Chapter 417. The Central Magic Tower (1)
Alexion first remained calm while reviewing the countless blueprints the two Tower Masters had brought. And it didn’t take him long to reach a conclusion.
‘Are these guys… crazy?’
That was the impression he had after reading about half of the dozens of blueprints. But, whether they knew it or not, the two Tower Masters continued conversing with absolute confidence.
“Right, then let’s proceed like this with Section 5.”
“That way we can also raise Section 6 while we’re at it.”
“Ah, but if we do it like that, we’ll need a bit more materials, so it’s better this way—”
When they had first arrived, the two seemed on the verge of ripping each other's heads off just to avoid building anything together.
And yet now they were talking so amicably that it was hard to believe they were the same people.
But even so, Alexion’s thought did not change.
‘Are these… seriously mages?’
According to Alexion, mages were usually a bit unhinged.
Sure, among the lower Circle mages there were some relatively normal ones, but the more Circles one ascended, the more screws seemed to be missing.
It was natural.
High-Circle mages were geniuses that a mere mortal could never aspire to be. And those who could obsess over magic to that extreme had to have lost a screw or two in the process.
In short, Alexion’s theory that the number of magic Circles was proportional to the number of loose screws was quite credible.
He had forgotten that fact lately, perhaps because he had only seen Alon.
But today, that submerged thought floated back to the surface.
Alexion remained silent for a moment and then slowly opened his mouth.
“Oh.”
“Did you finish reading?”
When Alexion tried to speak, the two Tower Masters turned immediately. Seeing their gazes full of confidence, Alexion said:
“I didn’t have enough time to read it all, so I only read about half, but…”
“Right, what do you want to ask?”
“It’s not a matter of curiosity… cough, cough.”
“Is there a problem?”
Did these idiots truly think there would be no problem with these blueprints? He was about to blurt out those words, but Alexion forcibly held back, clearing his throat.
Then he looked at the Brown Tower Master, Manram.
“The blueprints you prepared are really good, but… in reality, I think it would be very difficult to build something like this.”
“Which part seems difficult to you?”
“For starters, to raise such a huge castle, we would need an absurd amount of materials and manpower…”
The larger a castle is, the more astronomical the costs become.
First, the cost of materials.
Then, the amount of workers needed.
Next, the construction time.
And if the construction time increases…
The money needed to pay the workforce increases again.
In summary: with the current situation, those blueprints were impossible to realize.
Faced with Alexion’s logical reasoning:
“Certainly, quite a bit of manpower is needed.”
“Right?”
“But don’t worry about that part. The two Towers are going to send support.”
“The two towers…?”
“Yes. Including us, we will send a few hundred.”
“Hundreds?”
“Exactly.”
Manram said it with total naturalness.
“…Hundreds…”
According to Alexion, the last time hundreds of mages were mobilized was when they rebuilt Rosario, which had been half-destroyed. It was no wonder his jaw dropped for a moment.
Then he regained his composure and asked:
“But even if we have the manpower, where will we get the materials…?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.”
The Purple Tower Master waved her hand nonchalantly.
“We can’t get everything, but we could supply around 70%.”
70% of the materials for a gigantic castle?
“Seriously…?”
“Yes.”
Alexion felt the strength leave his jaw.
Was that even possible? But he soon had to accept it.
After all, the Purple Tower was the richest of the five towers. They made fortunes with alchemy.
…Wait a moment. Didn’t that mean it was a good thing?
Wouldn’t it basically be building a colossal castle almost for free?
That thought crossed his mind, but Alexion focused again.
“But even if that is possible, the size of the territory…”
Even with materials and manpower, it was impossible to build the castle the blueprints described.
For a simple reason: the available territory was limited.
However, faced with Alexion’s sensible objection:
“Why? Just expand the territory.”
“…Pardon?”
“Designate this zone as the North District and build the castle on the outside.”
The Brown Tower Master dropped that line, completely destroying Alexion’s common sense.
And he finished off with:
“A king’s castle must be majestic, right?”
“Well… in theory, yes.”
“Frankly, raising a small castle according to the current territory would only make it look ridiculous.”
Alexion was about to retort—after all, his territory wasn’t that small—but his thoughts were interrupted by the Purple Tower Master, Norton:
“Anyway, you guys won’t be paying almost anything. If you’re going to build a castle, isn’t it better for it to be a grand one?”
Alexion fell silent.
She wasn’t wrong.
