I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 67

 

“Reform is necessary.”

 

In the dark room, a low voice echoed.

 

The surrounding mana responded to the firm will and conviction contained in the voice, stirring restlessly. The building shook as if it would collapse, and dust fell from the cracks in the wall.

 

“This can’t go on anymore. I can’t stand it. Only reform can…!”

 

At that moment.

 

With a click, the lights turned on.

 

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting about reform! Withdraw your mana right now!”

 

A loud shout echoed through the room.

 

What could be seen in the brightened room was an Elder who had shrunk back and was rolling his eyes around.

 

“You, how did you get here…”

“What are you going to do if the building collapses! Don’t you remember that the budget was cut recently? And you call yourself a Tower Master?”

 

The Elder broke out in a cold sweat from panic, then soon shouted back.

 

“So what! We’re going to fail anyway! Look!”

 

When he pulled back the curtains covering the window, a world turned pure white came into view.

 

It was the effect of the heavy snowfall from a few days ago. The pure white landscape without a single footprint in sight, combined with the brightly shining capital in the distance, looked like a painting.

 

However, that was the problem.

 

“There are no people, no people at all!”

 

The Magic Tower.

 

A holy land of magic where only those with outstanding talent could set foot. The Red Magic Tower, which mainly researched Destruction Magic, and the Blue Tower, which had been rising in popularity recently, were said to be bustling with people flocking there despite the winter cold.

 

However, the Green Magic Tower’s situation was different.

 

The Green Magic Tower already lacked distinctive features and was less popular. In such circumstances, rumors about a High-rank Dark Mage from the Green Magic Tower had recently spread.

 

Sevian.

 

A promising figure who was once even mentioned as a candidate for the next Tower Master of the Green Magic Tower. Someone who had ruined an external collaboration project, fled the Magic Tower, annihilated the pursuit team, and suddenly disappeared.

 

Up to that point, it hadn’t been a problem at all. Rather, even if it was notoriety, it meant he possessed outstanding Magic Ability, so it might have been helpful.

 

But being defeated by a new Hero in a Small Southern Nation that half the Empire’s citizens had never even heard of implied many things.

 

A coward who hid out of fear during the Demon Realm subjugation. An incompetent fool who was defeated by a Hero who couldn’t complete his Trial. And the Green Magic Tower’s pursuit team that was defeated by such a person.

 

In the case of the Previous Hero who subjugated the Demon Lord, people didn’t even know of his existence until he declared the Demon Realm subjugation about three years ago.

 

The problem was that this Hero was continuing an unprecedentedly public course of action.

 

A figure who could be called radical incarnate, from his debut blocking the Holy Nation’s forces, couldn’t help but become a topic of conversation. As rumors about the Hero spread, the High-rank Dark Mage, especially Sevian’s notoriety, became empty fame.

 

At the same time, the Green Magic Tower’s reputation plummeted vertically.

 

The Volunteers’ footsteps ceased. External projects in progress and occasional requests that used to come in also stopped. Naturally, funding was cut off too.

 

It was like dominoes beginning to fall. There was a limit to stopping Disciples from fleeing in the dead of night.

 

When the Tower Master recently heard the name of a Disciple who had changed his affiliation to the Blue Tower at an academic conference, he nearly caused a Mana Rampage on the spot.

 

“That’s why we need reform! We must renew our image and attract Disciples and investment again…!”

 

What flickered in the Tower Master’s eyes—was it strong will, or madness?

 

In the end, the Intruder lost his initial momentum and had to hesitate. Well, he couldn’t say he bore no responsibility for what had happened to the Green Magic Tower.

 

“So, have you decided on a specific direction?”

“No. Not yet!”

 

At the Tower Master’s confident attitude, the Intruder sighed and said.

 

“Then, how about starting by planting trees?”

“…Trees?”

 

The Tower Master slowly fell into thought.

 

Compared to the Red Magic Tower with lava waterfalls flowing inside the Tower, or the Blue Tower submerged underwater, the impression might be somewhat weak, but…

 

“If we decorate it well, it might be okay…?”

 

Above all, there’s no one who dislikes trees.

 

* * *

 

Master Sevian loved the Green Magic Tower.

 

The creaking sounds that came with every step on the worn-out stairs despite the Tower being uselessly tall, the rustic exterior walls painted green, and even the musty smell that wafted everywhere you went.

 

He considered all of these things to represent the Green Magic Tower’s principle of paying no attention whatsoever to anything other than Magic Research.

 

Jude, who knew fragmentary information about the Magic Tower through his Master’s memories, harbored expectations.

 

It might be because of Master’s soul that he had half-absorbed. However, he thought it natural to feel strange sentiments about the space where Master had grown up and loved.

 

After passing through snow piled up to his waist, Jude finally arrived at the Green Magic Tower and froze.

 

It wasn’t because of the cold. Even the chill of midwinter couldn’t invade his body, which had been recognized as the master of the Ice Spirit.

 

It was simply because the scene before his eyes was too different from what he had expected.

 

“Did I come to the wrong place?”

–Puhup…!

 

The Demon Lord burst into laughter as if he had heard an interesting story after a long time.

 

–Since their lifespans are short, changing quickly is a characteristic of humans.

 

The Demon Lord had reduced his words more than usual as if sulking after deciding not to absorb the World Tree’s spirituality. Since he had barely spoken from the moment they traveled with Albeng, Jude felt secretly pleased.

 

–But a Magic Tower… Given those stubborn fellows’ personalities, such drastic changes would be difficult.

“Did the Green Magic Tower go bankrupt?”

