Chapter 319 : Chapter 319
Chapter 319. A New Laborer at the Mage Tower (2)
The dim hours before dawn.
Faint footsteps echoed through the Marcellent Supreme Deity Temple.
Tap.
They were intruders who had slipped over the wall during a moment of stillness.
Suppressing all sound, they moved toward the treatment wing.
“Security is definitely lighter.”
The man at the front whispered quietly.
He was someone who had been frequenting the Supreme Deity Temple for days, posing as a believer.
Even in the darkness, his eyes swept over the familiar terrain with ease.
“The priests said the shift change is at four in the morning. This is our chance.”
“And the Apprentice Holy Knight Order was dispatched last night…… we are lucky.”
The companion behind him murmured in agreement.
They were assassins who had come to claim someone’s life inside the temple.
Their target was singular.
The Empire’s 8th Prince, Radel Silvert Cretian.
The prince rumored to be lying unconscious in the treatment room of the Marcellent Temple after fighting a dragon.
With several well-known assassin guilds mysteriously disappearing over the past few months, even the small guild they belonged to had received an enormous commission.
Frankly, it was no different from a stroke of luck.
Ending the life of an unconscious person.
If they could just breach the temple’s security, there could be no easier mission.
The 8th Prince might be called a Dragon Slayer, but……
Such rumors were always exaggerated for effect.
The assassins slipped silently through the treatment corridor.
Although sacred energy permeated the space, not a shred of hesitation marked their steps.
‘If not today, there will be no chance.’
Perhaps because the 8th Prince had the official backing of the Supreme Deity Order, security was normally tight.
They had only managed to pick this day after confirming that the Apprentice Holy Knight Order stationed at the Marcellent Temple had been dispatched elsewhere for a full day.
At last, they reached the innermost treatment room.
Since the patient’s condition had to be checked frequently, there were no locking spells on the door.
The assassins drew their daggers and stepped inside.
Moonlight filtered into the room.
The silhouette of their target lay upon the bed.
Exchanging glances, they crept closer.
The finely honed blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
Just as it was about to descend toward the sleeping prince’s chest, another assassin grabbed his arm.
“Wait. The 8th Prince has Troll’s Heart. Just to be safe, let us take his head off entirely.”
“Good idea. If the head and body are separated, not even Troll’s Heart can regenerate him.”
As they nodded at each other in satisfaction, a calm voice broke the silence.
“You seem to know quite a lot about Troll’s Heart.”
“That is because it was written in the commission…… huh?”
The assassin’s voice froze mid-sentence.
He hastily turned his head toward the bed.
“Gah!”
Only then did they realize something was wrong.
Sitting upright on the bed was not a blond-haired prince, but a black-haired boy whose eyes gleamed quietly.
It was Gusto Zebro, an apprentice holy knight of the Supreme Deity Order.
“I am very curious as to who placed that commission.”
“So am I.”
Another voice sounded from behind the flustered assassins.
From the darkness emerged a red-haired girl.
It was the Empire’s 7th Princess, Inette Dastion Cretian.
With a casual flick of her hand, a small flame bloomed above her palm.
The moment the assassins recognized the golden eyes illuminated by the fire, their faces drained of color.
“Th-The 7th Princess!”
“Why are you here?!”
“Why am I here? That is what I would like to ask you.”
Inette’s voice was heavy with fury.
“Who do you think you are, crawling all the way in here!”
At her shout, the flames swelled in an instant and engulfed the assassins.
WHOOSH!
“Aaaargh!”
After a brief commotion, silence returned to the treatment room.
On the floor lay the assassins, unconscious and covered in soot.
Dusting off her palms, Inette spoke.
“They really walked right in the moment the Apprentice Holy Knight Order was gone.”
“He specifically asked us to stay whenever security weakened. Truly, he is a prince indeed.”
Gusto was meticulously tying up the assassins with rope.
Fearing they might bite their tongues to commit suicide, he swiftly gagged them as well.
The plan was to interrogate them later and uncover the identity of their employer.
“I really do not know what he is thinking. Whether he is clever, or just foolish.”
Inette grumbled.
The reason she and Gusto had been guarding the treatment room through the night was at Radel’s request.
Radel had repeatedly warned them that assassins might come when the temple’s security weakened, and asked them to protect the empty bed carefully so that his absence would not be discovered.
“No, seriously, how does it make sense to leave at a time like this? He should have focused on recovering first! And how is he even going to get into the Mage Tower? That place is unbelievably closed-off.”
“Precisely because it is closed-off, it will be safer. And the Bishop tacitly approved it, did he not?”
Gusto replied calmly.
After the dragon incident, news that Radel had lost consciousness would surely feel like the perfect opportunity to those who wanted him dead.
The Black Order, in particular, would not remain idle.
Perhaps sensing the danger, Radel had gone to meet Bishop Lambrado as soon as he regained consciousness, spoken with him at length, and then left for the Mage Tower.
Leaving only a letter behind for the two of them.
“Well, if it is that sly snake, he will somehow make it work.”
Inette sighed as she said that.
