The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower
Chapter 214

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 214: Eternal Moment (2)

Crackle, crackle.

In the still night air, the only sound was the sizzle of skewered meat roasting over a burning torch.

Watching the scene, Oran let out a hollow laugh, as if it were absurd.

“Ha, anyone passing by would think we're out on a camping trip.”

“Seriously.”

Even Kaya, who was crossing the mountain range for the first time, could tell that this situation was far from ordinary.

Nodding, she glanced around and asked,

“Normally, this wouldn’t be possible, right?”

“Are you kidding? You’d be lucky to even light a fire, let alone cook meat. That’d be suicidal.”

The Red Mountains were infamous not just for being one of the five great disasters, but for their abundance of vicious monsters.

And yet, for the past two days, they hadn’t seen a single trace of one.

Thanks to that, they had been able to recover from the exhaustion and wounds suffered in their battle with Yuribe.

“It’s just too much of a stretch to chalk this up to mere coincidence.”

“Come on, if coincidences keep piling up, doesn’t that just mean it’s skill?”

“…You’ve got a point.”

Agreeing with Oran, Kaya turned her gaze to Oscar, who was returning from patrol.

In truth, when she first hired him as a guide, she’d had mixed feelings—half concern, half expectation.

No matter how talented he was, this was not going to be an easy journey.

‘But it didn’t matter.’

She had been genuinely curious.

She wanted to observe and understand him properly—this mage called Oscar Crusiang.

‘A mage who rose from Level 1 to Level 6 in less than a year.’

The first time she saw him in Baran City, he was just a fledgling Level 3 mage.

But even then, he stood out distinctly from other mages of the same level.

‘He could sense my mana. More importantly, he knew how to infuse his own magical image into his spells.’

The next time she saw him, he was already Level 6—and had awakened to the art of liberating the world.

So how could she not be intrigued?

‘Honestly, I half expected him to make some mistakes when I hired him as our guide…’

But once they got started, it turned out to be a stroke of genius.

If she had hired that kid Charlotte as their guide instead?

‘Even if we’d somehow dodged “the one who swallowed the mountain”… would we have survived the fight with Yuribe?’

She unconsciously shook her head.

They would’ve lost at least two lives in that battle.

And it most likely would’ve been her and Oran—everyone but Sasha.

“Ahhh!”

Oran bit into a perfectly roasted skewer with a satisfied look.

“So glad my little brother’s our guide. Thanks to his subspace magic, we get fresh meat like this.”

“No complaints here,”

Oscar said as he sat down by the torch and grabbed a skewer.

“The party's so strong that most monsters won’t even think about coming near. It makes route planning a lot easier.”

It was true—ignoring the weak monsters entirely made navigation far simpler.

As he looked around at the three of them, he spoke again.

“By noon tomorrow, we’ll be completely out of the Red Mountains.”

“Which means…”

“You’d all better steel yourselves. Getting past the Red Mountains doesn’t mean we’ve finished anything. It just means we’ve finally reached the starting line.”

“No one knows that better than me.”

Having once ventured into the Grey Zone, Oran nodded knowingly.

“Mana storms that come without warning, a land so barren you won’t find a crumb to eat, and worst of all…”

He looked each of them in the eyes before continuing.

“Relentless attacks from demons and monsters popping up from every direction. It’s a living hell.”

“Demons…”

Sasha, who had been picking at her skewer half-heartedly, raised her head.

“To reach the Nest, we’ll have to fight demons, won’t we?”

“Of course. In fact, this might be the last peaceful meal we get. Starting tomorrow, we won’t even have time to sleep.”

“…”

Sasha’s face darkened, and she lowered her head, staring at the ground.

Oscar, watching her, felt a twinge of concern in his gaze.

‘Is she losing even the confidence in her own ability…?’

If it got any worse, it could turn into trauma.

Not just discomfort with fighting demons—but a deep-seated fear of their very existence.

Oscar exhaled lightly and spoke.

“There won’t be any major battles. At most, we’ll encounter a few low-grade demons wandering outside the zones.”

“Huh?”

Oran blinked and asked,

“How would you know that?”

“I’ve already mapped out our route to the Nest. Here, take a look.”

Oscar snapped his fingers, and a holographic map appeared in the air before them.

It was nothing like the Empire’s official world map.

Every region was tinted grey—just looking at it made one feel like they were peering into an entirely different world.

On the map, the locations of the demons’ cities—known as “zones”—were clearly marked.

Naturally, the route Oscar had plotted carefully avoided all of them.

“...Wait a second. What is this?”

Seeing the map, Oran’s expression hardened.

It was obvious at a glance that this wasn’t just any map.

The level of detail in the zone locations and sizes made it something you’d only expect to see in war.

“The demon realm maps are tightly controlled by the imperial family. Even I’ve never seen one with the zone locations this precisely marked…”

“It’s that serious?”

At Kaya’s question, Oran nodded frantically.

“Dead serious. This is practically a military-grade strategy map. Come to think of it, I heard a rumor that the former Tower Master, Oscar Sage, personally created a map of the demon realm… Brother, where did you get this?”

Oscar met their questioning stares without flinching.

He knew—if he couldn’t give a proper explanation, their questions would soon turn to suspicion.

