The Three Doors
Chris made a show of hesitating, then opened his mouth.
"It would be strange to keep hiding things at this point. You've answered my questions in good faith, so I'll return the favor. A dangerous mage was locked in the cell beside Chris, and he was the one controlling the key to the ruins."
"The key!"
"He probably wasn't carrying it on him. If he had been, the three great elders would have taken it. Most likely he hid it somewhere only he knew."
"And what does that have to do with Chris?"
"There were too many twists along the way to explain in any detail. You may as well think of it as the two of us breaking out together."
"If he was traveling with that man, he could be here in the ruins as well."
"He could."
"I have a feeling he's somewhere close."
This woman's instincts are sharp.
A prickle of alarm ran through Chris. He offered a short bow and took his leave, drifting over toward Tower Master Claudia—only for her to drive him off, unwilling to let a disciple of a rival tower watch her work.
He noticed Viscount Cashew studying the posted notice and made his way over.
"Can you read the Divine Language?"
"Yes."
The man was as plain as a dried cucumber, and his manner was so frivolous he looked ignorant. His learning, it seemed, ran unexpectedly deep.
The realization came to Chris a beat late.
"Ah. So they brought you along because you're proficient in the Divine Language."
Cashew gave an awkward laugh.
"Proficient is a strong word. Among the nobles I was simply the least bad option, so they brought me. I assumed Knight Bianca was here for much the same reason I was... and she turns out to be a princess. I've learned a great many shocking things today."
Perfect timing.
Chris asked something that had been nagging at him.
"If someone damages the magic circle, what exactly happens to them?"
Cashew blinked, puzzled.
"It's written right there, isn't it?"
"I'm weak in the Divine Language."
Cashew tilted his head, then tapped a particular word with his finger as he explained.
"It's a word that holds several meanings. The most common reading is heavenly punishment. Beyond that it also carries the sense of a curse, a calamity, repeated misfortune, hardship that follows at your heels."
For anyone who still had a treasure to find, repeated misfortune was the reading that mattered most.
"So we'd better not damage the magic circle."
"That's right."
Chris stared at the damaged stretch of the circle with an uneasy look, then moved on.
Repairing the circle had looked as if it would take a long time, yet that very night word came, quite unexpectedly, that the work was finished.
Everyone gathered at the circle. Tower Master Claudia spoke.
"I'll cross first."
A frown pinched the bridge of Chris's nose.
"This quickly?"
The tower master did not answer him.
Dominic said, "Wouldn't it be better to rest a day and leave once the sun is up tomorrow?"
Him, she answered.
"Every moment counts. A single second's difference, and the treasure could fall into someone else's hands."
Melissa nodded as if she felt the same.
"We have to get there as fast as we can."
If they had not been in such a hurry, they would never have instigated a war, nor paid the Laphunian Magic Tower so enormous a price for the right to use the circle.
The tower master said, "Emerick, you come last, after you've sent the others through."
With that she handed him fifty highest-grade mana stones.
"Stand back."
They left Tower Master Claudia where she stood and withdrew beyond the circle. She drew her staff, chanted, and was soon swallowed by light and gone. Melissa and Dorian vanished after her, and Emerick spoke.
"Who's going first?"
Yan and Dominic eyed each other.
Dominic stepped forward.
"We'll go first."
The knights of Albar Kingdom and the royal mage Lucien disappeared, and the party that had come from Grant Kingdom followed.
A short while later everyone was gone, and only Chris and Emerick remained on the circle. Chris was turning over the question of who Agent Number Three might be. Set Number One aside, and the other agents were only at the Sikbae realm—which meant it was either Emerick or Dorian.
Chris studied Emerick.
Should I try speaking to him through the mask?
He crushed the impulse the moment it rose. David's case had taught him well enough: a hidden card was better kept in reserve.
Emerick said, "Can you run this circle?"
"I... I'm only Jenyeom."
Which was to say he could not.
"This circle is easy to operate. If the mana stones are plentiful enough, even a Jenyeom ought to manage it."
Chris put on a show of embarrassment.
"I'm weak when it comes to magic circles..."
"Fine. I'll send you."
Chris felt a little uneasy. It was entirely possible that Tower Master Hal of Mick Magic Tower—puzzled that Sheikh had never arrived—might be waiting at the far end.
More than two months had passed, so it was unlikely anyone was still waiting. Even so, one never knew. In a world of mages who treated human life like flies, a Chukhwan was still something precious. When a scramble for treasure broke out against another power, Sheikh was precisely the man a tower master could trust and lean on.
Sheikh is their greatest asset, true... but surely they wouldn't still be waiting?
Tower Master Claudia had taken plenty of reckless risks to shorten the journey, and she had paid a steep price for it. Hal would not have let precious time run to waste.
The safest course would have been to move several days after the rest of them had gone, but Chris had no choice in the matter. He did not know how to activate the circle. Miss this moment, and he might be stuck here for the rest of his life.
"If you would."
He bowed with due courtesy, then stepped to the center of the circle, set fifty highest-grade mana stones in the designated place, and drew a deep breath.
"I'm ready."
From outside the circle, Emerick chanted and set it in motion.
