-Piece by Piece
For a while, we were completely absorbed in the food.
The dishes were not only splendid to look at, but tasted excellent as well. It was my first time eating elven cuisine, but I felt no aversion to it at all.
It felt like eating high-end French cuisine.
Of course, it wasn’t as if I’d ever eaten high-end French cuisine before. In any case, that was the feeling.
Gil and Cheon Danbi ate well too. We had burned so much energy clearing the raid that all of us were in a state where we could have torn into raw meat.
Everyone ate so earnestly that no one opened their mouth while eating, leaving the restaurant as quiet as a temple.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Wow, I finally feel alive again. Every dish was seriously delicious.”
“We really lived in luxury thanks to our regular mage. No wonder you kept telling us to drop by. This place is the best!”
At last, having finished our meal, we began to speak.
We were unstinting in our praise for the elven cuisine. Cheon Danbi, in particular, even gave a thumbs-up, making Jang Jeyeong look all the more pleased.
“I’m even happier to hear that you enjoyed it.”
The waiters cleared away the empty plates and brought out herbal tea and raspberry cake for dessert.
Only now did the atmosphere feel relaxed enough to have a conversation.
I started things off by casually asking Jang Jeyeong a question.
“You said you belonged to the government, didn’t you, Mage? What sort of work do government mages mainly do in Daejeon?”
“I’ve been in charge of managing other races. Quite a few elves and dwarves live in Daejeon as well. Of course, there are zombies too. My work has been to manage things so that other races don’t come into conflict with humans. To be honest, before this jellyfish incident, there hadn’t been any terrorist attacks in Daejeon. It was peaceful. So there weren’t many occasions for mages to go into battle either.”
Jang Jeyeong answered calmly.
Perhaps because the ordinary people who had been fawning over him were no longer nearby, his attitude seemed a little more sincere now.
But when you looked at the substance, it was still the same.
The fact that he managed other races while his mother ran an elf restaurant meant that, as a mage, he had been faithful to vested interests and enjoying privileges.
“You’re saying this terrorist attack was the first? Then have black mages never revealed themselves either?”
“Not at all. At least, not in Daejeon.”
“If you say you’ve never seen them in Daejeon, does that mean there have been sightings in the surrounding areas?”
Without missing even the smallest turn of phrase, I narrowed down my questions. There was something I wanted to hear from him.
Jang Jeyeong glanced at me once, took a sip of tea, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Well… it wasn’t as if there was any definite incident, but there were rumors. I heard about it when I went to a gathering of the Chungcheong region’s mage society. There were rumors that black mages were on the move. Rather than Daejeon, it felt as though the countryside was more unsettled. And then, in the end, a terrorist attack occurred in Daejeon too.”
Jang Jeyeong’s answer was somewhat vague.
Well, that was only natural. A mage he’d met for the first time had come along and was interrogating him in detail.
I glanced over at Cheon Danbi. I wanted her, who had known Jang Jeyeong from before, to step in.
She grasped my intent and immediately spoke up.
“Mage, you told me about the Magic Tower last time, remember? You said you’d heard rumors that a black mage’s Magic Tower was somewhere in Chungcheongbuk-do. Tell us more about that.”
At that, Jang Jeyeong looked at Cheon Danbi and me in turn, then lowered his voice and began to speak.
“It may just be a rumor, but it’s something I heard from mages in the Chungju and Jecheon areas. They said that, starting a few months ago, strange magical phenomena suddenly began occurring in the Chungbuk region, so they went out to investigate.”
“Magical phenomena? What sort of phenomena?”
“They didn’t see them in person either. They went to investigate after receiving complaints from residents. Apparently, the waterway of Chungju Lake suddenly surged up, and apples grew thickly in the forest even though it was winter.”
“Apples?”
Golden apples came to mind. But rather than ask directly, I waited for the words to come out of Jang Jeyeong’s mouth.
“Yes. This area is a major apple-producing region, isn’t it? But apples growing in winter is certainly strange. It’s enough to suspect a magical phenomenon.”
Seeing as he didn’t specifically bring up the words golden apple, it seemed they had been ordinary apples.
I stayed silent and listened to the rest.
“In any case, the local mages went out to investigate, and the mountain villagers started talking about a Magic Tower. They said they had seen a black mage’s Magic Tower.”
“Where was that?”
“They said it was in some mountain village in Danyang. But it isn’t certain. At first, the mages were startled too, so they went to the place the mountain villagers had described. But there was nothing there. After that, people appeared saying they had seen a Magic Tower somewhere in Jecheon. But when they went to the place those people described, there wasn’t a trace of anything there either.”
Danyang! At last, the place name Danyang had come up.
But it wasn’t a satisfying answer. In the end, it meant they hadn’t been able to confirm the Magic Tower’s location.
“Ugh. There was nothing there? So it was just a baseless rumor?”
Cheon Danbi asked with a shallow sigh.
“Not necessarily. Strange phenomena continued afterward too. Several ominous incidents occurred. The mages confirmed pillars of water shooting up from Chungju Lake, and there was also an incident where crow corpses came raining down in the forest. The residents all believed it was the work of a black mage.”
Jang Jeyeong sighed at the end of his words as well.
I wasn’t merely listening carefully; I had my senses sharpened and was detecting as I listened.
If Jang Jeyeong had been lying or playing some trick, I would have noticed immediately.
