69
Chapter 69
'Are we sure this is the right place?'
Instead of heading outside, they moved deeper into the warehouse.
I followed them, my mind full of doubts.
Tall shelves lined both sides alongside empty oak barrels.
It didn't look like anything special, just an old warehouse.
"What's even in here-"
Clank.
Right then.
The man casually pulled on a faucet attached to the side of an oak barrel.
It definitely looked like an old-fashioned device for draining water.
Clank, click.
With a heavy vibration that felt like machinery starting up, the sound of a chain turning echoed from somewhere below.
And then, the floor began to open.
Thump.
A dust-covered floorboard split down the middle, revealing a set of dark stairs.
With a sound like escaping air, a chill slowly rose up from below.
"Wow...."
"Amazing...."
Silon and Eileen let out low murmurs of awe.
I silently stared at the entrance as well.
The stairs led down into an impenetrable darkness.
Was this really the path to the Information Guild?
'Man, this is straight out of a movie.'
I swallowed hard without realizing it.
It felt like a door to a whole new world had just opened.
I was certain this was supposed to be a medieval-esque world, but a mechanism like this? Fascinating.
The man glanced at our surprised faces, let out a small chuckle, and disappeared down the stairs first.
"Is hiding things like this a trend these days?"
Silon muttered, sounding a bit dumbfounded.
"I don't know either, you punk."
Baldic replied with a heavy sigh.
As those two continued their bickering whispers, my gaze naturally drifted to one side.
There was a person standing at the top of the stairs, neither going up nor coming down, just watching us.
Leaning against the wall by the entrance, she wasn't holding a weapon or showing any signs of hostility.
But honestly, that made her even more unnerving.
'Why is she just standing there watching us?'
She didn't say a word to us, nor did she follow us down.
She merely observed in silence, as if weighing our worth.
"Who is that?"
I asked quietly, making Dardan flinch before he answered.
"T-that's the person in charge here... um, kind of like a guide. I don't really know her name either."
"You really don't know anything, do you."
Baldic grumbled.
With an expressionless face, she pointed toward the stairs.
Without a single word, just a quiet hand gesture.
That alone made her look incredibly experienced.
She must have ushered countless people into this basement and seen them out.
Usually, the quiet ones are far more dangerous than the loud ones.
I gave a slight nod and made my way down the stairs.
Eileen, Baldic, and Silon cautiously followed right behind me.
The air was thick with the smell of stale dust and moisture, mixed with the faint scent of human life lingering beyond.
'Can I... really trust them?'
The basement of a suspicious warehouse.
In any normal situation, I would have run away long ago, but we were the ones seeking them out.
A large metal door stood firm at the bottom of the stairs.
It looked thick and incredibly heavy.
There was a small window placed at eye level, through which the male guide was having a brief exchange with someone on the other side.
Clank- creak.
With the sound of a lock disengaging from the inside, the door slowly swung open.
A fiercely intimidating man stood just beyond it.
He quietly sized us up as we stepped inside.
The first thing we saw upon passing through the doors was a small, low counter.
Behind it, a long, narrow hallway stretched into the darkness.
Candles were mounted on the gray stone walls at regular intervals, illuminating a row of quietly shut doors.
There were no names or markings on any of the doors, but the signs of traffic going in and out were obvious.
'...This atmosphere is no joke.'
For some reason, it reminded me of the time we raided the hideout of the Black Hand.
A long, cramped hallway—a layout deliberately designed to throw off one's sense of direction.
A space like tightly sealed lips, where one could never know what entity lurked behind each door.
Silon kept his mouth firmly shut in silence, and Eileen nervously scanned our surroundings.
Baldic seemed indifferent, but his hand rested on the dagger at his waist.
"Is this really the right place?"
When I asked in a low voice, Dardan mumbled quietly.
"It should be... probably."
"...Probably?"
Just as I was about to let out a short sigh, a low, refined woman's voice rang out from the end of the hallway.
"Please be quiet."
We reflexively turned our heads.
A black silhouette was approaching from beyond the dark hallway.
Its footsteps were light yet rhythmic.
Stepping into the light, her appearance was closer to an assassin than a staff member.
Sleek daggers hung quietly at her waist, and she wore a plain wooden mask on her face.
That face, devoid of any readable expression or emotion, stared at us silently.
'...This is actually terrifying.'
