Chapter 82 – Is It Finally Moving (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Apprentice mage.

Before a single mage sets foot in the Mage Tower.

The modifiers attached to them varied.

A rare genius.

Magic prodigy.

If nothing else, the pride of the family.

It’s inevitable that they have some pride in themselves.

However, after entering the Mage Tower.

And after realizing that the knowledge they had acquired so far was merely a cup of water in the sea water.

They come to consider such modifiers not just forgotten, but embarrassing.

They just become the Mage Tower’s chicks.

“……You know. Isn’t this somewhat strange?”

The things such chicks did were obvious.

Peeking around and chirping.

But.

“Right? Was I not the only one who felt it?!”

The chirping ringing in the Floating Garden today was exceptionally secretive.

In case someone might be listening.

A conversation shared with lowered voices.

The topic of that conversation was naturally.

“Isn’t that a picture that can’t be commonly seen?”

Senior mages.

Senior mage.

A position that can only be reached if one has pride in the magic they chose.

Naturally, all twenty senior mages hold the thought that the magic they chose is the best.

It meant they couldn’t be on good terms with each other.

“Normally it would be a time when they wouldn’t even greet each other…….”

Furthermore, isn’t it the regular academic conference period right now?

The time when senior mages become the most sensitive was exactly.

The regular academic conference period where the honor of the school of magic was at stake.

So the scenery of the Floating Garden right now was a very unfamiliar sight to the Mage Tower’s chicks.

“……Why are they gathered like that?”

“And facing each other at that!”

“Hey hey, Senior Mage Bangrit Tom is also there.”

That’s right.

Bangrit Tom, who had gone missing.

Including him, all twenty senior mages were gathered at one table.

Even in the Crystal Hall, it’s a sight that cannot be commonly seen.

This place was a social gathering place, the Floating Garden.

As if that wasn’t enough.

“They are not just talking.”

The meal set on the table.

The senior mages were having a breakfast banquet.

A sight that couldn’t be understood with common sense.

The chicks started to rack their brains in their own ways.

“……If we sit closer, won’t we hear something?”

“Are you crazy, Richel? Do you really have no tact? Can’t you tell seeing that even adept mages aren’t coming anywhere near the Floating Garden? It means it’s not an ordinary matter!!”

“Of course it wouldn’t be an ordinary matter. Since Senior Bangrit Tom has returned. But honestly, aren’t you curious? Just what on earth happened. For them to get along so well that they sit face-to-face to eat like that…….”

……Well, but.

Should that be seen as getting along well?

Because the expressions of the senior mages themselves didn’t look good.

“Everyone looks incredibly exhausted.”

“Like they were tormented by someone…….”

“Hey, are those people someone who would be tormented by anyone?”

However, strictly speaking, it wasn’t everyone.

Right, because there was one person who was consistent among them.

Right, the existence who could torment the great senior mages.

Having a position equal to the Chief Mage.

It was the Chief Co-researcher Ho-yeol.

The posture of handling the fork and knife was incomparably exemplary.

From the stiffly erected waist to the angle of his arms and neck.

The appearance of Ho-yeol, who looked as if the word formality was personified.

“……Doesn’t it look like he’s the only one eating really well?”

Unlike the senior mages who couldn’t be felt to have even a little bit of hunger.

Ho-yeol was calmly eating his meal.

At that sight, speculations naturally poured out.

“Could it be that everyone got scolded? You know, we saw it during the regular academic conference. There wasn’t a single presentation that was just passed over, right? Everyone got pointed out.”

“You think they would talk about that in the Floating Garden? While eating?”

“Eyy. No matter how strict he is, he wouldn’t go that far.”

“Right. Talking about work while eating is truly crossing the line!”

But why would chicks be chicks?

Even if they look around with their level of eye level.

There isn’t exactly anything they can see.

It was natural that they couldn’t know the reason.

However, this time at least, it wasn’t a story that only applied to the chicks, the apprentice mages.

“……I do not know what to say. Really.”

“It is a relief that I learned about it even now.”

“It was something that had to be corrected at any time. We have no choice but to think that now is the right time.”

Just a few hours ago.

What happened on the top floor of the Mage Tower here.

Was an ‘internal matter’ of the Mage Tower known only to the Elder Mages, the two Chiefs.

And the twenty senior mages.

Five Elder Mages.

To think that a majority of them, three, were demon worshipers.

Since when in the world did they fall to demons……?

Are they really chewing meat?

The senior mages with expressions as if they were chewing something else.

With their minds in turmoil, how would they know what is properly going down their throats.

The reason such people gathered in the Floating Garden was simple.

“Skipping breakfast is not a good habit.”

It was simply because Ho-yeol said so.

In a silence where no one easily opened their mouth.

The senior mages looked at Ho-yeol.

……Is he really perfectly fine?

