The Regenerating Necromancer's Offer
The person who took the most appropriate action to Albert Franklin's bombshell statement wasn't me, surprisingly, nor was it Luna.
"Grrrrr..."
As soon as Albert finished speaking, a pitch-black beast emerged from his shadow in place of the stunned Luna, whose identity had been exposed. The creature, its yellow pupils darting wildly, raised a massive, heavy forepaw and slammed Albert straight into the floor.
Kwachik! A dull, rupturing sound—no human body should ever make—echoed from beneath Cheshire's paw. Albert twitched as if resisting for a moment, then went still.
"D-did you kill him?"
[Nah. He's still alive.]
Cheshire lifted its enormous forepaw pinning Albert, allowing us to finally get a proper look at his condition. The expensive, classy black suit had proven utterly useless as armor; it was shredded to rags by his protruding ribs under the pressure. The cool, emotionless face that had given off dark underworld boss vibes was now a mangled mess from Cheshire's kitty punch, its features twisted grotesquely like poorly kneaded clay.
"He's dead!!"
Luna shrieked at me after surveying the scene.
"W-what do we do? Bury him? No, wait—maybe just burn him? Or since we're near the slums, dump him in some back alley...?"
Luna paced the room frantically, casually spitting out terrifying solutions like they were nothing.
"Burn? Dump? Bury?"
While Luna gnawed at her nails, lost in agonized deliberation...
"Haha, you're even more radical than I expected."
Albert, crushed and sprawled on the floor, suddenly sprang up and spoke.
"Not even time to explain..."
"Kyaaah!!!"
Luna freaked out at the sight of him casually stuffing his protruding guts back in and cracking his mangled face into place as he slowly rose. She grabbed her grip and unleashed a barrage.
Kwang!
"Just a moment..."
Kwang!
"Hear me..."
Kwang!
"Out..."
Kwaduduk!
Poor Albert, who had barely restored his human form, ended up in an even worse state from Luna's panicked indiscriminate assault, twitching on the floor.
"Haa, haa. That should do it, right?"
Luna muttered softly, brushing back her sweat-matted hair.
But Luna, dear, saying lines like that in this situation usually backfires spectacularly.
"Have you calmed down a bit now?"
Albert, with his grotesquely twisted features, gave Luna a benevolent smile and addressed her.
"Kiyaaah..."
[Luna, stop.]
I halted Luna as she geared up to attack again and waited for Albert to speak. The fact that he hadn't retaliated to attacks this severe suggested he held quite a bit of goodwill toward her. And this guy didn't seem like an ordinary mage, either.
"Haha, my deepest apologies for the shock. It must be quite disconcerting for first-time viewers."
Albert wrenched his dangling arm back into place with a clunk, pressed his hand to his torn facial skin, and repaired the wounds all over his body. In under five minutes, he stood there in his original pristine form, addressing Luna once more.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Albert Franklin, a 4th Circle necromancer affiliated with the Black Tower Babel."
No wonder the place reeked of rotting corpses the moment he walked in. Not that I have a nose, of course.
"And regarding my prior mention of knowing your identity, Lady Luna—it may have caused you some unease. I apologize for that."
We should be the ones apologizing... I glanced at the blood-soaked floor that looked like a murder scene and noted Cheshire, who had shrewdly picked up on the shifting atmosphere. The cat shrank into a small feline form and darted under the bed. Luna seemed to feel the same, murmuring that it was fine in a small voice as she eyed the trashed floor and Albert's rags of a suit.
Albert smiled warmly at her and continued.
"The Black Tower Babel is not the dangerous criminal syndicate you might imagine, Lady Luna. It's more akin to a guild or mercenary office."
"A guild?"
"Exactly as it sounds. It takes in unlicensed mages with nowhere else to go, accepts commissions on their behalf, and assigns those jobs to its members."
