Don’t Run Away My Lord

33 – The Grand and Beautiful Tower (6)

Liana made a slightly disappointed sound.

“Hmm… It’s… smaller than I expected, isn’t it?”

I felt the same way.

I had imagined a towering structure that reached up to the clouds, as if a whole village had been flattened to build it.

But the tower in front of us was just an ordinary building, no more than ten stories high at best.

Of course, the exterior itself had a mysterious aspect to it.

The outer wall of the circular tower was entirely made of white marble and was flawlessly clean, without a single seam.

Without any windows, it simply looked like a tall white pillar rising from the ground when seen from afar.

And on the surface of that white marble, there were engravings of something with strange shapes.

They were really ancient characters, right?

When roughly interpreted, it meant something like this:

“Beware of the fierce dog; entry by outsiders is prohibited…?”

Where is the mention of the oldest elf wizard or whatever?

Clearly, the person who translated that sentence knows nothing about ancient characters.

“Do you see the entrance down there?”

At the bottom of the tower, amidst piles of rocks and dirt, I noticed a distant hole.

“That’s the only entrance. There’s nowhere else for a needle to go in.”

“Did other people also enter through there?”

“Yes. And no one came back.”

That makes sense…

They said there were fierce dogs, so there might really be dogs, wild beasts, or monsters guarding inside.

So maybe they went in without knowing anything and got caught by that thing.

If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be a big problem.

“Erga. This tower looks really strange. Right? Where did it come from?”

“We’ll find out once we go in.”

We walked slowly, urging our horses towards the entrance.

Pieces of broken buildings were scattered around, as if the tower had fallen from the sky.

“It’s completely in ruins. Everyone in this village must have died.”

“That’s correct. There’s no survivor. That’s why we have to go inside even more. If there’s someone, we have to hold them accountable.”

One of the soldiers answered.

* * * * *

The entrance of the tower had a rounded arch shape at the top, with no door-like structure.

Inside, it was pitch black, and even sunlight didn’t penetrate the darkness.

It was more like the shape of a door painted in black on a white wall than an empty space.

The three soldiers who followed us stepped back a bit.

“We’ll wait here.”

“Huh? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“The Lord ordered us not to enter the tower under any circumstances.”

Right. Since there was no separate exit other than this, I guess it’s fine to just guard here.

“Please do so. Riana, let’s go inside.”

“Oh, yes… Phew…”

Riana took a deep breath of the outside air as if she would never be able to breathe it in again.

“Now let’s go in.”

We left the soldiers and entered the Sakaman Gate.

* * * * *

“Erga, where are you?”

“I’m here. Give me your hand.”

“But that’s my chest.”

“Sorry.”

I created a glowing object with magic and floated it above my head, and Riana, who had grabbed one side of her chest, looked at me.

“If you keep doing this here…”

“No, it was a mistake.”

When I let go of her hand, Riana awkwardly smiled and brushed her chest with her palm.

“But that firefly-like thing is so cute. You really know how to use magic.”

“When have I ever lied?”

I created another luminous object and floated it in front of us.

However, it didn’t have much effect, as the inside was so dark.

At best, we could only make out that the floor and walls were made of rough stone.

When I turned around, it was pitch black as expected.

If this was a normal space, the entrance we came through should have been shining brightly.

“Eruga, this doesn’t seem like an ordinary place.”

“Yeah. How can it be this dark?”

“Hold my hand tightly. Let’s not get separated.”

Liana grabbed my hand and even squeezed my fingers.

“If we really lose each other, it’s over.”

“Got it. Wait for me.”

I created six more luminous objects and surrounded us with them.

At least we wouldn’t lose sight of Liana.

We walked forward slowly.

“There are no forks, just a side path. I wonder how far it goes?”

“Since it’s a tower, there might be something that goes up from the center. But I’m not even sure if this path leads straight.”

If no one has ever come back from this side path, there must be some trap along the way.

I focused my senses.

The peculiar sensitivity of the dragon heightened, and I could feel the dust floating in the air.

But that was all.

Other than the dust, there was nothing that my senses could detect.

What on earth is going on…

“Erga-nim. I’m scared.”