Ho-yeol is an adventurer.

Strictly speaking, he was an outsider until recently.

However, the status of the Mage Tower was well known even among adventurers.

To think such a Mage Tower was being played by demon worshipers.

It would be reasonable for him to be shocked like themselves.

Ho-yeol was calmly cutting his meat.

As if that wasn’t enough, even the attitude he showed when confronting the Elder Mages on the top floor of the Mage Tower.

What kind of existences were the Elder Mages.

They were exactly the demigods who could shake heaven and earth with magic.

To the same mages, just facing them meant being crushed by the mana they emit.

It meant they had no choice but to be overwhelmed.

However, Ho-yeol was different from themselves.

Not only was he not overwhelmed.

He rather went as far as speaking to the Elder Mages.

‘He clearly said foolish worshiper…….’

With words full of thorns at that.

Because they witnessed that fact directly.

It was natural that their evaluation of Ho-yeol changed even more drastically.

Right, if it hadn’t been for Ho-yeol.

They might not have been able to recover Bangrit Tom, or they might not have been able to make a decision even after feeling suspicious. The worst was terrible to think about.

If so, the Mage Tower would still be played around by the deception of the demon worshipers.

That’s right.

Whether he knew it himself or not.

Everyone in the Mage Tower owed Ho-yeol a great debt.

That was the reason they couldn’t refuse Ho-yeol’s recommendation for a meal.

In just one day.

Even though Ho-yeol had shown a tremendous performance in the Mage Tower.

There was no change in Ho-yeol’s attitude itself.

He looked surprisingly the same as usual.

To the extent that looking for cues was meaningless.

Right, being the same as usual.

Being incomparably sensitive to manners and formalities.

Such Ho-yeol looked at the table and spoke.

“Sometimes there are things more important than appetite.”

“……!!!”

What is more important than appetite?

Just the ones gathered were twenty people.

The answers to that would naturally be different for each of them.

‘Oops. Did I go against dining etiquette?’

‘I held this fork and knife backwards……!’

‘……Could it be because I was the only one who ordered a different menu?!’

However, their actions were all the same.

Only after Ho-yeol’s words fell.

The forks and knives started to truly move.

Finally, a proper meal began.

*

Right, even if I don’t have an appetite, I should eat.

Because my schedule will get busy right starting today.

People move on the strength of their stomachs.

Of course, the busiest person would still be me.

What can I do.

This was my fate.

My fate that has no days without wind.

The top floor of the Mage Tower.

To get straight to the point, a battle did not break out there.

The Elder Mages.

No, it would be right to call them demon worshipers now.

Because they tucked their tails.

I guess they slightly knew the value of their lives.

I realized it there.

Those who seek death shall live, and those who seek life shall die……!

A development that was rather possible thanks to being prepared for a full-scale war.

As a result, the quest was a success.

[Quest : Truth of the Mage Tower]

A contradiction exists within the Tower of Magic.

Uncover the contradiction.

Set the Mage Tower and the truth right.

─Secure Senior Mage Bangrit Tom, who is entangled with the higher-ups of the Mage Tower. (Success)

─Ferre out the demon worshiper among the Elder Mages. (Success)

[Conditions have been met.]

[Relationship with the Mage Tower greatly increases.]

[Influence in the Mage Tower greatly increases.]

I succeeded in a quest that popped up for me not to succeed, for all to see……!

The reward from that was quite big.

Because the relationship and influence with the Mage Tower increased greatly.

Even just now, wasn’t I ripping off much more from the Mage Tower?

Not to mention precious magic books.

Taking out magic tools and items whose rentals were approved.

And even the free breakfast I just ate.

‘I do not know how much is left until the maximum but.’

I could be sure of one thing.

That the reward of relationship and influence increase with the Mage Tower seems much better than any decent reward. Of course, the quest is not over yet.

Fitting the scale of the Mage Tower.

The quest was also a chain quest.

Also absolutely not an easy chain quest either.

[Quest : Reconstruction of the Mage Tower]

The reality of the contradiction that existed in the Tower of Magic.

Now that even the Mage Tower’s purpose of seeking truth has become impure.

Set the Mage Tower right from its foundation.

─Encounter the Tower Master. (Ongoing)

─Dispose of the escaped demon worshipers. (Ongoing)

─Find the true truth. (Ongoing)

Indeed, it’s the Mage Tower.

It was clear they wanted me to roll around as much as I received.

The quest objectives just pour out right from the start. They pour out.

More than anything, none of the quest objectives looked easy.

First of all, even just the Tower Master.

Even when I caught a glimpse of him on the top floor.

It didn’t seem like he was in a normal state.

What about the objective to dispose of the escaped demon worshipers?

This meant to find the Elder Mage and settle the score.

As the finishing touch, even seeking truth, which is the ultimate goal of the Mage Tower.

