In this city, built near Elfante, you could find a lot of interesting things.

It was probably because there were all sorts of people wandering around here, since it was near the Golden Triangle.

With various races, cultures, and merchants filling up the streets, there were just a lot of things you could see and enjoy.

But, because of this, it meant it wouldn’t be easy to attract people’s attention no matter what you do.

“Welc— Heeek!”

However…

Even this city still found this ‘thing’, which had all Magic Tower’s technologies combined, strange.

As we entered a cafe, the waiter who was about to greet us with a smile, screamed in fright as soon as he saw the massive cyborg who came in with stomping sounds.

The drinks on the tray he was going to serve clattered, but luckily, a firm arm that was powered by hundreds of thousands of tiny pistons managed to hold the tray firm in place.

“Be careful.”

“…”

What a gentle cyborg…

The waiter’s face only got paler when he did it though, since the pressure coming from his appearance was that strong.

“A-Ah, y-yes, t-thank you…”

Still, the waiter didn’t drop his professionalism.

Even though he was facing such a terrifying humanoid metal thingy, he somehow managed to force a smile and led us to our seats.

“…First…”

The moment we both sat down, facing each other, I said so while scratching my head awkwardly.

“Would you like something to eat?”

[…Are you serious? What, you think he’d eat salad or something?]

Caliban threw a jab at me with a dumbfounded voice. Lay off! I didn’t know what else to say!

He came to me out of nowhere, I didn’t even know how to treat him to begin with!

If there was someone else with me, it might be a different story, but the saintess—who got caught by this guy for walking outside on a leash—had taken Yuria with her and ran away, looking as if she would cry.

[…Apologize to her later.]

…I know…

It wasn’t the first time this happened, so I just agreed with Caliban while sighing inwardly.

That was that, but there was another thing…

…I don’t know much about the Magic Tower…

Even in Savior Rising, the Magic Tower was almost like a MacGuffin.

They were mostly just there so that the developers could have an in-game lore for adding those dubious items that would normally change the genre of the game.

The dev barely provided any information about them. You’d only see them being mentioned in certain bizarre items’ descriptions, saying things like ‘This item was made by the Magic Tower. End of explanation!’.

I had been dismissing them adding shit like lightsabers, railguns, or cyborgs into the fantasy world as them having some weird-ass preferences…

As I thought so, the cyborg in front of me answered my question.

“No need. I brought my lunchbox with me.”

“…”

So he could eat…

As I thought so, the cyborg took out several pieces of steel bars from his inner chest pocket.

A lot of them in fact, to the point that the table tilted to one side.

“…”

…Ah!

Does he eat steel bars since he’s made of steel?

I don’t know what the principle behind that is, but it seems like that’s how he gets his nutrition from.

While I was having such an absurd thought, the cyborg also took out a lump of metal, about the size of a ping-pong ball, from the cartridge inside his arm.

He then put it on top of the pile of steel bars on the table. After that, that pile scattered like a swarm of bugs, and he started to devour it in that state.

“Machine Type Monsoon. It’s a nano kit for self-repair.”

“…A nano kit?”

“Yes. An item which existence earns my gratitude. It’s able to break down any well-smelted metal to repair my body.”

Hearing that explanation, I could only clench my mouth shut.

…The fuck? After a cyborg, you told me you guys gave nano-machines?

Are you kidding me?

How the fuck do these kinds of items exist in a world where the main transportation is carriage?!

“…”

This gap of technology was beyond insane.

While Tribal Alliance also had a lot of things that would make you think the same, it was still kinda reasonable for the genre. Meanwhile, the shit that the cyborg pulled out only ever appeared in sci-fis!

Is this why even all the superpowers’ higher-ups are wary of the Magic Tower…?

Of course if any of them were dead set on beating the Magic Tower, they probably could do it since their countries had enough resources to make up for the difference in technology and more, but the problem was that the Magic Tower would still be able to deal great enough damage to those countries.

As I finally began to understand with my whole being why the Magic Tower was called the most powerful  group, the cyborg started talking again.

“I apologize for the sudden visitation.”

He said calmly.

“However, this matter is quite urgent, so please forgive me.”

