魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 25 Chapter 230 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 230

Summary/Synopsis: Jack Rakan tells the story of how he was hired to take down Nagi, Al, Eishun, and a boy as those four had stopped the Hellas Empire from succeeding with their Ostia Restoration Operation. The Hellas Empire can’t offer official troops to assist Rakan, but can provide him mercenaries if needed. He does not need them.

Out in the country somewhere, Nagi marvels at their location (the “Old World” and the nabe-ryouri (“hot pot”) that is being prepared by Eishun, who chastises Nagi for putting meat in right away. Nagi, Eishun, Al, and the boy debate about and eat the nabe (with Eishun being declared the “Nabe Shougun”) when they are attacked by Rakan, who challenges them and wastes Esihun’s food. Eishun decides to teach this person some manners and attacks, cutting Rakan’s sword and showing skills that Setsuna nor Motoko (Love Hina) combined could counter. However, Rakan has done his homework and has four nymphs (a combination of dryad, naiad, and other nymph form) of which three are adult and one is a loli with a tag that says “Insurance” on it. The loli knocks him out.

Nagi decides to get in on the fun and they have a 13-hour battle. Technically, it is a draw but since Rakan had come to fight four people, he counts this as a loss since had all four fought him, he would have been finished.

Rakan cuts off his story at this point to the disappointment of his audience (since he didn’t ID the kid or say who Fate is). Rakan then talks about the war on Mundus Magicus between the Mesembrina Confederation (South) and the Hellas Empire (North). The Hellas Empire’s true objective was the Kingdom of Vespertatia and its capital Ostia. The Confederation were losing badly to the Empire until Nagi and Ala Rubra stepped in and single handedly handed the Empire a massive defeat, allowing the Confederation to push the Empire back. That lead to Ala Rubra becoming famous with Nagi being known as “Red-Haired Demon of the Confederation” to the Empire and the “Man of a Thousand Spells” to the Confederation. It was about that time that Gatou and Takahata (as a boy) joined the group.-

As the war drags on, Nagi comments on the development of nuclear weapons on Earth as a deterrent to wars while on the Magic World, their war never seems to end. Nagi begins to wonder if maybe they will have to destroy the Hellas Empire capital, figuring that with magic, they could come up with the power to equal that of a nuke. Nagi begins to suspect based on how the war is going that maybe someone wants Mundus Magicus destroyed. Gatou arrives and confirms Nagi’s suspicion, thanks to Takahata and the boy. A group called Kosmo Entelecheia has infiltrated both the Confederation and the Empire and they are the ones behind the war. Gatou and Senator McGill have someone they want Nagi to meet — Princess Akira of Vespertatia (Vesperina).

Thoughts/Review: There is a lot of information in this chapter and it is all good stuff. I think the thing that most are going to focus on is Princess Akira (her Japanese title is “oujo” and not “hime” for the record). Since she’s from Vespertatia, it would seem almost obvious that this is going to be Asuna’s mother. If so, I figure she’s the one that gets Nagi and company to rescue Asuna but we’ll see.

Regardless, I do not believe this to be Negi’s mother, which is a somewhat popular fan theory at the moment. For starters, that would make Negi and Asuna half-siblings and frankly, that doesn’t feel right story-wise. In fact, I’d say there’s a lot of things that would point against this fact.

Further, I still feel strongly that Negi is Nagi. Rakan said that Nagi was said to have no weaknesses when they first met and battled. Actually, Nagi does have a major weakness — he needs a spell book. He may be the Thousand Master, capable of magic on a power level that is rarely (if ever) seen, but if you need a spell book to incant spells rather than have them committed to memory, that can be a problem, especially if your spell book gets destroyed. I honestly think that’s what ultimately happened with Nagi’s fight with Fate — Fate took out Nagi’s spell book and while Nagi was able to escape with his life thanks to his other skills, Nagi (1) needed to hide and (2) needed to learn spells and other attack forms. What better way than in the body of a child with a new identity (you supposed son) that can defy any mind reader. ^_^

I digress (and I could be very wrong in my theory).

Funny how Eishun has a weakness for women. No wonder his temple-estate is filled with beautiful miko. ^_^

I’m looking forward to next chapter and how Princess Arika fits into the Magic World story as well as the Ala Rubra one. Of course, the more we learn, the more I start to feel that the end is coming sooner rather than later (though likely a couple of years away still).