When the Flowers Bloom
The research facility they entered by following the mages was decorated as impeccably as the interior of the Magic Tower itself.
The only real difference was that magical lights illuminated the area instead of windows.
“Take your time, but search thoroughly.”
The mages cast spells as they hunted for intruders.
A meticulous search bred confidence, and that confidence erased any thought of leaving an intruder behind. In other words, the more thoroughly the mages searched, the safer Elbridge’s group became as they trailed silently in their wake.
Yet Mitchell still couldn’t seem to shake his unease.
“Things are going smoothly, which is nice… but what if even one of them suggests searching the rear again?”
Marcus snorted.
“Hmph. That won’t happen. I’ve been a mercenary long enough to know.”
“Why not?”
“Just look at their faces. It hasn’t been that long and they’re already bored to death.”
The group craned their necks slightly to observe the mages.
All they could see were backs and partial profiles, but those profiles carried every emotion imaginable—unease, irritation at the sudden assignment, and the particular weariness that came from repetitive, fruitless labor.
“Do you know what happens if someone suggests searching the rear again?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Among colleagues, you get labeled as the guy who creates extra work for no reason. You look like someone who can’t handle their assigned tasks properly and only gets anxious after the fact. The superiors will scold you, and they’ll probably use the opportunity to vent their frustration while creating a scapegoat in case anything goes wrong.”
It was a convincingly pragmatic theory, and the employers let out sounds of admiration.
“Ah… I suppose that’s true.”
“Subordinates have their own ways of surviving. It’s only natural that people from wealthy families like yourselves wouldn’t understand, since you’ve never had to do menial labor.”
There was a reason Marcus had survived more than a decade in the brutal mercenary trade despite only having middling skill. His battlefield-honed perceptiveness and insight were, in fact, superior to Elbridge’s.
Millia spoke with a touch of pity.
“It sounds like you’ve experienced that yourself, Mr. Marcus. It must have been so unfair…”
“Of course, I was the one doing the scolding, not the one being scolded.”
“...”
Indeed. How can a goddess and her follower be so similarly sly…? They truly make a perfectly matched pair.
“I think so too, Goddess,” Elbridge replied.
As the group continued trailing slowly behind the mages, a massive vibration swept through the entire underground complex.
BOOM—
Just once.
Yet no one failed to sense the overwhelming power contained within that single pulse.
Shortly after the vibration faded, a mage appeared from the opposite direction.
The newly arrived mage asked, “It’s been noisy for a while. What’s going on?”
“Ah, Team Leader. We were searching for an intruder.”
“An intruder? Did you get a description?”
“We couldn’t confirm it. But the two guards at the entrance were unconscious and the door was open. An intruder definitely got in.”
The mage addressed as Team Leader clicked his tongue.
“The timing couldn’t be worse…”
“Shouldn’t we cancel today’s experiment?”
“The seventh experiment began three days ago. How can we cancel it now? Every schedule in the Central Magic Tower revolves around these experiments… Sigh. Finish the search as quickly as possible and stand by.”
“Understood.”
Apparently interpreting the order as permission to cut corners, the mages began searching at a pace that was incomparably faster than before.
Elbridge’s group followed behind them, whispering among themselves.
“It’s clear that important research is underway.”
“Let’s keep moving for now.”
BOOM—
The heavy rumbling they had heard moments ago echoed once more.
The intervals were gradually growing shorter.
Everyone could easily guess that the massive vibrations were connected to the experiment.
BOOM—
After several more pulses, the mages reached a set of enormous doors.
With noticeably lighter expressions, they began to chatter.
“Maybe there wasn’t an intruder after all?”
“Or they gave up and ran away.”
“Who knows? Anyway, remember the team leader said to search as quickly as possible. Even if there had been an intruder, without the order to hurry we might have actually found them. Got it?”
“That’s true.”
The mages coordinated their story to cover their backs and stepped through the massive doors.
BOOM—
Now only Elbridge’s group remained in the corridor. The giant doors were still slightly ajar.
Marcus crept forward, peered inside, then gestured to the others.
“We can go in. No one’s looking this way.”
The remaining four approached and looked through the doorway.
“Whoa…”
“Shh.”
Beyond the doors lay a hemispherical space so vast it was hard to believe they were still underground.
There were countless ways to describe it, but the sight immediately reminded Elbridge of a recent memory.
It resembles the arena used in the Grand Festival.
