“We have to go there ourselves, huh....”
“Well, it’s better this way. I can’t do anything alone, but with you around at least I feel secure. I don’t like you, but I’ll admit your skill is the real deal.”
“...Do you really say that proudly right in front of me?”
“What? Why not. Wasn’t this the kind of relationship we already had?”
Watching Gariel’s provocation, Ludger shook his head.
To get angry over Gariel’s words was pointless — their relationship was far more subtly entangled than it looked.
They didn’t like each other personally, but they acknowledged each other’s abilities.
When they faced each other, the one baring his fangs was always Gariel, and Ludger certainly didn’t enjoy working with someone who openly disliked him.
Yet still, the two of them had joined hands.
And the only reason that was possible was because of one person.
Rine.
“Don’t forget. I’m not helping you. I’m helping Rine.”
“I know. That’s why I’m using you. Because I can’t save Rine on my own.”
“...You’re irritatingly rational.”
Gariel crossed his arms and muttered grumpily.
Unlike Gariel, who was lazy and free-spirited, Ludger was ascetic and cold.
But that didn’t mean he lacked the human heart a man should have.
If Ludger were truly a man with no blood or tears, Gariel would never have dealt with him at all.
“Enough talk about our ridiculous relationship. That’s not what matters now.”
“...Yeah. You’re right.”
“We’re supposed to go save that ancient Curses school black mage, but where exactly are they now?”
“Hold on a second.”
Gariel rummaged through the pile of junk in the corner of the room, found something, and brought it over to Ludger.
“It’s a rough map of Isla Machia.”
Unfolded wide, the old sheet showed the overall shape of Isla Machia, laid out like a diagram.
No— not like a diagram.
It was an actual blueprint.
“...This isn’t just a map, it’s a schematic, isn’t it?”
“Ah. Yeah, it’s a schematic.”
A normal map would only show Isla Machia’s general terrain, but what Gariel revealed detailed the entire internal structure.
“...A schematic of the mechanical island. Where the hell did you even get this? Something like this would be kept under the strictest security.”
“I forgot where I got it. I’ve got so much junk lying around, you know. Maybe it just fell into my hands by coincidence?”
Gariel casually pointed his thumb behind him.
Back there was a mountain of random junk, books, and bundles of parchment, none of it with any clear purpose. Ludger shook his head.
“You stole it. There’s no way a schematic of the island just happens to fall into someone’s lap.”
“Why speak so harshly? I only borrowed it, borrowed it. I’ll return it someday.”
“A cheat gambler would also say he only borrowed money from the casino.”
“That was just to raise funds, I had no choice.”
“You claim you hate using time magic more than death itself, and yet here you are using it freely.”
Gariel bristled at Ludger’s remark.
“I don’t hate it more than death, all right? It’s just that when I use it, only my time flows forward, so I hesitate. If you knew what happened to my master, you wouldn’t talk like that.”
“You mean your master....”
Time magic was passed down as a solitary legacy.
Naturally, Gariel had a master, and that master had been a user of time magic as well.
“How do you think it feels to hit forty and already have white hair and a white beard?”
Gariel’s master looked like a scholar who had lived a long life.
Like some kind of idealist out of a fairy tale.
Though he looked near eighty, his real age was barely forty.
He had spent forty years trapped inside halted time.
He had used time magic often, and every use accumulated until he aged rapidly.
“My master was absurd. He went so far as to trick me, saying time magic was magnificent.”
Gariel shook his head as though sick of the memory.
As a child, reckless and ignorant, he had been enchanted by the idea of manipulating time and agreed on the spot.
“I can imagine. Time magic drives all of one’s magical potential into mastering that single field.”
It wasn’t something just anyone could learn.
It demanded that every magical stat be invested into [Time Magic] alone, a reckless condition.
To even attempt it, one had to have remarkable aptitude across the board.
Gariel had been that kind.
If he hadn’t chosen time magic, he could have become an exceptional mage in many fields.
