[ The new Master of the Magic Tower has become a foreign existence to it.
In the Magic Tower, the position of the Magic Tower’s Master was usually not vacant for long periods of time. The longest time in history where the position was vacant was ten years. The Magic Tower’s Master must find the next Master then die, and if they couldn’t find them, the other magicians would find them.
However, Reinhardt was a very unusual existence. He was not born right after the death of the former Magic Tower’s Master. It was a strange situation, considering that the succession of the Magic Tower’s Master takes place when both the predecessor and successor are alive.
Reinhardt was born ten years after the death of the former Magic Tower’s Master. Not only that, he delayed his return to the Magic Tower on his own, so the position remained vacant for thirty years. Small cracks of anxiety formed, and that anxiety caused them to promote a new leader.
‘Bartio Balloxis’
In the absence of Reinhardt, it was said that Bartio Balloxis was the most outstanding magician in the Magic Tower, and said to be the wisest man. He was a gray-haired, old man whose age you wouldn’t even dare to guess. Yet most of the time, he would appear to be middle-aged.
Bartio Balloxis was not covetous, but had his own convictions. He recognized that the Master that was with Caspelius, the Magic Tower’s watchog, in a different standard. Reinhardt slaughtered the magicians in the Magic Tower the same time that he became the Tower’s Master. Those who rebelled against him were rewarded only by death.
“How long do you think this childish behavior will work?”
“A powerful force could even defeat a god.”
Reinhardt replied with a snort at Bartio Balloxis’ words.
He was arrogant, powerful, and unfortunately, intelligent as well. He just prefers taking action rather than thinking.
“How long will this kind of act continue? Unless someone stronger than me is born…”
Reinhardt’s red eyes gleamed with madness. His appearance, where his teeth could be seen, was no different from that of an unbridled beast.
“I will continue to do so.”
“Aah…”
Bartio Balloxis weeped sadly in front of him. The moonlight’s reflection fell on his tears that ran down his cheeks. Although he was born with dazzling beauty, and abilities that surpassed all other former Magic Tower Masters and was closer to a god, he showed no faith in himself. There was only cruelty.
“If you promise to act like a proper Magic Tower Master, I, Bartio Balloxis, will move as your hands and feet.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not merciful enough to listen to a dog’s barking.”
Reinhardt brightly smiled as he lightly flicked his finger. At the same time, Bartion Balloxis swung the staff that he was holding. A dark mana and a dark auburn mana collided and created a violent ripple.
“… How sad. You’re the Magic Tower’s Master that we’ve been waiting for.”
“What is this funny thing?”
“You need to know despair. The fact that power is not everything.”
At the end of that remark, Bartio Balloxis disappeared.
The new Magic Tower’s Master, who was once a count’s slave, awakened, covered by the blood of many, stood at the center of the small island floating in the sky, the Magic Tower, Tartarus. Reinhardt became the leader of the magicians, and ruled them only by fear. The magicians, who were in a place full of blood and fear, just wished for the era of his reign to end quickly.
Shortly after Reinhardt was established as the Magic Tower’s Master, strange deaths of unknown causes began to occur in various parts of the Empire. It was a disease that was almost like a curse. A person would suddenly lose sanity, their body dried up like a mummy, and would lose parts of their body. So instead of calling it a disease, the people called it the ‘curse of God.’
As time went by, rumors spread that the corpses moved, and strange stories of decaying dead animal bodies were roaming around. The living corpses called ‘Lesir’, gave off a rotten smell, spreading all kinds of disease, and the Empire was left in chaos. At the same time, murders began to take place in various places in the Empire in the same way that Reinhardt exterminated Count Delight.
The perpetrator for everything was pointed at one person. Soon people began to draw their sword at that one individual. ]
***
Her mind felt refreshed. Valletta slowly opened her eyes without groaning. Her memories of getting off the carriage yesterday were a blur. She could still feel the warmth that touched her neck.
Maybe because his body temperature was always higher than hers, her body shivered in response. Valletta lifted herself up, leaned against the bed’s headboard, and hugged her knees.
“… This b*st*rd, really.”
It was probably thanks to him that she slept and woke up refreshed. He came here, yet for some reason, he did not show his face, nor acted childishly? If he came all the way there, then something must have happened.
‘On the other hand, did something like that happen?’
The story had reached a point where she could not remember it properly. More than anything else, it was news to her that something like that happened to Reinhardt.
‘… I see.’
So that’s why Reinhardt said that when he first saw the male protagonist. There was a reason why Reinhardt wanted to make Therion a hero.
She thought it was just for his own interest, but it wasn’t. It was for revenge.
