◈ Chapter 122. The History Being Overwritten (2)
The Magic Tower.
Its only social space, the Floating Garden.
At a spot where people were chatting, an apprentice mage who had been reading the room opened the conversation.
“……
Hey. Don’t you think something’s changed?”
Glances passed back and forth at the question.
Answers immediately came pouring out.
“Hmm. You cut your bangs! It suits you much better!”
“What are you talking about?”
“What, that’s not it? Then… you lost weight! Your cheeks look hollow…”
“Hey! You’re making fun of me right now, aren’t you!”
“Huh, that’s not it either? Then what changed?”
Shake, shake.
That wasn’t it!
The apprentice mage shook their head fiercely for a moment.
Then continued in an even more secretive voice.
“I’m talking about the atmosphere, the atmosphere. Not me, the Magic Tower!”
Oh, so that was what they meant?
Even apprentice mages could see and hear things.
Of course, as fledglings who had not even chosen a school yet,
the changes apprentice mages could notice were inevitably limited.
“……
Honestly, up until now, things were kind of unsettled, weren’t they?”
“Right, right. Everyone was busy adapting to this world.”
“That’s how it was. But lately, how should I put it? It feels like there are procedures now?”
Above all, the greatest change was in the Magic Tower’s actions.
Whether on the Arcana Continent,
or here in the adventurers’ world,
the Magic Tower had always maintained the same stance.
The Magic Tower does not involve itself in affairs outside the Magic Tower.
Therefore,
mages must also refrain as much as possible from outside activities.
“More than anything, it makes no sense that leaving the Tower is possible now. I never even imagined it!”
They had thought that was how it was, and that it would remain that way.
Then, out of nowhere, leaving the Tower had become possible.
Of course, one had to go through the proper procedures.
But in the past, it had been something unimaginable.
Whisper, whisper.
The conversation continued in secret once more.
“You know, one of the skilled mages returned from leaving the Tower.”
“Right. I heard that rumor too!”
“Isn’t that really unexpected? The senior mages must have written applications to leave the Tower too. But that means theirs was chosen first, beating out applications from such prominent seniors.”
There were clear ranks within the Magic Tower.
Those ranks could never be ignored.
In particular, more than the gap between apprentice and skilled,
the gap between skilled and senior could be said to be several times greater.
And so, naturally, the topic turned to him.
“Chief Lee Hoyeol’s standards really must be different.”
It was only natural that it would turn toward Hoyeol, who had made such a decision.
The person in question had no way of knowing, but
it was inevitable that expectations would gather around him in secret.
“Maybe we’ll have a chance too?”
“A chance? What chance? Don’t tell me you’re…”
“Hey. Don’t start talking nonsense again. I’m talking about leaving the Tower.”
“Oh, leaving the Tower? Well, he didn’t place any restrictions on applications.”
Yes, that was exactly the eye level of chicks.
If one listened,
it was a point of view that could almost be called cute.
Meanwhile, at another table in the Floating Garden.
The one leading that table was a skilled mage, Jibril.
“So it wasn’t just the atmosphere of our school that changed.”
Those seated around the social table were all skilled mages.
Roughly twenty of them; in other words, skilled mages from every school in the Magic Tower had gathered. It was only possible because Jibril, who boasted a vast network of connections, had stepped forward.
Thud!
Jibril slammed the table with her insignificant little fist.
Her eyes shone with curiosity.
“I’m certain there was some incident among the seniors that we don’t know about!”
After hearing the stories of each school, suspicion had turned into certainty.
Jibril’s braided hair bounced for a moment.
Then someone spoke.
“You are right, Miss Jibril. There is no need to go far back. You saw it during the regular conference, didn’t you? The seniors used to grind their teeth at the mere mention of Chief Lee Hoyeol’s name.”
The preliminary review held before the regular conference.
Hadn’t Hoyeol poured out failures in Topaz Hall?
Of course, even if the reasons for failure had been more than justified,
when one considered what the regular conference meant to each school…
The seniors’ lingering resentment toward Hoyeol.
No, their feelings would not die down easily.
That was what they had thought.
“That should have been the case. But it wasn’t as though they simply flipped their palms over.”
“Senior Garfield of our school, too, as if he had never been like that at all.”
“No, doesn’t it feel like it went beyond that level and they became completely different people?”
“……
Now that you mention it. It does seem like they’ve all become more serious somehow.”
“Should I say they’ve become solemn?”
It wasn’t only their feelings toward Chief Lee Hoyeol.
Even the long-standing wars of nerves between schools seemed to have vanished.
Why, even now, as they could see,
over there, at a table in the Floating Garden, several seniors were facing one another.
A man who had been looking at the particularly gloomy table among them clicked his tongue.
“But that combination is unfamiliar. Just looking at them makes it hard to breathe.”
Of course, there was no need to concern themselves with the seniors’ personal lives.
Tap, tap—Jibril crossed her arms and drummed her fingers.
“There must have been some kind of trigger…”
Just what could that trigger have been?
No matter how much she thought about it, nothing came to mind.
However, there was one thing she could guess.
“This time too, Chief Lee Hoyeol must be involved, right?”