Even if he hadn’t reached the very peak, he could have mastered multiple attributes up to 5th-circle without difficulty.
Given enough time, he might even have reached 6th-circle.
That thought always left Gariel lamenting his lot.
“Damn it. Why did I ever learn this? Penalties, restrictions, and the so-called ‘glorious’ time magic amounts to nothing but disappointment. I really felt conned.”
But regretting it now was too late.
Once chosen, there was no way to turn back the time.
A time mage unable to turn back time — wasn’t that like a barber who couldn’t cut his own hair?
So Gariel rarely used his magic.
And when he did, only for fleeting seconds. Like at the casino table.
Part of it was his desperation to avoid aging too fast, but part of it was a petty act of rebellion against his now-deceased master.
The great time magic his master had praised so highly, he now used only for petty thievery.
“My master told me to become a great man with time magic, but not a chance. I’ll live however I want with this power.”
Enough digression.
Gariel pointed at a part of the blueprint with his index finger.
“See here?”
“Yeah.”
“This is where we need to go.”
Isla Machia was a massive island that moved with mechanical devices.
It sucked in seawater, boiled it off, and vented it as clouds of steam day and night. Huge pipes carried the compressed vapor, cylinders regulated pressure, gigantic barometers, and steel gears ground endlessly.
An existing island had been rebuilt into this: Isla Machia, a precise, sturdy mechanical colossus pointing the way toward the future.
Its overall shape resembled stacked disks from large to small, like a wedding cake.
Inside, though, it was packed with factories, devices, and magitech machinery.
“Isla Machia is made of five levels. The lower you go, the larger and broader it gets, but the worse the law and order.”
From the 1st floor to the 5th.
The lower floors were harsher, while the higher ones glittered with wealth and luxury.
Their current hideout was on the 2nd floor, cleverly hidden in an isolated area where few people lived.
But the spot Gariel pointed to was at the very bottom, the 1st floor.
The shadow, the darkness of Isla Machia.
The underground district where the black mages lived.
“The 1st floor is split in half right now. The new faction versus the union of the old black mages. And the biggest clashes are happening here, in Sector E-34.”
The floor was divided into sectors labeled by letters and numbers, and the E sector was where the two sides were waging their most intense battles.
Unfortunately, the Ancient Curses School had established itself there. It was an old, respected black magic school even on this island.
But now, with the sudden arrival of Nicolai, Verom, and Victor’s alliance, they were on the brink of collapse.
“They’re holding out somehow, but I don’t see any other black mages lifting a finger to help.”
“Didn’t you say they formed a union? Every bit of power should count.”
“Even if black mages join hands, they’re still black mages. They don’t trust each other, and plenty are just waiting to stab each other in the back. You think they’d waste their strength being noble and rescuing anyone?”
“For now, they’re only holding hands because of a common enemy. Before that, it was chaos — like the Warring States period all over again.”
Such people could hardly form a proper alliance just by clasping hands.
“It’s practically a miracle they’ve lasted this long. They were at each other’s throats, and now they’re fighting a public enemy side by side. But stepping in to save someone is a completely different matter.”
“In other words, we can’t expect support from the others.”
“Exactly. The New Mage Tower claims this fight has nothing to do with them, so they’re just observing — or at least that’s how it looks on the surface.”
“On the surface?”
“The New Mage Tower considers this whole war a source of income. Even if the black mages have gathered together, they can’t fight with their raw strength ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) alone. They need to bring in potions, artifacts, and magitech tools for the battles.”
“You’re saying the New Mage Tower is selling those things.”
“War makes money. So on the surface, the New Mage Tower sits still, but behind the scenes, they’re rowing furiously.”
At that, Ludger gave a cold, mocking smile.
It was all too obvious what the New Mage Tower was after.
“They want to milk the fighting on the 1st floor for profit. No wonder the black mages can form some semblance of a union and endure.”
From the Tower’s point of view, war was just a lucrative business.
Even if it was only an internal clash, confined to the 1st floor of the island.