Reinhardt did not show up in the novel for a while because of that incident. He reappeared immediately after Therion had learned swordsmanship and had grown to be an adult.
“Corpses…”
Carlon Delphine spoke like the former youngest prince caused that incident.
Also, Carlon did not say that they were living corpses. In other words, there were differences between what happened during Reinhardt’s time in the novel and when the current Emperor was still a prince.
‘Were those mysterious deaths a sign of the ‘Lesir’ phenomenon?’
At least she knows that there was a difference between when the Emperor was prince and what Reinhardt will face in the future. It was also the same in the past.
If you think about it a little more, how could a 12 year old prince turn people into strange corpses and kill them?
What if there was another person behind the youngest prince in the past? The most suspicious person that came to her mind at the moment was Bartio Balloxis. The other was the alchemist Gillian, whom the prince shared a close relationship with.
‘Either way, it was not impossible to cause such a situation.’
If it was an alchemist, alchemy would be involved, and if it’s magic, Reinhardt would know.
Valletta reached out and took a pen and notebook from the nearby desk.
She put the notebook on her huddled knees and slowly started writing. As she wrote down everything that came to her mind one by one, a picture was drawn.
In fact, the flow of the novel hasn’t changed that much. Even if there was a slight alteration, it was only because of herself, and the outcome did not change that much.
Although a week late, Reinhardt still killed Count Delight. Also, although he saved all the people in the nurturing room without killing them, he still saved Therion and made him learn swordsmanship.
She doesn’t know the details, but he probably went into a rampage inside the Magic Tower. Caspelius didn’t go into detail but Reinhardt looked happy when he returned. The purging may not have begun at that time, but it may currently be on-going.
Everything was still going according to the storyline. It was just because of her that the timing was slightly changed or the method was slightly different, but the results were still the same.
‘Reinhardt’s disappearance won’t be part of the natural sequence, right?’
That one was unexpected. The reason why she can run wild like this was because she had the higher spirits, Jin and Nereid, and she was sure that Reinhardt would not cause her death. The disappearance of Reinhardt would be unexpected.
“… I hope that’s the worst case scenario.”
What if the event that came to her mind today was led by the Emperor or the people around him? And what if he wanted to do it again?
What if the irregular ‘Valletta Delight’ gets caught in between? Assuming that someone was hiding behind the Emperor, they could get rid of Reinhardt and capture Valletta. At the same time, the Magic Tower should also be under this individual’s control to some extent.
‘Everything ends neatly as Reinhardt later awakens as a Transcendent.’
She remembered the Magic Tower… Tartarus, the prison underworld, was once destroyed by someone’s hand.
‘… There was a time when Reinhardt was unstable.’
The Magic Tower wasn’t always absolutely perfect. There was a time when there was clearly a problem within the Magic Tower. The watchdog, Caspelius, barely maintained his shape by using his power, but most of the magicians disappeared.
The place where Reinhardt returned to after seeing only the ruins left behind was the place where he reunited with Therion.
“That’s what happened.”
The peculiar puzzles were coming together. Valletta shivered at that pleasant feeling. But in the end, she clearly remembered that both Caspelius and the Tower returned to their original state. Didn’t the novel end with Reinhardt looking at something from the Sky Room?
“… An alchemy formula that will remove a body part in order to kill.”
It seemed like she should find out more about the bizarre deaths. In alchemy, equivalent exchange was the basic law. You will receive the equivalent value of what you have given in return.
Instead of receiving a human body, what are they obtaining? What is the equivalent of a human body? Just gradually giving a part of the body means that they have created something.
You don’t give something for nothing in alchemy. You have to get something in return. You don’t have to receive a person’s death, so there is no need to give up something of the same worth.
“Ha… it’s been a long time since I’ve been annoyed.”
The thought that she might get used to these games made her even more annoyed. She played along with Reinhardt until he got tired of it, and now, does she need to play along with the Emperor?
“… Also, how did things end again?”
She could not remember Therion’s ending.
After their story, when everything that has been described ended, Reinhardt set foot into solitude by himself. That was the end of the story about him.
Reinhardt went to a high place and looked down at things quietly, as if he had become a god that oversaw everything.
That scene alone was still stuck into Valletta’s mind even after a long time.
‘Why on earth do I only remember things about that supporting actor?’
Of course, it might be because of the past when she desperately turned over her mind, trying to recall information about him alone.
Valletta lightly ruffled her hair. She hated herself for thinking about him, but she hated herself more for not being able to stop doing so. They were so tangled that it became impossible to not to think about him at all.
Valletta got up from her seat.
***