◈ Episode 64. The Magic Tower (1)
The Magic Tower.
In terms of military might, it was an organization that none in Arcana could dare approach.
Even the emperor who commanded the continent
was wary of its influence and wished to maintain friendly relations with it.
Perhaps it was because it occupied such an immense position.
The Magic Tower had never made any notable move in any of Arcana’s events.
Of course, back when Arcana had been nothing more than a game,
it had been something one could simply dismiss as a limitation of the system.
After all, what if the Magic Tower intervened in an event where players were supposed to shine?
The Magic Tower would resolve the situation in an instant.
The players would be left with nothing to do but suck their thumbs.
But Arcana was no longer a game. It was reality.‘And yet, the Magic Tower still hadn’t made any notable moves.’That was right.
Even after being summoned into reality.
That was why it was only natural not to expect much from them.
The mages of the Magic Tower stepping forward and taking action?
As a player, it was something I couldn’t even imagine.
But.──────I have heard the news.
You took pains in slaying Decarabia, the Demon King who descended upon Frost. As the chief mage of the Magic Tower, I have no face to show. All I can say is thank you…….──────……
What was this nuance?
No matter how many times I read it.
It was from none other than
the true authority of the Magic Tower.
It was definitely a letter sent by the chief mage, Marcelo…….
Considering his personality, he didn’t seem like the type to ever offer empty words.
But no matter how I read this……?‘It’s full of the feeling that he wants to step forward, but can’t.’Clack─I set down my teacup and parted my lips.
“Everyone has circumstances they cannot speak of.”
Yes, I too had circumstances I could not speak of, known as my dark past…….‘No, that’s not the important part!’There definitely seemed to be some circumstances here, didn’t there?
I had some tact too.
Besides, perhaps because I had formally set foot in the Magic Tower,
I had some understanding of its structure—in other words, how the Magic Tower operated. On top of that, I had a quest I was carrying out in the Magic Tower.[Quest: Marcelo’s Research]
The Magic Tower’s chief mage, Marcelo.
In order to reach magic that has advanced by one dimension,
he wishes to work with you.‘……
Wait, maybe this.’I began fitting the scattered pieces together as I pleased.
Yes, the Magic Tower had circumstances it could not speak of.
Because of those circumstances, the mages could not take active action.
Marcelo was concerned about that.
I was Marcelo’s co-researcher and ally…….
What was completed from that was a fairly plausible happiness circuit.‘……
If I resolve the Magic Tower’s circumstances at the end of this quest.’Wouldn’t the Magic Tower become more proactive?
Naturally, in the process of clearing the quest,
it would be only natural for me to build immense affinity and influence within the Magic Tower.
Which meant…….‘The Magic Tower could also become a reliable ally……?’No, let’s not get ahead of myself.
The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
Besides, if I got too fond of getting things for free,
I wouldn’t have anything to say even if I got an upset stomach.
So it was right to organize my thoughts around here.‘If I continue the quest, I’ll come to know more.’For now, even if I was curious, there was nothing I could particularly do.
Couldn’t I ask Marcelo, the person involved?
As if that were possible.
Prising into circumstances one could not speak of
was precisely something that went against formality.
So the reply I would send to Marcelo was obvious.──────I fully understand your anguish.──────“An audience is welcome at any time.”
To bring up the tale of visiting the thatched cottage three times
would be too much,
considering how much I had received…….
After all, I was extremely thorough when it came to calculating what was given and received.*
The Battle for Frost.
The aftermath of that day did not fade the next day, nor the day after that.
It couldn’t be helped.
Unlike before, there had simply been far too many eyes watching the Battle for Frost.
Shining and World Unification.
The guilds ranked first and second.
Their strength had been proven once again this time.
Their strategies and tactics, which surpassed the Demon King’s Army.
Indeed, they had shown that their experience in siege warfare had not been in vain.
An unexpected dark horse had also appeared.
The demon corps commander, Horrikan.
Nam Taemin had faced that named monster alone.
Not only had he broken Horrikan’s leg, he had even torn off his wings.
Watching his exhilarating battle, the players could make a rough guess.-For real, did Nam Taemin finally start his class quest??
