episode_0182

CLXXIV.

The Pope Judas, who humiliated the Emperor, ran as fast as he could to the Imperial Tower. The moment he decided to run, he gained the ability to move several times faster than he could by horse or carriage.

In an instant, we arrived in front of the Imperial Magic Tower, a tower that was as splendid as its name suggests.

And Pope Judas, who was about to enter the tower, had to stop walking.

because,

“Why are you there?”

Because I saw someone grabbing someone by the collar and coming out from the entrance of the rooftop.

“Huh? Judas? Why are you here?”

“Then why are you here, leaving Evergreen behind? Juan?”

The headmaster of Evergreen Academy, later the headmaster, was grabbing the collar of an old man who appeared to be a magician affiliated with the Magic Tower.

◈

Evergreen’s mood has changed a bit since Gray was holed up in his house, absorbed in his training.

Strictly speaking, the entire Evergreen City remains the same, but the atmosphere within Evergreen Academy has changed.

Evergreen Academy has recently had three notable additions.

The Madwoman of the Library, Olivia d’Alfonso.

The training ground’s swordsman, Gavin.

The lab’s haunted spirit, Tiano de Slinger.

Yes, as you might have guessed, all three are candidates. They survived without being eliminated.

In Olivia’s case, she was forced to gain knowledge, while Gawin became a sword-crazy ghost thanks to the fun of training that came from his first-ever genius-level talent as a Gift, and his unique survival instinct.

But the ninth candidate, the wizard of light, Tiano de Slinger, hereinafter referred to as Tiano, was different from the two above.

While the previous two candidates were often called special because of their unusual and strange appearances that were often seen by the Academy students, Tiano became a special because he never left the lab.

To be exact, the A-2 lab he uses has become a famous landmark.

Evergreen Academy’s Lab A has a rather unusual structure. It is a standalone, square building lined up at regular intervals, as if containers were placed at regular intervals.

This lab is visible when you exit towards the back door of the Magic Faculty building. While the Knight Faculty can access a martial arts field larger than five or six elementary school playgrounds through the back door, the Magic Faculty has built these unique labs on a comparable wide flat area.

You might wonder why.

But even if we consider that Lab A was not open to the public, it had a special meaning to wizards.

The basic requirement for undergraduate students with Circle 4 or higher to be assigned to one of these labs is that they are Circle 4 wizards, comparable to intermediate and advanced Sword Experts.

However, unlike regular labs, this lab, which had its own independent space, was like a medal that students of the Faculty of Magic absolutely wanted to obtain.

Beyond the simple meaning of showing off by saying, “I’m doing a little bit,” magical research must be done very meticulously and carefully. Even the slightest external shock can mess up the results or cause an explosion.

In that sense, this lab, which has more independent space than the labs inside the building, was a place that the students of the Faculty of Magic wanted to have for many reasons.

And rooms 1 and 2 in this A lab had long had owners.

The ninth candidate, Tiano, was selected as a candidate and soon after met the conditions for obtaining Lab A, and he was assigned to Room 2 because of a fourth-year student who was using Room 1 at the time.

And after that, even though the 4th grade students graduated, they did not move to room 1 and continued to use room 2. And later, Lina, who became a candidate, was assigned room 1.

Anyway, Tiano never came out of Lab 2. It had been a while since that became a topic of conversation, and he hasn’t been seen outside since.

So, from some point on, in front of Lab A-2, which was Tiano’s lab, there was always at least one person standing guard, as if they were taking turns wondering when he would come out.

And that day, Bear de Limou, who was in the 2nd place in the 3rd year of the Faculty of Magic, was keeping the seat.

Fighting―.

Bam!

As a wizard, Bear jumped up from his seat at the feeling of the flow of Mana.

But the lab door wasn’t open.

In front of him stood an old man with a familiar back.

“School… Blind?”

It was the sudden appearance of the Dean after the head of Evergreen.

However, Dean Hu forcibly opened the lab door without responding to Bea’s call.

In fact, if you look at it from the perspective of Bea, who truly respects Dean Hu, it was like opening a door, but if you look at it from the perspective of Gray, who is extremely objective towards Dean Hu, it was like breaking down a door.

After breaking down the door and going inside, Bea thought the Dean came out holding a corpse by the collar.

And after a while, Bea had to correct her thoughts.

It wasn’t a corpse, but a person so lifeless that you might as well think of him as a corpse.

The ninth candidate was Tiano.

“Wake up. Wake up.”

Dean Hu shook Tiano awake as if he were waking up his sleeping son. However, he was shaking not the child’s body lying on the bed, but rather the child’s collar.

“Ugh, ugh… … .”

A dry groan came out of Tiano, as if he had not had any water for several days.

