Episode 55 If you don’t like it, don’t read it. (2)
The mercenaries who entered the lobby of the tower looked around curiously.
The spacious lobby was beautifully decorated with plants I had never seen before.
There were expensive-looking statues placed everywhere, so it was hard to tell whether this was a pagoda or a castle belonging to a wealthy noble.
Sylvain, the apprentice wizard guarding the lobby, frowned as he watched the mercenaries looking around with their mouths open.
‘Tch, what’s going on? Why are so many beggars here, making the floor dirty?’
It was a reaction worthy of a wizard from the Red Flame Tower.
Sylvain didn’t have this kind of personality from the beginning. He became accustomed to the atmosphere of the tower after spending time there.
‘Did the gatekeeper let you in because he was scared?’
Although their appearance was shabby, each member of Giselle’s group had at least one weapon on their belt.
Even though he was the gatekeeper of the magic tower, he was just an ordinary person who couldn’t use magic, so it would have been difficult to stop the hordes of people advancing.
Sylvain sighed. It seemed like he had to step in and deal with those scoundrels.
As Sylvain approached the mercenaries with his chin raised arrogantly, the gatekeeper ran towards him with an urgent expression.
“Tsk tsk, I told you not to let just anyone in. Why should you be so scared just because there are so many of you? How can you guard the Red Flame Tower, the best in the North… .”
Before Sylvain could finish speaking, the gatekeeper whispered to him.
Sylvain nodded several times with his eyes narrowed, then bowed at a right angle to Giselle.
“Your Majesty, you have come! May I know where you come from?”
“Gisel Ferdium, the Archduke of Ferdium.”
Sylvain nodded with an expression of admiration.
“Indeed, you are the Archduke of Ferdium! I have heard of Ferdium’s reputation as a noble and brave man. From the moment I first saw him, I thought he was an extraordinary man, and my eyes were not wrong!”
Although he spoke in a flashy manner, in reality Sylvain did not even know where Ferdium was attached.
First of all, since he was a noble and had brought valuables, they started flattering him.
Jiselle knew that too, so she didn’t fall for the sweet flattery and just smiled.
“I came here to sell runestones, but there are quite a lot. I want to meet a high-ranking magician who can take responsibility for the transaction. If possible, I would like to see the magic tower master in person.”
“Please wait a moment while I put in a message.”
Sylvain immediately bowed his head and guided Giselle and her group to the reception room.
As soon as he left the reception room, he gave a stern warning to the maids.
“Do your best to serve the guests without making them uncomfortable.”
After emphasizing this several times, Sylvain hurriedly ran to Matapju.
Jisel and his party brought several wagons. If they were all rune stones, it would be a huge amount.
Back when the Red Flame Tower was considered the best, the rune stones that could be obtained from the trading floor weren’t this plentiful.
Normally, it would be absurd to meet Sylvain Matapju, who is the lowest of the low, in person.
But now there was no time to go through each intermediate step and report back. I didn’t know when Jiselle would change her mind and go back.
‘I don’t think you’ll be scolded for a runestone like that.’
Sylvain ran to Matapju, clutching his pounding heart.
At that time, a serious meeting was in progress on the top floor of the tower.
“You’re saying the runestones are all gone?”
A middle-aged man with a slightly bald head and a well-grown moustache looked uneasy.
“Yes. If things continue like this, the gap with the Crimson Tower will widen further.”
An old man with a long white beard answered. The middle-aged man sighed.
“Huh, how did it end up like this… … .”
This man who looks gloomy is Hubert, the lord of the Red Flame Tower and a 6th circle magician.
Even though he was over sixty years old, he maintained his youthful appearance thanks to his high magical power.
She looked younger than her age because she was very interested in taking care of her appearance.
But lately, wrinkles have been appearing on his face at a rapid rate.
“Isn’t there any better way?”
Hubert looked around and asked.
The five elders sitting on either side of him had no answer.
Hubert urged loudly, as if he was frustrated.
“No, how can we defeat the Crimson Tower like this? They were inferior to us, inferior! Aren’t you feeling hurt?”
The elders turned their heads away and cursed inwardly.
‘No, so you should just hang out with the nobles and train a bit.’
‘Your magic tower is doing well because it has 7 circles. Our magic tower is 6 circles, so how can we win?’
‘You only cared about dressing up and living a luxurious life every day, and now you’re making a fuss… … .’
Wizards are a people with very strong individualistic tendencies to begin with.
That’s why I’m very good at blaming others. No, I start by blaming others.
The elders thought that the reason they were pushed back by the Crimson Tower was because they lacked the level of the Tower Master.
On the other hand, Matapju thought that the Magic Tower wizards of the Red Flame were all lazy and were pushed back.
Finally, one of the elders raised his hand and said, “We belong to the same tower, so we can’t just pass the buck to each other.
“Of course we must improve the skills of our wizards. We must clearly show who is the true orthodox in this North.”
The Red Flame Tower and the Crimson Magic Tower belong to the same school of fire magic and have been rivals for a long time.
They have similar magical lineages and are based in the same northern region, so it was natural that they would become rivals.
“No, so how are you going to pull it up! Are you going to experiment with everyone naked?”
When assessing a wizard’s skill, the standard used is how many spells they can cast.
You have to interpret the spell in your own way and put your will into it to activate the magic, but if you’re not careful, the magic can run wild and your body can explode or you can become disabled.
Of course, I couldn’t do research with my bare body, so I needed a rune stone to take the impact instead.
“If I run out of runestones, I won’t be able to train properly!”
“… … That’s true.”
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The safety of a wizard is ensured by the presence of a runestone.
That wasn’t all. Using a runestone made it easy to increase magical power, and it could also be used as an auxiliary magical power, so it could be said to be an essential material for magicians.
