Green Tower Master Joins the Battle!
Just as Wintervalt saw snow blanketing the land even in spring, the southern continent enjoyed warm breezes even in autumn. There could be no better spot for a vacation than the southern continent.
That said, not everyone living there was in high spirits.
"Please…! Please…!!"
The empire's foremost plant mage and master of the Green Tower, Blue Shade Aria, was tearing at her hair in her workshop.
Crack!Pffft!
Fragments from a slime magic stone floating in the air tried to merge with the green magic stone but triggered a rejection reaction and bounced away. This was already the seventh failure.
"Arrrgh! Again! Another failure!!"
Aria screamed in frustration.
"Haa, haa… At this rate, even the green magic stone I went to all the trouble of getting is meaningless…!"
She glared at the center of her workbench with bloodshot eyes. There floated an emerald magic stone she'd bought from Northern Archduke Kailan Wintervalt for a whopping 16,000 gold.
Extracted from the boss Treant… a legendary treasure any plant mage might see only once in a lifetime.
But to craft the ultimate magic staff, one magic stone wasn't enough. The trend among tower masters these days was to fuse a primary attribute stone with a secondary one to amplify its power and create a core.
In Aria's case, the primary was plant, and the secondary was water. The problem? She couldn't find a water stone worthy of matching the green one's caliber.
"Ugh… It's such a waste! How much money have I blown?!"
Aria sighed deeply at the shattered slime magic stone fragments.
To get the purest water magic stones, you had to hunt slimes. They appeared often enough along the southern continent's beaches, but their numbers were so low that even a tiny fragment cost nearly 1 gold.
Knock knock knock.
Just as her stress was about to explode—
"Who is it?! I said never come in while I'm crafting the staff!"
"M-Master! It's urgent! We had no choice! Archduke Kailan of the North has sent a letter!"
Aria's brow furrowed at her terrified chief assistant's voice.
"…Fine, come in then."
Entering were the chief assistant and a northern knight drenched in sweat.
"A pleasure to meet you, Master! I'm Sez, deputy commander of the Northern Defense Force's 1st Knight Division!"
Aria tilted her head at Sez, who saluted crisply.
"What brings a northern knight all the way to a southern tower?"
"The item is too precious. His Grace ordered me to deliver it personally under escort."
Sez placed a thick letter and a steel tree box—so large it required both hands—on the table.
"What could possibly warrant all this fuss… Mama mia!!"
Aria flung open the lid and toppled backward. She sprang up and dove headfirst into the box.
Inside was a blue magic stone fragment the size of a human head… exuding moisture.
A dazzling blue glow that could blind the eyes. An overwhelming density of mana.
"Wh-what is this?! N-no way, a water magic stone? No, it can't be… It couldn't… It is!!"
Aria threw caution to the wind, burying her nose in the stone and sniffing wildly. Her heart pounded like mad.
"Th-this smell…?! A proper slime magic stone fragment…! Ahh…?!"
Was she hallucinating from all the staff-crafting failures? Even if it was an illusion, she wanted to keep sniffing forever.
"It's one of the fragments His Grace personally obtained by slaying the King Slime. If you accept this commission, he ordered it handed over as an advance on the reward!"
"Wh-what commission?! Anything but illegal! …Actually, even if it is illegal, whatever!"
It was a reckless joke unworthy of the Green Tower Master, but her eyes were completely glazed over. A fragment this size would resonate perfectly with the Treant boss stone and birth a legendary staff!
Aria tore open Kailan's letter with trembling hands and scanned it quickly.
But her expression shifted from ecstasy to shock, then pale dread. Cold sweat dripped onto the floor.
Capture 5,000 elite orcs alive?
A thousand elite orcs charging would be a national disaster capable of shaking a city. And five thousand…?
And not just kill them, but tie them up tight and capture them alive?
If that were possible, Aria wouldn't be fretting over budgets. She'd have declared independence from the emperor as the southern continent's king.
This is impossible. Even with a sword master holding the line, capturing 5,000 elite orcs alive is out of the question…!
Aria shook her head in refusal… then locked eyes with the King Slime fragment.
Gulp.
A fragment this size… I won't see one again before I die. Miss this chance, and I'll wander with an unfinished staff forever…
Aria bit her dry lips. Reason and desire waged fierce war.
And the victor… was already decided!
Fine, screw it… Even if it means sharing Wintervalt's fate…!
Aria glared fiercely at Sez and shouted.
"Tell His Grace at once! Blue Shade Aria of the Green Tower will rush north tomorrow if needed, the moment her staff is complete!!"
Even the southern continent's sage had no defense against material temptation.
A few days later.
Late at night. Wintervalt New City.
Stepping from her carriage, Green Tower Master Blue Shade Aria thrust her staff high and bellowed.
