Ch.86Chapter 86 – Meeting (1)

Two days later, I headed to the tavern that led to the Magic Tower.

Beatrice had suggested meeting here first since we were going to the Magic Tower anyway.

The time was just before noon, which was simply because Beatrice wanted to sleep in longer.

Even so, since I woke up early and started moving around, she had to get up too, which meant that Sara actually got to sleep in more than Beatrice did.

“Damn, I was trying to get some sleep.”

Beatrice grumbled as she drank her beverage from across the table.

“And juice instead of alcohol. This is the worst.”

“Aren’t you complaining too much while drinking on my dime?”

“No, I’m grateful for that. Of course.”

She had boldly asked the tavern master for alcohol, but he already knew about our business and Beatrice’s work, so he refused to serve her any alcohol, saying, “Are you planning to meet the Master while drunk?”

We were all drinking juice, and I even bought her a glass, but she still complained a lot.

She really loves alcohol.

“By the way, why don’t you ever touch alcohol at all? Even clergy take sips here and there.”

“I have my reasons.”

Beatrice always wanted to drink, claiming it was necessary to sleep well at night. We had compromised by agreeing that she could buy a few bottles outside and drink them at our inn.

Even so, she reacted like that because I never took even a single sip.

Just then, the door suddenly opened.

“You’re already here?”

“Long time no see, Eve.”

Eve smiled and naturally sat down next to me.

As she entered, I saw people who appeared to be from her shop carrying boxes in, stacking them, and leaving.

“What’s this?”

“Gifts. For the Masters we’re meeting today, and for Ludger and Aria.”

“What’s inside?”

“Fine liquor and other… Hey, you. Stop that.”

At the mention of alcohol, Beatrice had tried to sneak one of the boxes into her hands but froze when caught.

“I would have liked to choose them with Kay, but it’s unfortunate.”

“Well, you said you’d be busy for two whole days.”

Eve just smiled slightly at my response.

After hearing about the Magic Tower schedule from Ludger, I had immediately taken Christina with me, but Eve had been away at that time.

An employee approached and told me that Eve was busy and couldn’t meet for a while, but added that she knew about the schedule, so not to worry.

I briefly wondered if she had seen quite far into the future at that time.

“Did you have some important deal?”

“You could say that.”

Eve said with a meaningful smile.

“What kind of deal was it?”

“Hmm, would you like to guess?”

Eve said with a smile.

But how would we know what Eve was planning?

“Can’t you just tell us?”

“No. I can only tell you that it’s a surprise for later.”

Eve finished with a smile.

But I didn’t miss it.

I saw her expression darken momentarily.

‘What could it be?’

What future had she seen that made her expression darken for a moment?

Just as I was considering whether to ask her about it later, the tavern door opened.

“Ah, we’re the last to arrive.”

The three remaining clergy members entered the tavern.

Aria was carrying a tightly sealed box.

Ludger, Aria, and Christina approached our table.

“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long?”

“We just arrived ourselves, so don’t worry about it.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I stood up as I answered Aria.

Now that everyone was here, there was no reason to stay gathered here.

Soon we all moved toward the tavern master, who nodded and said:

“No password needed. Beatrice is with you.”

It seemed that having a Magic Tower mage in the party was a free pass, as the master spoke up first.

He tapped the table, and part of the tavern wall began to move.

Then a mirror appeared from inside.

“Go ahead.”

The master pointed to the mirror as he spoke.

“You just enter through that mirror.”

It certainly looked that way.

Beatrice said this as she strode toward the mirror.

“Shall we go, honored guests?”

Beatrice said with a smile.

+

“Wow.”

Sara exclaimed as soon as we emerged from the mirror.

She looked around with sparkling eyes, fascinated by the interior of the Magic Tower.

I also looked around and said:

“It’s really chaotic.”

The floors and walls of the Magic Tower were made of brick.

While the place I had been before was secluded, this area seemed to be a high-traffic zone with a considerable number of people moving about.

But the way they moved was quite peculiar.

People in robes were walking through the air, along walls, or hanging from the ceiling, while others were going up and down in box-like elevators.

There was even someone flying upside down through the air before landing on the ceiling and continuing to walk.

Remarkably, despite the varying gravity, not a single piece of clothing was falling out of place.

Beatrice giggled and said:

“Disorienting, isn’t it?”

“Honestly, just watching the people makes me dizzy.”

Beatrice beamed at my response and said:

“As you might guess, to those people, we probably look like we’re walking on walls or stuck to the ceiling.”

“Why is that?”

“The Magic Tower has distorted space.”

Beatrice explained as she started walking ahead.

“Especially the central area near the entrance is severely distorted, which is why you can see people walking in the sky and such.”

“Why is it set up like that?”

“For security.”

Beatrice smiled at me.

“It’s security against non-Tower members sneaking in. They’ve created multiple paths and twisted the space so that anyone who isn’t an official member or doesn’t have permission will get lost.”

“Surely people don’t end up starving to death because they can’t find their way out, right?”

Beatrice fell silent at my words.

She seemed to be considering whether such cases existed.

“…I’m not sure. There might be some if you look for them?”

As she said this with a smile, I noticed Sara and Christina grabbing each other and moving closer to Beatrice.

Seeing this, Beatrice chuckled.

“Well, I’m fine of course, and you all came as proper guests. If you get lost, I’ll come find you right away, so don’t worry about not being able to return home.”

“That’s a relief.”

Christina sighed with relief and let go of Sara.

“Well, these twisted paths are mostly just at the entrance and some important places inside the main tower. The secluded areas are quite normal.”

Secluded areas.

I suspected that’s where I had been held captive before.

I remember fighting intensely with Beatrice, destroying everything in our path, but never encountering any other people.

