The Iron Magic Tower's Negotiations
The Iron Magic Tower's meeting room.
It was the venue where negotiations with the Boulian Republic would unfold.
The air felt as cold as the tower's name implied, yet solid and unyielding, like forged steel.
Moreover, countless steel-made display pieces stood as silent guardians—every single one an Night Armor.
“……When did those change?”
“Dam did it.”
Of course, Tower Lord Beldora looked visibly startled, but the words left her lips anyway.
It had been crafted to blend perfectly with the tower’s solemn vibe, yet under the hand of a mad artistic genius, it had been reborn in all its terrifying glory.
“T-this is… actually better than I thought.”
“Same here. I left them right where they were.”
Placing a full-sized Night Armor model right in the center of the room was the ultimate psychological pressure tactic.
Soldiers of the enemy nation wearing that very armor would be committing the most heinous crime imaginable.
On the negotiation table sat three representatives from each side.
The Iron Magic Tower side consisted of Tower Lord Beldora, Tower Guardian Theodore, and Apprentice Mage Lee Dam.
Across from them sat Senator Fontaine Hagbris, Major Jennifer Iba serving as aide, and a single woman who appeared to be the scribe.
With a long table between them, both sides took their seats and the battle of etiquette began.
“Huh? You’re here too?”
Dam had been the first to meet Fontaine, and it showed in the way the senator smiled gently while pointing at her.
“Yes, Dam is the talent who stands at the very beginning and end of the Night Armor project.”
“Oh? Is that so? Haha, truly remarkable. I heard that beauty has talent in every field, and it seems those words are meant for you, Miss Dam.”
‘What the hell is this guy on about?’
Major Jennifer Iba, who had already been briefed on everything beforehand, looked utterly bewildered.
Why drag Dam’s name back into it when the details were already covered?
Iba decided to treat the senator’s little act as a “Dam-special strategy.”
Dam was an absolute wild card, so Iba figured he was trying to read the temperature with heavy praise.
“Thank you.”
“……?!”
Only Iba had met Dam first, and the stern major couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes.
Her own reflection was staring back at her, yet the woman before her looked completely different.
Delicate mannerisms, graceful posture, and a soft smile directed at the opponent that sent even women’s hearts fluttering.
Once beauty was the weapon, even the smallest actions carried weight.
There was a brief moment of awkwardness, but negotiations nevertheless continued.
“May I hear your terms first? I’ll try to match the tower’s conditions as closely as possible.”
Senator Fontaine’s smile was relaxed, almost compassionate.
Beldora recited the carefully prepared offers.
“Looking at it broadly, there are three points: iron ore supply, research subsidies—”
She had brought the obvious things in an obvious way.
Senator Fontaine nearly yawned at the boredom of it all, yet—”
“And the dispatch of support personnel.”
“……!”
His expression twitched at the final statement.
“Dispatch of personnel? You want our troops in a closed-off, conservative tower?”
Beldora nodded calmly at the question.
“That’s right. We need them.”
“Night Armor we produced is going to be researched with extreme precision. For rapid commercialization, we require real-world experience from Republic soldiers.”
“Hmm.”
That part felt off.
Fontaine grinned and slid a paper across the table, scrawling support amounts and ore volumes openly.
“This is…”
“Hmph.”
Beldora and Theodore’s faces turned grim.
The Boulian Republic’s proposal fell far short of their expectations.
Three nations in a chicken game, and suddenly the Iron Tower was the one being pressured?
“Our viewpoints differ quite sharply.”
Beldora casually slid the contract terms toward him.
Fontaine answered without changing expression, silky as ever.
“I believe this is sufficient.”
“Very well. Now, let me present the Republic’s additional conditions.”
It was hard to deny that the proposed support volume was on the light side.
Yet the Republic could afford such boldness because they were offering something no other nation could—
“To be honest, I always thought that even if we develop and produce Night Armor, only a small number of people will ever enjoy it.”
“……”
“Isn’t that true? From what I know, Night Armor starts from a completely different iron-manufacturing process. It takes a long time to extract high-purity iron, but the quality and performance are superior.”
Light yet unbreakable.
But the time it took was immense.
That was unavoidable.
Still, Dam had installed massive smelters from the start, ensuring massive production runs.
Even that wouldn’t be enough once mass production began.
“Wizards, you must be cautious. This is a contract. The moment you accept support from each nation, you will sense something is wrong.”
Negotiators were never expected to accept words at face value.
Yet Fontaine’s worried, aunt-like tone somehow felt strangely reassuring.
“Receiving large quantities of supplies means you must deliver the same.”
“But Night Armor begins with the iron itself, which already takes time.”
The post-processing would be no different.
Even mages could wield magic; that didn’t make armor production easy.
From comfort to every detail demanded by Dam, time was required on every front.
“The tower is one of autonomy, is it not? You have achieved great progress, yet you risk being swallowed by it.”
“Swallowed……”
Beldora muttered unconsciously.
Mages of the tower had always grown through autonomous research and achievements.
This year’s brilliant results would look ordinary in a few years’ time.
Technology gaps widened every year, and the Iron Tower had led this year thanks to Dam.