"Haha! The continent's greatest mage, Blue Shade Aria, has come to save the North!!"
The legendary staff Heart of Verdant, forged by fusing the boss Treant's magic stone with the King Slime's.
The moment Aria gripped it, she knew. She'd already transcended her limits.
She couldn't even remember why she'd feared orcs.
Her plant magic now boasted power on another level entirely.
With this much mana, I can show His Grace a performance that'll leave him stunned! He won't complain about the magic stone cost then!
Confidence maxed out! Shoulders squared, Aria strode boldly into Wintervalt territory.
But that arrogant self-assurance shattered the instant she entered.
"…Wh-what is that?"
Aria gulped and froze in place.
What entered her view was a surreal sight unlike any southern metropolis.
A sun hung in the night sky.
Of course, she'd heard the rumors. Duchess Eleanor von Wintervalt had invented such magic.
But she'd assumed it was just a derivative lighting spell.
That thing… was a real sun.
Monstrous mana. I heard Her Grace is still in her mid-twenties—how has she reached such heights already!?
Despite the deep night, the territory blazed like midday. Beyond mere illumination, it warmed the North's brutal cold to southern spring mildness.
Averting her eyes from the sun revealed yet another marvel.
Buildings stretched endlessly along the streets, emanating blue glows. Gem-carved beauties sparkling in the sunlight.
A magical city straight from a fairy tale.
It was supposed to be a crumbling backwater! How did it become this stunning city in just months!?
Wintervalt's progress was miraculous, witnessed firsthand. As a tower master who'd scoured the empire for rare materials, Aria knew grand capital courts and bustling southern ports.
Yet this Wintervalt outshone them all in beauty.
Dazed amid the bustling crowds, Aria drifted toward the barrier construction site.
"Rocks here!!"
"Thanks! Grnak! Couldn't do it without you! Hey! Bring mucus!"
"…Hiiik!?"
Aria's legs nearly buckled.
At the barrier site, hundreds of elite orcs—at least—wore matching blue work clothes emblazoned with Wintervalt's crest, hauling stones and steel trees.
Workers and orcs arm-in-arm, passing by—it was so unreal it felt like a dream.
The adventurers numbered in droves too. Some necks gleamed with platinum tags.
OMG, platinum badges…? Platinum-rank adventurers, treated like guild masters elsewhere, sweating like common laborers.
"Oho. Hard journey, I trust, Tower Master."
A familiar voice reached the stunned Aria.
The sword master. Ruler of the North. Archduke Kailan Wintervalt approached.
"Y-Your Grace…!"
Aria hastily dropped to one knee, head bowed.
She couldn't recall exactly how many months since last seeing him. Less than a year, certainly.
In that short time, the North's symbol of poverty and hunger had become the continent's most beautiful city. A land of opportunity drawing merchants and adventurers.
As Aria shivered inwardly, Kailan looked down with a pleased grin.
"Your mana seems to have advanced in our brief parting. Wise indeed to commission my Green Tower Master."
"N-no, Your Grace! I… hope to learn from you in this subjugation."
Aria replied humbly—quite the shift from her "carpet the world in grass" vibe upon arrival.
Then—
"Oh my! We're truly grateful you're guarding His Grace, but you can't stick that close to him, you know~?"
Light as clouds, dazzling platinum blonde approached Aria.
The miracle-worker who'd hung the sun in Wintervalt's sky, turning the monster duke's moniker to "loving husband." Duchess Eleanor von Wintervalt.
High nobility radiated from her smile as she hooked Kailan's arm.
…If not for her cute haste to claim her husband.
"Y-Your Grace."
"Lovely to meet you, Lady Aria. I once dreamed of being a tower master myself. Mind if I learn a thing or two during this subjugation?"
"Y-yes… Yes?!"
Aria's eyes bulged. The imperial bloodline duchess, joining a bloody monster subjugation?
What—?
"I'll fight too! Right beside our Archduke!"
Eleanor declared sunnily, squeezing Kailan's arm.
So far beyond common sense, Aria just gaped.
No matter her prowess as a mage, putting a princess on the front lines against 5,000 orcs!
Seeing Aria's fluster, Kailan chuckled and patted his wife's head.
"Don't look so shocked. My wife will shine on the battlefield as much as I."
"Beyond even a sword master…?"
"Indeed. Different roles, but greater than a sword master."
At Kailan's firm affirmation, Aria slowly turned, surveying once more.
Double barriers of steel trees and slime mucus, fortress-solid.
Hundreds of elite orcs.
Platinum-rank adventurers from across the continent.
And the empire's strongest sword master, Kailan Wintervalt, plus the off-spec sun-summoner Eleanor von Wintervalt.
…Maybe. Just maybe, capturing 5,000 orcs alive isn't so insane after all.