The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 164 - Head Theoretical Professor Kaiden (16)

At first, I didn’t say a word, simply staring at Linus.

The crow’s incessant cawing had been so loud that I couldn’t make sense of what it was saying.

“What did it just say?”

“It called him a dark mage.”

“Who?”

“Kaiden.”

Linus and I exchanged a bewildered look.

“A dark mage? As in that kind of dark magic?”

“That seems to be the implication.”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Isn’t there some other Kaiden we don’t know about?”

“Kaaaaaaaiden! Blaaaaakyyyyyyyyyr!”

The crow screeched at us, flapping its wings wildly as though annoyed by our conversation.

“The siiiiignatuuuuuuure!”

It pointed with its wingtip at the signature in Kaiden’s notebook.

“There is ooooooonly ooooone Kaiden Blaaaaakyr!”

“Wait, hold on, are you telling me the only Kaiden Blakyr you know is this dark mage? Are we talking about the same Kaiden who helped us kill the Demon King?”

“I do not knoooooow if your Kaiden is my Kaaaaaiden! But the naaaaaame Kaiden Blaaaaakyr belooooongs to the daaaaaark maaaaage!”

Two possibilities emerged.

First, there were two Kaiden Blakyrs, and this Archmage only knew of the dark mage.

Second, the two were one and the same.

“Can you describe this Kaiden Blakyr you’re talking about? Does he have black hair, wears it short, pale skin, and looks like a young girl?”

“Yesssssss! A deeeeevious, malicioooooooous daaaaark maaaaage!”

I glanced at Linus, whose face mirrored my shock.

A third theory emerged.

The Kaiden we knew could be impersonating this Kaiden Blakyr, even adopting a similar appearance.

But why? And there was one thing I absolutely needed to confirm.

“How long ago did you meet this dark mage Kaiden Blakyr?”

“Fifffffftyyyyyyyyy yeeeeeeeeaaars!”

“You’ve known him for fifty years?”

“Yesssssss!”

“And fifty years ago, he looked just as I described? But the Kaiden I know looks exactly the same now as he did back then.”

“Cuuuuuurseeeeeed daaaaaark maaaagic!”

The crow screeched.

“Neccccromaaaancy! Uuuuuuundeeeead! Booooody replacemeeeeent! Liiiiiife draaaaain!”

So necromancy, undeath, body modification, or life-draining magic could explain it. Essentially, something akin to a lich.

But even so, there was one glaring problem with this theory.

“Archmage, could this be a misunderstanding? Kaiden Blakyr was our comrade who helped us kill the Demon King ten years ago. He then secluded himself in the Tower of Illusions and is now a professor at the Academy. The idea of him being a dark mage doesn’t quite add up.”

“Demon Kiiiiilliiiiing! Tooooower ooooof Illuuuuuusionnnnns! Acaaaaadeeeeeemy!”

The crow cawed furiously.

“Impossiiiiible! Daaaaark maaaaagic is vile and cooooorruuuuuuuuuuuuupts aaaaaaaallllllll!”

The crow wasn’t wrong.

If Kaiden were a dark mage, those of us who had fought alongside him during the war should have succumbed to his corruption long ago.

Had Lormane’s holy power shielded us somehow?

No, that didn’t make sense.

Holy power and dark magic are opposites. If anything, Kaiden should have been the one unable to endure.

Linus pointed this out as well.

“Our group included a holy priest. Surely a dark mage would have struggled to remain in her presence.”

“I dooooooo not knoooooow!”

The crow replied.

“How would IIIIIII knoooooooow?! All I knooooow is that Kaaaaiden Blaaaaakyr is a daaaaaaark maaaaaaage!”

“You’ve said there are three Archmages in this era—yourself, Kaiden, and one other. Have you not met him recently?”

“We are noooooooot close! And whyyyyyy would a daaaaaark maaaaage be an Archmage?!”

The crow was agitated now, flapping its wings atop the old woman’s shoulder.

“Dian, this Archmage has no interest in worldly affairs. She doesn’t even know that Kaiden is revered as an Archmage or that the war and the Demon King’s death occurred. I had to inform her of all that myself.”

“Is that so…? This is becoming even more confusing.”

From what we’d pieced together so far, the most plausible explanation was that the Kaiden we knew was impersonating the dark mage Kaiden Blakyr.

But even that didn’t make sense.

What possible advantage could there be in pretending to be a dark mage? None, as far as I could see.

“Never mind that for now. Can you break the spell on this notebook? I believe it holds some secret about Kaiden Blakyr.”

I placed the notebook on the table, but the crow remained silent.

Looking up, I realized the Archmage had fallen asleep, snoring softly.

