The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower-Chapter 331

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 331: The Violet Brigade (2)

It was a place steeped in a gloomy and desolate aura.

The patterns engraved into the black floor looked like circuits, and crimson blood flowed along them.

This was a dungeon once used by fanatics as a gathering place.

But now, it was merely one of the many hideouts of the Violet Brigade, called by the bleak designation E-13.

Step, step.

Footsteps echoed from beyond the long, dark corridor, and two figures entered the cavern.

“What’s this, looks like most of the people are already here?”

“Can’t be helped. We were far away.”

The ones who revealed themselves were Kaya and Oran.

They swept their gazes over the more than twenty members who had taken positions throughout the cavern.

‘It was a sudden summons, yet quite a lot showed up.’

‘The ones I don’t see just haven’t arrived yet? Well, some of them might not have intended to come in the first place.’

They weren’t a group tightly united by some grand objective to begin with.

Each had their own reasons, but in the end they simply needed somewhere to lean on because they couldn’t live ordinary lives.

“I don’t see the Captain or the Mad Fiend… haven’t they arrived yet?”

Oran muttered while looking around, but no one answered.

“Hey.”

Instead, one person among the seven men and women clustered along one side of the wall opened his mouth.

He was a man with a black greatsword slung across his back, his face twisted in displeasure.

“If you’re late, shouldn’t you start by apologizing and greeting your seniors first?”

“……”

“Or are you thinking you can act however you want just because you’ve got a hotshot partner backing you up?”

“Hmm.”

Oran glanced sideways at Kaya beside him.

With her arms folded as she surveyed the cavern, she didn’t look like she had any desire to participate in this conversation.

‘Well, it’s not like their rank even matches that of a senior in the first place.’

Kaya Lockwood was counted among the strongest within the Violet Brigade.

Naturally, no lunatic would pick a direct fight with her.

But there were quite a few who held grievances about the various privileges she received.

‘In the senior’s case, unless it’s a direct commission from the Captain or a full assembly, she doesn’t even bother showing her face.’

Special treatment in every sense.

She went where she wanted, did what she wanted.

Needless to say, she wasn’t the type suited for organizational life.

‘On the other hand, those guys…’

Oran fixed a sullen gaze on the group that had picked a fight with him.

A faction made up of four Level 6s and three Level 7s.

Individually they were nothing special within the Violet Brigade, but since they always moved around in a pack, they strutted about with puffed-up shoulders.

They were the ones who, when he had first joined the brigade, tried to rope him into their group while pretending to be friendly.

Then the moment he started running duos with Senior Kaya, they began picking fights every time they met.

“Hmm.”

Should he just kill them all?

Would that be so wrong?

While Oran seriously contemplated it, the black-greatsword man’s face stiffened.

“…Are you ignoring a senior’s words too?”

“Hey, constantly calling yourself ‘senior’ is kind of grating to hear.”

Scratching the back of his neck with an annoyed expression, Oran spoke.

“It’s already been over two years since I joined the brigade. How long are you planning to keep demanding senior treatment?”

“You bastard!”

The man, thinking he had been disrespected in front of the others, grabbed the sword at his back.

In that instant, Oran’s eyes sharply changed.

“Senior, if you draw that, you’re dead.”

“…!”

Momentarily overwhelmed by the pressure, the man bit his lip hard.

‘That punk, when did he get that strong?’

They used to be around the same level.

Sure, he used a tricky weapon called mana thread, but even so, he had been below him.

But now, he didn’t know.

No—maybe he just didn’t want to admit that the other might be stronger.

‘Tch.’

His lips suddenly felt dry and a thirst rose in his throat.

From the surroundings, he could feel over a dozen gazes thrown their way, as if people had found an entertaining spectacle.

Having come this far, he couldn’t grip his sword and back down.

‘Damn it.’

Kaya Lockwood, who could at least mediate this situation, stood a step away with a dry gaze, as if she were someone unrelated.

‘All or nothing.’

If he backed down here, he’d only be laughed at by everyone.

Just as the man, eyes wide, was about to draw his sword—

“Puhaha!”

A sudden burst of laughter rang through the cavern.

The one who instantly seized everyone’s attention was none other than the Designer.

“Now that I hear it, he’s right. It’s been over two years since Oran joined; treating him like a junior is a bit much.”

“…Designer, what now?”

The man glared at the Designer with a low growl.

Receiving that gaze without a care, he shrugged.

“I only said what’s correct. By the way, aren’t you going to draw your sword?”

“…Ha, I’ve lost the mood.”

The man released the hilt and straightened his posture, turning his body away.

“Consider yourself lucky, Oran.”

“Ah, yes sir.”

Lucky, huh.

Watching the man return to his group, Oran then turned his head toward Kaya.

“Why are you just watching like it’s someone else’s problem?”

“You can handle it on your own.”

“Hm, that may be true, but Oran might feel a little hurt?”

“Cut the creepy talk before I hit you.”

Shuddering at Oran’s cutesy tone and frowning, Kaya looked at the Designer.

Then she frowned again when she saw him give a light wink in their direction.

“…What’s with that. Since when did you get close to him?”

“Huh? I’m not close. I thought he helped because of you, Senior.”

