Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Baldur's Nightmare (3)
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"We don't know either. One day, they were just there at the village entrance... At first, we naturally thought they were from Baldur's Nightmare."
"P-please, forgive us! We absolutely weren't worshiping demons or researching black magic! Please, spare our lives at least...!"
Mareil's memo ended right there. It only mentioned that these demon god statues were widespread in the area and that the phenomenon had started relatively recently.
Goliath's intelligence network was incomparable to someone like me. He must have ordered Liv to leave for Pharenchia in a hurry before any deeper investigation could begin.
Should I not have crushed their spines? If I'd just let them off lightly, I might have gotten more info on these demon god statues by now.
"Nah, it's fine."
It was all in the past anyway. There might even be Iron Hounds dispatched to the Batudis region separately from her, so I decided to just focus on my own job.
I grilled the villagers about the origin of the demon god statues, but there were no real leads.
The slightly unusual part was that this method wasn't the usual way to cultivate traitors who swore loyalty to demons or slaves to black magic.
The most typical examples were Baragal's necromancers and the witches of the Black Night.
They usually infiltrate remote villages suffering from famine, healing the sick or spreading their doctrines.
As the brainwashing progresses bit by bit, they introduce customs like human sacrifice or cannibalism to sow chaos and unleash local epidemics.
Finally, they perform rituals in the village graveyard to summon Helzev's demonic beasts and raise the dead to form an army of undeath.
Demon god statues were sometimes used for such preliminary work, but this case was different.
The village wasn't just peaceful—it was thriving economically from trading goods seemingly brought in through illusions.
Above all, they would never go so far as to cast illusion magic on the statues' exteriors to disguise them as goddess figures so no one would feel repulsed.
What I'd destroyed was merely the shell covering the outside. The statues themselves weren't cursed or infused with black magic.
'So the goal is simply to spread these statues across the entire Batudis region...'
That was where my investigation hit a wall.
Honestly, getting this far was worthy of self-praise.
I'm neither a hero adventurer nor a scholar. I can't unravel the truth with brilliant deduction, nor can I open a status window to uncover the statues' hidden secrets.
So what now?
Everything has a cause and effect.
If someone dives naked into shark-infested waters to go surfing, it'd be a given that they'd film a blockbuster ocean horror trilogy that devours the world that day.
The blonde punk friend Liv-streaming might scream and run as he watches his lover pour red paint into the sea, painting a pretty watercolor.
The finale would wrap up with the lone surviving heroine firing a flare at rescuers while holding the harpoon that slew the sharks.
A clichéd story anyone could think up.
But if a billionaire in an iron suit joins the mix, it's different. Even great whites or mosasaurs floating in the sea would be torn apart like an underground bunker hit by a bunker buster—at the snap of his ex-wife's fingers.
And I've already got a track record of smashing three magic towers.
"What a shame..."
I should've come to Batudis back then. Skipping it because the weather sucked was my mistake. Better late than never.
I started slowly running toward the source of the nightmare where the villagers said they'd moved the demon god statues.
In the face of overwhelming power, magic meant little.
"Listen, Liv. The Shrine of Storms? It was seriously amazing."
Was it the intimidating name? The second-years, who had been terrified of Baldur's Nightmare, came back from the shrine one group at a time, unable to stop praising it.
Lucky Karen, who got to go first, sparkled with excitement and chattered nonstop about the principles of magic she'd grasped, right up until bedtime.
"It's not just throwing yourself into echoes of the past. How to explain it... it's hard, but like, sound is invisible, right? But in Baldur's Nightmare, you can interpret rituals in the split dimensions through polarized multifaceted vision! I sneaked a peek at the academic presentation from the Megrez Magic Tower's 13th regular conference venue..."
Please. I don't really want to hear it.
Liv turned over in bed, pulling the blanket covering her lower abdomen all the way up to her neck.
It was the first time the mage Liv couldn't focus on magic. Even here at the magic tower, full of learning opportunities, her mind was filled only with Louis, Louis, Louis.
Her superior was sick, and the bud of a flower just starting to bloom was withering without water.
Rather than redirecting all that longing into magic—
—Teacher and I love each other, so why are you butting in?
Liv just wanted to look away from all reality.
"Liv?"
"No, keep talking."
