As mentioned several times before, the driving force behind the Tower of Control’s ability to attract talent was its unique class structure.

Here, one could freely engage in power trips that one would have to be careful about in other towers.

But while this was an advantage for those at the top of the pyramid structure, for those at the very bottom, it was a system no different from garbage.

Yet people couldn’t easily escape this ruling structure.

One might think they could just move, but relocating in the Magic State wasn’t such a simple matter.

While the Tin Knight’s party could travel around in a single carriage without major issues, that was only possible because they were seen as walking bundles that could yield money and materials if robbed.

For ordinary people, who might have to risk their lives encountering even a single bandit or magic beast, leaving their hometown to move to an unfamiliar region without any connections was an extremely risky gamble in itself.

Even assuming they could luckily cross over to another region, the question of where to go remained.

The north was the open sea, the south was the Garden, and the west was the Tower of Annihilation, which had a fairly friendly relationship with the Tower of Control.

At least, they weren’t on such terms that the Tower of Annihilation would ignore and dismiss a request from the Tower of Control saying, “It seems our people have crossed over to your side, could you send them back?”

With no way to go south or north, and going west only to be sent back, the choices left for the people under the Tower of Control were two:

One was to just live on in resignation.

Many people chose this option.

But some who were full of adventurous spirit, or those whose dissatisfaction and resentment towards their superiors had reached its limit, headed east.

There was also a sea spread out there like in the north, but at the same time, there was a decisive difference from the north.

Unlike the north, where only an endless sea could be seen, the eastern sea had a clear “terminus”.

And it was within visible distance.

The Tower of Protection.

Its ruling territory was part of the Magic State, but it wasn’t connected by land to other territories.

This was because the area ruled by the Tower of Protection was an island.

The Tower of Protection was known as the kindest tower to its own people, and while they didn’t actively draw in population from other territories, they also didn’t coldly turn away those who wanted to live in their land.

The width of the strait dividing the territories of Control and Protection was only 35km at its narrowest point.

For someone sufficiently accustomed to water, it was a distance that could be crossed even by swimming without a boat.

People driven to desperation jumped into the sea as if gambling, with the mindset that they’d die either way, and most became those who never returned.

In reality, only an extremely small number safely reached their destination.

But whether they drowned in the sea or succeeded in escaping, it was no different in terms of manpower outflow, and the Tower of Control didn’t leave this unchecked.

Unless it was too much to handle, population itself was no different from power.

They had no intention of tolerating their labor force escaping on its own.

Therefore, watchtowers were built along the coast with guards always stationed, and all ships staying in ports were under the tower’s control.

And now, a sailing ban was imposed on all these ports at once.

“Pardon? Don’t sail? But our merchant group has a set contract schedule… The Tower of Protection will be waiting for us.”

“Freshness is crucial for these goods! If we don’t arrive on time, we’ll have to dispose of everything, so please let us go!”

“Please, wait a moment. We’re just fishing boats. We have no intention of crossing over to the other side!”

“Hehe, my lord. Here’s a small token of our sincerity. If you could just turn a blind eye to our ship—“

At first, people didn’t take this seriously.

Restrictions on ship departures due to some escapees was something that had happened several times before.

Pressuring in the name of other forces, begging for sympathy, subtly offering bribes—they tried to set sail as they usually did.

And they all got crushed.

“You fool! Are you daring to ignore the order from the tower?”

“Oh, my lord. That’s not what I meant, I was just asking for a bit of mercy—“

“I don’t want to hear it! Guards! Bind this man and take him to prison!”

“Yes!”

“M-my lord? My lord!? Gack!”

Watching the merchant who had been offering a money pouch get beaten and dragged away by soldiers, the mayor of the port city broke out in a cold sweat.

A cold voice was heard from behind.

“That fellow’s behavior seems quite familiar, surely you weren’t taking bribes and granting favors usually?”

As the woman with slightly blue-tinged silver-white hair glared at him, the mayor felt like he might stop breathing.

The 3rd rank mage of the tower who also held the position of city mayor was originally an all-powerful figure within his territory, but the person before him was a big shot among big shots who could blow away such a mayor with a single finger.

“H-how could that be!? That cunning fellow was just talking nonsense without knowing his place, please clear up this misunderstanding.”

“Hmm.”

“That’s enough, Skoll.”

Despite the mayor’s desperate excuses, the woman’s gaze remained cold, but a young man with the same silver-white hair as the woman stopped her.

“Now is not the time to focus on such trivial matters.”

“Isn’t detecting abuse of authority and corruption an important enough issue?”

“It’s trivial compared to the tower head’s orders.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

The silver-haired woman called Skoll nodded obediently, then said to the mayor, “Alright, you can go. Tell the soldiers to keep a good watch on the surroundings. If there are results, we might overlook this, but if not, you know what will happen, right?”

