Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Simon Tower Opening Ceremony
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1
Boom!
A light explosion rang out, followed by acrid smoke rising up.
Noel, having inhaled the smoke, coughed repeatedly as he stepped back from the flask.
"Kuhk… Failed again…."
How many times had Noel failed at potion-making now?
I'd given up counting after the fifth one, so I had no idea.
That aside, Noel's unlucky constitution was still as strong as ever.
I'd thought it might improve a bit since the main story had twisted so much.
Well, misfortune has nothing to do with Noel's will, so it'd be weirder if it had gotten better.
In the end, I couldn't prevent the events Noel's bad luck would bring.
Ah… No, wait, things had already twisted beyond recognition, so who knows what would happen.
It could get even bigger, or surprisingly turn out to be nothing.
Either way, I wouldn't know until it hit.
I'd just have to stay vigilant, ready to deal with whatever misfortune brought.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, aside from inhaling some smoke…."
Noel casually purified the smoke with a wind spell.
At first, he'd singe the tips of his hair or get his face covered in soot, but now he came out unscathed except for the smoke.
He must have gotten used to the misfortune.
"The second semester's almost over, and I'm still like this…."
"You've improved a lot. Theory's perfect; it's just the practical that's not working."
Ehehe, Noel smiled happily.
The second semester was drawing to a close before we knew it.
Fall had long passed, and the windowsill outside was piled high with fallen leaves.
It was already December.
By the end of the second semester, we'd hit about 30% of the overall story.
Of course, with the main plot twisted every which way and events popping up randomly, it was impossible to gauge precisely.
Theo was a playable character added in the DLC to begin with.
The DLC content itself had a lot of unknowns, so who knew what would happen.
Predicting the future was basically just guesswork at this point.
Still, the first year was almost over.
I'd woken up here around April, so after winter break, it'd be my one-year anniversary.
A lot had happened in that year.
I'd fully adapted to this place because of it.
My time here hadn't been wasted….
"Today's lecture ends here… Everyone, clean up your equipment…."
Derit waved his hand languidly, his face as hollow-eyed as ever.
"Oh, almost forgot. There's a Simon Tower opening ceremony this weekend. Anyone interested, come to my lab. I'll arrange for us to tour it together."
He pushed up his glasses casually, then paused on his way out of the lecture hall in his hunched posture, turning back to add that.
"Simon Tower's finally opening, huh."
"Yeah, yeah. Maybe because we helped guard it, but it doesn't feel like someone else's business…."
"I get what you mean."
We hadn't laid a single brick on Simon Tower ourselves, but we had stopped a terrorist attack once.
It felt like we'd at least added a spoon to the pot.
As I nodded along, Noel asked slyly.
"Wanna go watch the opening ceremony together…?"
Her sparkling golden eyes made it hard to say no.
Not that I had any intention of refusing to begin with.
I'd helped protect Simon Tower from the Onitsusen raid too, so I had mixed feelings about it.
Plus, calling it an opening ceremony was nice, but Simon Tower had been buzzing with activity for a while already.
Not long after we'd repelled the Onitsusen, construction finished, and right after, tons of practical-school mages and magitech engineers moved in.
For those shunned by other magic towers, Simon Tower must have been like paradise on earth.
Thanks to them, it was already producing results and quietly building a reputation.
This opening ceremony was basically a chance to show those achievements to the public.
So there'd be plenty to see.
Above all, since Simon Tower focused on supporting magitech, there might be ways to help Noel grow even more.
With that in mind, I nodded right away.
2
"Hee…."
Noel's head slowly tilted back.
It kept going further and further, with no sign of stopping.
Finally, just before she fully tipped over backward, Noel stopped.
"It's seriously tall…."
Just like Noel said, Simon Tower looked about three times taller than the last time we'd seen it.
The spiraling outer wall design felt both futuristic and fantastical.
I was used to skyscrapers, but for Noel, who'd lived in Balamut, it must have seemed pretty novel.
Still, wasn't she staring a bit too entranced?
I'd done the same when I first saw the Sar○n Tower… no, World Tower.
"They say it's the biggest magic tower in the kingdom. 118 floors, right?"
"That's just the publicly disclosed floors, so there might be a few more hidden ones…?"
Even the setting docs never specified the exact number.
Anyway, with that height, the construction costs must have been insane.
No matter how solid House Hilfenverk was, they must have bet everything on it.
And that wasn't just speculation.
Simon Tower really was Lucius's make-or-break project.
Lucius might first come to mind rolling around on the sofa, but when it came to his territory's people, he'd dive in headfirst, consequences be damned.
The guy obsessed endlessly over what interested him but completely ignored anything that didn't.
Still, he was a good lord at heart, so anything involving his people caught his attention.
Just look at how he mobilized House Hilfenverk's private forces based solely on my baseless one-sided story about Cain.
Speaking of which, wasn't there that time escapees invaded the ducal territory?
