Around the time the Tin Knight’s party was meeting with the head of the Tower of Protection.

“They escaped? They didn’t just sneak across like stowaways, they openly crossed the coastline and you let them escape!? Are you all idiots!!”

“Skoll! Hati! You stupid bastards!”

“We must strongly protest to the Tower of Protection! Not only did they fail to arrest the royal killers with us, but they even provided escorts to guide them to the tower!?”

“They’re claiming it’s not an escort but a transport, but…”

“If it’s a transport, they should return them to us, not take them to their side!”

“What is the diplomat doing!? How did you handle things to end up like this!?”

Pandemonium.

There was no more appropriate word to describe the Tower of Control.

Despite mobilizing all their forces from the tower to catch the culprits, they slipped through all their hands and escaped beyond their reach.

The elite pursuit team that departed from the tower didn’t even touch the enemies’ shadows, and Skoll and Hati’s unit, which should have bought time until the elite team arrived, not only failed to stop the enemies but even lost their commanders in pairs.

The surviving on-site personnel made excuses like, “The enemies appeared so suddenly and focused on avoiding engagement and fleeing, so there was nothing we could do,” or ‘There were almost no casualties on our side,’ but to those higher up, this sounded like utter nonsense.

No, did they expect that a small number of people who could fit in a single carriage would engage in a head-on battle with hundreds of mages?

Saying the enemy appeared suddenly and their response was delayed meant their vigilance was that lax, and saying they preserved their forces by having few casualties was also meaningless.

Because now, the Tower of Control was about to be cornered without even properly using their vast forces.

“There’s no need to worry so much. Who would believe such an absurd rumor in the first place?”

“I heard that Gale Elilaz from the Tower of Protection acted together with the culprits, maybe this whole incident is a plot by the Tower of Protection!”

“This is truly absurd! This is an unacceptable provocative act that incites discord in the Magic State! We must immediately explain the situation to the other towers and condemn the Tower of Protection!”

While some 3rd rank mages and those below 2nd rank who didn’t know much about the background of this incident all squawked, expressing their indignation and anger, the faces of those who knew the circumstances hardened more and more as time passed.

They couldn’t understand how things had come to this.

They knew better than anyone that this matter carried as much risk as its return, and so they had meticulously erased all related traces.

They silenced those involved, thoroughly manipulated the scene of the incident, and even tore the souls of the deceased to shreds in case a necromancer might appear and read information.

Yet just when everything seemed to be wrapping up, suddenly a mysterious disappearance occurred in the forest, the elites sent to investigate were annihilated, and information that shouldn’t have been known spread in all directions.

They had hoped that without clear evidence it wouldn’t be a big problem, but when the investigation into Dorothea’s party was conducted and their “divination that reads the past” shown in the Tower of Foresight became known, even that hope crumbled.

The Rognir descendants all rolled their eyes and watched the gray old man’s reaction, and at that sight, the gray old man let out a hollow laugh.

It was a laugh that flowed out from sheer incredulity.

“We tripped on a small pebble, and a field of blades happened to be ahead.”

He had dreamed of grand plans and hadn’t neglected to be wary of other players manipulating the game board.

He had gathered evidence bit by bit in case the Lennart side betrayed them, and planted spies in other towers to be ready to respond immediately if they showed any political movements.

But, who would have thought.

He never imagined that one of the mere pieces, not a player on the game board, would ram into them like this without any warning.

The old man acknowledged his carelessness.

Of course, the Tower of Control was still powerful.

Wealth, military power, legitimacy. They had everything, and they had many hidden cards that weren’t known to others.

The injury inflicted by the Tin Knight’s party was no more than a scratch to a giant.

If they mixed appropriate threats and persuasion towards other towers, saying, “If you touch us, you won’t end well either,” and “If we fight among ourselves, do you think the Empire will just stand by?” it wouldn’t be difficult to avoid immediate destruction.

But after that?

Would the other towers continue to trust them after they’ve been labeled as traitors and deceivers?

Would the remaining personnel continue to pledge loyalty to a tower shunned by three out of the four pillars?

“…In urgent situations, a bold move is necessary.”

The gray old man headed to a certain place deep in the tower, where people’s feet rarely touched normally.

A space that felt out of place despite clearly being inside the tower.

In a room containing a soft emerald light, a priest greeted the old man.

“Welcome, Lord of Aeolia. Is there anything our Kingdom of Heaven can help with?”

The priest used the expression “Lord of Aeolia” instead of the old man’s name or his position as tower head.

Also, he asked if there was anything “the Kingdom of Heaven” could help with, not “he” himself.

His face looked so gentle and harmless, but the intent behind his words was extremely political.

Even while thinking the underlying meaning was obvious, the old man decided to willingly take that hand.

What the old man dreamed of was being the king of the earth.

For that purpose, he was willing to accept even having a god above his head.

***

What kind of person is the Witch of the North?

This was Adelaide’s second time meeting one of the Four Great Witches.

The Witch of the West, whom she first encountered and had to face in battle, was truly a formidable figure.

