The Hidden Magic Tower
The rumors spread thanks to the words of the Class A students, and the number of duel applications steadily decreased. At this rate, they would probably hit zero soon. With time to spare once again, I found myself in my personal training room alongside Sirius.
“Adel. Is my curse… really being lifted?” Sirius asked, clutching my hand tightly with an earnest expression. Though she tried not to show it, the years of enduring the curse had clearly been difficult, and she desperately wanted to be free of it.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t explain in detail. This was my first time fully absorbing a curse, and I wasn’t even sure if absorbing it would make it disappear completely.
Sirius nodded. “Then I’ll draw it up?”
Crackle.
The moment she finished speaking, she raised the energy of the Ice Snow Dragon with her free hand. I hadn’t noticed it yesterday, but the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy carried an untouchable, lofty dignity.
‘Still… I have to absorb it somehow.’
I had already made up my mind to absorb it. Whoosh. I also ignited my fire energy and began slowly absorbing it without letting her notice. As I continued drawing out the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy from her body, a question arose.
‘…But what exactly is this?’
Was the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy frost energy to me, or was it a curse? The curse had been placed on Sirius, not on me. What I was absorbing was the solid energy that chilled the entire body, not the curse itself.
‘…Since I’m the only one who’s done this, there’s no way to know.’
After searching in every direction, I found not a single precedent of someone absorbing it. Sigh…
Just as I was sighing inwardly—
“Huh? It’s gone.”
Sirius’s eyes widened in surprise. “Adel…”
Her eyes welled up with tears as if she were deeply moved, and she slowly approached me. Fifteen years of pent-up sorrow seemed to burst forth all at once. Since we were already holding hands, she was right in front of me.
“Thank you…”
Thud.
She collapsed into my arms as if falling. “It’s nothing.”
The intense cold had become bearable after about two days. It almost felt as if the energy had become my own.
“……”
Hearing a sniffling sound, I looked down to find Sirius wearing her usual mischievous smile.
‘…I got tricked again.’
It seemed she had been acting like she was crying from being moved. Though perhaps the urge to cry hadn’t been entirely fake.
“Then I’ll let go now.”
There was no longer any reason to pass fire energy to her, nor any need to keep our bodies in contact. As I tried to pull away, Sirius hugged me even tighter. When I looked at her questioningly, she averted her gaze and answered.
“……It’s cold.”
“……”
It was an unbeatable technique. If she said that, there was nothing I could do. Tight. I had no choice but to hug her again.
“Hee.”
A childlike smile of successful strategy appeared on her face, accompanied by an adorable sound. Sirius buried her face in my chest with a pure smile.
‘……This isn’t so bad.’
Time spent together like this felt both slow and fleeting.
Time passed quickly, and the weekend arrived. A few minor things had happened in the meantime. Friends who had heard the negative rumors about me corrected them and spread positive stories, which reduced the stares directed my way.
‘I want to do something for them.’
Even though I had no money.
Step.
Right now, I was walking through the academy grounds.
“……”
I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. Whoosh. I was busy suppressing and controlling the rampaging Ice Snow Dragon energy, and I could still feel the occasional glances being thrown my way.
“Haa……”
When I let out a sigh, the gazes on me disappeared.
‘This is frustrating.’
I wanted to do something for the people who had helped me without expecting anything in return. But I had no money. Even if money wasn’t strictly necessary, my pride wouldn’t allow it. It might have been a shred of self-respect.
Money couldn’t be supplemented by living expenses either. ‘Living expenses are just living expenses.’ No matter how much I received, living expenses remained living expenses. Since I didn’t know the exact market rates, I had no idea what would happen if I spent money on my personal matters.
‘Should I try going to the Magic Tower?’
The tower of mages. A place that didn’t suit an unarmed person like me at all. But the reason I wanted to go wasn’t to meet mages.
‘I’m going to make money.’
I had looked into various ways to earn money. Simple manual labor, restaurant part-time jobs, and so on. Among the things I could do, I found the perfect fit.
‘I can use my knowledge.’