For reasons he himself didn’t understand, he ended up being persuaded by them to accept having a castle built for him.
He continued exposing realistic concerns, which clearly had no effect on them…
Until finally:
“…Alright. Agreed.”
Alexion made a decision.
“Then we will begin preparations—”
“But, even so, this is too big. I think it will be best to adjust some parts here.”
He thought recreating the entire blueprint was impossible.
There was no point in building useless parts. So he proposed making adjustments.
“Fine. Which part doesn’t convince you?”
“For starters, these quintuple walls—”
Alexion opened his mouth to convince the Tower Masters—
“Consider this. Five walls can be very important. The more walls, the better protected the king will be. And there are five control gates.”
“…Well, he’s not wrong.”
To convince the Tower Masters—
“And these underground facilities are indispensable. If you are ever forced to withstand a siege, you will need something like this.”
“…Certainly.”
—it was he who ended up being convinced.
“The same with the two main castles around the Central Castle. Raising two additional castles increases the durability of the magic formation a ton.”
Alexion ended up completely defeated in the discussion.
And thus—
“Good, let’s begin.”
—the construction of Palantia’s castle had begun.
A castle of extremely suspicious proportions…
“Alon, we’re almost at the Central Magic Tower.”
Weeks after Alon left Terria.
At Evan’s words, Alon looked up to see the ever-imposing tower touching the skies.
“How long do you plan to stay this time?”
Penia asked, and Alon replied after thinking for a moment:
“At most three days.”
“You won’t stay long.”
“I don’t have anything especially long to do.”
Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t have work at the tower.
He had to receive the magical interpretation from Heinkel, and he had other matters to consult with her about.
But nothing that would take too much time, so he calculated three days.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Hmm… no, actually if you were moving fast, I also had things to do and was thinking of staying a little longer, but three days is perfect.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We can return together.”
Penia nodded after pondering something.
Alon also nodded, but then he felt something strange.
‘Shouldn’t Penia normally be at the tower?’
It was something he should have thought of a long time ago, but he had always overlooked it.
That thought hit him suddenly.
“What’s wrong?”
“?”
“It’s nothing.”
He hesitated whether he should say something, but ended up avoiding the subject.
Penia, confused, then accepted it and looked away.
Upon arriving at the Central Tower, Alon headed to the library to meet Heinkel.
And then—
[Just in time.]
“Did something happen?”
[Yes. There is much I wanted to tell you.]
“What is it?”
[I think I found a method on how to change the formula beyond magic.]
“!”
Alon received important information from Heinkel.
At the same time, in the wasteland between the Empire and the United Allied Kingdom—
[…Arm Spitter…]
[…A burning forest?…]
Four new forms of Divine Blood were facing each other.
For a common human, seeing even one of them was enough to lose their sanity; seeing four together was a living calamity.
The silence was heavy.
[Move. I do not wish to fight without obtaining anything in return.]
Said the gigantic flaming arboreal giant, Burning Tree, while watching Arm Spitter approach from the side of the United Allied Kingdom.
[I am sorry, but I cannot.]
[Are you serious? You know that among those active now, you are strong, but we are three against one. You will only lose without gaining anything.]
Burning Tree continued—
[No matter how strong you are, you cannot defeat the three of us at once.]
The other two figures also spoke, each moving with grotesque forms.
But Arm Spitter did not move an inch.
[On the contrary, you also have no reason to cross into the United Allied Kingdom.]
[Of course we do. We have matters to resolve.]
[Are you going to take care of Star Eater?]
[Exactly.]
[…You are going to fulfill Rotten Mouth’s request, right?]
[That is correct. So move aside. You have no reasons to fight with us. Or, do you want to join?]
[Join?]
Burning Tree nodded.
[Yes. Eternal sides do not exist. You and I should choose the right side. Join us, let’s eliminate Star Eater and serve Rotten Mouth. If we fulfill the task, he promised to give us high ranks.]
An attempt at persuasion.
Arm Spitter responded with mockery.
[I am afraid not.]
[Why?]
[Because following Rotten Mouth, we will only become part of his faction. Nothing more.]
[…And if you protect Star Eater? What would you gain?]
[Something, of course.]
[What?]
[The power of other Divine Bloods.]
To those who had come to kill Star Eater—
[…What?…]
Arm Spitter revealed new information to them.
[Star Eater can absorb the abilities of the Divine Bloods he has eliminated… and grant them freely to other Divine Bloods.]
[What…?]
…Extremely disturbing information.
