Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Chapter 4: Eyelids (25)
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***
“The moment you take even a single step, this mage dies!”
Shing-!
At Professor’s threat, the knight captain drew his sword as if ready to order a charge right then and there.
“Bullshit! I’ll storm in right now, cut off your head, and rescue the other mages—”
“And!”
Flutter!
While holding the mage, Professor used his left hand to pull [Isaac Mandalius’s Research Journal] from his inventory and scatter it into the air.
The research journal fluttered down like falling leaves, landing among the knights and soldiers surrounding the Mage Tower.
“...For every mage who falls, the records from their personal labs will fall with them. There were some very interesting ones. Like records of repeated horrific experiments on living people, just like the one that dropped now, or records of all sorts of fun incidents in Tobrune. So, what records does this mage have? Come on, you’ve got one minute starting now!”
Shake, shake—
“Uwaa, uwaaaaah!”
As Professor shook the hand gripping the rope, the frail mage’s screams rhythmically echoed around the Mage Tower. The knight captain and his squire, who had picked up the fallen research records with pale faces and were reading them gravely, exchanged even graver looks and whispers before suddenly turning their horses around.
“W-We have no choice! Tobrune Knights! Withdraw from the Mage Tower grounds!”
Murmurs spread through the ranks. It was inevitable. For honorable members of the Tobrune Knights to retreat at a monster’s words?
“N-No way! Captain, why not order the attack? Look into Mage Bodle’s eyes! He’s already resolved to—”
“14, 15, 16—”
“Uwaaaah! Stop shaking! Uwaaak! Uwaaaaah!”
“...He’s resolved like a noble. If we sacrifice just this one to save all the other mages and behead that monster!”
“Eeeeek! Shut up! If you order retreat, we retreat! That’s an order! Otman Bodle is of the marquis’s bloodline! He can’t die here! I’m only making this decision to protect the lives of these valuable mages, who are Lordric’s precious assets!”
“37, 38...”
“Hurry! I’m not saying completely break the encirclement! Reform a wide encirclement outside the Mage Tower grounds!”
“...Understood.”
Having barely convinced the knights, the knight captain hurriedly shouted to Professor.
“Fine! We accept your terms, so let the mage go!”
Clack, clack, clack.
Clank. Clank!
The Mage Tower, buzzing with countless soldiers, began to quiet down as the slow sound of retreating hooves started up.
Once the noisy surroundings of the Mage Tower fell silent again, filled only with the sound of flowing water, Professor let the old mage—who had screamed like a church bell while dangling in midair—back inside, mission accomplished.
“Hey, good work.”
“Uheongheongheong! Mage Bodler!”
“Uwaa, uwaaaaah...”
“You can’t go back in like that, Mage!”
As Professor tossed the underwear-clad mage inside with one hand, young mages caught him and burst into waterfall-like tears.
‘This guy too, and the mages on the lower floors—they didn’t smell like mutation blood. Looks like only Isaac and his dozen or so disciples were involved in the mutation research. While the tower lord was away, he turned the entire 6th floor—closest to the mana source—into his lab.’
Good thing. Mages were valuable assets for the coming war; it would’ve been a shame to kill them all here.
‘There were issues here and there, but I managed to pull it off according to plan.’
He’d secured all the goods, cleared the Mage Tower perimeter, and Tobrune’s forces were now crammed into the narrow market alleys outside the grounds, struggling to reform their encirclement without even room to step.
“Alright, everyone, grab your stuff! Time to leave this place!”
At Professor’s signal, the guild thieves, including Rakshasha, each grabbed long poles and paired up two or three to a box full of loot, climbing on top.
“Ready? Break it!”
Confirming all the thief guild members were atop the boxes, Professor approached the tower’s mana source and reached for the very bottom, where its core component sat.
‘The mages should be fine. Even without mana, they’re water mages. People who gain strength from water, not drown in it.’
Crack, craaaack!