"Anyway, there's this huge hole-like thing in front of the shrine? Apparently it's the gate to the nightmare. They can't eliminate the weather phenomenon itself, but the tower's control department can adjust the concentration of demonic energy to some extent. Even with warnings, the two who went with me couldn't escape on their own. The vice tower lord had to reach in and pull them out."
Fair enough. Illusions can be so sweet—
Listening to her friend's story about how it felt like a dream, Liv tried to fall asleep.
The next day.
The magic tower's atmosphere had grown quite hectic. Liv sensed the bustle even in the corridor heading to the dining hall for breakfast.
Professor Vincent and the other students seemed the same, as he grabbed a passing apprentice and asked,
"Is something wrong?"
"Oh, yes? No, nothing at all. An announcement from upper management will come shortly, so students please gather in the lecture halls as per your schedules today."
WEE-OO-WEE-OO—!!
No sooner had he spoken than a siren blared from the top of the magic tower. The alarm signaling that Baldur's Nightmare was worsening, which rang several times a day.
A few second-years who had heard it for days frowned, but that was it. It was the only way to keep the residents outside the tower from being drawn into the nightmare.
WEE-OO-WEE—cut.
But Liv sensed something off. Probably everyone else did too.
The alarm, which should have blared for a while before stopping, cut off abruptly.
Tilting her head as she ate, she realized this had been happening since dawn.
'Did the alarm system break?'
She could only make shallow guesses while spooning soup into her mouth. Even the professor noticed Liv's reduced appetite.
"Liv Lavre. No appetite this morning?"
"Pardon? Oh, Professor. I'm fine."
"You look exhausted. The magic tower is an unfamiliar environment at first, and it's always bustling. If you're unwell, rest in your room."
"Thank you for your concern. I can attend classes."
"I see."
Paradoxically, Professor Vincent, who was worried about Liv, looked even darker. Specializing in orthodox elemental magic, he just couldn't get along with Peckda's temperament of handling invisible illusions.
Still fulfilling his role as chaperone, he handed her an access card to the magic tower and said,
"It's your regular check-in. 2 PM is your slot, so head to the room number on the card without being late."
"Understood... Huh? Professor."
"What is it?"
"The location here... it's the upper floors of the magic tower."
Typically, the lower floors housed most apprentices and recent graduates who had just entered the tower.
The lower levels were always swarming with people, while the middle floors had esteemed mages and scholars mentoring their disciples in personal research.
The upper floors were restricted to the tower lord, vice tower lord, and their direct disciples. Naturally, all academy students' interviews were held in reception rooms on the lower floors.
"Hm, I just passed on what I received. It might be due to your grades."
"My grades..."
"Yes. It's rare for the class top spot to go to Peckda instead of Dubhe or Mizar."
Both towers mentioned were top-tier in academic prestige.
Maybe that's why Professor Vincent's gaze toward Liv, who hadn't chosen Dubhe Tower, felt a bit sharp. Or perhaps because she was a mere baron's daughter, risen from commoner roots.
"Don't tarnish the academy's dignity. Don't be late."
"...Understood."
With a heavy heart, Liv nodded and tucked the card into her bag.
WEE-OO-WEE-OO—cut.
"Phew, that noisy thing finally stopped."
I lightly pulled my fist from the devastated ground, now a muddy mess. The massive debris and few corpses scattered around dissolved into gray mist and vanished.
Amid the barren land where everything had turned to ash, one demon god statue remained solitary.
I snapped it in half effortlessly.
"Seems like they're appearing in somewhat predictable spots..."
The three Moirae sisters said the demon god statues were markers.
If they served as signposts or catalysts for some magic, their arrangement would follow a certain pattern.
But without a map, I couldn't track my path. I was just circling the blaring magic tower, smashing every nightmare that popped up.
Every third time a nightmare was destroyed and the alarm stopped, I'd find a demon god statue left behind by villagers.
Whatever they were planning, smashing all the statues here would draw them out eventually.
Until then, I'd just have to run around on foot, annoying as it was.
Clank!
This time, a small building that looked like a relay station (??) appeared, along with an attached stable. No pasture for feeding horses existed here, so it was another illusion.
Without hesitation, I opened the door and raised my fist.
"Who are you?"
"I've come bearing good tidings."
BOOM—!!