Mahou no Tsukaikata - Vol. 3 Ch. 23

[MangaDex]

 

[Luke_chase]

So the plot thickens, tysm for the chapters!

 

[moichispa]

Kinuko is a saint, she has to deal with all these shenanigans

 

[superflously]

Ahhhh this is so interesting! My favorite thing to read right now. I haven’t been this excited about a story in a long time. I can’t wait for them to realize Haruki has seen the dog. It was wild to find out they can’t even see the demons they form contracts with! But Haruki saw “the dog”…so interesting.

Not to mention the difference in relationship between Nishi and his demon compared to everyone else. Nobody knows it doesn’t take a toll on his soul so he can do it as much as he wants since the demon prefers a different type of payment. However, the ending of this chapter seems to imply the memories eaten by the demon leave Nishi with gaps and he perhaps doesn’t remember killing his own father. This would make sense considering what’s wrong/bad/dirty/traumatic is good to the demons so it would likely want to have a memory like that as payment.

I love the way they all have to keep secrets about their contracts and abilities to try to have a trump card/protection from the union. Information trading and sharing becomes a high stakes game and it keeps you as the reader on your toes about who to trust every time a character is introduced.

 

[suyouera]

Ahhhh this is so interesting! My favorite thing to read right now. I haven’t been this excited about a story in a long time. I can’t wait for them to realize Haruki has seen the dog. It was wild to find out they can’t even see the demons they form contracts with! But Haruki saw “the dog”…so interesting.

Not to mention the difference in relationship between Nishi and his demon compared to everyone else. Nobody knows it doesn’t take a toll on his soul so he can do it as much as he wants since the demon prefers a different type of payment. However, the ending of this chapter seems to imply the memories eaten by the demon leave Nishi with gaps and he perhaps doesn’t remember killing his own father. This would make sense considering what’s wrong/bad/dirty/traumatic is good to the demons so it would likely want to have a memory like that as payment.

I love the way they all have to keep secrets about their contracts and abilities to try to have a trump card/protection from the union. Information trading and sharing becomes a high stakes game and it keeps you as the reader on your toes about who to trust every time a character is introduced.

Actually, Nishi does remember that his father was killed by him. His answer to Machida's question on who he killed was affirmative, implying his mother is right here in the hospital, so it must be the father who was killed.

It was implied from earlier chapter when he had nowhere else to go to except for the agency office which could only be opened from the inside.

I love it in the part where he thinks of spilling the truth of zero soul cost to Hirotsugu but his father's smile suddenly appeared. It's a high-stake gamble to him since he is not sure if Hirotsugu will have the same smile or not.

 

[superflously]

Actually, Nishi does remember that his father was killed by him. His answer to Machida's question on who he killed was affirmative, implying his mother is right here in the hospital, so it must be the father who was killed.

It was implied from earlier chapter when he had nowhere else to go to except for the agency office which could only be opened from the inside.

I love it in the part where he thinks of spilling the truth of zero soul cost to Hirotsugu but his father's smile suddenly appeared. It's a high-stake gamble to him since he is not sure if Hirotsugu will have the same smile or not.

Thanks for point that out!! I didn’t put two and two together that he was waiting at that door because he was now a kid on his own. Maybe his mother was already hospitalized at that point (I forgot if it was mentioned).

I really like the relationship between Machida and Hirotsugu. I think Machida thinks he’s a good person and wants to trust him but like you said it’s a gamble and his adoptive father seems like a big deal so you can never be sure that the guy that couldn’t become an apprentice wouldn’t use or give up that info. Especially if you’ve been betrayed by your parents, the only people you really expect to love you unconditionally and look out for your best interests. He learned young that relationships are not always stronger than ambition/obsession/etc.

 

[looc64]

Kinuko is a saint, she has to deal with all these shenanigans

Speaking of I think this whole ordeal might explain why there's a bit of a disconnect between her and Miyabi regarding his status as her apprentice.

Like her and Sentarou assumed that the contract the "goat old man" tried to get Haruki to sign was a contract seal for joining the union and not some sort of custom-made contract that allows the union to control you.

Which suggests that the default contract seal already gives the union some kind of hold on you.

In which case Kinuko might've registered Miyabi as an assistant to protect him from the union. Even though she fully considers him her apprentice.
Meanwhile the dynamic between the union apprentices is such that they almost certainly shit on Miyabi for being an assistant, resulting in him thinking that he's not "good enough" to be an apprentice.

 

[looc64]

Actually, Nishi does remember that his father was killed by him. His answer to Machida's question on who he killed was affirmative, implying his mother is right here in the hospital, so it must be the father who was killed.

Yeah I think he phrased it a bit weirdly because usually the reason for the demon smell is sort of an unspoken thing.

Like normally when he meets another sorcerer who can smell demons they both just go, "ah, this person also killed at least one parent, they also have a ton of family trauma," internally and avoid certain topics in casual conversation.