Chapter 52

Chapter 4 Eyelid (25)

***

"If you take even a single step, this mage will die!"

Swish!

The knight captain, in response to the professor's threat, drew his sword as if he was about to order a charge.

"Shut up! I'll go inside right now and cut off your head, and then I'll rescue the other mages—"

"And!"

Flap!

While still holding the mage, the professor used his left hand to pull out [Isaac Mandelius's Research Journal] from his inventory and tossed it into the air.

The research journal fluttered like a fallen leaf, landing among the knights and soldiers who had surrounded the mage tower.

"...Every time a mage falls, the records from their personal laboratory will also fall. There are many interesting records. For example, records of repeatedly conducting horrific experiments on living people, or records of various amusing incidents in Tovbrun. Well, what kind of records will this next mage have? Come on, one minute from now!"

Shake, shake—

"Aaaah, aaaahhhh!"

The professor shook the rope, and the old mage's screams echoed rhythmically around the tower. The knight captain and his squire, who had picked up the fallen research records with pale faces and were reading them with serious expressions, exchanged even more serious looks and suddenly changed their stance.

"Well, well, we have no choice! Tovbrun Knights! Retreat from the mage tower's premises!"

Rustle, rustle

A commotion spread through the crowd. It couldn't be helped. As a member of the honorable Tovbrun Knights, to retreat at the mere words of a monster.

"That, that's right! Captain, why don't you order an attack! Look at Master Baudelaire's eyes! He's already prepared to die...."

"14, 15, 16—"

"Aaaah! Stop shaking! Aaaah! Aaaahhhh!"

"...The eyes of a noble who has prepared himself. In exchange for his sacrifice, we can save all the other mages and cut off the head of this monster!"

"Ugh! Be quiet! If I say to retreat, then retreat! It's an order! Baudelaire is a viscount's bloodline! He shouldn't die in a place like this! I made this decision to protect the valuable lives of the mages, who are precious resources for Lord Rodric!"

"37, 38...."

"Quickly! I didn't say to completely withdraw! Just form a wider perimeter outside the mage tower's premises!"

"...Understood."

The knight captain, who had barely managed to persuade the knights, hurriedly said to the professor.

"Fine! I'll accept your conditions, so let the mage live!"

Clack, clack, clack.

Clank, clank!

The mage tower, which had been bustling with countless soldiers, began to quiet down as the hooves of the horses slowly moved.

As the chaotic sounds around the tower subsided, the professor, like a church bell, shook the old mage in the air, who had completed his mission with a scream, and brought him inside.

"Hey, good job."

"Ugh, ughhhh! Master Baudelaire!"

"Aaaah, aaaahhhh...."

"You shouldn't go this way, Master!"

The professor, who had thrown the old mage to the young mages, saw them embrace him and cry like a waterfall.

'That guy and the mages on the lower floors didn't have the smell of Mute. It seems only Isaac and his dozen or so disciples were involved in the Mute research. During the time the tower master was away, they used the 6th floor, which was closest to the mana source, as their laboratory.'

Fortunately. Mages are valuable resources in the upcoming war, and it would have been a great loss if they had all died here.

'Although there were various issues, I managed to bring things along as planned.'

The items were all collected, the area around the mage tower was empty, and the Tovbrun forces were struggling to re-form their perimeter outside the tower's premises, cramming into the narrow market alleys.

"Alright, everyone, let's gather your things! We need to leave this place soon!"

At the professor's signal, the guild thieves, including Raxasha, each grabbed a long pole and began to climb onto the boxes filled with loot, forming pairs of two or three.

"Ready? Let's go!"

Once the guild members were all on the boxes, the professor approached the tower's mana source and extended his hand to the most critical part at its base.

'Mages don't need to worry. Even without mana, they are water mages. They won't drown, they'll gain strength in the water.'

Crack, crack!

As the professor exerted force on the mana source, cracks began to appear in the top-tier mana stone at its core, the very source that had created the eight rivers surrounding Tovbrun. What would happen if this were to break, disrupting the endless cycle of artificial rivers between the underground and the surface?

"Alright, let's drain the corrupt water of the mage tower that has been wreaking all sorts of evil for 70 years!"

Crack, crack, boom!

As the professor applied more force, the tower's mana source finally shattered.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!

A moment of silence. Then, a massive sound that shook the earth. With the powerful magic that had bound eight rivers to the city now gone, the water surrounding the mage tower began to surge wildly.

"It's rising! Everyone, hold on tight!"

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The ominous sound grew closer to the tower,

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Splash!

The eight rivers that had been creeping up the tower shot up into the sky like waterfalls, sweeping through the city at an incredible speed along with the flood.

"What, what is that!"

"It's a flood! The river! The river is overflowing!"

"Evacuate! All troops! Take refuge on the upper floors of buildings!"

Water gushed out of eight holes in the lower part of the tower, and a massive flood that started in the city center began to sweep through every part of the city.

And the waterproof boxes filled with loot, swept away by the current, were riding the waves of the city at an incredible speed,

Rumble, rumble!

The thieves on top of the boxes were using the poles they had prepared to push against the ground and walls, adjusting their direction toward the current.

"Ha ha ha! City rafting! Goodbye! Fools! The treasures of the mage tower are mine!"

Thus, the boxes carrying the valuable items and the thieves were carried smoothly to the outskirts of the city, passing by the Tovbrun troops struggling in the water.

***

Swoosh—

Boom!

The boxes, riding the overflowing river, came to a stop after colliding with the wall of the slums at the edge of the city.

"Hey! Good job!"

"Quickly, take the items out first!"

"We're short on crowbars! Someone go get some! Hurry!"

"Don't let them touch the water! This box contains spellbooks!"

The remaining guild members, who had been waiting in the slums as planned, knew exactly how to handle the stolen goods.

