Chapter 329 : Chapter 329
Chapter 329. The Mage Tower Master’s Request (1)
After Radel disappeared, only the damp, chilly night air remained in the Abandoned Collection Area.
Helio Valerian leaned deeply back in his worn chair and opened the eyes he had kept closed.
“…It seems I was more exhausted than I realized.”
Though he had spoken to himself, the words rang true the moment they left his mouth.
It felt as though time, long stagnant for decades, had begun to flow again.
The rookie laborer who had appeared out of nowhere in the collection area.
From the moment that audacious youth—who bore the same name as the empire’s 8th Prince—first showed up, Helio had been watching him closely.
He was no ordinary rookie.
The boldness with which he passed through this hellish garden of writhing beastified plants as though it were his own backyard.
The insight that allowed him to solve the Moonstone Cavrins’ feeding problem in one stroke by calmly catching insects.
None of it matched the shabby shell of a mere rookie laborer.
Helio had heard rumors of an overwhelmingly skilled ace among the rookies assigned to the Magical Beast Dissection Area.
Until he saw it with his own eyes, he had dismissed them as idle gossip.
But when that laborer returned to the collection area, Helio was certain.
The boy pulling weeds in his vegetable garden with such practiced ease was none other than the empire’s 8th Prince.
What drove the final nail into that certainty was this very evening.
‘Sir, have you ever tried this?’
The cold gleam that flashed from the boy’s hands as he unwrapped the bundle of Grave Beetle meat.
Even the darkness could not conceal that radiance.
Orichalcum—the legendary metal said to never break.
No ordinary country laborer would casually use such a precious material as a kitchen knife.
If he truly was the widely known “Dragon Slayer,” Radel Silvert Cretian…
‘This is the final chance the heavens have granted me.’
A chance to correct his own mistakes.
The only chance to set right the broken destinies of his two disciples.
Helio recalled the moment the 8th Prince’s eyes lit up without the slightest hesitation when he heard the request.
‘I will do it.’
The boy’s voice was youthful, yet the weight carried within it was anything but light.
Helio tested his resolve one last time.
‘It will not be easy. You may have to confront a high-ranking mage of the Mage Tower. Your life could be in danger. If it is too much, you may refuse.’
He himself was nothing more than a powerless old man, an empty husk.
He had no right to burden this young prince with such a heavy task.
Yet the boy replied calmly, as though such danger was familiar to him.
‘I can do it. But I have a request of my own.’
‘And what would that be?’
Helio braced himself.
A forbidden grimoire of the Mage Tower?
His hidden wealth?
Political support to become emperor?
Whatever it was, there was little the Helio who now lingered in the Abandoned Collection Area could offer.
But what came out of the boy’s mouth was something he had never imagined.
‘Promise me that you will teach me your method for making fertilizer.’
For a moment, Helio’s thoughts stopped.
He wondered if he had misheard.
‘…Is that really enough?’
The rookie laborer—no, the empire’s 8th Prince—grinned.
There was not a trace of falsehood or pretense in that smile.
‘It is more than enough.’
Seeing that smile, a small spark flared to life in Helio’s heart, which he had thought reduced to nothing but ashes.
He remembered the first time he had met the 8th Prince in the vegetable garden.
Even then, the boy had said he would pull weeds if Helio taught him how to make fertilizer.
‘What else would one ask a farmer?’
Though he surely had guessed at Helio’s true identity, the 8th Prince had asked nothing.
And Helio had not asked either—not why the empire’s 8th Prince was secretly inside the Mage Tower.
But the sincerity in the boy’s eyes when he spoke of fertilizer was real.
Helio chose to believe those eyes.
He had thought there was no hope left.
That he would simply rot away quietly in this abandoned garden.
Yet hope had come without warning.
Helio looked up at the night sky.
Though the stars were artificial, crafted by magic, they seemed to sparkle more brightly than ever tonight.
He thought of his first disciple, Aaron.
And of the small child who had arrived at the Mage Tower soaked by rain—Armandy.
“…Soon, everything will return to where it belongs.”
The old man’s quiet murmur scattered softly beneath the starlight.
***
As he left the Abandoned Collection Area, Radel immediately checked the System Window.
Ding.
[The target’s Favorability has surpassed 40!]
He had succeeded once again in winning the old man’s heart.
The moment he promised to fulfill the request, the Favorability had jumped by a full 20 points.
The quest’s completion rate had passed the halfway mark in an instant.
Pleased with the smooth progress, Radel could not help but grin.
At that moment, a voice filled with pent-up fury exploded in his head.
- “You’re smiling? You’re smiling now of all times?! What is so funny that you’re grinning like an idiot?!”
It was the Spirit of the Library, who had remained silent the entire time, disguised as a book.
- “At least you have some conscience. He healed your body quite a bit. Hmph!”
Even as he grumbled, the spirit had clearly sensed how much Radel’s internal injuries had improved thanks to Helio’s potato soup.
Still, his anger did not subside.
- “Obviously! He did it because you have to carry out his request! Do you think that sly old man would show kindness for nothing?!”
The Spirit of the Library shook his pages furiously as he shouted.
- “That old man definitely knows who you are! Otherwise, he would never ask a mere laborer to steal something from a high-ranking mage’s room!”
That was true.
The elder of the Abandoned Collection Area had entrusted Radel with an exceptionally dangerous task—to secretly retrieve an item hidden in his first disciple’s chamber.
