The AI Archmage - Chapter 13

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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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AI Archmage Episode 13

“It was a good lecture.”

While walking down the corridor after leaving the lecture hall, Lumia, who had approached at some point, said with a bright smile.

Sion nodded calmly and replied.

“If I had to say, I didn’t really teach anything except showing the possibilities of magic engineering.”

“But you drew attention.”

Lumia continued with a serious expression.

“That’s what matters. The lecture left such a strong impression that it overshadowed the image you’ve built up until now.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Sion nodded and changed the subject.

“By the way, why were you using invisibility magic earlier?”

“Well, if the Tower Master openly sat in on the class, the students wouldn’t be able to concentrate, right?”

“Hmm.”

Now that he thought about it, that made sense.

It seemed Lumia had been considerate in her own way.

“As you said, I believe magic engineering is the future of magic. More precisely, it’s a path toward a new form of magic.”

“Did Master Belusian say the same thing?”

“Yes, my master said the same thing. I heard it so often my ears could have grown calluses.”

Lumia looked up at the sky through the window with a longing expression and continued.

“My master never hid those thoughts. Some people mocked his actions as foolish, but I was proud of him.”

“….”

“Of course, because of that, he faced direct pressure from the Council, and the Blue Tower’s situation worsened….”

Lumia smiled bitterly and met Sion’s eyes.

“But if you compromise on such things, you can’t call yourself a mage. Don’t you think so?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

Sion also responded to Lumia’s words with a smile.

“To be honest, the fact that you gave a magic engineering lecture in the Main Tower will probably spread outside quickly.”

“I suppose it will.”

“And the Council will likely take issue with it.”

“I’m considering that as well.”

The magic that the current Magic Council considers proper uses only pure human abilities.

This wasn’t out of respect for magic, but to protect the vested interests of the noble houses that dominate current magical society.

“I’ll do my best to protect your lectures. So you don’t need to worry too much….”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“…What?”

Lumia, who had been speaking with solemn resolve, widened her eyes.

“But the Magic Council might… take direct action.”

“Tower Master.”

Sion looked at Lumia with an expression of pity and said.

“From the Council’s perspective, the very existence of the Blue Tower is already a problem.”

“….”

“So, why is this place falling apart?”

“Uh, well….”

Lumia stammered before finally managing to give an answer.

“We got on the Council’s bad side….”

“What’s the reason you got on their bad side?”

“We got caught researching Grimoires in the past….”

“Right.”

A moment of silence fell between the two.

Lumia scratched her head and spoke to Sion with an embarrassed expression.

“Now that I think about it, from the Council’s perspective, our Tower is one giant criminal organization.”

“That’s right.”

Any further pressure from here would mean deliberately dispatching mages for a show of force.

But they wouldn’t go that far.

“Since we’re already a criminal organization, what would it matter if such a group commits one more crime?”

“…Is that right?”

“Tower Master.”

Sion quietly placed his hand on Lumia’s shoulder and spoke.

“You need to become strong.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You really need to harbor some venom. That’s the only way the Blue Tower can survive.”

At those words, Lumia nodded with determined eyes.

“I-I’ll keep that in mind!”

“Good. Then shall we see that venom of yours, Tower Master?”

“…What are you planning to do?”

“Nothing much.”

Sion grabbed Lumia by the back of her neck and began dragging her somewhere.

“Remodeling.”

“…?”

* * *

Altair was the pinnacle of Magic Engineering.

How else would new Magic Engineering theories have been named ‘Altair Engineering’?

And true to his nature as a trendsetter, Altair had an extreme hatred for anything inefficient.

For example….

“The Blue Tower’s facilities are outdated.”

“….”

“I mean, Grimoires are fundamentally based on Magic Engineering, right? You said you researched them? So why on earth is the building in this state?”

“That…”

Lumia made excuses to Sion’s interrogation in a timid voice.

“…Magic Engineering didn’t include anything about construction.”

“This is why scholars who only learn theory are no good.”

Sion sighed and scratched his head vigorously.

It wasn’t so messed up that the Blue Tower would collapse.

But that wasn’t exactly something to praise, was it?

“Even if it’s not at the level of a new Magic Tower where the latest magic tools operate, shouldn’t the magic tools installed in the building at least work properly?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t you do it when you knew?”

“How do you do that?”

“I’m going crazy, seriously.”

In the end, the conclusion was simple.

Although Lumia had studied Magic Engineering, she had learned it all haphazardly.

Especially since she learned engineering from a mage’s perspective, it became even more twisted.

Trying to learn Magic Engineering without properly learning from Belusian, her understanding of it was bound to be low.

“Follow me.”

Sion began dragging Lumia around again.

“Where is the Sub-Tower Master?”

“She should be in that corridor.”

Sion changed direction.

“Sion? What’s the matter? Huh? No, wait, at least tell me what’s going onnnn…”

While he was at it, he grabbed Serentia by the scruff of her neck and dragged her along too.

The place Sion arrived at while leading the two was the Blue Tower Core.

“This place is…”

“You two, a Magic Tower is truly a building that can be called the culmination of Magic Theory.”

In front of Sion was a massive sphere.

The complex patterns carved on the sphere were glowing bright blue.

“This is the Magic Tower’s Core. It’s the power source that delivers mana to the equipment within the Magic Tower.”

“I-I know that.”

“Fortunately, the Blue Tower was once so prestigious that it was considered one of the Four Great Magic Towers, so it’s designed to automatically draw up mana from the earth. The light flowing like this right now is proof of that.”

“I know that too…”

“If you know that, then why does our tower have more non-functioning equipment than functioning equipment?”

