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Chapter 94.

On the outskirts of the capital, a man wearing a black hooded cloak leaned against a wall in a back alley and breathed out smoke from his cigar. White smoke wafted along with his breath and slowly dispersed into the sky.

The man muttered as he watched the smoke scattered from under the hood, "Are you here?"

A man wearing a similar hooded cloak appeared in the alley.

"So it’s the Mercenary King. I heard you usually hide your presence, but for me to have noticed you right away—”

Malecia pulled back his hood. "I asked you to call me Black Knight.”

The man in the hooded cloak burst into laughter. "Oh, well, it seems being in the capital has made me call you the Mercenary King rather than the Black Knight."

With a bitter smile, Malecia threw his cigar and stepped on it to put it out. "Seems like something Eranto would hate.”

Eranto, that Malecia spoke of, was the name of the head of the empire’s Mercenary Alliance. Malecia was thought to be competing for the title as he was inadvertently called the Mercenary King.

But in fact, Malecia was not very happy with the title of Mercenary King. He thought that Eranto would be angry if he knew what he was thinking. Because he had crossed swords with him hundreds of times on the battlefield, it sometimes felt they were old friends instead of enemies.

If Eranto, the head of the Mercenary Alliance, heard it, he would have foamed at the mouth in anger and tried to attack him saying, “Don’t insult me.” But, Malecia truly felt that way.

"So why did you come all the way to the capital personally?"

Malecia smirked. "There’s only one reason I would come to the most dangerous place for me."

The capital was no different than a place of death for Malecia. In addition to the leader of the Mercenary Alliance, Bloody, William, Adventurers’ Guild, there were the generals in charge of the capital and dozens of top knights under them residing in the capital, thirsting to kill him immediately.

The capital was overflowing with strong people intent on killing him. Furthermore, even though the generals’ knights may not be a match, the generals’ top knights were strong enough to be comparable to a battle race.

Malecia was similar to them in skill, with only a slight difference in ability. Competing one-on-one, even a small difference in their conditions could lead to one’s death. Nevertheless, there was only one reason he came here.

Having noticed the reason, the man in the hooded cloak got excited. "Th-then!"

"Yes, his errand." Malecia took out a piece of rolled-up parchment from his chest.

"Oh, oh! Miss Ram! Finally!" As if he had seen an object of worship, the man in the hooded cloak dropped to one knee and extended his hands towards the parchment.

The sight of the man in a pious posture as if worshipping God, Malecia couldn’t quite fathom. He was from a realm that the swordsman and warrior, Malecia, would never be able to understand.

Malecia thought this was why one could never understand the magician lot.

“Here you go.”

As Malecia handed over the parchment, the man in the hooded cloak reverently accepted it and carefully reeled in his arms.

Malecia smiled bitterly.

“Around when the experiment succeeds, I’ll erect a tombstone in that person’s courtyard." There was sorrow in Malecia’s eyes.

However, the man in the hooded cloak gave Malecia a bright smile without any regard for it.

"Don’t say ridiculous things. If that person’s experiment succeeds, I’ll be reborn. Still, I like the idea of putting it in his courtyard."

"I’m glad you like the idea. Then farewell, my friend."

At Malecia’s farewell, the man in the hooded cloak said with a puzzled look.

"It’s you who’s leaving, so farewell to you. I’ll be staying here.”

At such a confident retort, Malecia burst out into a fake laugh. "As expected, I can’t understand a magician."

"Me too. A warrior doesn’t make sense to me."

Malecia thought it was the first time that the two had come to an agreement like this. The two said goodbye to each other.

Malecia’s steps, as he departed from the capital, were endlessly heavy.

-o-

After completing the tour of the magic tower with Squiward, the trainees and I were then handed over to a manager-level civil servant officially appointed to the Red Magic Tower.

"Good work."

The manager civil servant would be the one to evaluate the trainees and teach them how to do their jobs. When he greeted Squidward with a big smile, the latter grumbled.

"Hnng, I had no choice but to do it because having trainees roam around without a magician guide could potentially cause a lot of damage."

"Come on, everyone. Let’s give magician-nim a round of applause in gratitude."

The trainees clapped their hands in response to the civil servant who spoke like a teacher.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!

At the applause, the corners of Squidward’s mouth subtly rose.

The training evaluation at the magic tower was conducted simultaneously by these two people in the presence of the trainees. The scores would be averaged to provide the final score for the training session.

In other words, I had to get a low score from that civil servant manager as well. It seemed like it would be a busy week in many ways.

-o-

Edward, the young magician who was called "Squidward" by Den, left the trainees to the magic tower’s resident civil servant and climbed up the tower. The lord of the tower had summoned him to his office before lunchtime.