“To the New Mage Tower, this underground war is business. They’re subtly sending mages to support the black mages.”
“And discarding the expendable ones along the way, is that it.”
“The Ancient Curses School doesn’t generate enough profit.”
Money.
In this materialistic reality, it caused the most problems, and at the same time served as the greatest solution.
“Utterly repulsive.”
“Old Tower, New Tower — I’ve never seen one clean-handed bastard among those carrying the Tower’s name. But that’s not what matters. What matters is that we need to break into Sector E-34.”
“Through a bombardment zone where enemy and ally are all mixed together, just the two of us?”
“Not just the two of us. You’ve got me, don’t you?”
“Do you even know how to fight?”
“No.”
Looking at Gariel’s shameless answer, Ludger felt a headache coming on.
He’d be of no practical use in battle — which meant, in truth, he should be excluded from the roster.
“But if we both leave here, then who’s going to look after Rine?”
“Well, I—”
“At the very least, the one who has to guide the way can’t stay behind.”
When Ludger’s eyes sharpened, Gariel hunched his shoulders.
“Isn’t there anyone else we can call on?”
“Nope. It’s not like I’ve been here making friends.”
“...You’ve lived here for years at least, and you’ve got no connections? Then how have you handled research and information-gathering all this time? I doubt you did it all alone.”
“Of course not alone.”
“Not alone?”
“In Isla Machia, there are those who handle work in place of people. Did you forget? This is a place where magitech is advanced.”
Gariel clapped his palms together.
At once, as if waiting for the signal, a knock sounded at the door.
What?
Ludger had sensed nothing outside, yet someone was knocking.
As he frowned, the door opened and a woman in a maid’s uniform stepped in.
‘Not a human.’
She looked like a beautiful woman at first glance, but Ludger immediately realized she wasn’t alive.
“An automaton.”
“Correct.”
The green-haired, bespectacled woman — an automaton — stood demurely by Gariel’s side.
No wonder he hadn’t felt a presence; she wasn’t alive.
But even more, she was no ordinary automaton.
Her movements were smooth yet restrained, her steps silent.
What was hidden beneath the long skirt that swept her ankles was impossible to guess.
For a being of steel to move so quietly, she had to be a special model.
“Well? Surprised? Doesn’t she look almost like a real person? Believe it or not, she’s one of the finest automatons ever built. Packed full of magitech.”
Gariel shrugged.
This kind of special automaton could only be seen here, on Isla Machia.
Even Ludger had never laid eyes on one like her.
“...”
But Ludger felt little excitement.
She was an impressive automaton — but he knew two far more extraordinary ones.
Even Isla Machia’s magitech creation couldn’t compare with Arfa, a national-level secret experiment from a great steel kingdom.
Thinking of Arfa’s internal design, Ludger judged its technology several generations ahead of this.
“...Yeah. Must’ve cost you a fortune.”
But he couldn’t be bothered to explain, so he gave a perfunctory reply.
“She can be used for housework too, so she’ll take care of Rine.”
“Housework?”
Ludger cast a half-lidded look at the messy room.
His eyes plainly asked if this thing was really meant for housework. Gariel looked away awkwardly.
“Well, I just like things the way they are, so I don’t make her clean.”
“...I hope your automaton does its job properly. I’d rather not have to smash it with my own hands. It does look human, after all.”
“Wait, smash it?!”
“Enough.”
Ludger suddenly rose from his seat.
“What? Where are you going now?”
“What do you think we’ve been talking about all this time?”
Before stepping out, Ludger turned and looked at Gariel.
At the same time, Ater Nocturnus gently laid Rine back on the bed, then flew toward Ludger and wrapped itself around him.
From his toes to the crown of his head.
Shadow enveloped his body.
A cloak of darkness, like raven wings, fluttered and scattered black feathers.
A mask shaped like a crow’s beak slid over Ludger’s face.
“We don’t have time. We go now.”
Blue light flared in his eyes behind the mask.
“With full force.”