༺ Mages of the Tower (3) ༻
Estelle Hadassa El Rath.
The 1st Princess – one who was loved by the gods; the all-powerful Saintess. She was definitely on the side of the good even in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan ❱, and was a nice person in general.
The problem, however, was in her personality. She was a full-on hedonist1A hedonistic person is committed to seeking sensual pleasur chasing after entertainment and was nonchalant in everything it was that she did despite being at high status.
“Wow. You’re turning twenty-two this year? That’s the same as me. Do you want to play together through the night with this Sister?”
“S, sure.”
When Estelle’s long and thin fingers grazed past her cheeks, Rellin was frozen stiff with her cheeks flushed in deep red. She was lost for words at the face of an overwhelming beauty.
“Now now, let’s go back to drinking. Cheers~”
“C, cheers~”
Naturally, Estelle urged her to drink.
“Great job. Ohhh~ You’re an amazing drinker~! Gooo~!”
Rellin chugged all the drinks that Estelle was giving her without an end. She was focused and flinched from every single movement of Estelle’s fingers like a marionette.
But to be fair, that was nothing strange considering how Estelle’s appearance was enough to chant women let alone men.
Although Princess Miruam was also the type to give off a sensual charm, Estelle was by no means inferior when it came to the ability to captivate people. She simply had a different charm to her.
Miru was like an innate venomous serpent while Estelle was like a capybara that bewitched everyone nearby.
“Ah, t, thank you.”
Even during a casual clink of glasses, Rellin flinched when her fingers came in slight contact with Estelle’s. It didn’t even look like Estelle was intentionally doing it, which suggested that she must be in possession of the inborn gifts of a player.
In any case, the question was why the saintess was here in the first place.
Glancing around, I noticed some people whose presence had melted into the shadow.
‘Raven Squad of the Saintess.’
They were the squad allocated by the New Faith to the Saintess in spite of her not needing the likes of guards. The fact that they were here meant…
‘Highly likely it’s related to demi-human discrimination.’
The Saintess must be either planning on delving into the inhumane crimes of Rellin the individual, or the acts of her superiors.
‘But still, how can they even let the Saintess carry out a honey trap herself…?’
There probably wasn’t a big reason behind why she was doing it herself. It was probably because she was confident, bored, and most importantly…
“Am I pretty?”
“U, umm… Yes. Y, you are.”
“Right? It’s obvious but I’m glad you know!”
Estelle… There was no way that she, the personification of narcissism, would miss out on an opportunity to step up and show off.
She was a good person… She’s a good person but…
『Do you know, Knight Korin? You see those men over there? They are all staring at you with envy in their eyes. How gorgeous.』
“Ugh. I, can’t… drink anymoreee…”
Before long, Rellin turned semi-unconscious. It was because she drank a lot more than a glass or two… with my help as well, of course.
As soon as she lost consciousness, the Raven agents nearby who had been under the disguise of normal civilians walked up simultaneously.
“Junior. You are a good drinker, aren’t you? Aren’t you still underage though?”
“I hope you let that slip with your benevolence, beautiful Big Sister.”
“Fufu. Junior Korin, you are also very handsome. Not as much as me though.”
“Of course of course~”
Tap tap.
I tapped on the table as Alicia walked up from a corner of the bar. Consequently, Estelle and our group stood face-to-face in confrontation.
“I was working on it first,” I said.
“But I was the one who got her drunk.”
“Even before you came, Saintess, I was already going on the right track.”
“I had my eyes on her for a week.”
“Mine was for a whole year.”
“It’s thanks to my beautiful appearance that this woman drank herself to death, you know?”
“Hohh~. Don’t you think you are being way too overconfident with your appearance? Sure, appearance is important but you can’t ignore the chatter. The reason this woman continued drinking is because I had been entertaining her ears.”
“Would that be as good as entertaining her eyes though? There’s even an essay saying that looking at beauties puts people in a good mood.”
Unable to tolerate the immature battle happening between me and Estelle, one of the Raven agents walked up to me.
“Young man. How dare you be so disrespectful to the Saintess.”
As soon as he started reaching his hand out towards me…
“Alicia.”
Alicia grabbed onto his arm, and the superhuman grip of a knight pressured the agent.
“Kuht…!”
