullets Noiche created with that North Star. It meant turning the magic she had done in one step into two steps, but this was not that difficult… or rather, it simplified things compared to before, since controlling the magic bullets became easier.

Suddenly, Noiche and Zaria’s eyes met.

They were probably thinking the same thing. Haro Moscaneira, what on earth was this boy?

His knowledge and ideas were both extraordinary.

Even though he himself could not even use magic.

But to dismiss it as “genius” would surely be rude.

Because the boy had probably arrived here at the end of a madness and pain unimaginable to them.

“Haro, is your right hand okay now?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That’s why it’s fine as long as I use it normally.”

“I see, I see.”

As a result of the experiment, the boy’s right arm had become lightly numb, and Zaria handled it with care.

The mountain climbing was progressing smoothly.

Haro stopped a little while after that.