The Genius Magician Hides His Swordsmanship - Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Welcome, is this your first time at the mage tower?

The distance to Las was quite long, so I had to go through two cities in the middle.

“Oh! You are a master of the Delemar family.”

Whenever that happened, Drew’s eyes sparkled when he saw the dignified portal managers.

“As expected, Delemar is different.”
“What?”
“Why are the portal managers being so friendly? They look down on even most nobles.”

In a way, it is a job that manages borders. As a result, they had to work with great responsibility and tension.

“Have a nice trip!”

Naturally, they had to thoroughly identify portal users, but I was an exception.

[See? The Delemar name is very popular these days.]

Rather, the managers smiled and greeted us everywhere we went. It was because of the majesty of Delemar.

‘It’s comfortable.’

Some people even gave fruits, only then did I realize what kind of lineage I was born in.

“Ian, aren’t you nervous?”

Suddenly, Drew asked.

“Nervous about what?”

“There’s a lot to do when we get to the mage tower. They said we’ll be very busy with managing our performance points. You have to take classes, do research, and build your own reputation. Ugh!”
“Performance points…”

A mage’s life was simple. It operates with a point system called performance points.
In order to accumulate such performance points, we had to engage in various activities. Isn’t the mage tower just an educational institution? Research and magic development could not be neglected either.

[Ah, did he say we could catch criminals too?!]
‘I think that would be good for accumulating performance points.’

In addition, I had to volunteer where mages were needed to build my reputation.

[Must be fun.]

Unlike Drew, we were full of anticipation.

“Don’t be too nervous. It’s the first time for everyone else, so it will be similar.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, let’s go and have fun together.”
“Okay!”

We crossed three portals with Drew’s bright smile.

“Welcome to Las.”

A young man greeted us with a smile.

“Where do we have to go to get to the mage tower?”
“Ah, it must be your first time here.”

The young man smiled lightly.

“You don’t have to ask me. You’ll find out right away when you go outside.”

With that said, we followed the escort. As he opened the door, I understood what he meant.

‘…Huh?’

Drew’s and my neck bent upward endlessly at a building high enough to pierce the clouds.

“…That must be the tower.”

It boasted such terrifying dignity that it was not thought to be a man-made building.

“Well, I guess so.”

There were quite a few children around who raised their heads like us. Everyone gathered to enter this school.

‘Hm.’

It was funny to see everyone raising their heads together, so I hurriedly lowered my head.

‘Are those seniors?’

There were people laughing at us on the street.

[I suppose so.]
‘Why are they looking at me like this?’

Attention was focused on me with my head down.

“Oh, he has red eyes.”
“I saw one earlier.”
“Pfft, Delemar must be fascinating.”
“He looks so young. It looks like he’s only about 15 years old.”

The thing with murmuring is that it was never an expression of joy.
Rather, it was of envy and jealousy.
It was a strange war of nerves.

‘Young people will develop their skills.’

They must be seniors who are not even worth remembering. If you’re going to be really big, you’d be busy developing your skills.

“Let’s go, Drew.”
“Huh? Ok!”

Drew, who was still looking up at the magic tower, hurriedly closed his mouth and followed me.

“Welcome everyone!”

On the 1st floor of the mage tower. There was no pretentiousness like the entrance ceremony. We were allotted our own rooms according to the guide’s instructions.

“Oh! Fortunately, our rooms are right next to each other! We can hang out a lot more from now on!”

Drew, after receiving the room key, showed a bright expression.

‘It’ll be easier to train.’

We both had different thoughts, but both of us were swollen with anticipation.

“Put down your luggage and go straight to class.”

It was the first day of admission, but I was told that classes were going on, so I moved quickly. The dormitory was on the 10th floor. At that moment when I was naturally looking for the stairs.

‘Oh, there’s something like that.’

Something had caught my attention.
Oh!
It was a translucent orb that carried people and moved up and down.

“It looks like you can ride on that.”

Drew was beckoning too.

“…But how do you get on?”

At that moment, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Are you two freshmen?”

When we turned our heads, we saw a woman smiling. She seemed to be two years older than us.

“Yes, do you know how to ride that? We have to go to our dorms.”

Drew approached her with a good attitude.

“Are you talking about the moving marbles? Come with me, I’m on my way over there too.”

The kind senior took a few steps and stopped in front of a pad the size of her palm.

“You can inject magic here.”

As if to demonstrate, she raised her hand, and an empty marble near her approached.
Whoosh!
A moving orb stopped in front of us and opened the door.

“Just ride it. You don’t have to use mana.”

We climbed into a space that could accommodate about 10 people.
Shut!
The door closed and we started moving upwards.

“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing special.”

The woman looking out of the bead suddenly turned her head toward me.

“Oh by the way, don’t be too sad that the other kids are being mean. Not everyone is like that.”
“What do you mean?”

Then, her finger pointed to my eyes.

“Those, those red eyes. You may have benefited from it elsewhere, but you won’t here. There are probably more kids who are jealous of the Delemar name. Everyone is equal in the tower.”

As they are all children of a family who are said to be big, their pride must be strong.
Yet, they had to bow to the Delemars outside, so they wanted to win in the mage tower.

‘Everyone is full of envy at this age.’
[Moreover, if you are talented, your pride will be stronger.]

I wanted to talk more.
Woooo…
But, because of the moving beads that arrived on the 10th floor, the conversation could not be continued.

“I’ll go first then. Cheer up juniors!”

Drew then shouted at her as she was moving away, it seemed he liked the kind girl.

“Senior! What’s your name?”

Then the woman turned her head for a moment and laughed.

