◈ Episode 353. Rather Low-Class for a Welcome (1)
Return to reality.
Nam Taemin turned on his smartphone and checked the date.
Leonie, who had been standing on tiptoe and peering at the screen with him, flinched.
“……
It really has only been one day?”
Their impression after setting foot on the Arcana Continent for the first time?
It was an experience beyond words.
So much so that being shocked by a mere time difference felt almost ridiculous.
Among all of it, the most astonishing thing had to be the buffs that kept appearing endlessly. The three guild masters of the Great Alliance and Skal had personally written down the details of the buffs by hand.
“We must make thorough plans for the future.”
Of course, buffs were not exclusive to players.
Even if they could not see them with their eyes,
the people of Arcana could feel the effects of the buffs with their bodies.
Bangrit Tom, senior mage of Pure Mana Studies, spoke.
“No one will even be able to imagine it. What is happening on the Arcana Continent, I mean. The expression that hope is truly beginning to sprout is exactly right, and to think that we alone saw such a thing……!”
It had been a series of events so astonishing that even if he grabbed relatively innocent apprentice mages and told them about it, they would tell him not to lie.
Yet, despite his fuss, no one was answering.
Bangrit awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
“……
Haha. I was talking too much about useless things, wasn’t I?”
Kiko Armin, senior of Enchantment Studies.
Only Kiko made an effort to turn her head at Bangrit’s reaction.
“Uuugh.”
Dark circles that had sunk all the way to her chin.
Kiko asked back in a dying voice.
“……
I’m sorry. Senior Bangrit, did you say something?”
“Oh, no. It was nothing important.”
“……
Is that so? Uuugh.”
The legendary blacksmith Wallsweil’s incredible working speed.
“In the end, I have returned standing on these two feet!”
Thanks to that, Harkon had, just as he wished,
been fitted with prosthetic legs containing the essence of dwarven technology and the Magic Tower’s magical refinement,
strange legs that surpassed the limits of humanity.
“I really feel like I’m going to die…….”
But Kiko herself had spent nearly three full days and nights without rest. Naturally, she had no energy to keep up with Bangrit’s fuss. The situation was not much different for Belliere Yusia, senior of Healing Magic.
“Healing magic alone isn’t enough. Something a little more…….”
No, she was even more out of it than Kiko.
After all, unlike Kiko, who had finished her assigned work,
Belliere was still researching a method to heal the dragons that had swallowed the Evil Fruits, and she had collected a great deal of necessary research material from the Arcana Continent.
So Bangrit’s gaze naturally shifted. ‘Then Senior Matisse……?’ He had not expected much, but sure enough, he flinched.
Senior Matisse’s expression was exceedingly grave.
Bangrit searched his memory. ‘Still, he seemed fine until we entered.’ The portal Chief Lee had manifested.
From the moment they opened their eyes through that portal on the Arcana Continent—more precisely, aboard the dwarves’ Iron Castle—Matisse’s expression had begun to darken rapidly. ‘As if he had seen something he should not have……?’
……
Shake, shake.
Of course, Bangrit did not think too deeply about it.
Senior Matisse must have his own worries.
Just as Bangrit himself had gained a new worry.
The mana density of the Arcana Continent had grown even thicker.
Bangrit possessed outstanding mana affinity even within the Magic Tower. Thanks to that, he had a duty to detect the change in mana density that had come to the Arcana Continent, prepare countermeasures regarding it, and present them at the regular conference. ‘If one were to manifest magic as usual on that continent.’
It could bring about results far beyond imagination.
“My head hurts just thinking about it.”
In truth, Bangrit was more worried about Vensh William, senior of Flame Magic, than any apprentice or skilled mage. When he imagined Vensh manifesting flame magic with that thickened mana, his hand naturally went to his temple.
“……
I really need to warn him firmly.”
Of course, all of that
was a story for when Senior Vensh set foot on the Arcana Continent.
Bangrit gave a faint laugh and headed toward his office.
At last, he was alone.
Suddenly, Matisse, who had stopped walking, opened his mouth.
The words that flowed out were profoundly meaningful.
“……
So it was impossible to evade fate.”
The reason Matisse had remained silent all along was simple.
The moment he set foot on the Arcana Continent,
he had witnessed it.
The vast, incomparably vast compatible mana spread across the Arcana Continent.
“…….”
Matisse looked at the ring on his finger.
