How much time had passed since the mages of the Arkhé Magic Tower listened to Kyle Byron’s presentation?
Just three days later, the Magic Tower was bustling in many ways.
Of course, it was in a good way.
“Elder, if we show illusions like this, wouldn’t Jenga be totally possible too?”
“We tried it with illusions a few times and even ended up making it by hand. Jenga isn’t suitable for illusions. It’s the kind of game that’s most fun when you play it directly.”
“But it was still fun… There’s not much entertainment in the tower anyway.”
“Rather than that, I think it would be better to build this ‘Magic Maze’ across an entire floor. Wouldn’t that be the most effective?”
“Uh, when the Creator mentioned that, not many people liked it… It’s just the Elder’s taste──”
“If you don’t like it, you become the Elder.”
The continuous seven-year deficit.
At first, only a few knew about it, but after years of it persisting, everyone couldn’t help but notice.
The Arkhé Magic Tower was slowly sinking. To break through this, Master Olfin made a decisive move to save the nation.
In that atmosphere, everyone shared a common thought.
──The glory of Arkhé was over.
Even if they sold a giant board game to cover the deficit, it wouldn’t last for decades. Without finding a fundamental solution, the tower would inevitably fall back into deficit.
No, from the moment they sold the tower’s symbol to cover the deficit, could they even remain as one of the Six Great Magic Towers?
Arkhé looked like a sinking ship, and naturally, the tower’s mages grew quieter in the gloomy atmosphere.
But now, it’s different.
“Vermily, I get that you’re obsessed with this Catan board game, but implementing it as an illusion would cost more than we can afford now. Shouldn’t we avoid additional expenses when we don’t even know if it’ll succeed?”
“I know. But Catan is such a fantastic game…! You know it too since we tried making a rough version! A game of lords dominating an island! How could I give up on that?”
“That’s true, but even the Creator expressed concerns. If one game takes two to three hours, forget about it trending, people will just watch and leave.”
“Ugh…! In that case, I’ll just have to tweak the rules!!”
The tower, once in stagnation, was now busy demonstrating various illusions. Many were trying out the board games Kyle mentioned or tweaking them further.
It’s no exaggeration to say the 37 board games breathed new life into the tower.
An unknown youth, once thought to be a fraud, proposed a whopping 37 board games. And each one was of considerable quality.
Especially since over five of them were complex strategy games, the mages assumed these were all the board games Kyle had conceived in his lifetime.
And that meant…
“The Creator is amazing. Who would’ve thought he’d lay out his life’s work for a tower he’s never even met?”
“But none of them have been released to the public, right? In the end, he just used our tower to bring his ideas to life, didn’t he?”
“What’s wrong with that? If he’s saving us now, it’s a bargain. Besides, he explained all the rules. If anyone here steals it and makes it, he’s the one at a loss, but he laid it all out openly.”
“That’s… true.”
“He’s talented, regardless of age. The Creator is probably younger than you, so what were you doing at that age?”
“I was learning magic under my master!”
It was enough to make the tower’s mages trust Kyle.
By now, no mage doubted Kyle’s sincerity in solving the tower’s problems.
Especially Kyle Byron himself, who was called “The Creator” and had gained significant recognition among the tower’s mages.
“Tower Master, is a more detailed illusion possible? Here, the part with the skull on the robe…”
“I can do it, but if other mages need to replicate it, higher quality than this will be difficult. And don’t get too close. Since it’s based on light and shadow, the illusion fades if it’s obscured by darkness.”
“What about text? Can we create some kind of instruction manual with illusions?”
“That… could work. But if it’s multiple pages, it’ll be mentally exhausting even if you display it around.”
“Don’t worry. One page will be enough.”
…He had been working on board game creation almost non-stop for three days and nights.
You’d think the ones most desperate would be Master Olfin and the mages of Arkhé Magic Tower, but Kyle was tackling it with more passion than anyone, as if it were his own life’s work.
What’s even more surprising is how a knight guard maid, seemingly accustomed to it, maintained cleanliness with magic and brought meals, serving him diligently.
Right now, he’s talking with Master Olfin, but he’s also exchanging ideas with the tower’s elders, young mages, and document handlers, searching for and researching suitable board games.
And…
In all those situations, Adela was the only one who seemed a bit out of place.
“…………….”
She had already apologized to Kyle. She felt sorry for misunderstanding his sincerity. He even accepted it as if it were no big deal, which made Adela feel uneasy.
But Adela couldn’t go any further than that.
While her colleagues, seniors, juniors, and even her teacher all approached Kyle to try out the board game and chat, she just stood silently in the background.
It wasn’t that she was embarrassed or didn’t acknowledge Kyle.
It was just that she…
“Adela.”
“……Master Olfin.”
“May I sit for a moment?”
“……Of course.”
Before she knew it, Master Olfin had approached her and sat down on the sofa beside her. Adela also sat down following him.
While the Master was by her side, the elders of the Magic Tower, Vermelli, and several young magicians had gathered around Kyle, doing something.
Admiration, sighs, smiles, concern, passion. Voices and actions filled with various emotions came into her view.
