Overture (3)
"I've come to collect that price today."
And now, quite some time later—
Spinel had come looking for me again.
To collect the fee she'd deferred.
"The price, huh… What is it you want?"
She wouldn't be after money from an information broker. Odds were high she wanted information instead.
If whatever she was curious about happened to be something I knew, I was more than willing to answer.
Spinel settled lightly onto the rooftop, one hand still gripping a cushion, and asked,
"Do you know about Great Wisdom?"
"Great Wisdom… You mean Serina Edelbit."
The topic Spinel had raised was Great Wisdom—the ancient mage who led the Magic Tower.
There weren't many people in this entire city who didn't know of her.
Even so, Spinel's question carried a great deal of weight.
Because in the pages of War City that I had read, Serina Edelbit had fallen by the Cabal's hand.
"Yeah. I'm going to kill Great Wisdom."
"I see. From the Successor's perspective, she must be a thorn in his side."
"You already knew?"
"She's one of the few real variables left in the city. He wants to cut off any chance of his identity being exposed."
There had been only one reason Great Wisdom exited the original story.
The magic she commanded was far too dangerous for the Successor, who needed his true identity kept hidden.
From the Successor's position—where exposure to the outside world would be a disaster—Great Wisdom was an enemy worth eliminating even at some cost.
And by removing her, the Cabal could also put on a show of force for everyone to see.
From the Successor's point of view, there was no reason to refuse.
"You know more about it than I do. Guess I don't need to spell it all out."
"Spell what out?"
"I want you to come along and help. With this operation."
"……"
Spinel's demand was more shocking than I'd expected.
Come along in person and assist the operation.
Not simply hand over information—she wanted me on-site, watching and coordinating the mission myself.
That was a completely different risk from sitting in an office and talking intel.
I couldn't help but start weighing it carefully.
"What do you think?"
Great Wisdom's death was going to happen either way.
In the original, she met her end at the Cabal's hands—and there were things to be gained from her disappearance.
I had no particular reason to step in and stop it.
But standing by and letting her die was one thing. Going along and directing the operation myself was something else entirely.
On top of that, there was a high chance other Cabal executives would be coming along besides Spinel.
"When is the operation?"
"We're hitting the Magic Tower in three days."
"……I have a few conditions."
With Spinel's gaze fixed on me, her proposal wasn't something I could refuse.
That didn't mean I was going to tag along without any guarantees.
The people called Cabal executives were, one and all, people I found hard to trust.
There was no telling when one of them might try to put a knife in my back on the spot.
Even the Successor leading them didn't fully trust his own executives.
Among them, the one I could trust even a little was the Spinel standing in front of me—and at the very least, I had to make her my ally.
"What kind of conditions?"
"One. I'll go in disguise."
First condition: do not expose my identity.
That was for my own sake—someone who ran a business straddling the underworld in a deliberately ambiguous way.
Just because I was on speaking terms with Ney and Usher didn't mean the security forces would look the other way on my crimes.
I needed to avoid having my identity revealed whenever possible.
Voices were easy enough to fake; all I had to do was keep my face covered.
"Hmm. So you're scared of being identified. Fine."
"Two. You, at least, will be on my side."
"……What are you talking about?"
Hearing the second condition, Spinel tilted her head.
Suddenly telling her to be on my side—it must have felt completely out of left field.
Even so, this was something I absolutely had to make clear.
For my sake. For Spinel's sake.
And for Sinel, who followed after her.
"It's simple. Never betray me."
"Well, obviously. Is that really an important condition?"
"I'm not just talking about this operation. From now on—and from here on out… you, at least, will not betray me."
"That's a little cool, I guess, but I'd like an explanation for the reason."
I lowered my gaze and met Spinel's eyes.
Ash-gray irises, so much like Sinel's, glittered as if they held stars.
Ever since I'd heard about Spinel from Sinel, I had been turning over my judgment of her again and again.
So this was the conclusion I'd reached after a long time of thinking.
"I can't trust the Cabal."
"I see. Well, I can understand that."
"It's not just the Cabal. Every single person in this city is untrustworthy."