The once-vocal crow was now perched quietly, tilting its head like any ordinary bird.

So the crow wasn’t the real entity. The Archmage must have been using it as a mouthpiece.

Judging by her sunken lips, it seemed her advanced age had robbed her of her teeth, making speech difficult.

Still, it left me wondering—who managed her household in this secluded forest? Did she use magic? Probably. But that wasn’t the issue at hand.

“She’s asleep now.”

“She must have exhausted herself from speaking so much after so long.”

Linus rose from his chair.

“She’ll wake up eventually. Let’s step outside for some air, Dian.”

Outside the cottage, the chirping of summer insects was nearly deafening.

We had arrived here in the late morning, and now the sun was already climbing high in the sky.

Fortunately, the dense trees cast a cool shade over the cottage, keeping the heat at bay for now.

“I thought coming here would give us some answers.”

Linus spoke, his hands on his hips as he gazed skyward.

“But it’s only made things more complicated.”

In the short span of our conversation, Linus looked like he’d aged five years.

“You’re telling me. Who would’ve guessed a dark mage would suddenly be thrown into the mix?”

“I just hope the notebook has some answers.”

With that, we both fell silent, staring into the forest.

Then a thought struck me.

“Hey, do you remember that wanted notice? From ten years ago?”

“Wanted notice…?”

Linus pondered briefly before nodding.

“The order to eliminate the dark mage who was aiding the Demon King’s forces? Yeah, I remember. Why?”

I hesitated before answering.

“Do you think that dark mage was this Kaiden Blakyr the Archmage mentioned?”

“There’s no proof, but it feels like it might be. If they’re the same person, it would explain everything.”

Back then, the capital had uncovered intelligence about a dark mage who had been strengthening the Demon King’s forces before the war.

They’d mobilized the entire Special Operations Division to track him down.

We had been part of that mission but ultimately failed.

If the two Kaidens were indeed the same, then it was no wonder we couldn’t find him.

“But there’s still one problem we can’t explain.”

“The fact that we were unaffected by his dark magic.”

“Exactly. Dark magic inherently corrupts—it’s impossible to suppress that completely.”

No matter how much we speculated, we wouldn’t find an answer on our own.

All we could do was wait for the Archmage to wake up.

“Resentmeeeeent!”

Suddenly, a screech erupted from inside the cottage.

Linus and I bolted back inside to find the Archmage awake, the crow standing on the table atop Kaiden’s notebook.

“Resentmeeeeeent for daaaaaaark maaaaagic!”

The crow cawed, ignoring us entirely.

“Resentmeeeeeent for the paaaaarents who boooooooore me! Resentmeeeeeent for the wooooooorld that abaandooooooned me!”

Is it… reading the notebook?!

“What wrong did I commit to be born accuuuuursed?! What did I do to deserve thiiiiiiiis?!”

The crow’s cries echoed through the room.

I resent it.

I resent dark magic.

I resent the parents who bore me. I resent the world that abandoned me.

What wrong did I commit to be born accursed?

I was born this way.

The dark magic that came into the world with me killed my parents and my siblings.

Wherever I stayed became a lifeless wasteland where no life could bloom.

People didn’t just shun me—they drove me out, tried to kill me.

I couldn’t understand.

I didn’t choose to become a dark mage. It wasn’t my fault.

The people who died near me weren’t killed by me—it was the dark magic’s doing.

Why is that my fault? Why do I deserve their hatred?

I want to die. I wish I could just die.

But even death is denied to me.

This wretched dark magic won’t let me end my own life.

I can’t pierce my heart or throat with a blade. Even if I fall from great heights, I won’t die.

No matter how severe my injuries, the dark magic will always revive me—just enough to keep draining my life force.

I left the city.

I had no other choice.

I went far away, to a place no one could reach.

A place where the cursed dark magic could consume everything without anyone left to blame me.

I built a hovel deep in the barren mountains.

It was miserable.

I was always cold, always hungry.

But more than anything, I was lonely.

They say humans aren’t meant to live alone.

But I wasn’t human—I was a hideous monster.

So why did I feel loneliness?

I didn’t want to be alone.

But I saw no way to change my circumstances.

The despair was crushing, inescapable, and the anger toward the world began to grow.

It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t choose to be a dark mage.

I didn’t kill anyone—it was the dark magic that did it.

Then a thought occurred to me.

If I was going to be despised anyway, wouldn’t it be less unfair to deserve the hatred?

That’s when it began.

My research into destructive magic.

If the world was going to reject me, then I would destroy it.

If I razed everything to the ground, there would be no one left to point fingers or cast stones.

That’s what I decided.

One day, a race with horns on their heads came to me.

They said they wanted to overturn the world and needed my help to do it.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]