Descent of the Legendary Archmage

I returned to my accommodation, leaving the research center matter behind, I was immediately lost in thought.

‘What the hell was going on?’

My brain got all jumbled.

I went to the research center to resolve the question, but the confusion only increased.

‘Why is there a Black Magic Tower executive in the research center?’

The level of the man who identified himself as the research director was definitely 7 circle.

And all 7 circle users are executives in the Black Magic Tower.

In other words, the man is one of the ten executives of the Black Magic Tower.

Why is such a great man on this remote island?

‘Is he here to handle me on Shin Jihan’s request?’

These days, my image within the family is rapidly improving.

Shin Jihan may have been blinded by impatience and sent me an assassin.

‘From the standpoint of the Black Magic Tower, they have to cover the failure of Len Smith’s case. It does make sense if the executive of the Black Magic Tower came directly to restore their honor and to ensure a clear finish.’

That was the most plausible hypothesis in the context.

But I have a load on my mind.

‘But, no matter how impatient Shin Jihan becomes, would he send me an assassin in this situation?’

Shin Jihan is well aware of the current situation.

He probably knows that the shadow is attached to me, and that there is an investigation into spies within the family.

In this situation, would Shin Jihan take risks and send me an assassin?

‘That’s probably the case for Seha, but I don’t think Shin Jihan will take such a risk and rush things.’

No matter how much I think about it, there is no way Shin Jihan would make a stupid decision to send an assassin to me at this time.

‘If his purpose was to handle me in the first place, he would have infiltrated the training ground, not the research center.’

No matter how much I think about it, it is hard to say he is here to handle me.

‘So this is not related to me, but to the abnormal climate of Baengnyeong Island?’

An unidentified abnormal phenomenon currently occurring on Baengnyeong Island.

The continuous amplification of mana.

The demise of the vein and the flood of mana.

Aren’t all these an aftermath of the Black Magic Tower’s scheme?

The research center is a perfect place to make a trick on.

The connection is certain.

‘That means.......’

My brain spun fast.

Objectifying the current situation and adding appropriate hypotheses after analysis to draw the most reasonable conclusion.

I didn’t take much time to draw a conclusion.

‘The Black Magic Tower is researching something on the island, or scheming on it. And the abnormal climate of Baengnyeong Island is the result of the study or the aftermath. Is it something like this?’

It is quite a leap in reasoning, but it is probably certain.

The executive of the Black Magic Tower was also disguised as the research director.

Unless there is a compelling reason, there was no reason for an executive to step forward.

There must be something in the research center.

‘So the question became what he was doing in the center.’

I couldn’t think of anything in particular.

A study that results in the concentration of mana getting higher every moment.

I couldn’t even imagine it.

‘Whatever it may be, it was better to leave the island as soon as possible.’

If I could, I would like to dig into their scheme and destroy it completely. But, this time, the opponent was a 7 circle magician.

Courage and arrogance should not be mistaken. It was right to step down.

‘I can find out about the abnormal phenomenon of Baengnyeong Island and the ulterior motive of the Black Magic Tower after returning to Seoul.’

After securing my safety, I will conduct the investigation step by step.

When something is certain, I can send high-quality human resources here to handle the executive of the Black Magic Tower.

‘Kim Kangin will believe me. I don’t have to worry about who and how to send them.’

Since I have the trust I built during the Len Smith case, he will listen to me even if I don’t have the information about the Black Magic Tower.

‘The remaining question was, how can I return to the mainland tomorrow?’

An early return cannot be made without a good cause.

Since I cannot talk about the Black Magic Tower, I have to make another cause.

‘What excuse should I make?’

I slowly began to devise an escape plan from Baengnyeong Island.

‘Well, I think this is enough.’

After a total of 2 hours of consideration, I completed the escape plan from Baengnyeong Island.

* * *

But, the plan was just a plan.

Despite the 2 hour preparation, the escape plan from Baengnyeong Island failed.

“......How things go like this.”

It is not that the plan was sloppy.

The plan itself was perfect.

It took 2 hours to prepare all kinds of excuses and I even thought of ways to convince everyone.

In fact, I even got the consent of the instructors and the juniors.

All that was left was to go back to Seoul by ship. There was no reason to fail in this plan.

There was another reason why the escape plan from Baengnyeong Island failed.

“......The ship cannot leave?”

“Yes.”

The ship cannot leave.

Even with a perfect plan, there was no way to go back if the ship cannot leave.

“Why?”

“You will know from the weather. The weather is so bad.”

It’s very windy and rainy today.

The average ship cannot leave in this weather.

“The only ship affected by the weather is the general one. The mana ship can leave.”

The mana ship.

Since the ship is operated by mana, it is unaffected by this bad weather.

It is also solid as it was built in preparation for the attack of marine monsters.

“I’m sorry, but the mana ship cannot be operated at the moment.”

“Why?”

“It’s.......”

A ship official scratched his back neck with a bitter face.

He paused with a face of difficulty and slowly opened his mouth.

“Isn’t the concentration of mana in Baengnyeong Island getting higher recently?”

“Yes.”

“As the concentration increased, the magic engine of the mana ship was overloaded.”

The magic engine is structured to absorb the surrounding mana and operate it.

Naturally, it is inevitable to be affected by the surrounding concentration of mana.

“Mana excess?”

“Right.”

Over-absorption of mana.

Hardware trouble that occurs when the magic engine absorbs too much mana.

The engine became inoperable due to more than necessary fuel injection.

“In short, it is because of the negligence of the person in charge.”

