novelraw Chapter 92 : Chapter 92
Chapter 92 : Chapter 92
Chapter 92
After a simple meal with the noisy dragon, I headed to the training grounds within the knightly order's compound.
There, I saw Vergil and the knights, already drenched in sweat from the morning's training.
“My lord!
What brings you here……?”
“I have something to do, so get ready.
Tail, you go and bring Hoodwock and the scouting party.”
“Yes?
Is it already the next mission?”
“Not quite a mission, more like a warm-up before that.
Ah, tell the entire knightly order to change into thick armor, and prepare the thickest shields as well.”
“Why do we need shields for a warm-up…….”
Tail, who was looking around as if he couldn't understand, quickly ran off to bring the soldiers as soon as his eyes met Vergil's.
“The rest of you, listen up.”
When it comes to acting like a scoundrel, planning is the most important thing.
Even a mage who has lost all fear and reason would naturally and politely clasp his hands if faced with a knight who has half-drawn his sword and is spitting on the ground.
And I needed their help to use the secret technique I had learned while dealing with all sorts of nobles, royals, and mages in 『Lost Chronicle』.
“From now on……”
The knights who were listening to Ian's explanation just glanced at each other's faces quietly, without saying a word.
* * *
In front of the Magic Tower.
Derku, who had been transferred to the 'Special Mission Unit' this morning, gripped his crossbow with trembling hands and spoke to Hoodwock.
“Um… squad leader.”
“What is it, traitor.”
“Ah!
I said I was sorry!”
“Is sorry all it takes, you brat?
After ignoring my shouts like that?”
“I was sure you were the undead… ah, forget it… is this, is this really okay?”
At the new recruit's sudden question, Hoodwock couldn't answer and looked around.
Whether he was a squad leader or a centurion, Hoodwock was just a common soldier, and if someone asked him, 'Is it okay to surround the Magic Tower and threaten them with crossbows?', he would say, 'A madman has found a new way to commit suicide.
Then it's a pretty good method.'
After a long time of contemplation, Hoodwock made a simple decision.
‘The captain has stepped up, so it must be okay.’
One or two soldiers might be turned into frogs by the mages' hands, but the captain would probably raise them well.
“Well… I'm not sure.”
“What?!”
“You're still young, so you don't know, but the world can't be divided into black and white, you idiot.”
When he tried to brush it off with a plausible-sounding answer, Derku didn't fall for it and retorted.
“What kind of nonsense is that?
It's an order from the unit captain, so of course it should be okay!”
“Tsk, this is why sharp ones are…….”
After saying that, Hoodwock readjusted his grip on the Knight Slayer in his hand and glared at the Magic Tower.
“Stop talking nonsense and hold your weapon properly.
Whether it becomes a problem later or not, our mission is to not let anyone out of here.”
“Well, that's a damn reassuring thing to say.”
Derku, who was glaring at the Magic Tower following his senior, cautiously asked in a voice that was barely audible.
“…Is it really okay for me to be in this unit?”
He might not have been able to answer other questions, but he could answer this one with certainty.
When the Orcs attacked and the battle began, the safest place, no matter how he thought about it, was near the captain.
Of course, it would also be the most dangerous place at the same time.
“…If you want to live.”
“Damn it… the first mission is to surround the Magic Tower, it looks like I won't live to a ripe old age.”
After saying that, Derku readjusted his grip on his weapon.
He didn't know about other things, but his former squad leader was not someone who would play with the lives of his soldiers.
* * *
Jeremy, a 4th-grade mage, yawned, sitting at the reception desk with a bored expression, just like any other day.
“I'm bored.”
In Front Hold, where there were only ignorant helmet racks and arrow fodder, there were hardly any people who would visit the Magic Tower.
At most, a servant from the Count's family would visit to get a detoxification potion or a healing potion.
“I'm soooooo booooored.”
It would have been better if he could at least do some research or study, but the old geezer of the tower never allowed any other activities while guarding the reception desk.
So, all he could do was sing about how bored he was to express his dissatisfaction, or create a flame at his fingertip and watch it.
As he was singing, he suddenly thought of the chaotic situation in the fortress and muttered with a dejected face.
“Still, there's no place as good as this……”
Except for the fact that humans, who clearly had slime instead of brains, sometimes came to ask for absurd things, this Front Hold was no different from a paradise for mages.
Unlike other Magic Towers where competition was fierce, it was a honey of a job where they received generous support for research funds and mana stones, as well as a separate danger allowance.
It wasn't for nothing that the Magic Tower of Front Hold was called 'Terror Bear's treasure vault'.
Here, where honey was literally dripping, you could even get a live Terror Bear if you were lucky.
“Ah, even so, they'll probably fight for a few days and then stop.”
Jeremy, who had spent a considerable amount of time in the fortress, knew well how strong the fortress's forces were.
No matter how many enemies appeared, those ignorant knights would cut them down as if they were cutting branches.
The Magic Tower was in an uproar, telling them to evacuate immediately or to move to the panic room as soon as a battle broke out, but it didn't seem like such a big deal would happen.
‘If this place were to fall, it would be dangerous anywhere else.’
Even the old geezer of the tower had decided to stay a little longer and see how the situation unfolded.
‘Though it seems like that human is just too lazy to move his heavy ass… well, if it's really dangerous, we can just move through the gate.’
Jeremy thought it would be better if nothing happened.
He wouldn't be able to find a better research environment than this even if he searched the entire continent.
“…Hah.
But guarding the reception desk is really boring.”