It was the kind of space where it wouldn't be strange to lose your head over a single slip of the tongue.
I could feel in my bones that dealing with information was akin to holding people's lives in your hands.
Just then, a door opened on one side of the hallway.
A figure slowly walked out.
He was wearing a mask as well, but judging by his hunched posture and the way he nervously looked around, he wasn't someone affiliated with this place.
'...A customer?'
A masked customer.
A masked staff member.
Here, no one asks for names, and no one reveals their face.
'A mask for privacy... should I have worn one too?'
It seemed like a rational rule, yet it made the whole setup feel even more unsettling.
It was a world built so that no one could tell who was who, or when and what information was being bought and sold.
I unconsciously gripped my staff.
And then, I looked back at the masked woman who had spoken to us.
She was still standing blankly in the shadows of the hallway without a word.
While we stood there unable to hide our tension, a figure suddenly popped out, shattering the awkward silence.
"Ah, you've arrived. So nice to meet you!"
An unfamiliar voice. It was an overly cheerful and frivolous tone that didn't suit this dark, quiet space at all.
Our party stared at him in bewildered silence. Even he wasn't entirely oblivious to the mood, offering a sheepish, eye-crinkling smile.
He was wearing a mask too, but it was a bit different.
Unlike most who wore expressionless masks covering their entire faces, his was a half-mask covering only the top portion.
His mouth and chin were fully exposed, and his round lower jaw carried a strangely comical air.
"It's your first time, so you must feel quite awkward, right? No need to be alarmed. I am the manager in charge of guiding guests here."
His tone was light and friendly, but there was an awkwardness to it that strangely kept our tension from lifting.
Was it because he stood out too much, or... was it just weird for anyone to be friendly here?
"...So, what do we need to do first?"
I asked in a reluctant tone.
Silon hid behind Baldic with a bizarre expression, and Eileen continued to scan the area without letting her guard down.
"I'll explain. This is the Mondak branch of the Information Guild, known as the Archive of the Black Snake. We deal in buying and selling information, whether it's documents, rumors about people, or simple surveillance intel."
As he spoke, he pulled out a small badge from his waist.
It was an old metal badge engraved with a pattern of a coiled Black Snake.
It looked like a token proving his membership in the organization.
"Normally, you wouldn't have been able to enter like this, but an honored guest like yourself is different."
...What kind of treatment am I even getting here.
Rumors had probably spread about me being the 'magician who protected the castle wall' or something along those lines.
Because of that, this guild seemed to view our party as more than just simple customers.
"Did you come to buy information, or sell it?"
"Buy. There's something specific I want to know."
When I answered cautiously, he nodded as if pleased.
"Excellent. Then I will guide you to a consultation room. Of course, no names, no faces... and if you wish, no memories will be left behind either."
"...Memories too?"
"Yes, we are quite a technologically capable organization in our own right."
He let out a slight laugh at the end of his sentence like a joke, but my instincts told me it wasn't just a joke.
A heavy weight hidden beneath his lighthearted tone.
I let out a short breath.
Now that we had come this far, there was no reason to back down.
We followed his lead and walked deeper into the dark hallway.
Only after reaching the very end of the hallway were we finally assigned a single room.
On the outside, it was just an ordinary door. It had no special mechanisms or decorations.
"Please go in."
The masked staff member said while standing in front of the door.
"...Am I going in alone?"
"Yes. It is our guild's regulation. Solo entry for customers, individual service. I ask that the others wait in the lobby."
The party reluctantly nodded.
Silon peeked his head in as if disappointed before being grabbed and dragged away by Baldic's hand, while Eileen gave me a brief look before quietly nodding and turning around.
I took a moment to catch my breath in front of the door.
It was a completely different atmosphere from the Mercenary Guild I was used to.
This was literally a place where secrets were bought and sold.
'Let's be just a little careful.'
Upon opening the door, the inside was much simpler than I expected.
A single small desk, with a lone chair placed in front of it.
Another identical chair sat on the opposite side.
A heavy curtain was drawn about halfway across the wall, and I could feel the presence of a person behind it.
A softly flickering candle illuminated the edge of the curtain, giving off an atmosphere much like a confessional.
A completely sealed room with no windows and no decorations.
A structure where it seemed not a single sound would leak out.
The curtain shifted slightly through the gap, faintly revealing the figure inside.
