Chapter 127: Mages of the Tower (5)
RPUpEh“Zollin that stupid fool…!”jZXk
s2zThe leader of the Red Cult, Elder Admelech, released his blazing mana in an attempt to quench his burning fury.bHc8fbN
LcunE9pHe used to call the mages of the Black Cult fools and mocked them when they had gone missing, but he didn’t have the room for that anymore.uutK38
TcPwHZHe might have ignored it if it was a mage from a lower floor, but the problem was that Professor Zollin, the hostage, was a direct disciple of Elder Admelech.FxXS6wm
5WaxxQZollin was in the 7th floor, which was right beneath Elder Admelech’s 8th floor, and that in turn meant that he was the future elder of the Red Cult. Although most of the mages in the Tower treated their disciples like trash, head disciples of elders were a different story. They were extremely valuable successors.lsX3Hpb
hMKWXk6He was the disciple hand-picked by Elder Admelech out of dozens of prodigies with enormous mana capacities, raised and nurtured carefully for dozens of years. Elder Admelech could not afford to lose him just like this.dAWZQxp
Jqglt“I do admit that Zollin’s a fool, but we must still save him!”bOa
Yx5cFXOAdmelech genuinely admitted Zollin’s mistake and requested the help of the Black Cult, which was not received very well by the black mages.eAPhb
iAEAnyThe head disciple of Elder Morushtan, Arkai of the Black Cult, opened his mouth.GuGBKDa
8b1s3“This is something that concerns the Red Cult. There is no responsibility for us Black Cult to…”ALJu17
yX7“Shut up, brat. I am not talking to you.”sOM
lcvpKAdmelech turned his gaze to the leader of the Black Cult, Elder Morushtan. The ones in charge of making decisions were the elders of each cult, and Elder Admelech did not see the need to listen to the peasants below him.HCU6v
Zgs“…We will help.”qDN
FDc3“M, master?”49zyY
eKV6“This is not… an issue concerning one specific cult. He… has figured out our goal.”kcbPa7e
GlogqtL“It is as you say. Who in the world is he?”7eLA
K1CThere were too many unanswered questions.aWh9Apo
ez7Who was the clown inside the footage, and did he tell others about it? That was when one of the medium-level mages of the Red Cult carefully raised his opinion to Admelech.WFt
EwMQEBk“Master… Since he’s requesting gold coins, how about we try putting together funds…”9N0A40y
DvI1“Nonsense! The Tower will not negotiate with such scoundrels!”qdCRV6
UH2His pride as one of the elders of the Tower of Mages did not allow him to obediently give him money. Even though saving his head disciple was very important, Admelech did not want to bend his pride for it either.f0PCl2k
TnWq“If he leaks the information… That will ruin our great plan…”e8orM
Cq4R“I know that already!”EBl4A9
h0WvAlthough Admelech didn’t mention it because of his pride, gathering enough money wasn’t that easy either. They had traveled a long distance from the Tower of Mages to get to the Academy. Where would they find and prepare that much money?VcvZNK
P9iD“We still have time… We must look for him.”WYr
Vts2g9v“We will need people to look into this guy’s whereabouts. Fortunately, the 2nd Princess has entered the Academy, so… I suppose we should request the princess for some aid.”7sQ80K
PZKml“I agree.”wBmzEB
dsEO3soThere was still some time left in their hands.C4PH0
WhwThe mages of the Tower decided to find the clown before anything.PowQy
2tR****xrKa
Fy1AaMINow, they must be feeling rushed and hasty.09F5Z6o
KvGrQnThere were mainly 3 things that the Tower could do at this stage in time.477
ryCh2NIgnore the video and move in groups and discard the hostages.FB4TnD
lO8A2Prepare enough money as requested.8xct1w
8tKnQWCFind the clown and settle the score.YMQh
KV2ahAs for Number 1, it was impossible. At least not for Elder Admelech of the Red Cult.xp2as
rAuo5GsZollin, who was currently in my hands, was still the one and only successor of the Red Cult despite appearing rather stupid.ZTZnGX2
xYZVV8CAfter entering the tower, the mages would discard their surnames and display themselves by their names and their cults. For Admelech, the Red Cult was his family, and his asset as one who had dedicated his life to the path of magic.IKG8
EO8There was no way that he would abandon his successor that easily.eN0Q4L
kjCz4Number 2 wasn’t a realistic option either.DUNc5KA
mlbThe mages of the Tower were elitists and personified versions of ego and pride. For them, this kidnapping incident would be one that brought about fury and thoughts of revenge, and would not see the clown as someone to negotiate with.PLOgkkY
