Chapter 180

#180 Chapter: Tin Knight and the Tower of Prophecy (7)

As soon as the door swung open and we stepped inside, a light that was neither too bright nor too dim welcomed our group.

The scent of paper and ink mixed with the dry air filled the space.

The wooden bookshelves indicated that they had been meticulously maintained.

Dorothea summed up the scene before us with one word.

“Library?”

It wasn’t a grand space, nor was there a clearly malevolent magical power oozing from within. Compared to the title “Tower of Prophecy,” it looked almost plain.

With a sound of hooves echoing, a silver horse trotted deeper into the library.

Dorothea unconsciously tried to follow it, but at that moment, the hand of the Tin Knight reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

The cold metal against her skin made her flinch, but rather than getting annoyed, she asked a question.

“Why?”

Without a word, the Tin Knight pointed ahead, and Dorothea followed his gaze.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

The silver horse was moving forward as if everything was perfectly normal.

As it moved, its four legs seemed to vanish as if they’d been chopped off.

“…!”

Dorothea blinked.

What had looked like severed legs suddenly reappeared, but this time the horse’s neck had disappeared.

Like a Dullahan from tales, the headless horse casually wandered through the library.

“Gah!”

Adelheid nearby swallowed hard.

Seeing the decapitated horse’s head floating in the air, even the Little Lion, disguised nearby, looked visibly shocked.

Clip-clop. The horse’s torso stretched out lengthwise.

Clip-clop. The height of the torso remained the same, but it walked with its top and bottom switched.

Clip-clop. The form of the horse vanished completely.

A deep silence fell.

In the face of such a bizarre scene, Dorothea momentarily lost her words.

The first word that came to her mind was one.

Trap.

‘No, no that’s not it.’

But Dorothea immediately dismissed that thought.

She scanned the surroundings.

Medir watched curiously, interested in how the group would handle this situation, while the other wizards looked uncertain but intrigued.

If this were a trap, the group’s panic or anxiety would be visible, but there was no sign of that at all.

Above all, the fact that the Tin Knight remained composed was crucial.

The mere fact that he had calmly restrained Dorothea without bursting into a raucous battle stance was enough evidence.

After considering several possibilities, Dorothea reached a conclusion.

“The space in the library is distorted.”

“Correct.”

Medir replied in a tone that resembled a teacher praising a student.

“How many floors do you think this place has?”

“Ninth floor, right?”

“Exactly. But when the tower was first built, it had only four floors.”

“…?”

Question marks appeared on the faces of Dorothea and her companions.

Medir continued his explanation.

“When the tower was originally constructed, several great masters participated. The Witch of the North, Olin, was responsible for the fourth floor. However, she didn’t really interfere with the tower’s design or structure; she just made a library to organize her books in her temporary workshop.”

Despite wizards urging her to stop, arguing that all that effort would only lead to moving everything back into the tower, the Witch of the North continued building her library without care.

The other wizards seemed to think it was just practice before making the actual library on the fourth floor, so no one thought it was particularly strange.

However, what the Witch of the North ended up doing after the tower’s completion far exceeded their imaginations.

“This library has the rule, ‘This library exists on the second highest floor of the tower.’ That was the rule given to it by her. And it came to be as dictated by that rule.”

Sophia curiously asked.

“What exactly does ‘came to be as dictated by that rule’ mean?”

“It means just that. The library she created suddenly ‘appeared’ on the fourth floor, which was the second highest floor at the time.”

“…You mean it literally moved the whole library through space? That is impressive.”

Dorothea said this, but Medir shook his head.

“That’s not all. I mentioned that it exists on the second highest floor of the tower. Don’t you understand what that means?”

Dorothea squinted as if to ask what he meant, but soon her eyes widened as realization struck.

“Wait, are you saying that even if they add more floors, that rule still applies? It’s not just about moving spaces every time?”

“Correct. When a new floor is added to the tower, the library shifts from its original place to a new location.”

If the tower had five floors, the library would be on the fourth.

If the tower expanded to six floors, the library would be on the fifth.

Sophia raised a question.

“There seems to be a lot of spatial issues that could arise. Not only would the old library’s location become empty, but if space isn’t made in the layer that ‘appears,’ there won’t be room for the library.”

“Logically, that’s right. But this library defies that. It doesn’t cause existing facilities to shrink or disappear; it naturally occupies a spot as if it’s always been part of the design.”