A dark gray robe, and an expressionless mask completely covering their entire face.
They held a thin notepad and a pen in their hands, their posture straight and unwavering.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"Are you here to purchase or sell information."
A refined tone, a voice entirely devoid of emotion.
It felt like mechanical guidance, yet bizarrely, there was a sense of pressure in those words.
A stiff way of speaking that suggested mistakes or jokes would not be tolerated.
I carefully approached the seat, sat down, and spoke.
"...Purchase."
"Please speak."
I slowly exhaled and spoke.
"First, is there a safe region to do mercenary work?"
"...."
At my question, he fell deep into thought as if recalling the information.
After remaining silent for a while, he finally nodded and spoke.
"Since this is your first question, I will answer without requiring payment. There is an area called the Ladin Plains about a week's travel to the west. The monster density is low, and patrols by the garrison and the city's Allied Forces are frequent."
"Is there a demand for mercenaries over there as well?"
"Of course. Merchant escorts, searches for missing persons, and even the occasional wandering thieves that strike. Days without requests are rare. However...."
"However?"
"You won't even need a Gold Token. Most of the mercenaries there hold Bronze Tokens. The profits are correspondingly small. You could call it a somewhat bland land for those with high bounties."
"Bland sounds much better to me."
For the time being, I wanted to rest in a somewhat quiet place while leisurely taking on requests.
He handed me a map and pointed to one corner.
"Then pass through here and cross this bridge. The village of Beldor at the entrance to the Ladin Plains. That is your starting point."
With those words, he smoothly slid a small piece of a map past the curtain.
This would be perfect to hand over to that guy Silon.
"Do you require any other information?"
"...."
I had many questions.
Things like the current state of the world, stories about Drek, or information about myself. That is, the existence known as Riv.
But asking about such things felt too out of the blue and would likely seem suspicious.
So in the end, I brought up what I was most curious about first.
"I would like to know about the Magic Tower. Specifically, the methods or conditions for an outsider to enter."
I felt the gaze behind the mask fixate on me.
Without a word, he began moving his hand, and the small notepad made a scratching sound.
"That is advanced-level information. The selling price is twenty Gold Coins."
'...That is expensive.'
It was a much larger sum than I had anticipated.
It was a moment that truly made me realize why this place was called the Information Guild.
"Is there no cheaper summary, or reference-level information?"
"Summaries do not exist. However, short snippets of information at the level of relevant keywords are available. Thirty Silver Coins each."
'Thirty coins... I can manage that.'
I lightly touched my chin in deliberation.
By nature, the weight of information changes the moment a price is attached to it.
But in this current situation, there was something I needed to know, even if I had to bear that weight.
I nodded my head.
"Give me just one piece of snippet information. A snippet regarding the entry conditions for outsiders to the Magic Tower."
"Confirmed. Will you be paying?"
I quietly took out thirty Silver Coins from the pouch at my waist and placed them on the desk.
A hand reached out from beyond the curtain and took them.
A brief silence flowed.
And then he spoke.
"In principle, the entry of outsiders into the Magic Tower is restricted. However, exception clauses exist. One of them is if the Magic Tower designates the outsider first."
I narrowed my eyes.
"...The Magic Tower first?"
"Beyond that, the information exceeds the scope, so I cannot explain further. This concludes the snippet information."
It was a short sentence, but the meaning it carried was heavy.
The fact that the Magic Tower would 'designate' an outsider.
That could mean the Magic Tower wasn't just a simple building, but an entity with a will of its own.
"Then, what about incidents that have recently occurred at the Magic Tower-"
"I cannot disclose information regarding that."
I was just about to get to the main point.
But he cut me off, making his intentions clear.
It meant there had indeed been a recent incident, and I shouldn't ask any further.
"Then can I get snippet information about the Magic Tower as well?"
"For surface-level information, one Silver Coin is sufficient."
I quietly handed over the Silver Coin, and as soon as he received it, information flowed out of him like a vending machine.
"Generally, a Magic Tower refers to a tower where Magicians gather, but in reality, it is closer to a kind of Magician Guild. Usually, they are established with the authorization of the respective Kingdom, and in some cases, they are operated semi-officially like state institutions."
