◈ Episode 354. A Rather Underwhelming Welcome (2)
The “Duel of Proof.”
Even in the Magic Tower, there were only rumors about it.
At this point, the most recent Duel of Proof had taken place quite some time ago, when Senios and Karimjeva had faced each other as a skilled mage and a senior mage, respectively.
The skilled mage Rinne chattered away.
“At present, the only person in the Magic Tower who has actually witnessed one is Elder Mage Yugwid! Perhaps we’re lucky, Miss Jibril. To think we get to see such a rare spectacle.”
“I’m not so sure. I don’t think I’m lucky, Rinne.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
“I mean the seats aren’t very good.”
The Sapphire Hall.
If the Crystal Hall presided over the Magic Tower’s affairs, large and small,
then the Sapphire Hall was a space that existed solely for the Duel of Proof.
Rinne replied as though she couldn’t agree.
“The seats aren’t good? That hurts. I reserved these after reading the Magic Tower’s floor plan from cover to cover. They’re the very front seats of the Sapphire Hall, you know? From here, we’ll be able to see everything at a glance! Look, Miss Jibril.”
Rinne was right.
In the Sapphire Hall, packed with mages of the Magic Tower and players, it would be hard to find better seats than these.
Above all, from front-row seats like this—
“Won’t we be able to confirm the reason behind the sudden conflict between Elder Yugwid and Chief Lee Hoyeol? At this distance, we should be able to hear every word they exchange!”
Because it was something that rarely occurred,
even the mages of the Magic Tower had been shocked out of their wits by this Duel of Proof.
Rinne couldn’t hide the flush of excitement on her face.
“At first, I thought for sure Chief Lee Hoyeol had requested the Duel of Proof. I mean, to be frank… if you set aside achievements and look only at influence, Chief Lee doesn’t fall behind the other two at all, does he? The issue is his short career!”
However, if Hoyeol defeated Yugwid in the Duel of Proof,
Hoyeol would prove his qualifications as an elder mage.
At the same time, Yugwid would have failed to prove her qualifications as an elder.
In other words, he could make up for his only flaw.
“But for Elder Yugwid to be the one who proposed the Duel of Proof! No matter how I think about it, I can’t understand it. There must have been some conflict between them that we don’t know about…”
Rinne chattered on, never seeming to tire.
Jibril, who had been quietly listening, finally exploded.
Pinch—!
“Eek?! Miss Jibril, if you suddenly pull my ear like that…!”
“This is why I said the seats were bad, Rinne.”
“Huh…?”
“How can your words and actions be so thoughtless, Rinne? Do you really want to gossip that much? We’re not apprentice mages, and there are so many outsiders around us.”
Roll.
Only then did Rinne’s eyes begin to move.
“Gasp.”
Jibril was right.
Around Rinne, outsiders—adventurers—had gathered in droves. Those who had secured voting rights in the next Tower Master election had also attended the Duel of Proof as spectators with those same qualifications.
Cle released Rinne’s ear and said,
“This isn’t something to be happy about. Right, Cle?”
Nod.
Cle answered with a nod. Then she looked at the senior mages visible across from them. Their expressions were not much different from their own.
Cle made her own guess.
‘…Did some kind of conflict happen on the Arcana Continent?’
Otherwise, it was impossible to understand.
A Duel of Proof, of all things.
Even if it was a friendly duel conducted under strict rules,
the weight hanging over it was by no means light.
Chief Mage Marcelo.
He asked Bangrit, who was seated beside him,
“May I ask you one thing, Senior Bangrit?”
“Huh? Of course, Chief!”
“Did some conflict between the two of them occur on the Arcana Continent that I am unaware of? Otherwise, this Duel of Proof…”
Of course, it wasn’t as though it could never happen.
Even he, in the past, during the time when he had harbored discontent toward the elder mages, had imagined himself entering into a Duel of Proof with them countless times.
However—
“It is far too sudden.”
Immediately after returning to reality from the Arcana Continent.
Before even a full day had passed, she proposed a Duel of Proof, and he readily accepted such a sudden proposal. Marcelo felt uneasy, wondering whether he himself had been the cause.
Bangrit, searching his memories, opened his mouth.
“Well… I don’t believe there was any particular conflict between them…”
The situation was so serious that even Bensch William, the senior of Flame Magic, kept his mouth shut. And the ones who became excited at the mages’ reactions were none other than the players.
“How did we end up getting to watch something like this?”
“Seriously, it was a good thing we came to get voting rights as soon as we heard the news.”
“I can’t believe we can see it from this close.”
They knew well that it was no more than a light sparring match.
However, what excited the public was not the incident itself,
but the story tangled up in that incident.
