Reply
I don’t know - I think the fact it’s happened to Kustas here is because of the 禁止魔法. So maybe it isn’t common.
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Chapter 85
Now I’m wondering if that was (part of) the plan: to plant a magic-ink tree in the royal court by having Kustas meet with the king. But then the condition for the tree to sprout is the host feeling at ease, so I’m not sure they could have controlled the place reliably.
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Reply to Cathm2
Qifrey says the tree is parasitic, so it seems like it has to feed off of something. But yeah, I would hope it’s unusual for it to be a human!
Reply to footnote
I had the same thought, and the same doubt. But if the plan was to get medical help for Dagda from the king, the girl’s master may have anticipated the tree would sprout when Dagda’s life was saved.
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Chapter 85
Great chapter but tough reading. Poor Custas. So sad that the forbidden magic which brought him so much joy was all the time a ticking time bomb. It reminded of Pinocchio, where the boys get drawn into Pleasure Island only to end up turning into donkeys.
Perhaps there might be salvation yet for Kustas? If anyone can save him surely it Qifrey and Koko!
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Chapter 86
Start Date: 2026-01-02T15:00:00Z
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- I’m reading along
- I’m still reading but I haven’t reached this section yet
- I will catch up later
- I’m reading this after the book club has finished
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Chapter 86
Good to see confirmation that it’s unusual for the trees to be grown from people! Also, Quifrey seemingly also has a tree in him??? Is that why his memory was erased? So he would turn back into a person? I don’t understand why he would experience “sympathetic growth” from being close to Kustas though. He was fine in the magic shop.
I also don’t understand the idea that the process can be reversed. Does the tree just suck itself back up into the host? And their body is fine despite having had a tree growing out of it? It seems like once the tree takes root, that should be it. But I guess it’s silly to have trouble suspending disbelief over something like that in a manga about magic.
It does make for good drama though, with the idea that the only way to save them is to take away their happiness. It was super sad to see Dagda allow himself to die. I hope it’s not for nothing.
It was really hard not to read ahead. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
My favorite panel in this chapter? Coco’s scary face when the tree was getting cut. Wow.
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Chapter 86. This chapter seems to be available for free viewing in English on Kodansha’s website.
Chapter 86 thoughts
Stunning chapter. Loved the opening section describing the life cycle of the tree.
Is that it for Daguda? He’s been living on borrowed time for a while, looks like he’s finally accepted his fate. And in the process has the opportunity to save Custas, or at least save him without wiping his memories.
I haven’t thought about Tata for so long it was surprising to see him a the end of the chapter. I can’t remember when we last saw him - will be interesting to see why he is with the brim hat girl.
Such a relief to be moving on from the leech story, feels like this manga has really picked up again.
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Yeah, I finished the volume. Whoops.
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Interestingly, the spread on pages 116-117 is different from the one in the BookWalker version, which I’m reading.
Dagda becoming overgrown by the tree is more dramatic, but the way it is posed looks a bit silly, IMHO. So maybe they decided to change that in the collected volume 
Does someone else read a different version than the one from BookWalker? What does it look like there?
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Yeah, ダグダ’s arm going up to touch the tree which is クスタス is nice as a concept but it just makes it look like he’s holding a dramatic pose in the first panel (specially with the lack of blood). I like how they kept the holding hand panel in some way at least.
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The Kindle version looks like the BookWalker one. I also like that one better.
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Chapter 87
Start Date: 2026-01-09T15:00:00Z
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This time, I couldn’t resist finishing off the volume 
Chapter 87
I wouldn’t have been able to predict that Tarta (?) would fall in with the brimmed hats. He even got a magic tattoo, so he’s in for the long haul.
I wasn’t exactly sure who or what Restice (?) was calling useless on page 50, what she was calling useful, and to whom it was too soon to give the bottle. Is the bottle what contained the seeds she was talking about? Presumably seeds for the parasite tree?
Coco’s been having a rough time. I wonder if the manga will start having a darker turn. They certainly are depicting her with more intense faces. I also feel really bad for Kustas, even though his misery was ironically orchestrated to save him.
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Chapter 87
I thought it became pretty clear throughout the series that he was sympathetic to their espoused views (“tear down the secrecy and limits around magic to benefit the common man”) if not their methods. For example, his anguish of having to keep Kustas in the dark and lie about there being no way to restore his legs.
In the 番外編 of volume 11 we even got an IMHO pretty on the nose picture of where characters are on the brim vs no-brim spectrum:
And the magic tattoo was seared into his arm by the shackle, when he took it off by force (that was the initial threat when Ininia put those on them). Convenient that it gives him exactly the kind of power he wants. How did he even know? Did Ininia tell him?
- Ininia is the useless one, judging by her reaction.
- I think the way the whole situation played out (the tree growing there), even if unexpected, makes the operation not a complete failure for them.
- I think the king was the intended recipient.
- Also not sure what the bottle contains
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Reply
I thought he was turning out to be similar to Coco, where he thinks the current way is bad, but what the brimmed hats are doing is also bad. Especially since he still has family on the non-brimmed side with his grandfather, whom he presumably won’t be able to see anymore. That picture is pretty on-the-nose though, I had forgotten about that.
Yeah, I knew it was from taking off the shackle, but he chose to do that. He wanted the tattoo at that point to force Coco to tell the truth. Again, given that it would force him out of the mage society his grandfather is in, I was surprised by his choice.
He’s different from Kustas, where his only family was in mortal danger, which provided the motivation to join the brimmed hats. In Tarta’s case, he had motivation not to do it to stay with his family, and he still did it. Although doing it to stay with his friend also makes sense.
The bottle being for the king makes sense. Maybe we’re not meant to know what it is yet. That also makes the dialogue make sense. Ininia was useless for not getting the bottle to the king, but Kustas/the tree were useful for the knowledge that a tree can be turned back to a person. Or something like that.
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