-Seems like it??? Though compared to the other rankers, it does feel a bit late
-Isn’t that actually more amazing? He held onto the top 10 without even doing a class quest-Agreed lol now he’s got nowhere to go but up, let’s go all-in on GaonEven excluding such major incidents,
there had been Inazuma’s courteous attitude,
Jesse Heinness leaving the Shining Guild,
the armed might of the Shadow Mercenaries,
and Harkon’s appearance as he killed a demon corps commander in a single blow.
The Battle for Frost had been an event where far too much had happened.
Well, tastes differed from person to person.
So naturally, the greatest point of interest varied.
But one thing was certain.
Objectively, and in the eyes of the public,
the one receiving the most attention.
In other words, among them all, who was the hottest topic?
“It has to be Player Lee Hoyeol, after all.”
The cast nodded at the expert’s words.
The expert let out a satisfied smile.
“First, let’s look at that ability of his. You’ve probably seen the footage so many times that you’re sick of it, but this skill! This skill is on a completely different level from the skills players have used until now!”
The goddess of flame who had appeared in Frost.
Praise that would have made the person in question flinch if he heard it continued.
Even though all he had done
was use the [Aesthetic] stat and add a sense of beauty.
“So I dare to make a prediction. Player Lee Hoyeol is undoubtedly someone who has changed into a hidden class of the flame mage line.”
A flame mage?
And a hidden class at that.
It was an enormous misunderstanding.
But opinions on that were bound to differ as well.
“I disagree.”
“Oh, do you have a different opinion, Expert Hwang?”
“Of course, the goddess of flame was certainly impressive. But look. Do you see this black energy pouring out from Player Lee Hoyeol here?”
That was intermediate black magic, Black Crown.
“This is a skill of an entirely new system! Judging by its appearance, I’m predicting it may be black magic. You know, the black magic that was only recently formally recognized by the Magic Tower!”
“That’s a very interesting claim.”
“That’s right. Who is Player Lee Hoyeol? Isn’t he the first player to acquire qualifications equal to those of the Magic Tower, and the chief mage at that? Surely, he belongs to a class related to black magic…….”
Hoyeol’s position within the Magic Tower
had spread rapidly through mage-class players.
So that opinion wasn’t completely absurd.
However.
“But isn’t the problem that he used both of those incredible skills at the same time? What do you think about that? Both of you experts?”
“……!”
“……
I-I don’t want to talk about that.”
At the host’s point, the two became as silent as mutes who had eaten honey.
Hoyeol made the experts’ dignity collapse beyond words.
Yes, Hoyeol was, quite literally, the eye of the storm.
Even while he stood at the center of incidents both large and small.
Even while receiving all kinds of spotlights.
Even if the mass media talked about him all day long.-And in the middle of all that, they say he didn’t just rescue survivors, he even recovered the bodies
-If this isn’t noblesse oblige, what is it lololol-Just HomenAs always, he remained calm.
He did not lose his lofty posture.
His attitude made worrying about him seem strange instead.
“……
Fuck. Whoever wants to watch can watch.”
So it was only natural that his precious older sister was worried.
Beep─Leonie threw the remote control onto the sofa and went into her room.
The members of the Berserker Guild, who had been holding their breath, began chattering.
“Our sister’s face has gotten gaunt.”
“Her insides must be a mess. Even my heart just dropped.”
“I seriously thought I heard wrong, you know?”
That story went back to the recapture of Frost.
During the recapture of Frost,
Hoyeol’s voice had been heard from the alley across the way.
“What? Serve tea? I seriously never imagined that.”
And the one who had said she would serve tea was Jesse Heinness.
Among the guild members, Jesse was a person to watch out for.
Even if she didn’t show it, how complicated must our sister’s head be?
“She must have been tearing at her hair so much that it turned into a bird’s nest…….”
“That’s just because she didn’t wash her hair today.”
“She hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday…….”
“She has eaten. The smell of pizza was wafting from her room.”
“……
Then why is that sister overreacting?”
No, she should just pick one.
The guild members could not guess Leonie’s true feelings.
But it couldn’t be helped.
“Fuck. What is this. Seriously.”