The tremendous quantity of homunculi, which ordinary mages struggle to handle even one, used like mere soldiers.

The material manipulation ability that fired huge ballistas the size of houses like normal attacks.

They were able to win by exploiting the gap that the Witch of the West herself was far from being a pure warrior or combatant, but in other words, she displayed such majesty even while neglecting combat, so her abilities couldn’t be underestimated.

An equal to such a Witch of the West.

The great master whom all the tower mages uniformly showed respect and reverence toward.

A high person incomparably higher than Adelaide in political standing, fame, and skill.

As someone who had to confront the shame of the Magic State to a figure who could be called the matriarch of the Magic State in a sense, she couldn’t help but tense up and feel her mouth go dry.

That was, until she directly faced the Witch of the North.

“I’m sorry, truly sorry. That our child did such a terrible thing, what should we do, I’m really so sorry…”

A woman bowed her head to Adelaide over and over again.

Her hair was disheveled, her face was haggard as if she hadn’t slept properly for days, and her eyes were so moist that it seemed tears would pour out at any moment.

Adelaide quietly observed the reactions around her.

Dorothea was openly showing her inner thoughts of, “What the hell is this?” the Tin Knight was expressing doubt, wondering, “Is the Witch of the North perhaps some kind of hereditary title?” and Sophia was repeatedly making sounds of either admiration or surprise, going, “Oh my, oh my.”

Even the people from the Tower of Protection who had come with the party to meet the Witch of the North were showing reactions as if an earthquake had struck their pupils, so Adelaide inwardly sighed in relief, thinking it wasn’t just her who found this situation strange.

In fact, when they first met the Witch of the North, it wasn’t this bad.

While it was a bit surprising that the person who came out as the Witch of the North looked very young, they had already encountered several power mages’ whose appearances didn’t match their actual age.

The much less dignified and friendlier attitude than expected was also understandable considering she was none other than Gale’s mentor.

But no one expected the Witch of the North to suddenly burst into tears and bow her head to Adelaide after briefly scanning the memory orb Adelaide handed over.

No, to be precise, only about one person remained calm.

“Um, Mentor. Everyone’s confused and doesn’t know what to do. Please calm down for now.”

“But, but…!”

“Come on, stop it!”

“Sniff.”

…A crying younger sister and an older sister comforting her?

Adelaide couldn’t help but think that.

The development was so different from what she expected that she couldn’t keep up at all.

The Witch of the North, who barely regained her composure, carefully opened her mouth while sneakily glancing at Adelaide, “Um, well, I’ll bring Lot and make him apologize somehow. He probably didn’t have any malicious intent. No, I know it’s not a matter of whether there was malicious intent or not, but still, well.”

“Who do you mean by… Lot?”

To Adelaide’s question, the head of the Tower of Protection answered, “Lotbart Rognir. The Gray Tower Head. He’s also the only mentee of the Witch of the North who remains active among the current tower heads.”

“…”

Adelaide silently hardened her face, and seeing this, the Witch of the North shrank even more.

The head of the Tower of Protection sighed as if somewhat tired and said, “Witch of the North, first of all, is the memory shown by this orb real?”

“…Yes.”

“Then, this is already beyond the level of just apologizing. It means they plotted a scheme with an incident that could lead to war if it went even slightly wrong.”

“That’s, that’s right, yes.”

The Witch of the North drooped her shoulders, and everyone made awkward expressions at that sight.

The meeting ended in an ambiguous atmosphere that couldn’t be clearly cut off.

The head of the Tower of Protection and her escorts quickly left, saying they had many other things to do, the Witch of the North retreated back into her mansion, and Dorothea’s party was confined as witnesses.

It was confinement in name only; in reality, it was a rest in a luxurious mansion.

Dorothea said as if dumbfounded, “Is that really the Witch of the North? Isn’t she fake?”

Gale shrugged her shoulders, “That evaluation is rude, Dorothea. While my mentor might not live up to her name, she’s still undoubtedly real.”

“No, if anything, your side seems more rude.”

“Certainly, there are many differences from the character described in books or rumors. While she was described as quite progressive and kind-hearted there, now—“

“She seemed not just kind, but foolish.”

Dorothea completed Sophia’s words.

It wasn’t for nothing that she doubted whether the Witch of the North was real or fake.

The experience and pressure characteristic of those who have left their names as legends for long years couldn’t be felt at all from the girl claiming to be the Witch of the North.

So much so that she had to ponder for a long time whether to hand over the skeleton requested for delivery by her teacher.

If that girl was fake, they would need to retrieve the skeleton now and find the real one, so Dorothea’s irritation wasn’t unreasonable.

“Don’t worry. The Witch of the North, Orin, is undoubtedly my mentor. And about her personality… she’s in a particularly bad state right now, that’s why she’s like that. When she’s normal, she’s much more mature than this.”

Gale said that at least she wasn’t weak enough to show tears in front of the tower head.

“No, what does being in a bad state have to do with personality?”

“Well, it’s complicated to explain in detail, but to summarize as much as possible─

“—The Witch of the North isn’t one person. Two witches coexist in my mentor’s body.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken