Chapter 189

#189 Episode: The Tin Knight and the World Inside the Library (9)

Inside the Tower of Prophecy. In front of the secretary’s office.

The apprentice wizard Poi was recently reflecting on his own behavior.

He wondered what crime he had committed to end up in such an embarrassing situation.

Poi’s wizard rank consisted of one book.

Among the tower’s wizards, he was at the very bottom, essentially at rock bottom.

He had to always show respect to his two-book senior and couldn’t let his guard down around the three-book seniors.

And that was all there was to it. It might be surprising, but in Poi’s view, the scariest were the two-ranking seniors, and the most exhausting were the three-ranking seniors. He didn’t feel much about the four and five-ranking wizards.

It was like how a private fears fellow soldiers and officers they face directly, rather than those stars they’d never meet in person.

But now?

The mischievous two-ranking wizards who usually played pranks on him and the fearsome three-ranking wizards were nowhere to be seen.

The only ones present were those highly esteemed individuals with four or more books.

Perhaps that was natural. The very floor Poi was on was a place only accessible to those of at least the fourth rank.

He longed to return to the lower floor he originally belonged to, but that was impossible.

No one had told him, “The guide is over; you can go back now.”

In fact, there wasn’t a single wizard there who cared about him.

“Has it been about three hours since they went in? Goodness, I never thought such a thing would happen at the Tower of Prophecy.”

“To think an outsider would turn the tower upside down; it’s practically unprecedented.”

“What the Master of the Tower did must have some significance, but… hmm.”

Dorothea calmed down the heated atmosphere stirred by the papers she had scattered around, and the wizards had gathered in small groups to discuss.

Some had locked themselves in their workshops, insisting they needed to analyze the various materials Dorothea had spread out, but more than half of the fourth-ranking wizards were still loitering in front of the secretary’s office.

This was because the Master of the Tower was continuously guarding the entrance of the secretary’s office.

The Master of the Tower, Medir Geldnir, with his inscrutable eyes, was silently staring into the depths of the library where Dorothea and her group had disappeared.

Rapunzel’s figure was there too, anxiously looking at the library while firmly holding onto a rope of the same color as her hair.

In the seemingly endless wait, the most senior fourth-ranking wizard stepped forward and said to the Master.

“Master of the Tower, it’s about time to stop waiting here directly. If anything changes later, I will report it immediately.”

The promise to report didn’t carry much weight.

It sounded more like a formality, as he didn’t think they would return.

His gaze was fixed on the rope that Rapunzel held.

The rope, once taut when Dorothea’s group first entered, had now slackened.

As if it was severed beyond the other end.

Rapunzel felt uneasy.

Even though she hadn’t been with them for long, they were her benefactors. And while they were strange, quirky folks, they weren’t bad people.

Realizing she was merely a foreigner in this place, just as she was about to ask them to wait a little longer, Medir muttered something incomprehensible.

“…The important thing in a story is the concept, you know? If that sentence, ‘I started my journey with a rope leading outward,’ is engraved, then what happens to the rope afterward isn’t that important.”

Both Rapunzel and the fourth-ranking wizards tilted their heads, not understanding the meaning.

Kuwaaaaaaah!

It was at that moment when the entire library began to tremble with a tremendous roar, as if an earthquake had struck.

Crack! Snap!

As the vibrations intensified, the sound of something breaking echoed from various corners of the library.

“Huh, huh?!”

“Th-the space magic is breaking apart!!”

The walls and ceiling narrowed down to leave only the library intact, and in the next moment, they stretched out far enough that one would have to bend their neck at a right angle to look up.

Bookshelves that had been standing normally suddenly flipped upside down, and desks and chairs vanished from sight, only to reappear out of nowhere.

The gaps between bookshelves widened enough that ten wagons could pass through, then narrowed to the point where only a finger could fit.

Most of the wizards present were high-level practitioners, so they understood immediately how perilous the situation was.

Strictly speaking, this library was a kind of otherworldly place, not originally included in the tower’s area.

But what would happen if the space magic collapsed?

What if you forcefully tried to add more contents to a vessel already filled to the brim?

The answer was two-fold.

Either all the items contained within the library would ‘appear’ chaotically all over the tower, or the library itself would ‘bounce’ somewhere outside the tower.

“Start restoration! We must prevent the magic from collapsing any further!”

“No! The cracks are too severe already…!”

“We have to initiate evacuation immediately!”

Just then, when the wizards were thrown into chaos.

Bam!

Medir Geldnir, the Master of the Tower, brandished the staff he had taken out and suddenly calmed the wild space within the library.

“Phew.”

Those who realized what magic he had used gasped in awe.

Geldnir had not fixed the collapsing space magic but had instead layered a new space magic over it.

While other wizards were trying to hold together torn boxes or hastily patch them up with tape, he had essentially prevented the contents from spilling out by placing the original boxes into a new one.

All the wizards looked at Geldnir with admiration, but the man himself didn’t consider it a grand feat.

Compared to the North Witch, who established a spell maintained automatically for centuries, this was just a trivial skill.

Boom!

At the moment the widening crack finally reached its limit, an intense flash, blinding enough to make one unable to see, and a storm-like wind assaulted the library.

After the bewildered gasps and screams subsided, the wizards found themselves wide-eyed at the scene before them.

Books that had just been swept away as if in the wind were thrown against the walls.

In the space created by the bookshelves being pushed aside, dozens of unconscious individuals lay on the floor.

