Chapter: 180
Clink.
Steaming hot milk was served in a teacup. As expected from a wizard from the Red Tower, she heated it in an instant with just a flick of her hand.
“Here you go.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Be careful, it’s hot.”
“Mmm…”
Selvier wasn’t a wizard with poor fire control skills. She could have heated it just right for drinking. So, making it scalding hot must have been intentional.
Was it like placing a single leaf on the water’s surface?
I blew on it lightly and took a sip. I thought it had cooled down enough, but it was still slightly hot, and my tongue felt a bit scorched. Timing mistake.
“Ouch!”
As I pressed my burned tongue to cool it, Selvier threw a jab at me.
“I told you to let it cool down!”
“I thought it was cool enough.”
“It’s like that for everyone. You can see how hot or cold it is when it’s someone else’s problem, but once it involves you, you can’t tell. You end up making mistakes.”
“……….”
I felt a strange sensation and looked at Selvier.
That way of speaking. It was a style I often used.
Drawing from completely unrelated topics and weaving them into the main point I wanted to make. I was quite familiar with it.
I had never really talked to her much. So, that style didn’t originate from me; it must’ve come from… that ‘childhood friend’ of hers. That thought crossed my mind.
“This time, try speaking while making sure to cool it down. What happened, and what are you worried about?”
What am I worried about? I couldn’t summarize it into just one thing.
I want to save Yura Lanster, who is in danger. Yuna is really worried about me because of that. Should I give up or not? Should I choose Yura or Yuna?
When I weigh my heart, neither side feels lighter. I confessed all these thoughts honestly to Selvier.
She listened quietly and then… suddenly threw an insult.
“Are you an idiot?”
“Why, what…”
I felt slightly flustered with her second jab at my intelligence. Do I look that pitiful while I’m conflicted and indecisive?
Selvier crossed her arms and looked at me, declaring decisively, “You got the point wrong.”
“………?”
“There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to following your heart. If you want to save someone, go save them. If you want to protect what’s left, then do that. If you want to have both, then go for it. Who’s going to stop you?”
People all have different values. Some will save, and some will protect. There are no wrong judgments in that realm. That’s what she and her ‘childhood friend’ would say.
But.
“There are right and wrong methods. Going into a dungeon full of traps without any preparation? Are you crazy?”
“Oh.”
“You’re a wizard! Preparation, prediction, planning, and being ready to jump over traps is what you’re supposed to do. Your concerns aren’t wrong, but getting flustered and blindly charging in without thinking is where it goes wrong.”
“Ah…”
The temperature at which to drink heated milk is up to the individual’s discretion. You can drink it cold or warm, but drinking it while it’s boiling is definitely a wrong choice. So please, at least cool it down.
That’s what Selvier conveyed with her gaze.
With her chin resting on her hand, she glanced upward as if reminiscing about the past and continued speaking.
“You know, before Enbus left for his family… he used to say he’d at least leave no regrets, even if he failed.”
That’s right. It was something Namgoong Cheong-hwi had said when he had grown through his sessions, a self-monologue declaring to gather his spirit.
“To avoid regret, you have to do your best, perfectly. If you had rushed in recklessly, you would have regretted it later, wishing you’d been more prepared.”
“……….”
“Having sheer willpower doesn’t mean you’re doing your best. How clumsy must you look for someone who wants to stop you from doing something only you would do?”
What does that mean?
“You’re a genius. You’re a professor at your age, and your illusion magic is good enough to handle the entire Academy’s students at once. Noreth, Benet, Enbus—when your name comes up, their expressions change.”
“……Such as?”
“It feels like, ‘This person could do anything.’ That kind of trust. Especially from those around you. And yet, even then, if they tried to stop you from going, you must have looked quite unstable.”
Is that so?
Then, did I make Yuna feel uneasy?
Did I seem like someone who would die at any moment, prompting her to unleash her illusion magic because of my past trauma?
