The Beginning of the Fall
The Magic Tower belonged to the kingdom, yet it was a truly neutral institution that neither nobles nor any member of the royal family dared touch. Outstanding mages conducted magical research there, or used that research to advance magical civilization. It was no exaggeration to say that most of the magic and grimoires humanity had developed were rooted in this very tower.
Harold, one of its mages, was so talented that even the tower’s esteemed elders had taken a keen interest in him at a young age. And even someone like him had fallen in love.
“Lady Sophia, how could this happen!”
It was Sophia, of course. When he learned of her situation through the newspaper, he flew into a rage and tore the paper to shreds. What crime could Sophia possibly have committed to deserve being dragged away like this?
Harold normally stayed cooped up inside the Magic Tower, only occasionally venturing into the capital to buy necessary supplies. But the first time he had gone to the capital, he had seen Sophia and fallen for her at first sight. After that, knowing she had a prince, he couldn’t confess. Instead, he had maintained his one-sided love by secretly sending her gifts.
And now they were calling that same Lady Sophia a true villainess.
Harold burned with fury at the baseless rumors spreading through the capital. The sight of him slamming his research tools with his fist was downright pathetic.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Are you still going on about the Holpert young lady? Give it up already. From what I hear, that Sophia girl’s situation isn’t looking too good.”
Harold’s colleague could only sigh at his behavior now. What good was talent if your taste in women was this terrible? The rumors already claimed that the woman named Sophia had framed Milene—the one previously known as the villainess. They said the whole condemnation incident had been fabricated. The rumors had even reached the slums somehow.
Yet here was Harold, completely smitten, insisting that what had happened to Sophia was unfair.
“Give it up? You don’t understand! This love of mine!”
“Love my ass. At least get your facts straight. There’s already plenty of circumstantial evidence.”
“It’s only circumstantial! The real villainess is that Milene! A hero? That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s why they were trying to interrogate her to get solid proof, but she ignored them and ran off. What are you even talking about?”
The colleague watching him frowned. Just what was so great about that flat-chested, straight-bodied girl that he kept simping for her like this? If he was going to be useless, at least stop breaking the research equipment. There was simply no helping him.
“Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“I’m a mage of the Magic Tower. You should act like one too. She’s not even that pretty, and her personality’s awful. You’ve got serious blinders on.”
“Take that back.”
“Could you say that in front of Prince Leon? Get a grip. Seriously, what do you even see in her? Sigh. Don’t tell me you volunteered to interrogate Sophia yourself just so you could go easy on her?”
At the royal family’s request, Harold had personally volunteered to handle Sophia’s interrogation.
“I will conduct a fair and proper interrogation. I’m certain Lady Sophia is innocent.”
His colleague shook his head. He didn’t even want to deal with this anymore. Had the man been brainwashed or something? Seeing Harold like this, he genuinely wondered if the guy had peculiar tastes. Why on earth would anyone like a woman with zero charm? Tsk.
Harold’s grumbling continued all the way down to the first floor of the tower.
“Fine. When that so-called provisional hero, that Milene woman, shows up, I’ll give her a piece of my mind.”
“Speak of the devil. There’s a prince coming this way. Oh, and he’s got a woman with him. If my memory of the Hero Festival is correct, that must be Milene.”
“What?”
Harold turned his head toward the tower’s first-floor entrance. Sure enough, it was Prince Leon—the one he had trained with at the tower. Leon was someone he saw often, and since the prince stood above him, Harold had always regarded him as a rival.
But the woman with the navy-blue hair beside him… Could that possibly be Milene?
Harold’s heart began to pound violently. Just who was that woman? Was she really Sophia’s sister? He knew he should be angry, but looking at that face, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any rage.
Well, of course he couldn’t. How could anyone be that beautiful?
“Weren’t you going to go say something?”
His friend’s nagging voice didn’t even register. This was the moment Harold broke free from the implausible setup created by author Parkuri.
Character Harold has temporarily escaped the constraints of the original novel's setting.
The Magic Tower was truly a colossal structure. A giant mage’s tower, nothing more, nothing less. And it was every bit as impressive as its name suggested. It housed countless mages, along with the elders and scholars of magical studies.
“So this is the Magic Tower. But are you sure it’s alright for someone like me to be here?”
“Hahaha. What are you saying? With your level of ability, it’s only natural.”
“Still… isn’t this basically overstepping my authority?”
“It’s not overstepping.”
If it wasn’t, then why are you looking away, you bastard? I see. He just wanted to drag me here to see what would happen. When I glared at him, he cleared his throat.
Ah, fuck. Why did I really come here? The conversation was going completely off track, but when I thought about it, even after crushing Sophia, the Magic Tower should still be fine. I had no idea what would happen if I got entangled with them. I needed to see Sophia’s punishment with my own eyes, but judging from the description of this tower, I might not be able to leave once I entered.
Look at that. The moment I stepped inside, someone was already staring at me. It was a middle-aged man wearing a robe.
“Prince Leon, you’re causing trouble again, I see.”
“Hahaha. Not this time, Great Scholar.”
The flat, mocking voice clearly held contempt for Leon. A Great Scholar, huh? That must mean he held quite a high position within the tower.
Right. From what I remembered of this world’s lore, the Tower Master held the highest position, followed by the Vice Tower Master, then the elders and scholars below them. A Great Scholar would be at the highest rank among the magical scholars—essentially right below the elders. So this man was one of the tower’s big shots.
I placed both hands over my stomach and bowed deeply.
