Two Factions
Thud, thud, thud.
Theodore's forehead gleamed with beads of sweat as he hurried. His steps were only slightly faster than usual, but given his strict sense of discipline, this was already a major deviation.
Knock, knock.
The knock on the Tower Master's office was one more than usual.
Theodore's unease showed in every line of his face, yet the Tower Master, Beldora, had not yet noticed. She sat slumped in her chair, idly twirling her staff in the empty air.
Lee Dam had left, and the declaration that the furnace would become a shared asset of all the towers had drained her of energy. It sounded good in words—shared property—but in reality, it meant they were simply being robbed of what they already owned.
Nothing more, nothing less.
From the Iron Magic Tower's perspective, this was a declaration of war, yet thanks to Lee Dam's chaos, the tower had no voice left to speak.
In the end, they had lost a furnace they had only barely put into use after a full year—and without even having properly resisted.
It was almost strange that Beldora's face carried no trace of worry.
“Tower Master…”
Theodore stood before her, clutching news he couldn't quite decide whether to laugh or cry about.
Seeing his expression, Beldora let out a soft sigh. Clearly, the news could not be good.
“Why now? I'm already depressed, and you want to join in too?”
“It's… the furnace-”
“The furnace? What?! Has the Archmage already sent people? This is infuriating! The meeting hasn't even started yet-!”
“Ah, no. That's not it.”
“Then why?”
Beldora sighed again as she studied Theodore's anxious face. She wondered if anything more hopeless could possibly unfold here.
“The furnace's temperature has been dropping for several days.”
Theodore's words made Beldora pause for a moment.
The furnace's temperature was dropping?
“…What does that mean? Just summon the Fire Magic Tower again, right?”
They weren't savages.
Even if rain had put out the fire, that wasn't an excuse to weep.
Beldora grumbled at Theodore for bringing up pointless matters, but she had forgotten the one crucial detail: Theodore never brought pointless concerns to her.
“Correct. That's why I summoned the Fire Magic Tower mages today and requested they relight the furnace.”
“…But?”
Only now realizing the full implication, Beldora asked with growing unease.
“It… is impossible.”
Impossible?
What exactly?
Relighting the fire?
“That can't be. If they can't relight it, then why are they the Fire Magic Tower? They have the name, but no fire to burn?”
It sounded no different from the Iron Magic Tower being unable to handle iron.
Theodore's face was far too serious for such a trivial issue.
“Correct. I argued with them, but they said they would rather die than try…”
“Hah, so that's why you came to me. You wanted to see Chiron yourself.”
“Yes, that's right.”
It seemed necessary to speak directly with the Fire Magic Tower Master.
“Good. Let's go.”
Beldora rose from her seat without hesitation. A faint thought crossed her mind: perhaps she had been waiting for such a time.
A moment when she could vent her anger at someone without restraint.
It might look vulgar and trashy on the surface, yet people needed such moments.
The instant they became the one-sided victim and could finally vent their rage without reason.
“Chiron is dead.”
With the firm belief that she would never forgive him until she saw the fire she herself had kindled, Beldora rolled up her sleeves.
Everseam, the capital of the Boulian Republic.
A grand metropolis.
Honestly, calling the city a living machine suited it better than calling it a city.
Complex steam pipes and gears clattered and hissed along every street.
Through the drifting steam, citizens quietly began their days.
And at one end of the city stood a colossal, thick building.
Known as the machine's palace, it served as the venue for the Republic's senate business and council meetings.
Behind the largest desk sat Senator Fontaine Hagbris, feeling that something was going wrong.
“…Why so late?”
The prisoner he had summoned from the towers had arrived too late.
A delightful personal failing—and something he wanted to drag her to his bed and corrupt into his woman as soon as possible.
Even late was too late.
“Damn it! You better not have touched her! Fucking lunatics!”
Crash!
Fontaine slammed his fist on the desk.
His secretary startled and immediately lowered his head before leaving the room.
Better not be noticed here and risk being killed for some mishap.
