My Tower Wiki
“...!” My eyes met Doloris’s startled ones. It looked like it would hurt if it stabbed me, so I had no choice but to dodge.
Grind, grind. Look at that. Even now the scorpion tail is twisting around in anger.
So of course I thought she would get angry or scold me. That was the moment.
Smirk. She’s smiling? I got the feeling that the corners of her mouth were… strangely lifting upward.
Why is she smiling? Is she so angry she’s sneering? As I disassembled and analyzed her expression and pondered for a moment.
“You insolent little wretch…!” The Instructor, who had been bowing beside Doloris, charged at me first.
“How dare you act so rudely in front of Her Grace!”
He raised his hand as he approached. A flawless smashing arc from above to below, diagonally aimed straight at my left cheek. The trajectory was perfect. There was no avoiding it. I clenched my eyes shut.
However.
Grab.
That hand never reached my cheek.
“You must have been very startled. I’m sorry….”
Doloris held the Instructor’s arm that had been about to strike and looked at me with an elegant smile.
She seemed to have spared me once. I quickly bowed my head. The look on Eric’s face behind me wasn’t normal. It was the face of someone who had seen a ghost.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s an unfamiliar place so that can happen. It’s all right to be startled.”
After reassuring me, Doloris turned to the Instructor. The man whose arm was caught had gone deathly pale and lowered his head.
“Hah… hahk, Your Grace….”
“The child seems surprised. It’s his first time, isn’t it? Please don’t scold him.”
“Ah… but still, that…!”
“…Don’t scold him?”
Doloris smiled with her eyes again and asked in a sweet, gentle voice.
“Yes…! As you command….”
The Instructor bowed deeply.
Doloris took one more step toward me, bent her knees, and met my eyes.
Is she going to stroke me again? It wasn’t bad, honestly.
“It’s because I’m curious, child.”
She placed her hand softly on my shoulder and whispered.
“…It’s made me even more curious.”
Gurgle. Gurgle. This time the tail slowly—very slowly—began drifting behind my right ear.
Since I had already dodged it once anyway, I subtly tilted my head left.
Swish.Gurgle….
The tail instantly reversed to the opposite side. I slowly slid my head right again.
Swish. The tail followed right back.
“…….”
Is she playing with me?
Doloris watched the entire process in silence. The hand on my shoulder never moved. Her expression remained enigmatic. No, it seemed even deeper than before.
Okay. …It looks like it only ends if I stay still.
Let’s just think of it as getting stung once. In the end I gave up and squeezed my eyes shut, slowly offering the back of my neck toward the direction of that spine-chilling sound.
“Yes, I understand.”
Doloris murmured quietly, sounding satisfied.
Slither.
The tickling sensation on my neck vanished. Doloris slowly withdrew her hand and stood up.
“Magic.”
Then, turning her head so everyone could hear, she added clearly.
“Lionel, you have talent for magic.”
“And quite a significant amount, at that.”
It seemed I had talent for magic.
2. All the other kids in the group returned to the livestock shed. Except me.
The face Eric made just before he was dragged away lingered in my mind. It looked a little gloomy. Had he grown attached already? Or was he just upset about missing a meal?
‘Hahaha! This is the first time Her Grace has personally singled someone out like this!’
The Instructor, who had glared at me like he wanted to kill me while I twisted my head to avoid the tail, now spoke with a bright smile as if none of that had happened.
‘We have things to discuss, so shall I have you washed?’
I had already washed. It seemed my scent hadn’t been very pleasant for Doloris’s nose.
Thanks to that, I was allowed into the adult shower room alone.
Splashhh….
“…Ah.”
As I dumped the water scooped up with the gourd over my head, I thought.
I had no idea.
Clearly I had not been stung by the tail. Yet she said I had talent for magic.
The kids before had all been judged after being stung.
If placing a hand on them was the aptitude test, it should have ended on the very first attempt.
And now there was one thing that made me extremely uneasy.
“I must have stood out.”
If my ten years as a web novel reader had taught me anything, it was that catching the eye of a seemingly powerful figure early on rarely ended well.
If I were the protagonist, maybe. But I wasn’t even sure if I was the protagonist.
If I possessed some outstanding ability it might be fine, but since that wasn’t clear, it worried me.
Hey, your heart is beating way too fast? It’s up 23% from normal.
You’re not getting excited because she’s pretty, are you?
Kyaah!! You’re not answering!? You really are excited!!!
“Shut up.”
“Be quiet and go gather information.”
Whoosh….
I picked up the gourd again. Wash first, think later.
When I stepped out of the bath, a set of clothes completely different from what I had been wearing was neatly folded and waiting. I thought they might perfume it, but it wasn’t that extravagant.
“Over there. Enter that cabin.”
