Chapter 127

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Chapter 127: Artificial Island, Ivemir (4)

The central hall of the artificial island.

Left alone, Oscar lightly summoned his magical power.

“Wind.”

In an instant, a gust of wind swept through the central hall, clearing away dust from the floors and furniture and removing cobwebs from the ceiling.

‘…Maybe the White Tower should’ve gone into the cleaning business instead of deliveries. It might’ve been more profitable.’

Oscar continued cleaning with idle thoughts like that, occasionally practicing the power of “Frost Crystal” in between.

To sum it up, he was quite satisfied.

‘A chilling wind, huh.’

Countless ways to utilize it flashed through his mind.

Among them, the one technique he expected to use the most was the freezing wind that immobilized his enemies.

It would be a hard technique to block, even if the opponent saw it coming.

‘The only downside is the high mana consumption when using Frost Crystal…’

Luckily, it wasn’t much of a problem for him.

When he discreetly checked his mana pool—like a vast lake—it showed no signs of depletion.

‘There’s already too much of it.’

For someone at Level 4, or even for an intermediate mage, he possessed an extraordinary amount of mana.

In short, he was overpowered when it came to mana.

As he mixed in simple experiments with his cleaning, night fell before he realized it.

‘That should do it for the first floor cleaning… It’s about time the others showed up.’

Sure enough, the troublemakers, incapable of acting like proper nobles, began appearing one by one.

“The first floor of my assigned area is clean. As expected, it wasn’t particularly difficult.”

“Same here.”

“We only cleaned the first floor today, but cleaning the basement and the upper floors is going to take a lot of time.”

Oscar pointed to the now-clean sofas in the hall.

“For now, grab a seat over there and eat. I’ve got somewhere to go.”

“Go? Where to at this hour?”

Veronica blinked in curiosity, and Oscar pulled out a map from his pocket, waving it.

It was a map of the artificial island given to him by Sasha before they arrived, supposedly provided by the Imperial family.

“They told us to report to the Imperial family’s representative every time we finish cleaning for the day. I need to head to the communication room.”

“Daily inspections? That’s pretty annoying.”

“Well, that’s what you get when working with the Imperial family.”

“Huh? Have you worked with the Imperial family before?”

At Veronica’s sharp question, Oscar quickly replied.

“Oh, that… Back in Baran City, we collaborated with the Violet Brigade, so we worked with the Imperial family too. Right, Killian?”

“That’s right. They kept asking so many questions it was exhausting.”

Killian’s indifferent response, recalling the time, dispelled Veronica’s suspicions.

“Ah, Baran City. Got it. Go ahead, then.”

“We’ll start eating first.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Leaving the three behind, Oscar searched the map to locate the communication room.

‘Communication room… the third floor of the central hall, huh.’

Climbing the stairs to the upper floor, Oscar nodded as he observed his surroundings.

‘The upper floors aren’t much different from the first floor.’

This level of cleanliness meant it should be possible to finish the entire island’s cleaning within a week.

Finding the communication room, he spotted a familiar tool and let out a small chuckle.

“This again?”

It was a signal crystal.

The same magical device he had used in Baran City to communicate with the Imperial family.

‘No, wait. This one seems a bit different from what I remember.’

It made sense—this tool was over 200 years old.

Reading the instructions attached to the map, Oscar sent a first-day report.

[Four mages from the White Tower have arrived at the artificial island. Cleaning of the first floor in designated zones completed. Day 1 activities concluded.]

A moment later, a beep sounded, and a reply filled with dense numerical codes arrived.

[Report confirmed. Report any unusual occurrences immediately.]

Unusual occurrences?

Tilting his head, Oscar soon understood.

‘Of course, with the Night of Mages approaching, there shouldn’t be any variables.’

It was a common enough situation.

The longer a place remained abandoned, the more likely ghost monsters or other creatures would take up residence.

Alternatively, it could’ve been overrun by squatters.

‘Considering that, it’s remarkably clean.’

Even with the Imperial family enforcing a no-entry order, the world is full of reckless people—treasure hunters and adventurers, for example.

An artificial island like this would certainly be worth risking one’s life for, given its history as the gathering site for the mages of the Four Towers.

If someone found any magical tools or artifacts left behind, it would be a massive windfall.

Shrugging, Oscar turned off the signal crystal and left the communication room.

[…]

But as soon as he exited, the crystal turned back on, emitting a single red flash.

* * *

The next day onward, their routine became simpler.

Cleaning, cleaning… there was nothing to do except clean the entire island.

The only reprieve was gathering for meals three times a day.

“...Canned soup again.”

Seeing the canned soup for dinner, Veronica sighed in disappointment.

It had been five days since they arrived on the artificial island.

For every single meal—15 in total—they had eaten canned soup.

“Well, let’s just bear with it. I spoke to them during yesterday’s report, and it sounds like the Imperial family is starting to send supplies for the Night of Mages. Food and people should arrive within a week at most.”

“A week, huh. Not long now.”

“Ugh, I thought I was going to lose my mind. It feels like going straight into another isolation training after just finishing one.”