‘But it’s unavoidable.’

This was a problem he’d have to confront eventually.

Once they crossed into the demon realm, Oran—who had been there before—would naturally try to lead the way.

‘That would be a problem.’

What Oscar needed was to reach the Nest with as much of their strength intact as possible.

Especially now, with Sasha caught in a mental trap—until she showed signs of improvement, they had to avoid combat whenever possible.

‘Of course, I expected this kind of reaction.’

And he was prepared for it.

Oscar opened his mouth.

“Indeed, you must have experience, to know at a glance. You’re right—this is a strategic map used by the Empire during its war against the demons 21 years ago. As you guessed, the creator is none other than Oscar Sage.”

“My goodness, how did you get your hands on such a treasure? That’s got to be a top-tier classified item in the Empire.”

“Night of the Magic.”

He spoke nonchalantly as he cut into his meat.

“I requested to view the map as a reward for winning there.”

“…Huh?”

At those words, Kaya’s expression turned strangely peculiar.

“You won the Night of the Magic, and asked for that map as your prize?”

“Yes, that’s correct. The original is still in the imperial archives—I simply memorized it.”

“…”

Kaya stared intently at him, her gaze like glass beads.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Beads that seemed like they would roll away with a single nudge.

“Huh. Is that so?”

She raised one corner of her mouth and asked,

“That’s unusual. Asking for a map of the Demon Realm as a reward—why’d you do that?”

“Yeah, I honestly don’t get it either.”

Oran chimed in, backing her up.

He knew, of course, that the White Tower had won the Night of the Magic and that Oscar had played a major role in that victory.

Oscar had even been named MVP of the tournament.

But asking for a “map of the Demon Realm” as his reward?

That didn’t make sense.

“It's a bit awkward to say this in front of you, but when you won that tournament, the White Tower’s position wasn’t as strong as it is now.”

At the time, they had far greater needs.

Even after resolving financial problems, the White Tower had a mountain of pressing issues.

And yet, setting aside all that to request a map of the Demon Realm—a map that couldn’t even be used immediately?

From Oran’s perspective, that was incomprehensible.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Oscar widened his eyes, wearing an expression that said he couldn’t understand them.

“I needed it to solve the White Tower’s eternal riddle.”

“The White Tower’s eternal riddle?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and looked toward Shasha before continuing.

“The previous Tower Master and the elite of the White Tower perished in the Demon Realm. Naturally, their legacy would remain somewhere there.”

“You seriously think you can retrieve it?”

Kaya, who had been quietly listening, asked.

“The place where the squad fell was the Archduke’s Fortress. Obviously, the demons would’ve retrieved all the corpses and artifacts.”

“Well, yes. That’s the logical conclusion.”

Her words were right on target.

Oscar himself hadn’t expected to actually recover the lost artifacts.

“But does that mean we should just abandon it? One day, we’ll have to get them back. That’s why I asked for the map.”

There was no way for them to know what reward he had actually received for being MVP.

Those two were members of the Violet Brigade, now labeled high-level criminals by the Empire.

They couldn’t exactly go ask the Emperor directly.

So there was no way to verify the truth.

As expected, Kaya didn’t press further.

“Hm. Got it, for now. Oran, how reliable do you think that map is?”

“Judging by how accurate the information is about some of the areas I’ve visited, I’d say it’s quite credible.”

“Great. If it’s real, it could help us minimize the damage getting to the Nest. Right?”

Looking toward him, she asked. Oscar nodded slowly.

“Yes. Our top priority is to avoid combat with high-ranking demons as much as possible.”

“So how many days until we reach the Nest?”

“If we don’t run into any major battles…”

Oscar thought back to his memories of wandering the Demon Realm in a previous life and replied,

“It should take no more than a week.”

* * *

“Huff, hah…”

Covered in torn clothes and bleeding flesh, Yuribe gasped for air.

He slowly turned to look behind him.

Ssshhh, rustle… rustle…

The thousands of roots that had been relentlessly pursuing him now could go no further.

He had successfully escaped the Cursed Mountains.

“...Get lost.”

He growled lowly, and the roots retreated slowly, almost reluctantly.

Rustle, scrape, shhhk.

The sound of roots mingling with fallen leaves and soil lingered for some time.

Only when the creature that had swallowed the mountains disappeared from view did Yuribe finally feel at ease.

“Damn it…”

But his body was a mess.

He had gone several days without food or sleep, only running.

Crack!

The sound of his grinding teeth echoed harshly.

‘How dare I be humiliated like this?’

All because of a human.

A human who appeared at the last moment and severed his horn.

Rage filled his eyes as he turned his gaze.

The humans he had fought near the second peak had likely already crossed the mountains.

‘Where are they headed?’

Unless he tore them apart with his own hands, this fury would never be quelled.

While Yuribe panted with rage, something flickered through his mind.

“Wait.”

He had entered the mountains in the first place to guide those livestock somewhere.

‘They said something about a dragon’s nest…’

The dragon’s nest.

As soon as he remembered those words, Yuribe turned his head in that direction.

“…I see.”

That place where light, air—even time—ceased to exist.

That was their destination.

Baring his fangs, Yuribe’s eyes glinted with murderous intent.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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