Chapter 140 – The Magic Tower (1)

“Um… I don’t really know what to say, Your Majesty. I like your firm attitude, and it is true that sinners must be punished. But…”

Heretia carefully continued speaking.

“It would be best if the people who had only been used in the process are left unharmed, right? Those people are the power of the empire and the ones that make the empire what it is.”

Instead of answering Heretia’s question, Juan asked Heretia a question.

“What are you trying to say, Heretia?”

“Form an alliance with the Magic Tower.”

“Magic Tower?”

“I forgot whether it was called the Magician’s Tower or the Magic Tower. But I’m talking about the group of freaks who live at the place where Mananen McLeir’s body is buried. I suggest you form an alliance with them.”

Juan looked at Heretia with surprised eyes, and Heretia frowned upon seeing his gaze.

“What? You don’t like my suggestion?”

“No. It’s just that Harmon Helwin had told me the same thing—he told me to first form an alliance with the Magic Tower back when I had yet to become the emperor. I had a close relationship with the magicians thanks to Dane Dormund, but it was my first time forming a formal alliance,” Juan said as he stroked his chin and tilted his head. “But I heard that they have now turned into just a group of scholars. I was told that anyone who uses magic is labeled as an illegal mage by the Church.”

“That applies only outside the Magic Tower. No one knows and will never know what happens inside the Magic Tower. Magic Tower is a group older than the emperor or any other country in human history. There are stories about them that have existed since the mythological period and the ancient dragon period, you know? That’s why they are so well respected and have so many talented people.”

Juan nodded as his assumptions were confirmed. One of the reasons why Juan didn’t bring the Magic Tower into his alliance was due to what happened between him and Dane Dormund. When Juan had expelled Dane Dormund from the empire, his alliance with the Magic Tower had slightly changed. While there was no reason for Juan to view them in a negative light, he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel uneasy.

“But… maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. I know someone from the Magic Tower anyway.”

Juan recalled Opert from the Order of the Huginn. Opert’s position as the vice tower master of the Magic Tower was only given to him due to the other older magicians being lazy, but Opert was quite a capable man. Juan thought that forming an alliance with the Magic Tower would be easy as long as Opert helped him out.

Heretia smiled in delight upon hearing Juan’s response.

“All right. Then I’ll contact the Magic Tower. The Helwin family has been providing quite a bit of financial support to the Magic Tower, so they will be considerate toward me. Those with authority from the Magic Tower will come and visit us to…”

“No, I’ll visit them myself.”

“Huh? Are you sure? That might not be a good look for you.”

“I don’t care. Besides, I have things I need to bring back from the Magic Tower anyway.”

***

Two flags with white lotus and black lotus symbols respectively were flying side by side in the air. Dembel Dorkmel, the captain of the Order of the White Lotus, was quite unfamiliar with such a sight. It had been decades since the knight orders worked together. This was because the number of beings that threatened the empire had decreased over time, and just one knight order could easily occupy a city in just an instant.

Even the so-famous Ras Raud and the Order of Huginn had been confronted by only the Order of the White Crow. As such, the current situation was very much abnormal.

[What are you thinking?]

Lianna Laos, the captain of the Order of the Black Lotus, sent Dembel a message using magic.

“I don’t intend to have useless conversations with you. Shut up and focus,” Dembel answered with a frown.

Lianna laughed with a strange sound. As she laughed, one could see that she didn’t have a tongue in her mouth.

[Don’t you think there’s a reason why His Holiness sent us together? You and I have quite a bit of difference in the way we perform our duties.]

Lianna was one of the most talkative people Dembel knew. In fact, she would have been even more talkative if she had a tongue.

Lianna continued to send a mental message to Dembel from his side—it didn’t matter whether he answered her or not.

[Let’s be honest here. You were recommended by the Saintess, and I was recommended by the Pope. Considering my usual duties, I think the Pope picked me to kill you if anything goes wrong. So, tell me why the Saintess picked you.]

“...How the hell am I supposed to know that?”

