Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: The Silence of the Blue Tower
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“I accept your proposal.”
Dale nodded after a moment of silence. The culmination of the ideology he had built as a mage. The ‘Black Prince’ of Sachsen revealed his world without hesitation.
Facing a field of scattered blue and black roses, a jet-black fortress rose high above a pale, dark winter night.
It wasn't that he had any concrete information to trust her. It was simply a matter of color theory. At the very least, Titania's world lacked the 'colors of the Empire and the Imperial family.' Even if she were cunningly using the Imperial family for her own gain, it didn't mean she was part of the Emperor's faction.
That was how significant color was in a mage's world. Just as Dale's own manifested world demonstrated.
Above all, revealing his world wasn't directly linked to revealing his identity. The same was true for Titania, who stood before him.
“With this, the information we have provided is now equal.”
Dale raised his head and looked at Titania. As the lord reigning over the fortress of solitude.
“Truly… a landscape befitting your title, my lord.”
Titania whispered softly toward the horizon of chilling cold and solitude.
“I think I finally understand why that child holds such special feelings for the ‘Black Prince’ of Sachsen.”
“That child?”
“The Crystal Queen's brilliant young daughter. Or perhaps I should call her the wise elf, ‘Sephia’?”
Dale quietly drew a sharp breath. It wasn't difficult to grasp the meaning. For a moment, a gust of cold and darkness swirled along the pale, dark winter night. But once the agitation subsided, the composure of a mage took its place.
“Do you know anything else about Lady Sephia?”
“And how much do you know about that child, Lord Dale?”
Titania asked in return. Dale held his breath for a moment. Snow Elf, exile, elder of the Blue Magic Tower.
“Come to think of it, we were talking about the war.”
Having said that, Titania changed the subject.
“Furthermore, now that you have shown such a token of trust in me, Lord Dale, we have no choice but to speak the truth as well.”
Titania continued.
“Please, withdraw from this war.”
“May I ask why?”
“Our intention in carrying out this war is not for House Yorke's selfish gain. Rather, we are prepared to suffer losses to fulfill our ‘great cause’.”
“…Surely not.”
It was exactly what he thought.
“Yes, the decision to wage a territorial war against House Lancaster was entirely the will of the organization I belong to. In other words…”
“The Blue Magic Tower?”
The Blue Magic Tower, which values non-violence and harmony. But also the Tower of Silence, which has maintained a strange silence even amidst the Empire's tyranny and the pressure from the Red Magic Tower.
“The ‘Sorceress Council’ of the Blue Magic Tower has already made its decision. Furthermore, we do not wish to harm you, Lord Dale, as an inheritor of the Blue's will.”
“Unfortunately, I do not inherit the will of the Blue.”
The Blue Magic Tower of non-violence and harmony. In that respect, Dale's existence, with his ‘talent for slaughter,’ was the very antithesis of the Blue Tower.
“Huhu, from my perspective, you, Lord Dale, seem to be ‘one of the most promising successors to the Blue Magic Tower’.”
Titania uttered a surprising statement.
“Do you still see Blue as a color from a fairy tale, one that pursues non-violence and harmony?”
It was a question Dale could understand, for he had delved deeper into the wisdom of Blue than anyone. As was the answer that would follow.
“Schemes and lies.”
“…”
“That is the true nature of our ‘Blue Magic Tower,’ and the source of our wisdom.”
Just like the true nature of House Yorke, which presents itself with white and blue roses. Masters of schemes and lies. But Dale was no different. In that regard, the ‘wisdom’ conceived by Dale and the Blue Magic Tower was surprisingly similar.
“Does this mean the Blue Magic Tower has broken its silence?”
“Of course not. We are always silent.”
Titania smiled an inscrutable smile. At the same time, blue rose petals began to scatter chaotically behind her.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you are no longer an ‘outsider’ to our Blue Magic Tower, Lord Dale.”
Titania said.
“The foolish fairy, Sephia, has brilliantly carried out her mission with her own wisdom. Even if she is unaware of her own role.”
The foolish fairy, Sephia. Her mission. For a moment, as Dale pieced together the fragments in his mind, his expression wavered.
Behind Dale, a chilling cold and darkness raged like a tempest. It churned as if ready to devour her world at any moment.
“What have you done to Lady Sephia?”
Dale asked back, making no effort to hide his blatant hostility.
“I haven't done anything in particular. I simply gave her a very small ‘suggestion’.”
“Tell me what it was, now.”
“Ah, it's really nothing, not even worth hiding.”
Along the horizon of chilling cold, countless death knights began to appear.
“Open your heart to the successor of Black, and answer that heart in kind.”
“...!”
The moment he heard those words, Dale had no shred of hesitation.
Dale's world, which should have existed to establish 100% trust, had suddenly transformed into a weapon to eliminate the enemy with all his might.
At the boundary where the two worlds met, the death knights surged forward in unison. Dale, too, flapped his shadow cloak, raining down his sword and bullets. A barrage of cold and darkness swept toward Titania.
Simultaneously, the black and blue rose petals that constituted her world began to scatter. Furthermore, the rose stems shot up like tentacles, ensnaring the death knights and plunging sharp thorns into them.
Dale did not hesitate either.
He charged into ‘Titania's world,’ his shadow cloak fluttering, but black and blue roses and thorny stems blocked his path. But there was no reason to hesitate. The blades of his shadow cloak whipped around, and the rose petals fell as fleetingly as autumn leaves.
The distance closed. Soon, the jet-black magic sword ‘Hunger’ was aimed at Titania's neck.
