Ch.228Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

About 30 minutes after dragging Francesca out of her lodging.

Our footsteps had led us not to the northern part of the Kien Empire, but to the immigration office of the Magic Tower.

“That was incredibly fast. I’ve heard teleportation scrolls are good items, but honestly, I didn’t expect to move from the north to Petrograd in one go. Isn’t it amazing, Administrator?”

“……”

Francesca glared at me with cold eyes. It felt like a chilly dagger flying straight into my heart.

“How prickly.”

I walked ahead, urging Francesca along as we exited the immigration office.

“Come on, let’s go! The sun will be up soon. You must be tired from the long journey, so let’s not keep them waiting. People should maintain proper manners.”

“For someone who claims to value manners, you barged into a woman’s lodging uninvited. Don’t you think that’s a bit contradictory?”

“Well, when I do it, it’s romance; when others do it, it’s an affair.”

“…Sigh.”

I walked out with a bright smile.

I might have heard a sigh from beside me, but that must have been my imagination.

Surely it was.

Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

Francesca, who had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, complained at first but eventually seemed to resign herself with a sigh.

Having traveled hundreds of kilometers by magic, she asked me with a tired face.

“I’m exhausted, so let’s get to the point… Why did you suddenly come to the Magic Tower? And why did you bring me along?”

“I have someone I’d like to introduce to the Administrator. And I could use your help as well.”

A look of curiosity appeared on her weary face.

Francesca tilted her head, pondering the meaning behind my words.

“Introduction… Is this about that matter from before? The dark elf from the black market?”

“That’s right.”

Currently, the northern black market is tightly controlled by a single dark elf.

Hormoze, the owner of the Palm Tree Syndicate. In Earth terms, he could roughly be interpreted as a shady Jewish moneylender running a loan shark business.

That dark elf possesses information we need.

“Hormoze is the person most likely to know the source of the black magic used in the department store attack. But he has no intention of giving us that information.”

So what can we do?

We’ll have to extract it by force.

“The person we’re meeting now can help us make that dark elf eat crow.”

“Hmm… Is this person trustworthy?”

“They’re someone I’ve known for a long time, so you can trust them. About five years now.”

I stopped walking and glanced back at Francesca.

Though she hadn’t been awake long, Francesca looked as composed as ever.

No.

If anything, she looked even more splendid than usual.

A tailored suit made of premium fabric with gold trim on the vest. Form-fitting pants and well-groomed hair.

I told her to dress elegantly, and she came fully armed. I had guessed she was wealthy since she always wore nice clothes, but this level was practically aristocratic.

“…Oh right. You are nobility.”

“What strange thing are you suddenly—”

Perhaps it’s because of her outstanding appearance. Francesca didn’t look like someone who had just woken up at all.

Rather, she looked like the scion of a prestigious noble family returning home after a late night at a social club. Somewhat like a gentleman of leisure.

They say clothes make the man. With clothes of this quality, one could probably fly all the way to Mars.

Anyway, this should be sufficient.

I smiled with satisfaction and complimented Francesca.

“Very nice. Where did you get that suit made, by the way?”

“This? It was made by the same tailor who made the suit you’re wearing now.”

“Ah! Even better then.”

Seeing me grinning, Francesca seemed to sense something odd and began looking at me with slightly suspicious eyes.

Regardless.

I brazenly made a request to Francesca.

“Administrator, I have a favor to ask. Would you oblige?”

“Go ahead.”

“If anyone asks about our relationship, please say we’re romantically involved. More precisely, that we’re on the verge of dating.”

“……”

“You understand what I mean, right?”

Francesca smiled brightly.

“It seems your concussion has finally driven you mad.”

What a painfully harsh rebuke.

*

The great mages—pioneers, revolutionaries, and founding fathers—built the Magic Tower.

A land obtained after thousands of years of waiting.

The great mages lifted the tower into the air to preserve knowledge from external invasions and to maintain history for future generations of mages.

The massive tower, with the sky beneath its feet, is impenetrable and beyond anyone’s reach.

These days, there are endless lawsuits about view obstruction and sunlight rights, but the reason Oracle stubbornly keeps the Magic Tower floating in the air isn’t simply out of respect for tradition. It’s because the benefits of staying in the sky outweigh those of descending to the ground.

Since the tower’s establishment, mages have gradually modified their great ancestors’ legacy. Adding new floors, expanding horizontally, improving spatial magic for better efficiency, and so on.

Unrestrained expansion and development have produced numerous problems including wealth disparity, housing issues, and slum formation, but in a place where habitable land is scarce, such defects barely register as problems.

In one of the countless slums thus created, slightly off from the old downtown area, stands a dilapidated apartment building.

On the edge of the fourth floor of this precarious building, where tenants and homeless people live intermingled and which seems ready to collapse even in artificial wind, lies a Military Intelligence Bureau safe house.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”

“……”

Francesca stood in the hallway, looking into the house with a shocked expression.

“What is this place…?”

“A safe location. Come inside; we’re letting cold air in by keeping the door open.”

I ushered the dazed Francesca inside.

After tossing the key I had dug out from the soil in the flowerbed next to the main entrance onto the table, I looked around the interior and cursed the Magic Tower branch of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

“These stingy bastards. They don’t even have a TV?”

The safe house was utterly desolate. I could understand the cracks everywhere and the yellowed wallpaper matching the worn-out exterior.

But not even having a common television that you’d find in a train station waiting room seemed a bit excessive.

When I came to my senses, I realized my tongue was already clicking against the roof of my mouth in disapproval. I turned on the lamp beside the sofa and looked out the window.

