Chapter 202
Chapter 202
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 202
Chapter Title: To Enter the Magic Tower (3)
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The Great Thief was out of his mind.
“What the hell is this...?”
How much time had passed since he’d given the order to attack?
“Gaaah!”
“Keuk!”
Could all his men really be sprawled out like that?
‘These were my elite subordinates I trained by treading shadows together...’
He couldn’t believe their faces, stripped of all dignity, tears streaming down.
Resistance? Fighting back? Clashing?
He could’ve understood if they’d at least done that.
But.
The man’s movements were downright ghostly.
Even to his eyes, which he prided himself on being quick, the speed was impossible to track.
“Damn it all.”
Denying the situation, the Great Thief staggered backward.
His opponent was staring at him, gripping a brutishly thick club.
‘That thing... it’s not even magic. He’s just beating people with a damn club?’
Up until now.
How many fools had strutted in with their swordsmanship, spearmanship, archery...
Only to meet their end?
The Great Thief had never imagined losing to anything but magic.
‘I gotta bail.’
This guy was beyond him.
A gambling den barely holding on in the heart of the capital?
His men wailing in agony?
No time to think about that crap.
“Damn it, you’ll regret this!”
Quickly assessing, the Great Thief spun on his heel to flee.
‘Lucky for me, it’s dark around here.’
No matter how fast or strong the guy was.
No one could keep up with him treading shadows.
He had absolute confidence in his getaway skills.
‘The nickname Great Thief didn’t come from nothing.’
Sss!
He extended his foot.
His form slipped stealthily into the shadows.
Sss, sss!
Just as he vaulted over a wall, dashed across a rooftop, and slipped into another alley.
He froze.
‘...Huh?’
A presence loomed behind him.
He didn’t need to look to know whose it was.
‘No way.’
Had he already been caught?
His getaway, the Great Thief’s?
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to pick up speed.
Thwack!
That’s when the crimson club slammed into his empty ribs.
“Guhk!”
His breath caught.
His vision went white, ears ringing with a high-pitched whine.
An unimaginable pain surged through him.
“Gaaaaah!”
His body curled like a shrimp in agony.
Naturally, he lost balance and tumbled across the ground.
His mind went blank.
“Keuk, you madman! Gaaaaah!”
He finally understood why his loyal men had sobbed like babies.
Flailing his arms wildly, the Great Thief screamed.
“W-Wait a sec!”
Thwack!
“Gaaaaah! Keuk! Wait! No, wait, please!”
Thwuuack!
The club struck both his thighs as he lay prone.
It felt like his muscles were tearing apart.
He couldn’t even run anymore.
“Gaaaaah! Stop, stop! I surrender! I surrender, so let’s talk this out! Talk!”
The Great Thief threw away all face.
Underworld boss?
Shadow kingpin’s pride?
Useless in the face of this pain.
“Talk?”
A dubious voice entered his ears.
“You turned down a nice, peaceful talk earlier, didn’t you?”
Step, step.
Feeling the man approach, dragging the club along the ground, the Great Thief shuddered violently.
“Don’t worry. I’ve taken a lot of these hits myself. You won’t die. It’ll just hurt like hell.”
“......”
A chill ran down the Great Thief’s spine.
Goosebumps erupted across his body.
‘I picked the wrong fight.’
This guy was no ordinary bastard.
Beyond the skill.
It was the handiwork of someone who’d beaten plenty of people before.
Otherwise, how could each blow hurt this much?
Drip, drip.
Heat flooded his body, sweat pouring like rain.
His clothes were soaked, legs trembling uncontrollably.
One more hit from that club...
And he might just want to give up on life.
‘No...’
Had he built up all that wealth just to die like this?
Running countless businesses.
Pillaging noble mansions, and he hadn’t even spent 10% of it.
‘No way. I’m gonna spend it all before I die.’
He wanted to live.
No, he had to live.
So, what should he do?
In that moment.
He suddenly remembered the man’s initial offer.
- Make me an identity.
- One that gets me into the Magic Tower.
“Magic Tower!”
As the man’s club swung again, the Great Thief blurted it out desperately.
“I’ll get you into the Magic Tower!”
Halt.
The club stopped at his words.
‘This is it!’
Seizing the chance, he widened his eyes.
“Big bro!”
Now calling the man big bro.
“It’s true! I swear on my life! Please believe me!”
The Great Thief’s desperate plea.
Met with a brutal silence that ignored his heart.
And soon.
The man’s mouth slowly opened.
“You can really get me into the Magic Tower?”
“O-Of course! Faking identities is my specialty! Don’t trust anyone else! Only I can do it!”
“Hmm. If you’re lying and I find out, you know what happens, right?”
Boom!
The man slammed the upright club into the ground.
Incredibly, it burrowed deep into the earth.
“......?”
Wait a minute.
The Great Thief’s body stiffened.
How the hell was that possible?
It wasn’t sharp like a sword or spear, but that thing embedded itself like that?
The blunt end?
How much strength did it take?
‘Monster.’
In his eyes, the man no longer looked human.
As the Great Thief gaped, the man tapped the club’s end with his palm.
Incredibly, each tap drove it deeper.
“Answer.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Startled, the Great Thief nodded frantically.
“O-Of course!”
