Chapter 49 - Magic Symposium (2)

Penia, deputy tower master of the Blue Magic Tower, was a genius, but few mages actually liked her.

There were three reasons for this.

She was extremely rude.

She was extremely rude.

And she was rude.

As a rule, other mages would flock to anyone of a high tier, regardless of their personality. What mattered to mages was inquiry, not character. In other words, however shitty someone's personality might be, the average mage would stay close and try to glean whatever knowledge they could, so long as there was something to learn.

But even those mages could not bear to stay around Penia. She was a genius, but her arrogance was utterly intolerable.

Consequently, her presence always caused trouble at the symposium. She openly disdained every mage she met unless they were on the level of a tower master, making conflict inevitable.

That was why all the mages disliked her and called her an absolute menace. Milan, a mage of the Green Magic Tower who had quarreled with her just moments earlier, was no exception.

He had plenty of grievances against Penia. How many? For seven years now, his cherished ambition had been to overpower her with magic and force an apology out of her for the abuse she hurled at him whenever they met. She had tormented him ever since he became a fully fledged mage, a proper member of his tower qualified to present theories at the symposium.

And so Milan could not comprehend the scene unfolding before him.

"How long has it been? ... Hmm, over half a year, I believe."

"Y-yes, sir!"

"There's no need to be so stiff with me. I believe I told you last time that you could speak casually."

"C-casually...? Shall I?"

"Ah, on second thought, I believe I simply told you to speak however you felt comfortable. Do that."

"Yes, sir...!"

Milan blinked involuntarily as Penia sighed in relief, apparently delighted to be allowed to remain formal.

'I-illusion magic?'

Wondering whether he had fallen victim to one of Penia's malicious illusions, he even cast Dispel. Yet the scene before him remained unchanged.

"In any case, it's good to see you here."

"I-it's good to see you too, sir!"

The sight shocked everyone. Penia, that absolute menace who would not even speak respectfully to anyone below a tower master's level, was not merely as meek as a lamb—she looked like a neighborhood puppy rolling over to show its belly.

... The shock was so profound that Milan's mentor, standing beside him, had already cast Dispel more than five times.

But their astonishment did not end there.

"... Come to think of it, did something happen?"

"Ah, well—"

"I don't mean to interfere, but shouldn't mages get along with one another?"

It was not even a reprimand. Just a passing remark.

Yet upon hearing it, Penia turned straight toward Milan.

"I'm sorry!"

She apologized.

"???"

"???"

At that point, every mage looked utterly dumbfounded. The sight of that menace, who seemed incapable of ever apologizing, bowing her head and offering a respectful apology was simply too unreal.

Even Milan, whose seven-year ambition had been fulfilled with such anticlimactic ease, could muster no response to the apology he had dreamed of receiving.

"But... how?"

Riyan, who was accompanying Alon, also looked back and forth between him and Penia in utter disbelief.

A little later...

"Then I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Y-yes, sir...!"

Penia nodded vigorously at the man's words, then scurried away as though fleeing. Everyone stared blankly after her before turning their gazes toward one man.

Count Pallatio, who could not only turn that absolute menace into a meek lamb, but handle her however he pleased.

'... She seems even stiffer than last time.'

Alon himself was thinking this as he watched Penia running off into the distance.

"?"

Then he noticed Riyan and the nearby mages staring at him with their mouths hanging open.

'... Did I do something wrong?'

Feeling a little awkward, he quietly glanced around, trying to gauge their reactions.

####

After Penia fled in haste, the mages staring at Alon realized that he was Count Pallatio. They departed with curious exclamations of admiration(?), leaving him to ask:

"... Penia is called an absolute menace?"

"Yes."

"How curious."

Alon tilted his head as Riyan told him about Penia.

'... I knew from the game that Penia was incredibly arrogant... but I didn't know the mages called her an absolute menace... Well, it wasn't an important detail, so I suppose it makes sense that it never came up?'

Thinking back, the protagonist would not recruit Penia for another few years, and it always happened when half the kingdom had already been destroyed. As he recalled that and shrugged, Riyan spoke again.

"... Actually, that's what I'd like to say to you. How is that menace so quiet in your presence, my lord?"

Alon fell silent for a moment at her question. Amusingly enough, he did not know what misunderstanding had led Penia to behave that way either.

Still, simply admitting that he had no idea seemed as though it would look rather odd. While he was considering how to answer, Riyan spoke.

"Here we are."

He turned his gaze toward her voice.

"This is..."

"A device for traveling between floors."

Before him stood a structure resembling the elevators he had often seen in his former world.

"So, the thirty-eighth floor... You said you wanted to visit the library, correct?"

