chapter 29
29 – Three People Are Ducks (3)
With a loud noise, the ‘Express’ departed.
The way for the ironclad, covered in all sorts of defensive spells, to climb the tower was literally to break everything blocking the way and go around the outer edge of the tower.
Most of the connected tracks were restricted for safety, but occasionally groups of attackers would come out.
A kind of trick for climbing.
If you can successfully get on the Express, it’s not a dream to settle in the higher floors.
—–
[Is it good to ride the Express?]
I spent all my savings to buy a third-class ticket because I heard you can quickly go up to the middle floors.
If it seems too difficult for my level, can I go back?
— Did you ride it? LOL
— Do you think my ancestors will give me the money for the return ticket…
— It’s not too late even now, jump off immediately
— The guys who couldn’t come out after entering the public area were all like you
— You can still do gallery stuff there, so it’s good
— Bye bye, I won’t go far~
[Who went to the final station?]
I’ll get on at the 19th floor and get off again at the 21st floor~
The trial on the floor of cultivation is so damn difficult, I can’t handle it.
— There’s no button to get off in the middle of the express?
ㄴ Ah, if you just jump off, your legs will be the brakes ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Those who succeed are all in paradise.
ㄴ What if you fail?
ㄴ Then you’ll be trapped for life, I guess.
— You know you’ll be expelled from the school if you get caught, right?
— If you have the skills to break through the defense magic made by the hundred elder statesmen, why are you just wasting time on the floor of cultivation?
—–
—–
I’m trapped on the 44th floor, please help
[I’m trapped on the 44th floor, please help]
I’m trapped on the 44th floor, please, anyone, help me. I’m trapped on the 44th floor, please, anyone, help me. I’m trapped on the 44th floor, please, anyone, help me…
— Oh, steady post, hi.
— Looks like they still haven’t come out yet, lol.
— How is it that there’s no one to help?
— Just wait, your friends will come soon~
“The bathroom is separately prepared on the right side of the room, and the bed will be personally made by the crew in the evening. If you need anything, please call us anytime.”
The elegant appearance and excellent service of the first-class facilities were truly impressive.
Not only did I not feel the sensation of going up the tower due to gravity adjustment, but there were also various landscapes woven with welcoming magic floating outside the window.
When the vibration of the train began to diminish due to an unknown external force, I closed my eyes for a moment.
Using a tactical nuclear weapon was a dangerous technique that even the owner of the gallery had to endure injuries.
It was stored in the “B-Rank Restricted Access Folder,” such as the “Commission Collection that Paid an Abnormal Amount of Money” that Arthur recently asked me to send, but the isolation level here was even higher.
Even though I only glanced at it for a moment, a strange figure appeared and disappeared among the clouds floating above the meadow.
I naturally felt nauseous, but I had no regrets.
The reason I came here was not for the business in the public domain, but solely to ask Vina for magic.
“Don’t worry too much. Celsia is quite high-ranking even within the Hundred Families, so we won’t be able to harm the manager next to us.”
“Thank you.”
“I will be called by the purser for a moment. Have a good time!”
Just as Christina left her seat, Vina and I were left alone.
“….”
“….”
Low-heeled shoes and black stockings, a beautiful skirt that delicately covered her neatly gathered knees.
As she turned the pages of the hardcover book while basking in the pouring sunlight, her appearance was like a painting.
Regardless of the fact that she was a pureblooded magician, her appearance exuded a breathtaking beauty that made it difficult to even approach her without being presumptuous.
Of course, there was a side that would be shattered once you knew the truth.
Frozen to Death Meteor
[This investigation committee is hosted by our Glesia.]
Indeed, among the elemental factions, it is the most prestigious faction.
It is incomparable to Calaidos, who abandoned the position of the Seven Sages.
Now, only ice water sold by our Glesia will be placed in the Epsilon Observatory vending machine.
(Photo)
So, from now on, you can’t just draw and drink for free from the water dispenser.
– ㅇㅇ(1.1): Is this gallery another diary where you spout nonsense?
ㄴ Eoljukme: It’s you again. But it doesn’t matter. I won’t be affected by someone as pathetic as you…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1.1): Are you so great that you struggled in the Abyss and barely made it out, holding onto the Meteor Pendant? It’s said that the trees in the Dark Forest grew 5 meters taller because of the tears you shed.
ㄴ Eoljukme: Where are you right now? Tell me right away. I’ll engrave the ice pick in your head.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1.1): Huh?
—–
“Adukk…!”
I decided to stop teasing the shivering Vina for now and brought up my business.
“Miss Vina.”
“Yes?”
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I make one request?”
Upon hearing my question about whether she could give me one of her spells, she made a mysterious expression.
“A spell?”
“Yes, in order for the Haesoo School to advance to the next level of training, they need to receive it from someone else…”
“That’s not what I meant. The instructors have no idea that they receive the totality of magical power from pure-blooded sorcerers.”
