Professor decided to think after sorting out this entire situation first.
-Soygaybar: You dumbass! Get out of the game pod right now!
-professor: Itâs fiiiine. Itâs almost over, I just need to settle down the situation now.
-Soygaybar: Thereâs a freaking parasite in your head! Just get a little common sense, will you?
Professor let out a deep sigh as he turned off the chaotic chatroom.
âI would do that, but I donât have a choiceâŚ.â
Not to mention, he was already too far in to give up now. This isnât a safe zone right now. Itâll go on autoplay as soon as he logs out, so anything could happen. He still needed to pay off his debt.
While Professor was taking a small break after taking care of Isaac and the other mages, the members of the Thief Guild were distracting the Tobrune troops at the southern gate. When they brought several wooden chests as planned, only to find a large glowing purple crystal digging into the side of the tower, they seemed to be a little startled, but the guild members quickly recovered and returned to their main task, thievery.
There were now big chests where there used to be broken golden decorations, various statues, magic scrolls, artifacts, and even robes for mages.
As the mages helplessly watched their tower being looted with only their underwear on, they could hear the sounds of hooves and metal sliding against each other.
âTheyâre finally here.â
In the distance, the Tobrune troops were approaching the tower with reddened faces.
One of the thieves who was ripping the carpet off the floor of the tower ran quickly to Rakshasha as soon as he saw the soldiers outside the window.
âMaster, the Tobrune troops are surrounding the tower. We have enough time if we leave right now. Should we go?â
âHmâŚ.. I donât know. What shouldâŚ.. we do?â
Rashasha directed the question toward Professor.
âWe canât go. Those guys are already here because theyâre on horses, and there are probably more of them surrounding the area in the back.â
âT-Then should we prepare to defend?â
âUhâŚ.no? Just continue what you were doing. Donât leave even a silver coin behind.â
ââŚ..Pardon?â
âH-up. They canât come in anyway. Letâs seeâŚ. Rakshasha, do I still look like a monster?â
âHmm. I donât know. You donât look bad in my eyes.â
âCough!â
This lady. I canât let my guard down when Iâm around her.
When he turned to the thief who was standing next to him and pointed at his face, he nodded in approval. Well, as long as he looked like a monster. Looking ragged and bloody was probably more threatening anyway.
After recovering enough health, Professor got up from the seat and walked towards the mages in their undergarments.
The mages who were angrily watching their tower get progressively emptied out seemed to tense up as they saw a wounded mute approach them.
âLetâs seeâŚ. Who shall I chooseâŚ.?â
âY-You monster! Was killing Sir Advisor Isaac not enough for you?! Once the tower lord comes back, youâŚâŚ.. you will be!â
Even though the elderly mage was shaking in fear, he still glared at Professor as he screamed at him. Hmm, thatâs the spirit. If only all the mages were like that, the war against the mutes would be much smoother.
âSir Advisor Isaac? So he was the advisor of the tower? No wonder. I thought he was a little too odd to be the lord. ButâŚ.. didnât you guys hear what Isaac was spewing out? Something about the new humans and stuff?â
âArrrgh! You monsters did that to Sir Advisor Isaac! You sinful beings! You beasts and those lowly thieves that are complying with you for mere wealth will both pay for your sins!â
Professor was about to respond when he was reminded that this person was a mage and turned his gaze to the other mages. Heâd be better off having a discussion with a boulder than persuading a narcissistic and selfish old mage.
âHmmâŚ.. a noble is definitely better for a hostage. There should be a decent number of nobles among mages too. Letâs see, who looks a little valuableâŚ.â
Shiver, shiver
Ah, thereâs one.
âHey! You!â
âWhat, m-me?â
âYeah you. The one that has pure white skin like you havenât seen the light of day and donât have any hardened skin on your handsâŚ.â
âN-No! Iâm not tasty! Please!â
âHuh?â
He was going to say he looked like a noble, but the mage seemed to have misunderstood what he was implying. At that moment, the old mage who spoke up first threw himself in front of Professor.
Thud!
âNo! That lad has a bright future ahead of him. You canât eat him! If you need to harm anyone, take me! I, Ottman Bodlair! As one born with blue blood, do not fear the death impending upon me! Take me! Me, I tell you!â
âSir OttmanâŚ..!