After throwing out the question, Jibril looked at Klee, who had been staying quiet.
After all, among the skilled mages present, none knew more about Hoyeol than Klee. Why, Klee had left the Tower alone with Hoyeol.
“……
Weell? I don’t really know.”
“Klee, are you really going to dodge it like that?”
“No, I really don’t know, so what do you want me to do!”
Klee felt wronged.
She herself was so curious she could go mad!
Klee recalled the conversation she had had with Senior Bellier yesterday.
-“Today, I realized one more thing, Klee.”
-“You realized something? What was it, Lady Bellier?”
-“The meaning of the words that what is visible is not everything.”
-“……?”
When she first heard that, she had found it strange.
But Senior Bellier’s gaze, and the voice with which she spoke, had been far from ordinary. Even Klee felt it was the first time she had seen Senior Bellier looking as though she were immersed in such deep sentiment.
-‘Just what happened to her?’
Of course, just because she was curious did not mean she could press Bellier for answers.
But at Bellier’s following words, Klee flinched.
Bellier let out a bitter smile.
-“No, I suppose the Chief has always been the same.”
-“……!”
-“I was simply late to realize it.”……
The Chief?
There were only two people in the Magic Tower who were called Chief.
She couldn’t have been talking about Chief Marcelo.
Senior Bellier and Chief Marcelo had known each other for a long time.
Then what Lady Bellier had been talking about was…
It was definitely about Hoyeol.
So Klee had no choice but to agonize over it in her own way.
And in such a state, she had been dragged out to this social gathering.
That alone had left her head and heart in turmoil, and yet—
“Ah. Come to think of it, there was that, wasn’t there?”
“……?”
“Chief Lee Hoyeol is, even in the adventurers’ world, a noble, and certainly one from an incredibly great family…”
“Jibril, that’s…!”
Klee was horrified.
Words were truly frightening things.
When had the rumor inflated to that extent?
If such a rumor were to reach Hoyeol’s ears?
In that instant, Hoyeol’s voice rang in her mind.
-“You need only act in accordance with formality.”
Absolutely not.
She could no longer sit by and listen.
Klee hurriedly covered Jibril’s mouth.
“Mmph!”
A small commotion arose in the Floating Garden.
But, as expected, because their eye level was different,
there were some who paid no attention to such commotions.
They were the senior mages.
To begin with, they had no mental room to let the chatter of skilled mages enter their ears.
“Have you made any progress, Senior Bangrit?”
“I am simply trying to write it. What about you, Senior Nasrow?”
“Well. I am doing my best as well.”
They were in the middle of fair competition.
“I hope we all get good results equal to the effort we have put in.”
Not for the regular conference.
But for none other than the opportunity to leave the Tower.
Of course, there was one person who could not join that competition even if he wanted to.
“Hup.”
Bensch kept his mouth shut.
It may have been karma for his loose tongue, but wasn’t this too harsh?
‘……
I’d rather you say something to scold me!’
Every minute and second felt far too long.
There was not a single word being exchanged.
How was this supposed to be an interview?
But as if Bensch’s inner feelings were none of his concern,
clink.
Matisse calmly tilted his teacup.
‘Chief Lee must be ruminating on his thoughts along with the tea.’
However, Hoyeol’s thoughts were something even Matisse could not guess.
Why, only yesterday, had Matisse not been completely blindsided?
To think Chief Lee had sought out Lord Senios before they did.
‘He is beyond my ability to follow.’
But one thing.
As for the reason Chief Lee Hoyeol enjoyed teatime,
he felt he understood it, if only a little.
“It seems time flows relatively leisurely.”
“……
Y-yes? How did you read my mind? Could it be telepathy?!”
“……?”
*
……
My ears are itching terribly.
However, I do not dig at my ears with my fingers in an undignified manner.
And this level of itchiness was something I had anticipated.
‘Since they’re talking about me wherever I go.’
The media, of course.
The player community.
The Magic Tower.
Even those beings of love and hate, my older sisters.
All of it must be thanks to the grand trampling of the Demon King.
But as I said, it was something I had anticipated and expected.
Besides, to a certain extent, I had acted with it in mind.
If I had struggled until now to keep from sinking,
I had now resolved to move forward.
‘Now, while the demons’ activity has quieted, is the right time.’
The right time to lay the foundation for moving forward.
Of course, I would not let my guard down.
I knew very well just how vile the race called demons was.
The demons’ wariness of me would not last long.
Well, for me, that wasn’t a bad thing.
‘In truth, dealing with demon-type monsters is far easier.’
Demon Hunter.
In vulgar terms, a class with several screws loose.
[Natural Enemy Relationship]
Depending on whether it activated or not, my combat power differed by several times. Moreover, I also had some spoils from the Demon King that needed to be purified through [Exorcism Ritual]…
“It is not good to rely on luck.”
Of course, I couldn’t simply hope to encounter demons forever.
A state where [Natural Enemy Relationship] was turned off.
Combat in that state as well.
I needed to study it seriously through this opportunity.
Yes, just how many wells had I dug for that purpose?
I ought to try using each of them at least once.
Rustle—
My thoughts went no further than that.
