Land of Darkness?
“No, Rachel! What on earth is this about?”
Not exactly in cahoots, but the Wind Tower and the territory office had never been outright enemies. Until now. So Elvin couldn't help but freeze at Rachel's unprecedented hostility, something he'd never experienced before.
'Damn territory office bastards. They've gotten too comfortable.'
But Elvin was a seasoned 4th Circle mage. His past experience naturally guided him on how to navigate this mess.
He grabbed her hand firmly!
“Haha, looks like we've upset you lately? This could've been settled with a simple talk.”
“……?”
Rachel realized that a pouch containing 10 gold had somehow been slipped into her hand alongside Elvin's handshake. But just as Elvin was a crafty mage, Rachel was a 6th-grade territory office clerk who'd clawed her way up from the hellish 9th grade. She weighed the pouch for a moment before slapping it away without hesitation.
“Ah…… No? What the hell? What's the problem here?”
At Elvin's shocked question, Rachel didn't blink as she jerked her chin toward the other territory office staff.
Thud— Thud—
Then the 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade clerks, wearing insulated gloves, pulled out writhing eels pulsing with blue energy from their subspace pouches.
'Eelgrass? Is that bitch insane?'
Eelgrass was a restraint rope for capturing people. If the bound victim struggled or exerted force to break free, it delivered a nasty shock. Elvin grasped the gravity of the situation. And to make matters worse, Tower Master Servius was away.
His only option left was to stall for time.
“What the hell do you think you're doing? Where's your superior? Rachel, what authority do you have to hold an inquiry?”
Elvin dropped his facade too. No point in playing blind man's bluff now.
“How amusing. Questioning a territory office clerk's authority?”
But Rachel's face remained her usual mechanical mask, even under Elvin's outburst. Only the faintest twitch at one corner of her mouth betrayed her—too subtle for anyone to notice.
“Thanks to a certain magic tower in the Frederik Dungeon Zone, our 1st- through 5th-grade clerks who got mercury poisoning are all undergoing detox now. That's why a mere 6th-grader like me got full authority delegated to her. Might even get a promotion out of this.”
“Th-that was from the Tower of Exploration—”
“Hmm? Something going on?”
Elvin tried to protest, but just then, Tower Master Owen of the Tower of Exploration descended to the first floor with his disciples.
'Damn it, of all times for Servius to be away...'
Owen was a guest, but still a tower master. No matter how bold Elvin was, he couldn't outright accuse Owen of causing the mercury poisoning in front of him. All magic towers were under the Sky Tower's tight control, after all.
“……We greet the great Tower Master of the Tower of Exploration.”
“We greet the great Tower Master of the Tower of Exploration.”
Elvin and Rachel offered cursory bows to Owen.
“I heard a commotion. Aren't you territory office folks? What brings you here?”
“We're here for the dungeon disease incident inquiry. And then……”
Rachel glanced at the pouches scattered on the floor, and Owen smirked as if he understood.
“Ah, a misunderstanding, I see? With Servius away, why don't you discuss the inquiry with me instead?”
Owen flicked his fingers like painting in the air, and the floating pouches drifted back to Elvin's hand.
“Owen, sir, this is a Wind Tower matter—”
“No need to be burdened, Elvin. Just a senior offering a little help, that's all. Now, let's get this inquiry started instead of standing around.”
Before Elvin could respond, Owen spread his empty hand wide, then yanked his twitching fingers inward like a puppeteer.
Creak— Creeeak—
At his rhythmic gestures, chairs meant for patients rearranged themselves neatly in front of the territory office staff and behind Owen.
“Have a seat and let's talk.”
Owen sat casually, seizing control of the conversation. Meanwhile, no chairs appeared for Elvin or the Wind Tower mages—the host and guest roles had flipped in an instant.
Elvin could do nothing in this situation. At least he hadn't been hauled off for bribery yet. Clutching his pouch so hard it crinkled, he barely suppressed his rage.
“This incident originated at the Wind Tower, but we need to speak with you too, Owen. Please both sit.”
At Rachel's gesture, the clerks stowed their eelgrass and took seats. Elvin let out a faint groan, irritably dragging an empty chair to his spot.
“Given the time, we'll proceed with the inquiry now.”
Rachel crossed her legs, flipping through a thick stack of documents as she continued.
“Owen, Elvin, and all you mages here know this well. A dungeon disease—dubbed 'syphilis'—that hadn't appeared in decades broke out only in the Frederik Dungeon Zone.”
Dungeon diseases were mysterious plagues of unknown origin. They were named as such because adventurers occasionally brought back new illnesses from unexplored dungeon layers.