âSob! Youâre sacrificing yourself just for us!â
Like that, the mages were filming a cheesy movie in front of Professor. I wanted to let them do it and all, but I was in a little hurry to find a mage to take hostage.
âBlue bloodâŚ.. Youâre a noble?â
âHm? Y-Yes I am!â
Oho. Youâre a noble, and one with power at that!
Grab!
âOkay! I choose you!â
âAhhhhh!â
âSir Ottman!â
âN-Noooooooo!!!â
Professor picked up the old noble with one hand, then picked up Isaacâs corpse with his other hand, then headed towards the hole in the wall. Rakshasha was hidden in the shadow of the wall next to the hole.
When he slightly peeked out, he could see the Tobrune knights and soldiers who were completely surrounding the tower, and the one that seemed to be the knight commander was yelling out loudly,
âTo the enemies of Tobrune! You have invaded the grounds of Tobrune! And destroyed our Tower of Mages! And threatened innocent citizens! According to the Rodrick laws and Tobrune lawsââ
âHow long has he been doing that for?â
Professor remembered the old mage that he was carrying and purposefully lowered his voice as if he were commanding Rakshasha.
Rakshasha instantly understood his intentions and got down on one knee as she replied.
âThat man had been doing that ever since Sir Crimson Mute started to interrogate the mages, so it has been about 5 minutes.â
âThatâs a relief that the guy is an idiot.â
âHmm. I donât know about that. While that idiot was ranting, a few of their accomplices sneaked into the tower.â
On the ceiling where Rakshasha pointed, there were about three assassins tied up with string.
âDid it look like they were looking for something?â
âYes, they seemed to be looking for something.â
I knew it. It was as expected.
âItâs a relief that youâre even more corrupt than I thought, nobles of Tobrune!â
It looked like the Reedflow Tower was running all kinds of inhumane experiments, such as human experiments, and the lord and nobles of Tobrune were either cooperating with the tower or keeping quiet about the matter.
Unless the tower were an idiot, they wouldnât have traded with those nobles and done all of those illegal activities without a way to slip out. A trade with nobles is usually made with a knife at each otherâs necks, so it was only natural. And those assassinsâŚ. They were probably sent by nobles who wanted to find information related to them. Those documents would be found if there were an official rescue operation.
âSo, did they find them?â
âHmm⌠to an extent?â
Rakshasha pulled out a thick book that couldnât possibly have been hidden in that tight clothing of hers.
âItâs the towerâs ledger. It has every little detail about purchases, including mutes and mute corpses from the black market, and other things, including handcuffs, iron bars, drugs, and human slaves, which definitely couldnât be related to the tower, could it?â
The secret ledger of the tower. It was good leverage. Since it had the trade products written down, it probably also had the buyers. It will be the perfect evidence to use at the noblesâ trial. Itâs good evidence, butâŚâŚ
âHmmâŚ. Is there any more direct evidence? Like a letter sent to the nobles?â
âIf you do not release the mages and come out unarmed, the fury of the Rodrick knights will crash down on you withââ
He needs something that he could use right now. Something that could make that idiot shut his mouth instantly.
He needed at least a handwritten letter from a high-ranking mage in the tower. A ledger was usually maintained by a lower-ranking mage, so they could just say that it was fake. That would have to wait until the actual investigation revealed the truth. But a handwritten document that could be confirmed right away with a spell, so itâs foolproof evidenceâŚ..
âAh, that.â
Professor pulled out a ragged stash of paper from his inventory.
[Item: Isaac Mandaliusâs Research Documents]
âThe evidence was in my pocket all along.â
I found it when I was looting the countâs house in Touran. I kept it around because I thought it would be useful in the future.
It was a research document that had every little detail about the experiment done on the subject, Professor. This was what he needed.
âAhem, then. Excuse me for a moment.â
After finishing his preparations, Professor secured the two bodies in his arms and revealed himself through the hole in the tower. Ahem. He cleared his throat, pumped up his muscles a bit, and looked as menacing and dangerous as possible.
âMay the gods initiate retribution for your filthy actionsâŚâ
âGrrrrrrrâŚ.. interesting. Filthy actions, you say. Exactly what are you talking about?â
After Professor cut off the commanderâs endless blabbering, the other knights, soldiers, and citizens in the distance all started to mutter among themselves.