Noticing how calm her expression was, Gusto remarked,
“You do not seem very angry. I thought you would be furious that His Highness disappeared without a word.”
“Well, it was a bit shocking…… but still, he must have been well enough to move if he went that far.”
“I can sense your trust in His Highness.”
“No, I cannot!”
Inette snapped back.
“I only held back because he said that if he got into the Mage Tower, he might learn something about my staff. Of all things, the staff His Majesty gave me was made by a mage who had contracted with the Great Spirit of Fire, you know? And that mage was from the Mage Tower.”
“Hearing that, Gusto’s lips curved into a faint smile.”
“You just laughed, did you not!”
“Do not worry. I understand exactly what you meant, Princess.”
“What exactly do you understand?!”
Inette fumed.
It was not as though she was not worried about Radel.
Had assassins not truly come after him?
Just imagining what might have happened if they had not been there, if Radel had actually been lying on that bed, made her shudder.
Thinking of Radel—who might be up to something ridiculous somewhere inside the Mage Tower at this very moment—Inette burst out,
“Seriously, why could he not just lie still? Why did he insist on going all the way there!”
***
“Is someone talking about me……?”
Radel muttered quietly as an odd itch tickled his ear.
He was seated atop a rocking ship.
The sea churned endlessly beneath the torrential rain, yet not a single drop fell upon the deck of the vessel heading toward the island where the Mage Tower stood.
Needless to say, it was due to magic.
“Did you see that?”
The new laborers, excluding Radel, stared in amazement and whispered among themselves.
Most of them looked to be around Radel’s age.
“So it is true that Mage Tower ships never get wet.”
“If I could use even one spell like this, I would never have to worry about making a living for the rest of my life.”
“Do not say something so foolish. We are just laborers. We are not like the esteemed ones of the Mage Tower. And magic of this level…….”
One boy trailed off and swallowed hard.
Reverence filled his eyes.
“……Could it be magic cast by the Mage Tower Master?”
At that single remark, the chattering laborers fell silent.
Like a figure from legend, the identity of the Mage Tower Master was shrouded in absolute secrecy.
For laborers who had come here harboring admiration for magicians, it was an irresistible topic.
Some said the Mage Tower Master was a beautiful woman with hair like moonlight.
Others claimed he was a giant of a man who could move mountain ranges with his bare hands.
Yet no one denied that he was more mysterious and powerful than any mage in the Empire.
The master of the Mage Tower.
Radel, too, had heard of the figure.
The Ivory Tower, cradle of magicians that had existed even before the Academy.
The one who stood at its apex and guided the Mage Tower’s history.
As Radel listened to their conversation, he recalled the true reason he had come here—the new skill advancement condition that had drawn him to the Mage Tower.
‘Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method.’
Back in the Green Sanctuary dungeon, when Leon had put him through brutal No-Chant Casting training, Radel had skirted the edge of death and barely managed to break through the wall known as ‘Awakening the Essence of Magic.’
DING.
[You have drawn closer to the essence of magic.]
[The hidden skill advancement conditions of Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method have been unlocked.]
At the same time, the previously hidden advancement conditions revealed themselves.
[Hayden’s Normal Mana Training Method (B)]
A mana training method researched by the Archmage Hayden over the course of his lifetime.
If one can awaken to the essence of magic, one can be reborn as a true mage.
Slash (30,000/30,000)
Thrust (30,000/30,000)
Block (28,990/30,000)
Lie Down (28,785/30,000)
Defeat a stronger opponent than yourself (834/1,000)
Defeat an overwhelmingly strong opponent (90/100)
Awaken the essence of magic (1/1)
Visit the Mage Tower Master’s room (0/1)
‘The Mage Tower Master’s room…….’
An advancement condition that required visiting the Mage Tower Master’s room.
While Radel had also come to find Armandy, he had no choice but to enter the Mage Tower in order to fulfill this requirement.
‘And while I am at it, I will grab Armandy as well.’
Radel had no intention of letting go of such a talented mage.
More importantly, Armandy was talent Radel had legally “borrowed” from the Ability Management Bureau.
A formal transaction had been made with Director Ivan.
For borrowed talent to run off on their own was a clear breach of contract.
As Radel sank into thought over how he would track Armandy down, a laborer seated beside him nudged his elbow.
“Hey, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“What do you think the Mage Tower Master looks like?”
“I have no idea. I have never really thought about it.”
Radel scratched the back of his head.
“I only found out yesterday that the Mage Tower was even here.”
The new laborers’ eyes widened.
All of them possessed at least a faint trace of Magic Power, and their life goal was to somehow enter the Mage Tower and catch the attention of its magicians.
Seeing Radel act as though he had no interest whatsoever in the Mage Tower or magicians left them baffled.
What followed was even more bewildering.
“And I am rather shy around people…… so if it is all right, could I spend some time over there alone with a book?”
With that, he separated himself from the others and pulled out a book.
Worse still, he began whispering to it.
Surely he does not think he can actually talk to a book?
The new laborers all had the same thought at once.
‘Is there something wrong with him……?’