Edward got into a magic-powered elevator and went to the top of the magic tower. Inside the quiet elevator, he eyed himself in the wall mirror, checking if his robe was messy or had wrinkles, and patted them out.

The Tower Master was the foremost of the seven great magicians who led the seven magic towers in the empire. He was like an object of admiration for young magicians. Feeling the excitement of an innocent young man going to welcome a prima donna, he tidied his unkempt hair that was usually not taken care of.

Then suddenly, he remembered what a trainee had taught the chimera that could learn to speak.

"Edward oppa, play with me. Was it? Hut."

Edward thought it was funny. The trainee was late and had not heard his name. He wasn’t even wearing his name tag and didn’t want to reintroduce himself because of a tardy trainee. Still, coincidentally or not, for him who sincerely cared about and loved the chimera, he really liked that phrase. Of course, that didn’t mean he had any thoughts to reinstate the trainee’s deducted score.

Come to think of it, who made that talking chimera again?

The elevator suddenly arrived at the top floor when Edward had just thought of the question. He erased the random thoughts he had just had and got off the elevator.

Standing in front of the Tower Master’s office full of nervousness, he stabilized himself and knocked.

"Tower Master-nim! It is Edward! May I come in?" Edward spoke loudly so that one could hear it well from inside. Then he bent his back and put his ear to the door in case he could not hear the answer.

But there was no answer, and the door slowly opened by itself.

"What are you doing?” from beyond the opened door, the Tower Master asked.

Edward blushed with embarrassment at being caught with his hand on his ear and bent back.

"No-nothing!"

It was his first time coming to the Tower Master’s office, so he didn’t know that the door would open automatically. He straightened his back and went into the Tower Master’s office.

The Tower Master rolled up the parchment he was holding in his hand. "You’re in charge of managing the chimera breeding room these days?"

"Yes! That is correct!" Edward answered with a disciplined voice.

The Tower Master smiled and put his chin on his hand while leaning on the desk. "Don’t be so nervous. For an old man like me, it’s enjoyable talking to a young person like you. Wouldn’t it be better to be natural?"

"Yes, it would. It’s an honor!"

As he still seemed nervous, the Tower Master brought up the reason for Edward’s summon.

"About test number 46A-10346."

This number referred to the chimera that could speak, the one he had just introduced to the trainees.

"It seems like the growth is a little fast. Have you been taking any other actions by chance?"

Edward harked back to his management of the chimeras. "No, there is nothing in particular."

As he answered, Edward became slightly depressed because he felt that he had not answered the Tower Master’s question properly.

"Hmm, is that so?" The Tower Master read the document with the chimera’s information and spoke as if he had found something interesting. "How many hours are you usually in the breeding room?”

Edward replied, "I haven’t timed it exactly, but I think it is around eight to ten hours a day."

"Oh! You stay for quite a long time. Very good. You are very passionate."

Edward was at a loss when the Tower Master praised him with joy. "No, I simply did what I should have done."

"No, no, it’s a problem these days because all the magicians are obsessed with their own research. They don’t care about the shared things used in research."

The Tower Master clicked his tongue.

However, magicians were devoted to personal research in any time period so it was hard to point at the modern magicians specifically. Edward knew that fact, but he didn’t want to unnecessarily ruin the moment when he was being praised. Rather, he was moved. Just having a conversation with the great magician he admired was overwhelming by itself.

However, he was now receiving praise as well. It would be fine to say that he would remember this moment forever.

"Oh, I called over a busy man and I’m just wasting his time.”

Edward shook his head enthusiastically. "No! Rather, it’s an honor."

The Tower Master laughed loudly with a joyful face. "Haha, thanks for saying that. Actually, the reason I called you like this is because it’s a bit personal.”

"Please give me your command. It’s an honor to help you."

"Hmmhmm, then I’ll ask you for one thing. Can you give special attention to the chimeras I tell you about when you work in the chimera breeding facility? I’d like you to keep a constant watch if possible."

The Tower Master’s request was not such a difficult task. Edward gladly agreed and nodded.

"Hahaha, thanks for being so willing. It’s a secret, but it’s because I’m going to do some experiments tomorrow or the day after and I need some chimeras. You’ll just need to provide care until the experiment."

Edward became nervous at the word ‘secret’. He wondered just what kind of experiment it would be to be called a secret. However, when the Tower Master said he trusted him and would leave it to him.

Edward threw away the useless questions into a corner of his mind and confidently said, "You can leave it to me!”

After finishing his business, Edward left the Tower Master’s office.

Left alone in the room, the Tower Master reopened the rolled parchment and admired the contents inside.

"Amazing! Such a method!”

The Tower Master’s eyes were filled with joy and strong desire.