“Wake up.”

Sweet sweet sweet. Sweet sweet sweet.

The Dean shook Tiano by the collar as if he was holding a paper doll, making one doubt whether the arm really belonged to a wizard, and an old wizard at that.

“Ugh. Dean… sir?”

“Yeah. Who taught you that Mana meditation technique?”

“… in?”

“Don’t even think about trying to hide it, or making excuses, or saying, “I don’t know,” or anything like that. Who taught you that Mana meditation method!”

The Dean was showing a rare look of excitement. Without hiding it.

This is also directed at the candidates.

“Hwang… Si… Il.”

“What?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Dean? Candidate Tiano. I don’t think he’s in good shape.”

Only after Bear, who could no longer stand by and interfered, did Dean Hu realize that the condition of the candidate in his hands was not normal.

“This kid’s name is Tiano? He’s the 9th candidate?”

“Huh? Oh, yes!”

“Hmm… … . Then first.”

Afterwards, the Dean, with the help of Pope Judas, poured the potion he usually carried into the mouth of Tiano, who had passed out as if he had fallen asleep again.

and,

“Stability.”

I used stability magic to defend against and neutralize light and mental magic.

“Ugh, ugh… … .”

Not long after the potion was forced into his mouth, Tiano opened his eyes.

“You, that meditation method. Who taught you that!”

“Hwa, at the Imperial Tower.”

“The Imperial Tower? That stupid one in Clifton?”

“Yes, yes.”

“No way?”

In fact, Tiano was a somewhat special case of a candidate.

He had the support of a noble family, as is typical of candidates who make it to the top ten. No, he had no choice but to have it.

His birthplace was the Magic Empire of Clyton, and the Gift he had awakened was of the magical type. Even if he didn’t want it, he tried to somehow gain a foothold in the Imperial Magic Tower of the Clyton Empire.

Tiano, who was originally introverted and liked to study alone, did not change his personality even after becoming a candidate. He felt most comfortable when he was alone.

But as I said, his native Cliftonian Empire would not leave him alone.

He was invited to all kinds of parties and banquets. His introverted personality did not change even after he became a candidate, and he could not refuse a request.

But when these people hold back and then explode, it is scary. No, it is strange.

Tiano was blocked by a wall that was blocking his way from Circle 5 to Circle 6. If he were unmanned, he would be on the verge of moving from Expert to Master.

Then again, he strongly refused the noble’s request to host a party and treat him as loot, as it was a sensitive time to begin with.

However, the method of refusing was a bit strange. It was like separating the torso and neck of the butler who was threateningly urging her to attend the banquet.

After that, the number of nobles seeking Tiano decreased significantly. No, the nobles stopped seeking Tiano. Because there were more candidates who listened to their words and were good at acting as spoils of war.

Although the support coming to Tiano was reduced, he was rather happy about it.

It was after the evaluation of the candidates’ abilities that the nobles came looking for him again.

However, before and after the candidate competency evaluation, Tiano was a different person. He dismissed all the attendants from the noble families who came to visit him. And he was locked in the A-2 laboratory.

But recently, shortly after Gray blew away the staff with the unprecedented magic of summoning meteorite, a request for an interview came from the Imperial Tower.

Of course, Tiano refused.

However, in response to the rejection, the Imperial Magic Tower sent a new meditation, a mana meditation method, saying it was a discussion on pure magic research.

The Mana Meditation method that I read out of curiosity and was curious to find was incredibly groundbreaking and could accumulate Mana quickly.

Since that day, Tiano has been locked in the A-2 lab, absorbed in a new mana meditation method. Then, he feels as if he has attained enlightenment and becomes dazed, but when he wakes up, he sees Dean Hu, the head of the academy, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure those crappy magic tower guys gave you that mana meditation technique?”

“Yes? Oh, yes.”

Tiano briefly questioned the Dean’s expression after he had described the Imperial Tower, known as the best in the country where he was born and raised, as ‘shabby’, but when he saw the wrinkles forming on the Dean’s forehead, he answered right away.

“What’s weird?”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t say that to you… … . No. I should say that to you too. Do you know that the evil energy is building up in your body?”

“Huh?!”

“No, why does this kid keep saying yes, yes? Isn’t that all he can say? Are you trying to feed me? Huh? Really?”

“Oh, no!”

Once again, the old man, and the wizard at that, grabbed him by the collar and made him feel like he was being held in the air, shaking slightly. Tiano quickly replied and apologized.

Then I remembered what the Dean had said and had to ask again.

“Magi (魔氣)? Is that the magic that those demons use?”

“Yeah.”

The Dean nodded,

“That’s why I dragged you out of the lab, and why you came here.”

He gave an elaborate explanation like that.