“I find it quite entertaining, actually. Cleaning.”

As they chatted briefly about their day (which only involved cleaning), Fran suddenly smirked mischievously.

“Really? So everyone had an utterly uneventful, ordinary day?”

“Well, so did you. We all just cleaned.”

At Veronica’s curt reply, Fran wagged his index finger with a sly grin.

“No, no. I’m someone who finds the extraordinary even in the mundane.”

With the gaze of three others fixed on him, he carefully pulled a book out of his coat.

"Here! Look at this!"

"......"

"......"

"......"

The three of them glanced at the seemingly ordinary book, their expressions void of any surprise.

But only for a moment.

It was Oscar who first noticed something unusual.

"Wait a second..."

"As expected of you, Oscar. I knew you'd notice."

Delighted, Fran chuckled as he firmly placed the book on the table and struck it twice.

Bang, bang!

"Now, what do you think of this?"

"And what's so special about it?"

As Veronica frowned, Oscar stepped in to explain.

"That book... it's in pristine condition."

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"And why is that special? It's a book, so of course—oh?"

Finally realizing something, her eyes widened.

"You're right. It's too well-preserved."

"Hmm. True. We've never found anything intact among the trash we've cleaned up."

Killian also nodded in agreement.

The objects they discovered during their cleanup were at least 210 years old.

Which meant that nothing could possibly be in pristine condition.

“Even the books I’ve come across crumbled at the slightest touch.”

Simply holding them caused fragments of paper to flake off and scatter.

The weight of centuries had rendered them incapable of retaining their form.

What he had seen were no longer books, not tools of knowledge, but fragments of a bygone era.

"Why is that one still intact?"

"I don’t know. But I found it in a really strange place."

Fran explained where he had found the book.

"Honestly, I get bored cleaning floor by floor in order, so I jumped around—1st floor, 3rd floor, 5th floor, and so on."

"......That’s so you."

"Today’s the fifth day, so I was cleaning the 9th floor, and there was a laboratory there."

"If it's the building with the red roof you were assigned to… that’d be the Red Tower’s laboratory."

"Exactly. I found this book beneath one of the lab tables."

At that, the three others exchanged intrigued glances.

"And? What was written in it?"

"Results of an incredible experiment? Or perhaps the Red Tower’s secret magic?"

"Maybe even something about the Magician’s Night back then?"

At their excitement, Fran blinked a few times before replying.

"Uh… sorry, but you’re all wrong."

Opening the book, he revealed blank pages.

"I just thought it was fascinating that the book itself was intact. There’s nothing written inside."

"Seriously? What a letdown."

"Disappointing."

"But it’s still interesting, isn’t it? Right?"

Fran asked, looking toward him with a dejected expression. Oscar reached out his hand.

"Let me see that book for a moment."

"Huh? There’s really nothing written inside."

Fran handed over the book without hesitation.

Oscar scanned it with magic.

Watching him, Fran added,

"It does have magic on it. That’s probably why it’s stayed in good condition until now."

"......No."

Oscar shook his head.

"Well, you’re not wrong, but that’s only half the answer."

He recognized the magic on the book.

‘This is… a Sealed Secret Grimoire.’

A long time ago, the Master of the Red Tower had visited the kingdom of Yan and been inspired by its culture to create this magic.@@novelbin@@

It was used to seal secrets and protect documents with an enchantment, often applied to critical wartime papers.

‘I learned this spell myself from a Red Tower mage during the war.’

But to encounter it here, of all places?

Oscar furrowed his brows as he drew forth his magic.

The book, enveloped in mana, made several clicking sounds before—

Whoosh.

Letters began to emerge on the previously blank pages.

"What the—?"

"It’s a type of encryption magic. I just broke through the seal."

"Who cares? Read it already! What does it say?"

"Don’t rush me."

The four of them huddled together and began reading the newly revealed contents.

[March 19th, 5:21 PM]

I’ve arrived.

Before me stretches the famous Sylvarine Lake.

I’d heard it was so beautiful that even His Majesty the Emperor was said to have been captivated by it. The rumors were not exaggerated.

The artificial island built atop the lake makes me feel as though I’m truly living in an age of magic.

I look forward to the life that awaits me here.

[March 25th, 11:38 PM]

I’m exhausted.

The past few days have been so busy I haven’t had time to write.

An elder, who has experienced this event six times, described it as a miniature battlefield.

He emphasized that it’s crucial for the Red Tower to achieve the best results here.

I don’t know. I was just happy to see my academy classmates again after so long. Is it really that important to succeed?

[March 26th, 7:28 PM]

There’s been an accident.

An explosion in the laboratory left two mages from the Blue Tower seriously injured.

The Blue Tower is claiming it was sabotage by another tower.

The once-enthusiastic mages now wear grim expressions, and a slight tension has crept into their gazes toward one another.

There’s still a lot of time left in this event… I’m worried.

[March 27th, 11:02 PM]

Someone has died.

Their body was discovered beneath the central hall’s chandelier, brutally murdered.

The victim was a mage from the Yellow Tower. An enormous ice spear was lodged in their chest.

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