 

It was an appearance that inevitably made him think such thoughts.

 

Vines that had grown along the familiar green outer walls. Trees that had grown without order. Dug-up soil and piled snow.

 

If this was done under the pretext of environmental improvement or something, Jude wanted to give the person in charge a round of applause. In a bad way, of course.

 

If it weren’t winter, he might have felt different sentiments.

 

But now it was winter. The sight of the tower surrounded by plants without a single leaf growing was quite eerie, and it was enough to trigger Jude’s trauma from what he experienced in the Great Forest.

 

“…As expected, would the Red or Blue Tower be better than the Green Magic Tower?”

 

The Red Magic Tower would be good. At least it wouldn’t be cold there. Even if the cold air couldn’t adversely affect his body, he could definitely feel the chill.

 

As Jude was about to turn his steps away, the Demon Lord’s whisper reached his ears.

 

–Why, are you scared?

 

It was just a short, trivial remark, but Jude’s movement stopped right there.

 

It was literally a demon’s whisper.

 

–Well then. You’re still young after all. You’re not mentally mature enough to experience such things. Taking sufficient stability for a few years wouldn’t be bad either. Though it would be difficult to achieve our contract.

 

It was a tone that seemed worried, but perhaps because they had been together for several months, Jude could feel the mockery contained within it.

 

–We could all be considered parties to tragedy. Who knew losing one’s body would be so sorrowful. If I had entered even the body of some insignificant creature, I would have completed all trials and defeated the Goddess by now.

“Ah…”

–Right. When we get the next treasure, how about using it as a catalyst to reconstruct my body? If we apply the elves’ spirit magic, it shouldn’t be impossible. We could break the existing contract and each go our separate ways.

“No, you demon.”

–…?

 

Jude turned his body again and walked toward the Green Magic Tower.

 

“I am the destroyer of the Great Forest and master of the World Tree. A few trees like those are insignificant.”

 

A small sprout growing a little distance away flinched and trembled.

 

Regardless, Jude, who stood in front of the door, let out a deep breath.

 

–Why, kuaaak…!

 

After inflicting terrible pain on the Demon Lord who was about to speak again, Jude felt his tension release and pushed the door.

 

With a creaking sound, the interior of the Magic Tower came into view.

 

The specific layout hadn’t changed, but the interior was a mess with plants growing everywhere. If Sevian’s Magic Tower from his memories were abandoned and hundreds of years passed, would it look like this?

 

At the reception desk in the lobby, a mage wearing a robe was lying face down.

 

Was he dead?

 

After pondering for a moment, Jude approached him and touched his shoulder.

 

“…Mmph, what? Yawn.”

 

The mage wiped his drool and yawned while still lying face down. After blinking and looking around briefly, he seemed to grasp the situation and sat up.

 

“There shouldn’t be any customers scheduled to visit today… What’s your business? Did you take a number?”

“Uh…”

“Please take a number and come back.”

 

The mage’s emotionless voice and halfhearted gesture. At the end of his fingertip was some kind of device.

 

He could see paper slightly protruding from the end of the device. That must be the number ticket the mage mentioned.

 

When Jude gently pulled the paper, he heard the sound of the device turning inside, and a number was printed on the paper.

 

‘001.’

 

A number indicating he was the first visitor to this tower during some unknown period, whether today or this week.

 

When he returned to the reception desk with the paper, the mage from before spoke.

 

“Thank you for visiting the Green Magic Tower. What is your business? Please give me your number ticket.”

“…I want to apply to the tower.”

“If it’s investment-related, we also need to review it. Please submit the documents you brought, and if you tell us your lodging, a representative will contact you within a few days…”

“No. That, how should I put it.”

 

Jude scratched his head.

 

I had decided on my course of action.

 

The idea that what I wanted would be in a Magic Tower was merely speculation. The Empire was too vast to wander around aimlessly like before, hoping my senses would pick up something.

 

Since I didn’t even know if Simone was alive or dead, I had no choice but to gather information by moving around myself.

 

That’s why I chose this Green Magic Tower. If I belonged to the Tower, I might get opportunities to support related research, and I’d have a higher chance of accessing information than traveling alone.

 

It wasn’t much different from working at the Golden Star Trading Company to obtain the Eternal Ice.

 

However, there was one problem.

 

Magic Towers were places where elite mages from across the continent gathered. The minimum requirement for entry was often considered to be Academy graduation.

 

Master Sevian had exceptionally entered the Tower without such procedures, but that was because he had a guarantor… Rather, it became one of the reasons why Master couldn’t get along with others and was ostracized.

 

It meant this wasn’t a place you could enter just by saying you wanted to.

 

What should I say to get them to let me in? Jude, who had been pondering, casually opened his mouth.

 

Still, since I could use Explosion, which was considered intermediate magic, I thought showing that would somehow work out if necessary.

 

“I’m a wandering mage, but I’m tired of this lifestyle now. I’d like to join the Green Magic Tower. If you could tell me the procedures…”

“…A newcomer?”

 

However, the mage’s reaction was completely different from what Jude had expected.

 

Eyelids blinking rapidly as if in disbelief. At the same time, life instantly filled the eyes that had still been drowsy.

 

Snap.

 

The mage grabbed Jude’s wrists with both hands.

 

“Really a newcomer?”

“…Yes?”

“It’s a newcomer…!”

 

At the same time, the door Jude had opened and entered through closed. People who had heard the mage’s voice from various places came rushing over.

 

Why was this happening?

 

Jude glimpsed a madness in their faces that surpassed even the Elves.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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