Gripping the mana source, strength poured into his hand, cracking the top-grade mana stone at its deepest core. The source of power that had created eight rivers enveloping all of Tobrune. What would happen to the artificial rivers—endlessly cycling between underworld and surface via magic—when this broke?
“Now, shall we drain every drop of the rotten water from this Mage Tower that’s spent 70 years ruling a whole city and committing all sorts of evil deeds?”
Craaaack, crash!
As Professor applied more force, the tower’s mana source finally shattered completely.
Rumble rumble rumble—
Gurgle, gurglegurgle!
A moment of silence. Then, a massive roar shaking the earth. With the powerful magic binding eight rivers to the city gone, the waters enveloping the Mage Tower began thrashing wildly.
“It’s rising! Everyone, hold on tight!”
Rumble rumble rumble!
An ominous sound grew closer and closer to the tower, and
Boom! Boooom! Boom! Boom!
Spiiiish!
The eight rivers climbing the tower shot up like waterfalls into the sky, flooding and sweeping through the city at tremendous speed alongside the overflowing currents.
“W-What’s that?!”
“Flood! The rivers! The rivers are overflowing!”
“Evacuate! All forces! Get to high ground on the buildings!”
Endless groundwater poured from the eight holes in the tower’s lower sections, and a massive flood starting from the city center began sweeping through every district.
Swept along in that torrent was the waterproof box packed with loot, riding the city’s waves at incredible speed,
Rumble rumble rumble!
While the thieves atop it used their prepared poles to push off the ground and walls, steering toward the current.
“Uahaha! City rafting! Bye-bye, you idiots! I’m taking the Mage Tower’s treasures!”
And so, the boxes carrying the Mage Tower’s valuables and the thieves floated leisurely past Tobrune’s flailing soldiers, drifting out to the city outskirts.
***
Splash—
Thud!
The boxes that had crossed the city on the flooded rivers crashed into a slum wall at the edge and stopped.
“Hey! Good job!”
“Get the goods off first!”
“We’re short on crowbars! Someone go grab more! Hurry!”
“Don’t let it touch the water! This box has spellbooks!”
As planned, the remaining thief guild members waiting in the slums knew exactly how to handle stolen goods like professionals.
The loot from the massive boxes was quickly divided into small boxes or sacks and scattered in the thieves’ hands. For now, these items would vanish from the city. Until a special buyer who wouldn’t ask about their origins showed up.
“But... is it okay to just send them off like that? They’re guild members, sure, but they’re all thieves. They probably wouldn’t mind just running off with it.”
“Oh my, how rude. Just because they’re night visitors doesn’t mean they have no rules. If they want to steal, go ahead. The shadow of the moon doesn’t just shine on Tobrune, after all.”
Fair enough. A thieves’ guild wouldn’t just sit idly if their loot got stolen.
“Here’s your agreed-upon share.”
Rakshasha handed Professor the last remaining item after the thieves took theirs: a small pouch engraved with mysterious runes.
“One mid-sized sub-space pouch, 50% of the tower’s cash, one book each from every Leadflow School spellbook category, only two top-grade mana stones so I took one, and I picked out the defense artifacts you wanted.”
Ah, life is bitter, but rewards are sweet.
About a month in-game time, sustained by the calorie bars soaked in water from the login pod’s meal function, no logouts—a reward now right before his eyes.
Jingle jingle jiing—!
If capitalism were a religion, that sound of coins dropping would be praise to the faith. Taking the pouch from Rakshasha’s hand—filled with everything mentioned—the sealing sound rang out absurdly, like rolling in a pile of silver coins.
[Possessions: 1,824,950 sil]
Money. Enough to pay off debts and still have over 700,000 left.
Inventory. The moment he fastened the pouch to his belt, pop! His inventory expanded from 4 to 24 slots.
And spellbooks. Neatly stacked in the expanded inventory: Leadflow School spellbooks.
“I’m rich, I’m rich...!”
