EP.220 The Aftermath of Catastrophe (7)
The Ashen Tower built in Arcadia.
Centuries ago, when Cardi returned from the Elf’s realm to the human kingdom of Arcadia, he gifted numerous treasures to the royal family. The news made the old elves widen their eyes, but they couldn’t bring themselves to question Cardi too much.
Because everything was made by Cardi.
Regardless, the king of Arcadia expressed his satisfaction with Cardi’s gifts and willingly presented him with land in the south, as Cardi mentioned needing a research facility.
There, Cardi constructed the tower.
Many mages flocked to the tower he built, and later that land came to be known as the holy site of magic.
Countless towers lined up.
Streets filled with mages.
The light of mana rising even from a tiny cubby.
Countless mages gathered from various places, and humanity entered a golden age of magic there. The essence of magic from that era crystallized in the sky-piercing Ashen Tower.
All of it was led by one mage.
The master of the Ashen Tower.
The only individual who received the title of Great Mage, claiming he was not inferior to the Dragon Mage.
Cardi van Armiel.
“Ah, the nostalgic era…”
The ancient Grand Magus let out a short sigh, looking at the now devastated holy site of magic. However, amidst the ashes, one building still stood mostly intact.
The Ashen Tower he built.
Bound by a contract with the Star, though it has crumbled, it retains its form to some extent.
“Turn the key.”
“Like this?”
“Yes. Turn it clockwise.”
Raniel nodded and inserted the key.
The tower’s door opened smoothly, and the dust-covered lobby of the tower welcomed them.
“…It’s been a while.”
Cardi walked ahead, lost in memories.
How long had it been? Cardi stopped before a model of the tower displayed in the lobby. Dusting off the accumulated dust, Cardi opened his mouth.
“This is the place you stepped into, the very first Ashen Tower. The essence of magic was gathered here. Want to take a look at this model? Even now, it’s about half…”
His tone reminded one of an old man telling stories. And, as has always been the case since ancient times… there are few young ones who are willing to listen to the words of an old man.
“…Raniel?”
Cardi turned around.
There was no one there.
‘Where?’
Just a moment ago, Raniel had been standing right behind him, but now she was nowhere to be found. All he could hear was the sound of clattering from somewhere. After hearing that sound over a dozen times, she finally appeared.
“Huh? Did you call?”
Dust-covered Ashen-haired girl.
For some reason, her breath seemed a bit ragged.
Her still lustrous blue eyes gleamed with a hint of desire.
“…What were you doing?”
“Well, there were some interesting things around…”
She smiled sheepishly.
Then she hid something behind her back, and Cardi recognized it at a glance as a leather pouch with a circuit design.
Eep.
Cardi narrowed his eyes.
“Raniel, you…”
“Yeah? Why?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
He was about to scold her but exhaled deeply instead. He had intended to tell her to take everything from the start, but maybe it didn’t matter…
‘What is this feeling…?’
For some reason, it felt unsettling.
Even as Cardi was lost in thought, Raniel continued to admire and wander around the Ashen Tower. Whenever she saw a displayed magical tool, she would pause there for a while, but the look in her eyes was strangely intense.
Sparkling eyes.
‘That’s not admiration.’
It wasn’t a look of admiration, but one that was plotting how she could ‘take’ the relics. Like a thief cat eyeing a fish.
“Wow…”
She exclaimed in admiration.
With her mouth agape, it almost seemed like drool was gathering at the corners of her mouth… Cardi swept tears from his eyes. Ultimately, he couldn’t help but scold Raniel.
“That’s all fine, but could you do something about those eyes?”
“Huh? My eyes? What about them?”
“Just wipe any drool off your mouth.”
Swipe, swipe.
“I’m not drooling.”
“………..”
Cardi felt a bit disgusted.
2.
Is this heaven?
The moment I stepped into what is called the first Ashen Tower, the only thought filling my mind was that single line.
“Is this heaven?”
I tried pronouncing it out loud again.
The voice that escaped my lips rang clearly back in my ears, and even pinching my cheeks didn’t shake the scenery before my eyes.
In other words, it was reality.
Swallow.
I gulped down the saliva gathered at my mouth and pressed my eyes with my fingers. For some reason, it felt like I was on the verge of tears.
‘It was really damn hard, I almost died from it.’
Thinking about it, my life had been anything but dull.
That damn friend, coaxed me into catching the Demon Lord, then gave up first… dealing with those people who hardly acted like humans made me clutch my neck…
‘Even my body turned out this way.’
It was truly a tear-jerking life.
Looking at the heaven in front of me, I felt like my struggles had been somewhat rewarded. Wiping my eyes that had misted over, I spoke.
“Hey, Cardi.”
“What is it?”
“Thank you, really thank you…”
Why on earth is he acting like that again?
Cardi looked at me with that same stare, but I didn’t care much about it. I once again took in the heavenly scenery sprawled before me.
The essence of ancient magic.
Magical tools of forms yet unseen.
Since the moment I stepped into the Ashen Tower, these were the complete forms of the magical tools I had continuously studied and poured my heart into restoring.
‘If I dismantle those…’
Just how much knowledge can I gain?
Just imagining the thrill of disassembling those exquisite magical tools, matching them back together, and understanding their principles… made my fingertips tremble with anticipation.
‘So many.’
There were just too many.
All around me were magical tools, everything I stumbled on was a treasure. Forgetting to breathe, I continued to pick up the magical tools scattered everywhere.
“……..”
The look Cardi cast me in silence felt a bit strange, but I had no room to care about that.