âItâs talking.â
âA talking muteâŚ. Itâs an actual talking mute!â
âThat monster destroyed Turan!â
âThe monster destroyed Tobrunesâs Tower of Mages as well!â
âOhoho, this feels better than I thought.â
Looking at all of the people below him shivering in fear made him feel oddly satisfied. That reminded him, there were quite a few people who played villains in GG. This must have been why.
The commander seemed to be stunned by my sudden appearance, started talking to the person next to him, then began to shout loudly once again.
âYou vile monster! We have had reports about accidents with an unknown cause. That must have been your doing! How dare you eat the humans! I will calm down the troubled souls by cutting your throat myself!â
âGrrrr, thereâs bullshit coming out of a humanâs mouth. Thatâs quite a talent, human.â
âH-How dare you insult me, you monster!â
âYouâre the one that insulted me. You tried to frame me as the one kidnapping people.â
Even now, trying to win the crowd over. Itâs quite a sight. The guys are trying to frame me as the kidnapper in case the assassins that went into the tower do not come back. Seeing his reaction, that commander probably also cooperated with Isaacâs illegal activities.
âThereâs no need for me to listen to you any longer, human.â
Professor threw Isaacâs corpse towards the knight, who was still blabbering nonsense.
Thud!
âT-This is?â
âItâs Sir Isaac! Heâs Count Isaac Mandalius!â
âThe level 6 mage has died!
Through the fear that continued to spread throughout the people, Professor shouted towards the commander, who seemed to be oddly relieved by Isaacâs corpse.
âI donât think Iâll need to tell you who that is.â
Grab!
âUh, ahhhhhh!â
Professor grabbed the old mage by his ropes and held him out with one hand. The old mageâs body hung over the edge precariously.
âAhhhhh! Aghhhh!â
âWe only have one condition. If you do not retreat from the perimeter of the tower this instant, I will drop one of these mages every 5 minutes. You already know whatâll happen to these weak mages without any mana, right?â
Ding!
[Trait â âHonorable Soulâ is assessing the situation.]
When the red warning message from âHonorable Soulâ popped up from Professorâs threat, he smiled widely.
Right, he knew this would happen at this point.
After he had an incident with this trait in front of Rakshasha, he did some research about the trait in the chatroom, and thankfully, it was a trait that conducted a full analysis and solution.
Honorable Soul was a trait that most knight-type characters had, and even with the same name, the effects were often different.
âNot every knight is the same after all.â
Usually, they followed the knightly order of the family, but the problem was that his family was gone before he got a chance to learn anything.
âThe characterâs consciousness knows that he needs to follow the knightâs order, but he doesnât know exactly what to do.â
So this characterâs conscience probably followed the most unoriginal, traditional knightâs order in the book.
The countryâs strongest knight was a woman, and the gameâs final goal was to defeat the mute Queen, but he refused to hit women. It was a paradox.
âWhat? You canât hit a lady? If you see the average Wasteland lady shooting at you with a shotgun in each hand, youâll even be able to slit her throat.â
The solution was, thankfully, very simple. Since the character didnât have a custom knightâs order and was using a default one, he just needed to make one for them. Of course, it was his choice whether to make him a traditional knight who didnât hit women or one who could dropkick a child into the night wind.
âItâs an incredible chance. The âHonorable Soulâ determines the entire playthrough style, and I just got the power to make it however I want it to. The [Knight Character Benefit] is just a basic effect bonus.â
In the guide, it said that he needed to persuade the character into believing the new knightâs order, but what could a little kid that lost his family do against the silver tongue of Area 47?
âNow, you see, the mages in this tower suck the blood out of innocent citizens and fill their greedy bellies with it, and theyâre also sadists that torture young mages by drowning them and put the country at threat by spreading mutes among the humans.â
Tick, tick, tickâ
Dingâ!
[Trait âHonorable Soulâ has completed assessment: Those corrupt mages! Theyâre the enemies of the kingdom! They deserve to die! To support such evil people! Those knights are following the wrong people! / Judgment - Pass]
And this was how to control the traits related to the characterâs history, provided by the amazing Speedwagon. Iâm always thankful to you! Speedwagon!
If it was a character that had a deep understanding of their familyâs knightly order, then this wouldnât have worked, but the character Gyosu was playing was just an orphan teenager.
Dangle, dangleâ
âWahhhh! Ahhhhh!â
âAhahahah! As long as I make it just right, I can do things like this all day!â
Professor had an evil smile on his face as he held the old mage over the edge.