“I clearly told you to bring her intact… if any single hair of hers is damaged, I'll summon your entire family and skin you alive.”
Fontaine regretted that he hadn't gone himself if this was the outcome.
“S-Senator.”
The secretary, who had gone out earlier, returned cautiously and opened the door again.
“Why?!”
“Hee-hee! I-It's Captain Iva, Senator! He has arrived regarding the prisoner escort-”
“Let him in!”
The timing was perfect.
Before the sentence was even finished, Fontaine invited Captain Iva in.
Captain Iva entered neatly and saluted. It took mere seconds, yet Fontaine found even that unbearably slow.
“All escort members, including Lieutenant Maltin, are presumed dead.”
“…What? Presumed dead?”
The news was too sudden.
Just moments ago Fontaine had been cursing about skinning them alive, and now they were all dead?
“When the investigators arrived, the escort wagon had already burned to the ground near Copper Valley. The ground showed no wheel tracks, so they wouldn't have even known it was a wagon.”
“That badly damaged?”
“Yes, that's correct. The investigators found that the prisoner is in Copper Valley.”
“…!”
She was the one who killed them?
But she couldn't use magic, could she?
“What does it matter.”
No, it did matter.
“As for the burial of the fallen soldiers-”
“That doesn't matter right now, you idiot!”
“…”
Captain Iva's eyes widened briefly before returning to normal.
“Go! We have to capture the prisoner! Fallen?! First we have to catch the suspect! Why weren't the investigators brought?!”
Captain Iva continued with his report, voice steadier now.
“The cuffs are broken. Therefore, additional restraints and personal security-”
“Too late! Do you think the tower people will move that fast? They've already transferred everything to us and are probably waiting for us to act!”
“…”
“Move, Captain Iva! Go capture her alive! She must remain alive!”
Fontaine clicked his tongue and added, “Half a limb or so would be fine.”
“…”
Captain Iva stayed silent for a moment before speaking. He had a mountain of things he wanted to say, but he swallowed them all and simply saluted.
“Understood.”
The Seong-un cult had multiple branches.
They lived in the shadows, dreaming of the revival of the evil gods.
The steam and gears of Everseam suited them perfectly for hiding.
And among them lived a figure powerful enough to be called a colossal entity.
His home was the headquarters of Bishop Camael, who was gathering many followers of the “Black Sun Astraziel” even within the cult.
“…The Saintess is in Copper Valley?”
Lee Dam's sudden runaway and escape had been a variable for Senator Fontaine, but it had thrown the entire Seong-un operation into disarray as well.
“Yes, that's what I heard directly. Captain Iva led his troops toward Copper Valley to arrest the Saintess.”
A woman serving as Fontaine's secretary and the cult's front woman whispered secretly.
Camael sighed deeply, his face full of worry.
Even as Seong-un, they did not wish to confront the Republic's soldiers head-on and expose themselves.
“We must rescue the Saintess quickly.”
“I know, but—”
The secretary spoke urgently.
“I've seen Fontaine's madness firsthand. That bastard wants to turn the Saintess into his personal plaything!”
“…”
“The Saintess belongs to Astraziel-sama!”
At the secretary's shout, Camael exhaled slowly.
That was true.
They could not simply hand the Saintess over to this madman of the Republic.
“We are prepared to move as well. Our destination is Copper Valley. We will go to rescue the Saintess.”
Several days had passed in Copper Valley.
Lee Dam yawned as she sat up from the bed. On the nearby table sat the models she had personally crafted.
She had used iron, but it wasn't plastic, so what did it matter?
The engineers and technicians of Copper Valley had praised it as an incredibly beautiful design that could ignite fire in a man's chest.
“What time is it now?”
Lee Dam asked with another yawn. The captured fairy, with a sour expression from having been drunk earlier, grumbled back.
“Ten o'clock. It's lightly raining. Bring an umbrella.”
“Loosen up. Use a bright voice.”
“Ten o'clock! It's raining! Bring an umbrella so your head doesn't get wet and stay safe!”
Looking at the smiling fairy, Lee Dam nodded in satisfaction.