As he was overcome with boredom and was thinking of a more fun game to play while creating flames at his fingertips one by one, a handsome young lord entered with a jingle.
…with a rare, unseen animal on his head.
‘A noble.’
He could be sure even without hearing his name.
The culture of the nobles was usually like that.
They couldn't boast openly, but they showed off openly and wanted you to notice, and if you didn't, they would condemn you as having low taste or being ignorant, an irrational bunch.
‘Placing a rare animal on his head is a bit new though.
Is it a way of showing off his wealth and dominance?’
The more expensive and rare the animal, the more he could show off his family's wealth, and by placing it on his head, he could prove his charisma in dominating even animals.
‘It’s certainly a refined and dignified method.
It must have started in the Empire.
By the way, I’ve never seen his face before…….’
He, who knew all the nobles here, from their children to their servants, tilted his head at the unfamiliar face, but still offered a mechanical greeting.
“Welcome to the Magic Tower that pursues truth, the Reime-Front Hold branch.
How may I help you?”
At the same time, he inwardly guessed the purpose of the noble young lord's visit.
‘Hmm… if it were anywhere else, it would definitely be an aphrodisiac, but since there are only men here… a sleeping pill?
A high-grade healing potion?
Ah, of course, he must have come to get a rare animal.’
Having finished his thoughts, just as he was about to naturally take out a suitable magic sphere, the sound of a bell announcing a visitor's arrival rang in his ear.
“Ah!
Welcome to the Magic Tower, the Reime-Front Hold branch.
How may I help you… ah?
Huh?”
Clank, clank, clank.
Jeremy, who was mechanically offering a greeting at the sound of the bell, was overwhelmed by the knightly order that had already filled the first floor and gasped for breath.
‘A knightly order?
Did a domain war break out without my knowledge?
No, there’s no way a madman would target Moner.’
Jeremy’s brain was working as fast as it did during a promotion exam.
‘He even has his sword half-drawn!
Some idiot must have tried to trick a knight and got caught!’
It was a common occurrence for a mage to trick a knight.
Let me correct that.
It was a ‘frequent’ occurrence for a mage to trick someone.
Because any mage would think that the one who gets tricked is the one at fault.
On the other hand, ignorant knights were different.
The story of a knightly order storming the Magic Tower after a junior knight was tricked into buying a ‘sleeping potion’ as a ‘potion that’s good at night’ was famous among mages.
It was famous enough to create the saying, ‘Trick, but don’t get caught.’
“Wh-who, are you looking for……”
When he asked with all the courage he could muster in his life, the noble young lord said in a nonchalant voice.
“Ah, I have something to say.”
Normally, he would have kicked out a noble brat who had no manners without even listening to his circumstances, but not now.
The mage’s senses, which had been solving problems and finding answers for a long time, were screaming loudly that there was no answer to this problem.
‘Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.’
Jeremy, a 4th-grade mage, knew well what this feeling meant.
“Yes, yes.
Pl-please speak.”
Usually, when this feeling arose, mages would say.
“Ah, it's nothing much……”
Gulp.
“Get out.”
‘I'm fucked.’
* * *
Jeremy felt like a knight for a moment.
Because he couldn't understand the man's confident words at all.
“Yes, yes, the room… room… room?
Young lord, I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean.”
When he bowed his head and politely asked again, the noble young lord smiled and explained kindly.
“Get off my land.”
Screech!
Thud!
As he drew his sword and plunged it into the floor of the Magic Tower.
‘Hiiik!
A s-sword!’
Click, click, click.
‘What is this old geezer doing, not answering my call!’
He had been trying to contact the tower lord from the moment he felt the ominous feeling, but the tower lord did not appear.
If he was a mad old man, he was surely either drunk from a failed experiment or drunk from a successful one.
‘Jeremy, get a grip.
They say you can survive even in front of an Ogre if you just keep your wits about you, right?
That guy is a madman, so let’s try talking to someone else.
Right, that kni… kni…….’
Jeremy, who was about to try to talk to a knight, turned his head again to look at the young lord.
Firmly believing that even if he was crazy, he would be more conversational than a slime.
‘Hoo, hoo… no need to be scared of a madman.
Jeremy, you are a mage of the Magic Tower!
Be confident!’
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“Young lord, I'm sorry, but this is an official Magic Tower recognized by the lord of this fortress and the guardian of the north, Count Sven.”
The frontal lobes of the nobles, which were usually in deep sleep, would jolt awake at the mention of a high-ranking noble's name.
Even a madman would come to his senses if he heard the Count's name.
‘How about that!’
Jeremy prayed that the madman's sleeping frontal lobe would be brought to reason, but reality was cold.
“Ah, I just met with the Count and got his permission on my way here.”
“Whaaat?!”
“Ah, was it a notification, not a permission?”
Jeremy didn't know whether he should be more surprised by the noble who so naturally spewed nonsense with such confidence, or by the fact that the rare animal he thought was asleep was moving its tail and hitting the noble's head.
He had just taken one step closer to the truth of this world, like a mage.
This world was full of madmen who had gone beyond the pale.
‘This is not someone I can handle.
Of all days, the seniors are all on vacation…….’
Despairing at the fact that there was no one to pass this bomb to, he said in a moist voice.
“F-first, let’s meet with our tower lord.”
Jeremy, who moved his legs that felt as heavy as a thousand pounds to climb the stairs, prayed to all the legendary dragons and dragon gods who were the progenitors and masters of magic.
Please.
Let there be a miraculous magic, and let the old geezer be in the tower today.