Selvier stood up and approached me. Then she grabbed my cheeks with both hands and looked down at me with smoldering eyes.
It felt as though she was imparting ancient wisdom.
“Keep your heart warm, but your head cool. Even if you use emotions for motivation, don’t let them sway you.”
“………”
“Go. Go properly plan your attack, and convince the colleague-wizard who’s barricading the lab’s door. If you come up with a decent plan, she’ll trust you one more time.”
Is that it? Right.
My heart still feels hasty. Every time I imagine what Pinkvalez might be going through, my hands tremble, and my heart races with anxiety.
But Selvier is right. There’s nothing I can do about the anxiety. Instead, it proves how much I like Yura Lanster. But I mustn’t let it sway me.
If I get swayed, I’d make Yuna feel anxious too. If I had just kept my composure… If I hadn’t wavered, she wouldn’t be in panic like this.
I must accept my emotions while also standing against them.
As I weakly strengthened my resolve, Selvier grinned mischievously and said.
“If you succeed and come back… you can boast about that glorious victory to me. Then, I’ll take back what I called you earlier.”
That expression was something like sunshine.
Had Selvier always been this beautiful? I spoke as if bewitched.
“…Can I call you ‘noona’?”
“Hey! What kind of nonsense is a professor saying to a student…?!”
“Selvier noona.”
“Eww, get out! Hurry and go do what you need to do!”
Thump!
I was kicked out.
I was shoved out of Selvier’s dorm for the second time today.
But my feelings were quite the opposite.
Just like a candle flame igniting, Selvier’s fire seemed to flicker over to me too. It felt like I was wandering through darkness, but now the path ahead was becoming clearer. Yes. I understand what I need to do.
I took a moment at the door to gather my thoughts.
“………”
I recalled and pieced together the clues one by one.
Eventually, I came up with a plausible rescue operation plan. I hurriedly dashed to my laboratory, currently occupied by Yuna. There’s a way.
I have a method to deal with the Succubus Queen!
===============================================================
In the room where the mad wizard had just left, Selvier, left alone, rested her chin on her hand and muttered.
“…Was I that close to him?”
No, there’s no reason to feel close to a scoundrel who plays around with two girls.
Sure, I learned a lot in class, but the struggles piled up, so it’s pretty much a zero-sum game.
Or perhaps its because of his familiar black hair, or maybe he just looked pitiful being drenched in the rain…
Or could it be that I felt a kinship since we both wanted to retrieve someone precious?
Selvier gazed intently at the half-finished milk glass left by the mad wizard, her lips having touched it, then smacked her cheeks awake.
“What am I thinking…!”
She opened a thick grimoire. Study, study; she needed to meet her childhood friend again.
Selvier scribbled spells down. She had given all the advice she could, and now her role in this situation was over.
However, she decided to occasionally wish for the mad wizard’s good fortune. After all, no one wants to lose someone precious.
===============================================================
She knocked on the firmly closed lab door. Then calmly asked.
“Tower Master, are you inside?”
“……….”
I sensed a presence. I could easily imagine Yuna listening to my words from the other side. I thought for a moment, then whispered.
“…Hail Hydra.”
“…Gulp.”
A suppressed laugh escaped.
“Could you open the door? I’ve come up with a brilliant plan that would make Irid slap his knee in amazement. You’d be surprised when you hear it.”
“……….”
The door slowly creaked open. As I cautiously entered the lab, Yuna looked up at me, her expression marred with anxiety.
She was on high alert, anticipating that I might attempt a reckless intrusion again. I raised my hands in a gesture of peace as I approached and pulled her into a hug.
“First, hear me out. Just listen, and if you still disagree after, I won’t go. How does that sound?”
Yuna nodded while still in my embrace. I patted her back awkwardly, feeling embarrassed after the earlier debacle.
“I’m sorry for earlier.”
“…I’m sorry too.”
“I got impatient and couldn’t see the surrounding situation. I think I was a bit too hasty. Thank you for stopping me, Yuna.”