uZP8a‘And that’s why I gave them a week.’5T83l6
CeJxHInevitably, the only option they would choose was Option Number 3. Looking for the clown and making the clown pay for their actions would probably be the only option in their minds.meCP
M098KJZAnd that raised a question – how would they try looking for me?pnsQQ
2JUThey might request the Intelligence Guild or look for clues themselves, but… the easiest method was going straight to Princess Miruam.nAi2S1
KIbOJPB“Can you please do that for me, junior?”ZCMQF
B2nKU“…”6s7OpY
PifjB9The boy in front of me, the descendant of Hasassin, replied after a short silence.S5tLi
qrlRuSW“Asking me to monitor a princess of the royal family all of a sudden… Is this not a serious offense that might drop my head?”jI8pDT
UT8“That is why I am asking you specifically, junior. If it’s you, you’ll never be caught and you will be alright.”VZdnG
k36Q“…I swear I remember you telling me to walk the path of a knight just recently, though.”40Vw
m1YugRashid seemed dumbfounded by my request, but it was understandable, considering how I suddenly came to him and was asking him to monitor Princess Miruam and tell me what conversation she would have with mages from the Tower. It was a rather illegal request.T4K
G5yq“My dear junior!”Ilv0ACd
ghjvuI shouted while grabbing tightly onto the shoulders of Rashid Ad Din Mustali.pT9Rp9p
SK5o“What exactly is a knight? What is the heart of chivalry?!”fMNAh
G4AUdk“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”SoTSBx
C1i3dB3“Saving the weak, doing what is just, and keeping justice is what chivalry is all about. Doth thou disagree?”jRa
XtPjk5“What is wrong with you…”FQB2g
sVeAWF3“Doth thou disagree?”TQNy7I
j45K0Op“…No. You’re right.”9sRWP
CDA1“In other words, it’s okay for the procedure to be slightly cowardly.”9E1t48
ay2bkB“Like, umm… isn’t that pure sophistry? Isn’t being righteous and fair also a part of chivalry?”jp036k
OeJPINO“Righteousness to righteousness. But evil to evil. That’s how it is.”0k72vDt
ir3V“But still, surveilling a royal princess is…”2Rj3w7z
QCvRR6C“No, no, no. That’s not it. Your job is not about surveilling a princess. It’s about monitoring the mages from the Tower.”NY1
OyScui“Isn’t that the same thing?”a52h
oW125C“Everything depends on how you phrase it.”cBVzT
GLoJTaking out a pouch of gold coins from my pocket, I placed it in his hands.HEz7R
p0YLrG“That’s the advance payment. I will give you the same amount if you bring me the requested information.”5ed
HSjZXQN“…Thank you very much for your patronage.”zHO2
oSmCYyIn the end, Rashid accepted my request. Since he just left the nest of assassins, he was pretty much broke and the money I offered as payment was probably too much for him to ignore.lHWq7
M7K3MhNow, all I had to do was wait for the Tower to get in contact with Princess Miruam.vnA0r
OrabLooking at the purple suit and the makeup of a clown, Miruam would be able to immediately notice the identity of the culprit in an instant.DCcxeBH
trbczcThe fact that the culprit was me, Korin Lork, who had been using the same disguise in the Hunting Grounds, would be as clear as day for her.dlWA
LTxjAt that point, there would be no reason for Miruam to not tell the Tower about my identity. Because the Tower was one of her greatest sponsors, the decline of their power also equated to the decline of her status and position.pGYZhPT
GqB2Everything I had done until now was to induce them into attacking me for a one big sweep. My goal was to wipe them all out at once, but…rSGHzT
Hx34LOc『Oh dear. I wonder who this is. What a terrifying-looking clown.』pK6HK
VNlUnlike my expectations, Miruam did not say a single thing about my identity.Wsixbj
tHx………What was going on?zi9
4tsbhYd****xNmes
4q5x“The Tower has been quite rowdy recently.”4P6Szxr
kW5g1qWIn the chairman’s office, Master Erin opened her mouth while lifting the cup of tea to her mouth.z1b
DNGQ3“As you expected, the Tower seems to have noticed that we were related to the kidnapping incident of the mages.”ESUK3
39aOK“But the problem is that they didn’t fall for the bait.”3f3aWy
RkYXYqMiruam did not give any clues to the mages from the Tower who came visiting her to show the footage. She simply did not tell them that I was the culprit.Nrrz
D1T“Why do you think she did that?”cFx3P
E0YD“…Maybe she saw through it?”qzT2AL
dwZ2J“But she still should have said it in that case, don’t you think?”oBgJ0HS