"Magic Towers primarily train Magic Apprentices, while skilled Magicians share knowledge or focus entirely on research and training. Inside, documents, legacies, and inheritances related to Magic are stored, making them an object of envy for those seeking to learn Magic."
"What is especially important is that most Magic Towers have exclusive Magic. Because they possess lineage Magic passed down only within the Magic Tower and unattainable outside, many knock on their doors."
They were basically a Magic cartel.
"When speaking of famous Magic Towers, we generally point to the ones called the Five Great Magic Towers. The Red Magic Tower, the Blue Magic Tower, the Green Magic Tower, the Yellow Magic Tower, and the Gray Magic Tower. These five are the representative Magic Towers with long histories, traditions, and powerful magical lineages."
"Of course, there are also small to medium-sized Magic Towers established at the provincial level. However, in terms of influence or technical depth, it is safe to say no place rivals these five."
Like the difference between a conglomerate and a small business, I supposed.
It was an easy explanation to understand in many ways.
"Then can I also get information on Magicians?"
"Regarding Magicians... exactly what kind of information do you need?"
"Just, what kind of people they are."
The other party gave a slight nod and asked for 10 Silver Coins.
Only after I handed over the Silver Coins did he speak.
"Usually, those who use Mana to cast Magic are called Magicians, but in reality, it is quite a subdivided profession."
He took a brief breath and continued his explanation.
"For example, a Sorcerer primarily handles offensive elemental Magic and specializes in converting Mana into explosive forms. They are usually adept with elements like fire or lightning."
"On the other hand, a Wizard uses Magic Circles or runes to cast precisely woven magical formulas. Barriers that are hard to break once caught in, or continuous-type Magic, are mostly used by Wizards."
"A Sage is... simply put, a magical scholar. They focus on research rather than fieldwork, though they sometimes participate in combat in special situations. However, they usually only operate as members of a Magic Tower."
He paused for a moment before carefully adding on.
"Besides these, rare classes do exist. For instance, special classes like an Enchanter, an Elementalist who receives help from Spirits, or a Psionic who manipulates the mind and body simultaneously. However, such individuals are rare, and most operate under individual factions."
I quietly nodded.
Meaning, not all Magicians were the same kind of people.
Then what on earth was I?
Since I didn't use runes or Magic Circles, I wasn't a Wizard....
Let alone research, I lacked the reading volume to be a Sage, and I definitely wasn't an Enchanter.
Far from imbuing tools with Magic, I was at the level where I could barely use my own Staff.
I guess I was closest to a Sorcerer.
"If that's the case, does it mean these Magicians belong to a Magic Tower?"
"That is correct. If one handles Magic professionally, they are mostly affiliated with a Magic Tower. Or, they belong to an independent Family."
If most of them belonged to a Magic Tower, was that fire Magician I encountered in the Dungeon a Magic Tower person too?
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
"Is there anything else you are curious about?"
I hesitated for a moment before quietly speaking.
"...Do you have information about me?"
As soon as the question ended, he gave a short laugh and snapped his fingers.
"...One Gold Coin."
"...I will pay."
When I took out a Gold Coin and handed it over, he pulled out a black ledger and quietly began turning the pages.
And soon, like reciting lines from an old play, he started speaking in a low, refined voice.
"Name, Riv. Origin unknown. No identity registration. Classified as a Magician. One arrest record in the Protain Barony. As for special notes, confirmed to have a connection to the Nightmare of Karhal. Aside from that... originated from the Blue Magic Tower and permanently expelled due to a subsequent incident. "
He stopped speaking for a moment.
I felt my insides slowly tighten.
"The incident in question is——"
His hand, which was turning a page of the ledger, stopped.
His eyes wavered slightly for the first time.
"...I do not have authorization to view the information past this point. It carries the phrase, 'Classified Security Level – Restricted for those below Executive'."
"...Excuse me?"
"Yes. In other words, there is currently a record of something officially processed between you and the Magic Tower. However, I cannot view its contents with my authorization."
The Magic Tower.
As I suspected, I was entangled with that place somehow.
He quietly closed the ledger and continued speaking.
"Normally, cases with this level of classification are rare. At the very least, it is not a level assigned to a simple Magic Apprentice or an ordinary citizen."
"Then... what exactly did I do?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I do not know that either. It is an unknown matter."
At his words, I bit my lip without realizing it.
It seemed my sense of anxiety hadn't been wrong after all.