Seol was taken aback by Mael's big smile as he rode the baku to the Libra Tower.
‘Mael’s joining this Adventure? He shouldn’t have any connections to them, though?’
Rumble rumble…
Seol, after promising himself to ask Mael questions the moment they arrived at the tower, patiently waited for just that.
“Halt. Everyone, please stop right there.”
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for them to arrive at the entrance.
“Urgh… The mana here is too heavy, Master,” said Fryn.
“That’s to be expected, though. The Libra Tower is specialized in this, after all.”
- Why did Mael show up here?
- WTF? MAEL?- How is it all connected?
- Why is a troll at the magic tower?
- That’s kind of racist.
- But trolls aren’t humans, though?
- I guess that’s true. I guess you’re species-ist?
- Ah, you’re right. My bad.
Those weren’t the only reactions Mael's unexpected appearance received from the viewers. Many also learned something from Seol’s experience in Yognatun.
- Holy shit… How big is this getting if Mael is joining?
- Honestly, Mael is just a sign that this Adventure will go crazy LMFAO
- Seriously, he just makes things bigger…
- Just like how Conan is always around crime scenes…
- No, crimes happen because Conan shows up 😨
After a few moments, Seol stepped out of the carriage to greet Mael.
“Have you been well?” asked Mael.
"It's always the same old for me, but... What brings you to the Libra Tower?"
Mael gave a big smile once more before responding.
“It is likely for the same reason as you, Snowman.”
Frannan had a confused expression after hearing that.
“Huh? I didn’t hear anything about trolls joining us?” asked Frannan.
Mael turned to Frannan with a sincere expression.
"Then have you perhaps heard about the Artifact Association being related to this matter?”
"I have. Ah, I see. So you were a member of the Artifact Association?"
"I am."
Only then did Frannan start nodding to himself, as if he understood the situation.
"I knew the guys from the Artifact Association were freaks, but I didn’t think they’d be hiding a treasure like this. Ah, that was a compliment. I wasn’t trying to insult you."
"Then I will also accept it as a compliment and thank you for it, human."
Despite his extensive career as a magician, it was Frannan’s first time encountering a troll perfectly adapted to human society like this.
He gave Mael a curious glance before asking further.
“So, how did you two know each other?”
"I owe a huge debt to Snowman," Mael replied. "He played a significant role in allowing me to step into the world."
"Oho… that’s quite interesting. Would it be possible to hear that story at a later time?"
"Of course, it's not a story that needs to be hidden. However, I wonder if we will have the time for it.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Rrrrrnt
The baku that Mael rode made a low growl as someone approached it.
"Whoa, whoa... Good boy, Baku. Mael! I thought we agreed to stick together! What am I supposed to do when you go off on your own because you're too excited?"
"Ah, my apologies. I couldn't contain my excitement after seeing my savior once more."
"Hm? Oh my goodness... Frannan?"
"Oh? Yofimba? Were you the one who came with this troll?"
Yofimba, the individual standing next to Mael, was a dwarf.
Though he was short, his body was stout like a log.
"Hahahaha! How could we, the Artifact Association, stay still when the great Libra Tower needs help? In fact, I was so excited that I wanted to arrive sooner, but... as you can see over there, the others are a bit slow.”
“It’s reassuring to have you personally come, but… will you be the only one joining the meeting?”
“Of course not. Our Mael will be joining as well.”
“Our Mael? Hahaha…”
Yofimba, the dwarf, cheekily smiled before turning to Seol.
"Oh? I'm somewhat familiar with the others, but it's my first time seeing this individual."
"He's a transferee."
"...What?"
"And... I think he also has a relationship with the troll that you've brought?"
Yofimba turned to Mael this time.
"...Was the 'savior' you were referring to before a transferee?"
“Yes, sir.”
Yofimba slowly closed the distance between himself and Seol before carefully studying Seol's face.
“Hmmmm…”
“......”
After the quick inspection, Yofimba put his hand forth.
"If you're a friend of Mael's, then you're a friend of the Artifact Association. Which means you're also a friend of mine! Nice to meet you!"
