43

Listening to Benjamin, Id got up from his seat and approached the middle-aged man and woman sitting at a table by the window across the hall. They also stood up, pulling out their magic wands from the inner pockets. They glared at Id, signs of nervousness clearly showed on their faces. Id asked them.

“Why are you spying on my party?”

Entering the restaurant, a mage in a gray robe answered Id’s question on behalf of the middle-aged man and woman. The mage, who had watched Id’s spars with his friends in the backyard, came into the restaurant and took off his hood to reveal a wrinkled but handsome face in its mid-fifties.

“I’m not here to spy on you but to protect you from imminent danger. I’m Chiron from the Scandia Wizard Tower. Now that I’ve revealed myself, I’d like to talk to you about what has happened so far and what is expecting you in your future.”

Chiron told the mid-aged man and woman.

“Well done. You go to the Wizard Tower first. I’m going to have a little chat with these people.”

After the man and woman went out of the restaurant, Id led Chiron to the table where his party was sitting. Benjamin spoke to Chiron.

“Are you Chiron? I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Well, it’s been well over thirty years since we’ve seen each other, so maybe it’s natural not to recognize you. It seems like you have become a six-circle master as well. I think you’ll be able to surpass me soon. Anyway, very nice to see you again.”

Chiron had studied abroad at Icarus Wizard Tower for a year when he had been a two-circle mage. At that time, he had gotten magic tutelage from Benjamin, who had been a four-circle-expert mage in his mid-twenties. Unlike ordinary mages with difficult personalities, Benjamin was a kind teacher, so Chiron had good memories of him.

“Long time no see, Benjamin. When I was a teenager, you helped me a lot, but I’m sorry that I’ve never visited you even once until now. How are you doing, Blackanvil?”

The mage Chiron from the Scandia Wizard Tower, who also greeted Blackanvil, sat down at the table under the guidance of Id. After greeting Sasha and Lara, Chiron explained why he had come to the inn.

“Id, when you confronted Viscount Korolyov’s Knight Commander, Daniel, at the lord’s Castle of the Kozlov Barony, a mage from the Scandia Wizard Tower watched your confrontation. Although he was a mere four-circle mage, it was not difficult for him to notice that your armor was activated without the use of a Magic Stone. He reported about you through the magic communication devices to Torres, the owner of the Scandia Wizard Tower, who immediately dispatched two five-circle mages from the Chernobugor Branch of the Scandia Wizard Tower to ascertain your whereabouts. Since the two mages had information that you had beaten the advanced Knight, Daniel, they didn’t approach you too close. But, we could obtain quite detailed information about you since they consistently observed you from afar. The two five-circle mages found you in the forest near Chernobugor before you fought with the mercenaries and followed your party from there. They reported that you wielded your Aura Blade proficiently and might be able to use the Aura Beam like William Cronos, having established a manna hall in your body, judging from the battles you had been through during your journey. Torres asked me to confirm the existence of your manna hall as your party had arrived at Scandia City.

Id, who was listening attentively to Chiron, asked him.

“At first, I thought you came to retrieve my armor at the request of Baron Kozlov. Why is the owner of Scandia Wizard Tower so interested in my manna hall?”

Chiron remained silent for a while as if he were organizing his thoughts, and then began to talk.,

“Without being able to access Torres' thoughts, I cannot say the exact reason as I do not know myself. Please take into account that my speculation is the basis of much of what I am about to talk about. Over the years, Torres and Helene have been trying in every way to figure out how the Mudria Wizard Tower produced Aura Beam owners. Helene is the highest-ranked mage in the Scandia Tower, discounting Torres and me. People anticipate that she will be the first seven-circle Witch in the history of the Scandia Tower sooner or later. It’s hard to expect the Mudira Wizard Tower to release their secrets. While Torres and Helena were struggling, they received the report on you. After the Mudria Tower opened the method of building up a manna hall, several volunteers succeeded in creating manna halls in their chest supported by the Scandia Wizard Tower. However, Torres has yet to find out how to operate the condensed manna in the manna hall to create Aura Beam. I assume that either Torres will coax you to stay at the Scandia Wizard Tower and help him study how to obtain Aura Beam, or, if you refuse, detain you and use magic to figure out how to operate the manna. If he uses seven-circle mental magic, it will be possible to find out the secrets from you directly whether you give your consent or not.”