“…Well, I’m glad you like it.”
It sounded like a voice of resignation.
“Take your time. I’ll be ahead.”
Cardi sighed deeply and resumed walking. Watching him shake his head disapprovingly, I took out the blueprint of the tower I had brought from the first-floor exhibit.
Unlike the tower depicted in the blueprint, the current tower did not retain its complete form. This fact made me unintentionally lick my lips.
“Tsk…”
Something felt lacking.
If it had been according to the blueprint, it meant that the current tower had an even greater scale. Naturally, it would mean there would have been more treasures left here.
‘Didn’t Skebal destroy it?’
According to what Cardi had told me, it was Skebal who had wrecked the southern section where the towers were gathered. Apparently, he fulfilled some wish or another.
‘That damn skeleton…’
I clenched my fist tightly.
“Next time we meet, you’re dead.”
Muttering that, I resumed my steps.
Even in its ruin, the tower was gigantic, and climbing through every floor took some time. After quite a while of climbing, I finally reached the last floor of the tower.
A space that should have had a ceiling.
Cardi was waiting for me in that open space.
“You finally made it.”
Perhaps growing tired of waiting, Cardi had simply sat on a pile of rocks and stood up, brushing off his knees.
“Go on. There’s a passage here.”
On the last floor of the tower where the ceiling was gone.
But still, there was a path leading upwards. A corridor from which a stream of platinum-like light flowed gently hid there.
A path leading upwards.
The shape of that passage felt familiar. It resembled the passage leading to the top floor of the Ashen Tower in the royal capital, which meant…
‘The Tower Master’s office.’
The path looked just like the one leading there.
I walked down the corridor, and at the end lay a door that resembled the image that had risen in my mind.
“Counterclockwise.”
“Okay.”
I inserted the key.
The door creaked open as it began to turn.
“I reached the same truth as you, and I have pondered that truth longer than you have.”
A surge of light enveloped the room.
“If one can understand the shadow, then completely know it, and define it as a clear concept rather than something indescribable, I believed I could find the answer.”
The light that had veiled my vision slowly subsided.
“If I can find the answer, I thought I could save the ones who have fallen apart. My past self believed it wasn’t too late yet.”
For a mage is one who seeks answers.
“I tried to find the answer.”
Cardi chuckled bitterly.
“I still haven’t found the answer, but it might serve as materials for you. And, perhaps a means to heal your body.”
Beyond the sinking light, I saw it.
It was the Tower Master’s office and research lab. And I was overwhelmed by what came into view.
“………”
The walls were filled with dense writing.
Circuits populated the room in every direction.
The remnants of countless magical tools that had endured disassembly and reassembly. Various kinds of potions rolled about on the desk… and grim-looking forbidden texts.
It was a scene that felt somewhat mad.
3.
On the top floor of the old tower.
Standing at the entrance of the Grand Magus’s office, Raniel found herself unable to speak easily. Such a spectacle stretched out before her that her lips merely quivered.
A mage’s leftover traces.
The circuits densely stitched the walls, climbing up to the ceiling. The zodiac carvings on the domed ceiling intertwined with the circuits, sketching a pattern of some kind.
But it was not completed.
Ultimately, it seemed the mage had given up searching for answers, as the circuits were disrupted at some point.
The connected traces led to the potions.
If answers could not be found through circuits or spells, did he try alchemy instead? The dust-covered flasks, the solidified liquids. The disarrayed desk had become a chaotic mess.
A shattered flask rolled on the floor.
The sharp smell of potions pricked her nose.
‘Yet, this path has failed too.’
The traces of alchemy quickly came to an end as well.
However, the traces of research continued to flow. If spells do not work, then through alchemy. And if that’s impossible, then towards another direction.
He kept trying.
The mage didn’t give up on exploring possibilities.
Believing that there was bound to be an answer.
The traces kept continuing, filling the lab with disarray. It was a large lab, yet there was hardly a spot left to set foot on.
‘The traces.’
In an effort to reverse the calamity that had clawed its way through, a single mage dedicated all he had, and his traces filled the room.
“You wandered for a long time.”
Cardi’s murmurs echoed in the lab.
“I tried everything I could. I poured all the knowledge I had built up. I did not spare any means or methods. I even touched on forbidden texts and dipped my toes into the domain of the Bravers for a while.”
He picked up one of the worn forbidden texts and chuckled bitterly.
“Yet, it still wasn’t enough.”
Cardi looked at Raniel.
“The curse left by the Demon Lord, born from the grudges of tens, hundreds of thousands. I couldn’t find a way to lift that curse. Nor a way to reverse the contract.”
Thud.
Stepping past the frozen Raniel, Cardi moved forward. Following the traces, he walked and walked until he stopped. There lay an experimental table inscribed with circuits.
“I told you once, remember?”
He reached out to the experimental table.
“While handing you the potion to suppress the curse, I said I became an alchemist in order to find the next step.”
The potion left there was familiar in Raniel’s eyes. It was the same type of potion she consumed every month to suppress the curse.
“Thank you, Raniel.”
While rummaging between the potions, Cardi spoke.
It was something he had said at some point.
“For facing the Demon Lord and still remaining yourself…”
Amidst the lined flasks, he pulled something out.
“For showing me other possibilities, for letting me know the best possibility, not just the lesser evil.”
Holding it, Cardi approached Raniel.
“Thank you for telling me that this is still the path of seeking answers.”
The potion shimmered with a soft blue hue.
“Thank you. Truly.”
With gratitude, Cardi handed the potion to Raniel.
“I hope this will help you.”
