Chapter 151
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Master
Hera Orbis.
The girl from a branch family of the Victimer Archmage Duke Family was trembling alongside her friends.
'W-what do I do...'
Hera wanted to burst into tears right then and there, but she couldn't even make a sound.
Not just Hera—all the other ringleaders were the same.
In the presence of a great Archmage Duke, they couldn't even whisper among themselves.
Hera recalled the orders her family had given her before the field trip.
*
"Hera. His Excellency the Archmage Duke has given you a most important mission."
"What?"
As soon as vacation began.
The moment Hera arrived home, her mother said something strange to her.
"Didn't you say there's a Magic Tower field trip during vacation?"
"Yes. So I have to head back to the academy soon."
"Right. You should keep training diligently at the academy even during break. But more importantly..."
Like the other cadets, Hera had only stopped by her family home briefly at the start of vacation.
She had planned to return to the academy right away.
So why was the Archmage Duke suddenly being brought up? Hera was utterly confused.
"Why would His Excellency the Archmage Duke...?"
"Hera. If you handle this one task well, our family can secure a key position among the Victimer branch houses."
Some Archmage Dukes had fierce power struggles even among their branch families.
This was because the prestigious families forming mage society were the Archmage Dukes and their branches below them.
Hera's Orbis family was also a branch of the Victimer family, constantly locked in intense rivalry with the other branches.
"You did that Grand Prostration thing before, right?"
"Th-that was..."
Early in the semester, she had lost to a commoner cadet named Ian Isaac and performed the Grand Prostration.
She had thought no one saw it at the time,
but it turned out a cadet from another branch family had peeked from the hallway.
That cadet reported it to their own family.
As a result, rumors spread through mage society that the lady of the Orbis family had lost to a commoner.
Her mother had scolded her harshly back then, calling it a disgrace to the family.
Hera was terrified, thinking she'd get in trouble again.
But her mother's words were unexpected.
"It's okay, Hera. You did well."
"What?"
"Because of that Grand Prostration, His Excellency has given our family a chance."
"What kind of chance?"
"This Magic Tower field trip. There, you..."
Hera's mother relayed the orders from the Archmage Duke family.
During the Magic Tower field trip, perform the "Twist Grand Prostration."
That would take her to a certain floor, where she was to identify the drawing on the pillar.
This wasn't an order just for Hera's family.
Similar commands had gone out to several other branch families.
On the second day of the Magic Tower field trip, there was always a schedule to experience the tower's floors.
The cadets from the other branch families would cause a commotion to draw the instructors' attention,
and in the meantime, Hera would find the pillar and figure out the drawing. That was the full plan.
"Got it? If you pull this off, our standing will rise. Understood?"
It wasn't common for an Archmage Duke to issue orders personally.
Hera's mother saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If they perfectly carried out the Archmage Duke's command, a fitting reward would surely follow.
"Y-yes, Mother."
Hera nodded dazedly at her mother's fanatical eyes.
She feared causing a scene in the Magic Tower, but
her mother assured her that His Excellency would take responsibility and clean it up.
"Then let's start practicing the 'Twist Grand Prostration' right now! Not a single mistake allowed!"
"Yes, Mother!"
And so, Hera spent every remaining moment at home practicing the Twist Grand Prostration day and night.
Her first Grand Prostration to Ian had been humiliating,
but now she thought that experience had turned into a blessing in disguise, earning her this chance from His Excellency.
Until she arrived on that floor after the Twist Grand Prostration in the Magic Tower
and realized there was no pillar.
*
'There wasn't any pillar...!'
Hera had failed her mission.
She had been told there would definitely be a pillar with a drawing, but that floor had nothing.
"Now, everyone, please board the carriage."
Hera boarded Victor's carriage with the other cadets.
True to an Archmage Duke's carriage, the interior was incredibly spacious.
Hera and her group sat in order.
"It would be best if each family handles this matter internally, no? I'll personally escort you all home."
"Th-thank you, Your Excellency!"
"We are deeply grateful!"
The Victimer Archmage Duke smiled as if he knew nothing.
The cadets sat rigidly in the carriage, not daring to breathe.
The carriage moved swiftly, stopping at each branch family to drop off the cadets one by one.
Every time it stopped, one cadet got off.
