Training Ground of the Magic Tower.
Currently, this place was truly a cauldron of chaos.
“Uh, huh? That person is…?”
“Why on earth are they here at the Imperial Magic Tower?”
Widro and Nox were dizzy amidst the confusion of the mages. Just welcoming the 2nd Princess was overwhelming enough, but now an unexpected figure had joined the mix.
“…No doubt about it. It’s the 3rd Princess herself.”
Widro muttered in disbelief.
The angel of the empire, the Face of the Empire.
The 3rd Princess, Solana, had taken her place in the training ground.
Hoo—
Nox adjusted his glasses, taking a deep breath to steady his mind. At the same time, he pondered intensely. What could possibly be the reason for the 3rd Princess to visit this place?
First and foremost, it was unacceptable to leave such a high-profile guest unattended. Nox, Widro, and Agnes approached the 3rd Princess.
The first to muster courage was Nox.
“Excuse me! It’s an honor to meet you, 3rd Princess! I… uh… Um.”
He attempted to make a flawless introduction in a deep voice, but immense nervousness caused him to fumble right at the start. What a disaster.
“It’s an honor to meet you, 3rd Princess…”
Only then did Solana’s sun-like gaze turn towards Nox.
Including Nox, Widro and Agnes were trying to gather themselves with countless deep breaths. This was an obvious step. The presence of 3rd Princess Solana was significant, as she was both a princess and the top saintess.
A sect serving the Sun God led by the saintess in the empire.
Their infamous inquisitors were renowned for ruthlessly purifying anything deemed impure. It was famous that nothing but dust remained after purification, after all.
Was there something unclean in the Imperial Magic Tower?
…No, still, they hadn’t committed corruption.
“It’s rare for such a precious figure to visit the tower, so I hope you can forgive our lack of hospitality. May I ask what brings you here, 3rd Princess?”
However, there was painfully no response.
“Hey, everyone doing well? No one frozen here, right?”
Just then, Ezekiel appeared in the training ground, but Solana’s gaze was solely fixed there.
The problem was that there was no sign of that gaze wavering.
“…”
At the same time, the three officials were drenched in cold sweat.
Naturally, the Imperial Magic Tower had its pros and cons. These days, the cons were overwhelmingly more significant, but still, there were some advantages.
In other words, while there were things to confidently show Solana, there were also things that must never be shown.
…Things that must absolutely not be shown?
The three pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to a single person.
Ezekiel. The new inspector.
‘Not him…!’
‘This is really bad.’
‘He should be doing the royal administrator role.’
In an instant, the three of them stood in a wall-like formation to block Solana’s view of Ezekiel, desperately spewing out any words that came to mind.
“There are quite a few things to see at the Imperial Magic Tower. If you would allow, I could guide you this time.”
“Old man has something to show you….”
“The view from the top floor is beautiful. The training ground is noisy, so we can change locations as well.”
Just speaking to the 3rd Princess exhausted them immensely. On the day a new inspector started, two princesses just had to visit. Was this some kind of joke?
It was like being struck by lightning and then getting hit again.
But.
In the next moment, something unexpected happened.
“…”
Solana quietly raised one hand, causing the words of the three officials to stop as if they had made a pact.
All were anxious. They had no idea what Solana would say next.
What if she said something like, ‘I’d like to take a better look at that inspector’ or something? Just imagining that future made their hearts skip a beat.
However, Solana simply wore a bright smile.
The moment the three of them shared a sliver of hope.
“Could you please step aside? I want to see, but it’s blocked.”
“…Huh?”
Such pressure exists in the world.
Because the other person’s smile was so radiant, and their request was so gentle, it created an irresistible kind of pressure.
“…”
The three resigned themselves and stepped aside.
They wished it wouldn’t happen, but Solana’s gaze was entirely fixed on Ezekiel. Widro and Nox hurriedly conjured a transparent mana barrier to create a space for themselves to communicate.
This was the magic known as telepathic message.
—What do we do now?
—Seems like it’s already over. Just accept it.
As they communicated through the telepathic message.
“Fufu….”
Suddenly, Solana, who had been staring at Ezekiel, covered her mouth and burst into laughter. It was a pure smile completely contrasting with the saintly demeanor.
“…”
The officials felt chills run down their spines. They even felt fear.
Solana’s gaze was fixed on Ezekiel.
Her eyelids didn’t blink.
Was the satisfied smile of the 3rd Princess genuine satisfaction? It was hard to tell. Could it be a saintess’s pride at discovering something to purify…
At that moment, Agnes telepathically asked.
—By any chance, what’s the next schedule?
—We’re supposed to display the training method after abolishing the 2nd Princess’s principles.
—…Who’s doing that?
—…Who else could it be?
“Ah….”
In the end, Agnes staggered, pressing her forehead.
What was she thinking giving a resignation letter to the royal family? What was she thinking…
The training ground of the Imperial Magic Tower.
In this location, where frost still clung to the walls and floors, I studied the clues around me, stroking my chin.
‘Is this about it?’
