Twilight Tower
“Rain, could you show Ceris around inside the tower?”
“What will you be doing, Master?”
“I have a backlog of paperwork to handle, don’t I? And Ceris’s matter to settle as well.”
“All right.”
After finishing his conversation with Rain, Haven waved to me and vanished in an instant. Only a faint afterimage of mana lingered where he had stood.
“Amazing, right? Master can move anywhere he likes inside this tower.”
Rain spoke proudly as she watched. I could only nod blankly at her words. What principle did that magic operate on? Even though this was the third time I had witnessed it with my own eyes, I still couldn’t grasp it.
“Shall we put our luggage down first?”
Following Rain’s lead, we arrived at a rather spacious room. Without even a chance to look around, she pulled me by the hand so I could only drop my things and leave again.
Next was Nightmare’s room. The creature would use a small chamber right next to mine.
Since hay couldn’t be obtained inside the Magic Tower, several thick, soft blankets had been laid out across Nightmare’s floor. The beast seemed to enjoy the plush feel, rolling around on the ground.
“Looks like Nightmare likes it too.”
“Seems happy.”
After settling Nightmare into the room, the real tower tour began. Rain dragged me around, introducing all sorts of places.
We passed through a vast warehouse where one could receive supplies needed before missions, then a workshop where magical items were crafted.
“See that? Those are called magic scrolls…”
I nodded half-heartedly at Rain’s words while carefully examining the tower’s internal structure. The architectural style wasn’t particularly special, but the flow of mana I felt from within the building was extraordinary.
I ended up tuning out Rain’s explanations without meaning to. It was an unavoidable current of events—everything around me struck me as inspiration.
My senses, transcending those of a human, reacted keenly to everything nearby. The breathing of the mages, the mana they exhaled. The currents felt inside the tower endlessly stimulated the tip of my small head.
“This place is…”
The moment I began to consciously notice it, something that had felt familiar approached me anew. Naturally, I thought of Haven’s eyes.
A way of looking at the world, was it?
I wasn’t certain, but I felt as though I could vaguely glimpse the world he saw. Leaving the excitedly explaining Rain behind, I placed my hand on the pale wall of the Magic Tower.
Right after, a small light burst before my eyes. There was no sound. It was a sight only I could see.
It felt as if my consciousness were being sucked in—a sensation similar to when I first awakened to mana.
When I came to, I was standing on unfamiliar ground. And at the same time, I understood. The long, stretching path represented countless years, and what stood at its end was the experience accumulated through those years.
Just whose world is this…
The moment I unconsciously marveled, a peculiar gaze pierced down from the very top of the tower. Instinctively, I knew. The one sending that gaze was the master of this world.
Shrouded in hazy light, the figure wasn’t clear, but from the faint outline I could tell it was a woman.
Yet that gaze did not last long. The moment the world’s master recognized me, my consciousness was pushed outward.
Hwaaah—!
“So this place is…”
“Huk…!”
A small light flickered before my eyes. Steadying my swaying body, I pulled my hand away from the wall.
“Ceris?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Are you okay? Feeling unwell somewhere?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Really? Then…”
“Ah, Rain.”
“Hm?”
“Is the Tower Master by any chance a woman?”
“Huh? How did you know? Have you seen her somewhere?”
I shook my head with an awkward smile at Rain’s startled reply. It seemed what I had seen was indeed the master of this tower.
I looked back and forth between my hand and the tower’s inner wall with a strange gaze.
The next morning, I was officially recognized as a mage. But one problem remained to be resolved. It was also connected to Leoniss, whom I had met before becoming a mage of the Magic Tower.
Haven explained. Leoniss had formally requested an investigation from the Magic Tower—because the magic I used resembled that of the Battle Mage school.
“Well, it shouldn’t be a big issue… Just show a little of your inner world and the matter will be settled.”
In the end, I left the tower with Rain and Haven. Leaving the Tower of Dawn, we headed for a tower tinged with the murky light of sunset.
The robe issued upon my recognition as an official mage was considerably large for my body. The oversized robe looked a bit cute on me, but it was inconvenient in more ways than one.
“What tower is this?”
I asked Rain while flapping the hems of the robe draped over me this way and that.