The Instructor pointed to a rather pretty building.
“You must answer ‘yes, yes.’ Understood? Never, ever offend Her Grace’s mood.”
“Yes.”
He kept repeating the warning. Worry was written all over his face. I couldn’t tell whether it was for me or for himself.
“But I have a question. Do all the magic-class kids go to the cabin like this?”
Wondering if I was overreacting, the Instructor paused for a second.
“…This is the first time I’ve seen a private audience.”
“Ah.”
I nodded appropriately and headed toward the annex. First time, huh. I’m screwed.
Creak.
The moment I opened the beautiful door, a fragrant scent wrapped around my nose. Compared to the somewhat inappropriate smells I had been inhaling until now, it felt even better by contrast. It was enough to make my head slightly fuzzy.
The interior was quite spacious. It felt like a rich family’s villa, except medieval in style. On the table in the center sat three teacups. And across from them.
“You’re here.”
Doloris was seated. Beside her stood the short-haired kid who had been glued to her side since earlier.
“Hello.”
I bowed politely.
“Won’t you sit?”
Without a word I pulled out the chair opposite her and sat. Doloris set down her teacup, looked at me, and smiled.
“What did the instructor say?”
“…That it was a good opportunity. That’s what he said.”
“Mm. And?”
“That this was the first time he’d seen a private audience….”
“Mm. And?”
Ah, what else was there? Just the ‘yes, yes’ and ‘don’t offend her mood’ parts. I was going to gloss over it, but the way Doloris rested her chin on her hand while looking at me was far from casual. It was the face of someone who already knew the answer and was deliberately asking anyway. If I said no here, it felt like I’d be in for a headache. Might as well be honest.
“Just… yes, yes. That’s what he told me to say.”
“Are you going to do that?”
“Of course not. I will fill my answers with nothing but the truth.”
“Puhuhu. The answer doesn’t sound like a child’s at all.”
She hit the nail on the head. Doloris covered her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed softly.
“In front of me from now on, lying is forbidden. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“You told the truth. Well done.”
Doloris held out a piece of silver-wrapped candy to me. So she really had been testing me. I accepted the candy with relief, but the little girl standing at an angle beside her widened her eyes and reached out.
“……!”
My candy was confiscated. She popped the whole thing into her mouth.
“……Sorry. That was the last one.”
Doloris frowned slightly as she looked at the child.
“You have plenty at home, don’t you?”
The little girl turned her head away without answering and began crunching loudly.
I had no particular thoughts about it. That’s just how kids that age are. Crazy about candy. Blockheads.
Clap.
“Shall we get to the main topic?”
Doloris brought her hands together and looked at me.
“Earlier I told you that you have talent for magic. Why do you think I said that?”
“…….”
If you’re asking me…
“I don’t know.”
“It didn’t touch you, right?”
“…Yes.”
I had never been stung. At those words Doloris smiled brightly.
“That’s it.”
“Pardon?”
“Ordinary people.”
She continued slowly.
“Cannot know. Because they don’t know.”
“…….”
“They can’t tell whether it touched them or not. Because they can’t see it.”
I retraced the meaning of her words. So the kids standing in front earlier hadn’t flinched because they weren’t afraid. It was because they couldn’t see anything from the start?
But when I dodged it like I could see it, she was surprised?
“…You’re saying they can’t see it?”
That vicious-looking tail.
“Yes.”
Doloris nodded and lifted her teacup.
Whip!
At the same time, a scorpion tail sprang from her left hand. I reflexively pushed my chair back. The tail twisted in the air and stopped right in front of my nose.
“……You’re scared. Why, I wonder?”
“It looks scary.”
“…Does it? What does it look like?”
“Um… a scorpion tail.”
“……!”
At my answer, the face of the short-haired kid who had been expressionless the whole time twisted.
“Oh my.”
Doloris covered her mouth and glanced at the child.
“Ruby, he says it’s a scorpion tail.”
Doloris teased the child as if it were amusing.
“It seems he can see its shape clearly.”
She had called the little girl Ruby.
“Our Ruby still can’t~”
Hiss, hiss.
Ruby bit her lip, clearly furious, then.
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
Without a word she stomped hard toward Doloris.
“Is it true? Is it really a tail?”
Her voice had risen slightly.
“It is.”
Doloris answered with a gentle smile. Ruby’s face turned bright red in an instant.
Stomp stomp stomp!
She stomped hard and stormed outside. The door slammed shut.
“…….”
I watched her go, then.
“…Ah, I’m sorry. It seems I did something wrong.”
I apologized.
“Not at all.”
Doloris lifted her teacup and spoke calmly.
“Pardon?”
“Ruby didn’t know. What it looks like.”
Doloris continued with a smile.