Skoll made a gesture of slicing something near her neck, and the mayor, while trembling, bowed deeply before slipping out of the room.

“Those old men are always the problem. When mayor positions are assigned for managing the retirement of old men instead of by ability, we get guys like that.”

“For smooth governance, it’s necessary to plant people in each domain. Those who are young and capable are doing their best to achieve merits and become spouses of our bloodline, so we can’t assign such people to places like this. Even if they don’t become spouses, knowing there’s somewhere to go afterwards also reduces the number of those who give up.”

“Hmph. They must be comfortable. On our side, if you don’t become a successor, you’re just sold off like a tool.”

After clicking her tongue as if displeased, Skoll looked down at the city view visible through the window.

“So, Hati, what do you think? Will those who killed Jeras and even made good use of his corpse really come here?”

“If predictions are correct.”

The young man called Hati spoke calmly, “Even using all the corpses of Jeras and his subordinate mages, there wouldn’t be enough materials to create undead to spread throughout the entire Magic State. Only the undead sent to distant places used the corpses of mages, while many of the undead sent to nearby places used ordinary animal corpses. Conversely, we can calculate their location by looking at the materials of the undead. The prediction results show the highest possibility of them coming here.”

“I hope that prediction is right. It seems Valdeus, that idiot, has completely fallen out of favor with this incident, and it will take time for the others in the tower to arrive at the coastal area anyway, so if we catch those guys before then, it’s a great achievement, right?”

At Skoll’s words, Hati faintly frowned.

“Don’t be careless. The opponents annihilated Jeras and his subordinate troops without even giving them a chance to contact the outside. Even we can’t guarantee victory, so we should prioritize hindering them rather than subjugation. If we can hold out for just a few more hours, reinforcements will arrive.”

“But it’s only 50 people, right? Just the mages gathered in this area are over four times that. And they’re increasing by the minute. Plus, there are even more soldiers we can use as meat shields. Isn’t that enough force to try?”

“Skoll.”

Among siblings who were all no better than enemies, at the words of her twin brother whom she uniquely trusted, Skoll shrugged her shoulders.

“I know, I’m not saying we should fight recklessly. After sufficiently wearing down the enemy, depending on the situation—“

“That’s not it. The familiar has discovered something strange.”

“Huh?”

Skoll closed her eyes for a moment, then chanted a short spell.

As she extended her hand, a strange image began to appear in the crystal ball placed on the table.

Hati’s familiar was in the form of an eagle spirit, so this must be the scenery that spirit was seeing.

The first thing shown was a wasteland.

In the center of the wasteland was a carriage, which was speeding across rough, obstacle-filled bare ground rather than the maintained road connecting cities.

“Where is this?”

“It’s the wasteland to the west of this city. A location that would take about 20 minutes to reach if running.”

“Did they deliberately move on such a path because there would be watchful eyes near the maintained roads? How foolish. They could have just not ridden a carriage in the first place. This is practically advertising that they’re suspicious.”

“It’s not an ordinary horse and carriage. It seems to be a special product of the Alchemists’ Association. They must have prioritized speed over stealth, as it can move several times faster than walking.”

“Hmm. Ah, it stopped… Perhaps they’re going to abandon the carriage and approach the coast secretly? If so, they’ve had bad luck. To be caught just like this.”

Skoll curled up the corners of her mouth, saying it would be fun to surround and strike down at once those guys who came sauntering towards the coast after getting off the carriage.

However, no matter how long they waited, there was no sign of anyone getting off the carriage.

Not only that, just as something like a hand seemed to stretch out near the coachman’s seat, the horse leading the carriage suddenly disappeared from sight.

“What’s this? Invisibility? Miniaturization?”

“No, it’s not that… Could it be spatial magic?”

“You’re joking, right? Spatial magic at a level that can store such a huge horse in an instant is impossible without preparing a large magic circle.”

The strange occurrences didn’t stop there.

Something odd protruded from the front and back of the carriage.

First, at the front. What occupied the place where the horse should have been was a huge, truly brutally sized jousting lance.

However, the blade part wasn’t simply a long rod but a conical shape, and the cone had grooves made of curves carved into it.

At the rear of the carriage, wings that looked like a greatly enlarged pinwheel protruded, with their central axis forming an exact straight line with the jousting lance at the front.

It doesn’t seem to be metal. Bone and membrane?

Just as Skoll was frowning, wondering what on earth this was.

Whirl.

The central axis began to rotate.

Slowly at first. But soon, fast enough to cause a strong gust of wind.

And, the horseless carriage began to dash like an arrow.

Hati and Skoll’s eyes met.

Skoll ordered her subordinates as if screaming, “Everyone, prepare for battle!!”

***

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