One magical book, looking like it fell into a pool of black oil and in complete disarray, and Dorothea’s group, looking down at it with disapproval.

As everyone was left speechless in confusion, Medir stepped forward and asked.

“─I’m glad to see you’ve returned safely. Now, can you explain the situation?”

***

Stimuli are, by nature, relative.

For someone who has never really eaten anything spicy their whole life, just one small chili can elicit a strong reaction. However, for someone who has already sucked down heaps of spicy food to the point of numbing their mouth, offering them something like that would earn nothing but a bored reaction.

In that sense, the recent days in the tower had been an entirely unfazed situation.

There were the fortune-teller commotions, artifact restorations, and the incident where a mysterious outsider boldly visited the tower, scattering rare materials everywhere.

The wizards in the tower, with their thresholds raised by these consecutive shocks, were now in a state where they could let go of most trivial matters without a second thought.

At least, they thought so until Dorothea and her group returned from the library.

Until the library, one of the tower’s treasures, was turned upside down and the North Witch’s space magic was disrupted.

The wizards’ reactions were largely divided into two camps.

“We must impose strict punishment immediately!”

“Indeed! If not for the timely response from the Master of the Tower, there could have been a major disaster!”

“The secretary’s office and the magic contained within it were artifacts symbolizing our tower’s origins! They must face the consequences for destroying it!”

The first camp was one that condemned Dorothea’s group.

“Now, now, that’s going too far. Punishment, you say?”

“Weren’t they visitors here? While we can’t exempt them from all responsibility, we must restrain ourselves from being excessive.”

“They rescued many wizards! Some of whom had been missing for decades. To think of punishing them after such a major achievement! Are you out of your mind?”

The second camp supported Dorothea’s group.

Although the voices calling for punishment were louder and more numerous, those defending them weren’t insignificant either.

In particular, some wizards long thought dead had been trapped in the library as ‘waiting characters’ and were liberated when the world shattered, elevating the stakes.

Friends and former students of those individuals considered the Dorothea group as their benefactors and sought to repay them, while others who weren’t directly associated still suggested, “Isn’t punishing them a bit excessive given they saved our fellow tower wizards?”

There was also a third faction, amazed by the fact that the space magic and magical books had combined to create a world, analyzing the phenomenon of those trapped inside returning in their original forms. However, they were engrossed in their own research, so their voices were not prominent.

“Well, the current sentiment is roughly like this. What do you think?”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m fine with whatever.”

Dorothea and Gale answered Medir’s question simultaneously.

Dorothea frowned, likely displeased, but Gale grinned, feeling a sense of agreement.

Neither reaction was what one would expect in front of the Master of the Tower, yet Medir appeared to take it in stride.

“Since it’s difficult to reach a consensus, we will decide on this matter during a regular discussion. It will probably take about three weeks. However, the likelihood that you’ll actually be punished is slim. Currently, the survivors, who can be seen as the main beneficiaries of this incident, are still in shock, but once they adapt to reality, they will likely assist you.”

“Three weeks? Don’t say such nonsense.”

Dorothea shot back, as if she were caught in a trap.

Not just in words, her determination oozed as if she were ready to break through even if they obstructed her.

Medir gazed at Dorothea with an unreadable expression.

“This is a tradition and procedure of the Tower of Prophecy. If you disregard it, even those wanting to defend you will have no choice but to silence themselves. On the other hand, if you simply follow the procedure, you may become our benefactor. And yet, are you saying you cannot wait?”

The four major towers governing the Magical Kingdom.

A choice to be at odds with one or to gain their favor.

An ordinary person would doubtlessly choose the latter, yet at that moment, Dorothea valued her time far more than any goodwill.

“I need to find the North Witch urgently.”

“I’m okay with waiting. I have to fulfill a loser’s duty and guide Dorothea to her master. I apologize, Geldnir.”

A decidedly firm response devoid of room for negotiation.

Tension filled the parlor as the wizards surrounding the Master of the Tower braced for combat.

“Is that so? Then let’s leave.”

A dry voice devoid of any hint of humor, yet not icy.

Medir’s reply was unexpectedly surprising, causing Dorothea to blink.

“That’s a surprise. I thought you’d be droning on with your reprimands.”

“It’s true that the Tower of Prophecy values tradition and is dull in that regard. I was no different before I became the Master of the Tower.”

With a businesslike face, Medir continued speaking.

“However, once I became Master of the Tower, I found I couldn’t just abide by principles and rules. If we don’t conduct external activities, how will we earn operating costs for the tower? How will we negotiate with other towers? Unless it’s a purely research institution, some flexibility is essential for a ruler’s role. For instance, avoiding fights that seem only to yield losses.”

“Well, you certainly have a way with words.”

Dorothea snorted.

While her group was undeniably powerful, they still had limits in terms of numbers.

It was feasible to defeat a hoard of thieves that lacked skill, but overcoming one of the four major towers head-on was unrealistic.

“If even 10% of the tower’s wizards were to drop out, the losses would be indescribably massive. In reality, the damage would be even greater. Rather than endure such losses, it’s far better to help you with convenience and listen to your grievances. If I could retire during this opportunity, that’d be even better. After I hand it off to the loudest one, they’ll discover how bothersome this position truly is.”

With that, the negotiations came to an end.

Dorothea’s group would ‘escape’ recklessly, while the Master of the Tower would ‘accidentally’ let them slip away.

There would still be various matters to deal with afterward, but travelers are not one to look back easily.