Labyrinth City Mesugaki Pawn Shop

23. Conflict (2)

The entrance to the Magic Tower branch was a mess.

Flower beds and everything were shattered, and broken windows and collapsed roofs were all over the street.

Due to an unknown shock, the entire nearby land was hollowed out in a hemispherical shape, and the prosperous buildings were now turned into rubble and ashes.

‘Card Deuk’

The floor, vitrified by the high heat, made a grinding noise.

What the hell happened here?

The path finding magic raised by Ye Rika moved toward the middle of the Sura Island, and she slowly disappeared in front of a building.

“Is that really the building..?”

No matter how you look at it, it feels more like an industrial ruin in Detroit than a branch of the Mage Tower.

It was so different from the place that exists in my memory.

“Uh… The magic is pointing to the Mage Tower branch over there. Although the entrance was a little torn down. I can’t even see the tower, but um… In the first place, the top of the tower has a concealed field…”

If that’s a little bit, the amputation of the limbs must be at the level of a slight scratch.

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

I grabbed Yerika as she was about to enter.

I wanted to go in and check it right away, but I couldn’t approach it because of the unknown feeling of déjà vu.

It must have been no different from the ruins I’ve seen so far, but for some reason, the warning lights in my head trained by death were ringing at will.

I couldn’t feel the crowd that should be felt if there was even one person left in the branch of the Magic Tower.

As if it was covered by something.

“Let’s just check it once.”

Let’s throw a stone the size of three fingers that we picked up from the floor in front of us-

It stopped in mid-air.

“Heul heul, you’re a kid with good feelings”

From where the stones stopped, the space began to distort slowly, like oil paint melting.

It was an old man holding a stone in the place where the ruins lost their shape and began to take on a human form.

Familiar face and white beard. A wizard who is both Legarete’s teacher and Yerica’s teacher.

“…Hayden Walker.”

“I never told you my name, so how would you know?”

And behind Hayden, numerous magic circles emerged.

There were dozens of magicians silently staring at us, unfolding the colorful magic circles that filled the surroundings.

Just as the adventurers lined up in the plaza in the previous episode to Legarete, the mages who formed a certain rank were very threatening by their very existence.

Floren was aiming the bow she had taken out exactly at Hayden.

The street was so quiet that even breathing could not be heard. It was Yerika who broke the immediate situation.

“Master! Master stop! Stop! Stop!”

It was Yerica who stood in front of him with his arms outstretched, but Hayden’s reaction was cold.

“I have never had a disciple like you who sells the teacher’s name at will. “

“Teacher, that’s the truth!”

With the snap of her finger, Yerica, who stepped forward in front of her, slid in an instant as if she were being sucked into her ant hell.

With no time to do anything, Yerika’s whole body was pulled tight as if it were tied to her skein, and she was thrown behind her like a piece of luggage.

“Ugh, eup!”

“It’s like a stupid disciple who can’t tell the difference. Tsk tsk. She gets possessed by the wrong thing.”

Hayden Walker’s next target, who incapacitated Yerica in an instant, was this one.

“Well, I’m still arranging the face value to seduce my student.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s okay to be ignorant.”

Hayden’s eyes were full of curiosity,

Why does my nephew look like a fun Lego set covered in paint?

“So, how did you have some fun? A fight between the Union and Legarete?”

“…How do you know that?”

“It’s called a branch, but when you’re at the top of the mage tower, you’re bound to see quite a few things. The Alliance attacked Legarete in less than three minutes after you came out of the Alliance building.

I had no words to say when I pointed out the exact situation. There was no excuse.

“Besides, even though you move around like that, you aren’t particularly affected. What’s your body like?”

“What effect…”

“You bastard, of course it’s the influence of the monkey’s hand! “

Both eyes opened wide. How to do that

“Why, it seemed like no one knew but you? Do you think the Mage Tower will do the same because the nerdy disciple behaves like a cheater? Eh, “

Tsk tsk.

“And because of that, how are you going to take responsibility for making the front yard of the branch like this? How are you going to compensate for this?”

I don’t have a penny in my pocket right now, but there are overflowing and overflowing things to be traded.

Because only material things are not everything.

As always, proprietary information is bound to make money.

“I will give you information that the magic tower can make money off of. I have information that will definitely make money in the future, and you will regret if you don’t listen.”

“Maybe if you can’t even talk, the boss said it was that employee, and Yann picked an employee who looked just like Ji.”

Hayden sighed and motioned behind him as if to step back. Then, as if a traffic light changed from red to blue, the magic circles were dismantled in reverse order, and the hidden scenery slowly began to be revealed.

The image of the burnt and collapsed ruins was erased, and a tall tower, worthy of the name of the branch of the Magic Tower, took its place.

Even though the battle between Legarete and the Alliance was unfolding right in front of us, the appearance of the tower with no damaged parts was close to a kind of wonder.

“It’s an unwelcome guest… but I can’t leave it alone as long as the disciple brought it.”

“Eup, ugh! Sa, save me!”

I don’t know if it’s fair to say that I brought this.

“Welcome to the Wizard’s Tower, Labyrinth City branch.”

The main gate of the tower was wide open.

******

If the interior of the Porter’s Association resembled a very luxurious looking pub, it had a structure like a shopping mall.

When I was playing the game, I could only go to the request board on the 1st floor, but when I followed Hayden and climbed the stairs, I realized where it resembled.

I was so familiar with the shops I passed by.

[We insist on 100% authentic products. Assembly staff consultation welcome, magic scroll wholesale]

[Free 38-year-old estimate consultation, i7 Tyranno Lake magic circuit lowest price! Wow cheap!]

[SALE sale of modified and engineered peripherals and accessories, cruiser official distributor SALE]

“This is completely useless…”

It’s just that computers have been replaced with magic-related items, but flashy billboards and promotional texts are no different.