Liana clung tightly to me.

Her palm, holding my hand, was damp with sweat.

Certainly… There is something about this darkness.

The dense darkness, which doesn’t disappear even with light, seemed to be approaching us, ready to swallow us whole.

Hm… But if we’ve walked this far, shouldn’t we have already reached the opposite side of the tower?

As we continued to walk, and only the outskirts appeared, suspicion started to creep in little by little.

Surely we haven’t fallen into a trap of going in circles.

Just then, a strange energy caught my senses.

“Stop, Liana.”

“Why… why?”

“There’s something ahead.”

“Eek…!”

Liana covered her mouth, stifling her scream.

I pulled her shoulder close to protect her and moved the illuminating object forward.

As the illuminating object flickered, it revealed the something lurking in the darkness ahead.

“Gasp… What is that…?”

It was a puddle.

But it wasn’t an ordinary puddle.

It was an abnormal one, with a surface that shimmered like fragments of broken glass.

A strong magical energy emanated from the puddle.

“It’s magic. It seems to be a trap spell.”

“A trap spell? Could this be the wizard’s tower…?”

“I don’t know. But for now, if we don’t get rid of it, we won’t be able to move forward.”

As they walked forward, Liana hurriedly followed, afraid that she might fall.

“Don’t get too close…”

“Got it.”

They approached the edge of the puddle, and I knelt down, examining it closely.

There was no reflection of my face or any luminescent objects on the surface, and it didn’t ripple when I analyzed the waves…

“It’s a dimensional teleportation spell.”

“What does that mean?”

“If we fall in here, we’ll be transported to another dimension.”

“Gasp…!”

All the humans who had bravely entered this tower had fallen into this trap.

They had been forcibly transported to another dimension and couldn’t come back.

“So, what should we do? The gap is too wide to jump over…”

“I can deactivate it. Wait.”

Though it was hidden on the black floor, unseen and unable to move, the magic itself was not difficult.

Now, as a magician who had just acquired knowledge about dimensions, I easily unraveled the entangled spell.

In an instant, the puddle disappeared and Liana clapped her hands.

“Amazing, Erga!”

“It was simple. Looks like the owner of this tower is a novice magician.”

“hehehe, well, that’s fortunate.”

I held Liana’s hand and continued forward.

After a while, I felt a subtle change in the flow of air.

Liana must have felt it too, as she spoke up.

“It feels like… the wind is blowing, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Is there a window somewhere?”

“I’m not sure. There was nothing when we looked from the outside. Or maybe the top of the tower has a hole in the ceiling?”

The wind gradually grew stronger, and at some point, it was enough to make our hair sway.

Carried by the wind, a refreshing scent mixed in.

“Hmm… what is it… the smell of grass? Something like that.”

Liana sniffed repeatedly, wrinkling her nose.

Suddenly, a dazzling light burst upon us.

“Ah!”

I pulled Liana into my arms, tightly closing her eyes and turning her back from the light.

It was to prepare for the next attack, blocking the owner of the tower’s line of sight.

But there was no attack as expected.

As my vision gradually returned, I blankly stared at the scene unfolding before us.

“Liana, look over here…”

“Oh! Where is this?!”

We were in a forest.

Trees lush with green leaves and small bushes.

Colorful birds chirped on the branches, and deer drank from a clear pond, occasionally glancing in our direction.

In a place where the sunlight penetrated through the tall trees, stood a cabin with a red roof.

“Look over there, Erkan.”

When I looked at the direction Liana pointed, I saw an exit from the dark corridor we had emerged from.

A long, black rectangle stood there.

An exit standing alone against the backdrop of the forest, without any walls.

That was also a dimensional door.

But I couldn’t sense any magical waves…

Hmm… Is this the inside of the tower, or another place entirely?

The answer must be inside that cabin.

Perhaps even the door of that cabin is a dimensional door.

We walked towards the cabin.

“Phew… I wonder what’s inside…”

“Before I entered here, I deciphered the characters written outside the tower. It said, ‘Be cautious of the dog.'”

“Oh? So, is there a dog?”

“I don’t know.”

I opened the door to the cabin.