Chapter 55: If You Don’t Like It, Just Leave (2)
The mercenaries who entered the lobby of the Mage Tower looked around in wonder.
The expansive lobby was beautifully decorated with plants they had never seen before in their lives.
Expensive-looking sculptures were placed everywhere, making it impossible to tell if this was a Mage Tower or the castle of a wealthy noble.
Seeing the mercenaries gawking with their mouths agape, Sylvain, the apprentice mage guarding the lobby, frowned.
“Tsk, what’s this? Is a bunch of beggars wandering in here gonna mess up the floor?”
It was a classic response from a mage of the Tower of the Bloody Flame.
Sylvain wasn’t always this way; living in the Tower had influenced his attitude.
“Did the gatekeeper get scared and let them in?”
While they looked shabby, Ghislaine and his group all had at least one weapon strapped to their waists.
Even if the gatekeeper was just an ordinary person who couldn’t use magic, it would have been hard to stop a group pushing their way in.
Sylvain sighed. It seemed he would have to deal with those ragamuffins himself.
As Sylvain arrogantly strutted up to the mercenaries, the gatekeeper rushed to him with a panicked expression.
“Tsk tsk, I told you not to let just anyone in. If you’re gonna be that scared of their numbers, how are you going to guard the greatest tower in the North…?”
Before Sylvain could finish, the gatekeeper whispered something in his ear.
Sylvain squinted and nodded a few times before bowing deeply to Ghislaine.
“A distinguished guest has arrived! May I ask where you are from?”
“I am Ghislaine Perdium, Grand Duke of Perdium.”
Sylvain nodded, his face filled with admiration.
“Indeed, you are the Grand Duke of Perdium! I’ve heard much about the esteemed and valiant reputation of Perdium. From the moment I saw you, I thought you were extraordinary, and I was correct!”
Although his words were flowery, in reality, Sylvain had no idea where Perdium even was.
For now, he was just flattering a noble who had brought valuable goods.
Ghislaine was aware of this and, not falling for the sweet talk, simply smiled.
“I’ve come to sell Runestones, but I have quite a lot. I would like to meet a high-ranking mage who can responsibly handle the transaction. If possible, I’d prefer to see the head of the Mage Tower directly.”
“I’ll send word, so please wait a moment.”
Sylvain immediately bowed his head and led Ghislaine and his group to the meeting room.
As soon as he exited the meeting room, he firmly warned the maids.
He warned.
“Make sure to serve the guests well so they don’t feel uncomfortable.”
After emphasizing this several times, Sylvain hurriedly ran to the Mage Tower master.
Ghislaine’s party brought several wagons. If they were all filled with Runestones, that was a massive amount.
Back in the days when the Tower of the Bloody Flame was the best, even the merchant group didn’t fetch this many Runestones.
Normally, it would be absurd for Sylvain, a mere low-level lackey, to meet the Mage Tower master directly.
But there was no time to go through all the intermediate steps for reporting. He didn’t know when Ghislaine would change her mind and turn back.
‘With that many Runestones, they won’t scold me, right?’
Sylvain clutched his pounding heart and rushed towards the Mage Tower master.
Meanwhile, a serious meeting was taking place on the top floor of the tower.
“Are you saying we’re running out of Runestones?”
A middle-aged man with slightly thinning hair but a magnificently groomed mustache wore an uncomfortable expression.
“Yes. At this rate, the gap with the Tower of the Scarlet Flame will widen even further.”
An old man with a long white beard responded. The middle-aged man sighed heavily.
“How did it come to this…”
This gloomy man was none other than Hubert, the master of the Tower of the Bloody Flame and a 6th Circle Mage.
Despite being over sixty, he had maintained his youth longer thanks to his high magic power.
He was also quite interested in his appearance, making him look younger than his age.
However, these days, the wrinkles on his face were rapidly increasing.
“Is there no good solution?”
Hubert asked, looking around.
The five Elders sitting next to him could not respond at all.
Hubert, feeling frustrated, raised his voice.
“Seriously, how can we defeat the Tower of the Scarlet Flame like this? They were below us, BELOW! Doesn’t that hurt your pride?”
The Elders subtly turned their heads away and cursed inwardly.
“Come on, why not just socialize with the nobles and train a bit?”
“Their tower master is a 7th Circle Mage and is thriving. How can we compete when ours is only a 6th Circle?”
“After spending all that time on appearances and luxury, now it’s a crisis…”
Mages were known for their extremely individualistic tendencies.
Naturally, they were also good at blaming others. They always pointed fingers first.
The Elders believed they fell behind because the tower master’s skill level was lacking.
In contrast, the tower master thought they were lagging due to the laziness of the mages in the Tower of the Bloody Flame.
Eventually, one Elder raised his hand, as they couldn’t keep shifting the blame among themselves.
“Of course, we need to improve the mages’ skills. We must show who’s the true orthodox in the North.”
The Tower of the Bloody Flame and the Tower of the Scarlet Flame belonged to the same fire-based magic school and had been rivals for a long time.
Their magical systems were similar, and both were based in the North; it was only natural for them to become rivals.
“No, I mean, how are we going to raise their levels?! Are we doing all the experiments bare-handed?”
When assessing a mage’s skill, the standard is how many spells they can activate.
To cast spells, one must interpret the incantations in their own way and invest their will; otherwise, the magic could go berserk, and the mage could end up blowing themselves up or becoming disabled.
Naturally, it was impossible to conduct research bare-handed; they needed Runestones to absorb the shock instead.
I really need a runestone that can absorb the shock for me.
“If we run out of runestones, we won’t be able to train properly!”
“…That’s true.”
Without runestones, a mage’s safety isn’t guaranteed.