Flump─Leonie sprawled on the bed and buried her face in the pillow.
Because even Leonie herself could not understand her own emotions.
She was going to serve him tea.
And to Jesse Heinness, no less.
“……
Isn’t that cutting in line?”
That was certainly unpleasant.
Some people, you know,
were curious about what that tea tasted like,
and were diligently working while calculating what had been given and received.
Surely, that had been the case.
-Your movements were not bad. Leonie.……
Why the sudden compliment?
Considering Hoyeol’s blunt personality,
where he said everything he should and shouldn’t say…….
It was probably nothing more than something he said because her movements really hadn’t been bad.
But at the same time,
she knew that Hoyeol was absolutely incapable of empty praise.
“What the hell. Seriously.”
So it was bound to bother her like crazy.
Thump, thump─“If you’ve got time to compliment me, brew me a cup of tea. Fuck.”
Leonie kicked her feet.
She had turned on the TV to empty her head,
but no matter how much she changed the channel, the face of the root cause, Hoyeol, popped out.
That was why she had handed over the remote and shut herself in the corner of her room.
“……
Let’s just play a game.”
Leonie accessed the internet, only to be startled again.
An article photo of Hoyeol decorated the internet main page.
Truly, an enormous presence that could not be avoided anywhere.
This time, Leonie threw her pillow.
“Uaaaaah! I’m not drinking it because it’s unfair!”...
“How should I put it. It feels like something is being taken away.”
The guild master of Shining, Rox, said that.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, Rox. You never had it in the first place~”
“It’s just a figure of speech. Must you really put it like that…….”
“Well, Camilla, it’s not like what you said is wrong.”
Rox shrugged.
Jesse Heinness had treated Shining as a strictly business relationship.
The reason she had joined Shining was simply because they offered the best conditions.
On top of that, they had guaranteed her freedom of activity.
“I knew that, but it doesn’t feel pleasant.”
The feeling of something being taken away.
It was certainly an unfamiliar sensation to Rox.
Because Rox had always been on the side that seized things, rather than having them taken away.
“Isn’t it too early to feel hurt already?”
“Hey, Camilla. You’re trying to rub salt in the wound again, aren’t you?”
“No~ Jesse hasn’t even said she’s leaving Shining yet, but you’re already getting emotional like this~ I’m just worried. What are you going to do when she actually says she’s leaving?”
The dense Dmitri would never notice no matter how long he watched,
but Camilla could feel it.
That Rox’s emotions were surging.‘His breathing has grown rough.’The wind that affected shooting.
A minute change
that only someone like Camilla, who did not miss even a single breath of that wind, could sense.
Rox was suppressing his emotions that much.‘It must be unfamiliar.’No, he probably couldn’t allow it.‘With your personality, that is.’A founding member.
Camilla had watched Rox since the earliest days of Shining.
She knew better than anyone
the true nature Rox suppressed because he possessed so much.
“I was mistaken.”
“You want to fight again? Can’t we just get along for once?”
“What were you mistaken about, Rox?”
Despite Dmitri’s plea, Camilla asked calmly.
Rox swept his hair back.
“No matter what, I thought he was still beneath me. Lee Hoyeol, I mean. Until now, I just thought he had been lucky. During Ascura, it was Jesse, and in Yusra, I thought he had benefited greatly from the Lionheart Knights.”
“……
Rox, that’s fact.”
“But I was mistaken.”
Rox’s eyes flashed.
“He is definitely stronger than me.”
No, he was even stronger than the first-ranked Skal.
That was an intuition he could feel precisely because they were fellow players.
With a serious face, Rox continued.
“At least level 600.”
“……
What?”
“Wait. What do you mean, level 600……. Hey, Rox. Don’t tell me?!”
“Up to level 700.”
There wasn’t the slightest trace of a joke on Rox’s face. He was serious.
“That’s the level I estimate Lee Hoyeol to be at.”*……
They would never know, not even if they died.
[Name: Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
[Level: 295]
[Stats]
Strength: 45 / Agility: 46 / Magic: 243 / Luck: 5 / Aesthetic: Low
[Available Points: 0]
They’d never dream that I wasn’t even level 300, really……!
The Magic Tower, Topaz Hall.