“Honestly, doesn’t it seem like there could be conflict? I don’t know the details, but from an elder mage’s perspective, wouldn’t he look really obnoxious? To put it bluntly, a rolling stone came in and knocked out the one already lodged there…”
Speculations stretched on endlessly.
“Hey, how about you shut up?”
The one who stopped the players’ chatter with a threat
was Rockid, the lowest-ranked member of the Shadow Mercenary Corps.
If it had been like usual, gossip aimed at Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyeol?
He would not only have gladly overlooked it, he would have joined in himself. Saying, in a low voice, that if nothing else, wasn’t that excessively flashy fashion sense of his really not great?
“I’m not in the mood to hear chatter right now.”
However, Rockid was in a very bad mood.
“A huge event like this should’ve ended before I placed my bet!”
Marcelo would become the next Tower Master!
Rockid had gone all in with his entire fortune on that option.
But now, out of nowhere, those two were having a Duel of Proof.
No matter who looked at it, didn’t it seem like the winner of the duel would end the vote-splitting and sweep up the ballots?
Rockid ground his teeth.
“Damn it! If I blow it this time, I won’t even be able to guzzle liquor at the tavern… Kichi gave me an advance without any special conditions, but there’s no way Wolf will allow that…”
He took his anger out for no reason.
“So stop yapping and watch. Got it?”
“…”
Perhaps because Rockid’s threat had silenced the surroundings,
the tension seemed to rise even higher.
In the stillness, Bensch, who had been keeping his mouth firmly shut, opened it.
“Good job, musclehead.”
At last, the appointed hour.
The Sapphire Hall.
“…They’re here.”
The doors on two opposing sides opened, and the protagonists of the duel appeared. They walked toward each other. At the center of the Sapphire Hall, they faced one another.
The first to speak was Yugwid.
“Chief Lee hates breaking appointed times to an extreme degree, so I entered exactly on time. How is it? Can you enter the Duel of Proof to your satisfaction, Chief Lee?”
The meaning behind those words was simple.
She was ready.
Chief Lee, are you also prepared to approach this in earnest?
“As expected…!”
Perhaps it was thanks to having secured a prime spot.
Rinne, who had heard the whole conversation, flinched.
“See? I told you the atmosphere was unusual!”
However, Jibril and Cle
neither answered Rinne nor gave her a glance, focusing instead on Hoyeol. Depending on what answer came from his mouth, they would know what this Duel of Proof meant.
Of course, this time too, it was beyond imagination.
“Elder Mage Yugwid.”
“I’m listening, Chief Lee.”
“Do you think you can withstand my sincerity?”
“…!!!”
*
Should I be completely honest?
‘Please, just do it normally.’
When I first checked Yugwid’s letter, I thought it was perfect. I did flinch a little at the chilling saying that even cold water has an order of seniority, but I had realized the hidden meaning behind it.
‘You want to do it, don’t you? Become the next Tower Master!’
I, Lee Hoyeol, could guarantee it.
If I ended up taking on the position of the next Tower Master as well, I might truly work myself to death and go completely out of my mind. Even now, the only rest I had in a day was the time I spent enjoying tea time.
‘…Well, I do drink more tea than most people.’
But that didn’t change the fact that I was short on personal time, did it?
On top of that, from the moment the Magic Tower’s portal opened on the Arcana Continent, my range of activity would also double. Naturally, the things I needed to pay attention to would more than double as well.
That was why Yugwid’s letter had been a kind of salvation to me. But of all things, she had to request a “Duel of Proof.” Elder Mage Yugwid…!
“Do you think you can withstand my sincerity?”
Yugwid’s provocation.
Watching the snout of ruin take the bait so beautifully and run its mouth, I swallowed a sigh. Then I shifted the blame to Yugwid. No, how do you still not know this temperament?
‘If you had simply asked, I would have gladly yielded.’
A Duel of Prooooooof?!
『The emotion of humility did not exist within Granfell. To underestimation, he answered with proof. As for overestimation, he always forced it into reality in the end.』
Granfell welcomed proof with open arms.
How could he possibly refuse such a proposal?
It had gone wrong in the most perfect way possible.
And so, I was now standing in the Sapphire Hall, facing Yugwid.
Yugwid laughed softly at my bold declaration.
“Good, Chief Lee. That is the attitude I wanted.”
Then she released her mana.
Hair scattered under the pressure.
I felt this every time I faced them, but… the mages of the Magic Tower at senior rank and above had undoubtedly reached a realm that ordinary players could not approach.
‘Just how high is her mana stat, anyway?’
On the vast Arcana Continent, there were only a handful of distinguished magical houses. Among the bloodlines of those magical houses, only those with the most exceptional talent could enter the Magic Tower. And even within such a Magic Tower, the senior mages and those above them stood at the summit.
