“You want to meet the Witch of the North? Do you perhaps have an appointment? No? Then reveal your identity. What? A traveler? Where do these trivial beings come from? Get lost!”

After being turned away from the Tower of Foresight, Dorothea muttered, “Should I just summon an undead army and overturn everything?” Dorothea said with a tone and expression serious enough to be described as strict, solemn, and grave.

The black witch who usually held back, saying things like “It’s troublesome to clean up after clashing with powerful forces,” and “There’s no need to advertise I was a necromancer,” was nowhere to be found.

Adelaide quickly scanned her surroundings.

The Tin Knight, who had been teasing Dorothea with quips, was lying in a corner like discarded waste with various parts of his body dented, Sophia was humming a tune while casually saying “A magic tower sounds like it would have many interesting things,” and Rapunzel was shivering with her eyes and ears covered as if she hadn’t seen anything.

Adelaide realized.

Ah, I’m the only one who can act as a brake right now.

If one had mentioned the word “brake” to Adelaide about a year ago, she would have asked what that was, but after traveling with the Tin Knight, it was natural to pick up such terms.

With a resolve equal to when she faced the Witch of the West’s monkey army, Adelaide carefully raised her hand.

“Um, uh, Miss Witch?”

Glance.

Dorothea’s eyeballs rolled to face Adelaide’s direction.

Emitting a black aura from her back and with her eyes flickering with an emotion that could be either resentment or indignation, it was an intensity that could make a weak-hearted child burst into tears immediately. Honestly, even Adelaide was a bit intimidated.

With the caution of someone defusing a mine that could explode at the slightest mistake, she carefully began to speak, “Um, this Witch of the North, she’s a very high-ranking person even within the Magic State, right?”

“…That’s right.”

While the Four Great Witches were undoubtedly famous, their reputations varied somewhat depending on the individual.

The Witch of the East rarely showed herself, staying holed up in her domain, and the Witch of the West only indirectly influenced the wealthy powers of the Federation without holding any official position. Their fame was at a level known only to those in the know.

But unlike these two witches, the Witch of the South and the Witch of the North were famous enough for even ordinary people to know about them.

The Witch of the South had greatly boosted the mana of the Empire, which had been far behind the Magic State, establishing the formula of mage equaling Wizard in the Empire, and she herself held a high position equivalent to an imperial minister as a crown mage.

As for the Witch of the North, not only was she one of the founders of the Tower of Foresight, which could be called the origin of all magic towers, but even after retiring from her official position, her mentees were famous for entering whichever of the four towers they wanted, leading innovation and revival in that tower regardless of which it was. She was essentially the connecting link between the four towers.

“Well, if a passing traveler tells a royal castle gatekeeper, ‘Tell the king to come out. Appointment? Don’t have one?’ wouldn’t the gatekeeper naturally react like that?”

“That’s true.”

Dorothea nodded readily.

Adelaide was moved.

As expected, Miss Witch is rational!

She thought.

It was too premature a sentiment.

“But now I might have to live wearing rags for the rest of my life, is that kind of thing important?”

Ah, it’s hopeless.

Seeing Dorothea’s eyes still rolled back, Adelaide looked at the distant mountains. The sky was very clear. It was good weather for becoming a national terrorist.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices, saying an all-out war with the tower sounds exciting!]

Sir Knight, with all due respect, please keep quiet just for now.

At that moment, Sophia smiled quietly and opened her mouth, “But Dorothea. If we cause a big physical commotion here, won’t it make things difficult for Rapunzel who needs to enter the magic tower later?”

“It’s not like there’s only one tower.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, you know more about mages than I do, Dorothea. So we don’t need to worry about Rapunzel getting caught up in the process of all the other towers going on high alert and investigating us?”

“…”

Dorothea’s lips moved as if trying to argue, but then she made a sullen expression, “Fine, I get it. I get it. It’s not like I was really serious anyway. Do I look like someone who would go so far as to overthrow a tower just because I’m a bit impatient?”

Yes.

The party members swallowed the words they thought in their throats.

Sophia continued, “The point is to attract the tower’s attention, right? Enough that they can’t ignore our voice. And in a non-hostile way at that.”

“What scheme are you plotting now?”

“Scheme? That’s a rather harsh word,” Sophia said with a bright smile. “I’m just going to provide some good information.”

***

Due to the name “magic tower”, people tended to imagine a tall and narrow building, but in reality, magic towers had quite extensive grounds.

No joke, one could fit a decent-sized village inside the tower’s interior space, so it was impossible to take in the tower’s circumference at a glance unless one were at a considerable distance.

The height also easily exceeded ten floors, compared to “towers” elsewhere that were at best around five stories. Moreover, new floors were continuously being added as time passed.

Connoisseurs said that the mages of the magic towers built such large and wide buildings to show off their prestige, but the reality was extremely lifestyle-friendly.