Why do I get the feeling that if I lose sight of it, I’ll be taken to a dark place and threatened with one for every 10 fairy tales that come out?

At some point, the scaffolding that had risen to the last floor came to a halt, and as he descended along Hayden, a glass-walled room with a panoramic view of the city appeared.

Hayden threw his protégé, Jerica, who was tied up in his corner, and slumped on his sofa.

“Gee, now that I’m older, it’s hard to move lightly.”

“There is something I want to ask you.”

“How did the magic tower escape from the monkey hand’s influence?”

“Are you just curious about that?”

The questions he posed outside were questions that a person who had been killed by a monkey could never ask.

“According to the architectural design standards of the branch of the Mage Tower, the branch must always have a certain level of anti-magic and shamanic ability. Even if the continent is split in half, it is designed to be able to withstand for a week without fail.”

An explanation followed that at least twenty wizards had to be on standby at all times for maintenance.

In a way, the architectural specifications and countermeasures were excessive.

Of course, looking at the current situation, I wonder if it could have been avoided thanks to that countermeasure.

Isn’t there something like that?

[I’ve been looking at the records for the past few years, but there’s never been a server problem.] He said that all of the server management team at a cable TV company in medieval Zepland had been fired.

And then a few weeks later, the funny story of a frantic phone call from my former job.

Unlike the side where the disaster came, it was fortunate that all of them had common sense.

“The spatial separation circuit engraved into the tower was activated at the same time as it recognized the external change, so it was able to escape from the shamanic influence of the monkey’s hand.”

A ray of light appeared in front of my eyes like the magic that Yerica did, and then I started drawing something.

The difference is that this is not a simple direction, but a three-dimensional map.

Buildings large and small appeared.

” The first wave started at 902 Moyken st. 946″

It was a familiar building and location, Legarete’s mansion.

“The sorcery that started here gradually expanded its influence-,”

A gray aura began to envelop the entire map, and within a short time it created a hemispherical shape.

“They ate the whole city.”

The first wish that Legarete made to Monkey Hand: It was the result of a false world.

“And then another wave occurred, and this time, this place was the birthplace.”

It was Blacksmith Street, Second Wish: Curse of Oblivion.

“The Mage Tower knew everything about what had happened.”

“Not everyone knows. The others just know that something mysterious has attacked the city, and they haven’t even figured out the whole story. At least I was able to look at it because I was like that.”

Hayden clicked his tongue and the map disappeared.

“But how did your body get eaten so that you could repeat such a thing under that influence?”

“Repetition?”

“How can a guy whose whole body is torn apart and decapitated every time is still alive in front of my eyes?”

“….!”

I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

Wasn’t spending achievement points going back in time to before everything happened?

I couldn’t figure out how Hayden knew that.

“I couldn’t help but see it sparsely due to the gap in time and space, but you were definitely killed by Legarete. But now that I’m back like this again and I’m talking in front of you, I’m sure there must be something wrong.”

It was just an excuse, not an excuse.

“…That was just a dream.”

I couldn’t help but lower my head while avoiding his eyes, saying it was just a terrible nightmare that happened five times.

“Well, you don’t have to answer in detail. What would you do if you found out about it anyway?”

When he raised his head to the unexpected answer, Hayden’s expression showed no interest at all.

“Why, did I look like I would covet that method? Arthur, it may not be the case with other guys, but to me immortality and eternity are dreams worse than weeds on the roadside. Living a long time only makes you ugly, what matters is how you live.”

Hayden snorted and looked me in the eye.

“So, tell me the real reason why you came to the Mage Tower.”

“…I came here wondering if you might know a way to solve this case. Yerica said, I heard that Hayden-sama studied monkey hands.”

“Did you hear, disciple who kept quiet.”

“Kyaheuk!”

With her brief scream, Yerica finally regained the freedom of her body and sat down with tears in her eyes.

Red marks were clearly visible on her limbs, which had been bound by her spell.

“Thank you. Master.”

“Consider it fortunate that it ended that way. If it were your seniors, I would have thrown them right into the slime tank.”

“hehehehe!”

I looked at Yerika with a pitiful expression as she hid behind the sofa while spitting out her incomprehensible sounds.

“It is true that I studied. What could be more valuable as a magician than a magical demon that can make wishes come true? Well, I ended up quitting right away.”

“Can you tell me the reason?”

“Because there was absolutely nothing worth studying. Despite the propaganda slogan of making wishes come true, I threw it away without any regrets because I couldn’t get what I desperately wanted.”

It was a resolute tone.

“Do you know what was the first thing that came to my mind when I first found the rumored monkey hand in the ruins?”

Hayden’s expression was quite serious.

“It was to turn back time.”

“Didn’t you say you weren’t interested in immortality or eternity?”

“Disciple,”

“Victory! 1,157Th Yerica Myers!”

Yerica, who had caught on before she knew it, shouted out loud as if she was about to leave her room.

“What is the second law of magic thermodynamics?”

”[The entropy of an isolated system does not decrease.]!”

“Again, what I wanted to know through the monkey hand was not immortality or living forever, much less regret for the past life. I was just so curious about one conundrum that would never be solved, so I researched it. I guess I won’t be able to hear the answer as long as I’m alive.”

What Hayden wanted to know even while trying to turn back time.

“However, even the monkey hand, which is said to grant all those wishes, did not work properly in response to my question. It almost exploded with terrifying momentum. If Jan Esttoria and other witches hadn’t intervened, about a quarter of the continent might have evaporated.”

“What kind of question was that…”

“It was a simple question. A simple yes/no question.”

After a moment of silence, Hayden’s lips finally opened.

“Can entropy be reversed?”

This was the final question.