“Noah, Noah Grendel.”

The name forced me to harden my steps.

“Ian, let’s get off now!”

I could barely get off the marble at Drew’s touch.

‘Oberon, did you hear that?’
[I know, it was rare for a mage, but what a name!]

Grendel.
A name I will never forget. It was one of the names of the pentagram that I hated so much.

* * * 

“The world says that the mage tower is also called the vertical city. Everyone has seen it for themselves, so you all understand why, correct?”

I couldn’t hear the voice of the old teacher standing at the lectern.

‘The Pentagram…’

I just thought I would get revenge. But when I faced the descendants of the Pentagram, my head was complicated.

“The 200 story mage tower is worthy of being called a vertical city. There are magic research facilities, educational facilities, and even restaurants. It is unknown how many mages have shed blood and sweat to build this place.”

I’m confused. Who is the target of my revenge? Pentagram? Or their descendants? I vaguely thought that I would take revenge, but a thousand years had already passed.

‘First, I need to find out what those snakes were up to.’

What those guys have done. The reason why the swordsmen families collapsed, the empire was changed, and even a new language was created. If I dig into them, I will be able to reach the truth someday.

“…Agh?”

I was lost in thought, when I felt something on my knee
Tap- tap-
Drew was tapping my knee, I looked around and all the eyes of the class were on me.

“What did I just say, Ian?”

In the front, the old professor was fixing his glasses and staring.

‘What did he just say?’
[Ha, Even I have to babysit?!]
‘Hurry!’
[The reason why the mage tower was built here is because a lot of pure energy flows from this area.]

I hurriedly repeated what Oberon had said.

“The reason why the mage tower was built here is because a lot of pure energy flows from this area.”
[Research to find out the cause resumed, and about three years ago, a place where various artifacts were excavated was discovered.]
“Research to find out the cause resumed, but about three years ago, a place where various artifacts were excavated was found…?”
[The excavation work is still in full swing there, so don’t approach it.]
“The excavation work is still in progress, so… don’t approach it…”

I spit out his words without mistake, the old professor didn’t seem to like it, but I didn’t have time to look at his reaction.

‘There’s no way, right?’
[Do you really think I’m wrong?]
‘Sigh… these bastards.’

It was because I was concerned about the relics.

‘If they touch my things, I won’t let them go.’

A thousand years ago, when they made this area their base, they had hidden many treasures there.

* * * 

The first day of class felt like an orientation.

“For the next month, you will only be attending classes! After that, you will also conduct research and field practice. I want you all to be happy.”

The class ended with the last words of the old professor, Andrei.

“What’s on the menu for dinner? The lunch menu was really good too.”

Drew was full of anticipation. It seemed that he really liked the food provided by the mage tower’s cafeteria.

“Do you like to eat that much?”
“There are a lot of ingredients I’ve never seen before in lunch here. My mother said that you have to eat well to grow well.”

His plump cheeks held a pleasant smile.

[Of course, of course, the Gibsons should grow up well!]

The Gibsons’ swordsmen were uniquely tall and bulky. They also wore sturdy hardware.

‘Is it because of this kind of appetite that such a monster-like physicality is born?’

Suddenly, I started thinking of a colleague who commanded the battlefield wielding a giant sword.

‘This guy will be like that someday.’

I smiled brightly and grabbed Drew’s wrist as I headed towards the restaurant.

“Drew, let’s not have dinner here.”
“Huh? Then? You don’t mean to starve and train, do you?”

Despair entered the boy’s eyes for a moment, although.

“Of course not, just follow me. Let’s go out and eat something even better.”

Soon, Drew’s big mouth caught on to what he heard.

“Really?”
“Of course, have I ever been wrong?”
“No!”

Its old name, Shiraton, was famous for its fresh seafood.

‘It must be the same these days.’

It is said that a thousand years have passed, but this place is still a port city. Food ingredients in Las would not be comparable to those in the inland.
[Because the Pentagram couldn’t have cursed the seafood either.]
‘Okay, I’m finally free from the Delemar family, but I’ll have to smell the market for the first time in a while.’

It may not be as much as Drew, but it was clear that it was exciting for me too. It was the same for me since I was looking forward to an outing after a long time.

‘While I’m out, I’ll have to find out where the ruins are being excavated.’
[To find out about that, the market is the best.]

I nodded and stepped out of the mage tower.

‘Hmm… Where do you think many restaurants would be?’

Even after looking around, it was impossible to know the road at a glance, probably because the roads and buildings looked completely different from those of a thousand years ago.

‘It has changed a lot.’

While I hesitated, Drew reacted first.

“I think I can smell food from over there!”

He sniffed and pointed off to one side. It was a particularly crowded alley.

“Okay, let’s go there for now.”
“Yay! A restaurant. I’m so excited!”

He was so confident that there was already a restaurant there. I knew the reason as soon as I entered the alley.

‘Was the Gibson family famous for their dog nose…?’

In the back of the alley, merchants had spread out various seafood and were soliciting.

[What, does he have an absolute sense of smell?]

Drew’s senses related to food were extremely developed.
However, after he entered the alley, his expression hardened. He had a serious look I’ve never seen before.

“Hm…”

His eyebrows were wrinkled enough to disappear.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Then, still frowning, he shook his head.

“No, I’m thinking of something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know which restaurant to go to. It’s my first time eating out in Las, but I can’t do it just anywhere!”

At those words, I couldn’t help but frown.

‘He’s serious about eating that much, huh?’

The moment he shook his head, Drew’s face widened again,

“Huh? We meet again.”

It was because of a woman who appeared in front of us.