It was a mission bordering on the impossible for a rookie laborer.
The areas laborers could freely access only extended up to the middle levels of the Mage Tower.
While the first disciple’s chamber lay in the highest level, accessible only to high-ranking mages.
Worse still, Radel did not even know the layout of the highest level.
Yet he was not flustered.
He possessed an old but reliable map.
Radel opened the Spirit of the Library—still disguised as a book—and once more reviewed the Mage Tower’s original blueprints.
Particles of light rose into the air, sketching the tower’s three-dimensional structure.
Using the information the elder had given him, Radel examined the location believed to be the first disciple’s chamber.
The highest level.
The largest and most ornate room, positioned beside a dead-end corridor.
Written there were unmistakable words.
‘Chamber of the Mage Tower Master’s Proxy.’
- “The Mage Tower Master’s Proooxy?! Has that old man lost his mind?! How are you supposed to get in there?! It’ll be layered with protective and defensive magic! That’s a death sentence!”
The Spirit of the Library screamed, but Radel’s expression remained calm.
“It will be fine. I have items prepared for this.”
From his pocket, Radel produced two small items: a five-second invisibility potion and a special firework designed to blind the vision of flying golems.
With these, he could evade most guards and even high-ranking mages.
“And I also have the greatest Grand Spirit in the world, do I not? You.”
At Radel’s shameless praise, the Spirit of the Library coughed lightly.
- “K-khm! Who says things like that……”
“And there may be traces of Ancestor Hayden on the highest level.”
That final remark was decisive.
The Spirit of the Library hesitated for a moment, then fluttered his pages as if reluctantly agreeing.
- “W-well… that is true! If there are traces of that swindler, I must confirm them myself! Do not misunderstand—this is not for you, but solely for my own revenge!”
“So you will help me?”
Radel smiled faintly.
In truth, he had been wandering the Mage Tower whenever he had time.
Finding the Mage Tower Master’s chamber was important, but he had also hoped to discover traces of Armandy.
He had even deliberately avoided using an alias.
He wanted someone—especially Armandy—to hear his name and recognize it.
But after hearing the elder’s story, his thoughts had changed.
There was a reason he had found no information about Armandy, no matter how much he searched.
Armandy was a dangerous existence.
A threat to the current Mage Tower Master’s Proxy.
Judging from the elder’s story, the first disciple was not only a central power of the Mage Tower but one of its strongest mages.
If such a man regarded Armandy as a rival, he would already have prepared to eliminate him at any moment.
‘There was a reason I couldn’t find him. He’s been hiding, like a dead mouse.’
Now, the only place Radel had not yet explored was the upper levels of the Mage Tower.
The chances were high that Armandy was there.
Radel resolved to infiltrate the highest level and uncover everything.
His eyes shone with a seriousness deeper than ever before.
***
Amid a sea of boiling lava, two figures stood.
Nineteen-year-old Armandy and thirty-three-year-old Aaron.
Armandy’s youthful face was deathly pale.
His clear blue eyes trembled in despair, as though unable to believe what was happening.
“Senior Brother, why… why are you doing this to me…?”
Aaron, standing opposite him, curled his lips into a grotesque smile.
Contempt and twisted delight swirled within his crimson eyes.
“Think about it with that brilliant head of yours, Armandy.”
Aaron’s voice carried a hatred hotter than the lava below.
“This was decided the moment you became the Mage Tower’s successor.”
“That can’t be true! Me—the successor? That’s impossible!”
Armandy’s eyes shook violently, but Aaron only mocked his denial.
“You must have enjoyed deceiving me all this time. You’ve already heard everything from Master, haven’t you? Disgusting little wretch.”
“No! Please believe me, Senior Brother Aaron…!”
Armandy begged desperately, his voice scattering into the scorching air.
Yet not a hint of wavering appeared on Aaron’s face.
“Don’t make me laugh. Do you think I wouldn’t know what you’re thinking?”
Armandy’s shoulders trembled as he lowered his head in despair.
When he raised it again, his eyes had changed.
“No matter what I say, your heart won’t change.”
The staff in Armandy’s hand swung.
BOOM!
Red magma surged upward.
“…What an unpleasant dream.”
Aaron Daryu, seated in his chair, lazily opened his eyes.
The sticky remnants of the nightmare still clung to his mind—himself and Armandy from the past.
Five years had already passed since that day.
He gazed coldly at the lava beyond the window.
“I should have finished it then.”
There had been good times once.
When he had been Master’s foremost disciple, and Armandy the beloved youngest.
But all of it had been shattered.
As Aaron sank into old memories, a communication device at the side of the room began to glow blue and hum softly.
Bzzzz—
“Lord Aaron. The delegation will be arriving soon.”
Aaron pressed his throbbing temple and spoke.
“So soon.”
The annual exchange between the Mage Tower and the Imperial Court.
The delegation, led by the Imperial Mage Corps, was due to visit the Mage Tower.
“They insist on meeting the Mage Tower Master this time. What should we do?”
Aaron’s expression hardened.
They surely already knew the rumors that the Mage Tower Master had collapsed from illness.
Requesting an audience anyway meant they intended to confirm the truth behind those rumors.
Aaron drew out the blue-glowing Key of Seal from his robes.
Yet the key remained silent, unresponsive.
‘Of all times, the delegation has to arrive now.’
It was an exceedingly bad omen.