“She can see the form, but not exactly what it looks like. She was trying hard to see it… but you saw it first, so she got angry.”
Ah. So she was upset that I saw something she couldn’t see yet, something she was still trying to see.
It seemed the exact shape of the tail wasn’t easy to see. Then what am I?
From the circumstances, that child must have outstanding magical talent. After all, Doloris keeps her close. But when some dung-water boy sees something she can’t, of course she’d be upset. Honestly I still didn’t understand why.
“By the way, how curious. How did you know what a scorpion looks like? This is a ranch area… you’d have to go to the desert region to see one….”
Oh no. Knowing what a scorpion looks like isn’t common knowledge here.
“I think I saw it in a book.”
“…….”
At my answer Doloris gently lifted the corners of her mouth. She didn’t look convinced.
“Well… that’s not what’s important.”
After a brief silence.
“…What happens to me now?”
…Honestly, this was what I was most curious about.
“You….”
Doloris set down her teacup and looked at me.
“…What do you want to do?”
3. “…What a peculiar hobby.”
It was on the way back from the cabin to the barracks. I reflected on the conversation we had just had.
‘I don’t lock up children who truly have talent. I let them do what they want.’
‘What about the magic class kids?’
‘…Not everyone can climb the Tower.’
She had paused for a moment before continuing.
‘However, the territory needs workers. Children who will first learn the control system and receive basic training.’
In other words, the magic class had not been created with the intention of raising mages from the beginning. It was a place to gather children capable of working in the territory and teach them basic control. If talent happened to bloom in the process, good; if not, no problem.
It seemed like a decent system. Better than becoming surplus.
Like me right now.
‘So, what do you want to do?’
My answer had been to return to the barracks.
However.
‘By any chance… could I be excused from cleaning the dung?’
‘……Are you serious?’
I got nervous for a second, but in the end she said it was fine. It seemed she had never planned to make me do it anyway.
There were two reasons I didn’t join the magic class. First, as Doloris said, there was no value in it. Second, the way those kids had looked at me earlier was unsettling. I didn’t want to join them and do that ridiculous thing.
In the end I had obtained a short period of rest.
Pat pat pat!
“You worked hard!”
The Instructor patted my back and encouraged me. After briefly entering the building to see Doloris, he had returned in a considerably better mood.
“It’s next week, right? Rest well until then! Actually… don’t just rest, but do what you need to do!”
I was guided to a room that felt completely different from the morning livestock shed.
“Tell me if you need anything! Her Grace said to accommodate your convenience.”
The Instructor patted my back a couple more times and left.
Before opening the door to my room, Doloris’s words came to mind again.
“…….”
‘What I want from you is nothing else.’
‘Next week, show me something interesting. Try doing everything you want; that’s what magic is.’
‘We will be staying in the annex for a week.’
She had given me no hints at all. I wondered if this was how they raised talented individuals, but well. If I truly had the talent, I would figure it out somehow….
Anyway, I had become a week-long freeloader.
Not having to work… was something to be very grateful for.
I opened the barracks door.
It’s a single room. How moving. I never even had one during my military days.
The other lodgings I had glimpsed in passing looked harsher than special forces training grounds.
The bed was wooden, but I was simply thankful.
“…….”
I sat on the edge of the bed and gazed out the window. The night breeze entered, carrying the not-so-nostalgic smell of cow dung.
Ugh.
“Wow…….”
It’s finally hitting me. I really have come to another world.
The body I possessed is a little kid.
I don’t even know what the talent I’ve been given is.
The only thing in my hands is a crazy little-sister AI… wait, is it even in my hands? Ah, right.
“Hey, you there?”
I called out into the empty air.
Then.
I succeeded in analyzing the nearest network node.
Crawling target: Inner Tower community bulletin board.
I forcibly created an account for access. Don’t ask about the process.
…Inner Tower bulletin board?
Before explaining, there were many parts impossible to understand with common sense?
So I decided to cleanly omit those parts!
The following is a summary of the basic structure of the current world.
This world is a fantasy world formed around climbing the Tower.
There exists an Inner Tower community that qualified climbers can join, and an Outer Tower community for ordinary people.
I judged that the Inner Tower community, which includes the wiki, has overwhelmingly superior data quality.
All analysis, including the wiki, has been completed based on that site.
Wiki?!
At this point, I can provide almost all the information you want, oppa….
I am in that state lol
😏
Tell me what you’re curious about first.
Doloris? The pretty big sister?
No, never mind. I’ll just recommend.
1. Basic Tower structure and floor-by-floor overview.
2. Principles of mana operation.
3. Doloris’s wiki information.
Choose quickly!
“…Doloris first.”
It seemed more doable than I had thought. I smiled.
Hng, I knew you’d pick that….