When the escapees took over the city, Lucius dropped all his duties and infiltrated enemy territory alone.
There was an event in the original where he casually wiped them all out and rescued the hostages.
He was Leon's mentor too… The story really drove home how scary it was when that always-smiling guy got mad….
Anyway, this skyscraper was the work of that Lucius.
Simon Tower's influence would only grow from here; it wouldn't shrink.
"…Huh?"
"What's up?"
Noel tilted her head.
I brushed it off as nothing and looked up at the upper levels of Simon Tower.
At the tip of the towering double-helix skyscraper sat a spherical sculpture.
I didn't remember that sphere from my memories.
It wasn't in the original, but it was here now.
Maybe they saved on budget by safely fending off the Onitsusen attack and used the surplus for it?
I had no idea what it was for, but spotting these little changes was kinda fun.
"Wow… Look at that! A fountain pen that shoots electric shocks…!"
Suddenly, Noel grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
Looking down, I saw her eyes sparkling at a magitech item displayed by Simon Tower's engineers.
A fountain pen that shoots electric shocks, huh.
British spy agency agents would love that.
Maybe they had bulletproof umbrellas or exploding lighters too? Anything else?
I checked the booths, but the pen was the only spy-gadget-like item.
Instead, there was a shield with an auto-retrieval function that caught my eye.
A round shield that ignored physics and flew back to your hand when thrown.
Felt like something out of a movie….
Among the rest, I liked the frying pan with auto-clean functionality.
No more worrying about scrubbing off oil—that was a whole new world.
"Wow… Check this out…."
Noel passed the auto-clean frying pan and froze in front of a displayed pistol.
Let's see, the display name was super long….
"Mechanized transformation mechanism-equipped auto-loading firearm, all-caliber and mana-bullet compatible model?"
"It's a magitech item that senses the user's mana and transforms into the form they envision…. Full caliber compatibility means you can just swap magazines and shoot without changing guns…? And it works with mana bullets too—I wanna try firing it…."
Noel looked oddly excited.
Hmm, should I ask Lucius to introduce me to the magitech engineer who made that gun?
I kinda wanted to see how that little pistol transformed into other guns too.
As I pondered, my shoulder bumped into someone.
I looked up to apologize, but the guy didn't even glance back as he hurried past.
"What the?"
In a rush or something?
I was about to ignore it when a faint whiff of gunpowder stung my nose.
Among the magitech engineers, only those handling guns or explosives dealt with gunpowder.
And among today's displays, only the mechanized… whatever, that gun right there used gunpowder.
Was that the engineer who made it?
I turned to watch the man quickly disappearing into the crowd.
Navy-blue hair neatly tied back in a ponytail, slightly brighter blue eyes, sharp eyes but with upturned lips.
His profile peeking through the crowd felt oddly familiar.
Hmm, where'd I see him?
I racked my brain.
Among the people I'd met so far, only one had navy-blue hair, right?
"Ah."
I remembered.
No, I couldn't forget.
The only navy-haired guy I'd met was the mad pineapple villain, Fien Flo.
Now I was sure.
His hair was neatly groomed and he was in a proper suit, so I hadn't recognized him at first, but that was definitely Fien Flo.
He'd survived that explosion just fine.
No, more than that—why was he here looking so pristine?
This wasn't good.
Not good at all.
Instinct told me something annoying was about to go down.
3
The area around Simon Tower was impeccably maintained.
Riverflow was a city that rivaled the capital in excellence.
The building layouts, designed with aesthetics and functionality in mind from every angle, were downright beautiful.
Fien Flo slipped between those buildings.
He navigated the alleys until he reached a deserted spot, then finally stopped.
"You can come out now, old man."
At his words, an elderly man emerged from the opposite alley.
The sharp-featured old man, dressed in a tailcoat, adjusted his glasses and bowed politely.
"It's been a while since I've seen you in person."
"Cut the chit-chat, old man Solomon. What about my orders?"
"Heh heh, just my excitement getting the better of me. Your orders were handled without issue."
Solomon chuckled, but Fien Flo just clicked his tongue lightly.
"With your skills, there were no mistakes, I'm sure. But you targeted the opening ceremony on purpose. No next chances. It has to succeed perfectly, no problems."
"We've prepared thoroughly, so no need to worry. More than that, this old man is tearing up seeing how much you've grown, young master. I could die without regrets now."
"I told you not to call me young master!"
Fien Flo snapped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and Solomon stifled a laugh as he watched.
"My apologies. Old habits die hard."
"Fine. Once you confirm the Simon Tower explosion per plan, go dark immediately. Rendezvous route is A-13—don't forget."
"Understood, but… oh dear, looks like we have a problem to deal with first."
Solomon, who'd been bantering, narrowed his eyes.
From deeper in the alley came the sound of quiet footsteps.
In the old butler's cold, deep blue eyes reflected Theo Agrit, striding straight toward them.