A hemispherical structure like the top half of a sphere had been sliced away. The spatial arrangement allowed everyone to look down at the center. Even the scale was similar.
The main difference was that, unlike the Grand Festival arena, the lighting focused exclusively on the central area.
And just as Marcus had said, not a single person was looking toward the entrance where the group had emerged. The mages hidden in darkness stared only at the brightly illuminated center.
“The space is wide. Plenty of places to hide. That’s fortunate.”
The group moved stealthily and settled into a corner unlikely to draw attention. Crouching like children playing hide-and-seek, they gazed down at the center just like the mages.
BOOM—
At the center of the space rested a blue sphere roughly twice the height of a person. Its surface rippled as if water flowed across it, and heavy chains wrapped around it tightly.
“What is that?” Patrick asked.
“A seal,” Millia answered.
“A seal?”
“Remember the barrier we saw on the way here? Think of this as an extremely amplified version of that. The chains binding it are also artifacts related to sealing.”
Millia shivered as she spoke.
“But the amount of magical power contained in that seal is overwhelming. It’s the strongest I’ve ever seen… That isn’t something one or two mages could create. Just what on earth did they seal?”
The quick-witted Marcus knew exactly who could answer that question. He glanced at Elbridge.
Elbridge spoke. “Are you familiar with demons?”
The reply came from Millia.
“Any mage would be. The old records kept in the Magic Tower contain countless concrete accounts confirming that demons truly existed.”
“Then do you know what role mages played in the war against them?”
“It varied. They supported the holy knights and regular knights of that era with every kind of magic imaginable.”
“If you had to name their single most important duty?”
Millia answered without hesitation. “Sealing. Demons aren’t beings that simply die or disappear.”
Elbridge jerked his chin toward the blue sphere at the center.
No explanation could have been clearer.
At that moment, a vibration pulsed from the blue sphere.
BOOM—
Patrick’s eyes widened. “El, have you ever seen a sealed demon before?”
“Once or twice.”
It was a rather curt answer, yet no one doubted him. A hired mercenary had no reason to lie to them, and Elbridge’s calm demeanor carried the quiet certainty of someone speaking the truth.
Marcus let out a small groan. “No wonder my dreams last night were complete garbage…”
“El, you’re saying there’s actually a demon inside that seal?” Millia asked.
Elbridge shrugged. “The seal is so powerful I can’t say for certain whether a demon is inside. But it is the strongest seal I have ever seen—at least several dozen times stronger than any other.”
That was precisely what struck Elbridge as strange. In the past, they had never needed a seal this powerful to contain demons. Not even when subduing and sealing a great demon.
BOOM—
Another vibration came from the seal.
BOOM— BOOM—
The intervals were growing shorter.
To Elbridge, the pulses felt like a heartbeat.
BOOM—
Then an elderly female mage stepped into the brightest part of the space—the very center. Her appearance was neat and composed. She looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies. Anyone could tell she held a high position.
“Is that the Tower Master?” Marcus muttered.
Millia shook her head. “No, that’s the Vice Tower Master. Though with an undertaking of this scale, it makes sense she would be involved…”
At that moment, the Vice Tower Master spoke.
“We shall now begin the seventh experiment. Proud mages of the Central Magic Tower, focus. For your honor, for the Magic Tower, and for the people of the entire world.”
BOOM—
She raised her staff and cried out, “In a place where the hand of God cannot reach, we open the way!”
Hundreds of mages hidden in darkness answered as one.
“We carve the answer upon the burning tablet.”
The Vice Tower Master shook her staff. The chains binding the seal unraveled.
BOOM—
She slowly retreated, chanting:
“Even the seed lodged in a cold stone crevice will one day sprout. What has been suppressed will yearn for freedom. The chains shall rust, the seal shall fade. Just as light erases shadow, memory too shall melt the seal…”
Like loosening a tangled thread, strands of energy began to unravel from the seal and vanish into the air. The rate of release accelerated, growing frighteningly fast.
BOOM— BOOM—
As the thick layers of the seal peeled away, what had been trapped inside finally revealed itself.
But its form was nothing like what the three employers or Marcus had imagined.
Marcus muttered, “That doesn’t look much like the demon we saw in the mountain city…”
What emerged was the figure of a woman.
A pure-white female form roughly one-and-a-half times larger than an ordinary human. Her garments were long and ethereal, and cloth covered both eyes. She held a water jug in her hands, while her legs were buried in the rock. The texture of her snow-white skin resembled white stone more than human flesh.