The departing cadets all looked at Hera with worried expressions.
Because Hera had told them earlier.
That she hadn't completed the mission properly.
"Now it's just the two of us."
Eventually, Hera was the only one left.
All her friends had gotten off and returned to their families.
The reason she was last was obvious.
"So, what drawing was it?"
The Victimer Archmage Duke asked with a grin.
Hera trembled as she opened her mouth.
"Th-there... there was no pillar."
"...Pardon?"
"I fell into a place full of sand... Th-there was no pillar or anything..."
"That can't be."
The Victimer Archmage Duke was still smiling.
But the atmosphere was growing increasingly hostile.
The Victimer Archmage Duke had been planting spies in the Magic Tower for some time.
Through them, he had steadily uncovered the rules for ascending to the tower's upper floors.
But of course, most spies were quickly removed.
The Magic Tower Lord sniffed them out fast.
Lately, security was so tight that he had resorted to using cadets.
The Magic Tower didn't fully belong to the current Tower Lord.
That allowed some probing through spies.
Had it been under the current Lord's complete control, it would have been impossible,
but even the Tower Lord was still climbing the tower.
The latest intel clearly stated that the Twist Grand Prostration led to the revealed top floor.
Had they solved the next floor's rule in just those few days?
It was suspicious. No one could crack the codes that quickly.
"Say that again."
"Th-there was no pillar."
She didn't seem to be lying.
But that didn't mean he wasn't angry.
There were no good ways left to plant more spies.
And to make matters worse, the Silent Dragon had recently awakened.
The other Archmage Dukes were getting more active too.
Something big was clearly brewing.
For a brief moment, the Victimer Archmage Duke's smile twisted in frustration at the failed plan.
But he quickly regained it.
At the same time, the carriage arrived at Hera's family home.
"I see. Then be on your way."
"Th-thank you!"
Fearing the Victimer Archmage Duke might change his mind, Hera hurried off the carriage.
But his mood wouldn't improve easily.
The Victimer Archmage Duke spoke to a member of Hera's family at the front of the carriage.
"It would be best if this family didn't exist."
"As you command, Your Excellency."
The Orbis family would be completely erased from the Victimer Archmage Duke lineage.
No—from the world itself.
"This is troubling..."
The Victimer Archmage Duke muttered with his signature smile.
The tower left by his master.
Even he was curious about its topmost floor.
The other Archmage Dukes were focused only on finding 'candidates.'
In any case, massive changes were surely coming to the world soon.
Once the incident was settled.
I asked Millio about the resolution.
"The troublemaking visitors have been expelled for now. They probably won't be allowed back in the Magic Tower ever again. We'll hand over the related matters to the academy, so they'll handle it."
"What about the rest of the field trip?"
"The remaining schedule will proceed as planned."
I'd heard the rough details about Hera and her group.
The second day of the field trip had ended like this, with tomorrow wrapping things up.
The other cadets were back in their guest rooms, resting.
They seemed to be buzzing about why Hera and the others had done what they did.
"By the way, the Tower Lord is looking for you."
And then I received a summons from the Tower Lord.
I headed to the floor Millio indicated.
The Tower Lord was waiting there.
Unable to hold back my curiosity, I asked about the situation right away.
"What happened? Who came looking?"
The Tower Lord didn't answer.
Instead, he silently stared at the hourglass on his desk.
Only after all the sand had run out did he speak.
"It was the Victimer Archmage Duke."
The one who knocked was the Victimer Archmage Duke.
An unexpected figure.
I knew he was one of the eight Archmage Dukes.
But with no connections around me, I hadn't looked into him much.
"That girl was apparently from a Victimer branch family. He took the culprits with him."
Hera was from a branch of the Victimer family, it seemed.
And the culprits had been acting on the Victimer Archmage Duke's orders.
That was the gist of what the Tower Lord said.
"The Victimer Archmage Duke went out of his way to make cadets cause a scene in the Magic Tower? For what?"
"That bastard's been planting spies in the tower nonstop. To find out how to reach the top."
"Pardon?"
"You'd better not spread what I'm about to say anywhere."
And then the Tower Lord began talking about the Magic Tower.
"As you might have guessed, I didn't build this tower. My master did."
"Your master?"
"And the Archmage Dukes were disciples of the same master as me."