Dean Hu had been feeling extremely irritable and on the verge of going crazy for the past two weeks.

Magic.

Because I felt an energy that absolutely should not be felt inside Evergreen Academy.

After Gray had just finished his training and was hunting down the lower-level demons, Dean Hu took care of the magic spread throughout the academy.

Bowing to the Dragon Lord.

The magic that was completed in that way was irritating to the nerves with a tiny bit of magic, like the dirt on a fingernail. It was like a foul smell that came from the moment you entered the room, but you couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

From the Dean’s perspective, it was a crazy and shocking situation. It was even worse because the amount of magic was too small.

So you found the master of the magic that had been tormenting you to the point of a nervous breakdown for days, and it was absurd that he was the candidate, but you spent all this time in the shabby and empty magic tower of the Clyton Empire?

This is impossible.

I don’t know if the saying, “A dragon emerges from a stream” is appropriate here, but if it’s a stream, then a dragon emerges.

The Dean later judged that the Imperial Pagoda was not a stream, but sewage flowing down a sewer. It was sewage, or in other words, sewage flowing in a backward area without a purification facility.

“First, go to the Evergreen Caligo Temple and ask for a purification ritual.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“Don’t use that meditation method.”

“Yes, yes yes!”

After putting down the dumbfounded Tiano, the Dean said,

“What are you just standing there for? Why don’t you run away quickly?”

He then cast his magic towards Tiano.

“Teleport―Other.”

And he summoned Vice-Principal Fletcher, who was training Gawin, who had become a new candidate. He also summoned Geomseon, one of the superhumans from the Cradle of the Unmanned, who was not in charge of training the candidates.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“Did you call?”

In response to the questions of the two superhumans who arrived at the same time, Dean Hu briefly explained the strange things he had experienced.

And the two superhumans also feel strange.

“Shouldn’t we report to Gray first?”

“But strangely, communication hasn’t been possible since a while ago.”

“They probably went to the Sumerian kingdom.”

When Vice-President Fletcher asked, and Dean Hu raised a question, Inspector Gumseon gave an answer that cleared up the situation.

“Really? What should I do… … .”

“What are you worried about? Just go for now.”

There are three superhumans.

It’s not just a matter of the Imperial Tower. It’s a power that can even turn an empire upside down.

“Just in case, what is Mu-gwang doing?”

After that, the dean asked the inspector,

“As usual.”

The swordsman’s answer was simple. It was the same as usual.

That means,

“I’m training… … .”

He is said to be very devoted to training. As befitting his nickname, Mu-Gwang.

“Then let’s call him and have him go with us.”

“Yeah.”

About an hour later, four superhumans, including Dean Hoo, gathered in Dean Hoo’s office.

And then, without delay, the Dean moved to Hubble, the capital of the Clytonic Empire and the location of the Imperial Tower.

When Dean Hu arrived at Hubble, the atmosphere there was a bit of chaos.

Suddenly, the citizens became confused, and from what appeared to be the palace, some fairly strong beings were running somewhere.

Thanks to that, Dean Hoo and his group of superhumans were able to secretly move to the Imperial Tower.

And then, the Dean, who had been secretly moving just a little while ago, used his full strength at the entrance to the Imperial Tower to overturn the tower, making all his previous efforts pale in comparison.

because,

“What the? Why is everyone here holding a magic item?”

This is because traces of magical energy were flowing out from the entrance to the Imperial Tower.

It’s not just special beings like Tiano, but all magicians belonging to the Magic Tower are the same.

Afterwards, the Dean manifested Prĕmo, the Circle 9 superhuman power. Wizards everywhere fell like dominoes, clutching their hearts.

Hearing screams coming from inside the tower, Dean Hu quickly reached the top floor of the tower, where the tower owner was.

“Huh?”

The tower’s room was empty.

That wasn’t strange. The owner might have gone out for work.

But the reason why Dean Hu was curious was,

“This tea. Is it still warm?”

The tea on the table hasn’t cooled down yet.

That means that the top owner was here just a few minutes ago.

“That idiot?”

Could the top owner do that?

Through Prĕmo of Circle 9?

The Dean shook his head as he recalled the tower master of the Imperial Tower whom he had met a long time ago.

“First of all… … . I need to contact the temple.”

After that, the Dean moved out of the tower, passing by the wizards who were still groaning and lying down here and there. He grabbed the unconscious tower master by the collar as evidence(?) and tried to call the Caligo Temple for help.

“Why are you there?”

If only I hadn’t met Pope Judas at the entrance to the Tower.

“Huh? Judas? Why are you here?”

The Dean couldn’t help but ask that question after seeing the sword of Caligo behind Pope Judah and the power of Canviel, Advachiel, and Frey.