The Magic Tower’s grand event, the regular conference.
Before standing in the Crystal Hall, where the regular conference was held,
there was a process of proof one absolutely had to pass through.
And the place where that preliminary verification took place
was none other than here.
Topaz Hall.
I was currently sitting here with qualifications equal to those of a chief mage.
What was I doing here?
If someone asked,
I would first show them the blinking quest window.
[Quest: Marcelo’s Research]
Marcelo, Chief Mage of the Magic Tower.
In order to reach magic that has advanced by one full dimension,
he wishes to work together with you.
─Accept Marcelo’s proposal. (Success)
─Prove your ability. (Success)
─The Weight of the Chief (Repeat)▼
That was right.
This was the burden of a joint researcher with qualifications equal to the chief.
In other words, the burden I had to shoulder.
To put it simply, it was work.
‘……
This is terribly burdensome.’
I knew very well just how extraordinary the mages of the Magic Tower were.
Even leaving the chief and senior mages aside,
the strength of the Magic Tower’s mages was incomparable to that of players.
‘Even the great Jesse is treated like the lowest rung in the Magic Tower, after all.’
The tea time we’d had in my laboratory.
Jesse had clasped her teacup in both hands and spoken politely.
—An apprentice mage like me having a private meeting with the Chief Mage! This is the highest honor! So I prepared a carefully considered question!
A mage among mages.
That very Jesse Heinness.
In the Magic Tower, she was apparently an apprentice mage, one rank below even an adept mage.
That was right.
That was precisely why I brought up levels.
‘You want me to verify an adept mage, not even an apprentice……?’
……
Me?
Me, who wasn’t even level 300?
Of course it was maddeningly burdensome.
However, that was only my, Lee Hoyeol’s, inner circumstances.
Topaz Hall.
As I sat at the head seat,
there wasn’t even the slightest sign of burden or tension about me.
The dignity one had to possess as a chief.
A posture that did not deviate from that decorum in the slightest.
I was calmly examining the parchment…….
‘……
I suppose this, too, is my struggle.’
Yes, if I couldn’t avoid it, it was better to enjoy it.
Since I had realized that long ago,
I stopped lamenting my situation.
On the hour.
Since the time had come, I opened my mouth shamelessly.
“Let the verification begin.”
...
Thump, thump.
Cle, an adept mage of the Healing School, calmed her pounding heart.
‘I prepared diligently……!’
The Magic Tower’s regular conference.
For a mage, standing in the Crystal Hall as a presenter was an incomparable honor.
Cle recalled the words of Bellier, a senior mage of the same Healing School.
—There’s no need to be nervous, Cle. Your ability is more than enough.
If you’re still trembling, think back on the effort you’ve put in all this time.
—And if the results still aren’t good……. Just think of it as the jealousy of senior mages who envy me and let it pass. What you need is confidence, Cle.
As she recalled Bellier’s calm voice, her heart, which had felt as if it would burst, began to settle.
Yes, even for Lady Bellier’s sake……!
I’ll overcome the verification without trembling.
‘Of course, the honor of the Healing School is at stake, too!’
How many research results were presented at the regular conference?
Depending on that, the schools and their senior mages either saved face or lost it.
One only had to look at the treatment Senior Bangrit Tom of Pure Magic received after failing to make any presentations lately to understand.
‘I can’t let Lady Bellier suffer such humiliation!’
I can do it. I can do it…….
While Cle was muttering to herself,
suddenly, the doors of Topaz Hall opened.
“……?”
But what in the world was this?
An adept mage who had gone in looking so confident
came rushing out with a tearful face.
“……!”
And as if that wasn’t enough, her eyelids were swollen red.
It was clear she had cried her eyes out.
Thump, thump, thump—
Cle’s heart, which she had barely managed to calm, began to pound violently.
Cle couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
‘……
W-What on earth happened in there?’
Just who was waiting inside……?
Her worry lasted only a moment.
A voice rang out.
But.
“Next. Cle Odia.”
……
W-Wait a second.
‘That voice is definitely?!’
Cle clutched her head and screamed inwardly.
Why, of all people, did it have to be that adventurer…….
No, ‘that person’……?