Fwaaash.
Light surged up, and Chris felt a sensation much like the one he had known using the circle in the Landrik Mountain Range. The distance must have been shorter this time. His head did not feel as if it were about to split, and his stomach did not turn itself inside out. His ears merely went a little muffled.
The instant he arrived he raised a barrier against whatever might be waiting. A voice came from behind him.
"You put up a shield in a strange way."
He turned and found Tower Master Claudia watching him.
"You said every moment counted. You haven't left?"
"There's still someone who hasn't come through."
"Ah, right. Emerick isn't here yet."
"Come out."
"Why?"
"The next person can't arrive until you do."
"Ah, of course. The aftershock of the crossing has my head working poorly."
Chris stepped off the circle and glanced around. The arrival circle had been set in a hollow inside a cave, so the place was dark overall, though luminous stones embedded in the walls and ceiling were driving the darkness back.
"Was there anyone else?"
"Anyone else?"
"Someone who crossed ahead of us."
"A mage of Mick Magic Tower?"
"Yes."
"There wasn't."
"No traps either?"
"None."
Chris relaxed.
"Given how sinister the temperaments are back at our tower, you'd think they would have set a trap. It's a little strange that they didn't."
Cashew came over and pointed to one side. Something like a notice board was fixed to the wall, written in the Divine Language.
"A warning not to damage anything?"
"Yes. A few other instructions are written there as well."
The text ran to five full lines.
"You read all of that?"
"More or less."
Chris was impressed.
"You really are clever."
He swallowed the rest—unlike how you look—judging it rude.
Cashew grew shy.
"You flatter me."
"Are you interested in magic?"
"No. I'm interested in history."
"History?"
"If you're going to study history, the Divine Language is essential."
"I see."
While they talked, the last of the party came through. Once Emerick had arrived, Melissa spoke.
"I looked around first. And..."
She broke off and turned.
"Better if you see it yourselves."
They followed her through the dim cave. They had walked perhaps a minute when the path split three ways, each passage blocked by a metal door with a bluish cast.
Chris asked, "Which way will you take?"
Claudia and Melissa had apparently already settled it between them. Melissa said, "We're thinking of going through the door on the right."
"We? You mean all of us are going right?"
"Yes."
"We don't know which door the treasure lies behind, do we? Wouldn't it be better to split the party in three and explore all three paths?"
"And if we split up, meet a dangerous enemy, and get picked off one by one?"
"Ah. There is that risk."
"In a ruin, the most important thing may not be finding the treasure."
"Then what is?"
Turned the other way around, that meant if they met someone carrying a precious treasure, they might kill that person and take it.
Divine Language was written across the upper part of the door.
Following its instructions, the tower master set her staff against the rounded handle and fed mana into it. The door must have demanded a great deal; she kept the staff there for some time.
Clack.
The sound of a latch releasing rang out loud.
"Let's go in."
The door opened, and the mages of Touleno Magic Tower went through. When Chris tried to follow, Melissa stopped him.
"You are not included among us."
At that cold voice he halted. He craned his neck for a look inside, and the door shut with a noisy crash.
Bang.
"A cold-blooded lot."
Even so, they had kept their promise, at the very least. Far better than Tower Master Hel's party, or Tower Master Hal's. Chris ran a hand over the closed door and asked, "Are you going in this way?"
He looked from Yan to Dominic and back again, the men responsible for the two kingdoms.
Yan glanced at Dominic. "What do you think? Shall we follow them?"
Dominic shook his head.
"If we chase after them, the mages won't like it. And it would be hard for us to claim any treasure from among them."
"I think the same."
"Will you take the middle, or the left?"
"Something about the middle draws me."
"Good. We'll take the door on the left."
The knights of the two kingdoms chose to travel apart rather than as one company.
Chris said, "Wouldn't it be better to join forces?"
Of all the groups that had come in here, these were the weakest. The royal mages' strength was an unknown, but it would not be enough to stand against a tower's Chukhwan.
Dominic answered with a smile.
"I'd rather not damage the friendship between our kingdoms."
He seemed to think blades might yet be drawn over the treasure.
Yan nodded his agreement.
"We can't have another misfortune like the war."
Dominic beckoned the mage Lucien. "We'll go first."
Lucien set his staff to the handle and chanted. A long time passed, and still there was no sound of a latch releasing.
His face flushed crimson. He strained a little longer, then staggered back, his mana apparently spent.
"That's my limit."
Dominic turned a troubled look on Chris.
"Mage David, would you help us?"
Chris had not decided to travel with him.
"Me?"
"Back there, I told you a great many things. I let slip secrets that must not get out."
"Yes. I'm grateful for that."
"I'd like to collect a fee for the information."
Dominic indicated the door with a glance. Chris nodded.
"Then let's say this settles the debt. Do you agree?"
"I agree."
Chris set his staff against the handle and pushed mana in. Then he frowned. The handle drank it down with a gluttonous hunger.
Just to open one door... why does it demand so much mana?
He could not understand it.
Only after he had spent half the mana stored in his Thought Space did the latch finally release. Chris pushed the door open, and a pitch-black path welcomed him.