EP.220 Traces of disaster (7)
A gray magic tower built in Arcadia.
Hundreds of years ago, Cardi, an enemy who returned from the elf territory to the human country of Arcadia, presented numerous treasures to the royal family. The old elves’ eyes widened at the news, but they couldn’t bear to question Cardi.
Because all of those things were made by Cardi.
In any case, the King of Arcadia expressed satisfaction with Cardi’s gift, and willingly gifted land in the south to Cardi, who said he needed research facilities.
Cardi built a magic tower there.
Many wizards gathered at the magic tower he built, and later the land came to be called a sacred place for magic.
Numerous magic towers lined up.
A street full of wizards.
The light of mana blooming even in the smallest of rooms.
Numerous wizards from all over flocked to that land, and there humanity entered the golden age of magic. The essence of magic at the time was reflected in the gray magic tower that soared into the sky.
The one who led it all was one wizard.
The leader of the Gray Magic Tower.
He is the only person to receive the title of Grand Wizard, saying that he is comparable to the Dragon Wizard.
Cardi van Armiel.
“It’s a nostalgic era…”
The ancient great sage sighed briefly as he looked at the sacred site of magic that had been turned into a wasteland. However, even among the ashes, there is one building that still maintains its form.
The gray magic tower he built.
The place bound by a contract with the stars is said to have collapsed, but it still maintains its form to some extent.
“Turn the key.”
“like this?”
“okay. Just turn it clockwise.”
Raniel nods and inserts the key.
The door to the Magic Tower opened gently, and the dusty lobby of the Magic Tower welcomed them.
“···It’s been a long time.”
Cardi walked ahead, soaked in memories.
How long did it take to walk like that? Cardi stopped in front of the model of the Magic Tower displayed in the lobby. Cardi, sweeping away the dust that had accumulated there, opened his mouth.
“This place where you stepped is the first Gray Magic Tower. The essence of magic at that time was gathered here. Would you like to see this model? “It’s about halfway now…”
His speaking style is reminiscent of a grandfather telling an old story. And, as has been the case since ancient times… there are not many young people who listen to what the old say.
“···Raniel?”
Cardi looked back.
There was no one there.
‘where?’
Raniel, who was standing behind me just a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen. All I can hear is a clattering noise coming from somewhere over and over again. Only after hearing that sound more than fifteen times did she appear.
“uh? “Did you call me?”
Gray hair covered in dust.
The sound of breathing that seems a bit heavy without knowing why.
Blue eyes still shining with desire.
“···What did you do?”
“No, there were a lot of interesting things…”
She burst out laughing.
He then hid something behind his back, and Cardi recognized at a glance that it was a leather pouch with an expansion circuit drawn on it.
I flinch.
Cardi’s eyes narrowed.
“Raniel, you…”
“huh. why?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Rather than lash out, Cardi let out a long sigh. He had planned to take it all from the beginning, so it doesn’t really matter…
‘What is this feeling…’
I feel reluctant without knowing why.
Even as Cardi was thinking such things, Raniel continued to walk around the gray magic tower, expressing admiration. Then, when I saw her magic tool on display, she would stop in front of it for a while, and the look in her eyes at that time was unusual.
Extremely sparkling eyes.
‘Those are not admiring eyes.’
It’s not an eye of admiration, but an eye that’s wondering how to ‘take care’ of the relic. The eyes were like those of a stray cat with a fish in front of it.
“Hiya…”
She exclaims in admiration.
Heh, I was even hallucinating that it seemed like saliva was pooling around her open mouth… Cardi wiped the corners of her eyes. In the end, he ends up hitting Raniel.
“Everything is fine, please do something with those eyes.”
“ok? my eyes? “What’s wrong with my eyes?”
“I’m telling you to at least wipe your mouth with saliva.”
Scrunch.
“I didn’t drool.”
“······.”
Cardi was a little disgusted.
2.
Is this heaven?
The moment I first entered this place called the First Gray Magic Tower, it was that one line of sentence that filled my head.
“Is this heaven?”
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I tried pronouncing it out loud again.
The voice that escaped my lips clearly seeped back into my ears, and even when I pinched my cheek, the scene before my eyes did not shake.
In short, it was the sound of reality.
“Use it.”
I swallowed the saliva around my mouth and pressed the corners of my eyes with my index finger and thumb. I felt like crying a little without knowing why.
‘It was hard as hell, but it was really hard to get behind.’
If you think about it, it was an eventful life.
A friend who is called a good friend, won’t he be the first to give up after trying to catch the devil lord… won’t he be caught in the back by chasing after 88-year-olds who don’t even look like people…
‘Even the body looks like this.’
It is truly a tearful life.
As I looked at heaven in front of me, I felt like my hard work had been rewarded at least a little. “Ping,” I opened my mouth, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“Hey, Cardi.”
“What.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate it…”
Why is that guy being like that again?
Cardi was looking at me with those kind of eyes, but I liked that. I once again took in the heaven-like scenery unfolding around me.
The essence of ancient magic.
A magical tool of a type I have never seen before.
From the moment I set foot in the Gray Magic Tower, I had been studying it, and the finished products of the magic tools I had worked so hard to restore were there.
‘If I disassemble that thing.’
How much knowledge can you gain?
When I took those elaborate magic tools apart, put them together, and disassembled them again to understand their principles… my fingertips trembled just thinking about the pleasure I would get from recreating them with my own hands.
‘many.’
There are so many things like that.
There were magic tools scattered around, and everything that came across was treasure. I forgot to breathe and went forward, picking up magic tools scattered everywhere.
“······.”
Cardi’s silent gaze at me was a little strange, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that.
“···Okay, I’m glad you like it.”
A voice sounded as if it had been resigned.
