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Chapter 30.1: The Red Tower of Magic (1)
Succubi were a species of Night-Demons[1] that were so famous almost no one was unfamiliar with them. Of course, Eugene was also well-acquainted with succubi. In his past life, when he and his companions were journeying through Helmuth, those damn Night-Demons would invade their dreams whenever they were tired and exhausted to pull all sorts of shit.
“This isn’t even fucking Helmuth, so why are there succubi here?” Eugene demanded.
“Pl-please calm down.” Seeing Eugene burst out in a rage, the guide was greatly flustered and raised his hands to form a fragile barrier. “This might not be Helmuth, but there’s still the Black Tower of Magic, remember? Apart from the human black wizards, there are quite a lot of demonfolk living in the tower as well.”
“So that means that bastard, Eward—no, I mean my big brother, has been playing around with a succubus from the Black Tower of Magic?”
Even though it had come from his own lips, Eugene still couldn’t believe what he was saying. That guy was a descendant of Vermouth, the eldest son of the main family… but he was playing around with demonfolk and a succubus at that?
“...That’s…. Strictly speaking, rather than playing around with them… he’s just being entertained by them….”
“How is that any different?”
“Although this might be true of any city, even Aroth has a certain street where illegal gatherings and ‘those’ sorts of shops operate in the open. To put it bluntly, it’s a place purposely left unsupervised as a form of necessary evil….”
“So what about it?”
“While that street is most famous for its black market, there are also a few shady shops that have hired succubi as their hostesses. I’ve heard that Sir Eward visits those types of shops regularly….”
“That crazy bastard,” Eugene’s tone grew even harsher.
Since the guide had mentioned the Black Tower of Magic, Eugene had suspected that Eward might have some kind of relationship with a black wizard to whom the succubus was contracted. But after hearing the full story from the guide, it only made Eugene despise Eward even more.
To think that a descendant of Vermouth had gotten entangled in the skirt strings of a succubus and was freely offering himself as sustenance. That alone would have been shameful enough, but she wasn’t just a succubus but was actually a hostess.[2]
Even calling her a hostess was actually putting it in exceedingly polite terms, as it was clear that the succubi who worked in those sorts of shops were the lowest of the low among the succubi. In human terms, they were no different from street corner whores.
“That crazy, stupid bastard. What the fuck does that still-wet-behind-the-ears brat think he’s doing?”
At these scathing words, the guide couldn’t help but feel extremely flustered once more, because the way Eugene was speaking sounded just like an adult scolding a foolish child.
Eugene rounded on the guide, “Has this been confirmed?”
The guide cringed, “No, well, not really…. It’s just to the extent that there are rumors about it….”
“Do you know where that street is?”
“It’s called Bolero Street. Those shops don’t open every day, so the street only shows its true, corrupted appearance once a month, on the night of the full moon.”
“Got it,” Eugene growled out a reply between gritted teeth.
He had no desire to get all friendly with Eward upon coming to Aroth. He had planned to keep a reasonable distance and basically ignore his step-sibling while focusing on his own affairs.
However, now that he had heard this news, he felt a fiery rage ignite inside of him. Eugene’s anger wasn’t because of his attachment to their shared family name of Lionheart. Instead, he just couldn’t accept that a descendant of Vermouth was offering his life force to a petty demon.
‘How dare he give in to scumbags like those.’
Eugene obviously hated the Demon Kings, but he also despised the demonfolk. And if he had to rank who among the demonfolk he hated the most, the succubi would be at the top of his list. There was a simple reason for this. When they were attacked for the first time by succubi in the Devildom, he had experienced a godawful embarrassment.
‘Whether it’s a succubus or an incubus, any sort of Night-Demon, they all need to be wiped out.’
He didn’t even want to recall the embarrassing memories from back then. In any case, Eugene had torn apart countless succubi and incubi in his previous life as revenge for the shame he had been put through.
Hesitantly, the guide spoke up, “...Sir Eugene, would you please keep the fact that I shared this story with you a secret…?”
“Don’t worry about it. Didn’t you hear me swear on my name? I’m not going to say anything to anyone, especially not to that fucking big brother of mine.”
They were drawing close to the Red Tower of Magic. Having been distracted by the guide’s worried voice, Eugene gave a vague nod of reassurance before going back to grinding his teeth.
‘If I could have my way, I’d just grab him by the collar and slap the truth out of him.’
But for now, he had only heard rumors, and they were pretty unreliable rumors at that. If he slapped the shit out of Eward just because of some idle tales, Eugene would be the one in the wrong. So he needed to hold back his urge for violence until he had found some clear evidence.
“...You said that it opens on the night of the full moon and that it’s called Bolero Street, right?”
“Yes….”
“Okay, I’ve got it.”
The aerial carriage landed in front of the Red Tower. Eugene was the first to fling open the carriage door.