“Follow me closely. I know who we’re here to meet.”

With those words, Beatrice took the lead and started walking.

As we followed her, we encountered many strange phenomena.

For instance, I would be walking straight ahead, but suddenly find that up and down had switched, or that I was walking sideways.

Once, Beatrice jumped, and when I followed suit, I suddenly found myself flying toward the ceiling, which terrified me.

After about 15 minutes of darting around like this, we arrived in front of an ornate green door.

“Here we are, the Green Tower Master’s room.”

Beatrice said with a smile.

“The Purple Tower Master is probably inside too. Those two often go around together.”

“It might be too late to ask, but what’s the distinction between the towers?”

“There is one.”

Beatrice looked at me and said:

“I’ll tell you about the others later. The Green Tower focuses on analyzing, researching, and developing magical tools and artifacts.”

Beatrice paused briefly before continuing:

“In other words, it’s a gathering place for scholarly types.”

So it’s like a research department.

Thinking about it, Asam’s laboratory was equipped with various tools, which made me wonder if Asam belonged to the Green Tower.

“Wait, then what about you?”

“Well, my current affiliation is with the Green Tower, that’s true.”

Current? I wondered where she had been affiliated originally.

However, Beatrice didn’t seem inclined to explain further as she immediately opened the door.

“Master, I’ve brought them.”

“You, what happened to knocking?”

As we entered, I saw the face of Master Lucian, whom I had met before.

“Knooocking? Is that something to eat?”

“…It was my mistake to expect manners from you.”

Leaving the exasperated Lucian behind, I noticed another familiar face inside.

It was Master Violet.

“Come in, everyone. Don’t just stand there.”

She said with a smile.

+

The conversation was mainly between the two Masters and Aria.

The purple gem we had discovered was now placed on the table.

The purpose was to share what the church had learned and request a detailed analysis, so the conversation had entered the realm of experts.

However, Christina and I did provide some testimony while explaining how we had obtained the gem.

During this, I watched Ludger and Aria carefully as I mentioned one fact, and Lucian nodded.

“The Emiris Order seems to be involved.”

“Given that a priest from that order made statements suggesting familiarity with it, suspicion is inevitable.”

Unfortunately, since that order was reportedly popular with the public, I spoke cautiously.

Still, since both Aria and Ludger knew that Somnus was behind the recent terrorist attacks, they didn’t try to stop me from speaking.

The circumstances alone were suspicious enough—the order’s priest had positioned himself there and tried to silence us.

“Hmm.”

Lucian lifted the gem slightly as he spoke.

He didn’t touch it directly. It seemed he was levitating it with magic.

Looking at it, Lucian appeared to be deep in thought.

“From the church, what you found out is… well.”

“It was created using black magic and necromancy, but it also has holy power mixed in, emitting a strange energy.”

Lucian nodded at Aria’s words.

“First, the Green Tower will accept the request to analyze this gem. This is no ordinary matter.”

“Thank you. Honestly, we were at a dead end if you refused.”

Aria spoke respectfully, unlike her usual manner of speaking.

“With the kingdom in turmoil over the undead incidents, the Tower should show appropriate courtesy. We’ve essentially been standing by, so the least we can do is figure out what this is. The other Masters have agreed.”

Lucian said.

“At least for this matter, the Masters of the other towers won’t interfere unnecessarily.”

“While we tend to keep to ourselves, we don’t maintain silence on matters like this.”

As Violet spoke, Lucian nodded.

From their conversation, it seemed that there had been discussions with other towers prior to this meeting.

“Does the Magic Tower have some kind of issue too?”

Christina quietly asked me.

I thought about how to explain before answering.

“Politics, I guess.”

“Politics?”

“When money and such get involved, conflicting interests arise.”

“I don’t really understand…”

I wasn’t well-versed in politics either, so I couldn’t explain further.

However, judging from Lucian’s reaction, I guessed that there might be cases where they interfered with each other over research achievements or money.

“So it attracts monsters.”

Lucian narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke.

“Honestly, that alone makes it extremely interesting.”

“Why do you say that, Lucian?”

“Think about it, Violet.”

Lucian calmly said.

“If these gems were placed in areas where people don’t go, wouldn’t that be beneficial for everyone? Merchants could travel more safely, and remote villages would be a bit safer from monster threats.”

“That’s true.”

“But the person who made this forcibly gathered monsters to create chaos.”

The gem slowly descended back onto the table.

“It makes me angry to think that instead of using technology for good, they used it to cause the disruption they wanted.”

“Sigh, Lucian is such an idealist.”

Violet looked at Lucian as if finding him adorable.

Honestly, I sympathized with Lucian’s words.

The Emiris Order wasn’t using such gems in that way.

If they had been, it would have become known long ago, and church people wouldn’t be asking the Magic Tower to investigate something they didn’t understand.

It meant that despite having a tool that could be used for people’s safety, they weren’t operating it that way.

A magic circle had appeared in front of Lucian’s eyes.

It was the emotion magic that Beatrice had shown me before.

“Just looking at the material composition, it seems to use magic stones commonly produced in Firenze or the Kingdom. Did they use something available in the market?”

“That’s not it, Master.”

Beatrice suddenly interjected.

“You might not know, but Firenze and the Kingdom provide separate supplies to the Emiris Order.”

“Is that reliable information?”

“Of course it’s reliable. You know I work as an information broker too. For pocket money.”

“Damn those Emiris Order bastards.”

When Beatrice answered confidently, Lucian started cursing.

Despite being in an official setting with other church representatives present, his face was very distorted.

Even Violet didn’t try to stop him. Rather, her expression hardened as if she secretly agreed.

“Those damn cultists don’t do anything to help the continent.”

Lucian’s anger-filled voice quietly echoed.