A magic tool still dyed black. Yes, that vast compatible mana had undoubtedly originated from Chief Lee Hoyeol’s past and background.
That was why Matisse could be certain.
Blackening (黑化).
In the end, Chief Lee,
at some point unbeknownst to him,
must have experienced blackening on the Arcana Continent. ‘Just what in the world happened?’
He could not dare imagine the aftermath.
As Bangrit had said, the Arcana Continent was overflowing with vitality. Yet Chief Lee’s compatible mana lay over the Arcana Continent like the shadow of a bright light, darker, infinitely deeper. ‘At the moment of blackening, it would not have been an exaggeration to say the whole world truly sank into an endlessly deep darkness…….’
That was why he could not help but wonder.
Just how had Chief Lee overcome blackening,
the backflow of the past?
Matisse shook his head.
Even from the perspective of the founder of Black Magic Studies, he could not dare imagine it.
He could only feel relieved.
Relieved that Chief Lee could remain wholly Chief Lee.
Relieved that he had not been consumed by the past as an aftermath of blackening.
Matisse gazed toward Hoyeol’s office and murmured.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Chief Lee.”
*
What a relief.
‘As expected, the strange and wondrous were the answer.’
Harkon’s new legs worked just as imagined. It had been a battle in which sacrifice was inevitable, and to make matters worse, there had been unavoidable circumstances, but my heart could not be entirely at ease.
After all, Harkon had completely lost both legs while standing in for my absence. Of course, I had no intention of writing off Harkon’s achievements merely by giving him new legs.
“You may all look forward to it.”
In truth, if only there had been enough time,
I had intended to let Harkon and the others
leisurely tour the Arcana Continent. ‘Though we had no leisure this time.’
Once entry became free, they would naturally come to see not only Antonium, the capital of the Empire, but also other regions of the imperial territory currently being rebuilt or restored.
Among them, of course……
“My territory is always open to you.”
……
Wouldn’t that also include the vast domain of our Claudi family?!
In any case, ever since I acknowledged the history of the Claudi family,
the temperament of its family head had been revealing itself in full force. ‘What, are you planning to invite them to the mansion and cook them a meal?’
Inviting and entertaining those who had rendered meritorious service at the mansion—how unmistakably like an elegant noble. More than that, I hate that I am gradually becoming used to this aristocratic way of thinking…….
Even so.
Pour, pour—
As soon as I returned to my office, I elegantly filled my teacup.
Let’s see, until the green tea steeped……
As expected, I could not skip my fixed routine.
I examined the work piled on my desk.
“A gap of one day, is it.”
Don’t make a fuss over a mere day, Granfell.
To put it bluntly, even if one only keeps a five-day workweek, there is a weekend, a gap of two days.
It’s hard to find someone like you who does not rest even for a single day, you know? ‘Besides, it’s not as if I’m only being tormented in reality.’
Even on the Arcana Continent, where time passed four times slower than in reality, I was the one sticking my nose into all sorts of matters, big and small. So it would not be an exaggeration to say I was roughly suffering through a fourteen-day workweek.
But…….
‘……
What is this now?’
After I finished checking the ordinary documents one by one, what caught my eye was a single particularly ornate envelope. A letter sent from the Magic Tower, one even I, the chief of the Magic Tower, had never seen before. ‘It’s even sealed with mana wax…….’
There was probably no one in the Magic Tower daring enough to peek at a letter meant for me, the chief.
Still, it meant this was a document that had gone through a special process
so that no one but the intended recipient could confirm its contents.
I murmured.
“Not bad.”
……
You have not even checked what it says.
Do not lavish praise simply because it passes your aesthetic standards, Granfell.
Besides, I had some idea
why such a document had been placed on my desk out of nowhere. ‘This is definitely the Tower Master’s doing.’
Several times, no less.
As an aftereffect of blocking Yuunaxus’s Breath,
the Tower Master, whose breath had been fading, had said to me,
“Chief Lee, I will entrust the position of the next Tower Master to you.”
It must have been the Tower Master’s own will.
Needless to say, I refused that request.
I just said it, didn’t I?
I’m probably the only person in the world working a fourteen-day week. Literally, even if I had two bodies, I would not have enough time. And on top of that, you want me to take on the position of Tower Master?!
I thought this cat was determined
to work a person to the bone until the very end.
So I refused and returned those words to him at the same time.
“Your mission is not yet over.”
What happened to the Tower Master after that? ‘You are free to delude yourself, cat.’
