Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Mental Prison
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Upon arriving at Sky Door through the magic circle, Lilia’s eyes fell upon a scene of bustling people.
It was the lively sight of a city nearing noon, but Lilia found it far from pleasant.
Walking among the crowds was not something she wished to do.
“I’ve prepared a carriage.”
Fortunately, her only disciple understood her disposition and had a carriage ready. It wasn't far to the teleportation gate, but Lilia didn't refuse.
As the carriage carrying her began to move, the bustling people naturally cleared a path.
It was only natural, as an 8th-Floor Mage in his robes was sitting in the coachman’s seat.
Who could possibly be the person who had relegated an 8th-Floor Mage—a sight one might be lucky to see once in a lifetime—to the driver's seat?
What was certain was that it was best not to provoke them.
Thus, the carriage maintained its speed and arrived at the gate building.
“Master, we’ve arrived.”
He spoke in advance as he opened the carriage door. Lilia clicked her tongue and stepped down.
“Tsk. I should build a teleportation circle in Sky City.”
She had tried to push for it once.
But it was canceled because she couldn't get the Emperor’s permission.
The principle was that teleportation gates were to be managed exclusively by the Empire, a rule Lilia did not appreciate.
“Let’s go inside.”
Wearing a thoroughly irritated expression, Lilia’s face contorted even more as she entered the wide-open gate building.
“Didn’t we end up building this for them anyway?”
“Of course.”
“To complain without an ounce of gratitude!”
The mages following her felt as if they were walking on thin ice.
The slightest misstep could cost them their lives right then and there. While it might be different for others, Lilia was more than capable of such an act.
In the end, all they could do was try to stay on her good side and say nothing at all.
They followed Lilia onto the teleportation circle.
As the Imperial mage guarding the circle chanted the incantation, the magic circle began to glow.
A sensation of the body fading away, and then darkness before their eyes. It was a familiar feeling, so the mages showed no particular reaction.
The teleportation was completed safely.
Or so they believed.
When they arrived on the teleportation circle in the capital, Gaia.
*Thud!*
Something collapsed.
When the people there turned their gazes toward the sound, their minds went blank.
A moment of panic.
It was broken by Falcon’s shout.
“Master!”
Lilia had collapsed.
When he lifted the fallen Lilia, he saw a spike that had pierced through the crown of her head and protruded from under her chin.
She had already stopped breathing.
This was the final moment of a 9th-Floor Mage of the Magic Tower.
* * *
In the early morning of the day the incident occurred.
Sa Seon-gi infiltrated the teleportation gate building connecting Magit and the capital, Gaia.
Using the shift change to hide himself, he remained concealed inside the building until Lilia appeared. Even when his target finally emerged, he held his breath and remained motionless.
The most vulnerable moment for a mage.
It was precisely when their magic was being activated.
Just before the magic circle activated and their bodies disappeared.
In that fleeting moment when their external senses were dulled, Sa Seon-gi made his move.
The assassination was a success, and Lilia vanished from the teleportation circle with a spike impaled through her head.
The chance of survival was zero.
Sa Seon-gi immediately dealt with the Imperial mage who had activated the circle.
He deliberately inflicted pain to make the mage scream, causing two guards to rush inside.
In the gap created as they entered, Sa Seon-gi, who had been leaning against the wall, slipped outside.
The screaming mage died on the spot, and the two guards failed to notice Sa Seon-gi, who had vanished without a trace.
Before news of the event could spread, the assassin had already passed through the city gates and left Magit.
By the time Sa Seon-gi completed his mission and returned to the Mad Castle headquarters.
The Azelan Continent was engulfed in shock.
The death of Lilia, the foremost authority on gates.
This incident sent a wave of tension throughout the entire Empire.
—Find the culprit using any means necessary!
The Magic Tower responded immediately.
The extent of their fury was quickly made apparent when they dispatched an investigation team to their original destination, the Duchy of Rohan. Not only that, but they also began investigating the gate building managed by the Empire.
They were truly disregarding everything, hell-bent on finding the culprit.
One only had to look at the streets of Magit to see how great their anger was.
“For the time being, cease all business activities within Magit, aside from sales in our shops.”
Oh Min-jae summoned the company staff and gave this order.
The employees, feeling that even walking the streets was precarious in the current atmosphere, accepted it as a matter of course.
‘Were there always this many mages?’
Through the window, Oh Min-jae saw mages in robes hurrying along the main street of Magit.
With mages entering not only the market streets but also the back alleys, the entire city was in a state of confusion.
“Master, Sodoban has arrived.”
“Show him in.”
When they met in the reception room, Sodoban looked extremely weary, perfectly reflecting the current atmosphere of the Magic Tower.
“I heard the news. How are things at the Magic Tower?”
“It will remain like this until we find the culprit.”
“I see. Are there any leads on the perpetrator?”
“I cannot say. Please understand.”
“Of course, I understand. Is there anything I can do to help?”
To Oh Min-jae’s question, Sodoban replied without a moment's hesitation.
“May I investigate the people belonging to the Mirje Trading Company?”
“What do you mean by that? Is there someone suspicious in our company?”
“No. We plan to investigate everyone in Magit, but we are asking for your permission in advance as a special consideration for the Mirje Trading Company.”
For Sodoban to go this far meant they were truly determined to investigate every single person in Magit. He had come in person because the Mirje Trading Company was large and had many employees.
If Oh Min-jae hadn't been their top investor, even this formality would have been skipped.
“If you must, then you must.”
“Thank you. In that case, may I investigate you first, Master?”
Sodoban showed not a hint of hesitation. This was the will of the Magic Tower now.
The assassination of a mage.
And not just any mage, but one of only four 9th-Floor Mages.
‘They’ve lost all sense of propriety.’
