Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Mage Tower
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Mage Tower
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“Shattered... This can’t be...”
The first words from Panhaima upon regaining consciousness in the infirmary.
At the end of her gaze hung her beloved weapon, now broken.
...The mere fact that she’d survived getting pummeled by Gray and was worrying about her weapon first was genuinely impressive.
“It was my family’s treasure...”
“Must have been something special.”
“It was a treasure that also served as our family’s symbol. It must be repaired, my compatriot.”
Panhaima spoke in a resolute tone.
Well, acquiring a dao—a foreign weapon—in a place far from home wouldn’t be easy, and if she was going that far, it clearly wasn’t just any ordinary item.
“...And it carries a promise, so all the more so.”
There was obviously more to it than that.
“A promise?”
“There’s someone waiting. It’s the proof I must show them.”
...Waiting.
Someone waiting.
‘Her sibling, probably?’
That had to be the obvious assumption, given that was her sole purpose.
Panhaima, head of her clan, had crossed from the Eastern Continent chasing those traces to end up here.
The odd part was...
‘I’ve never heard this story before?’
Not in any of the playthroughs she’d drifted through so far.
In every one, she’d been someone whose goal was to find her sibling by raising her name high, yet hearing this only now was strangely novel.
[....]
And as those thoughts surfaced...
The Hero inside the holy sword fell silent again, which was nagging at her.
‘Hero. Bothered again?’
[....]
Silence was affirmation.
Oh dear, you two.
You sinful human.
It made sense, considering what this woman had done to Panhaima in previous playthroughs.
Vespa wasn’t the only one who’d left scars on her soul that even the Hero couldn’t heal.
[....This time, please find them for sure.]
‘Of course.’
This woman deserved happiness too.
So, she had to help however she could.
Carlyle looked at the scraps of iron Panhaima was staring at in dismay.
They’d at least scraped together everything scattered across the arena, so repairs were possible in principle.
Two accompanying issues.
The first...
‘Whether anyone here can mimic the Divine Kingdom’s forging techniques...’
The crafting for a dao was entirely different from Western swords.
That was the question.
[You’ll find someone if you look. This is Cradle, after all.]
A premier educational institution teeming with the continent’s top talents. Bound to be at least one.
And the second issue followed from that.
Far more practical—and far scarier.
Anyone with such specialized skills...
“Do you have the money to pay for repairs?”
...Charged exorbitantly.
Carlyle had met a few such artisans himself, and just hearing their prices had always given him headaches.
“....”
At the mention of money, Panhaima’s face crumpled.
“....I-I don’t have that kind of spare cash.”
“....”
“Isn’t there some way?”
This was a far cry from her usual haughty confidence.
Her eyes darted restlessly through the air, unable to stay still—a dead giveaway of rock-bottom confidence.
‘...Come to think of it.’
In every playthrough, she’d always lost all confidence whenever money got involved.
What to call it...
‘She always gave off this penniless vibe?’
[....Even after joining the Hero and earning a fortune, she acted like the stingiest miser imaginable.]
What to call it...
She was so sensitive to money that she’d even gotten sneered at by the Hero as a beggar brat.
...And Carlyle couldn’t outright deny she had that beggar grit.
She’d do anything for cash.
Seemed like a trait picked up crossing from the East Continent here with nothing but the clothes on her back.
“Then, how about this.”
...And that was precisely why.
No grand reasons needed to lure her in.
“I know a lucrative job. Interested—”
“What do we do first?”
“....”
At least hear what it is.
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Even in the notoriously brutal magic department—packed with lunatics thanks to Cradle’s most hellish curriculum—Letty Ingram was infamous as an eccentric.
She was spotted more often in the crafting department dorms than her own magic department ones.
Rumors said she rivaled top artisans, so it was probably her specialty from the start.
Cradle’s two biggest departments were knights and magic, both brimming with the usual superiority complexes of massive groups.
For a noble magic student delving into truths and dimensional secrets to hang out in a support-focused department like crafting? Perfect recipe for weirdo status.
“Huh, you actually came!”
And watching her hop down from the workbench, face smeared with grease and soot...
It was easy to see why.
More precisely, not her work obsession, but the “object” she was making.
“...What is that?”
Vespa, accompanying Carlyle, stared at the thing filling the workshop.
It looked like a massive rod.
Not just any rod—one you’d swear was a pillar holding up a vast ceiling.
“Oh, this?”
Letty smirked as she replied.
“It’s a spear.”
“....”
A spear.
...A spear?
It just looked like a pillar?
This gigantic rod?
