Chapter 69: The Kingdom’s New Tower Master

“W-What happened to you? Why do you look like that?”

“…Something came up. More importantly, I have a favor to ask.”

Dragging his soaked body, Levant went straight to Hagon. He had to meet Ark again, who was still trapped in the Prison of the Swamp.

‘To do that, I need Hagon’s help.’

Hagon asked,

“What’s the favor?”

“I want to meet the Masterials who are locked up in prison again. I have a few things I need to ask.”

“Will once be enough?”

“No, I need to meet them at least twice.”

“Hmm, if it’s just twice, I can arrange that. Wait here for a bit.”

Not long after, Levant received a new letter of authorization from Hagon.

His business was listed as ‘Transporting New Books and Disposing of Old Ones.’

It went without saying, but this was not an important duty.

As proof, there were barely even ten so-called new books to be delivered, and even those were all worn-out.

“If you handle transporting the new books and disposing of the old ones as separate tasks, you’ll be able to go in twice.”

“Thank you, Sir Hagon.”

“I don’t know why you want to go back there, but I’ll be cheering you on.”

Levant bowed deeply to Hagon, then slowly left the library.

‘That’s all the preparations for the visit done.’

He had finished nearly everything he could in Gald Castle.

With the preparations complete, Levant took out a teleportation scroll from his robe.

‘I just hope he’ll agree.’

To persuade the Masterials, two conditions needed to be met.

One was the supply of new magic, and the other was providing them a new home.

The first issue had been solved through Rubix, so now only the second remained.

Levant planned to discuss this second matter with his friend.

Rip!

As he tore the scroll, a brilliant band of light shimmered around him.

---

“Damn it…”

Inside the Magic Tower of Gald Castle—Gald Tower.

After the storm named Levant had swept through, Tower Master ‘Repel’ arrived late and gnashed his teeth.

“I’m sorry, Tower Master.”

“No, if even you couldn’t handle it, then he must be quite the powerhouse. Frankly, I should’ve stepped in myself from the start.”

“But still…”

“It’s fine. I was considering it ever since I got the old official letter, but I didn’t expect him to show up out of nowhere like this.”

“Tower Master, what should we do now? He left a warning, saying he’d come back if you weren’t here to meet him.”

“He said that?”

“Yes.”

The message was delivered by the youngest mage, who’d been watching the info in the lobby.

Upon hearing the report, Repel ground his teeth again and fell deep in thought.

‘He’s quite the skilled one. This is exactly when I shouldn’t act rashly—if I try to solve this with bravado and things get complicated, I’ll really be in trouble.’

From the moment a Tower Master is defeated by a War Mage, their career starts to plummet.

The Central Mage Tower Council would never sit by if a Tower Master lost to a War Mage.

And Repel had only just managed to become Tower Master of the Gald Kingdom—he was still new to the position.

For that reason, Repel absolutely did not want to give up this seat.

‘Do you know how hard I worked to get here…! There’s no other way—I’ll have to hire assassins.’

He could, of course, ask the Central Mage Tower Council for help.

But with no telling when that man would return, and the very act of asking for help making him look weak, it wasn’t a good option.

So Repel decided to secretly hire assassins to take care of Levant.

‘The higher-ups wanted me to subdue him in a fair duel, but… It’s better to be seen as less successful than to get on their bad side.’

That’s right.

Repel chose the lesser evil over the worst outcome.

Having made up his mind, ambition burned in Repel’s eyes.

---

[Pasna]

A flash of light, and a map name appeared before his eyes.

The Kingdom of Pasna.

Arriving in Pasna, Levant first donned the Finriver Medallion he’d received from Evergran.

[You have equipped the Finriver Medallion.]
[You can now exercise the rights of Evergran’s friend.]

The power that the Finriver Medallion carried in Pasna was nearly equivalent to that of the king.

That’s why he put it on as soon as he arrived.

With the medallion secured, Levant headed straight for the royal palace.

“Salute!”

“Oh, thanks for your hard work.”

As he neared the palace gates, the soldier he had previously bribed snapped off a salute like lightning.

Probably the effect of the medallion.

Levant replied lightly and entered the palace.

Then he stopped a passing maid to ask where the king was.

“His Majesty is in the study.”

“Please guide me.”

He thought he’d memorized the palace layout by now, but just a few days away and it’d already slipped his mind.

With the maid’s help, Levant arrived at the door to Evergran’s study.

“Salute!”

“Salute!”

“His Majesty is inside, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Arriving at the study, the Red Lion Knights guarding the king saluted Levant.

He straightened his clothes and knocked on the door.

Knock knock—

“Come in.”

A familiar voice.

It was Evergran.

At the invitation, Levant opened the door and entered.

“Levant!”

Evergran greeted him warmly.

At Evergran’s exuberance, Levant pressed a finger to his lips.

“A king should maintain his dignity—why are you making such a fuss?”

“What use is dignity in front of a friend? Anyway, what brings you here? No, first, let’s sit and talk. I’ll make the tea myself.”

Humming a tune, Evergran happily brewed the tea himself.

The fragrance was exquisite.

Levant accepted the cup and spoke.

