Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Magic Tower (1)
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Weekend morning.
The sunlight filtering through the gap in the window curtains slowly roused me from sleep.
It was a day with no lectures or comprehensive exams—a day when I desperately wanted to sleep in...
"Then I'll pick you up in front of the dorm by 10 tomorrow!"
But breaking the promise I'd made with the Magic Tower Lord yesterday was too terrifying to consider.
So, I dragged my heavy body out of bed without even taking a nap.
[AM. 9:30]
Truth be told, waking up at this hour was still sleeping in compared to weekdays.
But like everyone else, I couldn't shake that weekend morning urge to snooze just a little longer.
Even so, I shook off the clinging drowsiness, headed to the dorm bathroom for a quick wash, and got ready to head out.
After changing into casual clothes for going out,
I stepped outside the dorm and made my way to the meeting spot.
Even though I arrived five minutes early, three people were already waiting there.
'...? Three people?'
Three figures standing casually in front of the dorm.
The Magic Tower Lord Bella, disguised in the exact same cadet uniform as yesterday.
Isabel, who looked a bit down since Libia had ultimately claimed victory yesterday, securing her spot in the top three until the midterm evaluation.
And even a cadet I'd never seen before.
For a moment, I wondered at the unfamiliar cadet standing boldly between them—
"Ah! Top student, you're here!"
Bella spotted me approaching the dorm first and waved, calling out to me.
"Good morning, Magic Tower Lord."
Pushing aside my questions about the stranger for now,
I walked up to the three of them and greeted them.
"But... who's that one...?"
"Pfft...!"
When I cautiously asked about the unfamiliar cadet,
She burst into laughter.
"...?"
"Ah... It's the chairman."
Before I could get flustered by the laugh,
Isabel provided the answer about the stranger's identity.
"The chairman...?"
"That's right, it's me."
The revelation that the stranger was Eris,
Followed by her own confirmation.
Just as my confusion deepened—
'Ah... right, the chairman.'
Come to think of it, Eris was the academy chairman,
A figure whose every action drew attention, so her disguise made perfect sense.
"Then why is the chairman here...?"
Having accepted her disguise,
I asked why she was here.
She replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Obviously, to go to the Magic Tower with you all. Wouldn't want to leave you alone with the Magic Tower Lord, who knows what she'd do."
"You're going to the Magic Tower too, Chairman?"
"Of course. I'm escorting you kids myself."
"That's too much! You have to trust people a little!"
Her words carried a subtle distrust of the Magic Tower Lord,
Prompting the Magic Tower Lord to protest as if offended.
"Hilarious. You trust who you trust. Anyway, let's get going to the Magic Tower."
Eris brushed it off lightly and suggested heading out.
Watching that,
Bella, who had been grumbling subtly, began deploying two spells.
A teleportation spell to reach the Magic Tower,
And a perception-blocking spell to hide the process.
The two spells activated in sequence,
And soon, the familiar light that blinded my vision shifted my viewpoint.
As the light faded, a majestic tower exuding an overwhelming aura came into view.
[Achievement - Cleared {Tower of the Archmages}]
The great sanctuary of mighty mages.
You have set foot in the space imbued with the dreams of mages.
The tower where all magical knowledge converges, the Tower of the Archmages.
Accumulate brilliant knowledge there!
Intelligence +5 Magic Power +5]
One of the major locations in Frontier Chronicles,
The holy site for all mages.
I took my first step into the Magic Tower.
Magic Tower Lord Bella.
After entering the Magic Tower, even as she chatted with her disciple,
She secretly kept watch on the top freshman, Aden, who was freely roaming the interior with the chairman.
'Not Ixion, then...'
First off, the top freshman Aden was not the Ixion she'd suspected.
The sage's mana permeating the entire Magic Tower, which clashed with the mana of evil gods, accepted him without any rejection.
That was the surest proof he wasn't Ixion.
'Then what exactly is his identity...?'