“You said Torres received reports on my fights against the many tough opponents we have faced. Is he sure of being able to detain me?”

“It’s not easy, of course, for Torres alone, but his sponsor, Marquis Bunin’s second son Yuri Bunin is one of the top three swordsmen in Scandia. He stays in the Scandia Wizard Tower now. I think Torres believes it would be possible for him to subdue you with the help of Yuri Bunin and Helene, the six-circle-master mage.”

Id looked at his companions one after another, then told Chiron.

“Thank you for letting me know the details of the current situation. Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you to give me this information?”

Chiron looked into Id’s eyes for a while and continued.

“Torres is thinking of turning Scandia into a Magic Kingdom like Mudria, which is a ridiculous idea. The Kingdom of Mudria was established by a seven-circle Wizard originally. Although there hasn’t appeared another seven-circle Wizard King after the founder, most Kings were six-circle mages. I understand that the current King of Mudria is also a six-circle-master mage. So, the Mudrian royal family and the Wizard Tower are like one body. However, things are different in Scandia. Trying to turn Scandia into a Magic Kingdom means a coup-d’etat, and, success or failure, many mages and Knights will be sacrificed in the process. Although I’ve not yet been able to resist Torres’ ambition in earnest due to my lack of abilities, many mages in the Scandia Wizard Tower support me. Torres can’t harm me recklessly either.”

Benjamin told Chiron about the troll’s blood and his plan to make magic potions at the Scandia Wizard Tower and asked Chiron.

“In this situation, it seems difficult for us to visit the Scandia Wizard Tower. Can you introduce me to another appropriate place to produce magic potions?”

“Since you are a six-circle mage from the Icarus Tower, Torres will never treat you disrespectfully, Benjamin. I’ll lend you one of my labs, so you can make the magic potions as planned. I’ll take over the remaining troll’s blood, too. However, Id, you’d better not visit the Scandia Wizard Tower. It won’t be easy for Torres to come out of the Tower to catch you as long as you don’t enter into his domain yourself.”

Id asked Benjamin.

“Will you be all right alone? Why don’t you go to the Icarus Wizard Tower with the troll's blood and make potions there instead of stopping by the Scandia Wizard Tower?”

“As Chiron said, Torres cannot confront me easily. If he hurts me, he’ll have to risk a war against the Icarus Tower. I don’t think you have to worry about me. If anything happens, Chiron will help me. Now that I’ve learned of Torres’ bizarre ambitions, I think I need to go into the Scandia Wizard Tower and check on the situation myself. Besides, I want to make potions for you before we split ways at the border. What are you going to do in the meantime?”

“In the process of activating magic armor and detoxifying Benjamin using the manna in my manna hall, I found a clue about manna operation to create Aura Beam. The series of battles I recently underwent also helped me better understand the manna’s flow in my body. I need some time to organize what I realized and concentrate on manna circulation. Originally I planned to find a place where the density of manna is higher after we escort you to the Empire’s border. Now that I have some free time, I am planning to search for a place to train during your stay in the Scandia Wizard Tower.”

As Id spoke of his plan, Blackanvil told him.

“Why don’t you come to my house? I hate the hustle and bustle of the city, so I built a house in the woods outside Scandia City and live alone. I have no idea about the density of manna, but I have a few empty rooms for you.”

“If it’s in the forest, the manna flow would be much more tranquil than the turbulent flow downtown. Thank you for your invitation.”

Benjamin told Chiron,

“If you have a communication crystal, please sell it to me. I lost my crystal ball during the journey, so I suffered a lot.”

Chiron took a crystal ball out of his bag on his shoulder and handed it to Benjamin.

“I have some extra communication crystals in the Tower, so I’ll just give this to you.”

“No, I can’t have that now can I. I want to buy one of your extra crystal balls, too. This is with a magic stone inside, so it’s eighty golds, and the extra crystal ball would cost fifty golds. So in total, one hundred and thirty golds. Here you go.”^r