Naturally, the bottoms of important people were heavy.

There were many reasons for this, but one of them was that as an individual’s position rose, the number of people accompanying their every move increased.

First, there must be security personnel to ensure nothing happened to the important person’s body, and if the destination was far, a driver, or rather a coachman, was needed.

Servants to attend to various chores were necessary, and someone to take charge of these personnel in the role of a secretary was also needed.

This couldn’t be viewed solely as putting on airs.

For example, if a country’s king were to say a cool line like, “I can’t trouble my subjects,” and then wander around alone only to meet with misfortune, that would be the real trouble.

But it should be fine to just look around the front yard of one’s own home.

Thinking this, the head of the Tower of Foresight, Medir Geldnir, stepped into the shop.

Of course, this didn’t mean he had come here thoughtlessly without any consideration.

He had already completed the minimum necessary investigation.

This was originally a bookstore. They rented the shop in a lease format and bought all the books inside, was it? The shop owner said they paid full price without any threats, but no matter how you look at it, financial gain doesn’t seem to be the goal.

Medir’s red eyes scanned the interior of the shop.

A barrier. The type is witchcraft. The method itself is quite old, but the completion is excellent. Either they learned under a good teacher, or their own talent is outstanding.

A strange emotion flickered across his face.

It was similar to the reaction of an elderly person watching a fresh young person singing trot music soulfully.

“Not bad.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. When you get old, you tend to talk to yourself more.”

It was somewhat strange coming from a man who looked no older than middle-aged at most, but Adelaide didn’t particularly question it.

The other party was one of the four heads of the magic towers governing the Magic State.

A mismatch between appearance and age wasn’t that unusual.

A moment later, Dorothea and Medir faced each other.

Medir spoke first, “Indeed, it’s no wonder the young ones all come back dazed. That appearance must be quite poisonous to those full of vigor. Did you come to use beauty as a weapon?”

It was unclear whether this was a serious question or a joke.

Even as he stared at Dorothea from head to toe, there wasn’t a hint of lust in his red eyes.

It wasn’t quite as indifferent as looking at a roadside pebble… but it was closer to calmly appraising a statue made of plaster.

“What nonsense. You didn’t come just to ask that, did you?”

Dorothea’s attitude in response was quite arrogant for someone receiving the head of a magic tower.

“Of course not, but do you perhaps not know who I am?”

“If you’re demanding even superficial etiquette, I can provide it. For a price, of course.”

“Asking for prostration, I see. Well, we’ll adjust that part later. Whether the opportunity arises or not.”

It was a subtly ominous statement.

Sure enough, right after that, a faint aura began to emanate from Medir’s body.

It wasn’t quite to the point of entering combat, but it was a situation ready to do so at any moment, if necessary.

“I don’t particularly dislike scholarly exchanges, but I’d prefer if you avoided beating around the bush. Answer me. What’s your purpose? Why did you do this?”

To this straightforward question, Dorothea answered equally directly, “I want to enter the magic tower.”

“Why?”

“There’s something I need to find. Two things, in fact.”

“What are they?”

“The ‘Shoes of Borealis’. And, the Witch of the North.”

That was right.

The reason Dorothea’s party wanted to enter the Tower of Foresight wasn’t simply to trace the Witch of the North’s whereabouts.

The original purpose for coming to the Magic State.

The silver horse that indicated the location of the kingdom’s fifth sacred treasure was also pointing towards the Tower of Foresight.

“Hmm.”

Medir stroked his chin and seemed lost in thought for a moment, then muttered, “I see.”

“So it’s because of the treasure hunt proposed by the Kingdom of Heaven. I can roughly guess your identity, too.”

“Didn’t you say you disliked beating around the bush? I’d prefer if you answered whether it’s possible or not first.”

“In principle, only mages belonging to the magic tower can set foot in the tower. If entering is your only purpose, you could join right now and enter.”

“I don’t want to. Once I enter there, my movements will be restricted, won’t they? Since you’re the tower head, can’t you just let me in?”

“This is an old tradition of the tower that has continued since its founding. Even I can’t break it carelessly.”

Dorothea’s eyebrows furrowed.

Just as she was about to shoot back a retort, an unexpected voice stopped her.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ advises that this is when you should make a deal!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that if there was no room for negotiation from the start, the other party would have turned away as soon as they heard our purpose!]

Dorothea blinked.

What’s with this guy? Did I hit his head too hard…? Huh? Does that mean his performance improves if I hit him?

[The ‘Tin Knight’ feels upset, saying it seems like you just thought of something very rude!]

For a moment, Medir’s eyes showed a strange light.

“Just now, you had some kind of conversation. And it’s a type of magic I’ve never seen before. How did you do that?”

“Whether I answer or not depends on you. You haven’t even given a clear answer about whether the Witch of the North is really in your tower or not, yet you’re asking for a lot.”

At Dorothea’s blunt words, Medir showed signs of pondering a bit.

“…I can’t speak carelessly about that person’s whereabouts. I’m afraid I can’t offer that as a trade. Instead, regarding the matter of finding the ‘Shoes of Borealis’, I could give conditional permission.”

“Conditions?”

“I heard you possess magic that can read the past. Hand that over.”