uCaXi4She might have noticed Rashid but was that even possible? Even I, who was aware of his ability to conceal his presence, had to engrave several Runes of Perception around me to notice him.Nhf
wmIRVXThere shouldn’t be any methods for Princess Miruam to see through Rashid’s stealth so… why did she do that?37Ayvaw
KTchAtWas it to side with me?UUuhCl7
d0rX8UThat made even less sense.n1ES7c
pe4Tk6Miru was a cold-hearted and calculative person. She wasn’t the type to discard something that was already on her side, just because of something that could eventually take her side.oqc
yvd7ir“Anyway, it looks like your Plan A has failed, Student Korin. At this rate…”76d1dkG
QgPuDQ“They’ll probably do something in the mid-sems.”P94TthT
OaQBzkThat was what I had been hoping to avoid at all costs.FsFs
TVYykrIAccording to the original storyline, the mages of the Tower would create a commotion in the middle of the mid-sem exams, which would result in a horrible disaster.em7bFrU
mzgugFUSince they had already familiarized themselves with the structure of the Academy and the locations of several facilities including the laboratory, the black mages would drop tons of chimeras and undeads at once, while the red mages would set every building on fire to add to the chaos.SfCXQ
w3bgXfgMeanwhile, Elder Morushtan and Elder Admelech would kidnap Marie, who was locked up in the basement of the Academy and… Lord Adelene would assassinate the chairman.tpXG7wz
ee0vRThat was the original storyline of the game. On top of that, the damage done to the students would be even more amplified by Adelene’s magic.4BzX3
ereMy goal was to prevent this from happening altogether.w45
jUuWearing the outfit of a clown, I would create a fuss in the Hunting Grounds to etch my appearance into Princess Miruam’s mind, and send a video of a similar clown to the mages.pDG
VaY4ZpfI was going to go out on an external mission and use that to lure in all the mages after they started monitoring me, but…4KP
vWJE36NThe prerequisites of Plan A ended up crumbling to pieces by Princess Miruam not telling them about my identity.2uaQ
j3c“Let me do it.”X8YtNtq
783“But…”0VT
lju“Since Plan A has failed, isn’t it time to change to Plan B? I will draw the eyes of the mages.”SCxVjKh
Vfjb“No. We can’t have the king stepping in already.”VfaqKV
WeRoEo80 years ago, Tates Valtazar had sealed Erin in the Shadow Palace, and the only reason she was able to attend the matters of the material world was thanks to the puppet, Eriu Casarr.4Zsz1n3
XDk3If the puppet were to be broken, Master wouldn’t be able to safely intervene in the matters of this world and in the end…fGWM
94zzex“It is alright. Even if this body is to be broken, I can break out of the seal. The seal has weakened considerably in the span of 80 years.”vT25Py
Dc7XsBm“…”hYt
wUl6guAnd that was what I hated. In the last iteration, and even back in the game, that was what made Erin lose her life.olc
KuqRJj1My goal in this iteration was to have her remain inside the shell of Eriu Casarr without giving her even the slight chance to personally leave the palace. Before Tates Valtazar could be crowned to being the new king, he had to kill Erin Danua, the current Queen of Paradise.VFJGG
GgcIn order to prevent that from happening altogether, my plan was to have her exiled in the Shadow Palace until I managed to kill Valtazar.lQd97xb
mQuhyF6“I believe it is right for me to bear the burden with this spare body, instead of putting Student Marie at risk.”xFECHA
VJvnZMM“…”55CBP1
66ItXcThere were no justifications for me to turn her down. After all that was the Plan B we had decided with, and using Plan B was unavoidable now that Plan A had failed.LBh8gdw
HXqkoko“Before that… let me do something first.”EMqt
fkT“What is it?”AFBLZTW
X94od4bThe sudden appearance of Princess Miruam and her inexplicable actions had acted as a variable, but in this iteration and in this current time frame, there was another variable that could work in our favor.LT8Cd
pJPnXt“Let’s flip the whole stage over, and force them into doing something.”STMq5
QJB62I****9EpQ
MHOt5A“Elder Morushtan of the Tower of Mages. You are under arrest for illegal human experiments, and charged for murder, abduction, and confinement.”KdOL9N
Aj93On the way to the Academy, it was when the mages from the Tower were walking to the Academy as always when they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As a result, the front gates of the Academy became a ground of confrontation of roughly 40 mages and people wearing sacred garments and armors.a5ng