To cut to the chase, the level of the mages was below expectations.
In my previous self, I wouldn’t have cared about the achievements of other mages. However, now that I am an inspector, it was different.
When I was organizing my thoughts, a voice called out to me.
“Inspector.”
Agnes approached me with somewhat hurried steps.
As usual, she was twisting a cube with one hand. It was spinning at a speed several times faster than usual.
Snap—!
First, I froze the cube.
“Now they’re calling me inspector, huh?”
“…Why are you freezing it? It’s a silent cube.”
She stared in disbelief at the frozen cube.
“The sound isn’t the issue. I told you. It’s too distracting.”
“Ah, yes. Still, the cube isn’t what’s important now. The troublesome thing is that there’s something else distracting.”
Agnes began to argue with me, expressionless.
“Two princesses visited at once, and now you need to announce how you will change the tower in front of them. Isn’t this much more distracting?”
“Not really.”
“What does ‘not really’ even mean? This is serious.”
Agnes gazed at me intently, still expressionless.
“Inspector, I have a question.”
I nodded, indicating she could go ahead.
“Why did you have the mages spar?”
“Well, I need to grasp their levels to provide better training.”
“I see. But thanks to that, you blatantly violated the principles set by the 2nd Princess, yet you didn’t even observe the sparring and went out into the hallway, rendering it meaningless.”
“What’s wrong with stepping out?”
“The mages struggled, the 2nd Princess’s principles have already been broken, and with two princesses watching, you have nothing to present… What now?”
Although Agnes remained expressionless, her voice revealed her worry for the Imperial Magic Tower’s survival.
Even Agnes, who was usually several times calmer than others, was caught in confusion. This meant that the situation facing the Imperial Magic Tower was that dire.
I might have shared her concern, but only if I were a pathetic mage.
However, standing here now was none other than Ezekiel.
Me.
“I can decipher it.”
Agnes’s brows furrowed slightly.
“Even if I stepped away, I can still figure it all out.”
“What on earth can you figure out….”
But Agnes’s question couldn’t be concluded.
Swish—
I drew up the chill in my body. It was a five-stroke spell, but I had done it so many times that the activation was nearly instantaneous.
“Agnes, simply put, ice has a lot to say.”
“…Huh?”
“They always share what they’ve experienced.”
At that moment, all the colors within my sight were inverted.
I slowly examined the ice again.
The darkened ice and the traces of magic stood out vividly in bright colors. Observing them was akin to observing the sparring. It allowed me to infer how each spell was cast.
Psychometry.
I was reading all related memories through pure magical ability by touching the objects.
‘As expected, below expectations.’
Of course, my thoughts did not change even after examining them again.
Despite pushing the mages into the fear of being frozen, the results were this minimal; if I were to summarize the magic displayed here in a single word, it would simply be “shoddy.”
Of course, the public would applaud even this level of magic, but wasn’t the goal of the Imperial Magic Tower to stand at the top? Then this was utterly insufficient.
“Gather.”
At that command, all the icy crystals clustered in my palm.
Crack, crack, crack—!
They rubbed against each other and chipped away, eventually forming a perfect sphere of crystal. Even the inside was transparent.
With my eyes closed, I absorbed all the traces of it.
One.
Two.
Three.
It didn’t take long to organize my thoughts.
When I finally opened my eyelids, Agnes was staring at me with a confused expression. I suddenly asked her.
“Is there anyone else you need to call?”
Crunch, I popped into my mouth a piece of sunweed.
“It’s a shame to only show it to these folks here.”
At last, the time for the presentation approached.
Unlike any previous occasion, there was a tension in the air at the training ground of the Imperial Magic Tower that had never been seen before.
The cause was, of course, the two esteemed figures. The 2nd Princess Hedera and the 3rd Princess Solana were both intently watching the situation.
“…”
Everyone held their breath, only glancing at the princesses.
In fact, everyone shared similar thoughts. The impending sale of the Imperial Magic Tower seemed inevitable. However, they secretly harbored the hope that the new inspector might prevent it.
Ultimately, it felt like someone was about to suffocate in that moment.
Finally, the inspector of the Magic Tower, Ezekiel, appeared.
However, he showed no signs of the customary formality.
“I’ve been thinking, you know.”
All eyes were focused on one man.
Could he indeed prevent the sale of the tower? What had he acted so absurdly confident for…?
The man carrying everyone’s questions declared.
“This tower? It’d honestly be better to just sell it.”
Suddenly, he uttered words no one could have expected.
“…”
Immediately after his statement, silence fell.
“…”
Time seemed to freeze, and silence lingered for a while.
“…?”
Almost a minute passed before Hedera twitched her eyebrows.
“…!”
The expression of the mages began to reflect shock.
Their eyes widened in disbelief, and their mouths dropped open. They clearly heard what the inspector said, but hearing it made it all the more shocking.
“Fufu, haha…”
Just then, the 3rd Princess, Solana, erupted in laughter.
At the same time, everyone sensed it.
…This announcement had already become an unprecedented event.
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