As Adela was quietly watching the bustling scene, she slightly lowered her head.
“Do you not like him?”
“………Huh?”
“Kyle Byron, I mean.”
“Me, what do you…”
“You can be honest.”
“…………….”
Master Olfin smiled with his usual gentle expression.
That smile she had seen since she was a child.
Adela…
“………Yes.”
“Do you know why?”
“……No. I don’t… really know either.”
It’s just.
It’s just that she doesn’t like him.
From the overreaction when she first guided him to the guest room.
To him proving his abilities in front of the magicians of the Magic Tower.
And even the way he monopolizes everyone’s attention now.
She just doesn’t like him.
Adela disliked Kyle without even knowing the reason.
“I think I know the reason.”
“……Really?”
“You’re jealous.”
“Jealous………?”
“Jealous of losing your home and family. It’s a feeling you haven’t realized because I… failed to raise you properly.”
“Absolutely not. Master, you──”
“I raised you to be an excellent magician, but I couldn’t raise you as an ordinary child.”
Swoosh.
Master Olfin took out a photo from his pocket and smiled faintly.
It was a face mixed with regret and some indescribable emotion.
“Do you know why I joined Kyle Byron’s plan?”
“……Isn’t it because you really liked his board game?”
Even to the point of playing it for over 13 hours. Was there another reason?
Master Olfin, momentarily at a loss for words, cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Well………that’s true. But I’ve lived a long life and traveled all over the world. The board game that’s widely used across the entire empire now is that huge one, but if you go to specific regions or rural areas, they have their own games. If I wanted, I could have brought those instead of Kyle Byron’s board game.”
“………But.”
“But I chose Kyle Byron. That’s because………he’s a shining person.”
“A shining, person?”
Shining?
Hearing that, Adela turned her head to look at Kyle, but he didn’t seem particularly shiny.
What on earth is the Master talking about?
With that question in mind, she looked back at Master Olfin, but he was regretting her very action.
“Adela, you’re too mechanical. That’s an excellent quality for a magician, but……it’s not something a child who just turned twenty should have.”
“…………….”
“That’s why it was Kyle Byron. He’s a young man who pours everything into what he loves.”
Adela is a child, but Kyle is a young man.
Where does that small difference come from? Adela couldn’t figure it out no matter how much she thought.
She just watched Kyle Byron’s back, as Master Olfin did.
“Adela, do you have something you truly love?”
“The revival of the Arkhé Magic Tower and spreading its magic far and wide.”
“That’s not what you love. Goals and what you love are different.”
“Different……?”
“Yes. It might still be hard for you to understand. It’s ultimately my karma.”
It was a vague statement. At the same time, it was something Adela couldn’t understand.
Suddenly, Adela asked Master Olfin one thing.
“Master, then what is this jealousy you say I have?”
“………….”
“Master?”
“…That’s the first thing you need to know.”
“…………….”
“Let’s get going. It’s about time that young man finished up.”
“………Huh?”
At that moment.
A gasp escaped from the magicians gathered around Kyle.
“Oh, ohhh… This is the Master’s illusion…!!”
“Astoundingly intricate. And this stone tablet…?”
“You’ll come to understand in due time. Master Olfin?”
“Right here.”
Thud. Thud.
Master Olfin, who had risen from his seat, approached Kyle Byron. Kyle, seemingly having finished his preparations, smirked.
“So, you’ve decided on that game?”
“Considering various conditions, I thought it was the best board game. But that doesn’t mean we can immediately transplant it onto that massive game board.”
“A demonstration should suffice. Vermily, Adela.”
“Yes! Master!”
“…Master?”
“The two of you and the Creator will conduct the demonstration. But if we do it on a small scale, variables might arise when we scale it up, so let’s go all out…!!”
Thump!
As Master Olfin’s Dragon Heart staff struck the tower floor, an indescribable amount of mana erupted from his body.
Higher than any magician in the Arkhé Magic Tower, one of only eight Archmages in the vast Empire.
The great magician who once terrified even dragons with illusions of light and darkness.
A legendary figure whose name is etched in the annals of magical history, now unleashing his full power.
Immediately, the illusion takes shape.
Whoosh───
The tower is rewoven. The grand hall transforms in an instant.
It’s still just an illusion. A trick of light and shadow, nothing more than a mirage.
Yet Olfin’s magic creates the illusion of reality itself warping.
With a single gesture, Adela and Vermily are forcibly turned into light and moved to their designated positions, while stone tablets fall from the sky.
They know it’s an illusion. But the sudden descent of the stone tablets, with their sheer size, is overwhelming.
Adela, Vermily, and Kyle ascend to a floating platform, rising into the air.
Roughly ten meters tall, five stone tablets align before each player. However, the players can’t see their own tablets—only the backs are facing them.
Naturally, Adela can see Vermily’s and Kyle’s tablets, and the same goes for the others.
As Adela, barely maintaining her balance, looks at the other players’ tablets.
“………A drawing?”
On the dull gray stone tablets, intricate carvings depict something.
A vivid, detailed image of a magician conjuring searing heat, with the number ‘7’ engraved in the top left corner.
