Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: The Magic Tower Council
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“The tower entry issue—didn’t you say Master would handle it?”
“That’s right.”
“So what’s this situation?”
“Ah, sorry! I didn’t expect it to get this tangled up either.”
Ezekiel vented his frustration, but Damian’s expression didn’t change.
“You know as well as I do that getting into the Magic Tower isn’t that simple.”
“I do. But didn’t Master promise it over and over?”
“What can I do when those old fogeys suddenly kick up a fuss? They say we can’t decide on entry without a proper exam or whatever.”
The “old fogeys” Ezekiel was referring to were the Magic Tower elders.
They managed the tower’s operations alongside the Tower Lord.
In terms of skill, they fell short of Ezekiel. However, if they banded together, that was a different story.
‘Is this Rubia’s doing?’
Her master was one of the elders too. He’d naturally grant a request like this for his disciple.
Even if not, it could be payback for Ezekiel. None of the elders had avoided embarrassment because of him.
“Um.”
Agnes tilted her head curiously and chimed in.
“Do you normally have to take an exam to enter the Magic Tower?”
“That’s right.”
Damian answered for him.
It was a process that evaluated a mage over a period ranging from a few months to a full year.
Quantity and quality of mana. Variety of spells usable. Power and perfection, and so on.
But Damian didn’t need that process. Ezekiel had guaranteed it. For one simple reason.
“Because he’s my disciple.”
“How amazing must this mage be for that to be possible?”
“Ha! Asking that now? You’re a bit late to the party, miss. The great Ezekiel. The supreme sage who wields the golden waves. Beyond the measure of any imperial standard…”
“Simply put.”
Unsure how far Ezekiel’s self-praise would go, he cut him off midway.
Damian’s gaze drifted out the window. Toward the First Tower, where the Magic Tower council convened.
“He’s the current Tower Lord’s junior brother.”
Agnes’s mouth fell open slightly. She hadn’t expected such a personal connection.
“So what do I need to do?”
“You’re coming with me to the council. The old fogeys are all waiting for you.”
“It’s weird hearing Master call the elders ‘old fogeys.’ They’re older than you, aren’t they?”
“This punk, mocking his master. You don’t become an old fogey from age—you get there from a rigid mind.”
There was no point arguing with Ezekiel. To resolve the issue, they had to go where the opposition was.
“Be careful out there. I wish you the best of luck.”
Agnes saw them off, then stood on her hands and dove into push-ups.
“What an impressive young lady. Staying so calm and focused on her own tasks.”
“Not always.”
Having spent more time with Agnes, Damian had come to understand her better.
Her current demeanor was more like distracting herself to hide her anxiety.
Right now, Agnes was visiting the Magic Tower as Ezekiel’s guest.
But that wouldn’t last long. Afterward, she’d need to extend her stay as Damian’s guest.
A fiancée was treated like family. So as long as Damian remained in the tower, she could too.
However, if Damian’s entry was denied, she’d have to leave as well.
She wouldn’t be able to continue investigating her father’s death.
Not being the person directly involved, she probably figured getting worked up would just burden Damian unnecessarily.
Her current actions were both a way to ease her own anxiety and a consideration for him.
* * *
The First Tower.
When first built, it reportedly had fewer than ten floors, but through countless renovations over the Magic Tower’s history, it had grown.
Now, it boasted a colossal fifty floors—the tallest structure in the empire.
‘The relationship between magic and black magic…’
How much had the five founders known about ancient mages? Or about demons and black magic?
Lost in such thoughts, they entered the tower, where a guarding mage escorted Damian and Ezekiel.
“This way.”
They took a lift to the 48th floor, home to the main council chamber.
After a brief identity check, they entered. Security was present but not overly strict.
The Magic Tower elders seated in the chamber were among the empire’s top powerhouses, after all.
“Alright, I brought him.”
Ezekiel looked up at the twenty elders and spoke.
Everyone there could sense the irritation in his voice.
“Ahem.”
“Heh heh.”
The elders cleared their throats. All were venerable old men.
“Did you really have to make things difficult like this, junior?”
Only one person.
Everyone except the woman seated at the head.
“This is the sacred Magic Tower council.”
A woman with an appearance that seemed to defy time, much like Ezekiel, spoke up.
“So I hope you’ll refrain from mentioning personal ties.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind, Tower Lord Ariella.”
Tower Lord Ariella.
A woman who was also an archmage.
“Thank you, Mage Ezekiel.”
The pinnacle of current magic. Her expression was a soft smile, yet it carried an inexplicable pressure.
“With all you esteemed elders gathered here, allow me, Ezekiel, to state once more.”
Uncharacteristically solemn and sharp, he continued.
“Damian Renekht is my rightful disciple. And as for my first disciple, the Tower Lord and I agreed to admit him to the tower without conditions.”
“That was…”
Even in the face of Ezekiel’s edged tone, Ariella’s expression didn’t change. If anything, she seemed slightly pleased.
“That was a promise made in the certainty that you wouldn’t take a disciple. In fact, didn’t you take great offense to my proposal?”