“It’s nice to meet you as well, my name is Snowman.”
"We're slowly getting close to the meeting time, so let's chat after it ends! Frannan, let's head in. I'm sure everyone's waiting."
“Mhm.”
The guards, who had already confirmed Frannan's visit, bowed deeply before greeting them.
"We sincerely welcome your visit. Furthermore... you have returned at a very important time, Sir Frannan."
“Can I go in now?” asked Frannan.
“Of course, O Guardian of Truth.”
Hmmm…
As they stepped atop the magic circle, they were immediately transported elsewhere.
When they arrived, they were greeted first by the cheers of others.
“I-It’s Sir Frannan!”
“He returned! He really returned!”
“Aspect Magician Frannan! Welcome back!”
Countless magicians in the Libra uniform couldn't hide their surprise upon seeing Frannan. Some were so shocked that they embarrassingly dropped what they were carrying.
“......”
Frannan hadn't taken even a sip of alcohol on his way there.
He, with his overgrown beard, paid no mind to the clamoring magicians and continued on his way.
“W-Wait one second, Sir Frannan!”
“Oh? Is that you? It’s been a while.”
A magician chased after Frannan.
The young woman gasped for air before earnestly passing something over to him.
"I thought it might be best for you to wear your attire before heading in... so I brought this…”
It was a uniform with an epaulet reserved for Aspect Magicians.
It had been well-kept, clearly showing that someone had carefully maintained it.
"Ah... This is quite a warm welcome... ha... haha..."
Frannan turned around to make a request to the others.
“Please give me a moment, I’ll change quickly.”
“Okay.”
After a few minutes, Frannan returned with a transformed look, appearing neat and clean.
- Woah…
- Clothes really do make the man.
- Where did Frannan the Drunkard go?
“Thanks for waiting. Now, it really is almost time, so we should head in.”
Seol quietly stood by Frannan’s side and took in the magic tower’s view.
‘So this is the magic tower…’
They were sometimes even thought of as the manifestation of intelligence that has taken root in Pandea, pursuers of wisdom on a national scale, expansive in their reach.
And as expected from one of the 12 Towers of Zodiac, the Libra Tower was filled with grandeur.
Seol and the others were all in awe as they walked through the tower.
“We will be heading into the meeting room now,” said the magician guiding them before opening the door to the hall where the meeting was held.
* * *
“Entering now… Sir Blaine and Miss Fryn, representatives of the Aquarius Tower. Vicar Chameli, representative of Holy Nation Varanoa’s Nevenian Branch. Sir Yofimba and Sir Mael from the Artifact Association. And finally… Sir Snowman, an adventurer, and Sir Frannan, Aspect Magician of Libra.”
Seol felt a few glares as he stepped into the room.
‘...There aren’t any pushovers here.’
Seol noticed a couple of individuals who appeared to be as old as Frannan, likely representatives dispatched from the other magic towers.
As well as…
“Huh? A troll? Isn’t that a troll?”
"What the hell, 'an adventurer’? It's not a transferee, is it?" said a man clad in leather armor with a lion engraved on it.
‘Mercenaries,’ thought Seol.
Seol, through the whispers of a few people, learned that named leaders of mercenary groups had joined.
Despite the clique-ish nature of magicians, it seemed that the Libra Tower had invited individuals from all different walks of life.
‘It really is impressive how large-scale it is.’
Seol realized how incredibly powerful the Libra Tower was through its ability to gather this many known individuals.
“Frannan… so you’ve returned.”
“......”
“It must have been a difficult decision. Come, have a seat. I don’t want to trouble my old friend any further when it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”
Frannan smiled bitterly.
“...Yeah, thank you.”
Everyone slowly found their seats.
However, as there wasn’t enough room for the Aquarius Magicians at the long table, they ended up sitting with the outsiders.
‘It’s because it’s not their business.’
Whether it was the Libra Tower receiving assistance or the other towers offering it, there seemed to be an appropriate level of distance that was accepted.