If I were to compare their talents to players…
‘They must be loaded with unique stats and unique skills.’
But wouldn’t it be strange for me to whine in front of that?
The one loaded with unique stats and unique skills
was me as well.
Even more than that—
‘If you add the halo of the Claudi family, I’m not inferior. If anything, I surpass them.’
So I also slowly drew up my mana.
[Mana: 727]
In terms of absolute mana capacity, I had no choice but to lag behind.
Even if I had gone all in on mana with my stat points, it would have been lacking.
Because I had been pioneering the growth method of a demon hunter rather than a mage, investing points into strength, agility, and even luck. However, I possessed unique skills that more than made up for that loss in points.
[Tenacity: 6]
Beginning with [Tenacity], which could be called a variable stat,
[Transcendent: Your transcendent realm is sufficient for you to be called a Transcendent.
- Current achievements reached: Circle (all magic manifestation power increased by 1,000%) / Path of the Sword of Pride (currently liberated path: First Path) / None / None…]
the Circle I had forcibly liberated through an elixir,
and even
[Blessing of the First World Tree].
Therefore, even if it was Yugwid, who could be called the current strongest in the Magic Tower,
she could not overwhelm me while obeying the rules of the Duel of Proof.
Because I had reached that estimate,
even after running my mouth, I had been confident.
…But somehow, Yugwid’s momentum was far from ordinary.
Rumble—!
The moment I sensed something, the ground shook.
Like the Crystal Hall, the Sapphire Hall was a space where special rules applied. This shock would not be transmitted to the Magic Tower, let alone to the nearby audience seats.
But to me, facing it directly, it was being transmitted in full.
I could tell by instinct.
Yugwid was summoning a golem.
That was right.
The very golem that had dragged the rampaging Eunaxus down into the Zero Mountains.
She was summoning it in the Duel of Proof.
This was a clear violation of the strict rules…!
‘She’s manifesting combat magic, and top-tier magic at that?’
Even if it was called a Duel of Proof, a duel was only a duel. Even Senios and Karimjeva, who had been the worst of enemies, had not manifested magic in their duel that aimed for each other’s throats.
And yet, she was manifesting a golem from the start.
There was no way Granfell’s mouth would simply overlook that.
“It seems you have also prepared yourself to violate the rules.”
An utterly prickly tone.
But perhaps she knew that fact herself.
Yugwid answered,
“Sometimes, even strict rules must be broken. Of course, I won’t force you. Our Chief Lee can’t help but be devoted to rules, after all. However…”
Gooooong—!
A majestic resonance.
At the same time, the golem’s mana heart shone.
At some point, Yugwid had climbed onto the golem’s palm and smiled.
“Can you handle me without breaking the rules?”
Whoooooosh—!
The golem raised one leg.
As though it truly intended to trample me.
A massive shadow fell over my head.
At that point, I could be certain.
‘Yugwid never had any intention of following the rules from the beginning.’
And as for why she had broken the rules, why she was forcing such unreasonable nonsense, and why, if she simply wanted the position of next Tower Master, she had not asked me for it—
only then could I guess the reason.
‘…If my guess is right.’
Then fine. I could go along with it as much as she wanted.
But you see,
it seemed she still didn’t understand Granfell’s temperament.
Rules—in other words, procedure—
were something that, to Granfell,
had to be followed without fail,
even if it meant death!
Top-tier magic, golem summoning.
To block the golem’s land-flattening stomp,
I would have to manifest top-tier magic of equal power.
However, I did not manifest magic.
As I said,
in the Duel of Proof,
manifestation of magic above intermediate level was not permitted.
“…!”
When I completely withdrew my mana, I felt the golem’s presence hesitate for an instant.
As expected, just as I had guessed, she wasn’t serious.
Elder Mage Yugwid.
But there was no need to revise that plan now.
I would go along with it in my own way.
Yes.
I was saying that I would face you while obeying the rules.
“…At that point, isn’t this a real battle, not a duel?”
“More importantly, why is Lee Hoyeol just watching?”
“Why isn’t he manifesting magic?!”
The audience seats stirred.
Facing an elder mage who had manifested top-tier magic without using even a little mana? Even to outsiders, it must have sounded absurd. But I had accomplished things far more absurd than that.
And
absurdities realized in that way
were called this.
[The legend, “Dark Dragon Lee Hoyeol,” manifests.]
Flutter—!
“Excessive confidence, Elder Mage Yugwid.”
Black wings spread as though they would completely cover the Sapphire Hall.
Yugwid let out a hollow laugh.
“Haha. You’re even heavier than a real dragon, Chief Lee…!”
The flap of the Dark Dragon’s wings.
Watching the golem stagger from it,
I said to Yugwid,
“I trust you are not expecting my sincerity with only that much.”
“…!”