“…How did you find me?”

“I came here after asking the Hero and all the people close to you. Although, all of them seemed to be taken aback by my presence, since they’ve never seen a ‘battle doll’ like me prior to this.”

“…”

Of course they would.

Imagining Iliya’s stunned expression when she suddenly ran into this punk, a smile appeared on my lips.

Though, it disappeared right after I heard what he said next.

“I heard you’ve killed Count Nicholas.”

“…!”

In that instant, my mind tensed up.

And I immediately began to try and analyze the implication behind this guy’s words.

How the Magic Tower found out about this information aside…

What was his reason for bringing it up right in front of my face like this?

“Just in case you misunderstood, please let me clear something up. I’m here because of someone’s request and I came here to help you.”

“…You came to help me?”

When I asked that in a slightly doubtful voice, his optical lens glistened as he looked at me.

That was probably how he expressed a smile.

“You’ve grown to be an attractive man, Dowd Campbell.”

“…Pardon me?”

“You look exactly like how your mother bragged about you.”

Hearing that, my whole body froze.

My mother. I could hear the respect in his voice as he said so.

This punk…

Was talking about my mother, whom I had never seen once in my life, the woman whom my dad never wanted to talk about.

…My mother is in the Magic Tower?

This was the first time I had ever heard about this.

My father never said anything about her, so that was one thing, but…

The empress, the headmistress, all those people who were close to me also never mentioned anything about her once.

“I owe Dr. Astrid a lot. After all, she was the one who remodeled my body that almost died like this.”

While I was mulling over the new revelation, he continued.

“While I could see if you came to think that it’s funny how the Magic Tower’s Marshal is acting as a messenger, it’s just how it is. It’s her request, after all.”

I kept my mouth shut while glaring at him.

This information just caught me so off guard, I didn’t know what exactly it was that he wanted.

There was a chance that he was trying to deceive me while talking about things like this as a pretext.

[…No, actually, I think he’s being sincere.]

What?”

[It’s natural for you not to know about this since there’s just almost no information about the Magic Tower, but there’s something that I heard during my days as a Guardian.]

Caliban continued from inside the Soul Linker, as if he was groaning.

[If it’s true that he is a marshal, then he’s in a way too high of a position to be doing such a…‘lame’ thing like deceiving you. The entire empire would’ve gone crazy if they knew who this punk was.]

…So, what’s a marshal?

[Basically, he’s the one in charge of the Magic Tower’s military force.]

He continued with a sigh.

[Just keep that in mind for now. I won’t tell you more, I don’t want to scare you for no reason.]

“…”

…This was the first time…

That he was being ‘overwhelmed’ by someone.

And this was the same guy who risked his life and charged toward the Red Devil without hesitation during the Crimson Night Incident.

Before I realized it, a frown had formed on my face. The cyborg then started to speak again from across the table.

“Dr. Astrid told me to tell you two things.”

For what it’s worth, at the moment, he seemed to be devoted to being a messenger since that was what he was asked to do.

“She also told me not to leave anything out and make you understand everything.”

Even though I had been treating him with suspicion he still went and said all that.

“First, in order to accomplish what you’re planning to do, three kinds of Demonic Auras should be enough.”

“…Pardon me?”

“Since you’ve used the Blue Aura to kill Count Nicholas, you only need to gather the Red, Brown, and White—which you already got from the Homunculi Sisters—to accomplish what you’re trying to do. In other words, you don’t need to waste your time collecting all the Auras.”

He said all those words with a gentle and calm attitude, it took me a while before I could understand what he was talking about.

However, when I finally managed to understand…

“…!”

I felt chills running up my spine.

This punk knew about my exact condition.

Or rather, the Magic Tower did.

My mother, who was there, did.

She managed to see through even the things that I hadn’t grasped yet, when the Holy Land hadn’t even touched the surface of it.

From the Seal, the relationship between the Devils and I, even what I was about to do in the future.

…What the fuck…?

I couldn’t understand what this was all about.

Like, why would they suddenly tell me about all this? Because she was my mother? But we never even had any contact with each other…

Their goal, their intention, anything, I knew nothing.

