No one knows when the Magic Tower was built.

It is said that the Magic Tower existed even in the era when people recorded history with pictures instead of letters.

There have been constant doubts about the credibility of the testimonies and records regarding the location and form of the Magic Tower, as they differed from time to time.

Those who claimed to have seen it in the east said that the Magic Tower consisted of a huge fortress. Those who claimed to have seen it on the border between the north and the islands said it looked like an ivory tower reaching the sky.

Now, it is said that the Magic Tower is located on a huge mountain surrounded by dirt and dust at the western end of the continent.

However, no one could set foot there unless permitted by the Magic Tower. Most of the few people involved with the Magic Tower were reluctant to reveal themselves to the public, so nothing was certain.

One certain fact was that throughout the vast flow of time in which numerous countries were established and perished, the Magic Tower had never been penetrated by external attacks.

Occasionally, some fools who did not value their lives coveted magical tools that could not be converted into value and attacked the Magic Tower.

However, they had to pay the price by losing their limbs and lives to the barrier set up by the former Magic Tower masters who had gathered the essence of wisdom.

The Magic Tower was safe. The magicians there were accustomed to living and doing their own research in tranquility and silence.

On ‘that day’ too, the Magic Tower was peaceful as always. At least it seemed so on the outside.

The magicians were so busy treating the five hundred coma patients that the Magic Tower Master had dumped on them that they didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom, let alone do their own research.

Ricarion, the Magic Tower Master who was in charge of the remaining five hundred patients, was also busy going back and forth between the ward and the laboratory, taking care of the patients and examining the undead soldiers sent from the duke’s residence.

The strategy meetings with the executives of the Magic Tower, which were held in between, had recently become one of Ricarion’s essential schedules that could not be missed.

No matter how much they lived behind closed doors, they could not treat it as someone else’s business now that the undead soldiers had appeared following the coma disease.

Moreover, the fact that the Emperor had broken the spell of the magic tool ring he had given to the Duchess deeply wounded Ricarion’s pride. He really wanted to find a way to defeat the Emperor.

[Master. Sleep and then work. Even if you collapse from overwork, there’s no lover to feed you even a spoonful of soup.]

Popo tightly grabbed Ricarion’s cloak with his front paws as he returned to the laboratory after the meeting and pulled him towards the bedroom with a grunt.

The ten-year-old boy with unusually kind eyes had now grown up and become the master of the huge Magic Tower, but to Popo, he still looked like a young child left by the water.

Popo’s heart ached even more, knowing that his immersion in work while being cooped up in the Magic Tower was not just due to a sense of responsibility.

[Yuriella is doing well. Aeri said earlier. She sleeps well and eats well. She laughed twice last night.]

For the sake of the master whose body was here but whose heart was wandering in the duke’s residence, Popo conveyed the news of the person he would be most curious about. Of course, he kept quiet about from whom those two laughs originated.

Ricarion, who had already guessed without being told, smiled faintly and nodded.

“I’m not worried about Yuriella. There are many people to protect her even if it’s not me.”

Although his voice was cool, the unsettled emotions washed over his face like waves and then shattered and disappeared.

Popo tilted his small head.

Love, the typhoon that shakes human hearts, was something that seemed to exist from the beginning but was ultimately unknown.

[When the treatment of the coma patients is all over, would you like to go on a long trip with me somewhere far away, Master?]

Ricarion, who was about to enter the laboratory despite Popo’s dissuasion, burst into laughter.

“What’s with that cringe-worthy polite speech?”

[Let’s go somewhere far away where the water and mountains are good, and forget all the world’s worries and rest, yes.]

“I’m not a young child you left by the water, Popo.”

[To me, who has lived since the beginning, all humans are young children. Even you, the master of the holy sword, and the duke are just helpless and small beings like children in my eyes.]

As Popo pushed with age as always, Ricarion brought up the question that had been weighing heavily on his mind.

“Even the Emperor?”

He had not yet shared with the executives of the Magic Tower the fact that the Emperor had broken the magic he had cast. It was because he didn’t want their attention to be focused on Yuriella.