Considering they had sent an investigation team to the Duchy of Rohan, Oh Min-jae was likely of no consequence to them.
“Shall we start right away?”
As soon as Oh Min-jae gave his permission, Sodoban began firing questions relentlessly.
“Did you meet with Lennox Vega on the night before the incident?”
Oh Min-jae was inwardly surprised but answered without hesitation.
“Yes. I did.”
“What did you discuss?”
“It was about business in the eastern continent. Specifically, about the maritime logistics city to be built around the city of the Hemian Temple.”
“After Lennox Vega left the company, did you meet with anyone else?”
“I wouldn’t know about that. He didn’t say anything specific to me.”
“Then, from last night until this moment, have you met with any outsiders?”
“No, I haven’t. I’ve been at the company the entire time.”
“Understood. That will be all for today.”
Sodoban left open the possibility of returning later and rose from his seat.
Watching him, Oh Min-jae offered a parting remark.
“Once this is all over, you will apologize for today’s rudeness. I’ll overlook it for now, given the special circumstances.”
Sodoban flinched at Oh Min-jae's thorny words.
“Well then, I hope the case is resolved quickly.”
Only then did Sodoban offer a proper farewell and leave the company.
The investigation did not stop with Oh Min-jae.
An investigation team from the Magic Tower was also dispatched to the Lennox estate where Wang-sik was staying.
Three mages arrived, accompanied by Romez, the 7th-Floor Mage he had met before.
“Am I a suspect?”
Wang-sik answered their questions with a displeased expression.
He had been polite when they last met, but not now. The other side had come on strong first.
He judged that there was no need to show weakness here.
“Did you not meet with anyone else in Magit?”
They seemed even more suspicious of him, given his position opposite the Magic Tower.
And he had, in fact, met Sa Seon-gi the day before the incident.
‘This could get dangerous.’
They didn't just have suspicions.
‘Memorize.’
While not as thorough as Earth's CCTV, they had placed memory-storing magic throughout Magit.
Sa Seon-gi had told him about this.
He said he had moved to avoid it, but Wang-sik didn't know the exact locations.
‘Did I get caught?’
He was in a situation where he had to lie.
‘A clumsy lie will only make things worse.’
Wang-sik steeled his resolve and spoke to Romez.
“Let’s not drag this out. Let’s solve it simply.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mental Prison.”
Romez’s eyes wavered.
“Isn’t that what you people want?”
“We had no intention of going that far.”
Mental Prison was a spell developed by mages to interrogate prisoners. It constricted the mind, forcing it to speak only the truth, but it was difficult to use on a nobleman like Wang-sik without evidence.
“Just do it. I hate troublesome things.”
At Wang-sik's proactive request, Romez hesitated for a moment before nodding.
The mages who had come with him were specialists in that area anyway. Wang-sik was one of the prime suspects.
“Is it alright to proceed here?”
“Do as you please.”
Eventually, the mages drew a magic circle on the floor, and Wang-sik sat in the middle of it.
“We will begin.”
“I’d prefer it to be quick. And if you ask any questions other than those central to this matter, you’ll have to deal with my fury.”
“It will be so.”
As soon as the magic circle activated, Wang-sik felt his mind go numb. He had deliberately worn no items and had not activated the Mark of the Guardian.
If he displayed any unusual power, the mages around him would notice immediately.
‘Mages have absolute faith in magic.’
That was why he had stepped forward himself. If he showed them the results through magic, they would believe it without suspicion.
A voice like a sharp awl pierced through his dazed mind.
“Who did you meet in Magit?”
His mouth tried to react automatically to the voice echoing in his head.
‘Oh Min-jae.’
Just as the name was about to come out, Wang-sik regained his senses.
“The Master of the Mirje Trading Company.”
He had endured it with willpower alone.
But as he forced out an artificial answer, rejecting the natural response, he felt a pain as if his mind was being torn to shreds.
‘This is why I hate mages.’
Enduring it with his bare body, with all his defenses down, was certainly not easy.
‘It was like this before, too.’
The only reason Wang-sik could withstand it was because he had experienced similar things countless times while being used as a chimera test subject.
Those experiments had been far more brutal than the Mental Prison.
That experience allowed him to volunteer for the Mental Prison, but it didn't lessen the pain.
The agony constricting his brain made his mind grow faint, but Wang-sik desperately held on.
“Did you speak with anyone else?”
“I did.”
“Who were they?”
“A fruit merchant, a silk merchant, people whose names I don’t know.”
“Was the assassin among them?”
“No.”
Wang-sik’s body trembled.
A mage beside Romez spoke up.
“It will be dangerous if this continues for much longer.”
When dealing with a prisoner, this level of pain was considered normal, but their current subject was different. If he suffered any after-effects from this, the Magic Tower would become an object of truly terrible contempt.
Romez asked the key question.
“Are you in any way related to this assassination?”
As everyone’s attention focused on him, Wang-sik’s lips parted.
“No.”
A hollow breath escaped. But then, red blood began to trickle from Wang-sik’s nose.
“Stop.”
At Romez’s command, the activation of the magic circle ceased.
“I apologize.”
“Couldn’t you have just asked the last question?”
Wang-sik glared at Romez as he wiped the blood.
“I offer my apologies.”
In truth, Romez had intentionally delayed asking the final question.
The stronger the pain, the more effective the Mental Prison. In conclusion, Romez had applied enough pressure to leave no room for his own doubt.
“Leave, now.”
Romez no longer had any reason to remain there.
As far as he knew, no human could withstand the Mental Prison with willpower alone.
Naturally, Romez believed the answer to be the truth, and the other mages beside him had no doubts either.
“If this is the end of it, then next time, it will be my turn to collect this debt.”
At the sight of Wang-sik’s snarling expression, Romez gulped, his throat dry with tension.