“…Just don’t do that again. I was really scared…”
In that brief moment, we made amends. Yuna’s body, which had been tense, began to relax little by little. Did she feel a bit better?
I moistened my lips and began to explain the plan.
“Alright, listen. No matter how you slice it, the goal here is that the Succubus Queen wants to eat either me or the Tower Master, right…?”
That part was the keystone. There’s always a weakness in what the enemy desperately desires. I quietly laid out the plan to assassinate the Succubus Queen…
Yuna hesitated briefly but soon nodded in understanding of its potential for success.
===============================================================
With Pinkvalez lying on the magic circle, Yuna and I began our deep analysis together. We were going to extract every piece of data we could read externally before diving in.
We’d proceed carefully, ensuring her mind doesn’t get harmed. We’d put cameras through the gaps of the Queen’s magic or shoot mana to read the echoes that come back.
“It seems like a layered structure, right?”
“Yeah. She must have restructured Yura’s mental barrier to create a first layer, with her inner self forming the second layer…”
“And on the basement level, there would be a wedge leading to the ‘Nest.’”
“Like you did with your Phasmid Transcendence, the Succubus Queen might be interfering remotely too.”
Exactly. That part is the most threatening.
Yuna began to doodle on paper. She simply illustrated the structure.
The overview of our operation was simple.
I would detach my consciousness to infiltrate solo while Yuna manipulated the emergency escape system from outside. This system was the core of our operation.
It’s like tying a rope to a diver’s waist. When I signal, Yuna would pull on the rope to bring me back.
We promised each other to activate it in critical moments without hesitation.
To dismantle the Succubus Queen’s trap from the inside, I intended to bring an information bomb. I would install and detonate bombs at each point from within, erasing anything that didn’t originally belong to Yura Lanster.
At the same time, I would protect Yura Lanster’s heart from being attacked.
As I carry out these tasks while breaking through Layer 1 of consciousness, I would surely reach Layer 2.
There, there would definitely be an entrance leading to the ‘Nest.’ We must eliminate that passage so there’d be no chance for back and forth.
At that moment, the mission would be deemed successful.
Without the Succubus Queen’s interference, not even a trap set by her great-grandfather would pose a threat. I could take my time fixing everything.
I finished my prep for infiltration. I lay down on the magic circle drawn beside Pinkvalez. Yuna’s worried face hovered above me.
It was full of worry, but just as much… there was also trust that I could pull this off.
“…You better come back. Got it?”
“Yeah. I’ll bring back Yura who ran away, so don’t worry.”
“Alright, starting now.”
Thump.
Yuna snapped her fingers.
Light radiated from the magic circle as my consciousness felt itself sinking into the ground. I had applied TRPG techniques to detach my consciousness for infiltration; I wondered if players felt a similar sensation.
Thus, sinking deeper, I arrived at the point where I could see Yura Lanster’s mental barrier.
Before penetrating, I observed it from above. Then, I was taken aback.
It resembled a session structure. No, calling it a session itself wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Built on Yura Lanster’s memories, it created a world where a story unfolds.
The stage was… Imperial Defense Bureau, Elimination Team. Memories from the time when Pinkvalez was slightly younger and had just joined the Elimination Team.
But it wasn’t the original as is. Some parts seemed to have been maliciously edited. Especially the characters. There were traces of someone being cut out from the memory.
This was rather good. I would slip into that ‘empty space.’
I steeled my resolve and reached out to touch the shell of the mental barrier.
The Queen’s magic and the strange, foreign substance tainting the mental barrier embraced me as if welcoming me. There was no resistance.
I had managed to gain entry that easily, but apparently, my tie was reluctant.
They struggled hard to cut the emergency escape line… but above, the grand wizard of the purple Tower continuously reinforced it in real-time.
There was no way it would break easily.
I lightly infiltrated within. Let’s begin.
It’s time to wake up the sleeping princess trapped under the Queen’s curse.
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