Why the Magic Tower Master personally made and gifted a magic tool ring to the Duchess. What the Duchess intended to do with it. They were sure to dig into it.

There were already more than a few people who were suspicious of the Magic Tower Master’s excessive involvement with the Northern Duke Family.

And the fact that they were not interested in worldly affairs did not mean ignorance.

If they put their minds to it, they were humans who would find out by any means necessary. They were magicians united by curiosity. They had the ability to do so, and there was enough reason to do so.

He wanted to handle it on his own line if possible. Although he couldn’t protect Yuriella closely, he wanted to protect the woman to whom he had given all his heart in that way.

“Can you overpower the Emperor with your power?”

[It is impossible to know without directly clashing.]

“You don’t know?”

[That’s exactly what I mean. Since the sources of power are different, it is difficult to compare the size and power of each other’s strength.]

“…Are you saying that you, the Sword of the Earth, could also lose?”

Popo affirmed by remaining silent.

Ricarion’s expression darkened.

“What about Yelro, the Sword of Ice?”

[The Emperor’s magic may or may not be vulnerable to the nature of ice.]

Ricarion let out a low groan at Popo’s answer that he also did not know.

I don’t know.

It was the most fearful and distant word for magicians who regarded knowledge as life.

As Popo said, directly clashing might be the easiest way.

However, if the master of the North, who is in a state of imminent tension with the imperial family, raises his sword, it will immediately lead to war.

If the Magic Tower, which has maintained neutrality, confronts the Emperor, it will be misunderstood as siding with the North and Lewis. The broken balance will surely become the fuse of a civil war.

War must be avoided at all costs.

Ricarion’s brow furrowed deeply.

Too many unexpected variables had arisen.

The situation began to slip out of his control from the moment Solas’s soul, which he had possessed in Yuriella, became the duke’s companion.

He had hoped that she would become the master of Aeri, but he had to prevent the holy sword Aeri from being attributed to the North.

It was also a major risk factor that the duke had disguised and protected the Emperor’s half-brother as his vassal and eventually resurrected him splendidly on the central stage.

It was problematic that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager had resorted to black magic, but their actions that seemed to have no intention of concealing it were even more incomprehensible.

The control must be brought to the Magic Tower.

‘It’s troublesome to be dragged around every time something happens. Some fundamental countermeasure is needed…’

However, his thoughts did not continue for long.

The door flung open and the pale chief of staff, Nectan Greco, rushed in.

“Master of the Magic Tower! Something terrible has happened! The coma patients−”

Bang! Bang!

Soon after, the sound of something exploding was heard loudly.

Ricarion started running without even listening to the explanation.

Explosion sounds were heard consecutively from the treatment rooms for coma patients on each floor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The moment Ricarion opened the door to the nearest treatment room.

Bang! Bang!

The coma patients, who had been sleeping quietly as if dead, suddenly got up and started tearing their bodies while suffering, then began to explode.

“Ugh!”

“Ahhh!”

Bang! Bang!

Magicians and doctors who could not avoid it in time were swept away by the explosion and collapsed.

“What the…!”

Ricarion immediately summoned the Earth Sword Gaius and swung it widely towards the air.

Rumble.

Rumble.

With a vibration that resonated throughout the entire tower, a dense maroon aura spread out from the holy sword Gaius and instantly enveloped the entire Magic Tower.

Damn it!

The Magic Tower Master cursed while pulling out the earth’s energy to his limit and releasing it.

Ricarion meticulously wrapped the earth’s aura around the coma patients, leaving only their airways open to prevent further explosions.

“Gaius! It seems that some rats have sneaked into the Magic Tower. Find them!”

Popo, who was called by his real name, widened his eyes for a moment and then disappeared as if melting into the earth’s energy that enveloped the Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower Master’s lips curved into a cold sneer as he slowly looked around the treatment room with the blood of patients and magicians splattered on the walls and floor.

It was a sneer at his own dullness in trying to delay the war that had already begun.

And it was anger towards those who dared to touch the Magic Tower and harm those they protected.

Ricarion immediately convened an emergency meeting and summoned Duke Greco, the master of the West.

Those who sent rats to the Magic Tower will pay the price.

He will clearly show them that what they have torn apart is not only the bodies of the patients who were torn apart with their dying screams.

*

The imperial banquet hall was abuzz with the news that the Magic Tower had been attacked.

It was not an act of force by an external power, but the coma patients suddenly exploded.

The nobles who had entrusted the treatment of their families to the Magic Tower turned pale and immediately left the banquet hall.

The Emperor expressed deep condolences for the victims and dispatched imperial investigators to the scene.

The Empress Dowager, as the mother of the empire, tearfully conveyed her intention to use her personal wealth to console the victims. The quick-witted noble ladies praised the Empress Dowager’s noble intention while taking off their rings and earrings.

“Why did you do that?”

When they were left alone, the Emperor, who had escorted his mother to the Swan Palace, raised his voice.

“Why are you trying to turn the Magic Tower and the West into enemies? Why at this particular time?”

“Because it’s vexing.”

Unlike Justin, who was pacing anxiously, Empress Dowager Sophia casually took off her uncomfortable shoes and leaned back comfortably on the sofa.

“Vexing?”

“Because it must be that brat Ricarion who brought Solas back to life.”

Justin’s eyes wavered at the Empress Dowager’s unexpected answer.

“You didn’t even know that he had smuggled Solas’s soul to the North, and you had your mother unnecessarily cast the coma spell on a thousand people.”

“Do you not know that even if the Magic Tower Master has reached the 7th Circle, that level is not enough to take a soul that has left its body that far?”

The Empress Dowager’s eyes gleamed with scorn as she refuted with a snort while looking at her son who could not compose his expression.

She had poked him just in case, and as expected.

She thought she had raised him quite cleverly. But when it comes to that wench Solas, he is so soft and sloppy.

“That’s the official stance of the Magic Tower. We also keep it a secret what we can do and to what extent. I think the Magic Tower Master has at least reached the 10th Circle. It wouldn’t be impossible since he is the master of the holy sword Gaius.”

“Why would he? He is a person of virtue who rarely visits the Magic Tower of which I am the master. There’s no way he would have broken the balance of neutrality by intervening in the affairs of the North.”

The effort to refute plausibly was commendable, and the sight of his clenched fists turning white was even pitiful.

“Solas was the master of the holy sword Flama. Wouldn’t there have been some understanding between the masters of the holy swords?”

“Even if it is possible to move a soul, is it possible to enshrine a soul in the body of a completely different person? Isn’t it more difficult than resurrecting the dead?”

The Empress Dowager got up with a calm expression, put on fluffy indoor slippers, and approached the Emperor.

A pale and slender hand caressed Justin’s cheek.

“It’s not just the Magic Tower Master who is vexing. The most vexing one is you, my son. How long, how far are you going to hide it? Do you think your mother won’t find out if you hide it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about at all.”

Feeling like he had returned to being a helpless five-year-old child, Justin bit the inside of his cheek and drew blood.

[Mother. It hurts. I was wrong. It hurts so much.]

In the vast imperial palace, the only person the child could trust and rely on was his mother, but what she gave him was a pain that made him rather want to die.

[My jewel. My hope. The lovely piece of god chosen by darkness.]

The five-year-old boy did not know how to stop the pain no matter how much he prayed or cried.

Although his mother’s hand stroking his small head as he wept in pain was as cold and heartless as a snake’s skin. He was so afraid of losing even that, as he had nothing in his life.

Until he met the dazzling flame he had coveted for the first time in his life.

“Don’t worry. Neither the Magic Tower nor the West can move easily. The ingrained caution does not disappear so easily.”

Feeling her son flinch unconsciously, the Empress Dowager burst into laughter.

“If they move, all the better for me. If the balance is broken, it’s war. If the duke wins, you and I die. If you win, you will be able to steal the flame you dreamed of from the duke.”

What will you do, my son?

Justin closed his eyes instead, blocking out the violet eyes that were tearing him apart. And in the afterimage of the deep darkness like an abyss, he thought of the red light that he missed so much that his throat ached.