“And here's the odd part. As of Ailene Year 562, the deepest cleared floor in the Frederik Dungeon is still 19—no progress in nearly a decade. So where the hell did this disease come from?”
Owen twirled his upturned mustache at Rachel's sharp gaze.
“Hmm, who knows? Even if 19 is the bottom, new uncharted areas or monsters could appear. The pathogen might've spread from there.”
“No such reports. Guild request logs show no one even reached 19 recently.”
Owen remained relaxed despite Rachel's crisp retort over the rustling papers.
“Well? There might be independents like that spendthrift who don't take guild requests.”
“Spendthrift…… You mean Devil's Cry?”
Owen nodded with a light smile at Rachel's question.
“Exactly. Ten years ago, that monster solo-cleared the deepest dungeon on the continent. Maybe someone like him explored without guild notice and spread the disease.”
“Does that even make sense? Some phantom shows up in this backwater, unleashes a plague, and vanishes?”
Owen just shrugged at Rachel's piercing stare.
“Just a possibility. Isn't that what an inquiry is? Chasing shadows.”
“Sounds like zero possibility. No word of Devil's Cry anywhere near the empire's frontier.”
“Hmm…… So what are you implying? That the Wind Tower's responsible?”
“Tower Master!”
Elvin exploded at Owen smoothly shifting blame to the Wind Tower instead.
“Heh, isn't the blame on the Tower of Exploration, not Wind?”
“Tower Master!”
The massive gates of the tower creaked open. Elvin shot up joyfully at the sight of Wind Tower Master Servius entering.
“……What?”
But his joy turned to shock at the men following Servius—faces he hadn't expected at all.
* * *
“Hello, everyone? Looks like you're all gathered here.”
“What brings the Beauty Tower Master…… here?”
Elvin shot me a sharp, quizzical glare. No wonder—he never imagined I'd join the inquiry.
“No need for those shocked eyes. I ran into Servius at the door. Anyway, Walter, mind grabbing me a chair?”
“Yes, Director.”
“Thanks.”
Unlike Servius, who floated a chair next to Elvin, I sat at a distance from both the mages and territory office folks—forming a Bermuda Triangle setup.
Time for the real talk. Until at least one of them vanished from this triangle.
“I'm here for the same reason. To join the inquiry. Right, Rachel?”
“……Everyone's here. Let's begin.”
Rachel, who owed me 100 gold in treatment fees, hurriedly averted her gaze from my intense stare and steered the conversation.
“We summoned the Beauty Tower Master because we need to discuss the dungeon disease outbreak, the secondary damages from the so-called 'mercury treatment,' and compensation for victims.”
“Compensation? What the—!”
“Sit down, Elvin.”
Elvin lurched to his feet at Rachel's words, but Servius raised a hand to silence him.
“Speak.”
Rachel nodded briefly at Servius's curt command and continued.
“If this dungeon disease came from inside the dungeon like past ones, we wouldn't be talking compensation. But the investigation revealed something peculiar.”
She pointed to a section in her fanned-out documents, and another clerk pulled out a crystal orb, scanning it like a projector. The orb beamed an enlarged projection into the air. Owen's face twisted as he eyed the data.
“What is this? Digging into my background?”
“Research for the inquiry, please understand. First, Tower Master Owen of the Tower of Exploration arrived in Frederik on August 16—two weeks before the Wind Tower's symposium on the 31st. Correct?”
“So what? Other mages arrive a week early too. I just came a bit sooner.”
A cold smile crept onto Rachel's lips at Owen's gruff defense.
“No issue there. But right after your arrival, cinnabar trades spiked in Frederik. As if someone prepared in advance. Check the dates and logs—”
Bang!
“You saying I knew the disease was coming and prepared?”
Owen kicked the floor hard, shooting up before Rachel finished.
Cinnabar—or vermilion—was a red stone used in traditional medicine, composed of mercuric sulfide (HgS).
'Rebecca called him a loose screw, but he's practically advertising his guilt.'
The danger? Heating it easily separated the sulfur (S) and mercury (Hg). Just like Owen's simplistic brain.
“Couldn't say. But cinnabar's uses are mercury extraction or red pigment. I doubt you bought it for painting, Owen.”
“I didn't buy it for—”
“Ah, so you did buy it? We hadn't confirmed the buyer yet—thanks for saving us the trouble.”
Owen paled, and I felt secondhand embarrassment watching his brain stumble.
“Buying cinnabar isn't wrong, of course. No one foresaw the dungeon disease back then.”
Rachel pressed on coolly before Owen could retort, her expression chillingly frigid.
“But your route seemed to come from the south. Care to explain?”
“G-Good heavens! The south……?”
“No way…… The South Continent? The Land of Darkness?”
Land of Darkness? What the hell was that?