Alon nodded as Riyan recalled the request he had made before coming to the tower.

"That's right. Can I enter now?"

"Yes, but I have some preparations to make, so I don't think I'll be able to stay with you."

"You needn't stay with me. I'm simply curious about the library."

In truth, considering what he planned to do there, Alon preferred that Riyan not be present. As he nodded, she pressed a button on the right side of the structure.

"So how exactly are you able to handle Penia like that, my lord?"

Just as Riyan asked the question again—

HUM!

With a loud, resonant hum, the firmly closed doors of the floor-travel device opened.

"..."

Riyan's faint smile abruptly twisted into a scowl. At her sudden change of mood, Alon naturally turned to follow her gaze. A man who looked dissatisfied with everything in the world was emerging from the device.

Then he spoke.

"Oh, who do we have here? Isn't this our darling Riyan?"

"... Baruk."

Riyan made no attempt to hide her dislike as she answered the man, whose smile was hardly friendly.

"Did you come to see me?"

"Not a chance."

"Really? I wanted to see you. What a shame."

The man called Baruk chuckled, looking away from Riyan's glare to stare directly at Alon.

"Who's this? I haven't seen you before."

"This is Count Pallatio."

At Riyan's answer, Baruk considered him briefly, running his eyes over Alon. His scrutiny was distinctly unpleasant, as though a superior were sizing up a subordinate. Then, apparently remembering, he let out a quiet "Ah."

"Ah, you're that man, aren't you? The one who helped deal with the first Outer God to appear in centuries?"

Baruk nodded to himself with a smarmy smile.

"A pleasure to meet you, Count Pallatio. I am Baruk, a mage of the Purple Magic Tower. I'll see you another time, then."

He gave Alon a slight nod and walked straight past him.

####

A short while later...

'... The Purple Magic Tower master's son, huh...?'

Riding the device between floors, Alon felt his entire body floating as he recalled what Riyan had told him earlier.

'... I don't think he ever appeared in the game.'

He did not believe in judging character by appearances, but Baruk had behaved every bit as rudely as his face suggested. Alon soon decided to stop thinking about him.

From Riyan's account, he seemed to engage in underhanded behavior, such as stealing others' research findings and presenting them as his own, or subtly disparaging people behind their backs. But he was of no importance to Alon.

Some time passed after that thought.

HUMMM!

"Oh."

The doors opened with a tremendous resonant hum, and Alon could not help exclaiming at the sight before him. The space seemed to consist of an endless expanse of books.

True to the name of a mage's tower, the surreal room was covered in books and shelves, from the floor people walked on all the way to the ceiling. It was a sight that demanded admiration.

'There are two things I need to find here.'

His wonder lasted only a moment. Alon immediately set off among the countless books.

Despite his surprise, he had visited this place dozens of times in the game and moved without hesitation, as though already familiar with it. Still, reality was different from a game, so it took a little longer than expected.

Before long, however, he found a book—one with a cover noticeably blacker than those around it.

'This is it.'

Feeling satisfied behind his expressionless face, he pulled out the book and examined it.

Nothing was written on its cover. It bore neither a title nor an author's name, and there was no telling who had made it. Yet he opened it without hesitation and found pages as blank as the black cover.

Unperturbed, he continued turning the blank pages one by one. About a third of the way through, he discovered a secret compartment inside the book.

'Found it.'

Inside was a nail guard, an ornament worn on a finger.

Like the clothes he wore, the nail guard was an inky black that looked as though it could swallow light itself.

Alon casually slipped it into his pocket and returned the book to its place.

'That's the first one found—the second will take more time, so I'll just get things ready before I leave.'

After feeling the texture of the nail guard in his pocket, Alon immediately set about making preparations to retrieve the second item.

'That does it. For the rest... I can come back in two days.'

On the left side of the library stood a broken, enormous clock that seemed no longer in use. He set its second hand to twelve, regardless of the actual time, then began fiddling with the nail guard again.

'I'd like to try it right away.'

If his expectations were correct, this nail guard would greatly aid his current use of magic, so he wanted to test it immediately.

'... Well, today isn't my only chance.'

Remembering that it was already late in the evening, he shrugged and left the library.

The day after he obtained what he wanted, the magic symposium began.

And immediately after the Green Magic Tower mage's presentation, during the friendly matches watched by most of the symposium's attendees—

"I would like to test my skills against Count Pallatio, who dealt with the Outer God that appeared in the north for the first time in centuries. What do you say?"

Alon received a challenge to a duel.

It came from Baruk, the Purple Magic Tower master's son, whose smarmy smile made it obvious to anyone that he had something in mind.