“Impossible.”

It was an immediate answer, as if it wasn’t even worth considering.

To begin with, it wasn’t magic but the power of a sacred treasure, so it couldn’t be handed over, but even if it were real magic, its value was too high to exchange for mere temporary entry rights.

It was fortunate that Sophia was sealed before the magic towers were even established; if the power of the Chalice of Tuberose had been widely known, the magic towers might have directly raided ruins to obtain it.

“Instead, I can help restore your documents as I’ve been doing. Honestly, you know I’m helping at a price that’s practically free right now, don’t you?”

Dorothea didn’t say that if they continued to be uncooperative, she wouldn’t help any further.

Often, threats were more effective when implied subtly rather than stated directly.

Assuming the other party had the ability to realize this, that was.

Fortunately, Medir was a man with such ability.

His eyebrow twitched.

“What were you planning to do if I hadn’t come here? You would have continued giving those ‘fortunes’ anyway, right?”

“I would have done it for about one more day and then closed the shop. Those who have tasted meat once feel a stronger hunger than those who have never tasted it.”

“You planned this from the start.”

After letting out a small sigh, Medir said, “Principles are principles.”

“No, are you really going to do this?”

“So. Enter ‘according to the principles’ legally.”

At Medir’s words, Dorothea’s head tilted.

***

The Tower of Foresight was a historic building.

While the Magic State Aeolia began to be called the Magic State around 200 years ago, similar to the establishment of the Lydian Empire, the Tower of Foresight had existed since long before that, when Aeolia was just one of many ordinary kingdoms of decent size, not the massive country governing the entire northern continent as it did now.

No matter how much others complained about it being old-fashioned, the hundreds of years of accumulated history and tradition were one of the tower’s prides.

However, that didn’t mean all members loved every tradition passed down in the tower.

Among them, there were traditions that even the members thought, “Couldn’t this just disappear?”

For example, the regulation that “The main gate of the tower must always be guarded by a living person,” was the most annoying and wished-to-disappear regulation for the mages belonging to the tower.

Especially younger mages with shorter tower careers tended to feel this way more strongly.

The reason was quite obvious when one thought about it.

While higher-ranking senior mages could now treat it as a thing of the past, saying, “It was tough back then,” since they no longer had to stand guard, or rather act as receptionists, at the door, lower-ranking mages had to take turns guarding the front of the tower as an ongoing duty.

It was so bad that there was even a rumor circulating that the reason the tower made 1st rank mages stay inside the tower was to prevent them from running away out of boredom with this receptionist job.

“Yaaawn.”

Today’s receptionist, apprentice mage Poi, let out a long yawn.

No matter how he thought about it, this receptionist job seemed inefficient.

There are good notification magic, barriers, and familiars that could guard the door instead, so why does a person have to be on standby?

From what he had heard, originally spirits were made to guard the door, but unable to overcome boredom, they played “pranks” on visitors, and after these pranks went too far and even resulted in a death, the Witch of the North personally made this rule, but Poi couldn’t help but resent those responsible for that incident.

“Haa. Damn. I want to see that beautiful fortune-teller or whatever too.”

As Poi grumbled about why he couldn’t go when the shop was clearly visible, something strange came into his view.

The people standing in front of the fortune-telling shop seemed to be murmuring about something, and then the waiting line split left and right.

Five shadows walked through that gap, approaching the main gate of the tower where Poi was.

“Uh, uuh.”

Poi couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the sudden situation.

In a way, it seemed like he was just dazed by the appearance of the veiled beauty in black at the front.

Only when they came close enough for even the movement of their pupils to be visible did Poi barely come to his senses and ask, “W-what business do you have?”

The black-clad beauty didn’t answer.

Instead, the green-haired woman who looked like her attendant smiled and said, “—Is this where those who seek to explore the wisdom of the world gather?”

Her voice wasn’t particularly loud.

Nevertheless, not only Poi but also the spectators around could clearly hear that question.

Poi almost reflexively answered, “What nonsense is that?” but after receiving the terrifying gazes of the tower professors mixed among the spectators, he finally remembered something he had forgotten.

One of the rules that those guarding the main gate of the tower must memorize.

But it was essentially a dead letter regulation that had never been used even once after memorizing it, and following this regulation, Poi recited the set phrase.

Perhaps because it was something he had habitually recited before every shift as a receptionist, even his tone came out exactly as he had memorized it.

“Indeed. This is where those who gather the foresight of the world and seek to elevate that foresight further reside.”

“Then we beseech those who guard the great fountain of knowledge. Please grant us the opportunity to broaden our horizons.”

Poi hesitated for a moment.

It wasn’t because he couldn’t remember the next part.

He just wasn’t sure if he should really utter these words.

This was something his seniors had repeatedly emphasized never to say outside because it would become troublesome in many ways if it became widely known.

But he had no choice.

If he followed the regulations here, he would undoubtedly hear complaints from colleagues or seniors who hadn’t escaped the receptionist role, but if he ignored the regulations, the terrifying words, “Don’t young people these days even bother to memorize basic rules?” would come out of the professors’ mouths.

Poi closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then squeezed out the words, “Of course, as long as you abide by our etiquette, the tower will treat you as guests.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken