Ch.115Magic Tower (3)

“Hmm…”

I gazed at the sunset light emanating from the lower part of the Magic Tower, deep in thought.

It was good that I had noticed the Black Pillar’s schemes, but the problem was that I didn’t have a proper solution.

‘Considering when that light started shining on the city, even people with magical power might be in danger…’

Judging by the reactions of the city’s residents, the curse currently spreading was likely the curse of conflict.

The curse of conflict was one that intensified negative emotions within people, deepening emotional rifts between them.

It wasn’t a particularly threatening curse if dealt with preemptively, but once it had spread this far, it wouldn’t be easy to resolve.

‘Even if I approach the villagers now, I’d only increase their wariness.’

The emotional rift between city residents and outsiders had already deepened to the point where even my charm stat couldn’t easily bridge it.

It was a desperate situation where I couldn’t do anything alone, but there was actually a plan I could use in this situation.

‘The deep divide between outsiders and city residents must be the Black Pillar’s doing behind the scenes.’

If the curse of conflict was spread and left unchecked, the people in this city would fight each other to destruction.

But such an outcome was likely not what the Black Pillar wanted either.

They wouldn’t go through all this trouble just to destroy one small city.

So they were maintaining the current situation in a cold war-like state by creating this dichotomous structure.

‘And this way, they can also prevent third-party intervention in advance.’

Indeed, for me right now, it was like trying to defuse a bomb that could explode no matter where I touched it.

But even such an excellent plan had one fatal flaw.

‘If you can’t defuse the bomb from the outside, you can defuse it from the inside.’

The fact that outsiders were being rejected meant, conversely, that if one wasn’t an outsider, they were inside the emotional fence.

“Luca, there’s something I need you to do. I’ll provide you with plenty of money.”

“Don’t worry about the money, just tell me what to do.”

“You’ll need a lot of money for this anyway.”

I took out a money pouch and an ornately decorated token from my spatial storage and handed them to Luca.

It was a token I had recently received from Ninianne, indicating that I was recognized as the goddess’s representative and acknowledged by the Fairy Queen.

Though it would be lower priority compared to the Hero’s, it was still something that could secure cooperation from the church.

“Go to the church immediately and request their cooperation to obtain as much holy water as possible. I’ll cover all the necessary expenses.”

“Understood. What should I do with the holy water once I’ve obtained it?”

“Use it on the city residents at your discretion. If I get involved, it will only raise suspicion.”

Of course, this wouldn’t completely drive out the curse that had taken root throughout the city.

The curse was continuously being spread, and we couldn’t forcibly drag city residents to the church to treat them one by one.

But it was possible to delay the ticking time bomb from exploding, if only a little.

And with the time we bought, I could resolve this matter.

“I’ll leave it to you then. Once we enter the Magic Tower, we won’t be able to intervene anymore.”

“Understood. I will definitely complete this mission.”

After giving Luca everything needed for the plan, I immediately parted ways with his group.

This was to avoid raising the city residents’ suspicion toward Luca’s group by hanging around with outsiders.

Once we were alone again, Lilly spoke up before I could say anything.

“But how are we going to enter the Magic Tower? In the current situation, outsiders’ access would obviously be blocked.”

“I have a way for that. I’ll explain later, but for now, let’s go somewhere less crowded.”

“You’re right… there are too many eyes on us here.”

Noticing people glaring at us menacingly, Lilly agreed with my suggestion.

‘With my low charm, they might have thrown eggs at us…’

Considering there wasn’t a single outsider on this street, there was a high chance we might actually get hit by something.

Thanks to my charm, they were only glaring at us with killing intent rather than launching direct attacks.

But not knowing how long that mercy would last, we quickly left the area.

* * *

The place we escaped to was an alley in the city.

Though there was an ominous smell of blood in the alley, possibly due to the curse’s effects, there was no better place at the moment.

The curse of conflict was causing the entire city to reject outsiders.

“Hmm… this place looks good.”

“Just in case, I’ll set up a simple barrier.”

“Ah, thank you, Kitsune.”

Only after setting up a barrier as a precaution could we calmly discuss our plans.

