Chapter 80
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Rocky Cliff Dockside (1)
The next day.
I scattered some feed for the spirits to eat, then left the mansion.
After arriving at the spot where coachmen gathered along the bustling streets, one of them standing in front bowed his head to me.
"......"
A coachman from the Vess Guild, Bruhan.
I'd met him once before.
He'd lost his voice due to an incident from his childhood, or so I'd heard.
"Please take good care of me."
He nodded as if to say he understood, bowed once more, and took hold of the carriage reins.
Once I climbed aboard, the carriage set off.
Our destination was the Magic Tower.
Thanks to the VIP medal I'd received from Vess earlier, their guild had been providing me with various conveniences.
This carriage was one of them.
I'd been debating whether to walk to the Magic Tower or hire a ride when Vess had introduced Bruhan to me first.
For me, getting a free ride was nothing to complain about.
The distance from Labyrinth City to the Magic Tower was quite far, so it was best to travel comfortably.
With nothing to do for a while, I pulled out the cipher sheet Vess had given me from my pocket.
She'd given me three cipher sheets in total.
And three decoding sheets to match.
From what Vess had told me, the guild would be gathering at their hideout for a while, so I just needed to show up on the scheduled dates.
Bruhan, the very coachman driving my carriage now, would take me to the guild hideout.
At first glance, the cipher sheet was just a blank piece of paper with nothing written on it.
But if you infused mana into the corners, letters would appear.
I grabbed one corner at random and channeled my mana into it.
And then.
┏━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ 바 수 강 절 성 진 미 ┃
┃ 라 에 럭 오 필 위 에 ┃
┃ 아 잘 이 신 절 흘 길 ┃
┃ 벽 쟁 진 봉 부 적 진 ┃
┃ 질 둣 풀 갤 상 가 민 ┃
┗━━━━━━━━━┛
Along with the date, a jumble of hard-to-read characters appeared.
While keeping the mana flowing into the cipher sheet, I pulled out the decoding sheet.
┏━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ □ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■┃
┃ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ ■┃
┃ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ ■ ■┃
┃ □ ■ ■ ■ □ ■ ■┃
┃ ■ □ ■ ■ ■ □ ■┃
┗━━━━━━━━━┛
The decoding sheet was the same size as the cipher sheet.
Between the black squares were opaque white ones.
They were opaque now, but they'd turn transparent once mana flowed through them too.
I overlaid the decoding sheet on top of the cipher sheet.
My mana flowed into both papers.
┏━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ 바 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■┃
┃ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 위 ■┃
┃ ■ ■ ■ ■ 절 ■ ■┃
┃ 벽 ■ ■ ■ 부 ■ ■┃
┃ ■ 둣 ■ ■ ■ 가 ■┃
┗━━━━━━━━━┛
The unnecessary words were covered up.
The destination for the third day was Rocky Cliff Dockside.
I let go of the corner of the cipher sheet.
The cipher and decoding sheets cracked from mana overload, crumbling into powder and vanishing.
I checked the remaining cipher sheets the same way.
【 3 Days: Rocky Cliff Dockside 】
【 5 Days: Raven's Nest 】
【 6 Days: Arman Abandoned Mine 】
There were three locations scheduled for cleanup this time.
The soonest was Rocky Cliff Dockside, set for three days from now.
Since I'd received the cipher sheets yesterday, that left two days.
"All three look good."
They seemed to have prioritized the most important spots location-wise—prime picks all around.
I silently informed Bruhan, who was driving the carriage without a word, that I'd join all three.
He gave a short nod of acknowledgment and urged the carriage onward.
The carriage climbed mountain paths for a good while before the massive commercial district of Magic Tower City came into view.
"Thank you."
In response to my thanks, Coachman Bruhan gave a brief nod and extended his hand, pointing toward the Magic Tower.
Meaning he'd wait here, so I should go on ahead.
I entered Magic Tower City and strolled through it slowly.
In addition to regular merchants, the Magic Tower's commercial district had plenty of shops run by the tower's own mages.
As I wandered the city, I stopped in front of a clothing store with a sign glowing blue.
"You found the place."
I pushed open the door to the shop.
"Welcome."
A elderly man with streaks of white in his hair greeted me.
An old man with an eerie aura, his eyes completely shut.
He approached me with leisurely steps and asked,
"Is this your first time here?"
"Yes."
"Then this way."
He extended his arm inward, gesturing for me to enter.
I followed his lead and sat in a chair set up inside the shop.
"First, we'll take your measurements."
The old man seemed to gaze at me steadily.
Even with his eyes closed, he perceived the world through mana.
It wasn't long before.
"Impressive physique, Mage."
The old man murmured softly.
He could tell I was a mage after all.
I glanced at the old man as he jotted down my measurements in his ledger.
The Magic Tower's one and only 5th Circle mage, Tower Master Luwen.
Before entering, I'd noticed the blue light lingering on the sign—it signaled that Luwen was in the shop.
Tower Master Luwen had originally been a tailor, but his talent for magic was so exceptional that he'd become a mage later in life.
Even after becoming tower master, he occasionally came down from the tower to make clothes as a hobby.