“That’s because… yes… well…”

Lumia, who was about to answer Sion’s words, suddenly seemed to feel sorry and sniffled.

“It’s my fault…”

“That’s right. And it’s also the fault of the Sub-Tower Master who’s quietly standing over there.”

Sion said while pointing at them alternately.

“Don’t ever say in front of me again that you’ve studied Magic Engineering. It’s making my blood boil.”

“…”

Both of their shoulders drooped even more.

But that didn’t mean the two had nothing to say.

“B-but normally, to fix equipment of this level, you’d need at least a 4-Star Workshop…”

“So?”

“Hiring craftsmen from a 4-Star Workshop costs an enormous amount of money.”

“…”

“…Even if you wanted to learn, workshop craftsmen wouldn’t share their trade secrets.”

No way to learn, and no money to hire skilled workers either.

From a general perspective, it was perfectly reasonable logic.

“You’re not wrong.”

“R-right…”

“But wait, if you don’t have knowledge in this area, how did you manage to develop grimoires?”

Even if not perfect, they seemed to work somewhat decently.

Lumia explained that part.

“We had my master’s research records for that, so we managed somehow. You could call it specialized grimoire knowledge.”

“…”

Sion forcibly held back a sigh that was about to escape.

He knew that if he didn’t accept it somehow, the only one whose temper would explode would be himself.

[I’ve confirmed the core is operating normally. However, there’s a problem with the mana conduits. The cause is… hmm?]

‘What’s wrong?’

[The entire power source is flowing somewhere else entirely.]

‘I thought as much.’

Sion clicked his tongue and checked the conduits connected to the core.

Then his expression hardened.

“Wait.”

The mana itself was flowing properly through the conduits.

Then why wasn’t that flowing mana being distributed evenly throughout the Blue Tower?

“Which bastard is it?”

The answer was simple.

Someone from outside was stealing the mana flowing from the Blue Tower’s core.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

Noticing that Sion’s mood had turned ominous, Lumia asked cautiously.

Sion tapped the core and said.

“Let me ask you one thing. Earlier you said you couldn’t hire craftsmen from a 4-Star Workshop because they were too expensive, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then don’t tell me you hired a ‘cheap’ craftsman instead?”

At that question, Lumia’s eyes widened.

“H-how did you know?”

“And that craftsman looked around the Blue Tower, touched the equipment, then left saying it was beyond his skill level to fix?”

“Th-that’s right too.”

“Ha.”

Sion let out a hollow laugh at those words.

And when his laughter stopped, his face had hardened coldly.

“Do you remember who that craftsman was?”

“He, he was a 3-star craftsman. Even the representative dispatched from the ‘Workshop Alliance’ at that time acknowledged him…”

“What about his name?”

Flustered by the sudden interrogation, Lumia fell into thought, then finally recalled the name and spoke.

“His name was Randurin.”

“…Randurin.”

[Searching.]

Akasha quickly searched for the name ‘Randurin.’

If he had any connection to the Workshop Alliance, his name might come up.

And after a moment.

[Search results: 1 match.]

Akasha found information.

[Randurin. Confirmed as one of the aliases frequently used by Bash, owner of the workshop ‘Black Fox,’ which was expelled from the Alliance 24 years ago.]

‘…Black Fox.’

Those were guys he remembered too.

24 years ago, he was busy dealing with his incurable disease, so he didn’t directly order their expulsion, but…

‘The reason was probably attempting to sell Alliance secrets to the Magic Council, right?’

[That’s correct. Since no secrets were actually leaked, it ended with expulsion.]

Listening to Akasha’s explanation, Sion finished his thoughts.

“Tower Master, that workshop that placed the commission back then. It’s still around here, isn’t it?”

“Uh… yes, that’s right.”

Watching Lumia nod blankly, Sion smirked.

“Let’s go there.”

“…Pardon?”

Lumia looked at Sion with an expression of incomprehension, but soon nodded.

From several days of experience, she was confident that the current Sion wouldn’t do anything meaningless.

“I’ll guide you.”

The three immediately headed toward the location of the problematic workshop.

* * *

In this world, obtaining high-purity Mana Crystals is not easy.

This is because most regions where high-purity mana forms are monopolized by Magic Towers.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, expensive Mana Crystals should be considered monopolized by Magic Towers.

But very occasionally.

“Kuhh.”

There are rare cases where Magic Towers get caught as ‘suckers.’

When a young mage with little worldly experience serves as a tower lord.

Moreover, when they’ve been practically abandoned by the Magic Council, making it safe to prey on them without fear of retaliation.

And the Black Fox Workshop was fortunate enough to successfully catch such a sucker.

“Kahahaha! Another bountiful mana harvest today!”

Bash, the owner of the Black Fox Workshop, laughed as he looked at the basket filled with mana crystals.

A bountiful harvest indeed.

It even looked like there was more than last time.

Of course, he had to hand over more than half of this to that place under the name of taxes, but for the price of having his back covered, it was quite cheap.

“At this rate, returning to the capital won’t be far off.”

Bash hadn’t forgotten the humiliation from that time.

The memory of being unilaterally expelled from the alliance just for trying to dig up some information…!

Of course, he was out the moment he decided to steal classified information, but Bash was a man who didn’t care about such trivial matters.

That’s when it happened.

“W-Workshop Master!”

“What is it?”

Looking at his subordinate who burst through the door, Bash didn’t hide his displeasure.

“This bastard dares to enter without even knocking…!”

“Th-the, the Blue Tower Lord!”

Bash’s face, which had been filled with displeasure, was colored with bewilderment at his subordinate’s following words.

“The Blue Tower Lord has come!”

“…What?”

That sucker?

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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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