Carlyle blankly glanced at Goriba, her escort knight beside her.
Instead of responding, he nodded as if sharing the bewilderment.
“It’s in the Ingram bloodline to be eccentrics.”
“...Hey, what’s that supposed to mean.”
Letty grumbled, but Vespa reacted even more strongly.
“Huh, Ingram...!”
“You know the name?”
“I picked it up taking classes in magic department! Pretty sure the top professor had the same name...”
“Oh.”
Carlyle nodded.
‘Famous family, huh.’
Same clan as the head of the magic faculty.
He’d thought this girl was no ordinary student since that special exam, but not with this background.
“...Can we drop that topic?”
The person in question didn’t seem pleased at the mention.
“I don’t really want to hear about my brother.”
Letty kicked at the floor.
What to call it...
—A voice heavy with tangled backstory.
Goriba beside her kept a grim silence too, confirming it wasn’t light conversation.
“...Anyway! Enough of that. You came, so you must be interested in my pitch?”
Letty forcibly brightened her tone and dragged a table to the workshop center.
“Straight to the point: I want to make something. And I think you can help.”
“Make something? Like what?”
“Se-cret~”
“....”
Playing coy.
Carlyle fixed her with a look conveying as much, but she stuck out her tongue and replied glibly.
“No one believes me anyway. But when it’s done, it’ll be insanely cool.”
Letty continued with a sparkling smile.
“Huuge and awesome. Needs a massive power source too.”
“....”
No clue what she meant.
Priorities first.
“What’s the reward?”
“Anything.”
Letty said earnestly.
“Anything I can give.”
“....”
“Money, my skills, take whatever. I’m from a somewhat notable family. Confident it won’t disappoint either way.”
“Then, can you repair this?”
He held out Panhaima’s broken dao, and got a perfect response.
“Yep. Mind if I add some functions too?”
“...Pardon?”
“Cool katana. Top quality no matter how you look at it—stirs the artisan’s soul. No idea how it broke, but wanna do right by its owner.”
“....”
How does she even know Eastern forging?
Cradle truly harbored every flavor of weirdo student.
Either way, exactly what Carlyle needed.
Repair Panhaima’s dao, get her paid...
And above all, a quest linking to Vespa’s upgrade and the holy sword’s.
Letty brought it up right away.
“That friend there has what I want.”
Vespa, singled out, blinked wide-eyed.
“Me?”
“Yeah, yeah. From what I saw last time, your friend has... something massive attached.”
“Something massive...?”
“If I’m right... some entity playing ‘god’ in a secondary dimension or whatever. Not the type to care about a single human normally.”
“....”
“Seems to like you a lot? Stuck right by your side, watching over. Bet it’d grant any request from you!”
Probably even becoming the power source for whatever object.
“Y-Yeah...”
Unlike Letty’s enthusiasm, Vespa mumbled blankly.
Doesn’t feel real that something like that’s attached to her.
“But I still don’t know what it is. And it doesn’t communicate well.”
“That’s why we check!”
“Huh?”
“I’m just guessing from vibes too, not certain. Could be way grander than I think—or way less. Only one way to reveal its true nature.”
Letty grinned.
“Contact the ‘Orb of Truth’ in the Mage Tower.”
“...What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The Orb of Truth. Makes contact with unknown lifeforms or whatever on ‘human terms’ for sure. Use it, and you can talk to anything.”
“No, not that.”
Carlyle cut in, head throbbing.
“You’re saying we enter the Mage Tower now?”
What was the Mage Tower?
A den of elitists with infinite contempt, hostility, and superiority toward non-mages.
Carlyle had clashed with its mages countless times across playthroughs—couldn’t even count.
They’d blast mana bolts at non-learners just for souring their mood—utter lunatics.
[....]
“....”
Seems one such person was nearby.
Anyway.
Even among themselves, they enforced rigid hierarchies and hazing without batting an eye. Non-mages like them going in?
“Wouldn’t be surprised if we got nabbed for human experiments.”
“No worries, no worries. There’s a way in.”
Oh.
Carlyle brightened, looking at Letty.
If so, why not say earlier?
“What way?”
“....”
“...Letty?”
Her sudden silence was unnerving.
Carlyle alternated glances between Vespa and Letty, then squeezed his eyes shut.
“Straight talk: I can sneak you in under disguises?”
“That’s... fine, but?”
As Carlyle asked worriedly, Letty thrust both hands forward, pointing at him and Vespa.
“Can you two play a married couple?”
“....”
“Especially the guy—needs to look like a total trash playboy.”
“....”
...Now I get why the quest’s death-level difficulty.
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