As expected of people that were primarily skilled at reconnaissance, they weren’t very strong when it came to pure power. It was because she placed more importance in their espionage skills than their ability to fight when looking for agents.
“Looks like there’s only a few on your side that are on the level of a knight… Can you handle it? We have two Grade 1 Knights on our side.”
Even though it was only Alicia and me, the two of us were still much stronger than what even an elite squad of knights could deal with, let alone espionage agents.
“I, is this okay, Mr. Korin? She’s still the Saintess… Princess.”
“Stick to one title. And you’re right – it’s not okay.”
Our opponent was the woman with the greatest symbolic significance in the entire kingdom. She was the Saintess with the greatest amount of authority in the religious sector, as well as one of the potential inheritors to the throne.
Simply put, she was the most prominent figure of this entire kingdom.
“Let’s go somewhere else first.”
I handed Rellin over to the Ravens and left the bar with Estelle.
****
For security purposes, I had to wear a blindfold in the middle but I noticed where we were headed from the humidity in the air and the ground, as well as the distinct scent of dust.
“Let him see.”
A seductive voice echoed across. Soon, the blindfold covering my eyes was taken off, revealing Estelle who was wearing a wide smile on her face with the Ravens in the background.
“Sorry about covering your eyes. It’s a necessary procedure for security.”
“It’s fine. It is, after all, the headquarters of the secret espionage agents of the New Faith, so I do understand the necessity.”
“…!”
Everyone in the room showed some kind of reaction. Whether big or small, they all seemed quite shocked.
“How did you…!”
“Just something I gathered from the word on the streets. The story about a secret organization that protects demi-humans and punishes those that do inhumane things to them… is actually quite a well-known story in the backstreets.”
Even though it was something I knew from the game, it was still true that there were some rumors regarding it. Linking that to the New Faith and the Saintess would have required some level of creative imagination though.
“Junior. Aren’t you showing off too much of what you know? In this world, there are some evil people that kill others to make sure they stay silent. You know that, right?”
“I don’t think you would be one of them though, Saintess.”
“Hehe. You are right, but…”
The amicable smile on her face slowly started to turn stiff. Even with some resemblance of a smile still remaining on her face, she was still able to exert a lot of pressure with her charisma. In turn, that proved how the Saintess hadn’t been leading an innocent and uneventful life.
“You might receive some level of pressure.”
The Raven agents placed their hands on their weapons behind her back. Considering how this was their headquarters, it was safe to assume that there would be some knights and mages in here.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding but… I don’t need Alicia to deal with a group of this level.”
“How insolent…”
It was a man behind the Saintess who reacted to my provocative statement.
He was the vice captain of the Ravens, and the practical leader of the combatants of the organization, Morkai. His combat prowess was at the level of a Grade 1 Knight.
“You damn brat.”
“Stop there, Vice Captain Morkai. He’s right.”
“…”
Morkai seemed frustrated but regardless, he immediately stepped back from a single sentence from Estelle. He had an absolute degree of loyalty to her and did not dare try to refute her words.
As suspected, these guys were aware that I was in possession of the Sun.
“Let’s work together.”
“Together?”
“By revealing our goals and working in alignment for this matter.”
“…”
Estelle was deep in thought about the suggestion. She was probably hesitant about revealing the confidential information, so I decided to make it easier for her.
“Elder Morushtan. I can give you evidence about his illegal demi-human experiments.”
““……!!””
The Saintess as well as the agents behind her were astonished by the claim.
It was something that appeared in the game when completing the side quests of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan ❱. The ones that were predominantly carrying out inhumane human experiments were those from the Black Cult, and there were numerous horrible crimes that had been committed by their leader, Elder Morushtan.
And I knew the location of a secret laboratory, which had been shut down after the rampage of a test subject.
“Alright. Then in return…”
“Village Antec to the Northeast – inside the private land in the mountain behind it is a shed. It’s quite close to the Tower of Mages.”
“…Why are you telling me this without any conditions?”
“I already told you that I want us to work together.”
“What if I just go back on the deal without doing anything back in return?”
“Are you going to?”
“…”
She was lost for words as if I had seen right through her.
Right – I knew and had ample trust in her honesty and goodness.
“Sure. Then, Junior. What do you want?”
“My goal is the fall of every wizard from the Tower that is visiting us on this occasion. I want their dantians to be controlled and them to turn into convicts.”