'First things first, get on his radar.'
For 5th Circle magic, you had to seek out major NPCs across the continent to learn it.
If you didn't want to do that, you'd have to create the spells yourself... but whether that was even feasible right now was questionable.
There were grimoires containing 5th Circle magic, like the one left behind by the transcendent Berkah...
But finding those was slower than learning from an NPC.
Once Tower Master Luwen finished recording my measurements, he spoke again.
"Do you have a preferred fabric?"
"Something that doesn't catch fire easily would be ideal."
"I'll prepare fabric enchanted with such magic."
Tower Master Luwen fetched two small swatches from his workshop and placed them before me.
One red, one blue.
"These are the fabrics I have ready. Allow me to explain."
Luwen picked up the red fabric.
He conjured a small flame at his fingertip and held it to the cloth.
It looked like it would burst into flames any second, but the red fabric remained unscathed.
"The red fabric is enchanted with high fire resistance magic. However, the higher resistance means a greater chance of magic interference when casting spells."
Magic interference occurred when spells clashed in close proximity.
When it happened, the spells' power could diminish, or they might fail to activate entirely.
Next, Luwen lifted the blue fabric.
"The blue fabric is infused with spirit power. It avoids magic interference, but its fire resistance is lower."
Luwen summoned the same flame at his fingertip.
He brought it to the blue fabric, and it began to smolder slowly.
"The blue fabric costs 30 imperial gold. The red is 10."
The blue used materials from spirit-made magical conduits, making it far pricier.
Still, considering the risk of interference, blue seemed better.
"I'll take the blue."
After selecting the fabric, I pulled imperial gold from my inventory and handed it over.
"Here you are."
"Yes."
"Oh, and one more thing."
I asked Tower Master Luwen to make the clothes a bit larger.
It would be a shame if my body grew right after getting them fitted and they no longer fit.
Luwen nodded in understanding and headed into his workshop.
Not even a minute later.
"Here you are."
He emerged holding the completed garment.
"...You're fast."
"It's a minor skill."
Luwen gave a faint smile at my words.
I immediately tried on the robe he'd handed me.
Luwen led me to a large mirror.
"How does it feel?"
"Perfect fit."
I told him I'd be back next time and left the shop.
With my Magic Tower errand done, I headed next to Miel's lodging to sell the spirit catalysts my spirits had produced as they grew yesterday.
"Ah, Mr. Rain!"
Miel opened the door before I could even knock, greeting me warmly.
I entered her still-cluttered room.
And then.
I sold her the three spirit catalysts.
The total payment came to 250 imperial gold.
With my Magic Tower business wrapped up, I returned to the carriage.
"......"
Seeing me, Coachman Bruhan gave a light bow and took the reins.
I climbed aboard, and the carriage departed immediately.
"Thank you."
Back safely in Labyrinth City, I thanked Coachman Bruhan.
I stepped down from the carriage and headed for the dungeon.
Time was money, after all.
Just as I was about to enter.
"Hmm. You'll do nicely."
Out of nowhere, a knight in black armor blocked my path.
He was clad head to toe in black plate, including a helmet covering his face.
The man extended his hand toward me as if requesting a handshake.
"Pleased to meet you. I am Count Gadan."
"......"
Count Gadan.
Patriarch of the Gadan Family, one of the empire's great houses.
And behind him.
"Two big lugs blocking the view. Gadan, move aside a bit?"
A woman emerged, wearing a tall, conical hat that screamed "mage."
She strode right up to me and pulled something from her bosom to show me.
The seal of an Imperial Court Mage.
"Pleased to meet you? I'm Luiel, Imperial Court Mage. Mind if I ask you a few questions... you got time?"
A faint light flickered in Luiel's eyes.
At the same time.
"......"
The charm magic was resisted.
"So, are you ready?"
Oblivious, Luiel flashed a grin.
Luiel, Imperial Court Mage.
A mage at the cusp of 4th Circle, skilled in curses as well.
I decided to hear her out and waited quietly.
They weren't supposed to come to Labyrinth City in the first place, so I was curious why they had.
"First question, then... Have you heard any rumors from the kingdom here? Like about a war or something."
"Yes."
"Really? A war?"
"Yes."
"...That's weird. Why would such a strange rumor spread?"
Luiel tapped her lips with her finger as if pondering, then continued.
"Then... who here would know a lot about kingdom affairs?"
"Bess of the Rockhart Merchant Association."
"Bess? Who's that?"
I pointed toward the direction of her merchant house.
Bess was currently cleaning up back alleys, so spotting her would take at least a week.
In the meantime, I could warn Bess ahead of time and shake down this cheeky mage.
"No one else?"
"No."
"Got it for now~ Oh, and one more thing."
Luiel raised a finger as if she'd almost forgotten.
"Forget everything we just talked about, and go on with whatever you were doing."
She lightly snapped her fingers and brushed past me.
"Find two more young knights for now. Knights are easier to deal with than mages."
"Right, so I shall."
I heard Count Gadan and Luiel conversing behind me.
I watched them go, then turned back toward the dungeon.
It was obvious they'd track down Bess eventually, so I could get the details from her then.