Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 28: Watchtower (1)

The Otherworld has mage towers.

According to Serzila’s records, there were six.

But in fact, there were seven.

Ellen recently learned of the Red Tower’s existence. Through me.

It could be newly established, or Serzila might not have known. Historically, Serzila wasn’t keen on record-keeping.

Not a big issue.

The situation itself was more bothersome.

“How’ve you been, Herbis?”

“Yes, yes. Nice to see you, Harad.”

“Likewise.”

Clearly a first meeting, yet Herbis and I smiled at each other.

So friendly, Ellen wondered if we actually knew each other.

I could understand.

With Ios, the mage infiltrating the North, I acted friendly to extract information.

The Red Tower’s existence was one of those gains.

“How’ve you been?”

“Good.”

But what’s with this guy?

Herbis was warmly greeting me, a stranger, even though I lied about being from the same tower.

“There’s much to discuss, Herbis.”

Now I saw it, I was dumbfounded too.

I glanced at Ellen, signaling not to touch Herbis.

“Why me?”

Holding back on Kubel was for Shura’s sake.

Ellen didn’t want to wrestle with morals for an Otherworld mage. Good and evil, guilt or innocence—those standards were meaningless in the Otherworld.

“Herbis! You mocked me!”

Then Jesult erupted in anger.

To Ellen, he seemed the only sane one, but the now-enormous Jesult approached, scraping the ceiling with his head.

His downward punch was like a meteor, and Ellen had no choice but to step in.

Her drawn sword blocked the fist. The impact shook the tower.

“Give him to me too.”

I whispered to Ellen, grimacing from the resounding shock.

I was pointing at Jesult.

“No way.”

Ellen scowled.

She disliked being told not to touch Herbis, but being asked to hand over Jesult was worse.

Finally meeting an Otherworld mage, Ellen was more excited than when she fought the ragged beast. She didn’t want to give up this feeling.

“Keep the order. You went first last time.”

Referring to the ragged beast.

Though unintentional, Ellen had faced it first.

“…Lose.”

Ellen sheathed her sword, hoping I’d lose.

* * *

‘Compaso was the one who lay in my bed.’

Recalling the gift from Cassion, the 2nd Knights Commander, I nodded.

The dead Compaso gave a gift too.

Jesult grabbing Herbis’s collar was because of Ios’s death.

Compaso’s eyes saw he died by fire, causing the misunderstanding.

‘The Red Tower attacked the Ivory Tower.’

That’s how the Otherworld would see it.

The once-neutral Ivory Tower would no longer view the Red Tower kindly.

Unintentionally, I stirred discord in the Otherworld.

A gain for me.

“Iron!”

Jesult, his giant fist blocked by the sword, exclaimed as if lamenting.

Another misunderstanding. Ellen blocked his fist without even using Aura.

A meaningless misunderstanding.

Jesult wouldn’t take what happened here back to the Ivory Tower.

“Where are you looking? Your friend’s killer is here.”

I said to Jesult, who was glaring at Ellen.

Jesult turned his glare to me.

‘Simple-minded.’

I had suspected since he grabbed the collar.

It must be related to his Origin. Jesult’s size was inhumanly large.

“Ivory Tower, huh? Doesn’t seem artistic to me.”

“The Ivory Tower has no roots.”

Herbis shouted abruptly.

“Herbis!”

“Jesult’s Origin is muscle.”

Despite Jesult’s scolding, Herbis didn’t flinch.

His defiant attitude didn’t seem merely cheeky.

‘Incredibly friendly. Because we share the same fire?’

Do those with the same Origin feel camaraderie?

Even with someone whose identity is unknown?

Crack! Jesult’s interlocked hands smashed the ceiling as they swung down. The floor collapsed, and collapsed again. Several floors vanished instantly.

I looked at Herbis as I fell.

Ellen had knocked him out and landed on the tower’s debris, holding his collar.

Jesult had already landed. He looked up at me, falling, and readied his fist.

I snapped my fingers as his fist shot forward.

The small friction became a stream of fire. Its width matched his forearm. It consumed his fist and burned his entire arm.

“Hup!”

Instead of screaming, Jesult widened his eyes and swallowed a gasp.

Landing on the ground, the smell of burning protein stung my nose. His massive arm was incinerated, revealing bone.

The bone remained its original size.

Artistic or not aside, magic was indeed magic. As Herbis said, Jesult’s Origin was muscle.

Whoosh! The remaining shoulder bone sprouted bundles of muscle. As the arm regenerated, Jesult leaped. The leap was an attack. I launched myself.

Crack! His foot collapsed the floor again.

I rolled on the ground, feeling weightlessness. Landing on countless debris, I looked up. The height was considerable.

We were on the thirtieth floor moments ago, now on the first.

‘Every punch, every kick is magic.’

I let out a hollow laugh at this brute magic.

Mages with physical Origins were rare.

Jesult was a rare mage and a valuable 4th Rank. The power, no, the mana from his enraged muscles was formidable.