“…!!”
“First off, I will hand you Elder Morushtan, but as for the rest… I will never forgive them. I’ll make them pay for what they did forever.”
“…What have they done apart from those experiments?”
“The current Tower is mostly a corrupt pithole of devils. Except for the ones at the very bottom, they are all mostly evil. Besides, every mage at the level of an elder as well as their direct disciples are all horrendous devils.”
The reason why the Tower of Mages was in collaboration with Tates Valtazar was simple and exactly the same as the Old Faith.
Their idea was that the cleansing of humanity did not matter in the slightest, when compared to the restoration of their past glory and power.
With the Advent of Paradise, they will gain divinity there, live an eternal life and reign over the new humans – that was their goal. They were horrible devils that were even worse off than traitors who sold their own motherlands.
“Those wretched devils are after the people around me. ‘Do not let your eyes see compassion. Life for life—’.”
“‘And eyes for eyes.’ The golden rule of scripture.”
“I will punish them with not a single pound added or subtracted to their due sentence.”
“What a reassuring set of words.”
Estelle accepted my suggestion with a wide smile on her face.
“Sure. So that was your first condition. What’s your second?”
“Let’s work together from now on. For anything unrelated to politics, let me help you wholeheartedly in whatever it is that you do, Saintess.”
Most of the things that she did were good things, which mostly revolved around saving the weak and punishing the evil.
In other words, that was bound to also be linked to my Precept and would let me gather quest rewards. And most of all, it would also allow me to intervene in dreary events that weren’t mentioned in the main quests and side quests of the game.
“In return, please pray for me. Regularly for… let’s say, at least 2 years.”
“Hnn~. Looks like you know about my ability already?”
Of course I did.
Her ability was the manifestation of miracles from prayers.
It was on a completely different scale to normal religious prayers.
The prayers of the Saintess, who was directly linked to the divinity, had the power to twist reality. As the strongest buffer and the key character of the scenario in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan ❱, Estelle’s ability was quite literally ‘almighty’.
Even the powerful sacred artifact that had the power to suppress Hua Ran the Unique Grade living jiangshi, was only possible because of her prayers.
“Alright. As long as I have enough divine energy, I will pray for you, Junior. We live under the same roof so it shouldn’t even be that hard anyway.”
Perfect.
This was incredible – even better than any other reward I could have hoped for.
In the original game, the prayers of the Saintess were only sporadically accessible at the northern expedition after the 7th Arc, where the power balance started to tilt heavily in the enemy’s favor.
If I could be under the constant effect of that miraculous buff which used to be only allowed in certain arcs because of the duration and distance issues, it was pretty much no different from obtaining several hidden pieces.
“Let’s talk about the details of the prayers later. As for that mage…”
“Let me deal with her. As for you, Saintess, I recommend you look into the location I mentioned for starters. You’ll be able to find some meaningful results immediately.”
“‘Noona’,” the Saintess suddenly said.
“…Sorry?”
“Call me ‘noona’. Dongsaeng2Dongsaeng = Literally means younger sibling. Sometimes used by slightly older people to refer to those younger than them. It’s a rather intimate title..”
“Like, how would I dare call the Saintess/Princess by such a…”
“Ehem! It’s an order!”
Estelle demanded a handshake with a bright smile on her face. For some reason, it was a lot earlier than the last iteration… Well, to be fair, the princesses entering the Academy in the second year was already a significant change.
“Knn…”
While stealing glances at the Ravens that were glaring at me with bloodshot eyes from behind Estelle, I held onto her hand with much difficulty.
Suddenly, Estelle responded by grabbing my hand with both of hers. Her ticklish voice then squiggled its way into my ears.
“Don’t you think we will last a verryyyyyyy long time together? Dongsaeng?”
Her cunning face was overflowing with interest and goodwill for me.
****
Rellin wasn’t coming back.
After noticing the disappearance of Rellin, who had gone to investigate the disappearance of Manroji, Morushtan noticed that something strange was going on.
“Call… Lord Admelech.”
Someone had their eyes set on them. Morushtan and Admelech summoned all the mages of the Red Cult.
After a while, the accommodation room that was holding every mage of the Tower with a soundproof spell cast around the room was echoing with a deafening shout.
“What do you mean Rellin was kidnapped!!?”