“Other towers will progress gradually through autonomous, innovative thinking. But the Iron Tower cannot.”
Why? Because they had to produce Night Armor.
Countless supports would eventually chain them into a factory that could only churn out that single mecha.
“Then you won’t be mages anymore. Just factory workers.”
And the Iron Tower, if it fell behind, would be irretrievably left in the dust.
Even one or two years of stagnation would make closing the gap with other towers nearly impossible.
‘Hmm.’
Dam listened quietly.
Because every word was true.
‘Navi sounded exactly like this.’
Once upon a time in South Korea, there had been a navigation boom.
Revolutionary route guidance that made driving so much easier.
Factories scrambled to keep up with production quotas, navigation companies grinned and ran wild—
Yet only a few years later, smartphone built-in navigation killed them off.
‘Not innovative anymore.’
Night Armor was innovative now.
It would still be in a year.
But in two? Three? Four?
Eventually it would just become another thing.
And when that day came, would the Iron Tower still be able to keep up with the others’ progress while drowning in Night Armor production for two years?
Fontaine had struck straight at the heart of the matter.
“So please entrust it to us.”
That was why the senator smiled radiantly as he accepted the burden.
“We will mass-produce Night Armor through factories. Honestly, I think the expected performance is a bit too high.”
“In battle, more elite soldiers are far more efficient than a single hero.”
“What is our Republic’s greatest advantage? Mass production through factories! We’ll lower the quality just a little, lighten your burden, and produce in volume!”
Then the tower wouldn’t be forced to rely on Night Armor at all.
And they wouldn’t have to worry about over-specing right now.
The lighter support would actually be a relief for the tower.
They wouldn’t be dragged down begging for help with Night Armor.
“……”
“……”
Beldora and Theodore’s mouths remained shut tight.
Fontaine had struck without warning.
‘Obvious.’
His smile looked warm, yet he clearly believed he had already won.
Mages were creatures obsessed with autonomous growth.
Locked away in towers, they spent every day researching magic.
Tell such people they would suddenly lose that freedom and be forced to produce the same thing for years on end—
‘They would never accept it.’
He had stuffed giants into boxes.
The discomfort would be unbearable.
‘Just like the mages who only ever do magic in the tower—easy to fry.’
Fontaine was about to drive the final nail when Dam spoke up.
“The production period will be shortened.”
The woman with sky-blue hair had opened her mouth.
A woman who lived as if toppling the board was her specialty.
When Dam stepped in, a faint shadow lifted from the faces of the other two mages.
Hope shone in their eyes as they glanced at her.
“……You say the production period will be shortened?”
“Yes. The period will be reduced. The iron-manufacturing process will also be far faster. We’ve only been slow because we’ve only just settled in.”
“……”
It was quiet.
Calm.
No trace of the madness she was known for.
Fontaine calmly countered.
“That would be good, but if the process becomes simpler, you will still be too deeply immersed in Night Armor, threatening the tower’s own growth and autonomy—”
“That is our tower’s concern.”
“……”
“Senator, you spoke of lowering quality for mass production through factories, but the Iron Tower will not denigrate the Night Armor we created under our name as cheap goods.”
‘What?’
Fontaine was completely at a loss.
Could they really speed up iron production beyond the current rate?
Could they guarantee each mage’s autonomy while producing Night Armor?
Could they simply act in the moment?
‘Is there a solution? What the hell is going on in her head?’
The woman with sky-blue hair.
Soft smile, sparkling eyes.
“……!”
The moment their eyes met, a single bead of sweat rolled down Fontaine’s forehead.
A fragment of madness.
The true meaning hidden behind the crazed gaze.
He had glimpsed it.
‘Impossible… there’s no way.’
Fontaine was certain.
‘There can’t be a solution.’
The woman in front of him was bluffing.
Plain lies.
Why?
Why?
He had clearly suggested the best direction for the tower.
Yet she was rejecting the proposal that also served the tower’s future.
Fontaine couldn’t reach that far, and the woman he had been eyeing like forbidden fruit suddenly felt even more dangerous, making his heart race.
While the senator sat frozen beneath the table, Dam smiled and thought to herself.
‘There is no solution.’
Iron?
It was already impossible to reduce production speed any further.
Autonomy?
Even just making iron right now was exhausting the mages.
Obsolete tower?
Wanting to stay exactly the same as the others after two years of producing nothing but Night Armor?
Yet the reason Dam wanted to kill this contract was simple.
‘We’re going to be swallowed.’
By it.
By us.
Once we fall into the swamp of Night Armor.
Once we fight tooth and nail here, we will only ever look at Night Armor.
‘Until the very end, we will only ever make Night Armor. Even when we die, even when the entire tower is consumed by madness over it!’
The few navigation companies that survived the smartphone revolution had twisted their bodies in every possible way.
They switched to completely different displays or attached navigation to the vehicles themselves.
The Iron Tower would do the same.
Swallowed.
Obsolete.
Cornered.
Until there was no other way—
Everyone would cling to it with their lives.
The crazed glint in Dam’s eyes flickered calmly, curved like a moon.