Of course, I can’t easily hand over something like a family secret to someone like me, can I?
Interpreting and deflecting magic naturally weakens the power of the school, so it is only natural to be cautious.
In the moment when I was about to give up without hesitation at the surprised reaction, Bina spoke up.
“Alright.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but only if the instructor can completely destroy the cake I gave you until you leave the training grounds.”
I took out the baggage that I hastily prepared before arriving at the platform earlier.
Inside the emerald green cloth were various items, along with the ice cake that I had been carrying around as a symbol of my gratitude.
If I completely destroy this and give her magic… it seemed impossible, but I decided to think of it as a test she gave me.
Until I got back on the express train, every minute and second was valuable, so I poured all of this fragmented time into it.
When I used the interference device on the cake, I felt a small gap between the top of the three-layered sheet and the strawberries.
Now that I had some skill, as long as I was careful, I could access the magical circuit without damaging it.
I slowly started to remove the strawberries placed on the edge.
Since I couldn’t destroy it all at once, I planned to remove the decorations one by one.
“…”
Rather than cutting it, it was more appropriate to say that I created cracks with saliva and mucous membranes.
The cake didn’t attack, let alone counterattack, but it had an unconscious defense mechanism for the caster.
I had to gently and delicately remove it, as if soothing and calming it, while transmitting my body temperature through the connection between the layers of the cake.
As I grew accustomed to the stickiness, my guard weakened, and in that moment, I exposed my fangs and sank them in with a sharp “ah!”
Damp.
Tap. Tap.
Crunch. Crunch.
Crunch.
Tap. Tap.
Crunch. Crunch.
Crunch…
.
.
.
Snap!
After focusing solely on interference to the point where sweat dripped down even with a transparent ice placed on my knee, it had been about an hour.
I successfully plucked a strawberry.
At that moment, as I admired the delicate lines drawn on the transparent ice, I suddenly noticed Bina, who was sitting across from me, abruptly standing up.
“….!”
“Bina?”
Uncharacteristically, she bit her lower lip slightly and her cheeks turned slightly red.
His posture and expression seemed somewhat uneasy.
Without hesitation, Bina opened the door to the room and quickly turned her body to the right, walking towards the corridor.
When I tried to follow her, the doorknob froze instantly.
“Where are you suddenly going?”
“…The restroom.”
“What?”
“Don’t come.”
*
What was that just now?
I absentmindedly looked in the direction Bina disappeared, brushing off the ice fragments on my hand.
Even if I didn’t know what urgent matter it was, it would have been nice if she had told me in advance.
Instead of deciding whether to remove the remaining strawberries from the cake, I decided to explore the train a bit.
It felt like a waste of time to just look at repetitive scenery.
As I stepped out of the room, I realized that we were using an entire car for ourselves.
It seemed to be a special room provided only to pure-blooded families, even among first-class cabins.
“Since the front is most likely the engine room…”
“Hey, you there!”
However, as soon as I opened the door to the back car, a magician dressed in a tightly buttoned robe approached me.
It was as if he had been looking for me, as he grabbed my clothes and dragged me through the sparsely populated corridor.
Judging from the number 38, he seemed to be from the Baekga lineage, but there was definitely no sign of a smile on his face.
To me, who was puzzled, he spoke with a voice filled with anger.
“What happened? You said you would contact me if you succeeded in contacting Niflheim!”
“What?”
The faint trembling that is difficult to detect without concentration reminded me of a snake digging into my flesh as the train climbed up the mountain.
I remembered the magician from Serrucia who talked to Vina and Christina on the platform.
It seemed that he did not approach the two just to gain favor.
“On the bulletin board, you boasted about being able to do it, but you wouldn’t change your mind and send those bastards to the gallows, right?”
He just talked to me because I came out of the first-class cabin, but seeing that he didn’t recognize my face, I knew that they only contacted each other within the gallery.
The magician in front of me, confirmed through the location note, had a record of accessing the recently abandoned “Honeybee Bulletin Board.”
The guy who must be wriggling on the platform floor around this time would be the same.
If I disguised myself as one of them, I might have been able to prevent the great chaos that would happen in the future.
“What’s this? You had a location note, so why didn’t you answer? And where did the family’s sentence go?”
But can I really succeed?
I have never told a lie in my life, and I am a heretic of the Hajuhak faction who doesn’t know how to curse others.
Trying to infiltrate a terrorist organization and extract their information, I would definitely be exposed in just one second…
“Wait, this account is not ‘Beloved Grandchild,’ right? Could it be…”
“How foolish. Where can you find a fool who writes only one note for such an important plan?”
…But I immediately turned the mask inside out.
After stabbing the spear into the heart of the dragon, my heart started beating for the first time in a long time.