Getting grazed would leave me in pieces.

Hand-to-hand combat was always a burden in my previous life.

Because of Elaine. That human was absurdly strong and tough.

Not something to dwell on now.

The regressed me still found Jesult daunting.

I needed firepower to keep him at bay, but such types usually had absurd resilience.

In terms of matchups, he was tougher than Ios.

Yet, it didn’t feel difficult at all.

“Die.”

Boom! Jesult’s fist shattered the wall.

The outside was visible. Crumbly ground, dry air, searing heat, a land of fire.

“I don’t think I will.”

This land would make sure of that.

* * *

In my previous life, I experienced deserts and nearby cities.

Compared to this place, deserts were cold.

Not just hotter and drier.

Fire flowed through this land.

It didn’t actually, but that’s how I felt.

‘Unleash me.’ Since stepping here, I felt the sun whispering that.

This land was clearly stimulating my Origin.

Hoo. A light burst of mana became a massive blaze. Jesult’s arm turned to ash. Crackle. Flames rose from the floor where my soles scraped, driving back the charging Jesult.

It was one-sided.

Jesult couldn’t reach me.

My fire relentlessly consumed his muscles, his magic.

‘Remarkable.’

I was a 3rd Rank who felt like a 4th Rank.

But now, I was swept by the sensation of having reached 4th Rank. Minor magic became significant, and significant magic became full force.

Jesult’s muscles, which would’ve required full effort to burn, melted away easily.

This land made fire that way.

‘That’s why Herbis was so bold.’

The fire Herbis conjured was impressive.

It wouldn’t normally be. This land made his magic stronger.

This land itself was preparation for Herbis and me.

No preparation we could bring would match this place. It was as if it existed for fire.

If I had known this land in my previous life.

Could I have briefly become 6th Rank here?

I shook my head.

Probably not. Even vagueness has limits.

Still, this was an unbelievable phenomenon.

I’d never encountered an environment that empowered a mage so strongly. Even the vast ocean didn’t grant such power to water Origins.

I gripped my sword, pulling the scabbard inward with my other hand. The sword scraped roughly against the scabbard as it came out.

In the outside world, that friction would’ve been mere sparks, but here, it became a fierce flame.

The fully swung sword was reduced to its hilt. The scabbard vanished without a trace. Instead, a typhoon-like blaze engulfed Jesult.

“Aargh…!”

Jesult, who hadn’t screamed once, let out a horrific cry. His body’s muscles melted like sticky oil.

Within the melting muscles, new magic, new muscles, surged.

It wasn’t due to insufficient power.

Deliberately, I burned only Jesult’s muscles.

A mage’s curiosity. How far and how did this land work?

I no longer saw Jesult as an enemy. He was an experiment.

Jesult’s face, noticing this, twisted like a demon’s. His newly formed muscles swelled larger.

More, more. The expansion repeated several times.

Each twitch grew his body, releasing significant mana into the world.

Muscles. The sound of Jesult’s Origin escaping its vessel. The sound of the vessel breaking.

The sound wasn’t real. It just felt that way.

The sensation came as the expansion stopped.

Jesult no longer looked human. He hadn’t before, but now even less so.

His height reached half the tower. His grip could crush the tower in one hand.

At the peak of those muscles, there was no face.

Something hard and horrific, presumably magic or muscle, replaced it. No nose, ears, eyes, or mouth.

Yet that face looked down at me.

Not seeing me as an enemy, but feeling me as prey.

“Well, I’ve been eaten.”

A mage’s essence isn’t the mage. It’s the Origin.

At least, that’s what I thought. The Origin’s tyranny was one proof.

Origins aren’t always docile.

They always seek to break free, watching for a chance.

Inducing seizures, trying to shatter the mage’s vessel.

I had seen mages broken like that several times. I knew their fates.

Jesult became one of them.

That thing was no longer human.

The mage Jesult no longer existed.

“What to do when emotions break you? I’m holding back too.”

I clicked my tongue.

I didn’t pity him. Jesult wasn’t someone to pity. He was an Otherworld mage.

I only felt a sense of kinship. A renewed vigilance. I mustn’t forget that’s what mages are.

“Want to take him?”

I looked at Ellen, who stood far off, holding the subdued Herbis.

“Cleaning up your mess?”

“Don’t you like fighting?”

“No thanks. You handle it.”

She said that, but Ellen looked reluctant.

Yet her eyes sparkled. I noticed she wanted to see the magic that killed Ios.

‘Unleash me.’ The sun whispered again. I dismissed it as a hallucination. But I intended to do so.

Here, I didn’t need to worry about aftereffects. I was curious about the sun projected in this land.

‘If this is stimulation, it’s stimulation.’

I looked up.

Jesult—no, the beast—moved. My gaze went above its head.

Something dazzling and dark appeared there.

But slightly brighter than before. The sun.

“Oh.”

Herbis, looking up at the sky, had dreamy eyes.