But it didn’t seem as though Jang Jeyeong was deliberately deceiving us or leaving out information.
“There is sufficient basis to believe that black mages have been active in the Chungbuk region. Perhaps the Magic Tower truly does exist somewhere nearby as well. Appearing and disappearing is perfectly possible. They may have hidden the Magic Tower with spatial magic.”
When I said that, Jang Jeyeong stared at me as if slightly dazed and replied.
“Ah… spatial magic. That’s right. That could be possible. As expected, Mage Oudin, with your outstanding skill, even your way of thinking is different. Then you believe what I told you, don’t you? Isn’t this enough information to warrant a large-scale investigation? This isn’t just anything—if it’s a black mage’s Magic Tower, then it’s an extremely important matter, isn’t it?”
He suddenly sounded resentful.
Wondering why, I asked.
“It’s a reasonable suspicion. Naturally, it’s worth conducting a follow-up investigation. But is there some problem?”
“It’s that the central authorities don’t seem to have any interest. Our Chungcheong region mage society sent information regarding the Magic Tower up to the center. To both the government and the Hall. But neither side showed any meaningful response. They treated it as nothing more than rumors from country folk.”
Jang Jeyeong’s dissatisfaction was entirely reasonable. If it was information regarding a Magic Tower, even the smallest rumor ought to be investigated.
But why had the government and the Hall reacted so lukewarmly?
Could it be because they already knew about it?
“I see. I’ll go up to Seoul and look into it.”
For now, that was what I told Jang Jeyeong.
But in truth, I had no intention of sharing this information with the government or the Hall. I intended to search for it myself.
Besides, I suspected that government or Hall mages might be colluding with the black mages, so all the more reason not to.
“Thank you. If Mage Oudin pays attention to this matter, it will be a great help. The Chungcheong region doesn’t have as many mages as Seoul. But if there really is a Magic Tower in this region, it’s no ordinary problem.”
Jang Jeyeong said, visibly brightening.
This time, sincerity showed through so clearly that I wondered where the boastful attitude from earlier had gone.
What he was saying was true. If terrorist attacks by black mages occurred in the provinces, responding to them would be difficult.
And if there was a Magic Tower in the region, that was no ordinary matter.
“Don’t worry too much. We resolved the jellyfish problem, didn’t we?”
“The jellyfish incident would have been extremely difficult too if not for you, Mage Oudin. Thank you once again.”
Jang Jeyeong even bowed his head to me.
I had thought he was someone full of nothing but bluff, but it seemed he still possessed a basic sense of responsibility as a mage.
At that moment, Cheon Danbi suddenly cut in and asked Jang Jeyeong,
“Mage, you said earlier that apples suddenly grew in winter. They weren’t golden apples by any chance, were they?”
“What? Golden apples? You mean the golden apples said to have grown in Neo Forest? Goodness, there’s no way something like that would grow here. If they did, it would mean a sacred forest had grown here too. I truly wish something like that had happened. But no. They were just ordinary apples.”
Jang Jeyeong spoke as if regretful, then laughed heartily.
“Ah, really? I see.”
Cheon Danbi looked disappointed too.
Since the term golden apple hadn’t come from Jang Jeyeong’s mouth in the first place, I had already put the thought aside, but it seemed Cheon Danbi had wanted to make sure.
Ren had said that Vanaheim seemed to have conducted experiments related to golden apple products in collaboration with the black mages of the Magic Tower, but even if that Magic Tower was located in this region, it appeared no information had leaked outside.
“It’s gotten rather late. I think we should head back to Seoul now.”
I said, preparing to rise from my seat.
It didn’t seem as though there was any more information to get out of Jang Jeyeong. It was late at night, and there was no reason to stay in Daejeon any longer.
“Of course. You should be going now. When you return to Seoul, please convey our region’s situation properly. If an investigation proceeds, I will cooperate actively.”
“Understood.”
After leaving the restaurant, while we were waiting for the elevator, I suddenly asked Jang Jeyeong as if in passing,
“Ah, by any chance, have you ever heard the name Samir?”
“Samir? Well, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that name. Is he from this region?”
I had deliberately thrown the question at him without warning. I thought that way, an unconscious answer or reaction might come out. It had no effect.
“Not Daejeon, but I heard he lives in Chungcheong-do.”
“Is he a mage? Shall I look into it for you?”
“No. There’s no need to go that far. Being in the region just suddenly reminded me, so I asked.”
I shook my head as if it were nothing important.
Jang Jeyeong seemed to have heard absolutely nothing about Samir. He had no information beyond the rumors about the Magic Tower.
Just then, the elevator arrived, so we exchanged farewells with Jang Jeyeong and parted ways.
As we descended to the parking lot, I organized my thoughts.
For now, the pieces of information were still scattered in fragments.
Some had heard about the Magic Tower, and some had heard about the golden apples.
There was no one who had met a black mage in person, and no one who knew Samir.
Come to think of it, the only time the name Samir had come up was from the Hwang family of Chinatown’s underground organization.
I wondered if I should have squeezed the Hwang family harder back then.
I would have to go to Incheon sometime and meet the Hwang family again.
In any case, gathering all these pieces and drawing a single picture from them was none other than my job.
The Magic Tower and Samir—I had to find them myself.
Still, the fact that the place name Danyang had come up in today’s meeting with Jang Jeyeong was a small accomplishment in itself.