Magic Tower (2): Piercing the Magic Tower's Veil
The doubts about the Magic Tower lingered even after receiving the report.
"How does a mere kingdom have information on the Magic Tower, something only the emperor himself should access?"
It didn't add up—in fact, it was absurdly inconsistent. He'd heard rumors about the Magic Tower through imperial gossip. Yet the very subjects of that gossip had no idea it even existed? When he'd pressed them out of sheer curiosity, they'd claimed the emperor managed it? Even if the emperor was overseeing it, there had been multiple privy council meetings. Not once had the Tower been mentioned, nor had any mage-related agenda ever surfaced.
This was blatantly suspicious—enough to raise real alarms.
So he'd summoned the prime minister again for answers.
"...I hadn't given it a thought until Your Highness brought it up, sire."
The shocking response wasn't limited to the prime minister. From the grand general down to every noble in the privy council, they all suddenly "remembered" the Magic Tower with a vague, "Oh right, that place existed?"
Suspecting some trick, he immediately sought out Arbeda. To be precise, it wasn't so much a summons as paying her a visit. Lately, she'd been...
"There you are in my chambers, Arbeda."
"This lady! With Your Highness the Crown Prince's gracious permission! Has been rolling about merrily on Your Highness's bed!"
...lounging in his bedchambers. He didn't know why, but she'd asked, so he'd allowed it. Having a dragon at his side made things far more convenient in countless ways—he'd felt it worked out perfectly. Ideally, he'd have kept Luminix in the adjacent room too, but she'd seemed reluctant, so he'd dropped it.
"...Fine, whatever. Anyway, I need you to do something for me."
"Hee-hee, this lady... can resolve it right away!"
He told Arbeda it was suspicious how few mentions of the Magic Tower there had been until now. She sniffed the air curiously at his words.
Sniff sniff.
Then—clap—she gave the empty air a small pat.
"This lady has just dispelled the perception impairment magic permeating the entire imperial palace."
"Perception impairment magic?"
"Yes. No idea who cast it, but it seems like a long-term effort. For humans, it's impressively advanced."
Her follow-up explanation drew a hollow laugh from him.
"Ha."
"Indeed! In simple terms, it deliberately prevented anyone from even thinking about the Magic Tower. Easy to break once noticed, but if you don't..."
"You'd stay oblivious forever?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Hahaha!"
So they hadn't just siphoned resources invisibly from the skies—they'd even tampered inside the palace itself? On the level of masking the straw entirely?
'Other nations weren't under this perception impairment magic, so they knew about the Tower.'
If not for that gossip, I never would've figured out why the national treasury was always in the red?'
"Ah."
This must be what they meant by blood boiling in reverse. Rage cooled his head instead, laughter cutting off as his expression blanked like a lie.
"Is this what it means to be an empire doomed to fall...?"
Should he be grateful the crown prince alone wasn't the fool? No—the whole empire had been played.
How had they let this slide? How long had the Tower been screwing the empire over? Per Arbeda, quite a while—likely before the crown prince was even born.
"Your Highness?"
Arbeda approached with quick steps, peering up to gauge his mood.
"Arbeda, pinpoint the Magic Tower's location right now."
He stroked her hair and issued the order.
"As you command!"
"I've got somewhere to be briefly—locate it and wait here."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Arbeda conjured an arcane magic circle of unknown runes in the air. Meanwhile, drawing on the crown prince's memories, he headed for the sword's location.
Why had the prince trained so obsessively with the blade, yet never drawn it in any crisis?
'What the hell were you thinking while watching over the empire?'
The prince's memories were fragmented—like a report stripped to essentials. No clue what emotions he'd felt back then.
'Why train daily if you had no intention of ever using it?'
His steps led deeper underground. At some point, the prince had simply set the sword aside, as if by magic. No injury, no trauma, not even whimsy. He'd just dropped it on the floor like a peace dove abandoning war—after a lifetime devoted to the blade.
Thud, thud.
His strides grew heavier than intended. The emotion wasn't pure anger, but closer to bewilderment.
"The more time passes, the less I understand."
At first, he'd pegged the prince as a simpleton. But the sword's memory sparked doubt—maybe he'd misjudged. Problem was, he couldn't pinpoint how.
Not even swimming through the memories revealed it. Muttering inwardly, he arrived at the sword's storage.
The imperial palace basement—the deepest level. There lay the crown prince's greatsword.
A crude zweihänder. Memories said he'd abandoned it ages ago, yet the edge gleamed as if freshly forged—who knew what it was made of?
"...."
His body stirred at the sight. What stirred it? Unclear. But one thing was crystal: with this sword and Arbeda, the Magic Tower would never be the same.
***
Magic Tower Lord.
"Wh-what the hell is this?!"
Archibald recoiled in horror at an unprecedented assault on the Tower's history.
'How did they target the Magic Tower?'
Not just any part—the lord's own chambers, the heart of it all. This place layered perception impairment magic to ultimate barriers—tens of thousands of defenses. Yet they'd pierced them effortlessly, rendering the boast moot.
One small mercy:
"Can't control their power, it seems—they haven't breached the final barrier yet."
The outermost barrier still held.
"Your Highness, leave this to this lady—no need to worry."
But the tiny girl waved her hand, and it melted away like ice.
"Wh-who are you?!"
In this bizarre turn, all Archibald could muster was a shout.
"For even I to go unrecognized—what arrogance has the Magic Tower wallowed in?"
The crown prince swung without hesitation at the question.
Archibald's body bore countless protective spells—more than the Tower itself. Years of layered defenses, the pinnacle of magecraft.
Yet.
"Guh—aaargh!"
It all vanished in one stroke. Melted, more like. The moment blade met ward, every protection dissolved like a lie. An archmage's arm—said to reshape heaven and earth—hit the floor.
"Your Highness, shall this lady prepare the living staff conversion?"
"No. I'll handle them one by one myself."
"Yes, sir!"
Even armless, Archibald took in the intruders: a young girl with draconic eyes, and a golden-haired, red-eyed man.
'Wait—golden hair, red eyes?'
So the "crown prince" was real? Had to be—no other explanation for this power.
Sol Bellon. That monstrous strength had descended on the Tower.
"Wh-why...? The empire and Tower are... deeply intertwined...."
As he spoke, Archibald tried reattaching his severed arm.
Or tried to.
"...Huh?"
"Human, attempting magic without my permission?"
But for the voice shaking his core.
Vertical pupils, opal irises. Archibald grasped their meaning instantly.
"Dr-dragon..."
The apex of magic. A dragon stood before him.
"Heh, heh... so they do exist—dragons...?!"
Amid panic, Archibald grinned wildly at confirmation.
"Ha."
Slash!
The crown prince turned him into a living staff in a flash. Archibald hadn't even seen the blade move. One blink, and he flailed like a turtle on its back.
"H-how...? Impossible."
In his daze.
"Lord Tower Master!"
"What in the world is happening?!"
Mages swarmed in, sensing the breach.
Watching them, the crown prince smirked darkly.
Mages absent from the palace despite searches—all frolicking high above.
And.
"Flashy jewelry on even the low-ranks—wasting properly, I see."
Not even the lesser mages lacked expensive baubles.
But the real shock:
"Lord Tower Master! Who the hell is that?!"
"An attack? Enemy raid?!"
"Battle stations! Hold positions! Prepare spells!"
They didn't recognize the crown prince standing right there.
Proof the Tower had claimed privileges without duties.
"I'll enslave you all—live out your days as non-human staves, till death."
With that, he swung lightly.
Slash!
One stroke severed the legs of the gathering mages.
Time to topple the Tower.