The Magic Tower (1)
“Big Sis became Offen hyung’s maid?!”
“Y-yeah. That’s what happened. Hehe.”
When Gid came back from work and heard that Eve had become an apprentice maid, he clutched his head in pure shock.
His reaction made perfect sense. Eve was the Hero. The one who had sworn never to belong to any nation or house, so she could remain the hope of every living soul. And now that same Eve had just announced she was a maid of House Termin—my maid. Of course her own little brother, the one who had known her longest, would lose his mind.
“Haaah… a maid. Big Sis, a maid…”
Gid muttered, eyes flicking back and forth between me and Eve in her now-familiar maid uniform. Then he blew out a long, refreshing breath through his nose, flashed a wide grin, and declared,
“Well, if it’s Offen hyung, I guess it’s fine! Offen hyung, take good care of my big sister!”
The words that left his mouth were pure, unhesitating permission.
“Ugh… th-thanks for saying yes, Gid.”
“You thought it over carefully, didn’t you? Then your little brother has to back you up. Now, if some worthless freeloader had sweet-talked you into this, I’d have fought it tooth and nail… but it’s Offen hyung. With him, I can hand you over without a single worry.”
“Ehehe… I only became a maid because it’s Baron Offen. I-if it had been anyone else, I never even would’ve thought of it.”
“Yeah, that tracks.”
After that short, warm exchange with Eve, Gid turned his gaze on me.
“Offen hyung, everything else is fine… just don’t ever let Big Sis cook. You won’t survive it.”
He delivered the warning with deadly seriousness. I already knew exactly how catastrophic Eve’s cooking could be, so I simply nodded in silence.
“Ugh… I-if I learn from the head maid, I-I’ll get better, you know…”
Eve puffed her cheeks a little at the cooking ban and my agreeing nod, but Gid smoothly changed the subject.
“Oh yeah—today I finally finished the job you asked for, Offen hyung. That’s what I came to tell you, but the whole ‘Big Sis is a maid’ thing knocked it clean out of my head.”
“Is that so? As expected of you, Gid. Shall we go take a look?”
I played along, quietly impressed by the veteran little-brother instincts of a Hero’s sibling.
“Hell yeah! Follow me!”
“Yes. Let’s go, Rina. You too, Eve.”
And so we set off toward Gid’s worksite.
When we stepped outside the eastern gate of Termin Territory, the first thing that filled our vision was an endless stretch of forest.
Towering broadleaf trees stabbed at the sky, packed so tightly that the moment you entered you lost all sense of day or night. A dangerous place.
Ordinary trees cannot grow tall without sunlight for photosynthesis. Even the densest woods usually leave gaps between trunks. This forest had none. The giants stood shoulder to shoulder like a solid wooden palisade.
There was only one reason such a thing could exist: the absurdly dense natural mana flowing through the ley lines. Mana that poured down from the Gorum Mountains—the continent’s greatest wilderness and home to countless magical beasts—had made this forest possible.
That was Iel Forest: a place so thick it went beyond “lush” and into “impenetrable,” born of the Gorum Mountains’ mana.
And right now, a broad road had been carved straight through the heart of that infamous forest.
“Hope it meets your standards, Offen hyung.”
Gid’s handiwork.
“As expected of you, Gid. To uproot every last one of Iel Forest’s trees—famous for being huge, heavy, and hard as steel.”
On either side of the freshly opened path, the forest’s colossal broadleaves lay neatly stacked, roots and all.
“Originally I planned to cut my way through, but the trees were harder than the axes. Axes kept breaking, so I just yanked ’em out.”
Iel Forest’s trees, nourished by Gorum Mountain mana, possessed a hardness greater than steel. Even leaving a scratch required a knight who could wield mana. That was why House Termin had never been able to do anything with the forest for generations.
But things were different now.
Those iron-hard trees were no longer a problem.
“Well? Not bad, right?”
“It’s perfect.”
Because Termin Territory now had Gid—the warrior of the Hero’s party, the man with a body blessed by the gods. Before the same strength that had crushed a Demon King’s legion commander’s head, helmet and all, the trees of Iel Forest were nothing more than straw.
“Keh-heh-heh, music to my ears. So, Offen hyung—why’d you have me punch a road through here anyway?”
Gid laughed in satisfaction and asked the reason for the clearing.
“Ah. That isn’t actually a road.”
“Huh? Then what is it?”
“A radius.”
“A radius?”
I looked out over the swath of forest Gid had opened and explained.
“This forest is going to become Termin Territory’s farmland. The logging I asked of you was simply to measure the size of that farmland.”
“Wait—so that means… y-you’re not saying—”
“Yes. We’re going to turn the semicircle whose radius is the path you cleared into cropland.”
Iel Forest’s soil was saturated with Gorum Mountain mana—the same mana that had made the trees so enormous, thick, and hard. That mana would do wonders for crops as well. Clear every tree and plant fields, and from that day forward we would have an agricultural cheat code.
But realizing that grand farming dream would be anything but easy.
“…To flatten every tree inside that semicircle, even if there were ten of me, it’d take ten years, hyung. If Big Sis used the Holy Sword we could maybe cut it down to one year, but…”
Gid was right. Iel Forest was disgustingly vast.
“O-Offen Baron! I-I think I could cut trees like that!”
Eve, who had been quiet until now, raised her hand and volunteered.
“…M-maybe.”
The hand that had shot up high slowly wilted. Drawing the Holy Sword itself was a trauma trigger for her now; relying on Eve’s help simply wasn’t realistic.
“It’s all right, Eve. You have your duties as my maid, remember?”
“Ah… r-right. Ehehe. I forgot.”
“Hold on—so you’re saying I really have to clear this whole forest by myself?!”
When I reassured Eve, Gid’s face twisted in pure horror.
“No. You can rest now, Gid.”
“Whew—thank the gods.”
I shook my head firmly, calming the startled warrior.
“…But then who’s gonna make a farm that size? Besides me and Big Sis, nobody in this territory can even cut those trees.”
Relieved, Gid voiced the obvious question.
A good question. I let a sly smile curl my lips.
“I’m about to go fetch them. A truly incredible mage who can flatten every last one of these dense, iron-hard trees.”
It was time to head to the Magic Tower and bring back Rin, the mage of the Hero’s party.
“Oh, right—Gid. Would you like to join our territory officially?”
“Huh? Sure.”
“Thank you.”
⊳ Warrior Gid has joined Termin Territory!
First things first.
These crazy sons of bitches just won’t listen no matter how many times I tell them to get the hell out before they all die.
You idiots die the second the Abyss of Magic so much as farts!!!!!!
It’s the absolute worst matchup!!!!!! Your magic is completely fucking useless!!!!!
Just abandon the Magic Tower and run!!!!!!!!!!
Would it kill you to listen when people talk!!!!!!!!
Is there seriously no way to knock some sense into these guys?