“Are you bragging about deceiving someone now?”
Mana began to seethe faintly from Ezekiel’s body. Ariella prepared to counter at any moment.
“E-Ezekiel! This is the Magic Tower council!”
“Tower Lord, please calm down. You know his temperament better than anyone.”
The guarding mages, and even the elders, panicked.
If those two started rampaging here, the damage would be unimaginable.
“Sigh… Can I say something too?”
In the tense standoff, Damian sighed deeply and stepped between Ezekiel and Ariella.
“So what do I need to do?”
The youngest and most inexperienced one speaking so boldly cooled the heated atmosphere.
“I lost my composure.”
Ariella withdrew her mana first. Ezekiel stepped back as well.
With the situation diffused, one elder spoke up.
“Rubia de Clarent of Clarent also took two months to decide on her entry. And she’s a child of such outstanding talent.”
Mateus Indio.
One of the few noble-born elders and Rubia’s master.
“Even with your agreement with the Tower Lord, we can’t confirm entry without procedure.”
“Have you already forgotten the footage I showed yesterday? Could Rubia de Clarent three years ago have scratched my barrier?”
“That’s not the point!”
So it was Rubia after all.
With her personality, she wouldn’t block Damian’s entry outright but delay it as much as possible to create opportunities to interact with him.
“There are also reports that he struggles with basic spells. Like mana barriers or flight magic.”
Another elder chimed in. It was one of the main points of curiosity about Damian for many.
A misunderstanding born of ignorance about black magic, but Damian couldn’t correct it.
“Is that like telling a lion, ‘Why can’t you dig tunnels like an ant?’”
“Ezekiel. This isn’t a place for jokes or mockery.”
The debate between Ezekiel and the elders continued. Though calling it a debate was generous—most ended with Ezekiel mocking them.
“Elder Cadrel? Don’t you have anything to say? Or have you already forgotten yesterday’s events at your young age…?”
“This isn’t the place to bring personal matters.”
“Since when did you care about official business?”
“Heh heh. How entertaining.”
Ariella watched it all with a smiling expression.
‘The Tower Lord’s attitude… honestly, I can’t read it.’
On the surface, she seemed hostile to Ezekiel, but what lay beneath was unclear.
Given Ezekiel’s usual personality, her tolerance might stem from some fondness.
“From the start, can we even call him your disciple? You were the imperial magic tutor for just one year. And no contact for nearly two years after. It’s hard to attribute his recent growth to your teaching.”
“Hah. Elder Mateus. How much did you even teach your own disciple?”
“Ezekiel! I respect you as much as possible. You should show the same courtesy to a fellow elder… What is that?”
The elders, led by Mateus, focused on the strange stone at the chamber’s center. Even Tower Lord Ariella showed interest.
“Is this enough?”
Stone Scales, reinforced based on Ezekiel’s theory. To those ignorant of black magic, it would seem like earth magic.
“That structure…”
“Well, now.”
“I see. So that’s the secret behind shattering Ezekiel’s mana barrier.”
The elders couldn’t hide their astonishment.
They had all read Ezekiel’s paper on it.
It was an unfriendly paper, as if saying, “If you can understand it, give it a try.” But its form and structure were flawless.
Yet no one could replicate that mana barrier.
They’d even tried with Rubia out of faint hope, but she could only manage an imperfect version.
In other words, it was that exceptional a spell. On par with absolute defense.
No one questioned Ezekiel’s skill. If not for his personality, he could have been Tower Lord or archmage.
And Damian had replicated it. No, he’d gone further, applying it to other magic. As seen in the footage, shattering Ezekiel’s barrier with it.
Damian’s achievement was dramatic, that much was true.
Even so, to the elders’ eyes, he was still a fledgling.
Yet he’d mastered and adapted a spell they couldn’t comprehend or replicate. It left them uneasy.
As the elders let out frustrated groans, the corner of Ezekiel’s mouth lifted.
Standing behind Damian, he looked proud, as if it were his own accomplishment.
“No need to explain what he learned from me, right? Anything else? Griping about him not being able to fly?”
Strictly speaking, Ezekiel hadn’t taught him anything. Damian had grasped it through black magic—gaze.
‘I can’t say he was no help at all.’
At the very least, he’d learned how to appraise magic from Ezekiel.
“I didn’t know you had a talent for teaching, Mage Ezekiel.”
Ariella glanced slyly at Mateus.
“Elder Mateus. The concerns you raised no longer matter, I presume?”
“Yes… well.”
As expected, it was Mateus—no, Rubia’s scheme. To her, her master was little more than a subordinate.
“Does that mean my entry proceeds?”
“Not yet. There’s still more to verify.”
Ariella smiled brightly. An expression oddly reminiscent of Ezekiel.
“But don’t worry too much.”
Clap. Ariella clapped her hands. Space expanded vastly around Damian.
[It won’t take long.]
Did senior and junior brothers resemble each other? Damian twisted his lips, bracing for the coming threat.