— Haa, it’s really annoying to have to stop researching and go out every time I eat. There’s a limit to how often I can make do with simple meals. Ah, it would be convenient to just make a restaurant inside the magic tower!

— Hey friends, lately our friends have been going around looking so shabby that people around are gossiping. Wouldn’t it be good to put a clothing store inside to maintain the dignity of the magic tower? Let’s make our own ceremonial clothes instead of ordering them separately.

— If that’s the case, it would be good to make a bathroom too. They say you can substitute with cleansing magic, but isn’t it the true attitude of a mage to save that mana and contribute even one step more to exploring the truths of magic?

— There should also be a space for spirits to rest, so how about making a garden, a lake, and even a small volcano? If we connect the volcano to the heating system, there would be no waste, which would be good.

They implemented everything inside the tower just because they were too lazy to go outside, so it was only natural that space was needed for this.

In other words, if one decided to hole up, there was no place more convenient to hole up in than a magic tower.

Licht Glaubig, a mage belonging to the Tower of Foresight, was also one of those holed up in such a magic tower.

Although Licht hadn’t gone outside the magic tower even once in 4 years, he was proud of himself.

The essence of a mage is research and insight. I may not be able to explore the truth even for an hour more, but I’m different from mages of other towers who waste their capabilities as mages by wandering outside and doing useless things.

His colleagues also agreed with Licht’s opinion.

As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together, so it was inevitable since he asked for opinions from similar people in the first place.

However, one day, a strange piece of news reached Licht’s ears.

“Astrology?”

“That’s right, they say a new shop opened near the tower, and its skill is truly amazing. Isn’t your field of research also related to information magic?”

Although the magic tower was a facility that could solve most things self-sufficiently, not all mages were holed up inside the tower like Licht, and some mages would wander around the tower vicinity even if just for a change of mood.

The acquaintance before him seemed to have heard the news from such people.

Licht snorted, “You know well. So I’ll give you the answer. It’s a scam.”

“No, how can you say it’s a scam without even hearing the details?”

“I’m saying this because there’s nothing to hear. There were many ancient magics that claimed to read the future, but all of them were just results that could be interpreted any way you like. It’s been long concluded that there wasn’t a single proper magic.”

“It’s not the future.”

“Huh?”

“What that fortune-telling house sees isn’t the future, but the past. They say it miraculously guesses the customer’s past. Even things the person themselves have forgotten. Is this also impossible to realize?”

“Hmm.”

Licht fell into thought for a moment.

“If it’s magic that reads the other person’s memories, something similar might be possible.”

“Then isn’t that possible?”

“To begin with, that magic itself doesn’t remain properly. Even the magic we keep in our tower is only about 30% of the complete version. Even with just that 30%, it was enough to conclude that ‘if everything was complete, it could be read’.”

“Whether it’s astrology that truly reads the past or magic that reads memories, it would be valuable either way, wouldn’t it?”

The conversation ended there, but afterwards, rumors of the “fortune-teller who reads the past” continued to be heard.

Licht’s curiosity grew more and more, and the fact that the fortune-telling house was right near the magic tower helped solidify his decision.

“Ugh.”

Squinting at the direct sunlight he was facing for the first time in 4 years, Licht looked around.

Fortunately, finding the shop wasn’t too difficult. It was blatantly located near the main gate of the magic tower.

But isn’t a fortune-telling house usually in some kind of tent? This is a whole building?

As far as Licht knew, the land and building prices around the magic tower were quite expensive.

Just as the most prosperous place in a country was usually around the royal capital, the most bustling and crowded place in the Magic State could only be around the magic towers.

I thought I heard the usage fee wasn’t that expensive.

In such a place, opening a shop in the building with the best location, and giving fortune-telling services for almost free?

At this point, it seemed like they were openly advertising to be suspected.

There was a long line in front of the shop, but those who saw Licht’s special robe of the Tower of Foresight and the mark proving he was of the third rank out of the tower’s five ranks gave way on their own.

Licht was about to say there was no need for that, but thinking that people around would keep giving him looks even if he lined up, he just obediently moved forward.

“Welcome.”

As he entered the shop, two girls dressed in neat clothes greeted Licht.

One had golden hair long enough to cover her buttocks, the other had dark brown hair slightly longer than shoulder length.

Following their guidance into a room inside the shop, a soft light and mysterious fragrance stimulated Licht’s eyes and nose.

On the wall of the room, a knight’s armor in heavy metallic color was displayed like a decoration, and next to it stood a green-haired woman who looked like a maid—her eyes remained closed.

In the center, a black-haired beauty was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed arrogantly, and her revealing clothes and veil covering her mouth and head were truly breathtaking and mysterious.

Licht unconsciously gulped.

The woman in black opened her mouth, “—So, what are you curious about?”

***

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