Looking at those objectives…….

It feels like I have truly become a member of the Mage Tower.

Is it because relationship and influence greatly increased.

That I even got to receive a quest like this?

Well, anyway. As can be seen from that grand objective.

It wasn’t a quest that could be cleared right away.

The name of the quest from the start was [Reconstruction of the Mage Tower].

Because it’s a matter of setting right a Mage Tower where we don’t know since when and from where it was wrongly designed. It’s natural that it wouldn’t be easy. However, everything starts with a single step.

Clack

So I took a step forward.

Towards the underground of the Mage Tower.

*

An underground space exists in the Mage Tower.

The role of that underground space is just to support the Mage Tower.

It’s a Mage Tower with many spaces that cannot be understood with common sense.

That meant its structure couldn’t be scientifically explained from the beginning.

Although it’s a Mage Tower that doesn’t look that high or vast on the outside.

Inside the Mage Tower, countless floors and incredibly wide spaces existed on each of those floors.

It meant it was a Mage Tower built with magic.

Naturally, to support such a Tower of Magic, a solid foundation was needed.

A foundation that can maintain constancy unshakeably against the mana of any magic, or the time of eternity.

Right, the underground of the Mage Tower is a space ruled by that constancy.

Its exact name is Mugan(Avici Hell).

Fitting its name, it was a space like hell.

There were those who had fallen into such Avici Hell.

Demon worshipers who were called Elder Mages until just a day ago.

They were the worst sinners in the history of the Mage Tower.

‘It’s a damn space.’

Elder Mages who had reached the ‘state’ of magic.

However, their mana was also useless in Mugan.

The same goes for the mental power they took pride in as being noble.

‘How much time has passed? A week? A month?’

All senses including the sense of time had been broken for a long time.

However, they did not give up.

Right, because Mugan wouldn’t be overwhelming only for them.

“Marcelo. Since when did you notice?”

They desperately struck up a conversation knowing that fact.

By coaxing that greenhorn Marcelo.

If they could just escape from these iron bars.

They might be able to escape this damn Mugan.

‘If we just escape…….’

We will be able to repay this disgrace twicefold, no, even more than that.

Deceiving an opponent with words?

There was nothing easier than that.

Because even the Mage Tower had been fooled by their tongues.

Moreover, those people had a reason why they had no choice but to converse with them.

‘They will have to find out the whereabouts of one person.’

Finding the remaining one who escaped and passing judgment.

Because that would be the top priority goal of the Mage Tower at the current point.

So they held onto hope.

‘……We just have to keep our wits together to survive.’

Of course, that hope didn’t last long though.

“Have you come?”

Marcelo, who was keeping his silence, opened his mouth.

At the place where that greeting headed, Lee Ho-yeol was there.

An adventurer and the Co-researcher chosen by Marcelo.

The moment they faced his face, they felt a sense of disparity.

‘……What is it?’

Not a single sign of fluster could be felt from him.

This place was Mugan.

It was a space of constancy where it feels like time literally stopped, where even a person stepping foot for the first time finds it hard to maintain their sanity, you see.

But how could he be so perfectly fine?

‘……Deceive that guy to escape this place?’

Is that really a possible thing?

Is it an illusion they feel because their senses are broken?

If not, is it truly reality?

‘Impossible……!’

Drip

They felt cold sweat flowing down their spines.

*

Avici Hell.

A space of constancy, huh.

The moment I heard the explanation about it from Marcelo, I thought.

『The first thing Granfel learned as the succeeding Head of the Family was not fully letting his personal feelings show.

The position of the Head of the Claudi Family was a position where not even a slight agitation was tolerated.』

I thought this would be completely matching exactly.

That prediction hit dead on.

Because I was feeling incomparably comfortable in Mugan.

It wasn’t a misunderstanding.

Even just Marcelo looked clearly exhausted.

Of course, there would be no need to mention the demon worshipers.

‘The initial vigor is nowhere to be seen.’

By the way.

It seems they don’t know what kind of expressions they’re making themselves.

This, looking roughly at the state of things…….

─Dispose of the escaped demon worshipers. (Ongoing)

Maybe I can finish this faster than expected?

Not only simply finding out the whereabouts of the escaped demon worshiper but also being able to find out more information. Information about demons, of course.

‘They were in the position of Elder Mages anyway.’

Wouldn’t they also know high-grade information about the Arcana continent?

Of course, there was no need to rush.

This space of Mugan was on my side.

It meant it was literally a home ground.

So I said as always.

There was no need to deliberately threaten them either.

A consistent attitude is precisely constant.

“I will begin the interrogation.”

I spoke nicely in that sense but.

……For some reason, why did their expressions look even more ready to cry?

I can’t know the reason for that but.

Not leaning toward personal emotions such as sympathy.

That too is constancy.