But that didn't resolve all her doubts.
The power he'd shown in yesterday's duel with Isabel
Was no power a mere freshman could possess...
She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was,
But she couldn't just overlook that force radiating an aura as if defying the heavens themselves.
'At least he's not a threat...'
If she judged him dangerous,
The chairman, who cherished the academy more than anyone, would have acted first.
Far from wary, she had followed them all the way to the Magic Tower and was chatting amiably while touring with him.
No matter how she looked at it, she didn't see him as a threat.
But even if the chairman deemed him safe,
She couldn't relax with this sudden irregular clinging to Isabel.
'Isabel has to carry on this place, the Magic Tower...'
Isabel, that child,
If she ultimately failed to find a way and died,
Was the one who had to take her place and bind the sage's mana to the tower.
[Cleared - Magic Tower Lord's Suspicion]
Shortly after entering the Magic Tower,
A translucent window popped up announcing I'd cleared an urgent event.
The moment I stepped in,
The sage's mana pervading the Magic Tower had accepted me.
That alone should have dispelled any suspicion that I was Ixion.
'Still feels like her gaze is piercing...'
Yet even after deeming me not Ixion, from the moment we entered, she kept up the pretense of happily chatting with Isabel
While shooting me prickly glances nonstop.
Eris, walking the tower with me, must have sensed those stares too, because she asked about them.
"You... didn't do anything to the Magic Tower Lord, did you...?"
"Not yet."
"Not yet...?"
"Planning to eventually."
Eventually, yes.
To block the Magic Tower's branch point, I did plan to "do something" to the Magic Tower Lord someday.
But I hadn't done a thing to her yet,
So I answered Eris like that and continued exploring the Magic Tower's interior in search of the artifact shop.
Of course, I knew why Bella kept glaring.
The Magic Tower's branch point—the Magic Tower Lord's death.
If I handled Baal properly before that point so Isabel didn't go missing,
Then per the Magic Tower Lord's dying words, foreseeing her own death, Isabel would become the next lord and bind the sage's mana to the tower.
That way, even after the lord's death,
As long as Isabel was intact, the tower's collapse could be prevented...
So Bella couldn't just sit idly by with some mysterious figure glued to her intended successor.
'That part really rubs me the wrong way...'
Magic Tower Lord Bella.
I had no particular feelings about her,
But I didn't like the idea of using Isabel as the next Magic Tower Lord.
Of course, the Magic Tower's branch point wasn't one I thought impossible to avert,
So I had no intention of letting Isabel inherit the position as is.
As I pondered that while wandering the tower's halls, Eris posed a question.
"If you're planning to do something... are you thinking of telling the Magic Tower Lord?"
"Hm..."
Eris didn't ask exactly what I planned to say,
But it was easy to grasp the implication.
Regressor.
If I planned to "do something" to Bella eventually,
She was asking if I intended to tell her I was a regressor too...
'Not a bad idea...'
Thinking it over, it wasn't bad at all.
The biggest issue with revealing I was a regressor was the other party not believing it,
But with Eris backing me up, that was solved,
And considering the core skill for resolving the Magic Tower branch point—Life and Death Resolve—even altered my appearance like a hidden achievement,
There was no excuse more convenient than admitting I was a regressor.
"Yeah, looks like I should tell her."
"Then let's do it today. I'll help."
So when I gave Eris the affirmative,
She suggested telling her today with her support.
'Can't really put it off anyway...'
Magic Tower Lord-related events or quests were rare even in the game,
So delaying now meant waiting until just before the Magic Tower branch point, the one sure chance to meet.
Better to get it over with now, so I agreed with the chairman.
"Yeah, today seems best. Thanks."
Hearing my confirmation,
Eris immediately headed toward Bella, who was chatting with Isabel, to fetch the Magic Tower Lord.
'The fourth one...'
Eris, Elina, Libia—and now the fourth.
Time to spread the misunderstanding.