At the same time, he burned it into his mind.
‘I have to fake this identity with my life on the line.’
* * *
Near the gambling den.
Guided to an underground lounge, I sat on the leather sofa with legs crossed.
A warm cup of coffee steamed on the table beside me.
Directly ahead, the man who called himself the Great Thief groveled, spilling information.
“...The Magic Tower only accepts some talented commoners and nobles, big bro!”
“And the process is insanely strict. Because at the top of the Magic Tower sits the Magic Tower Lord who rules our world, Gospelheim.”
“Magic Tower grades are a huge opportunity and stress for students. Your graduation score determines your family’s future position and all that.”
This world was definitely unique.
Flowing like the Middle Ages in some ways.
Yet the Magic Tower was the center of everything.
The Tower Lord wielded emperor-like power.
Which meant non-magic arts were looked down upon.
“First, we need to fake your identity... What’s your real background...?”
Slyly probing, he met my eyes and looked away on his own.
“Ahem! Right, if you’re a noble, no need to fake it anyway. Who cares? With your black hair and black eyes, we’ll make you a noble from the Orchen region!”
“Orchen?”
“Yeah, you look like folks from there. Ahem.”
“Doesn’t matter, just get me into the Magic Tower.”
“Got it! I’ll handle it quick! Just wait a bit!”
Bowing 90 degrees, the Great Thief bolted out the creaky door.
Still.
He seemed to be handling it with sincerity.
Maybe.
That elder’s words were right: violence solves everything?
“......”
The Old Man of Myriad Arts had returned to my summons after his time was up.
“Phew.”
As I closed my eyes to rest, the Great Thief burst back in.
“Big bro, uh... mind if I ask why you’re going to the Magic Tower?”
I glanced at him.
“No, not like that! Actually, the safest way in is posing as a student... but students are all early teens...”
“Ah.”
“And laborers or contractors are tightly managed by the Tower side... So, if it’s not rude, how about posing as a noble and applying as a professor?”
“Professor?”
Me, who didn’t know the first thing about magic, as a professor?
That was a shock.
“...Most students graduate and serve their families, so professors are super rare. It’s the easiest way in... Magic-wise, with your stealth skills... Shh! You can hide so well it passes for invisibility magic.”
“Laborers are tightly managed, but professors are easier?”
That was kinda funny.
“Yeah, it’s... ridiculous. Truth is, professor applications have been nonexistent lately. Professor sounds fancy, but it’s tougher than laborer. Low pay, hard work.”
“Well, if that’s the case.”
I smirked and nodded.
“Do that. Doesn’t matter to me.”
Anyway.
My goal was simple.
[Stage: Magic Flunkout]
[Enter the Magic Tower and find the magic flunkout.]
Clearing the first stage.
Whatever it took to achieve that, fine by me.
* * *
“Uahaha!”
Twelve hours later.
The resummoned old man laughed heartily in midair.
“You, a professor? A magic professor at that? Hilarious! Every dungeon’s packed with comedy gold.”
“Stop laughing, elder.”
What I’d asked the old man was one thing.
Teach me the Myriad Art closest to magic.
Even if it’s a disguise.
If I went in as professor knowing nothing, it’d be suspicious.
This was the infamous highest-difficulty medium dungeon.
An S-grade first clear, no less.
No room for complacency; prepare for the worst.
The Great Thief was weak, sure.
But no guarantee against that third Great Magic Tower Lord, Gospelheim.
“You said it yourself when we arrived. In this environment, training diverse energy use beats pure stamina work.”
“Tsk, right I did.”
The old man clicked his tongue and nodded.
“New professor hire, eh? There’s something that mimics bone-crushing effects with minimal learning.”
“Oh, really?”
My eyes lit up, and the old man grinned, extending his palm.
Whoosh!
Flames lightly ignited.
“This is sorcery.”
“......Sorcery.”
“It’s invoking supernatural beings or mystical powers—a form of ritual faith. Basically drawing on energy, so it’s akin to magic.”
“Ooh.”
My eyes went wide.
Yeah.
As the all-arts master, I’d stuck too much to swords and spears.
A true Myriad Arts man learns this stuff too!
“Tsk, perfect timing. Let’s use this chance to infiltrate that Magic Tower and learn proper. Absorb their magic on top of my sorcery.”
The old man looked pleased.
“And forge it into your own sorcery.”
* * *
At that moment.
Alpen, Magic Tower elder and head professor, picked up a document.
“Hoo, a new professor application...?”
From the distant Orchen region, a noble’s application.
Alpen’s eyes gleamed with delight as he scanned it.
“How long’s it been since the last one?”
The Magic Tower always lacked hands.
Especially professors.
Seen as servants to picky noble brats.
And had to teach them magic, demanding high skill.
Not to mention.
The Tower’s noble prestige meant no commoners as professors.
Making them all the rarer.
‘Of course, gotta check if they’ve got the skills.’
But unless they were hopeless, he’d hire them.
Worst case.
Assign them the flunkout classes.
That’d give other professors a breather.
Nodding, Alpen raised his seal.
And.
Slam!
Stamped it firmly on the document.
[Orchen Regional Baron Hoon.]
[Magic Tower Professor Application.]
[Approved.]
[Test Requested.]