Frannan sat down on a marble chair that seemed to have been prepared ahead of time for him, with Chameli sitting right beside him.
Seats were also offered for the Artifact Association, but the two of them remained standing as if preparing to give a presentation.
Now, all that was left was for Seol to sit down. For some reason, his chair was a bit separated from the people he arrived with.
‘Ah, it’s over there.’
Seol's seat was right beside the man who had just expressed dissatisfaction with Mael being a troll and Seol being a transferee.
Step. Step.
Seol slowly walked toward his seat and attempted to sit down.
However, the man with the lion-engraved leather armor intervened, stopping him.
Clatter…
He had kicked the chair away.
“......”
A chill was in the air.
“Is this really a place for you to butt in, transferee?” asked the man.
“Pfft… hahaha…”
"Aren't your specialties passively observing? Why the hell did you show up here? You should have just kept playing ringleader like how you transferees love to do. Why—"
“Stop it! He is a guest of Libra as well.”
“Haah… is that so? Then who the fuck brought an opportunist like this?”
“...Sir Frannan.”
“Hm… Fine then.”
The man only continued to stare down Seol, refusing to apologize for his actions.
But then…
Fwirl!
Seol used his Shadow Hand to reclaim the fallen chair.
Grab.
“Hah… interesting.”
Seol opted to ignore him.
Being in the midst of trouble served no purpose when they had assembled as allies for a mission.
"Please understand," said an old man, one of the other Aspect Magicians, "The leader of the Steel Lion Mercenaries has had numerous troublesome encounters with transferees."
Seol absorbed the new information without a hint of care, then calmly took his seat.
Clap!
Yofimba clapped to gather their attention.
“Ahem! Now that everyone’s here… let’s begin immediately.”
However, despite Yofimba’s best intentions, the meeting started off with some trouble.
Before Yofimba could even continue, one of the other mercenary leaders spoke up.
“Hey, dwarf.”
“Hm?”
“There’s a monster behind you. Aren’t you scared?”
“......”
The man was clearly treating Mael as a monster.
“What the hell did you say, you bastard?!” angrily shouted Yofimba. “What did you just say to my friend?”
“Ah, he was your friend? So he’s also a part of the Artifact Association? I knew you guys were freaks, but I didn’t know it was this bad. Who would have thought that you’d bring a troll to a place like this! Since when were trolls our friends?”
This time, it was another Aspect Magician who intervened.
“Stop it! We didn’t gather here today to squabble with each other like this!”
“......”
"If you intend to keep fighting, leave. We'd prefer to cancel our contract."
After those words, the mercenaries finally quieted down.
Yofimba reined in his anger and resumed leading the meeting.
He began the meeting with an introduction to help things flow smoothly. After a series of information exchanges, he transitioned into the main topics.
“Next, we will be discussing where Master Bornuil went missing. It is also his last known location.”
Yofimba then turned to Mael and gave him a signal.
“Okay.”
A mysterious sand began flowing out of Mael’s sleeves.
Swoosh…
The sand slowly clumped together to create a scene.
‘That must be the ruin’s entrance.’
"Its name is Alcatron," began Yofimba. "It's a ruin discovered in the southern parts of Adeline, bordering the territory of monsters. Even up to recently, this place was still being unearthed, so I’m sure there are a few people here that haven’t heard about it.”
“So why is the Artifact Association leading this meeting?”
“That’s a simple question to answer. It’s because we, the Artifact Association, were in charge of excavating Alcatron.”
“I see… then you must know a lot about it.”
“Well… I know that I don’t know much about it.”
“......”
A mercenary leader, seated between the others and appearing to be the youngest among them, asked a question.
"By the way... even if we ignore the elves that live there, what did you do about the troll tribe? The Black Thunder Tribe might not be too aggressive, but I doubt they left you alone after hearing the noise from the excavation process. Were there no issues then?"
"Ah, an excellent question. We managed to entirely sidestep conflict by skirting around their territory. However, it did consume a considerable amount of time. We had to navigate through rough terrain to avoid the trolls."
“That’s why I was curious. Aren’t there a considerable amount of monsters there as well?”