“Are we beggars? Don’t we have money? Only poor wizards use their bodies to get what they want!”
“Even the Crimson Tower Master trains naked… … .”
“Don’t talk about him! And how do I know it’s true? If I just had the Rune Stone, I could quickly advance to Circle 7!”
Hubert screamed excitedly.
The elders bowed their heads in silence on the outside, but inwardly they began to ridicule him.
‘Damn, is that easy? If it were up to you, all the previous Magic Tower Lords would have risen to the 7th Circle.’
‘Honestly, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before the Crimson Tower becomes the best in the kingdom.’
Excluding the exclusive wizard of the Delphine Duke’s household, the only one in the kingdom who had reached the 7th Circle was Delmud, the Lord of the Crimson Tower.
Hubert gritted his teeth and gritted his teeth, not knowing what the elders were thinking.
‘Ah! If I had enough Rune Stones, I could get to Circle 7! Even someone like Delmud could do it, so why can’t I?’
Hubert reacted sensitively whenever he was compared to Delmude.
It is said that Delmud, a beggar, reached the level of the 7th circle despite being persecuted by his master and not receiving any living expenses in the magic tower.
As a successor who was raised with ample support in the best environment, Hubert could not help but feel inferior.
One of the elders looked at Hubert, coughed, and changed the subject.
“But when I ask the people above, they all say they are out of stock. The Crimson Tower has raised the price significantly… … but even if I match that price, they unconditionally say they are out of stock, so there is no way to obtain the Rune Stones.”
Most of the merchants that used to trade with the Red Flame Tower have reduced or completely stopped supplying runestones.
Although runestones are valuable items, their quantity has been unusually low recently.
“Haa, why did it turn out like this? Why is it suddenly so hard to get rune stones?”
They had lived their entire lives in the magic tower, learning only magic, so they were ignorant of the ways of the world. They simply lived by using the legacies they had inherited from their ancestors.
So even in this situation, I couldn’t figure out what went wrong.
Hubert rubbed his face with both palms and asked in a tired voice.
“How is the artifact production going?”
“I think that’s going to be a bit difficult now because I’m running low on runestones.”
Making and selling magical tools and scrolls is the Magic Tower’s largest source of income.
If there were not enough runestones, it would be impossible to create magical tools.
Hubert felt like crying.
The Red Flame Tower, originally considered the best, had lost its title as the best in the North during its reign and was gradually becoming weaker.
At this rate, it really was going to turn into a scroll shop rather than a magic tower.
“Is there really no way to obtain the Rune Stone?”
“All we do is go to other regions and get small quantities. But don’t we have a lot of people and places that need to be used?”
“Isn’t there a lot of people at the Crimson Tower too? It’s true that they’re sweeping everything away there, right?”
“There are rumors about it and they say that most of them are sold there… … Honestly, I don’t know. Since it’s hard to get them there, I think they buy them even if it means raising the price.”
“How about offering to pay more than that? We have a lot of money. We should still have some money to spare.”
“No, I’m just saying there’s no stock. The seed is dry, the seed. And I’m still spending a lot of money buying things with a high price.”
They couldn’t figure out if the Crimson Tower was sweeping away the Runestones or if they were really running low on supplies.
This was the current state of those who lived indolently, lost in the pride of being the best.
“I’m running out of money… … and I can’t get the runestones… … and so the level of my disciples is dropping… … Heh heh heh. What the heck?”
Even the magic tower owner, Hubert, is too scared to conduct magic experiments with his bare body, so who would?
If things continued like this, it was clear that rather than making any further progress, we would just maintain the status quo without any meaning and end up self-destructing.
“ha…….”
“Phew… … .”
“Ugh… … .”
All the smart but stupid wizards just lowered their heads and sighed.
“We need to recruit competent traders. Let’s just leave this to the professionals.”
One elder made a suggestion. The rest of the elders, including Hubert, nodded in agreement.
They studied the ways of the world and prided themselves on knowing all the truth, but they had no talent for business.
“Sigh, I should have been more careful sooner.”
In the past, there were not only magicians, but also those with outstanding talents in the Magic Tower.
But after gaining a reputation as the best, he became complacent and did not promote such people.
Since everyone came and gave good prices, they thought it would be enough to just have someone to count the money.
Everyone agreed that although it was late, it was necessary to bring in experts now.
“Then, first of all, find a good person… … .”
Knock knock knock!
At that moment, someone knocked loudly on the door outside.
Hubert said, suppressing his irritation.
“I’m in a meeting. Come back later.”
Knock knock knock!
“I said I’m in a meeting!”
Knock knock knock!
He told him to step aside several times, but the other person kept knocking on the door. Hubert gritted his teeth and got up from his seat.
“Ugh, I guess I’ll have to burn that bastard’s head off.”
“I’ll go in!”
Bam!
The person who had been knocking on the door opened the door roughly without permission and came in. Hubert glared at him fiercely.
“Who are you? Who let you in? What are the guards doing? First, show me your head. I’ll burn your hair.”
The Magic Tower is run by a discipleship system, and the hierarchy is extremely strict. The Magic Tower Lord has no need to see low-level magicians.
Of course, Hubert didn’t recognize Sylvain either.
Sylvain said, shivering in the frosty atmosphere.
“Lou, someone came to sell the rune stone.”
“What? Runestone?”
The elders, including Hubert, poked their heads out and looked at Sylvain with curious expressions.
Even though Matapju had calmed down, Sylvain still couldn’t relax.
Feeling eyes focused on him, he swallowed dryly.
“It’s not just a small amount like other merchants. It’s a huge quantity. More than ten carts, all filled to the brim with runestones!”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone sitting down jumped to their feet.