“Indeed, it’s truly extraordinary.”

Sophia nodded as if she understood, but she was the only one who appeared to have grasped it.

Most of the others listening to the story showed blank expressions, failing to comprehend what on earth was being said. Not just Dorothea and her group, but even the tower’s wizards seemed to accept it as ‘just how it is’ without a shred of logical understanding.

Medir directed his gaze back inside the library.

“There are many gifted individuals in this tower, but even they do not know the exact structure of this library. What’s certain is that as the tower grows taller and the library ‘moves’ repeatedly, its structure becomes increasingly complex. If you step about twenty paces from the entrance, you can somehow get back to it, but further than that, and you might just get lost. There have been many missing.”

Dorothea remarked, seemingly incredulous.

“Shouldn’t there be some kind of sealing if that’s the case? When I came in, I didn’t see any signs of it being blocked.”

“A wizard allowed into this level should be able to handle risk management themselves. It’s like a guardian’s duty to keep children away from the water; a grown man drowning while fishing on a rainy day is his own responsibility, right?”

That might sound cold, but the other wizards didn’t seem to hold ill feelings toward the tower master’s words.

In fact, there was even the appearance of agreement among them.

Shaking her head, Dorothea smirked.

Given that she was also considering diving right in at this moment, it wasn’t exactly right for her to accuse others of being strange.

“By the way, do we have to keep handing something over every hundred steps in here?”

“That’ll do. There’s no way to check at each step anyway. I won’t stop any wizard who volunteers to follow, but… it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone willing.”

“If I find something in here, what about the ownership?”

“As long as you can safely return, I’ll allow a degree of discretion. But you need to tell me what you saw inside. Use this.”

Medir handed over a contract written on parchment.

While it wasn’t comparable to a ‘Blood Oath’, it was still a contract with considerable binding power.

Dorothea carefully checked the contents of the contract, making sure there were no hidden traps, before signing her name.

In fact, it would have been suspicious if they tried to send her in without any precautions or a watchdog.

Unfounded generosity often has its motives; thus, a clear contractual relationship was satisfactory for both sides.

The members entering were Dorothea, the Tin Knight, Adelheid, and Sophia.

After some hesitation, Dorothea pulled out a golden rope through Hyden’s gloves.

She wanted to avoid showing off the efficacy of the magical device in front of them, but it was better than jumping in unprepared.

After all, she didn’t believe the opponent would naively continue to think of Tuberosum’s Chalice as ‘magic that knows the past.’

Seeing the party tie the rope to a column in the building, Medir spoke.

“The internal space is so chaotic that even if you try to mark your trail with a thread, it gets cut off soon. It’s better to leave some kind of marker with every step; someone returned after leaving marks for forty-nine steps.”

“In that case, if they made it that far, wouldn’t it be better to try again the same way?”

“Those who tried to go beyond fifty steps haven’t returned since.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Yes, it is. They say that though he never entered our tower, losing the youngest disciple of the Witch of the North is a significant loss in the history of magic.”

Dorothea briefly hesitated in her stride.

As if sensing her reaction, Medir continued.

“Gale Elilraz. That girl too, just like your group, attempted to take on this place and has yet to return.”

A brief silence fell.

Recalling the events at TikTok, Adelheid obviously looked shocked, and Sophia also emitted a thoughtful sound.

Dorothea frowned, about to say something, but then fell silent as she heard a message ringing in her mind.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ is excited because he might finally get a proper duel this time!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ insists that rivalry is always burning inside him!]

It was a remark that seemed to assure the safety of Gale and the White Knight who was with her.

As Dorothea gazed thoughtfully at the Tin Knight, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

Well, she also didn’t imagine that quirky wizard would have just collapsed in such a place.

Holding onto the golden rope, the group ventured further into the library.

One step. No major changes occurred.

Three steps. The lighting in the library dimmed.

Five steps. The nearby bookshelves somehow began to look distant.

Eight steps. It seemed like they were indoors, but suddenly the sky was visible.

Ten steps. The distance suddenly expanded tenfold between the Tin Knight at the forefront and Dorothea right behind him. The golden rope tensed as if it would snap, but when Dorothea infused magic into it, its length quickly extended, allowing them to endure the sudden change.

This rope was made from Rapunzel’s hair.

Tough enough that it couldn’t be easily cut, and as long as magic was continuously infused, it could restore and grow on its own.

With that reliance, the group continued advancing.