“The Twilight Tower.”
“The Twilight Tower?”
Rain nodded at my question, then belatedly added an explanation with a look of realization. She seemed to have remembered late that I had zero knowledge about the Magic Towers.
“Um… Ah, you remember Lord Leoniss from last time?”
“Yes.”
“This is where people like him gather.”
I swallowed dryly at Rain’s words and stepped into the tower.
The Twilight Tower. A place where mages of the Battle Mage school gathered.
The mages here gave off more the air of well-trained soldiers than scholars. Though their robes hid their figures, beneath them surely lay bodies covered in muscle.
I nodded as I watched a mage walk past us.
Haven headed straight for the top floor of the tower. It seemed teleportation magic couldn’t be used here, so we had to climb the stairs.
Just in case, I stroked the inner wall as I ascended. The Twilight Tower, too, held traces of peculiar magic like the Tower of Dawn. But this was nothing more than a defensive magic circle activated to protect the tower. It lacked the special quality I had felt in the Tower of Dawn.
At the top floor reached by the stairs, a wide corridor stretched out, with a large door at its end.
Haven stepped forward into the long corridor. The old mage’s gait was neither fast nor slow.
Thud— Thud—
Just as the soft footsteps slowly echoed, the firmly shut door opened, and a middle-aged man in a deep navy robe appeared.
His upright posture and broad shoulders offered a glimpse of the life he usually led. The middle-aged man, possessing massive muscles that even the thick robe couldn’t hide, nodded and spoke.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Haven frowned at the sight and replied.
“So confirmation is needed?”
“Since an Imperial-rank mage has raised doubts, notarization is required. Even if it’s unpleasant, it can’t be helped.”
Haven nodded at those words, then gestured to me with his eyes—meaning to come to his side.
As I approached, flapping the large robe hems, the middle-aged mage’s gaze fixed on me.
“Are you Ceris?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Leo, Deputy Tower Master of the Twilight Tower.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You have a rather well-trained body…”
“You can tell just by looking?”
“Of course…”
I looked up at Leo with a dubious gaze. He merely looked down at me with an unreadable blank expression.
“I just need to show my inner world?”
“That’s right. Even if it’s a bother, please.”
I nodded and focused inward. It was a matter of drawing out the world I had built. Since I had done it when first awakening to mana, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Kiiing—!
The moment I closed my eyes and began concentrating my mind, mana began to flow out around me. I left it to stream freely as it pleased.
The flowing mana began to move with a sparkling starlight glow. It looked just like the Milky Way I had seen in the desert.
Even with my eyes closed, everything around me was clearly visible. The mana flowing from my body was substituting for my eyes.
My slowly sinking consciousness began to draw out something deeper.
What newly rose above the sparkling stars was a ring wreathed in fire. As the rapidly spinning ring sucked in the surrounding mana and confined it within, a new ring floated above it.
When a ring of cold chill wrapped around the sphere of starlight, I opened my eyes and looked around.
“This is…”
Leo’s gaze went blank. The man who rarely showed changes in expression simply stood there dazed, unable to say a word.
I reached toward the sphere of starlight floating before me. Each of the stars gathered inside the rings of fire and flame was the number of worlds I recognized. The tiny stars that others could not perceive endlessly showed their own stories.
Suddenly, I wanted to show the stories of this world to others. I strongly pulled on the rings of fire and ice.
Hwaaah—!
The size of the tiny stars began to expand in an instant. Through a fleeting moment, hundreds of worlds rapidly flashed past.
And the moment that eternity-like instant ended, I clapped my hands.
Clap—!
A period was placed on the sparkling stars. What decorated the end of the story was a beautiful light.
I opened my mouth amid the faint mana scattering into white.
“How was it?”
“…”
“Was there a problem?”
At my question, Leo’s eyebrows twitched. He let out the breath he had been holding in a long sigh. He answered in a voice mixed with admiration.
“None… There is no problem at all…”
Late that evening, Leoniss, having returned to the Magic Tower, discovered a document that had arrived for him. Back in his room, he frowned as he checked the papers.
Thirty-day suspension
“What the hell is this…”
The document contained the details of a thirty-day suspension. After confirming the papers, Leoniss drank in silence.