“First of all, you know the Magic Tower won’t cooperate with us, right?”

“Yes, I know. They’re more likely to be hostile than cooperative. After all, everyone sent to investigate has gone missing.”

After evidence of black magic emerged from the Magic Tower, various attempts were made to understand the situation in detail.

Among them, Apos Hunt was directly dispatched to conduct an investigation.

The result was failure.

The dispatched Apos Hunt members went missing.

Well, “missing” wasn’t quite accurate.

Reports on the investigation status continued to come from the dispatched Apos Hunt members.

It’s just that when the encrypted content in those reports was decoded, it only revealed the mission’s failure and that they had been captured.

“If we approach directly, we’ll likely be captured and imprisoned somewhere immediately.”

“And even if we want to infiltrate with hidden identities, there’s no reason for them to let unknown civilians into the Magic Tower.”

“That’s true. But it doesn’t matter. We’re planning to use the dog hole.”

At the mention of “dog hole,” Lilly looked at me with confusion.

“Um… dog hole? There’s a dog hole in the Magic Tower?”

“It’s a kind of slang. It’s a secret passage used by lower-ranked magicians in the Magic Tower.”

The Magic Tower was not only difficult to enter due to various procedures but also difficult to exit.

Especially for those of lower ranks who had just recently entered the Magic Tower, there were conditions even for going outside.

As a result, the lower-ranked magicians collaborated to create what they called the “dog hole.”

‘Though it’s more accurate to say one genius carried the whole project rather than a true collaboration.’

Anyway, this dog hole was currently our only way to enter the Magic Tower.

The barrier spread around the Magic Tower was too formidable to enter by any other means.

“What if this dog hole is blocked?”

“Then we’d have to use a more dangerous method… but that probably won’t happen. The dog hole is kind of a tradition.”

Even those who had been promoted and no longer needed to use the dog hole would turn a blind eye to its existence.

If the existence of this dog hole was ever in danger of being exposed, there were people who would actively help conceal it.

“So after we enter the Magic Tower through this dog hole, then what?”

“I’d like to just demolish the Black Pillar right away, but… we should gather information first.”

In response to my words, Lumia, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

[Won’t a stranger wandering around the Magic Tower get caught?]

‘You don’t need to worry about that. There are many new people who’ve recently entered the Magic Tower anyway.’

Considering that Luca and his group belonged to the Magic Tower, the number of people inside had likely increased significantly recently.

Given that the Magic Tower was typically closed off, this was the perfect time for infiltration.

However, to use the facilities inside the Magic Tower, one needed a token indicating their rank.

[How do we get that token?]

‘This token doesn’t exist for identification purposes.’

Since it existed to grant privileges according to rank, it wouldn’t be a big problem if we could just obtain the token.

‘In other words, we just need to borrow a token from a passing magician.’

[No matter how nicely you phrase it…]

[You’re basically saying we’ll grab any magician and steal their token.]

‘Steal? We’re just borrowing it for a while.’

Lumia responded with disbelief, but I smoothly brushed off her words.

“Shall we enter the Magic Tower now?”

“A dog hole in a floating Magic Tower… I still can’t quite imagine it, but we don’t have any other options right now.”

“It’s just slang, remember? It’s not actually a dog hole. Think of it more like a back door.”

With that, I led Lilly and Kitsune, calculating where the dog hole would be located.

‘Let’s see… if the main entrance of the Magic Tower is that way, then the library should be around there, and that’s below the Red Pillar.’

If this were a game, I could have gauged the location more easily with a minimap, but now I had to calculate the position by eye.

Still, having used it countless times before, it wasn’t particularly difficult.

“The alley location should be… right here. And Kitsune, come here too.”

“Hueeh?!”

I grabbed Kitsune’s arm, who was slightly away from me, and pulled her into my arms.

The dog hole could be used by multiple people, but they had to be close together, so it couldn’t be helped.

“W-what is this…?”

“It’s just a short-range teleport. The recognition range isn’t very wide, so this was necessary.”

After saying that, I immediately sent a magical signal toward the sky, and soon after, we were enveloped in light and disappeared.