“Come slowly. “I’ll be there first.”
Cardi let out a long sigh and started walking again. While looking at his back as he shook his head, I took a quick look at the blueprint for the Magic Tower that I had taken from the exhibition hall on the first floor.
Unlike the magic tower drawn in the blueprint, the current magic tower did not have its full form. That fact gave me a taste for some reason.
“Tsk…”
Something was disappointing.
If it was as drawn in the blueprint, wouldn’t that mean that the current ship had a much larger scale? Of course, there would have been more treasures left here.
‘Did you say Skebal destroyed it?’
According to what Cardi told, it was Skebal who destroyed the southern section where the magic towers were gathered. Did you get your wish fulfilled or something?
‘You shameful skull bastard.’
I clenched my fists.
“You’ll be left behind the next time we meet.”
I muttered that and started walking again.
Even if it collapsed, the magic tower was huge and it took some time to climb up every corner of the hierarchy. After climbing for a while, we stopped at the last floor of the Magic Tower.
A place where there is no ceiling where it should be.
Cardi was waiting for me there with an open view.
“Have you finally arrived?”
Perhaps tired of waiting, Cardi, who had been sitting on a pile of stones, stood up, shaking her knees.
“egg plant. “Because there is a passage here.”
The last tier of the Magic Tower where the ceiling has disappeared.
However, there was still a path to the ceiling. There was a hidden passageway through which a group of platinum-colored lights softly flowed.
Passage leading upward.
The shape of the passage was familiar to the eye. The passage to the top floor of the Gray Magic Tower in the royal capital, that is…
‘The Magic Tower Lord’s office.’
Because it resembled the road leading there.
At the end of the passage I walked down, there was a door just as I had imagined.
“Counterclockwise.”
“huh.”
I put the key in.
The door began to open with a squeak.
“I have reached the same truth as you, and have thought about it for a longer time than you.”
A swarm of light arose.
“I thought I could find the answer if I understood shade, if I understood it completely… if I could define it as a concept with a clear form rather than as an indescribable ‘something.’”
The group of lights that had obscured my vision slowly subsided.
“I thought that if I found the answer, I could save the broken people. “It’s not too late, that’s what I thought hundreds of years ago.”
Because wizards are beings who seek answers.
“I was trying to find an answer.”
Cardi laughed bitterly.
“I still haven’t found the answer, but it will be useful information for you. And, I might be able to find a way to repair your body.”
What you see beyond the sunken clusters of light.
It was the magic tower’s office and laboratory. And, I was overwhelmed by the scenery that caught my eye.
“······.”
Rich writing that fills the entire wall.
Circuit diagrams everywhere.
The remains of countless magic tools that had been disassembled and reassembled repeatedly. All kinds of drugs rolling around on the desk… banned books that ooze evil energy.
It was a scene that even felt a certain kind of madness.
3.
The top floor of the old magic tower.
Raniel, standing at the entrance to the Great Sage’s office, cannot easily open his mouth. With such a view unfolding before her eyes, she simply pursed her lips.
A trace left by one wizard.
The circuit diagrams that filled the walls were climbing up the walls and up to the ceiling. The constellations and circuits carved into the dome-shaped ceiling are intertwined to create a pattern.
However, it is not complete.
In the end, the wizard seems to have given up on finding the answer by drawing the circuit, and the circuit has been disconnected at some point.
The trail leads to drugs.
If he couldn’t find the answer through circuits or spells, did he even try alchemy? A flask covered in dust, a liquid that has hardened. The desk where they are hanging is a mess.
Smashed flasks roll around on the floor.
The spicy smell of the potion pierced my nose.
‘But this also failed.’
The traces of alchemy soon disappear.
However, the traces of research are never lost. The trace continues. If spells don’t work, use alchemy. If it’s not possible with alchemy, go the other way.
I continued to challenge myself.
The wizard did not give up and explored possibilities.
I believe there will be some answer.
The lab is a mess with traces that continue. There was no room left in the spacious laboratory or even a place to step on.
‘trace.’
The room was filled with traces of a wizard grinding away everything he had done in order to undo what disaster had ravaged.
“I wandered around for a long time.”
Cardi’s muttering echoed through the lab.
“I tried everything I could. I poured out all the knowledge I had accumulated. He did not choose any means or methods. “I tried my hand at banned books and even briefly dipped into the realm of the mad.”
Banned books hanging down.
He smiled bitterly as he picked one of them up.
“But, it was still not enough.”
Cardi looks at Raniel.
“It is a curse left by the devil, created by the amalgamation of tens or millions of people’s grudges. I couldn’t find a way to break the curse. “I couldn’t find a way to get the contract back.”
Trudging.
Cardi crossed over Raniel, who had stopped, and headed forward. He walks and walks along the trail and stops. There was a laboratory bench with a circuit engraved on it.
“I told you one day.”
He reaches for the lab table.
“When I gave you the potion to suppress the curse, I told you that I became an alchemist to find Idaum.”
The potion placed there was familiar to Raniel’s eyes. A potion that suppresses curses. It was the same type of potion that Raniel takes every month.
“Thank you, Raniel.”
Cardi said as she rummaged through the potions.
Those are words he once said.
“For even when you face the devil, you still remain yourself…”
He grabbed something from among the rows of flasks.
“For showing me other possibilities, for showing me the best possibility, not the lesser evil.”
While holding it, Cardi approaches Raniel.
“For telling me that there is still a way to find the answer.”
A potion with a subtle blue color.
“thanks. sincerely.”
With gratitude, Cardi gives the potion to Raniel.
“I hope this helps you.”
A word from the author (author review)
I have to go look for a place to stay tomorrow, so I posted it first today…!
This week will be a series on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and Sunday!