“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”

“This stuff is expensive. You could buy two horses with a single cup.”

“Are you showing off now?”

“If I don’t show off to you, who else would I show off to?”

“That’s true. Anyway, have you been well while I was gone?”

For a while, the two of them chatted, exchanging casual greetings like true friends.

During their conversation, Levant felt an inexplicable comfort, as if he were reunited with an old companion.

As they finished their tea, Evergran spoke.

“So, you’re staying at Gald Castle right now?”

“Yeah. Actually, the reason I came here is because of something going on at Gald Castle.”

“Because of what?”

“Same as always—those blasted mages. So, Evergran, I have a favor to ask. Could you take in some people?”

“You want me to accept people?”

“I’m expecting some immigrants soon.”

“I don’t know who they are, but since it’s your request, of course I’ll accept them. So, who are these immigrants exactly?”

“Do you know what a Masterial is?”

“Of course I do. Is there a leader in this world who doesn’t know about the Masterials?”

“Are there Masterials in this country too?”

“In the old… days, there were.”

A brief, bitter smile.

He didn’t need to ask to know the general story.

Pretending not to notice, Levant continued.

“The immigrants are Masterials. Those who had put down roots in Gald Castle. Right now, they’re imprisoned by the Central Mage Tower Council, but I’ll be bringing them out soon. The thing is, I can get them out, but once I do, they’ll have nowhere to stay. That’s why I’m asking for your help.”

“If that’s the case, you’re welcome anytime. If they wish to settle in Pasna, I’ll give my full support in my name.”

“Really?”

“Of course, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

He’d expected some resistance, but not such an easy agreement.

Thanks to that, Levant felt his burden lighten a little.

Then Evergran spoke.

“So, on that note… Could I ask you for a favor, too?”

“Ah, so there really is no such thing as a free lunch?”

“Haha… It’s nothing big. Actually, we’ve been having trouble with the mages too.”

“Because of the mages?”

“Yeah. Recently, we got a letter from the Central Mage Tower Council. They want us to hand over Ratel.”

“They don’t have any right to demand that.”

“Exactly. That’s why we haven’t executed him either. But lately, their demands have been getting much more forceful.”

“Can’t you just ignore them?”

“I’d like to, but the real problem is that the pressure isn’t coming from just the Central Mage Tower Council. Somehow, letters are coming from neighboring countries as well, asking whether we shouldn’t return Ratel.”

Evergran’s face darkened at the mention of the neighboring nations.

Levant’s did as well.

Levant said,

“I take it all those countries with Mage Towers sent letters.”

“Right. All of them are under the Central Mage Tower Council’s thumb. So, I thought about it, and I think the reason they can send us such letters is because our country doesn’t have a Mage Tower.”

“A Mage Tower?”

“Yeah. A Mage Tower is directly tied to national strength. If we could build one—especially one that stands against the Central Mage Tower Council—we could make our position clear. Then those neighboring countries couldn’t say anything more to us.”

At this point, Levant’s expression was one of disbelief.

Evergran laughed and said,

“You guessed it. Levant, I want to establish a Mage Tower in our kingdom—run by a War Mage. Could you help with that?”

“M-Me? Build a Mage Tower?”

“Yeah. You’re the only War Mage I know. And if you built a tower here, it would help us more than anything. What do you think?”

A proposal he’d never expected.

His mind went blank for a moment.

Just then—

[Rubix is thrilled by Evergran’s proposal.]
[Rubix is pestering you to accept the offer right now.]

“W-Wait a second!”

Rubix suddenly made his appearance.

He was genuinely enthusiastic about Evergran’s suggestion.

Which only made Levant’s headache worse.

‘What on earth is happening…?’

He’d come to ask for help, only to be swept up in something even bigger—was that just his imagination?

As Levant hesitated, Evergran grabbed his hand, eyes sparkling.

“You’ll help, right? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Uh, well. I mean, I’m not going to refuse…”

“Great! That means you’re agreeing, right?”

“H-Huh?”

[Evergran Finriver proposes the construction of a Mage Tower to you.]
[If you accept, a War Mage-exclusive Mage Tower will be established in Pasna.]

A prompt from the system.

It was a sudden request, but Levant couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

“…Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you! Now I can finally breathe easy.”

[You have accepted the proposal.]
[Once the Mage Tower is complete, you can become the Tower Master of Pasna’s Mage Tower.]
[Rubix gives you a standing ovation for your decision.]
[Rubix dances a joyous shoulder-shaking dance.]

Rubix and Evergran were genuinely delighted.

Caught between them, Levant could only smile awkwardly.

‘Is this really okay…?’

Suddenly, Levant had become a Tower Master, and he let out a sigh at the absurdity of it all.

Evergran said,

“Now that you’ve agreed, I’ll make an official announcement. The Kingdom of Pasna will officially adopt the War Mage as its Ivory Tower and follow its ideals.”

“A-Already? Are you sure? What if this leads to war?”

“It’s fine. This is just about having a pretext, after all. And, my friend, wars don’t start as easily as you think. Do you know how much money war costs?”

“R-Right…?”

And so, just like that, Levant became a Tower Master.

(Magician Who No Longer Hides His Power — ongoing)