twRE“Paladins of the New Faith…! What do you think you are doing!?”rHj1wvb
X1eThey were the armed forces of the New Faith, that rivaled the Templar Knights of the Old Faith. They were the symbol of ‘strength’ in the New Faith, and it was outside of everyone’s expectations for them to suddenly appear before the mages of the Tower.uxl
zRYOE“…”SPj
vUAqElder Morushtan, the leader of the Black Cult, gazed at the paladins before him.T7Wu
suy7K38As the leader of the Black Cult, he had always been the one in the lead when it came to human experiments with a bunch of such experiences in his hands. However, mages of the Tower had always been the target of suspicion and the key was in evidence. And Elder Morushtan was confident that he had already cleaned up and concealed everything that he had done.CMKo
S6U“Do not resist and receive the verdict, Elder Morushtan. You are under a significant allegation of being a heretic.”mNw
HH2“Nonsense! The Tower of Mages does not belong to any nation! No one can arrest us; not even Holy Knights!”fd4
qkFuThe mages of the Tower retaliated against the paladins in one voice, as both sides turned more and more aggressive. The Holy Knights were here to arrest the leader of one of their symbolic cults, which was naturally met with significant resistance.yDQ0yW
pXFBoth sides were incredibly powerful. A conflict of the two forces would be devastating and could even escalate to a war of religion.Digo
ZUsGAec“Everyone. Please stop.”QEhJzd
JBgIt was then. A girl appeared and started walking up from behind the paladins.BDL0Ox
vusRu1dShe was the harmony of pure white and gold – the one and only of the New Faith.fY3
3YfE“Saintess Estelle…”BWdt
x9j2Estelle Hadassa El Rath. She was here to intervene in the volatile situation.nnbqs5
GicT“What is this about, Your Highness Estelle? Is Your Highness planning on harassing us, the Tower of Mages?”ESRW5U
qriq2luProfessor Arkai, the head disciple of Morushtan, raised his voice.S02vP2
3fdfThe Tower of Mages was by no means weaker than the New Faith in both strength and authority. It was impossible for them to arrest a leader of a cult based on allegations alone.nGRxB
23JbG“Of course, I, as the Saintess, fully acknowledge the prestige and rights of the Tower. However, there has been a heavy allegation against Elder Morushtan. Since there has been a report, there is a need to look into the matter.”Hc9Sa
SPp“You cannot do this without even having proof…”TzBRtC
j9zapg“Of course, we do have proof.”Ep3NLXS
Xff0With a wide smile on her face, Estelle took out documents and a recording stone. They were the evidence and a recording of the place that Korin Lork had told them about.QabU
6IRW“This…”au4
E8YEven Morushtan was dumbfounded looking at the obvious pieces of evidence sitting right before his eyes. This was the footage of his secret laboratory that no one should know about. He only visited the laboratory with the help of his familiar and made sure nobody knew about his presence or the location of the lab, so how did the New Faith know about it?XMv6RN
tEg5r“Y, you’re framing…”v5ypFp
Y4sW“Be quiet. Our order carries out rightful inquisitions in accordance with the rules forged by the lord and the royalty.”i1geAr0
cL6cixWhen Estelle said that out loud with a cross in her hands, blinding light surged out of her body and threatened to blind their eyes despite the sun being high up in the sky.u1d0lG
gUWx8It was a radiant yet warm ray of light – a cleansing miracle cleaning everything evil in existence. The light emanating out of Estelle was the very proof that she was being loved by the gods.V4y52Nq
OghSaintess Estelle.kExwOY
gL2Just from a single prayer, the necromancers walking down the evil and wicked path were made to swallow their pain.qeUNny
5fhr2U“Uhuk…!”cJtCOj
boFuTStaring at them, the saintess of the New Faith, Estelle, said with a sadistic smile on her face.3smDY
qdTivXk“Are you coming? Or do you need to be bashed up first?”A8KiEI
k4Kf3RHer last words were truly unbefitting of a saintess, but were enough to make the mages of the Tower surrender.ccRQjFF
uPIf****hdsIyX8
8HR“Those damned bastards of the New Faith!!”c3ODfu
IVlPYGWThe mages of the Tower were very down.b0zcsia
JdG1The leader of the Black Cult, Morushtan, had been seized by the New Faith for allegations of human experiments, which was on a whole different scale to third-rate mages and the head disciple being kidnapped.yYIAglI