"And so?"
"Even so, I'm going to trust you. So… from now on, you trust me too."
It wasn't a story that would convince anyone.
Absolute mutual trust is never built on a one-sided demand alone.
Even so, I forced a one-sided proposal on Spinel.
I knew full well that anyone looking on would call it foolish—and I didn't back down an inch.
"That's a stupid story."
"Yeah. It is a stupid story. Accept it anyway."
"Why should I?"
"Because then I'll save you."
"……From what."
From what?
That was already decided, wasn't it.
From the fate that would close in around the girl standing in front of me.
In a story of chaotic disorder, the end of a villain the protagonist never forgives is already written.
Spinel Cloverbloom.
The Skyscraper Mage dies by Usher Hayes's hand.
"I can see the future—in fragments, at least. And… the future you dies."
I would change the future. And I would save her.
The story I was about to tell was the overture to that grand plan.
Ziiing—
Only after the machine covering her eyes stopped did the old woman open them and rise from her seat.
Then she moved a body lighter than before and looked around.
Across from her, where her gaze fell, was a human shape wearing the same machine.
The form was so withered and desiccated it looked more like a dead tree than a person—hardly something one could still call human.
The one thing that could be guessed from that appearance was that its owner had been a child.
"Tower Master, how is your body?"
"Heh heh. Still holding up."
It was a sight she had long since grown used to.
To a woman who had lived so many years, death was equal for everyone.
Even high-dimensional magic did not guarantee eternal life.
It could not be stopped. And it could not be avoided.
That was why she had chosen this path.
Clinging to life by force, through pathetic and ugly thrashing.
Serina Edelbit, master of the Magic Tower, soon began to walk, slipping past the hands that tried to support her.
"What of the matter I instructed you about?"
Not long ago, Serina had foreseen an ominous movement.
A vast force that threatened the entire city had begun to set its sights on her.
It wasn't as if threats against Great Wisdom had never existed before.
But the danger that had come this time, as she felt it, was of an entirely different order from anything previous.
Having heard Serina's words, the secretary answered as if she had been waiting for the question.
"I've already contacted Secondary Beat."
"This one will be difficult. Prepare yourself."
"They may not be Night Tail, whom you were hoping for, but Secondary Beat's capability is solid."
Hearing the secretary's answer, Serina clicked her tongue.
Secondary Beat was a company she had heard of often enough, but the result was not one she found particularly satisfying.
The Successor she regarded as her nemesis raised monsters that defied every standard.
It seemed Serina herself would need to prepare more thoroughly.
"What a filthy way to cling to life for so long."
"You needn't concern yourself. The Tower Master's safety matters more than a brat like that."
"No need to make excuses. If it weren't for the Cabal, I would never have gone this far."
Decades ago.
Serina Edelbit had confirmed a vast malice that would plunge the entire world into darkness.
The Cabal. A mysterious organization hidden in the empire's shadow.
It had been formed before Serina was even born, and had continued to this day, threatening the empire's peace.
Yet the information Serina possessed about the Cabal was not particularly extensive.
At most, she knew that its members sought the empire's overthrow, and that a leader called the Successor stood at its head.
"Especially… if it weren't for this generation's Successor."
Ten years ago. Or a little earlier than that.
Around that point, the Successor of the Cabal that Serina knew had changed.
And her magic had prophesied the empire's ruin.
It had warned of the new Successor's danger.
From that moment on, Serina completely abandoned the idea of dying.
Even if it meant enduring the world's condemnation, she chose to end the Cabal with her own hands.
That was the way of life given to Great Wisdom.
"Please don't worry too much, Tower Master. The family of the Magic Tower stands with you."
"……Yes. I place my trust in all of you."
There was much that Serina herself had accomplished over a lifetime.
Countless crowds had praised her greatness.
Countless scholars had lauded her wisdom.
And yet what left her with lingering regret was that she was still searching for the place where she ought to die.
Even knowing those great achievements would turn to empty renown—
She could never give up.
"I place… my trust in you."
At least as she herself saw it, Serina Edelbit was nothing like a sage.