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Maou no Hajimekata Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist  Editor: Weasalopes

Chapter 5: Let’s Make a Successful Deception, Part 1

「Try to be more careful next time, Sarnak.」

「Yeah, I will… and thanks.」

Sarnak growled while lying down with his head wrapped up in a bandage.

Before they hypnotized Radico he was given as much first aid as possible after she beat him down, but all of his wounds were quite severe. In their current situation where the magical power was scarce it was impossible to completely heal him in an instant, so they had no choice but to leave the rest to the natural recovery.

「But weren’t physical attacks supposed to be ineffective against you?」

「Oh, that. That’s because she probably possesses a 『Silver Arm』 instead of 『Iron Arm』.」

Sarnak answered with a bitter tone. Now that he mentioned it, radico did say something similar to that.

「『Silver Arm』?」

「An upgraded form of 『Iron Arm』, something like… two levels above it. It’s true that my 『Steel Shield』 can negate physical damage, but it cannot block the Skills that are ranked Silver or higher.」

Aur was shocked by Sarnak’s answer. He understands that in terms of quality steel is better than iron, but he wasn’t able to grasp why silver would be better than steel, and how exactly did that work. Right now, so many questions were going through his brain that he had trouble selecting which ones to ask first.

「So all that talk about your Skill being invincible was just you allowing it’s power to go to your head?」

「Shut the fuck up, would you?! If you must know, only a handful of Skills can completely negate the effects of shield Skills! And when it comes to Skill ranks, silver ones are rare even among the denizens of the Upper layer!」

Sarnak shouted with his face reddened by anger.

「But… I have t admit that I have let my guard down. I thought that her attacks won’t work against me since she’s called 『Iron Arm』, and I have paid the price for it. I never would have imagined that she managed to obtain the silver rank…」

「Can’t you just upgrade your Skill to the silver rank then?」

In response to Aur’s question, Sarnak shook his head weakly.

「It’s impossible. The rank and level of the Skill are determined at the time of the Skill’s crystallization, and cannot be changed. Skills with different ranks are treated as completely separate Skills. That is why I have never thought that someone called 『Iron Arm』 is going to have more Skills up her sleeve.」

「Even if you possess the Skill 『Silver Arm』, its effects won’t stack with those of the 『Iron Arm』. In other words, if you obtain 『Silver Arm』, the effects of 『Iron Arm』 will be completely wasted. That is why normally one person does not have two Skills of the same type.」

Froro supplemented Sarnak’s words with her own.

「Wasn’t it possible that we were being deceived about it in the first place?」

When Aur pointed that out, Sarnak’s and Froro’s expressions became stiff.

「Nagia! That bitch!」

「But if she was lying, then wouldn’t Aur know about that?」

In contrast to Sarnak who was biting his lips in frustration, Froro calmly asks.

「That’s right, but she knows about that. Which means that she either found a way to bypass that, or she was lied to in the first place. In any case, there is something that I was wondering about for a while now.」

Aur looked at Sarnak and Froro, and continued in a lowered voice.

「How does the enemy keep track of us?」

They weren’t able to say anything to that, so they just exchanged glances.

「If we were being spied on by something akin to Froro’s 『Eye of the Ruler』 I would have been able to tell, but it doesn’t look like such a Skill is being used against us.」

When Froro was sharing her senses with her slaves through the 『Eye of the Ruler』, Aur was able to detect each and every slave who shared their senses with her. Of course, not only slaves, but also walls, floors, ceilings, and empty spaces were inspected by him in the same way.

「Then, how…?」

「There is a simple method to do something like this regardless of the world you’re living in that does not require the use of any Skills.」

Floro leans her head to the side while thinking about such a thing before she finally realized what he was talking about.

「There is an insider among us.」

Aur nodded seriously

「Froro had the 『Eye of the Ruler』 already before she even met me. Before I arrived here, Courteau wasn’t even aware of my existence. Sarnak only learned about Froro the other day. Then who else was it that knew about all those things?」

「… Nagia…」

Froro muttered quietly. Even before she met Aur she worked as a merchant, and she often exchanged materials and Skills that she had aquired from killing monsters.

After they were released, most of the slaves went to Froro so that they could serve her under the influence of the 『Eye of the Ruler』. But there were a few who wanted to stop being slaves after their release.

Nagia was one of them. Her reasoning behind it was 「Because I already belong to Aur」. Froro didn’t question it at the time, but thanks to that excuse she was unable to determine what Nagia was up to.

「WHO’S THERE?!」

Suddenly, Sarnak shouted over Aur’s arm. Froro turned her head sharply, but saw nobody there.

「…. Hmm.」

Froro continued to look around, while Aur noticed something lying on the ground and picked it up.

「Aur, this is…」

It was a small, purple-colored scale.

「… I see. So Radico lost, huh?」

「Yes. That man named Aur… seems to be a more dangerous man than we expected.」

Two women were present in the room. One is a demon with long silver hair and horns toward the back of her head. The other had short gold hair and was dressed like a typical member of the Wall Tribe. Strangely enough, the reporting one was the human, and the demoness just stood there and listened to her report.

「She lost even after you gave her the 『Silver Arm』?」

「Yes. So the responsibility of getting rid of it falls unto me…」

「Wait, Yueloi. You’re in no position to decide that by yourself.」

「But, Lady Bran!」

The one called Bran closed Yueloi’s mouth with a gentle gesture of her finger.

Yueloi’s voice lost all it’s sharpness as her face, neck and ears went bright red.

「This time, I will go myself.」

「B, But…!」

「I wouldn’t be able to bear it if I lost you. Also…」

Bran squinted her eyes, stroking Yueloi’s chin.

「… you don’t think I would lose so easily, don’t you?」

「…. N-no, of course not.」

Patting her head softly, Bran flipped her skirt in a playful manner.

「Good girl.」

She grabbed her hand and guided her towards the back room.

「Come. I will be sure to give you lots of my love today.」

She whispered into her ear.

「L-Lady Bran! S-Something like that…!」

「My oh my, do you not like it?」

Bran wanders at Yueloi.

「….. I, I didn’t say anything like that… dummy.」

She softly stroked Yueloi’s back, sending shivers down her spine.

「Ah, that reminds me.」

Pulling Yueloi onto the bed, Bran acted as if she just remembered something.

「That Tail Tribe you mentioned… Nagia was her name, I believe? What has become of her?」

「She was my spy, but it looks like her usefulness has come to an end.」

For a moment, Yueloi went back to her calm, clerical tone as she explained the situation with Nagia.

「Get rid of her then.」