Turning back, he said, “Ah, there’s no need to get off with me since we’ll be parting ways here anyway. Take care, and let’s grab something to drink if we happen to meet in the streets sometime.”
Surprised, the guide asked, “W-would you like to take my business card? My name is—”
“Now, now, there’s no need for that. I have a good memory. I’ll definitely recognize you if we meet again, so we can each go our own ways from here, and I’ll make sure to say hi the next time I see you.”
Waving goodbye, Eugene got off the carriage. The guide’s intentions had been obvious. He had wanted to somehow establish a relationship with Eugene. Because by doing so, he would hopefully get the chance to have his name heard by Lovellian, the master of the Red Tower.
But that wasn’t any of Eugene’s business.
“Might you be Sir Eugene Lionheart?”
A woman standing in front of the entrance to the tall, scarlet tower approached Eugene. Wearing a large, pointed, wide-brimmed hat on top of her magenta robes, she made for quite an impressive sight.
‘Even three hundred years ago, no one went around dressed so stereotypically like a wizard….’
But trends came and went. Was something like that supposed to be an example of retro fashion? After glancing up at the pointed headwear, Eugene nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“My name is Hera, and I am a wizard of the Red Tower of Magic,” Hera took off her hat and bowed her head as she introduced herself. “The Tower Master is waiting upstairs. He planned to be here to greet you personally, but a small problem cropped up that’s keeping him occupied.”
“What kind of problem?” Eugene asked.
At this question, Hera revealed a helpless expression. Unable to answer right away, she hesitated momentarily before glancing back at the tower.
Tching!
A pulse of mana swept from the tower and sent shivers through the atmospheric mana. The sharp, ringing sound set Hera’s shoulders trembling. Eugene also furrowed his brows slightly as he looked up at the tower.
“...Hm… there seems to have been some sort of accident?” Eugene observed.
“...This is actually rather common,” Hera admitted defeatedly. With a low cough, Hera put her hat back on. “At the Red Tower of Magic… well… we have many wizards who study summoning magic. And among the various different types of magic, summoning magic… um… it has the highest risk of failure.”
“If you’re going to tell him that, you should give him a proper explanation,” a voice suddenly interrupted. “It’s not just that the risk of failure is high; it’s that they’re trying to fail on purpose. They’re trying to summon something completely different by overloading the summoning circle with mana!”
The owner of this annoyed-sounding voice was Lovellian. He opened one of the windows in the tall tower and flew outside.
Fwoosh!
As soon as the window opened, black smoke started pouring out.
“However, this is just going too far. It looks like we really have a couple amazing geniuses on our hands. How, just how on earth, did you all manage to summon a Shadowbeast from a circle meant to summon a Lava Shark?”
Hanging in the midair, Lovellian waved his hand. The Shadowbeast, which had already merged with the darkness of the night sky, was caught by the mana that Lovellian emitted.
“Your spirit of creative experimentation is alarmingly amazing. What were you planning to do by summoning a demonic beast that you couldn’t even handle? What do you think would have happened had the Shadowbeast escaped because of your mistake? Thankfully we’ll never know for sure, but over a hundred people could have died before it was caught!”
“We-we’re sorry….”
The young wizards who followed Lovellian out of the tower kept bowing their heads in apology. However, Lovellian’s rage couldn’t be appeased so easily.
‘They must be insane,’ agreed Eugene in disbelief.
The Shadowbeast was a demonic beast that stalked the nights in Helmuth. Like most demonic beasts, the Shadowbeasts weren’t fully sentient. Instead, they were equipped solely with an instinct for destruction. If that Shadowbeast had managed to escape into the night sky, it would have immediately started hunting down the capital’s inhabitants.
The wizards tried to make excuses, “We never meant to summon a demonic beast…. We-we just….”
“From now on, you guys can be the Tower Masters of the Red Tower,” Lovellian suddenly declared.
“Huh?” the wizards gaped in shock.
“Even I wouldn’t be able to summon a Shadowbeast from a Lava Shark’s summoning circle. That would absolutely never happen. So, doesn’t this mean you managed to perform a feat of summoning that even I couldn’t? Since that must mean you’re better wizards than me, you should be the Tower Masters of the Red Tower instead.”
“T-tower Master—!”
“Do you really think I have stones for eyes? Your summoning circle was flawed from the very start! Even if you make a mistake, you should at least try to get the basics right. This demonic beast could only be summoned if the very foundation of the summoning circle was screwed up!” Lovellian suddenly roared even louder, “Pack your bags and leave immediately!”
The wizards continued to bow their heads in apology as tears dripped from their eyes. However, Lovellian didn’t change his mind. Tearing his gaze away from the poor wizards, Lovellian turned to face Eugene.
“...Ahem.”
1. A category of demons who have power over dreams. Apart from the succubi, this includes incubi, nightmares, and night hags. ☜
2. Though this may sound discriminatory towards certain professions, we do not endorse such discriminatory behavior. ☜