[Well, well, well… You ended up responding to me. I'll have to keep talking to you, since I now know that you have been listening—no, watching me. Good boy, Dembel. Good boy!]

Dembel wanted to kick Lianna’s ass, but she was much stronger than him. She had always been stronger ever since Dembel and Lianna came to the Church’s orphanage at the age of five. Lianna and Dembel had gone through the same growth process and then graduated from the same knight school. Not only did they live in the monastery together, but they had also become Templars together as well.

Dembel had always been overwhelmed just trying to chase after Lianna and catch up to her.

“Fuck you, Lianna. Fine, I’ll tell you. I was recommended by Captain Lenly Loen, not the Saintess. She doesn’t know much about the knight orders anyway. I was just told to go and figure out the truth of the rumor,” Dembel said as he grit his teeth.

[I wish there were more interesting reasons, but I’m convinced; after all, both the Saintess and Captain Lenly Leon are boring people. Why is it so hard to find interesting people like His Holiness?]

The Order of the White Lotus was appointed by the Saintess, and the Order of the Black Lotus was appointed by the Pope. Both the knight orders were tasked with checking the validity of the rumors that had been circulating around the empire. But there was a slight difference in the ways they performed.

Dembel looked at Lianna with anxious eyes. Just like the Order of the Evil Snake, the Order of the Black Lotus was a group that carried out the secret orders of the Pope. The only difference was that the Order of the Evil Snake focused on the assassination of an individual, while the Order of the Black Lotus focused on causing destruction—utter destruction.

The target to be destroyed could be a facility, a family, or maybe even a city. If the right environment and the conditions were met, the Order of the Black Lotus had the ability to devastate a small city without giving even a single person any time to scream.

All the Templars of the Order of the Black Lotus had cut off their tongues in order to keep secrets, since most of their duties were classified. Ironically, their captain was more talkative than anyone else.

[It’s kind of strange if you think about it. I thought the Pope would recommend you since you guys specialize in hunting monsters. After all, we are going after a black monster who is impersonating the emperor. You would be perfect for enacting the orders.]

“From what I’ve heard, several knight orders have already been destroyed by this self-proclaimed emperor. So, it’s about time to think about other plans.”

[Yeah, I’ve heard about that too. Both Ethan and Velkre died, huh? If two out of twelve knight orders led by Templars have been destroyed to the extent that they aren’t able to recover, then who’s recollecting all their equipment? No, that’s not what’s important. So, are you saying that you aren’t planning to fight, but planning to think of a different way?]

Dembel sighed.

“You know nothing other than fighting. What we do is not only fighting, but also finding and rescuing the people who are faithful to His Majesty from the heretics. It is only natural that we should first distinguish if this self-proclaimed emperor is a heretic or not. Both His Holiness and Saintess have sent us with precisely that intention.”

[What? You can tell the difference? I’ve never done that before.]

“That’s because your…”

‘

…your duty doesn’t require you to do so.

’

It was the Order of the Black Lotus’ job to kill those that the Pope wants to kill and destroy those that the Pope wants to destroy.

“At least give it a try, will you? We learned all this in the knight school. Besides, there’s no way we wouldn’t be able to recognize His Majesty. We would all be lying facing down in front of his brilliant halo the moment we encountered him.”

Lianna didn’t answer Dembel this time. She simply smirked without a word, then ran forward while laughing at Dembel.

Dembel felt as if he could feel a lot of sarcasm.

***

“That’s… the Magic Tower?”

Juan tilted his head upon hearing Haild’s question.

“Have you never seen it before?”

Haild shook his head.

“It’s the first time I’ve come so deep into the empire. It’s much more interesting than I had imagined it would be—how can a tower even stand like that?”

The Magic Tower was a huge, pointy tower that was tilted nearly forty degrees toward the western direction. Around the huge tower were other small towers, sticking out like twigs, while the surrounding ground was so dry that dust flew everywhere.

Haild and Juan continued toward the Magic Tower.

