[TOPMITW] Ch1

-I have never heard of or seen a magic crest shaped like a dragon. Regardless, this was undeniably a magic crest given only to those with a high level of talent in magic. ^[1]The author has a habit of switching from first to 3rd person perspective quite often, so where possible I will try to mark first person ‘thoughts’ with the dash from now on

“Poison magic….so because it was an unorthodox branch of magic I didn’t realise I had potential in magic.”

After all, the first step in using magic is to touch a specific element. Fire mages can hold their hand over a torch, water mages can submerge their body into water, and wind mages can simply weather their body under a strong wind. So that means the first step for someone with an affinity to poison magic would be to…actually drink poison. There’s no way anyone could have expected that ahead of time. It wouldn’t be strange if they even died unknowingly.^[2]The inference here is that it’s impossible to know if you have poison affinity without drinking poison, but if you drink it and don’t have it you just die so it’s a magic talent that no … Continue reading

Thanks to the vast amount of information that appeared in Rondo’s mind, he was able to fully understand the basics of poison magic. This sort of magic is one that can identify, analyse, duplicate, and neutralise any type of poison that enters the body. The more poisons Rondo is able to absorb, the greater the range and variety of poison magic he will be able to wield. He believes that if he is able to master this magic, he will be able to become stronger than anyone else. 

However, right now he doesn’t have much time. He is in a situation where the guards could come at any minute to confirm his death by suicide. In addition, the only magic Rondo can use at the moment is the newly acquired weakness poison. Due to its low potency, it would take a long time to knock out an enemy. If he fought without any other options, he would likely be killed by a sword long before the poison took effect. 

“What should I do, what can I do, come on think. There has to be a way out of this situation”

Rondo’s mind worked furiously to try and figure out an escape route from this jail. His combat strength at the moment was uncertain, and facing the house of a Margrave there are no doubt countless guards patrolling the area. He would definitely be seen at some point. Even if he could somehow escape the notice of the guards, the family members in the estate would still be able to catch him. As Rondo is considered to be the shame of the family, everyone would join any such search with pleasure. Not to mention that as soon as his escape was discovered, a search and destroy mission would be assigned with people hunting for his head. Although loathed to do so, he couldn’t help but admit that the mages of the Margrave are all geniuses. If a battle broke out he wouldn’t be given a chance to resist and would instead be annihilated in an overwhelming fashion. 

“This is bad, I feel like there’s no way to slip away from the estate”

Right now it would be an impossible feat for Rondo to escape from the double search coverage^[3]This phrase in Japanese is written stylistically like ‘twin horns of the bull’, where the guards and family members together present an synergistic imposing obstacle of the guards and family members. 

-Even if I somehow escaped from jail, I would definitely be caught or killed by someone sooner or later. As soon as they started looking for me, I would—

“….no wait. That’s right, there’s also that method”. 

If he escapes, he will be caught. While thinking that, Rondo suddenly thought about the reverse of that idea. If everything is over when he tries to escape, he just needs to leave the grounds before running away. Rondo nods his head once and looks at his hands. He feels a bit nervous at the thought of using poison magic for the first time. But in order to survive, he doesn’t have any other option. 

“I’m counting on you magic… weakness poison, activate!”^[4]In the original Japanese, he was actually referring to himself a la ‘I’m relying on you, me.’, but it is a bit awkward in English so i changed it to be referring to his magic talent which I … Continue reading

And so the very first poison magic that Rondo used…was cast on himself. 

….

Knock-knock.

A set of reserved knocks resounded within the room. From the outside you can hear a sound like metal armour scraping against itself. After a short period of time, the door slowly opens. The guards silently survey the inside of the room before directing their gaze forward. Inside the spacious metal cell….was the dead body of Rondo with an expression of anguish on his face.^[5]The initial description of this room by the author was a fence of iron, which initially made it sound like a western jail, but after this paragraph I believe the better way to visualise it would be … Continue reading

[Message from the Author Shinko]

If after reading this novel you think “Very interesting!”, “I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next”, or “R-Rondo?!” even a little bit, I would be very grateful if you would support me by giving 5 stars below. The support I get from my readers is one of the primary motivations to keep me writing. Thank you for reading!

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3297ht/2/

Corbenik