The atmosphere felt slightly strange, but she did not appear threatening.
Yet Elbridge was certain. Demons possessed a unique, indescribable aura. His skin prickled. After two hundred years, hatred and rage boiled up from the depths of his chest.
Elbridge desired peace more earnestly than anyone, yet he also needed an outlet for his fury.
Watching him from the shadows, Marcus felt a distinct sense of unease. The Elbridge he had known until now was a kind young man who sometimes seemed resourceful, sometimes clumsy—an ordinary person except for his extraordinary skill.
But the man before him now was different.
He looks less like a legendary holy knight and more like…
Suppressing the seething emotion within him, Elbridge quietly prayed.
“Goddess. Please allow me to carve out that demon’s rotten heart.”
Elbridge. Your goddess wishes for her only paladin to bravely defeat the demon. Yet at the same time, she hopes you will not hate it…
Elbridge did not fully understand the meaning behind the oracle.
And at that moment, the seal was completely undone.
BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—
The white woman opened her eyes. Even though cloth still covered them, everyone knew.
She did not charge at the mages or scream. She simply tilted the jug in her hands slightly, moistening the ground.
In an instant, small green sprouts burst forth. Yet still seemingly unsatisfied, the white woman continued slowly sprinkling water, coaxing more and more sprouts to bloom.
BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—
The Vice Tower Master declared, “Begin.”
Together with her command, every mage watching the white woman from the darkness began to chant.
With a vast collective murmur, dozens upon dozens of magical nets appeared and wrapped around the white woman. Only then did Elbridge understand what kind of experiment the mages were conducting.
In the wars against demons long ago, mages had been limited to support and sealing. They had helped holy knights and regular knights subdue the demons, then sealed the defeated creatures afterward.
But now, these mages were attempting to seal an unsealed demon using only their own power.
Even if it succeeded, it was hardly an efficient tactic. Still, the difference between inefficient and impossible was absolute.
This experiment might completely reshape the standing of the Magic Tower and its mages in the turbulent era to come.
If knights and holy knights were the protagonists of the last war, perhaps mages will be the protagonists of the next.
As long as they could win, it didn’t matter to Elbridge who held the initiative.
He stood quietly in the darkness, hoping the mages’ experiment would succeed.
The sealing magic drifted toward the demon like spider silk caught in the wind, layering over it. New seals stacked upon older ones. The demon’s movements were instantly restricted. Water no longer flowed from its jug, and the constant rumbling began to subside.
Mitchell whispered, “Looks like it worked. Let’s slip out before it’s too late.”
At that exact moment, one of the flower buds at the demon’s feet burst open.
Pop.
Invisible, minuscule grains of pollen scattered into the air.
One of those countless particles slipped into the nose of the nearest mage.
The mage, utterly focused on maintaining his spell, didn’t notice what had happened.
Then he felt a foreign sensation in his nose.
The mucous membrane swelled at an explosive rate. The membrane and nasal skin could not withstand the sudden expansion and tore. Fresh flesh rose through the wounds. That new flesh and surrounding skin swelled again, tearing once more. And again, new flesh surged upward.
The regeneration was so rapid that to ordinary eyes it looked as though the man was suddenly being devoured by his own growing tissue.
The newly grown flesh sealed his nose and mouth shut.
The mage clutched at his throat with an arm that had begun to deform grotesquely, then collapsed with a heavy thud.
His writhing movements stilled.
A tiny sprout pushed through his skin.
“...”
No one screamed. This was the seventh time the experiment had been conducted, and there had already been multiple victims.
Yet a silent wave of panic spread through the chamber.
That panic shattered their composure. Magic without composure could not remain firm.
BOOM—
The shaking returned.
Every mage instinctively understood.
This experiment would end in one of two ways: they would succeed in sealing the demon after paying a heavy price, or they would fail and all die.
Sring.
The faint sound of a blade being drawn rang out.
Elbridge, sword already in hand, spoke quietly.
“Mitchell, Millia, Patrick. Cover your noses and mouths and escape immediately.”
Marcus subtly made his presence known, waiting for Elbridge to include him in the order to flee.
But Elbridge did not call his name.
“...”
Marcus stared at him, feeling oddly slighted.
And he thought that, since the day they first met, he had never seen Elbridge wear such a vividly alive expression before.