Perhaps the Tower Master himself saw me attend his funeral and thought he had hidden well, feeling relieved. But I heard all about your whereabouts through Jesse.
Therefore.
“I had thought you faithful to your mission.”
For now, cold words could not help but leave my mouth.
I checked the document without hesitation. When I touched the wax seal with a finger lightly wrapped in mana, the seal melted away and the document unfolded. Soon, my mouth opened.
“I see. A new procedure, is it.”
My insides turned over. ‘……
Seriously, this cat!’
It was the Magic Tower’s regulations, amended by the Tower Master’s will.
A revised proposal to elect the new Tower Master by vote.
I could be certain. This was clearly a petty scheme using my temperament—one that, when it came to procedure, would follow it first even if that procedure were a vice……!
──────
1. Gentle Giant
2. The Greatest Discoverer in the History of the Magic Tower
3. Darkness Dragon
──────
My loose mouth helped me grasp the situation.
“The candidates are Yuggwid, Marcelo, and this body.”
Someone might ask at this point.
Aren’t you suffering from excessive self-consciousness? Aren’t you already worrying about what comes after being chosen as the next Tower Master, even though there are two outstanding candidates? Yes, if that were the case, I would gladly admit it was excessive self-consciousness.
But this additional amendment that followed, no matter how I looked at it…….
──────
Voting rights shall be granted without discrimination to those who have proven their qualifications to the Magic Tower. Even if they are adventurers who do not possess the qualifications of a mage, there shall be no exception.
──────
You’re determined to get me chosen as the next Tower Master, aren’t you?!
Of course, there must be a separate superficial reason.
What kind of cat was the Tower Master, after all?
“A regulation befitting an opened Magic Tower.”
The Magic Tower, having realized that closure was poison, had already planned to open everything. In other words, there was a plausible justification that the next Tower Master of an opened Magic Tower should be elected by a new method. ‘If it were only an internal vote within the Magic Tower, there would be no chance.’
No matter how much rapport and influence I had built within the Magic Tower,
I could not match the achievements Yuggwid and Marcelo had accumulated.
However, if players were given voting rights, the story changed. ‘Naturally, they’ll try to vote for me!’
Marcelo and Yuggwid.
Those two had very few points of contact with the majority of players.
At this point, the indispensable exploration of the strange and wondrous—in other words, internet surfing—could not be skipped.
Sure enough, my prediction was accurate. ‘Damn it.’
The community was already burning hot with campaign fever for me.
-Let’s go with the first player-born Tower Master!!
-For real lol let’s get that social rise
-I don’t know what it is, but it sounds fun, so I’m voting Lee Hoyeol lololol
From receiving the qualification proof quest at the Magic Tower
to strategy guides for easily clearing it.
They were doing absolutely everything in their power to get me elected as Tower Master!
I, Lee Hoyeol,
felt cold sweat begin to flow from within.
Because the thought that I might really end up saddled with the position of Tower Master
was slowly creeping over me.
At the same time, I got chills at the Tower Master. ‘He went this far to stab me in the back?’
Even Marcelo, whom I trusted. ‘I don’t want to blame Marcelo too, but.’
The fact that something like this happened while I was absent meant Marcelo, too, had participated in the Tower Master’s scheme. But more than anything, what I resented was
“Indeed, it is a reasonable procedure.”
this exhausting personality that lived and died by damn procedures.
At this rate, before I drowned in pride, I would die first from overwork. The moment I picked up the teacup filled with green tea to at least moisten my parched throat and somehow seek a way out—
Ssssss—
Suddenly, letters appeared on the parchment.
It was the handwriting of the elder mage, Yuggwid.
But somehow, the contents did not seem ordinary……?
──────
To Chief Lee Hoyeol.
──────
It was only one line, but I could immediately grasp its meaning.
──────
Chief Lee, even cold water has an order of seniority.
──────
……
Pardon?
*
At the same time.
[Quest: Election of the Next Tower Master]
The vision of the players carrying out the quest flickered.
A new quest objective had been updated.
But the quest objective was anything but ordinary.
“……
Wh-what is this? Did it pop up for you too?”
“It, it did!”
“Don’t tell me……. Was there some kind of friction in the Tower Master selection process?!”
─Witness the duel of proof between the Gentle Giant and the Darkness Dragon. (In Progress)
The world began to stir at the enormous bait that had been thrown.