“......Yes.”

Usually, it is a problem that can be solved through maintenance.

The failure to grasp it in advance can only be explained as the manager’s mistake.

How things go like this.

I sighed quietly.

“What about repairs? Mana excess can be resolved quickly, right?”

“Well, I suddenly can’t see the mechanic of the mana ship today.”

“The mechanic?”

You can’t see the mechanic?

“Yes. I heard he drank too much last night, so he might be sleeping somewhere, oh my.”

The man sighed loudly.

Too much drinking.......

“Anyway, all the remaining mechanics are sticking to the mana ship repair, but since it is not their specialization, I think it should be done tonight even if it is done quickly.”

“You mean around 8 o’clock at night, right?”

“Yes.”

Now it is 10 a.m.

There are about 10 hours left until the repair. It takes too long.

“Can you ask Incheon Port to send a ship?”

Why don’t you ask Incheon Port to send a ship? Then it would have arrived at Baengnyeong Island Port in 3 hours after the preparation.

“Well, due to this bad weather, it would be impossible for them to send a mana ship.......”

“Oh, I see.”

As the general ship could not move, the mana ship would be replacing everything.

There was no mana ship that didn’t do anything.

“All right. Then I have no choice but to wait. Please fix it as soon as possible.”

There is no other choice but to wait.

“Okay. I will do my best.”

After saying a word to the port official, I returned to where everyone was waiting for me.

“What did he say? Can the ship leave?”

Soonchan, who found me, immediately approached me and asked.

“No, it can’t.”

Along with my word, sighs broke out from the party.

They packed all my luggage and came to the port, but they got a headache when they heard that the ship couldn’t leave.

“When can it leave?”

“At the earliest, 8 p.m. tonight.”

“At least 10 hours are left, what are you going to do in the meantime?”

Soonchan was worried with a serious face.

“The training I was going to do today...would be impossible, right?”

“Yes. It would be difficult because of the weather.”

“......wouldn’t it?”

It might have been possible if today’s training was indoor training.

But the training originally scheduled for today is the entire outdoor training.

If there were weather variables in the Olympiad training itself, it would be a good idea to experience bad weather in advance, but the Olympiad has no variables like bad weather because all fields are managed by magic.

Training in this weather is looking for trouble.

Considering our condition, it is better not to overdo it.

“Then what should I do.......Is there anyone who wants to do something?”

“.......”

“.......”

The juniors were silent.

Everyone seems to have no idea.

“Can’t you just give us free time?”

Jin Heeyoon made a word with a tired face.

“Everyone hasn’t rested properly since the members were called up. I think it would be good to take this opportunity to take a good rest in the mood of traveling.”

Jin Heeyoon yawned.

Is it the aftermath of yesterday’s excessive training? She looked really tired.

“I agree. If you don’t have to do anything, free time is better.”

“I’m going back to the accommodation and take a nap for the first time in a while. I’ve been lacking sleep lately.”

“I should go to the indoor training ground that we used the day before yesterday.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

Each of the juniors brought up a word. The place quickly became noisy.

“Well, let’s do that. Those who want to rest can go back and rest. Those who want to look around can look around and those who want to use the training ground can use it.”

“Okay.”

“You can leave the luggage here in the maintenance office.”

“What time should we come back later?”

“Please come before 6.”

“Okay, I will be back by 6 o’clock later.”

“See you later.”

The juniors left one by one.

“I’m gonna go get some sleep. Leader Shin, get some rest, too.”

Lastly, Jin Heeyoon yawned and left.

The luggage left by the juniors, Adella, Soonchan, and I are the only ones left here.

“What are you going to do? I’m just going to rest.”

“Well, I’m going to do some training.”

Adella answered Soonchan’s question as expected.

“Adella, you are too stubborn.”

Soonchan shook his head with a face of boredom.

He looks familiar with Adella’s training addiction.

“Hayul, you are....... Never mind. I’m sure you are the same.”

Soonchan, who turned to me, shook his head again with a face saying it was useless to ask.

He seems confident that I would go to training, too.

“I won’t go to training.”

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“Really?”

The two opened their eyes wide like surprised rabbits. Is it such a surprise that I don’t train?

“I need to rest sometimes, too.”

“What’s going on? Wonders never cease!”

But, I don’t have any plans to train today.

How can I concentrate on training on the island where Black Magic Tower is scheming?

“Then, what are you going to do?”

“Well.......”

I can’t think of anything to do right now.

The moment I thought so, my phone vibrated. It was a text message.

“Sorry. Excuse me.”

It was a message from one of the shadows.

I checked the message right away.

[The research director moved.]

I asked the shadow who was attached to me to take a look at the research director right after I finished planning the escape plan from Baengnyeong Island yesterday.

I didn’t ask them to infiltrate or investigate.

Conversely, information about this side could be passed on to the opponent if the research was ambiguous.

That was problematic.

What I asked for was just looking at him.

It was a light request to just look at the research director as safely as possible from a long distance as he would not notice.

‘Well, literally, the director moved somewhere. This must be that much of a report.’

As it was a light observation, the information obtained might be shallow.

I replied without much expectation.

[Where did he move?]

The reply came at once.

And as soon as I checked the message, I was surprised.

[We confirmed that the object, the research director, left the island late last night.]

[Shall we follow him?]

‘What?’

It was not a trivial report.

It was a very important report.

“......The executive of the Black Magic Tower left the island last night? Why?”

Why at this timing?

I had a headache again.

‘What’s going on here?’

The ever-increasing concentration of mana made my mind even more complicated.