As I had just been staring at him in confusion, the Marshal continued.

“The second thing… Ah, please pay attention to my words. Dr. Astrid said that this part is way more important than the first.”

“…”

Did she know that I’d react like this?

I focused my gaze on the Marshal, my expression had turned stiff at one point. Then he continued.

“She said that you need to hang in there, and that she’s looking forward to the School Festival. Also, no matter what, she’ll always stand by your side.”

“…”

“She also added, considering your personality, you’ll be fidgeting nervously, trying to figure out our hidden intention, but there’s no need to do such things.”

“…”

“Ah, she also said that she will personally evaluate all the candidates for her daughter-in-law.”

“…”

“She expressed her disdain after seeing all these insignificant fox trying to flirt with her son and that she will come in person soon.”

“…”

“That’s all.”

After hearing all that, my expression just went blank.

Uh…

So…

“…”

It seemed my mother…

Was quite the eccentric…

That was the thought I barely managed to make with my mind that had turned into a fine mess.

●

Cecilia the 11th’s room, or rather, Cecil, the first year student of Elfante’s room, was rather weird.

No one had ever seen the inside of her room or even visited it, since everyone in the building knew not to disturb her out of consideration since her body was extremely weak despite how beautiful and mysterious she was.

And now, late at night, visiting that exact room, Faenol was very grateful that it was the case.

Because if it was anyone else who was doing this, they’d instantly lose their heads the moment they opened this door and came in.

“…”

Faenol, who was about to enter the room, went slightly pale as she looked at the ‘slash’ that was coming towards her and stopped right before her eyes.

Had she taken one more step…

Had she formed her Magic Defense Shroud a little later…

Her head might’ve been sent flying just like that.

“…I’d like to ask for your understanding.”

She entered the room, her eyes opened a little wider than before. Meanwhile, the Empress looked at her with a bitter smile, closing the book she was reading while lying down on her bed.

“My guard is a worrywart, you see. He has this tendency to cut an unknown person that approached me without a warning…”

“…”

Just now…

That slash came out of nothing…

It was as if such an attack had been ‘stored’ and would automatically be fired if someone was approaching the empress without permission.

Saints.

They were those who had reached the pinnacle of their fields.

I know he’s the Sword Saint and all, the strongest even among them all, but… He can even do something like this…?

Faenol swallowed dryly.

“…Please forgive me for coming in without permission, Your Imperial Majesty. When I knocked, I received no answer…”

“Cecil. In here, I’m a student, not the empress.”

The empress said while yawning.

“So, what brings you here at this late hour? I don’t believe we’re close enough to be spending the night together.”

“…I’m here to discuss something with you.”

Rather than discussing it’s more like plotting, though…

Hearing that, the empress tilted her head, as if she found her words strange.

“…Discuss…something?”

“I came to ask for your cooperation, Cecil.”

Faenol took a deep breath before continuing.

“Because then its success rate will increase a little, since our opponent has an extremely tough defense…”

“Success rate? Defense? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about squeezing out Dowd Campbell.”

“…”

“Ah, right, sexually, of course.”

“…”

“My plan is to make it so that even if one of us fails, the other will definitely succeed. You see, at this rate, I feel like no one will succeed, so I thought it’ll be better if—”

“…Enough.”

The empress held her head, looking as if she was having a bad headache.

It was the first time she had ever heard something so absurd coming out of someone’s mouth.

“So you came here, at this late hour, just to say that?”

“Yes.”

“…Does it look like I’d obediently cooperate for something like that?”

Faenol tilted her head.

Her expression made it seem like she was asking something along the lines of ‘Why are you asking the obvious?’.

“Yes.”

“…”

“Uh, while our goals seem a little different, it seems like Your Imperial Majesty is quite interested in having sex with—”

“Stop.”

Cecil cut her words off with a sigh.

“What a load of nonsense.”

Her gaze that fell on Faenol looked genuinely terrifying, her expression, so sincere and serious, as she continued…

“So, how could you tell exactly what I want?”

“…”

“Spill out everything.”

Hearing that, a wide smile appeared on Faenol’s face.

It was the kind of smile only those who succeeded in acquiring a partner-in-crime could make.