“Did your wisdom not predict that it would lead to this result?”
“Of course not. I am simply responding to your trust, my lord.”
Titania smiled without a change in her expression, as if she knew this would happen from the start.
“Are you saying Lady Sephia was nothing more than a puppet of the Blue from the very beginning?”
“As long as she cannot formally join the ‘Sorceress Council,’ there can be no exceptions, even for an elder of the Tower.”
The Sorceress Council. That must be the Blue Magic Tower of ‘schemes and lies’ Titania spoke of.
And those who did not belong to that organization would operate as the council's puppets, never doubting that the Blue Magic Tower was simply a tower symbolizing ‘non-violence and harmony.’
From her words, Dale could easily understand the structure of the Blue Magic Tower.
“However, please do not feel too regretful.”
Titania continued.
“When Lady Sephia was exiled from the ‘Crystal Lands’ and fell into the mortal world, it was the Blue Magic Tower's decision to take her in and extend a helping hand.”
“A decision made after assessing her value as a puppet, I presume.”
“Do you know what awaits elves who are exiled from elven society, my lord?”
“The Assassins of the Mountain…”
A secret organization in elven society, composed of desert dark elves, that purges ‘exiles’ from the mortal world.
“It was also the Blue Magic Tower's decision to deal with the Old Woman of the Mountain and guarantee Lady Sephia's safety. At the very least, she owes us her life.”
Sephia's debt. Dale could say nothing. In other words, the Blue Magic Tower held her life in its hands.
“What is your true intention in telling me this?”
“I simply wished to tell you that our Blue Magic Tower is not an enemy of you or the Black Magic Tower, my lord. We only wish to prevent Lord Mikhail from becoming the ‘heir to House Lancaster’.”
“Weren't the sirens of Yorke the ones who bewitched Lord Richard, the original heir, from the start?”
“Oh, is that what the Archduke Lancaster told you?”
Titania let out a derisive laugh, as if she found it truly amusing.
“Although we pursue wisdom, wisdom is by no means a product monopolized by our Blue Magic Tower alone.”
“…”
“In the first place, there was no betrothal between my daughter, Margaret, and Richard, the eldest son of House Lancaster.”
“What do you mean?”
“Richard Lancaster has already been brainwashed by the sorcery of the Red Magic Tower and is a cripple, unable to even think properly. He arbitrarily believed he was ‘betrothed to Margaret of Yorke’ and came to our domain alone.”
Titania continued.
“Therefore, if our House Yorke does not assert the legitimacy of the succession against House Lancaster, we will be framed for attempting to brainwash the eldest son of House Lancaster and walk the path to our family's ruin.”
“…”
“That is why the ‘Sorceress Council’ of the Blue Magic Tower accepted my will to protect House Yorke.”
“Are you saying Archduke Lancaster was aiming for this from the beginning?”
“No, unfortunately, the Archduke Lancaster is also merely a puppet on this stage.”
“Then who on earth…”
After he said that, Dale was finally struck by a shock, as if he'd been hit in the head with a hammer.
“Mikhail Lancaster.”
The apostle of fire and light.
A man skilled enough to become the heir of House Lancaster despite being the second son. And he did not obtain that position through nobility.
“…”
Unconsciously, the ground beneath Dale's feet began to crumble.
Titania of House Yorke was saying this was all ‘Mikhail's scheme to succeed the Archduke of Lancaster as the second son.’ Furthermore, she confessed the true nature of the Blue Magic Tower behind her and offered it as proof of her trust.
At the same time, Mikhail Lancaster had also extended a hand to Dale, asserting his own legitimacy.
Who should he trust, and who should he not? The clandestine struggle unfolding beneath the surface had finally revealed itself.
He inadvertently recalled the avatar Mikhail had shown at the Sachsen Viscounty and the ‘peace’ he so firmly believed in.
—Have you already forgotten how much blood the Hero from Another World made this world shed?
—Peace requires sacrifice. Does a peace that can be obtained without shedding blood even exist in this world?
‘Have I been dancing in the palm of Mikhail's hand from the very beginning?’
After a long silence, Dale raised his head toward Titania.
“You said you wanted to earn my trust?”
“That is correct.”
“From this moment, tell me everything about the ‘silence’ of the Blue Magic Tower. Your objectives, your organization, the missions you are carrying out across the continent while maintaining your silence—everything, without omission. If even the slightest detail is missing…”
Dale said. Who to trust would be a matter for after that.
“I will swear to spare none of my ‘wisdom’ for the sake of House Lancaster.”
“I knew you would say that.”
Fortunately, this was a world of mages, a place where they allowed each other to see their ‘hearts.’ It was not a place where one could get by with paltry lies. The black and blue roses symbolizing Titania's psyche would not permit it.
“As I said, you will not be able to win me over with half-hearted lies.”
Furthermore, Dale's ‘knowledge as a hero’ was by no means shallow. Even if he didn't know the entire history of this world, he had enough information to discern the truth in Titania's words.
The shames and truths of the Empire he knew as its hound.
“I, too, never thought I could deceive the ‘Black Prince’ with half-hearted lies.”
At last, the truth of the Empire that Dale had been waiting for emerged from Titania's lips.
Black, White, Red, Blue, Green—the five-colored magic towers.
Along with the Tower of Shadows built by the high-ranking demons of the north, separate from the five colored towers…
And Dale's unforgettable enemy, the dragon named the Empire, and the color of the Imperial family that existed in that dragon's heart.
The Tower of Gold.