While the two failed to make sense of it and looked suspicious—

The inner door of the cavern opened, and the Captain and the Mad Fiend appeared.

“Everyone’s here.”

Chzzk, chzzk.

As the noise mask stepped forward, several impatient members opened their mouths.

“A sudden full summons—something happen?”

“It did.”

With a snap of the Captain’s fingers, the faint torches lighting the entire cavern vanished.

In their place, only a single blue mana thread connected to his mask glimmered dimly.

“Mana thread?”

“Is it related to Oran Quil or something?”

“Eh, not me.”

As Oran vehemently denied the unexpected attention, the Captain spoke.

“This thread was attached not by Oran Quil, but by Sasha Maestro.”

“…Sasha Maestro? That’s the White Tower Master’s name.”

“Didn’t they say she reached Level 8? A monster, they called her.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Heard she crossed the Red Mountain Range with just one Level 6 mage.”

“And after that, instead of stabilizing, why is that brat…?”

The Captain looked over the murmuring members for a moment before saying:

“Right now, we are being chased by her.”

“……”

“……”

The silence that followed.

Seemingly pleased with it, the Captain continued what he had to say.

“I don’t know how it came to this, but she had already entered a stabilization phase, and she’s strong accordingly. There was a light skirmish near Luang in the East today, and we are on the run.”

He did not bother hiding the fact that he had been defeated.

After all, anyone with a head on their shoulders would know why he had issued a summons.

“Ha, so that’s why you called a full assembly? You want us to help block that monster together?”

“With the forces gathered here, it’s not impossible…”

“Is she alone?”

At the realistic questions from several members, the Captain shook his head.

“Along with her will be Chester Landus, a Level 7 mage of the White Tower, and likewise the Level 7 mage Oscar Crusiang.”

“One Level 8 and two Level 7s…”

The members who mentally ran the calculations each voiced their answers.

“What exactly do you want? A kill?”

“No, killing is forbidden. It’s enough if you buy time until I cut the thread and escape.”

“…Huh?”

At a time when the difficulty should be lowered, he instead demanded an even harder condition.

Moreover, the attitude he showed in the process grated on several members’ nerves.

After briefly putting their heads together to think, a few people spoke up.

“We’re out.”

“We only stayed together because we needed each other anyway, not like we were in an employment contract or anything.”

“I’ll triple the usual mission payment.”

Despite the Captain’s attempt at persuasion, those already determined to leave scoffed. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“Money only matters while my neck’s still attached. Not interested.”

“I thought you called us for some good news, but you’re just asking us to die together.”

“Don’t be too hurt, Captain. If you expected loyalty among criminals, that’s what’s stupid.”

A series of groups left their farewells and exited the cavern.

Their number was thirteen in total.

Chzzk, chzzk.

The Captain stared fixedly at their retreating figures, then moved his lips.

“Hurt, you say. Fortunately, I don’t feel such an emotion.”

“Right? So we’ll—”

“So then.”

With only his index and middle fingers raised, the Captain made a light gesture.

At the same time, a fierce gust of wind swept through the cavern.

“Don’t be too hurt with me either.”

“…?”

Something moved.

The members who sensed it turned around in that instant—

—Crack!

A head burst like a watermelon.

The first to react was a swordsman at the early stage of Level 7 who had been leaving with them.

“Low-crying…!”

His eyes widened as he lowered his stance as if it would touch the ground, following the opening form of a sword technique stolen years ago from a noble house he had annihilated.

As if expecting that exact movement, the Mad Fiend’s knee slammed into his face.

“Kraaagh!”

Leaving the screaming, now-unconscious swordsman behind, a Level 6 mage drew up his mana.

“Y-You, vines of—!”

Even while feeling fear, like a veteran mage he proceeded to complete his spell as usual.

That was his mistake.

“Habit is truly convenient.”

When magic is repeated through training, it inevitably becomes optimized.

The method to complete the most powerful spell the fastest.

But that optimization, in other words, is a habit—a quirk.

—Snap!

As the Captain snapped his fingers, every spell the mage had been preparing vanished as if it were a lie.

Through that emptied space approached the Mad Fiend’s hand.

“W-Wait….”

Before the mage’s startled eyes could fully widen—

—Crunch!

The Mad Fiend’s grip plucked his head off like a grape.

The time it took until that point was roughly two seconds.

The two bodies that had lost their heads collapsed, scattering blood like fountains across the fanatics’ altar.

“……”

“……”

A silence and terror that seized the entire space.

It wasn’t that the victims had been weak.

The ones who survived weren’t significantly stronger than the dead either.

“Survival of the fittest. Honestly, I’m more used to this method myself.”

Those who had left the Violet Brigade’s nest had simply been given treatment befitting them.

Only then did those who had been about to leave swallow hard and look around.

“……”

“……”

For the past few years, having gotten along fairly peacefully and never being attacked, they had forgotten.

That every single person present here was a criminal publicly declared by the Imperial Palace.

‘They even know all our habits and quirks.’

‘Even if we fought a hundred times, the chances of us winning are…’

As helplessness wrapped around them, the Captain spoke in a languid voice.

“Those who wish to leave the brigade may continue on their way.”

No one left the cavern.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]