He’d agreed beforehand with Rakshasha’s guild: he’d take necessary items and cash, they’d handle the bulkier loot too hard for one person. It looked like he’d made a fortune, but after liquidating all the loot, his share wouldn’t even be 10% of Rakshasha’s. That’s how much valuable stuff the Mage Tower had. All stamped with Leadflow School marks.
- Highway Nacho Man: Whew, you’re stuffed full.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: It’s over, so go to the hospital. You made money, so pick a pricey big one.
- Speed Wagon: Status seems stable again now. From what I know, once erosion starts, it’s not easy to return to normal.
Hmm... The chat was still cold. Fair enough. No matter how much money, death ends it all. To those unaware of his situation, he’d look like someone crazed for cash, ignoring his life. But without money, Dome’s marketplace would report his trades as scams and get his account banned. If not for that, he’d have logged out for meals and fresh air.
Realizing he’d gathered enough to pay off debts, the pressure he’d felt unconsciously lifted, and accumulated fatigue hit all at once.
“Professor? What now?”
“Dunno. Haven’t thought that far. My face is known as the red mute anyway, and here in the city, I’m still the fugitive Professor.”
At Professor’s words, Rakshasha gave a strange look.
“Hmm~ So, you’re staying in the city?”
“Yeah. Got people to wait for here. And some unfinished business... Whoa!”
“Oh my.”
Rakshasha caught Professor as he staggered and collapsed from drowsiness and fatigue.
“Hmm... What’s this? The man who beat a 6th-circle mage barehanded and smashed the tower—now his legs give out? Should I interpret this as something else?”
“Eugh... Interpret it as collapsing because he did it barehanded? Take care of me. I earned this luxury.”
“Really. Can’t win against you in words?”
Rakshasha chuckled softly, brushing back Professor’s hair as he lay in her arms.
Nestled in her soft embrace, overwhelming sleepiness washed over him.
“Eugh... Take me... to an inn... please...”“Shh. I get it. Leave the rest to me and rest.”
“Thanks...”
Dozy Professor summoned the system window with his last scraps of consciousness, hit [Marketplace Transfer], then reached for the logout button.
Ding-!
[Warning: Irregular logout detected. Logging out outside a safe zone will leave your character to act autonomously based on game circumstances. Proceed with logout?]
‘Rakshasha’ll take me to an inn, a safe zone... It’ll save there... Whatever... Time to rest...’
Despite the uneasy warning, sleep-drunk Professor couldn’t think anymore.
Cradled in Rakshasha’s arms, he fell asleep just like that.
***
Meanwhile, at the hour Professor slept, one man knelt before the Mage Tower garden, now perfectly swept clean.
“Ah, beautiful...!”
The man was Roman Gacia Manson. Hearing of a fugitive named “Professor” on the city outskirts, he’d rushed to find him and luckily avoided the Mage Tower disaster as a mage.
While searching slums taverns for Professor, he’d traced unusual mana fluctuations back against the flooding currents to the tower—and witnessed it.
“G-Gigantic, and beautiful...”
Staring at the massive purple anti-mana stone pillar grotesquely embedded in the tower’s side, Roman gained tremendous insight.
‘Why didn’t I think of that? A force repelling mana. If structurally tuned right, couldn’t it artificially control mana flow and create paths for it? That’s it. The missing piece in my mana circuit theory was anti-mana stone!’
The young mage was seized by a strange feeling. Was all this coincidence? Becoming a quirky mage who hated magic but loved mana. Learning goblin magitech by chance. And now, finding the exact solution to his blocked path.
Lost in blank thought, Roman tore off the Leadflow School emblem from his robe sleeve.
“My path wasn’t magic. Fate led me to magitech from the start!”
His eyes sparkled like stars as he gazed at the half-collapsed tower and its embedded pillar.
From this moment, Roman vowed to dedicate his life to magitech and anti-mana stone research.
***