It wasn’t just that. Using a runestone could easily increase magic power and could be used as auxiliary magic power, making it an essential resource for mages.
“Are we beggars? Don’t we have any money? Only poor mages use their bodies to compensate!”
“The master of the Tower of the Bloody Flame trains bare-handed…”
“Don’t mention that guy! And how do we know that’s even true? If I had runestones, I’d shoot up to 7th circle in no time!”
Hubert shouted excitedly, practically screaming his lungs out.
The elders silently bowed their heads on the outside, but on the inside, they began to gossip about him relentlessly.
‘Hell, is it that easy? If it were like that, all the previous tower masters would have reached the 7th circle too.’
‘Honestly, it seems only a matter of time before the Tower of the Bloody Flame becomes the strongest in the kingdom.’
Aside from the exclusive mage in Duke Delphine’s household, the only person in the kingdom who had reached the 7th circle was Delmood, the master of the Tower of the Bloody Flame.
Oblivious to what the elders were thinking, Hubert clenched his teeth and huffed in frustration.
“Ugh! If I had a lot of runestones, I could reach the 7th circle too! If Delmood could do it, why can’t I!”
Hubert was sensitive every time he was compared to Delmood.
The broke Delmood allegedly reached the level of the 7th circle while being scolded by his master and not even receiving living expenses from the mage tower.
For Hubert, who had been raised in the best environment with abundant support as the heir, it was impossible not to feel inferior.
One of the elders, glancing at Hubert, cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“However, when we ask the merchant groups, they all say there’s no stock. The Tower of the Bloody Flame has hiked up the prices significantly, but even if we agree to those prices, they still insist there’s none available, so we can’t find a way to get runestones.”
Most of the merchant groups dealing with the Tower of the Bloody Flame had either reduced their supply of runestones or completely stopped.
Although runestones were rare, the quantity has notably decreased recently.
“Ugh, why is this happening? Why has it suddenly become so hard to find runestones!”
Having spent their entire lives mastering magic in the tower, they were in the dark about the outside world. They had merely lived off the legacies passed down by their ancestors.
So even in this situation, they were clueless about what had gone wrong.
Hubert rubbed his face with both palms and asked in a tired voice.
“How’s the artifact production going?”
“It’s going to be tough since we’re short on runestones.”
Making and selling magical tools and scrolls was the tower’s biggest source of income.
If they lacked runestones, they wouldn’t be able to create magical tools either.
Hubert felt like crying.
Not only had the once top-tier Tower of the Bloody Flame lost its title as the strongest in the North during his reign, but it was also weakening.
At this rate, it might really turn into a scroll shop rather than a mage tower.
“Is there really no way to get runestones?”
“The only option is to go to other regions and bring back small amounts. But we have a lot of people and many places to use them, don’t we?”
“The Tower of the Bloody Flame isn’t short on people either, right? They must be sweeping everything up.”
“There are rumors like that, and most say they sell to them, but… to be honest, I’m not sure. They must be raising prices to buy them since it’s tough for them to get them too.”
“Most people say it’s available there… but honestly, I’m not sure. It’s hard to get there too, so isn’t that why they’re raising the prices?”
“How about offering more money than them? We have plenty of cash, right? We still have some funds available.”
“No, I’m telling you, there are simply no items! It’s dried up, completely dried up! And right now, we’re spending a ton of money just to buy things with extra fees.”
They couldn’t tell whether the Tower of the Bloody Flame was hoarding the runestones or if there was truly a shortage.
It was a reflection of their complacency, lost in the delusion of being the best.
“Money is running out… but we can’t find runestones… thus, the level of our disciples is dropping… Hehehe. What a mess!”
Even Hubert, the master of the mage tower, was too scared to conduct magic experiments without backup—who would dare do it?
At this pace, they would definitely not make any progress, and instead, just maintain the status quo until they brought about their own downfall.
“Haah…”
“Fuh…”
“Hehe…”
The clever yet clueless mages all bowed their heads and sighed.
“We need to recruit a competent merchant. Let’s leave this to the professionals.”
One Elder proposed. Hubert and the other Elders also nodded in agreement.
They prided themselves on researching the ways of the world and knowing all truths, but when it came to commerce, they were utterly incompetent.
“Haah, we should have paid attention earlier.”
In the past, there were not only mages but also skilled merchants at the tower.
However, after gaining their top reputation, they became arrogant and dismissed such figures.
They thought it was enough to have just someone who could handle the finances since people would flock to them and offer competitive prices.
Though it was late, everyone agreed that they should recruit an expert now.
“Then let’s find a decent candidate…”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that moment, someone outside was banging on the door noisily.
Suppressing his irritation, Hubert said, “We’re in a meeting. Come back later.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“I said we are in a meeting!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Despite being told multiple times to go away, the person kept banging on the door. Gritting his teeth, Hubert stood up.
“Ugh, whoever they are, I should burn their head off.”
“I’m coming in!”
Bang!
The persistent one burst through the door without permission. Hubert glared at him fiercely.
“Who are you? Who let you in? Where are the guards? First, let’s deal with that head of yours. I’ll set those hairs on fire.”
The mage tower operated on an apprenticeship system with very strict hierarchies. The master of the tower would seldom meet with the low-ranking mages.
Naturally, Hubert did not recognize Sylvain.
Sylvain, overwhelmed by the chilling atmosphere, trembled and said, “S-Someone came looking to sell runestones.”
“What? Runestones?”
Hubert and the Elders leaned forward with curious expressions directed at Sylvain.
The master of the tower calmed himself, but Sylvain still couldn’t relax.
Feeling the focus on him, he swallowed nervously.
“It’s not just a small amount like other merchant groups. The quantity is enormous! There are more than ten wagons, all packed with runestones!”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone sitting up shot to their feet.
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