The Tower Lord and the Archmage Dukes were senior brothers under the same teacher.
"My master built this tower and hid something on the highest floor. I was the only one who knew. But decades ago, Victor somehow figured it out. He kept sending spies. Ah, Victor is the Victimer Archmage Duke's name."
"What did he hide?"
"I don't know. But I believe it's something that can take me to greater heights."
"The other Archmage Dukes don't know?"
"Probably not. Even when Master was building the tower, they dismissed it as him doing something weird. Thinking back, they never truly respected him."
The Tower Lord's face twisted in disgust at the mention of the Archmage Dukes.
"But I truly respected Master and helped build the tower. And he told only me. That he'd hidden something at the top to make us even greater."
"Is that why you became Tower Lord—to find it?"
"Yes. And there's another reason."
The Tower Lord closed his eyes briefly.
As if collecting his emotions.
"The Archmage Dukes. I'll kill those vile bastards with my own hands."
"...Pardon?"
"The Archmage Dukes killed my master."
I couldn't help furrowing my brow.
His emotions were that intense as he said it.
"To be precise, there was one more besides the Archmage Dukes. I don't know where that one went... Anyway, after killing Master and claiming the top spot, they dubbed themselves 'Archmage Dukes' and declared themselves the strongest mages.
I naturally refused to join them and came here to the Magic Tower instead. To reach the top floor and make them pay."
It was hard to believe.
Starting with the fact that the Archmage Dukes even had a master.
And that the Tower Lord and they were fellow disciples.
Then what had the Tower Lord done when his master was attacked?
"What did your master do when the Archmage Dukes killed him?"
"A few other disciples, including me, opposed the Archmage Dukes. But more disciples wanted to kill Master than protect him. The few who stood with me died, and I promised to hole up in the tower and retreated. I can never forget that humiliation."
The Tower Lord and a few other disciples had resisted and fought the Archmage Dukes.
The others with him died,
and the Tower Lord had agreed to barricade himself in the Magic Tower instead of surrendering. That seemed to be the story.
It was possible only because the Tower Lord alone knew the 'master' had hidden something incredible on the top floor.
The Archmage Dukes must have thought the tower held no value and left it alone.
Then recently, the Victimer Archmage Duke learned the truth and started sending spies.
I had a rough grasp of the situation.
But two questions remained.
"If there was a mage great enough to teach the Archmage Dukes, why does no one know of him?"
"Because the Archmage Dukes erased him from history."
The answer to the first question was simple.
The Archmage Dukes had wanted to erase their master from the world and become history's greatest mages themselves.
"What was your master's circle rank?"
"We could never presume to guess Master's rank. We only knew it was far beyond a mere 9th circle."
"Yet he was weak enough to fall to his disciples?"
"They must have used some cowardly method. I don't know what. I refused to agree to killing Master."
Some method, then.
That raised another question.
One that even threatened me.
"Do you know anything about these 'candidates' the Archmage Dukes are looking for?"
"...Candidates? I know they're always searching for something, but not the details. So that's what they call it. But one thing's certain—they killed Master through dishonorable means. Otherwise, mere disciples could never have slain our great master. It's probably related."
"Dishonorable means... taboo magic?"
"Not taboo magic. Something far more profound..."
The Tower Lord knew no more about the Archmage Dukes' 'candidate' plan.
All I learned was that it wasn't some crude method like taboo magic.
"Whatever schemes those bastards are up to, I believe reaching the top floor will give me the means to judge them. So I climb the tower, nothing more."
"You train disciples here to guard the tower together?"
"Having disciples in the tower... well, it's a mix of purposes."
So that was it.
The Tower Lord was a tower fanatic obsessed only with ascending.
"Don't reveal you know any of this. You could become a target for those Archmage Duke bastards."
"Understood. But is it okay to tell me all this?"
"Call it a precaution, just in case."
"?"
The Tower Lord said no more.
That seemed to be all the info I could get from him.
"Ah. And since you helped with this incident, I'll give you a reward. I told Millio, so go pick it up."
"Oh. What kind?"
"You'll see when you get it. Go."
The Tower Lord was giving me a reward for helping catch Hera's group.
I didn't know what it was, but good news nonetheless.
"Now go."
And with that, my conversation with the Tower Lord ended.