“The Magic Tower was built when a huge tower from a long time ago crashed. Most of the old tower ended up being buried under the ground, and only a part of it is said to be the Magic Tower,” Juan explained.

“Only a part of it? That? No way,” Haild opened his mouth wide.

“If you think about the place down there, where Mananen McLeir’s body was buried… then yes, it’s true. I actually have no idea how deep it is.”

Juan recalled being so tired after walking for a long time that he threw Mananen McLer’s body into a random hole around him in the past. It was unbelievable to think that Mananen McLeir’s body hadn’t even been buried properly.

“Then who made that old tower?” Haild asked.

“Some say that it was an ancient dragon that had nothing better to do, and some say that it’s a relic left behind by the Hornsluine. Well, they’re all dead now anyway.”

Juan was not particularly interested in the origin of the Magic Tower. He had once looked at the records with interest, but most of them had disappeared now. This was understandable since, back then, humans were treated no better than bugs and proper human groups only lasted for about one hundred years.

“Why don’t we hurry? If you have any academic questions, you can ask as many questions as you want inside the Magic Tower. We have to get our work with the Magic Tower done before Juan’s allies arrive at the capital,” Heretia said.

“Right, sorry.”

Haild quickly followed after Heretia as she snapped. Haild’s grotesque appearance with bandages all over his face often frightened people, but Heretia didn’t seem intimidated at all. Rather, it felt like Haild was intimidated by Heretia, even though he was older than her.

‘

I mean, everyone would be intimidated by Heretia…

’

On the other hand, Haild was the type to be intimidated by everyone, even young children. Juan wondered how such a child managed to fight against Nienna in a battle.

Around the Magic Tower was a village built for magicians and tourists. Because many people from all over the place that dressed in all kinds of clothes gathered here, Haild with bandages all over his body, and Juan with black hair didn’t attract much attention.

Juan could tell that a lot of people seemed to have come from beyond the boundary at just a glance, and he even saw races that he had never seen before.

“...Wait, that’s…”

Juan stopped upon arriving near the main gate of the Magic Tower. A proper entrance had been built separately due to the tower being tilted. Now, on both sides of the entrance stood a huge eagle-shaped statue. Dozens of magicians were looking at Juan from between the statues.

“They must have been waiting for us. I did send them a message in advance, but I didn’t think they’d be so hospitable,” Heretia whispered, just as surprised.

Hospitality from the Magic Tower didn’t necessarily mean bad things, but Juan had many enemies in the capital. In Heretia’s eyes, excessive hospitality was a reason to remain vigilant.

Juan took a step forward first. At that moment, the huge eagle statues standing on both sides of the main gate of the Magic Tower began to move. A loud noise could be heard every time the joints of the stone eagles moved, and it was enough to make the entire village around the Magic Tower shake.

In just an instant, everyone’s eyes turned toward the Magic Tower.

“Your Majesty!”

Haild tried to step in, but Heretia grabbed him by the shoulder.

At the same time, Heretia was chewing her nails with a nervous look on her face.

“Don’t step in. We need to know what their intentions are,” Heretia warned.

“But they might attack His Majesty!”

“If they do attack HIs Majesty, do you think they’ll be able to beat him?”

The eagle statues pounded the ground with their four legs as they approached Juan. Then pieces of stone poured down over Juan’s head.

Heretia couldn’t help but grow even more nervous even though she knew that those trivial statues were no match for Juan.

They were quite rare, but the statues were golems: the most powerful magic soldiers from the time when the emperor founded the empire. At this point, most of them were hidden, making it difficult to find traces of them. But it seemed there were still some golems that remained in the Magic Tower.

The key was whether or not Juan had grown enough to deal with the Golems, which were said to be difficult to deal with even if an entire knight order attacked them.

The eagle statues were about to attack Juan, causing screams to break out in the village.

Of course, Juan had no intention of fighting against the Golems.

Juan quietly muttered as he looked at the statues with a frown.

“Keep your heads down.”

In an instant, the eagle statues quickly fell flat on their stomachs.