CH 269

Zich already roughly knew the structure of the magical tower, and he walked forward confidently.

“A dungeon? There was something like that in the magical tower?” Lyla didn’t expect a dungeon to be in the magical tower.

“It’s a prison that holds mages, not ordinary criminals. I heard that they use the dungeon to punish mages who committed crimes. It’s empty right now.”

“It must be the ideal prison for detaining mages.”

“Yep.”

“Who is it!” 

Since the dungeon was a place where they locked up people, there were guards in front. As soon as they turned a corner and arrived at the staircase leading to the basement, Zich and his companions saw people blocking the staircase. Even though the guards outside of the magical tower wore robes, the guards in front of the staircase all had their robes off. The guards in the inside of the magical tower must have thought that wearing robes and pretending to be mages was too troublesome. 

Zich did not reply. He pushed his feet into the ground and jumped up. 

“Ene—!”

It seemed as if the guard wanted to shout, “Enemy!” but he was unable to finish his word... And he’d probably never be able to say another word.

Pierce! Windur pierced straight through the guard’s heart. The other guard next to him was extremely shocked and tried to wield his sword, but a bright light passed through him.

Splash! Red blood scattered along a path of light. However, not even a drop of blood landed on Estellade. Hans put Estellade back to his side.

“Hans! Snoc!” 

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Stand guard so that bothersome people don’t come in.” After giving Hans and Snoc an order, Zich turned towards Lyla. He asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Is Elena down there?”

“Probably not.”

Lyla narrowed her eyes. “They didn’t lock up everyone they captured?”

“I don’t think so. Moreover, Orland asked us to protect her as an excuse to keep her in check. In a way, she’s just baggage to him.”

Lyla’s eyes turned sharp from the word ‘baggage.’ 

However, Zich continued to talk. “So he probably didn’t imprison her in a dungeon where they’ll be let out sooner or later. He probably put her in a more dangerous place by using some kind of excuse.”

“More dangerous?” 

Lyla’s eyes grew even more menacing, and Zich waved his hands. “He probably didn’t leave her in an extremely dangerous place. She needs to be safe until Orland at least hands her over to us.”

“Then where would she be?”

“Wouldn’t she be somewhere up in the magical tower? They imprison high-ranking and dangerous mages in a separate area.”

“…You sound like you caused this coup.”

“Well, it won’t be far-fetched to say that I really was the one who caused this coup,” Zich said half-jokingly and chuckled. “So are you coming or not?”

Lyla seemed conflicted for a bit, but she stood next to Zich. “I’ll go with you. Just in case you encounter danger.”

“Haha! Yeah, you’re right! I can be in danger as well!” Zich sounded like he didn’t believe this to be true at all. However, he was not mocking Lyla. Even if it was a useless concern, he didn’t think it was a bad feeling to receive Lyla’s concern.

“Good, then should we check out what kind of danger is waiting for us in the basement? We never know—a legendary dragon might be building a nest down there.”

“Stop saying nonsense and quickly go down.” Lyla pushed Zich’s back.

*    *    *

When people thought of dungeons, they normally thought of cold, dark, and gloomy places. However, a dungeon in the magical tower was different from a normal dungeon. Compared to other dungeons, it was clean and well-maintained. But this maintenance was not for the prisoners. 

Lyla grimaced as she followed behind Zich. She stopped her footsteps, raised her hand, and activated a simple spell.

Crackle! A small fireball appeared on top of her hand. However, it trembled like crazy as if it was in front of a strong wind.

Lyla said, “It’s hard for me to use magic.”

“It’s a place where they imprison mages. They obviously would have instilled special measures to prevent mages from using magic.” 

Lyla swiped the wall. She felt its hard metallic surface, and there was a strange flow of mana coming out of it. “Is there something inside the walls of this basement that hinders magic activation?”

“I heard that they used orichalcum, mithril, and all kinds of precious and rare metals as the base and made mana flow through them to interfere with magic activation. Ordinary mages would have an extremely difficult time using their magic but…” Zich stole a glance at Lyla. “I thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem for you.”

Lyla frowned and replied, “How would I not have much of a problem?” However, if ordinary mages who couldn’t use any magic at all in the dungeon heard Lyla’s next words, they would have grabbed her collar and glared at her in anger.

“It’s really annoying to use magic here.”

Zich replied, “Yeah, judging by your reaction, you’ll be fine.” 

As expected, this basement’s structure was nothing more than annoying for Lyla. Zich continued to go down the stairs. When they reached the end of the staircase, they saw two more guards. However, they were guarding the inside of the dungeon and faced the opposite direction of Zich and Lyla. 

Then, the sound of Zich’s footsteps completely disappeared. Lyla stared at Zich with wide eyes. She could definitely see him, but his presence had completely disappeared. Zich openly approached the guards from the back. However, the guards were not able to notice Zich at all. Zich wielded his sword.

Slash! Slash! Two heads flew up high in the air as if flying was their special ability.  The heads fell and the bodies collapsed. Blood spurted out and formed a puddle on the ground; it continued to expand to cover more distance. Zich calmly passed over the corpses and passed through the door.

“Huh?”

“What is that?”

Zich and Lyla’s enemies heard the loud sound of someone’s body plopping to the ground. They turned back and stared at Zich. Their gaze moved past Zich and reached their fallen comrades on the ground.