wJXb“How bad is our luck?!”AqOp
BdV“We need to stop our plan!”tECw
aaHAe“How dare these scoundrels interrupt the great path of magic?”iNzeOvX
rLObwm0The hot-tempered mages of the Red Cult were infuriated whereas those of the Black Cult appeared extremely gloomy. Losing their leader Morushtan was a big blow to their confidence.VO9
6DYGmv2More importantly, the problem bigger than the blow to their confidence was their lack of power.H4fRdc4
EK5zc4dTheir targets, Marie Dunareff and Chairman Eriu Casarr were both powerhouses at the Unique Grade. Having several mages at the level of an elder was a must when capturing such individuals and besides, it was originally supposed to be Elder Morushtan’s job to capture Marie Dunareff and hence they were lost as to what to do.dQbhLky
GdzBhE“Professor Arkai… What do we do now?”bcAl1
ah9aKb“…”ewJ68
7pABgxMorushtan’s head disciple, Professor Arkai was agonized. He could only think of one plan that could save them out of this trouble.4F659gB
fKSJPN“We must… continue the plan with haste. Before master gets taken to the sacred lands of the New Faith… we need to burn the Academy and save him in the midst of that chaos.”KqnMC
qar“Shut your nonsense! Professor Arkai! We already had our hands full with that stupid clown; what plan is there to continue with at this point?! We must quickly return to the Tower!”gXnm2t7
3reqK“The foremost reason why our plan was revealed was because one of your professors revealed everything to that clown! You have your side of the responsibility to this matter, Red Cult!”pHl
Cxv“What was that? You filthy necrophiles!”PbjKgR
F649LtV“Is that all you have to say, you damn arsonists?!”h5R
ob0UCKThe quarrel between the two cults escalated as they started raising their voices. No longer able to leave them be, Elder Admelech created soaring flames that settled both parties down.pkFaw
tqkfw“Kuuk?!”V8a00Y
bTZ8W9Y“E, Elder Admelech?!”elBLh
fQjhOcHHis flames emerged without him even chanting a spell and yet they were powerful enough to almost break through their defensive robes.6SamNF
KJSlIt was an overwhelming display of firepower, capable of suppressing dozens of mages at once. What was even more surprising was that the flames were focused only on the mages without affecting anything else in the room.RvC978w
tgMrj“This is not a marketplace, you fools.”X6MBz
C55me“S, sorry sir!”9YZ7l9B
pJdY“Please… have mercy!”Mda
kOoQFhPAll the mages yielded at the face of Admelech’s flames. It might have been possible for them to withstand the spells of a professor-level mage, but someone at the level of an elder had the power to wipe most of them out as if they were ants.5HSI5CY
GwgWAfter settling the mages down, Admelech quietly looked into the eyes of each and every one of them before shouting with a sonorous voice.fTaMvv
vkAAl“Lord Adelene!”xuPhLs
v13U6There was a reason why the higher ranked mages, who considered the low-grade mages as insects, had been letting everyone participate in the conference. It was because the Great Golden Mage was in disguise as one of the lower-grade mages.kVgUkBf
gwAMY6qAdmelech shouted, with not a single doubt that Lord Adelene was among them.Cddo7H
zzT“Now that Elder Morushtan has been arrested, it is impossible for this old man to do this alone. I will have to ask for your direct assistance!”RGujDw
hD1D8TY“…”kaU
PgGaC“…”MvVve6U
nhgThe room turned silent. No one stepped up calling themselves Adelene, but that was natural because Adelene wouldn’t have even bothered to go under disguise if he or she was going to reveal themselves this easily.L7QwXvJ
PUH– Creak!szn
wy8mVlp– Tadak…!bzcT
2xpmPIt was then. Every metal in the room starting from pens, badges to staves and everything with even the slightest hint of metal started to move by themselves.14Lf
1Fs“W, what is going on?”brBuUK4
nPS“Who’s using magic…?”Qlrve5G
YTHE4They turned to one another, but none of them were able to even guess who the one using magic was – not even Elder Admelech.RP3d6P
8Hw– Click!ioFX
7Pv9K0Soon, the metals stopped moving in the air. They formed a sentence giving a direction to the mages of the Tower.MSuW
LrT4『Seal the Witch.』j0eE1
PUEelrThe plan was revealed and key personnel were captured but the central figure of this great plan – the Great Golden Mage gave a simple command.8Lpy
6vqgFTCarry on with the plan.yELA
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