“What do you mean, not this time? And who is this young lady?”
“Ah, this is Lady Roen.”
“Lady Roen… Roen… You mean the one who was recently adopted into House Roen.”
The rumors spread faster than I expected.
“Yes. She is the provisional hero.”
“Provisional hero or not, isn’t this a bit much?”
He was right. Even I had to agree. This was all Leon’s fault. And Sophia’s matter hadn’t even been resolved yet. Ah, fuck. I really had started swearing a lot lately.
Come to think of it, this wasn’t really something I needed to worry about anymore. Heintz was essentially in charge now. The fact that the king hadn’t summoned me separately and was even ignoring the gay rumors about his son made the situation clear. The royal family had decided to handle this matter themselves.
In that case, Leon dragging me to the Magic Tower must have been for that reason.
“I brought her because I believe she is a necessary talent. Lady Roen?”
“Hello. I am Milene Roen.”
I ended up having to greet him again. No matter how you looked at it, I was a great author and a noble lady. Wasn’t he being a bit too dismissive?
Of course, judging by his current reaction, I could roughly guess what kind of nonsense Leon had been up to until now. Even now, he was narrowing his eyes and looking down at me.
“Hmm, I see. It would be best to hear it from the person herself. Lady, what brings you to the Magic Tower?”
“Um, well… Prince Leon basically dragged me here against my will.”
Leon’s face beside me looked utterly betrayed, as if saying “How could you do this to me?” But I was the one who should be feeling wronged here.
“Ah, I see. Understood. Prince Leon, while you are indeed a necessary talent for this tower, I would appreciate it if you showed some restraint.”
It was fine that he had persuaded me to come, but just what kind of crazy things had this insane prince done outside the original story? He was recognized as a genuine talent, yet everything he did was treated like the actions of a complete idiot.
Thankfully, thanks to my words, the Great Scholar simply glared at Leon without saying more.
“Lady Roen is capable of using Dual-Element Magic.”
What a straight ball, damn it.
“Dual-Element Magic? As far as I know, during her time as a Holpert, ahem. Anyway, she isn’t even attending the academy right now, and Dual-Element Magic is something that can’t be properly learned even at the academy, isn’t it?”
“Hahaha. I have seen it with my own two eyes. If you’d like, the young lady can demonstrate.”
Leon winked at me. Why the hell was this guy always telling me what to do? This was seriously getting annoying. But backing down now would hurt my social standing and pride. There was no way I could retreat gracefully.
Alright then. Let me show you something.
I decided to show them more than what I had shown the prince. What was Dual-Element Magic? It was Triple-Element Magic. Combining water, fire, and the darkness attribute that Milene possessed, I created a spell so magnificent it made my heart swell with pride.
“T-This is… Triple? And darkness? Twilight?”
Oh, fuck. The next time I meet that plagiarist author Parkuri, I’m going to rip his hair out.
Triple-Element Magic — Twilight Fusion Spell
Around that same time, in the royal palace, Prince Schwald—who was being called the gay prince and, in a completely different sense, gaining enthusiastic female fans—was standing with veins bulging in his neck as he argued with the king.
“Father! How can you do this? Are you really going to abandon your son like this?”
“If this were a perfect era of peace where the country would run smoothly even if led by an incompetent fool, perhaps. But in times like these, someone like you is nothing but poison to the nation.”
“Even so! I am not gay! This is an act of insulting the royal family. Are you really just going to stand by and watch?”
Yes, it was indeed an insult to the royal family. No matter how incompetent the son was, as a member of the royal bloodline, this matter concerned the authority of the royal family. It would have been better to suppress the rumors. But the flames of the rumor had spread far more rapidly than expected. Moreover, if a prince was capable of creating this much scandal, it gave the king legitimate grounds to cast him aside.
The king was Schwald’s father, but before that, he was the king.
“Is it really not true?”
“Father!”
“They say Sophia tried to kill author K.”
“That’s nonsense.”
To be this blinded by love. It was truly pitiable. If he had been swayed by an absolute beauty, one might think, “Ah, this guy is just a man who faithfully follows his instincts.” Of course, that wouldn’t change the outcome.
“There are also rumors that Sophia is actually a cross-dressing man, and they seem to hold some truth.”
They were only rumors for now, but they needed to reach that level before Sophia could be captured again. In any case, the plan had been to frame Duke Holpert for deeply involving himself in this matter by protecting his daughter after sending Sophia away.
“It’s absolutely not true! Sophia is a charming woman. She can’t even be compared to Milene!”
That flat board of a body? No, surely not even he could believe that. He should at least say something believable.
“No, no matter how I think about it, that’s not possible. If only you hadn’t been so greedy from the beginning, things would have been so much better. This is all because you and Sophia overestimated House Holpert. Though thanks to that, we can now deal with Holpert, who dared challenge the authority of the royal family.”
In the original story, he lost his power quickly, but the king had originally been a highly capable man. This too was probably a butterfly effect caused by author Parkuri mixing in character settings from royal court novels. At least for now, the king had decided that if Holpert could not be brought along, the royal family would seize complete control.
Especially now, with the possibility of confronting the Demon King, it was time to make things certain.
“Father, then…”
“There aren’t many choices left for you now.”
Even if he abandoned Sophia at this point, Schwald had already gone too far. After going mad for a woman, abandoning his former fiancée who had been framed, and now with rumors that the prince was gay—there was no way to salvage the situation. Once this matter was over, Schwald would likely receive an honorary noble title and be driven out of the royal family.