With preparations complete, Kyle, unable to contain his excitement, smiles and speaks.
“Now, let me explain the rules.”
The other magicians float in the air using their own magic, becoming spectators, while Master Olfin oversees the illusion.
As Adela and Vermily focus their attention on Kyle.
Kyle raises one hand, grinning with excitement, and shouts.
“Fireball!!”
“………?”
Adela, unable to grasp his intent, narrows her eyes at the sudden outburst.
The moment Kyle finishes speaking, something extraordinary happens.
Whoosh!
“………What?”
As if responding to Kyle’s words, a fireball larger than most people ignites above his hand.
An unbelievable sight—a seemingly powerless individual, not even a magician, using magic.
Vermily stares in shock, wide-eyed, while Adela is left speechless.
“Now, Adela.”
“………?”
“Here you go.”
“………!!”
A searing wave of fire rushes forward. A small sun, blinding her vision, flies toward Adela.
Adela hesitates for a moment. Should she use magic? Is this an attack aimed at her? Is this really just an illusion?
Whether she likes it or not, this is her first board game, and she’s unsure whether to treat it as part of the game or as revenge for last time.
In that moment, the fireball engulfs her.
Whoosh!!
“……This is.”
But, of course, she doesn’t burn. It’s just an illusion, after all.
Yet, the fireball that hits her explodes as if it were real, engulfing her completely, leaving behind glowing embers and spreading sparks.
An overwhelming and dazzling display of magic.
Even as the flames dissipate, Adela remains dumbfounded.
And then.
“A stone tablet…?”
“If you hit the magic in front of you, that stone tablet will disappear.”
One of the stone tablets in front of Kyle, who had just shot a fireball, cracked and crumbled.
The collapsed stone tablet was the one of the fire-wielding magician that Adela had seen.
Kyle laughed as he watched the tablet collapse in an almost exaggeratedly vivid manner.
“There are a total of 8 types of magic, and you can see what they are by looking at the manual that floats up beside you. The number of spells is determined by their rank. The ‘Fire Magic’ I just used is rank 7, so only 7 stone tablets exist.”
“…Manual.”
Suddenly, a piece of paper, crafted from illusion, floated in the air beside them.
Was this the manual Kyle was talking about?
Adela’s eyes scanned the contents and stopped at a certain part.
[Fire Magic: The player to your left loses 1 life.]
“That fireball earlier…”
Only then did Adela take a closer look around. Five brightly glowing orbs had appeared on the front railing of the stage.
But one of them had lost its light, as if burned by fire.
Though it was her first time playing such a board game, she could instinctively tell. Those five orbs represented her life, and one of them had just been extinguished by the fire magic Kyle had cast.
After confirming this, she looked at Kyle, who immediately continued speaking.
“Every turn, when it’s your turn, you must cast a spell. And if you hit the magic written on the stone tablet in front of you, like I just did…”
“If you hit it…?”
“You can choose. Whether to stop there… or to cast another spell!”
*Smirk.*
This time, Kyle stretched his hand toward Vermily and shouted.
“Ice Spear!”
“…Huh?”
*Whoosh!*
An icy spear, comparable to the fireball from earlier, took shape above his head.
Vermily Arkon, a key figure in Arkhé Magic Tower and a magician who had once played a board game with Kyle.
Though not on the level of Master Olfin, he was still quite skilled in illusions. But now, he couldn’t help but sweat as the icy spear aimed at him.
Anyone would be nervous if a sharp ice spear capable of piercing a person was aimed at them. Especially if it was an illusion cast by an Archmage like Kyle, whom Vermily couldn’t even dream of matching.
Vermily tried to reassure himself that it was just an illusion, like what had happened to Adela, but…
*Whoosh…*
“…Huh?”
The icy spear, which had made an ominous sound, was now pointing not at Vermily—but at Kyle himself.
*Pierce.*
A chilling scene unfolded as the spear pierced through Kyle’s back and out his stomach, but of course, Kyle didn’t spit blood or anything.
He just looked slightly uncomfortable at the illusion that had pierced his body.
“Oops, that was wrong.”
“…I see! Earlier, you hit the magic on the stone tablet, but…!!”
“This time, I messed up. And if you cast the wrong spell, you have to pay with one life. If your life reaches zero, you’re out.”
One of the orbs in front of Kyle froze. Since it was the wrong spell, his stone tablet didn’t crumble again.
But as his turn ended, a new stone tablet fell, maintaining the count at five.
“When your turn ends, the used stone tablet is replenished. Of course, it’s not completely new—it’s randomly selected from the remaining spells.”
Whether you end your turn by casting the wrong spell or by choosing to stop after hitting the right one, the turn passes to the next player.
“That’s how it goes around. As you can see, the game doesn’t last long. The rules aren’t too complicated, and if you get confused, you can always check the manual right beside you. Plus, the unique aspect of casting spells is visually represented through illusions.”
“There might still be some rough edges, some parts that need fixing. But I can confidently say this.”
“This is the board game that best suits Arkhé Magic Tower right now.”
“A board game that can turn anyone, even for a moment, into a magician—”
“<Abracadabra>, that is.”