Oh. That's actually a solid setup. Sure, there are probably psychopathic unlicensed mages who get off on harming people purely for fun. But there are also ones like long-haired vagrants turning to crime out of desperation for survival. If you strip away the terrorist and psycho image branded by the kingdom, their skills aren't half bad, right? Whoever the Black Tower Lord is, they know how to use their head.
"As a result, unlicensed mages have flocked to the Black Tower en masse, crime rates have naturally dropped, and public perception of them is slowly improving, bit by bit."
"Oh... That's not as bad as I thought."
Luna nodded at Albert's explanation. Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, she quickly asked,
"But how did you figure out I'm a mage?"
Ah, I was curious about that too. We'd meticulously cleaned up every trace from the library fight.
"Oh, that's simple."
Albert said, pulling a fist-sized orb from the inner pocket of his tattered suit and offering it to Luna.
Damn, it survived that chaos unscathed. No ordinary item.
"What's this?"
Luna tilted her head curiously, and Albert instructed her to press the small button beneath it. She did.
Click!
With a crisp sound of gears engaging, the gray orb glowed blue.
[Testing, testing. Can you hear me?]
A shrill woman's voice emanated from the orb.
Even through the crystal orb, the woman's venom came through crystal clear, but Albert maintained his serene expression throughout.
A guy who'd clearly make it big as a priest is a necromancer...?
"Uh, Miss Katrina. It's Albert. A new mage is curious how you pinpointed her identity, so I had no choice but to contact you."
Her sharp tone flipped 180 degrees in an instant.
Transformed into a warm, sweet voice, she addressed Luna directly.
"Y-yes."
Luna trembled like a mouse before a cat as the call continued.
"Uh, I haven't joined yet..."
Katrina deftly steered the conversation like a seasoned hunter toying with prey.
"Grimoire?"
Luna's eyes widened with interest as she finally perked up.
Suddenly, explosions and screams from strangers blared through the orb, and the connection cut.
"Didn't she say it wasn't combat...?"
Luna stared blankly at the now-dimmed orb.
"Does that answer your question?"
"...Yes."
Albert asked gently, and Luna nodded cautiously.
"Excluding Miss Katrina, many genuine mages are already affiliated with the Black Tower. Earlier, you asked why I visited you, Lady Luna?"
Albert said gravely.
"It's to propose a contract with the Black Tower."
"What kind of contract...?"
"Simple. Like with Miss Katrina earlier, occasionally take on commissions we provide and receive compensation. Of course, you're free to refuse. And if you ever craft magical tools or set up a workshop, we can easily procure rare materials and tools that are hard to obtain otherwise."
Luna looked a bit confused listening to Albert.
Huh? No real obligations, just benefits...?
As if reading her mind, Albert added,
"Of course, these perks aren't for everyone. As I mentioned, grimoire users are powerful and rare, so Babel makes such generous offers. From our side, even one tough commission handled is pure profit."
His final words seemed to tip the scales, as Luna turned to me subtly.
'Master, this seems like a great opportunity. What do you think?'
[It's a solid opportunity. Steady income without coercion, no red tape, and easy access to materials.]
This is basically a black market with a fancy name, isn't it?
After our quick consultation, Luna slowly nodded to Albert, agreeing to the contract.
"An excellent choice."
Albert beamed—the brightest smile I'd seen from him—and handed her a slightly larger crystal orb and a red book.
"Contact us anytime via the orb if needed. The red book serves as both quest board and catalog. Infuse it with your mana and visualize what you want; it'll appear on the pages."
With a few more instructions, words of thanks, and a polite bow, Albert withdrew.
Once he was out of sight, Luna slumped in relief.
"Phew... Just days after becoming a mage, and it's nonstop incidents."
[Haha. You handled it well.]
Especially turning Albert into mush—I was shocked myself. You're growing into a fine mage, Luna!
Anyway, Luna stared at the blood-soaked floor, sighed deeply, and stood.
"Gotta clean this up..."
What a rollercoaster of a day.
"Meow~"
Cheshire peeked out from under the bed, mewing softly in agreement now that Luna was gone. No, wait—Luna was still there.