“Those people are…”

“They’re enemies!”

They began to take out their weapons. Zich also held up Windur again. However, when Lyla moved next to him, Zich took a step back. Lyla lifted her staff towards their enemies. Zich and Lyla saw them repressing their laughs. They knew that magic was very difficult to activate in the dungeon of the magical tower, so they rushed towards Lyla without hesitation.

However, unfortunately for them, Lyla was not an ordinary mage.

Crack!

Lyla didn’t even say an incantation. Several ice spikes formed around her staff. Her opponents were dumbstruck by how Lyla was able to activate her magic. However, Lyla nonchalantly stared at them and shot out her magic.

Pierce! Pierce! Pierce!

The sharp ice spikes mercilessly hit their enemies. The enemies were pushed back at a faster speed than the speed they rushed towards Lyla with. Since Lyla’s opponents were pierced by ice spikes that were the size of a human arm all over their bodies, they were most likely dead.

“They weren’t very strong.”

Zich replied, “Even with the robed figures’ help, it would be difficult for a mage's family to raise swordsmen. Moreover, I’m sure that they didn’t need strong guys. They just need people who can fight a bit and do small chores like this.”

While Zich and Lyla conversed, they scanned the inside of the prison. Quite a lot of people were locked up behind tough-looking bars. All of them wore robes. It seemed as if they had been treated harshly while being dragged into this prison since all of their clothes were disheveled. There were also many people who had bruises on their faces and bloody marks. However, it didn’t seem like anyone received serious injuries overall.

One old mage recognized Zich and said in surprise, “…You are definitely…”

“Wait, is that the person who kidnapped Elena?”

“It seems like it…”

A couple more people recognized Zich. Then, other people who hadn’t seen Zich before recognized him from the rumors. Even though it was for a negative reason, Zich was extremely famous in Sunewick. In a way, Zich was the one who brought this chaos and commotion inside the magical tower. Of course, people did not look favorably at Zich. 

The old mage who recognized Zich first also stared at Zich with sharp eyes. “Don’t tell me you were also involved with this!”

The old mage shouted because he thought Zich might be on the same side with the forces of the coup, but if he thought more deeply about this, it didn’t seem right so he tilted his head. If Zich was on the same side as the forces of the coup, he wouldn’t have killed all the people who locked them up in prison. 

Zich looked at all the people who were staring at him with suspicion and said, “I came here to help.”

The entire atmosphere of the prison changed with that one line.

“…You came to help us?”

“Yes. Let me first get everyone out of here.” Zich took the keys hanging on the wall and began opening the prison cells one by one, starting with the one closest to him. The mages walked out of the prison. Even though they were still suspicious of Zich, they were relieved to be free. Zich scanned all the people who were freed. As expected, all the important people, including Walwiss were not among the people who were freed.

“Elena is not here,” Lyla said with a bit of disappointment in her voice. It seemed as if Lyla had been looking for Elena just in case.

Zich replied, “I told you before, but Elena is probably locked high up in the magical tower. Let’s go save her now.”

“Wait! It sounds like you know where Ms. Dwayne is. Do you perhaps know anything about the current situation!” the old mage asked in a sharp voice. Even though Zich had freed them, the old mage was still suspicious of Zich. As if he was keeping watch, he stood right next to Zich. However, since Zich really did help them out, the old mage used some honorifics when addressing Zich.

Zich replied, “Sir, of course. If you’re talking about the coup, I know about it very well.”

“What do you mean you know it very well! How!”

However, Zich had no intentions to reply to the old mage. He took out a staff from his magic box. Even though it was a mage’s staff, it was a cheap staff that could be commonly found everywhere. But it was still better than nothing. Zich handed the staff to the old mage who held it with a complicated expression in his eyes. 

“I don’t have any time to explain the current situation right now. I also have no intentions to tell you either. All you guys have to do is choose.” Zich took out more staffs from his magic box and passed them around to the other mages. “Choose whether you’re going to quietly leave the magical tower like this or use the staff in your hands to fight against those who are trying to destroy the order of the tower.”

The mages’ eyes changed. They had been ambushed in the middle of their meeting and were unable to properly react against their opponents. It was a humiliating defeat. Moreover, the intruders were people whom they considered their comrades, so they felt a great sense of betrayal.

The old mage tightly clenched his staff. “…I haven’t dropped my suspicions on you. But…” Then his eyes turned murderous. “I agree that we should beat up and capture those traitors who are forcefully trying to take the authority of the magical tower for themselves.”

“Sir, w-will it really be all right to trust that person?” another mage asked the old mage.

The old mage shook his head. “We’re not trusting them. Don’t ever take your eyes off these two. However, we have to immediately rescue the master. We have to take care of the other matters after the order of the magical tower has been rectified.”

“Yes, you’ve got the right idea.” Zich put out his hand. “I don’t know if we’ll be allies for a short while or if it’ll continue after this, but let’s at least get along today.”

“Let me just ask you one question.” The old mage held Zich’s hand and asked,  “The plan you’re making—did only you and your companions make this plan?”

Zich replied with a smile on his face, “Of course.” 

However, Zich recalled an idiot who believed that he was collaborating with him.