“The branch budget covers safe house maintenance costs. But to only put a few pieces of furniture like a sofa and a bed, this is just…”

“…Is this really a safe house? This?”

“Yes.”

Francesca muttered in a voice tinged with disbelief.

“It’s… quite different from what I expected…”

“It’s not usually like this. Normally they furnish it properly and secure a good location, but this one is just a temporary stopover for escaping rather than a permanently staffed safe house, so I guess that’s why it looks like this.”

I grumbled with a displeased expression.

Probably all conversations held here are being recorded by Military Intelligence Bureau staff stationed at the Abas Embassy in the Magic Tower.

That means they’re recording the conversation I’m having with Francesca right now. I wish they wouldn’t just record but also report to their superiors. What kind of safe house is this? Seriously.

“Tsk… It seems the person I want to introduce hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Weren’t they supposed to be here waiting for us…?”

I shrugged my shoulders and replied in a nonchalant tone.

“They should be here before us. Probably checking if it’s safe. They’re a rather shy friend.”

“…Wouldn’t that normally be described as cautious or timid?”

“Same difference. Please sit down and make yourself comfortable.”

I opened the window wide for ventilation and took out a handkerchief to dust off the old sofa.

Belatedly coming to her senses, Francesca used magic to clear away the dust from her seat, and with a slightly uncomfortable look, she perched herself on the sofa.

“There we go.”

After dusting off adequately, I plopped down next to Francesca.

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“There’s a chair over there and plenty of other places to sit. Why specifically next to me, Officer…?”

“We’re pretending to be in a relationship, so shouldn’t we be close rather than apart?”

It’s not like we’re a show-window couple sleeping in separate rooms… With roughly that nuance in my grumbling, Francesca’s shoulders slumped, and a sigh filled the safe house.

“I don’t understand. Who brings their lover to a business meeting, especially with someone they’re meeting for the first time? Isn’t that bad manners?”

Manners, she says.

“For ordinary people, yes. But he’s not a ‘person,’ you know?”

“…?”

He’s a bit difficult to understand by common sense standards….

Anyway,

“No need for lengthy explanations. Just meet him directly, and you’ll understand, Francesca.”

Having said my piece, I turned off the lamp beside the sofa and sank deeply into it. The entrance to the apartment was visible reflected in the window.

Francesca stared at me for a moment before turning her head away sharply, and with that, silence descended upon the safe house.

*

Tick, tick, tick.

The gentle sound of the second hand spreads like ripples on a lake, echoing in my ears.

Rolling up my sleeve to check my watch, I see about 40 minutes have passed.

“……”

We waited for our guest in a lake of silence. The seating wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but neither of us spoke first.

However, if there is a beginning, there must also be an end.

The first person to cast a stone into the lake was none other than Francesca.

“Officer.”

“Yes.”

“This person you’ve known for a long time, are they really coming?”

With her legs crossed and arms folded, Francesca casually posed the question.

To this, I replied in a light tone while looking out the window.

“Yes.”

“……”

Despite my confident answer, she didn’t seem satisfied.

Francesca nodded as if she understood, but her violet eyes showed no sign of acceptance. She seemed to be waiting patiently but was inwardly displeased.

Instead of resolving her doubts, I quietly maintained my silence while gazing out the window. Francesca glanced at me sitting silently, then turned her gaze to the opposite direction.

Tick, tick, tick.

The gentle sound of the second hand began to circle inside the safe house again. Ten minutes passed. Twenty minutes passed. Soon over forty minutes had gone by, with less than four hours remaining until sunrise.

Still, I waited. Looking out the window, relying on the light from the street lamps illuminating the alley.

“……”

That’s when it happened.

A strange noise, like a switch being turned off.

-Click!

What followed this unfamiliar sound was a curious sight. Like a scene from a horror movie, the row of street lamps began to turn off one by one, slowly.

It was such a mysterious sight that even Francesca, who had been staring blankly into space, turned her head.

“…What’s happening?”

Like an animal sensing something ominous, Francesca tried to stand up. I raised my hand to seat her back on the sofa.

“Don’t worry.”

“……”

“Trust me. It’ll be fine.”

As if my words were a signal, the light from the street lamp at the apartment’s main entrance went out with a click. It was the moment the last remaining street lamp in the area went dark.

After looking at the darkness-engulfed street, I turned my gaze toward the entrance.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Someone’s footsteps could be heard.

Past the main entrance, up the stairs, across the corridor, the footsteps stopped in front of the safe house.

A moment later,

The front door opened.

“……”

A large figure entered through the door. The lights, which should have turned on upon detecting a person, cast a feeble glow before succumbing to darkness.

The one who appeared bringing darkness with him opened a small box in his hand. Then he took out a tiny match and struck it with a swift motion.

A small match burning in the darkness.

I raised my hand in greeting to the man who had entered the safe house and lit the match.

“Welcome, Jamer-Victor.”

“I’d prefer if you called me Victor.”

“If that’s what you want.”

In the crimson light, massive fangs hidden beneath the skin were revealed.

The skin covering those fangs, reminiscent of a predator’s teeth, glowed green.

“It’s been a while, Victor. Business seems good? You look more polished than when you were a lieutenant.”

The orc called Victor bared his fangs in the darkness with a grin.

“I see your head is still attached to your shoulders.”

The orc greeted me with a gruff voice tinged with a faint smile.

“It’s good to see you alive, friend.”

In a worn-down apartment just off the Magic Tower slums.

It was a moment of reunion with an old friend.