“A thousand times better than sticking your head into a troll’s mouth, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Pfft… then what about the troll next to you?”
“He’s my friend.”
“And the Black Thunder Tribe?”
"They aren't my friends yet. I haven't even met them, so how could we be friends?"
“You are quite an open-minded dwarf. I should learn from you.”
“Regardless… We halted our progress with Alcatron not too long ago.”
Everyone nodded after hearing Yofimba’s words.
“I knew that it was stopped, but we still haven’t heard the reason why.”
“There was an accident. The majority of the people excavating it died.”
“...What? W-Weren’t there quite a number of you?”
"There were. There were five groups. The first two groups were fine, but the second pair of groups went completely missing. We were able to just barely save the final fifth group, but even they died not too long after."
“Why did they die, though?”
“We don’t know.”
“An infectious disease? An issue with the ventilator?”
Yofimba shook his head.
“It was neither of those. It seemed to be a mental illness of sorts, but… we aren’t even sure about that.”
“A mental illness? That’s… quite scary.”
“Is that why you called for the Black Pilgrims? Am I right in that assumption?”
"Yes," answered Chameli. "We, the Black Pilgrims, vow to give our sincerest efforts to help solve this issue."
"And we, the Libra Tower, promise to properly repay your generous heart," responded an Aspect Magician.
That brief moment was all it took for the leader of the Silver Lion Mercenaries to resume inciting trouble with Seol.
“Hey, I just heard that you… yeah, you,” pointed the leader. “You apparently did something huge at Illia, huh?”
“......”
“I heard that you’re quite famous amongst the transferees in Nevenia, is that right?”
“...I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play coy. So is that why you were brought here? Is it also true that you came back from the Labyrinth of Penance? Did you really do that?”
“I did.”
Even though Seol provided just enough responses to diffuse the situation, the man perceived it as an opportunity to persistently bother Seol.
“Did you hear what they said about a mental illness going around in Alcatron? Wasn’t it the same at the Labyrinth of Penance? Then you must know how to overcome stuff like that well, huh? Tell us, what did you learn from clearing the labyrinth?”
The man continued to smirk and snicker to himself, clearly attempting to mock Seol.
But despite all that, Seol only gave him a calm response.
"I've learned not to get caught up in pointless arguments and to avoid conversations with idiots altogether."
"...What did you just say?" the leader of the Steel Lions demanded furiously, swiftly standing up and kicking his chair back.
Clatter…
[Blrrrp…]
Everyone turned around and looked at the leader of the Steel Lion Mercenaries.
It was tough to look away when you heard a fart.
“Oh my…”
“Ah…”
The leader of the Steel Lion Mercenaries slowly started to grow red.
"Th-That wasn't me! R-Regardless, those trash in Illia are trying to make you out to be something amazing... like the Black Knight rumor or something like that... What a ridiculous lie, don't you think? You should know your place and–"
[Blrrrrp…]
“Argh! Who the fuck is it?!”
Silence once again filled the hall as the mercenary leader regained his composure.
“If you mess with me one more time, I’ll kill you,” growled the mercenary leader. “And you, do you really think you belong here? Don’t you all agree? Why the hell is an untrustworthy transferee a part of the rescue party for the Master of the Libra Tower? What gives him the right to—”
Slam!
The sound of someone slamming the table echoed through the room, drawing everyone's attention.
All eyes turned to see Frannan.
"The right? Yeah... he definitely has that.”
“...What do you mean?”
“Because he’s my disciple.”
“......”
Everyone in the hall was shocked.
In fact, Seol was shocked as well.
It was because everyone here knew the truth. The truth that Frannan had never, ever accepted a disciple before.
- Why are you shocked too, Snowman? LMFAOOO
- Who, me? ME?
- Why me?
Silence filled the halls once more before a single, quiet question broke through.
“S-Since when was he…”
Frannan answered before they could finish.
“Since now,” he smirked.
“......”
For a third time, silence enveloped the room.
All except for a certain individual in Seol’s lantern.
[Blrrrrp…]
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