I immediately examined the applications to leave the Tower.
By the way, why were there so many?
I wanted to complain, but this too was something I had brought upon myself.
And throwing it onto someone else now was also something Grandfell’s pride could never allow.
With my back and neck held upright,
I examined the applications without the slightest movement for a moment.
Then, suddenly, a familiar name entered my eyes.
“Feiyan Lot.”
Senior mage of spirit studies, Feiyan Lot.
My hand stopped on her application to leave the Tower.
I had received a great deal of help from Feiyan.
Thanks to her, Hiel had been reborn as a {Unique Spirit}.
‘Moreover, she worked hard in the Demon King’s Castle rift as well.’
I owed Feiyan personal debts in many ways.
I knew myself, and I knew Grandfell well.
So well that not even a single drop of blood would come from being pricked with a needle.
The one who adhered to procedure and was stricter than anyone in separating public and private affairs was none other than our Lord Grandfell.
It was only natural that personal feelings could not exist. I examined Feiyan’s application to leave the Tower from an extremely public perspective.
“The purpose is valid.”……
But it did make sense, didn’t it, Feiyan’s purpose for leaving the Tower?
Above all, compared to Bensch, who persistently brought up “promoting friendship,”
this was a far more rational and public-minded purpose for leaving the Tower.
──────
To collect and exchange information on the Arcana Continent through contracted spirits.
──────
My knowledge regarding spirit studies was superficial at best.
Even I had been able to recognize the potential of spirits.
Feiyan had learned that spirits could be summoned within rifts.
It was only natural that she would think the same thing as I did.
‘Feiyan’s contracted spirit is a fire drake…’
An upper-rank fire spirit, no less.
As an upper-rank spirit, it might have seen and heard a great deal of information about the situation on the Arcana Continent. That information would surely be a great help not only to me, but to the Magic Tower as well.
“Pass.”
I accepted Feiyan’s application to leave the Tower.
And then immediately—
Sssssk!
I scrawled words across the parchment with a quill.
There was no need to delay leaving the Tower.
As it happened, a suitable rift had just formed.
However, in Grandfel’s dictionary, there was no such phrase as “while we’re at it.” “If you’re going to do anything, you do it properly.” What I left for Feiyan was simple. ──────There will be no limit on personnel for this departure from the Tower.
If there are mages of the Spirit Studies school suited to the purpose of this departure,
they may accompany us regardless of rank. ──────After all, whether it was spirits or information,
the more, the better.
In other words, the more the merrier. *[Tetpern Fence][Appropriate Level: Lv.450][Collapse Rate: 3.2%]
For the first time in a while, the player community was buzzing with life.
-Appropriate level 450?? As long as there aren’t demons, we can handle that lol
-For real lol It’s fine as long as there are no status abnormalities
-First off, no potion costs, so that’s freaking sweet
Now that demonic monsters had vanished without a trace,
rifts were no different to players than hunting grounds from back when Arcana was still a game.
From day to night without any particular restrictions. It meant they could focus entirely on hunting.
“Wow, seriously, a lot of people have gathered.”
In that sense, among the rifts currently generated,
[Tetpern Fence], which boasted the highest appropriate level,
was bound to be crowded with players.
Star players appeared in every angle the cameras caught.
Among them, there was even a scene that stirred a strange tension.
“……
The atmosphere really is unusual, isn’t it, everyone?”
The order of power had shifted.
From first to second.
From second to first.
They were Shining and Cheonhatongil, whose guild rankings had changed.
“No one’s saying anything out loud, but…… you can tell just by looking, right?”
Neither side had issued an official statement.
-Shining probably doesn’t have much to say, huh??
-Right, with Jesse leaving and allㅠㅠ
-Look at the venom in Rox’s eyes
-But isn’t Cheonhatongil surprisingly calm???
-For real, I thought they’d be making a huge fuss
Shining, which had lost the top spot, acted like Shining.
And Cheonhatongil, which had taken the top spot, was not excited either, as if that position had been theirs from the very beginning. In such a situation, the two guilds were meeting in a rift for the first time.
“Something’s bound to happen, don’t you think?”
It was quite literally the calm before the storm.
In other words, it was overflowing with sights to see and perfect material for Nettube.
The Nettuber players were already salivating at the entrance of the [Tetpern Fence] rift.
Yes, how much had they regretted it during the Demon King’s Castle rift? ‘If only I’d been a little braver……!’ They could have had an exclusive broadcast of Lee Hoyeol’s exploits.
But who could have known?
Who could have known that Hoyeol would clear the rift and come out in just ten minutes?
Because they had learned that lesson,
the Nettuber players did not hesitate.
“All right, then. Today, we’ll make our entry nice and quick!”
Even one scene.
Even just a few more minutes.
They would broadcast the provocative rivalry between Cheonhatongil and Shining.
But their resolve did not last long.
“……
Wh-what on earth is that?! A d-dragon? No, then what is it?!”
A massive lizard blazing with flames.
Led by the high-ranking fire spirit, Fire Drake,
an army of spirits emerged from within the rift.
And at the center of that spirit army was—
“Wait a second……? Is that?!”
Silver hair. Hoyeol was there.