– Kwang!
Professor Zollin shouted while smacking the table.
“The mages of the Black Cult were the ones that were kidnapped, so why do you seem so mad, Professor Zollin?”
“H, mhmm…! D, do we not all belong to the same Tower though?”
They looked at Professor Zollin, who was one of the top mages of the Red Cult, with curiosity in their eyes.
“Anyways, Rellin went missing in addition to Manroji. We have no proof as of yet, but Elder Morushtan is concerned that this might lead to a greater harm to us.”
One of the higher grade mages of the Black Cult was speaking in the stead of Elder Morushtan when Elder Admelech of the Red Cult shouted after slamming the table.
“Hmph! Who are these fearless ruffians that dare touch the pilgrims of the path of magic?! Besides, how shameful is it that some of us have been done in by those thugs?!”
Elder Admelech continued while gazing at Morushtan with his obstinate eyes.
“This is concerning your disciples, Elder Morushtan. Deal with it as soon as possible and make sure it does not affect our plans.”
“…I know.”
Morushtan did not raise any objections or ask Admelech for help. Although they were all from the same Tower of Mages, they had a stronger sense of belonging to each of their cults, instead of the Tower.
“B, but Master. Shouldn’t we give them a hand and help the Black Cult out?”
“Shut up, you stupid fool. Have you forgotten what we had to do? We must seal the Dimensional Witch and suppress the vampire. Do you have any idea on how many things we have on our hands to fulfill those goals!?”
“S, sorry sir.”
Hearing his shout, Zollin immediately stepped back with cold beads of sweat traveling down his face. Even though he was a direct disciple of his, he couldn’t dare go against Admelech’s command because the orders and decisions of one’s master were unconditional in the Tower of Mages.
………
……
…
“Damn it. Damn that stupid, stubborn old man!”
Zollin threw his robe away in fury. Although he was in his 50s already, he was still temperamental and honest to his emotions, just like every other mage of the Red Cult who had fiery temperaments.
“Ugh… Rellin. Why Rellin of all people!”
Rellin, the 3rd floor mage of the Black Cult was Zollin’s lover.
Of course, he wasn’t an idiot. Why would a 20-year-old young lady like her go for an old man in his 50s like him?
He knew what Rellin wanted and what she was after, but Zollin had still been cherishing her. Besides, he had even recently finished experimenting with a slave contracting seal that would last forever after being etched, and had been hoping to use it on her when he had time.
And yet Rellin had gone missing before he could even carry out his shady plan. Unlike knights, mages were weaker than normal civilians after being restricted by mana-binding shackles.
Also, since Rellin was only at the level of a 3rd floor mage, it wasn’t strange for her to lose to backstreet thugs if a bunch of them pounced on her at once.
“No. It must be a misunderstanding. There’s no way there would be anyone crazy enough to touch mages from the Tower…”
– Knock knock! Is Professor Zollin inside?
“Who is it!”
– I am Korin, the guide assigned by the Academy.
“Damn it. Come in!”
Zollin was already in a bad mood, and was put in a worse mood after seeing a stupid knight; a dog of the Academy.
“What is it?!”
“Ah, you see…”
The young knight boy with a wild countenance handed over a box.
“Someone asked me to give you this box, Sir Zollin.”
“What?”
“I’m just doing what I was told, so I do not know the details. Please enjoy the rest of the day.”
When Korin Lork left the room, Zollin ripped open the post box. Inside was a small video recording stone.
It was a widely-used magic item that recorded a specific area and left it as a record. Naturally, as a mage, Zollin knew how to use it.
– Click click!
A video started to play once he tapped on the stone.
The background of the video was a room that had gloomy wallpapers stuck on the walls. It was one of those cheap rooms in cheap inns that had nothing but a shabby bed.
『Uhhp…! Uhp! Uhp!』
In the foreground of the video was Rellin, tied and restricted by a rope. The ropes binding her accentuated the lines of her body and her eyes were being covered by a black blindfold.
It was clear that she was tied so badly that she couldn’t even move an inch. That was when a man with short hair and big tattoos all over his body walked into the frame and approached her. He then screamed with his face covered by a mask.
『Uhyooooot! A young and beautiful mage lady for me to enjoy!! Ore-sama3Ore-sama- ‘myself’ in an arrogant way super lucky!!』
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