The loot from the large boxes was quickly divided into smaller boxes and sacks, and then dispersed among the thieves. Now, these items would temporarily disappear from the city, until a special customer who wouldn't question their origin arrived.

"But is it okay to send them off like this? Even if they're guild members, they're all thieves. They might not feel any qualms about running off with the loot."

"Oh, what a rude thing to say. Just because we're night visitors doesn't mean we have no rules. If they want to steal, let them. The moon's shadow isn't confined to Tovbrun alone."

Indeed. The thieves' guild wouldn't just let their loot be stolen.

"Here, this is your share as agreed."

Raxasha handed the professor a small pouch with mysterious patterns engraved on it.

"It contains a medium-sized extradimensional pouch, 50% of the cash in the tower, one spellbook of each type from the Leadflow school, and I managed to get one of the two top-tier mana stones. I've also carefully selected and included the defensive artifacts you mentioned."

Ah, life is bitter, but the rewards are sweet.

After about a month of game time, without a single logout, while eating calorie bars soaked in water provided by the connection device, the reward was now right in front of me.

Rustle, rustle, rustle—!

If capitalism were a religion, the sound of money falling would be its hymn. As the professor took the pouch containing all the items mentioned, the sound of acquiring silvers was deafening, like being buried under a pile of silver coins.

[Current Funds: 1,824,950 sil]

Money. An enormous amount, enough to pay off my debt and still have over 700,000 sil left.

Inventory. The inventory, which had expanded from 4 slots to 24 slots as soon as the pouch was attached to his waist.

And the spellbooks. The Leadflow school spellbooks neatly stacked in the expanded inventory.

"I'm rich, I'm rich....!"

I had agreed beforehand to share the loot and physical items with Raxasha's guild. Although it might seem like I made a lot, if all the loot were to be settled, it wouldn't even be a tenth of what Raxasha would get. The mage tower was filled with an incredible amount of valuable items. They just all had the Leadflow school's mark on them.

- HighweinaChom: Phew, it's packed!

- SoySauceGaybar: Now that it's over, go to the hospital. Since you've made money, go to a more expensive and larger one.

- SpeedWagon: It seems stable for now. I heard that once possession starts, it's hard to return to a normal state.

Hmm.... This side was still cold. After all, no matter how much money you make, it's all over if you die. People who don't know my situation might think I'm crazy about money and don't care about my life. But if I didn't have the money, the market place side of the dome would report me for fraudulent transactions, and my account would be suspended. If I didn't have such a situation, I would have gone out to eat and enjoy the breeze while playing the game.

Thinking that I had gathered enough money to pay off my debt, I realized I had been under a lot of pressure, and as the tension eased, the fatigue I had accumulated began to hit me all at once.

"Professor? What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far. After all, it's the red Mute whose face is known, and my face is still known as the fugitive professor in this city."

At the professor's words, Raxasha gave him a peculiar look and said,

"Hmm~ So, you're planning to stay in this city?"

"Right. There are people I need to wait for here. And there are still some things left to do.... Oops!"

"Oh dear."

As the professor staggered from drowsiness and fatigue, Raxasha caught him in her arms.

"Hmm.... What is this? A man who defeated a 6th-tier mage with his bare hands and destroyed the tower, now collapses from exhaustion? Could this be interpreted as having another intention?"

"Ugh.... Since he did it with his bare hands, it's understandable that he would collapse like this. Give me a break. I've worked hard enough to deserve this luxury."

"Really. You're impossible to handle."

Raxasha chuckled and brushed the professor's hair.

As he was held in Raxasha's soft embrace, an overwhelming drowsiness washed over him.

"Ugh.... Can you... take me to... an inn... please...."

"Shh. I understand. From now on, leave it to me. You can rest now."

"Thank you...."

The professor, who had been nodding off, summoned the last bit of consciousness to open the system window, pressed [Transfer to Marketplace], and then moved his hand to the logout button.

Ding!

[Warning: Abnormal logout detected. If you do not log out in a safe area, your character will move autonomously according to the game's situation. Do you really want to log out?]

'Well, Raxasha will take me to an inn, which is a safe area.... I'll be saved there.... I don't know.... I'm going to rest now....'

Although a somewhat unsettling warning message appeared, the professor, already drowsy, had no strength to think further.

The professor, still in Raxasha's embrace, fell asleep right there.

***

Meanwhile, at the moment the professor fell asleep, a man was kneeling in front of the mage tower's garden, which had been completely swept clean.

"Ah, beautiful....!"

The man's name was Roman Gacia Manson. As soon as he heard the news of a fugitive named 'Professor' appearing on the outskirts of the city, he rushed out to find him and was one of the mages who had escaped the disaster at the mage tower.

While searching for the professor in the slums, Roman felt an unusual mana fluctuation and followed it back, fighting against the flood, to the mage tower, where he saw it.

"Big, and beautiful...."

Looking at the large, purple mana stone pillar grotesquely embedded in the side of the tower, Roman had a profound realization.

'Why didn't I think of that? The force to push out mana. If the structure is well-adjusted, can't we artificially control the flow of mana to create paths for it to flow? That's it. The missing piece in my mana circuit theory was the mana stone!'

The young mage was captivated by a strange feeling. Was all of this a coincidence? His becoming a strange mage who disliked magic but loved mana, his learning goblin magitech by chance, and now finding the solution to the part that had been blocked.

Roman, lost in thought, tore off the Leadflow school emblem attached to his robe sleeve.

"My path was not magic. Fate has led me to the path of magitech from the beginning!"

Roman's eyes, looking at the half-collapsed tower and the pillar embedded in it, shone like stars.

Roman decided, from that moment on, to dedicate his life to the study of magitech and mana stones.

***