Tou no Madoushi
Lesson 2: The Labyrinth of the Tower
"I have to go now"
The white robe girl looked at the watch stand and squealed so.
"I'm Atrea. Are you...?
"... Lynn"
"Lynn. Nice to meet you. I hope to see you at the tower next time. Bye."
Leaving that behind, Atrea disappears into the mess.
When Atrea was gone, Yune, the magician who brought Lynn into this city by making sure she didn't let him in, came to pick him up.
"Lynn. You kept me waiting. I've procured a carriage. Let's take that ride from here to the tower."
When Lynn sees more of Yune's pointing, one carriage stops at the side of the street.
Lynn looks at it and remembers when she first met Yuin.
Even then he was certainly in a carriage like this.
Before coming to Guingardo, Lynn worked in farming as a slave class on an idyllic but nothing land called Carele in Miln territory.
One day, Yune, a magician who visited Carele, finds talent and is recommended to enroll in a college in Guingardo.
"You have the gift of a magician."
Yuyne told that to Lynn, whom she had just met.
"Why don't you come with me to Gwingard? You'll be trained to become a magician at Tower College."
Lynn rode this invitation in two replies.
I didn't hate about Carele, but I wanted to go somewhere else than here.
The conversation went light. The lord of Miln was just about to slap his mouth. Lynn was sold out in a bundle of three sentences. Not a single one spared her goodbye to Lynn in Carele.
Lynn was taken by Uynn over the mountains, across the sea and through numerous cities to reach Guingardo.
It was supposed to be a dangerous trip, but I never encountered any ordeal along the way.
According to Yuin, the great enchantment of magic allows the Wizard to travel safely wherever he goes in the world.
And now Lynn is in Gwingard.
Lynn was on the road to the tower as she was rocked by the carriage.
The carriage with Lynn and Yuin takes the other carriages that are stuck in traffic roughly down the boulevard without difficulty.
This may also be the work of magical powers.
Lynn remembered that Atrea also went into the mess where people were pushing each other, sully as the wind passed through.
All magicians seem to go smoothly, even in traffic.
Something novel always pops in from the streets of Boulevard.
Items I've never seen, inexperienced shops, rare creatures...... Lynn was thinking about the girl I met earlier, Atrea, somewhere in her head, although every time they came into sight she looked away.
My conversation with her crept into my head and I couldn't leave.
"Lynn. Don't be too keen. It's lame."
Yuyne said so that she could resist.
"Oh, excuse me.... Um, Master"
"What?
Lynn called Yuin a master.
There are several routes to admission to the Tower College, one of which is admission on a recommendation from a high-ranking Demon Instructor.
In the case of recommended admission, the nominee and the entrant were to become a mentor relationship.
For this reason, Lynn, who enters by Yuin's recommendation, was also told to speak of Yuin as a master.
"I'm going to take the exam, right?"
"Oh, you can't just enroll on my recommendation. You have to prove your qualities in the exam."
"Is it okay? It's hard to test a magician..."
Lynn was anxious.
Since my earlier conversation with Atrea, I realized that everyone in the city didn't have the common sense to know either.
It's natural because it hasn't been a day since I've been in this city, but will I fulfill that and take the exam?
Yuin didn't tell me anything.
About magic, about exams, about college...
Only by name with his master, Yuin really just brought Lynn to this city.
"It's okay. If you had the qualities, you'd take it."
"What do exams mean?"
"If you actually take it, you'll see."
Yuyne said barely to cut the conversation.
It's always been at this rate.
"Um, has the master ever been to the top of the tower?"
"Top?"
"Yes. I was just talking to a girl in the square who looked like a magician. She said so. He said he was aiming for the top of the tower."
"Lynn, don't say anything rare."
Yuyne said sighing in dismay.
"Nice. The tower brings together magicians from all over the world, polishing their moves and shredding each other. The powerful can live in the higher echelons, while the incompetent are forced to live in the lower echelons. Only a rare talent of sorts can reach the top of the tower, and only those who have made an effort to seep blood. They are chosen and they exist. Only a handful of people can be 'inhabitants of the sky' living on 1000 hierarchies above the clouds. It literally means being on the cloud. With your talent, you may not even be able to reach the 100 tiers, the" chick bird's nest. "
"How many floors did the master reach?"
When she heard that, Yuin looked grumpy.
"... it's none of your business."
Yuin said how uninteresting it seemed.
"The girl that you talked to. He must be boring anyway. I can't believe we're going for the top of the tower... You mustn't listen to that nonsense."
When I said that, Yuin turned that way and shut up.
Lynn had a slight objection to Yuin.
He didn't think Atrea was a boring person.
She was, at least, a prettier figure than Yune.
Yuin's outfit was quite splendid as well, but the shoes he's wearing already have quite a few years in them.
Yuin parks the carriage a little in front of the tower. From there, the two walked to the entrance to the tower.
By the time I got to the tower, it was already evening.
Once again, looking nearby, Lynn was overwhelmed by the enormity of the tower.
From a distance, it's a tower that should have been conical, but when you see it in front of you, it just looks like the wall is blocked.
You can't see its top floor by bending your neck to the limit, and even the left and right seem to continue to the horizon.
Countless arched entrances are installed along its outer circumference.
The arches vary in size, from something that each person can finally get through to something that can carry a carriage or large baggage.
The crowd at each entrance was also varied. Some entrances no one enters, others are waiting in order to make long rows.
Yuin stopped in front of one unpopular arch after a short walk along the outer perimeter of the tower.
"Let's get in here."
Lynn tried to gaze inside the arch.
The passage is stretched towards the back and the interior is dark and not well visible.
At the top of the arch, a plate is raised and something is written in letters.
But it was a letter that Lynn couldn't read.
"This means' entrance for exams'"
Yuin answered the question before Lynn uttered it.
Come on in.
Lynn steps into the darkness inside with an aside when Yune pushes her back.
It was a passage that looked dark from the outside but it wasn't so dark when I actually came in. It was a strange light addition and subtraction, not bright but not dark.
As soon as you go straight down the aisle, you hit the end of the line.
There are only cage-like spaces surrounded by iron fences.
When Lynn is confused, Yuin opens the door of the iron fence and enters the cage.
When Lynn also entered, Yune closed the door and chanted, "99 floors, between the exams".
Then Gakun and the ground swayed, and the cage with Lynn and Uynn began to rise diagonally.
"Is this... floating?
"It's an elevator. It works with magic."
Lynn raised an exclamation.
The elevator goes left, wondering if it went right, and descends, wondering if it went up. Occasionally Lynn no longer knew how tall she was or in which direction she was pointing.
"It's like a maze."
"Exactly. Inside this tower are stretched elevator passages, which act like animal blood vessels. The elevator won't move unless you cast the right spell. More advanced magic is needed to get to the higher levels of the tower. This tower is said to be impenetrable. We can't even travel in incompetent people who can't use magic."
Yuyne said as she seeped superiority into her voice.
"I don't know, Lynn."
Yuin shows his arms spread out to boast of the majesty of the tower.
"Do you still want to line up the public myth that we're still aiming at the top of the tower? I can't use any magic. You!
Yuin looked down at Lynn with a mocking grin and said.
Lynn just blushed silently and could only lean down.
(I wish I hadn't said bad things)
Lynn remembered that she was nothing but a shitty slave class.
Even trying to be a magician is a big idea.
The exhilaration I felt when I first visited the City of the Mage was about to turn into something bitter as soon as possible.
Lynn decided to get the Atrean conversation out of her head, as Yune put it.
The cage with the two rides hits the dark, curved aisle.
Next time, Episode 3: Strange Interview