The job was submitting ideas for magical tools to the Magic Tower or creating them. What I planned to do was submit ideas. I felt that even partially utilizing modern scientific theories could rake in a fortune.
‘Let’s go.’
I took a carriage to Krente, then used the gate to head to the southern part of the continent where the Magic Tower was located.
“……Where is it?”
Having arrived instantly via the gate in the south where the Magic Tower was supposed to be, I couldn’t help but feel bewildered.
‘There’s nothing here.’
This was definitely the coordinates and location where the Magic Tower was said to be, along with the surrounding terrain. But before my eyes, there wasn’t even a trace of any structure. Only a vast, open plain stretched out endlessly.
‘What the heck.’
They said it was here. I wasn’t lost either—the instructions had said that the moment I stepped out of the gate, I would see a massive tower piercing the sky. Right behind where I stood was the gate I had just exited. Since Sirius had told me about it, it should have been accurate.
‘……Then what’s the problem?’
That was the problem—I didn’t know. Life really was something.
‘Why is nothing ever easy……’
Just in case, I walked across the wide plain. Since I had already come this far, I had to at least try to get my money’s worth. Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about what kind of idea to submit. I had come here with nothing but the desire to make money. I figured that once I reached the Magic Tower, something would work out.
‘……But the Magic Tower isn’t here.’
My thoughts were gradually turning negative. I shook them off and looked around. As I scanned the same rocks, dirt, and sand, something caught my eye.
‘That’s……?’
A mana imprint. Or what was called a mark. It was drawn on a stone lying on the ground.
‘What is this?’
I tried infusing mana into it, but nothing happened.
‘There’s something to it.’
The location where the Magic Tower should have been and the mana mark. They seemed related somehow. For now, I picked up the stone from the ground and tucked it into my clothes.
‘Are there more?’
If one had been enough, a reaction would have occurred earlier. There were probably at least a few more.
‘Stone, stone, stone……’
Stones with mana marks drawn on them. After wandering without rest, I found four more stones.
‘……What am I supposed to do with these?’
They seemed related to the Magic Tower, but I didn’t know the method. Maybe they weren’t related at all.
“Sigh……”
I sighed and poured mana into all five stones. Lately, it felt like I was sighing more often. Probably because life wasn’t going the way I wanted.
Vwoooooom!
An enormous vibration erupted from the five stones infused with mana. The growing vibration made me feel as if it was coming from all around me rather than from the stones.
Click.
Suddenly, the vibration stopped. It was like the calm before a storm.
Flash!
A bright light burst from the stones, and a radiant mage appeared in my vision. A massive spell that began as a small formula in his left hand looked ready to explode at any moment. A tiny spell that began as a huge formula in his right hand was so small it was barely visible, yet its power was no less than that of the massive spell.
Whoosh.
He brought both hands together and began merging the spells.
Ziiiiiing!
The two incompatible spells rejected each other, creating dissonance. The mage didn’t panic at all and continued. I thought the spells would win, but in the end, the mage triumphed as the spells merged.
Flash!
The fused spell shot into the sky before falling toward me like a meteor. My body froze before I could even think.
“……”
I came to my senses. Just moments ago, I had been infusing mana into the stones, but the instant I let my guard down, I saw a strange vision and woke up. I didn’t feel normal either. Wondering what had happened while I was unconscious, I looked around.
“……Huh?”
It was a space I had never seen before. Countless bookshelves and books created an antique atmosphere, and the empty space held an inexplicable mystique. If I hadn’t been through so many experiences, I might have thought I had been kidnapped. But my body was free, and there was nothing threatening nearby. Having accumulated various experiences, I could make a calm judgment.
‘Is this the Magic Tower?’
What I had done was activate the mana marks at the location where the Magic Tower was supposed to be. Normally, assuming this was the Magic Tower would be correct.
“You’re awake.”
An old man’s voice reached my ears just as I woke up.
“……Who are you?”
I asked without lowering my guard.
“Hoho.”
The old man showed no reaction to my attitude, as if it were only natural.
“First, welcome to the Magic Tower, student.”
“……”
The place where I had regained consciousness was the Magic Tower—the very place I had been trying so hard to reach.