[644] A Dead End (4)
"Wait! Hold on, wait, just wait!"
With no answer yet from Arte, Amy hurriedly reached out.
"Shirone, what's wrong with you? Are you acting like this because you don't know what situation you're in?"
"I know. But just because my situation is bad doesn't mean I'll do something I don't want to do."
"Don't want to? It's the Ivory Tower, the Ivory Tower. It's what every mage dreams of."
"Even so, I can't follow something that isn't right."
"Not right…?"
Arte lowered her fan and revealed her face.
"An interesting opinion. What are you thinking?"
"Kar denotes perfection. But what you call perfection ultimately amounted to suppression by force."
Shirone couldn't accept Arte's decision to blow Raiman away just because there wasn't time.
"Hmm, you did look displeased earlier."
"I am displeased. But this isn't about emotions. If strength is the truth, then what makes the White Line different from other lines?"
Tokei shrugged.
"Ha, I told you. It's not what my profile said."
Acknowledging that, Arte snapped her fan shut and traced an imaginary vertical line on the table.
"All right. Let me explain it this way. Humans fall under number three of the Law because they choose between good and evil. The apex of that three is what you might call a seeker. But, Shirone, we are not seekers. We are intellects—we correspond to number four of the Law. In short, we are not beings who simply choose between good and evil."
"Then what kind of existence is the Ivory Tower?"
"It's an entity that questions good and evil. Is good truly good? Is evil truly evil? In number four of the Law, the essence is endless criticism. And what that means is—"
Arte rose and offered her hand.
"Congratulations again. Shirone, you are fully qualified to take the Ivory Tower's test."
The others blinked in puzzlement and echoed, "Wha—?"
Shirone, however, stared at the hand Arte offered and lifted his head as if unconvinced.
"If I had obediently agreed to take the test from the start, would I have been denied the chance?"
"In my case, yes. As I said, kar has no fixed standards. Candidates who were notified by other residents might not have been subjected to the same test."
Arte smiled.
"That is what the Ivory Tower is. To become a Star means you can criticize anything, and I merely tried to criticize Shirone. Just as Shirone earlier criticized me and the Ivory Tower."
'Aha.'
Amy began to understand a little of what kar meant.
"Therefore, Ivory Tower residents back a Star's judgment. Even if opinions differ, they trust conclusions reached after harsh self-criticism. Is the strong the truth? If one of our residents concluded that it is, then that conclusion approaches perfection."
Arte took Shirone's hand herself and shook it.
"Accept the title of Star. The Ivory Tower will not force any ideology on you. It only shares what you, with your intellect, have criticized, with the world."
Shirone's heart began to pound.
He wanted nothing more than to pursue a critical conclusion arrived at purely through intellect—to aim for one hundred percent kar.
"Wait. One thing to clarify—"
Iruki stepped forward.
"In any case, since Shirone's become a candidate for the Ivory Tower, can we say he's met some qualifications?"
"Of course. Even if Shirone refuses, the Ivory Tower's doors remain open."
"Then what about contract terms? You can't just accept an offer without conditions, can you?" Tokei asked.
"If you mean salary, the Ivory Tower pays nothing. But if you mean funds needed to perform tasks, we can support you as much as necessary."
Amy frowned in surprise.
"There really isn't a single penny of pay?"
"There's no need. To win the trust of Ivory Tower residents means you can criticize anything, and by covenant you already have blanket rights to use public facilities worldwide. If you're hungry, go to a public institution to eat; if you need something, grab a king or an official and tell them. They'll procure it by the fastest route."
"Wow, that's insane."
Hearing the practical privileges, Nade finally felt in his bones what the Ivory Tower was.
If an offer like this came to him, he might even revive his dream of becoming a mage.
'But that's impossible, of course.'
Nade's kar was nowhere near Shirone's.
"Of course, this only applies after you receive the title of Star. Candidates get no benefits. Before becoming a Star, you must build the residents' trust in your kar."
Naturally so, but Iruki hoped to gain at least something from this opportunity.
"Are you aware of Shirone's current situation?"
"No, I'm not."
A third-rank resident had no need to know every detail of a candidate's circumstances.
"They framed Shirone in the Kingdom of Tormia so he couldn't graduate. What do you make of that?"
"Then don't graduate. The Ivory Tower cares about nothing but kar. Shirone only needs to find Ra Enemi and come to the Ivory Tower."
Amy spoke up.
"But that's harsh. Third place is royal blood and must have massive connections, and second place probably at least has a mage certificate. As it stands, Shirone would have to travel as a civilian. I'm not saying it's unfair, but you could at least help him obtain the qualification he should've had."
"Hmm."
Arte tapped her head with the fan and fell into thought.
"All right. All he needs is to graduate?"
Shirone nodded.
"Yes. Even just an unofficial mage certificate would make traveling so much easier."
He wasn't suddenly greedy, but he wanted at least the magic academy diploma filled with so many memories.
"Very well. I'll put in a word."
Arte stood, and Tokei climbed onto her shoulder and looked back at Shirone.
"Try to be the twenty-eighth Star if you can. Wouldn't it feel better if you were one of those we announced?"
"Yes, I'll do my best."
When Arte and Tokei left, the students whispering outside the building fell silent.
The teachers' faces tensed, but Arte scanned the area calmly as if used to this.
Then she signaled with her fan to Raiman, who sat like a refugee receiving treatment, to come over.
"Yes, yes!"
Though still injured, he hurried as fast as he could and prostrated himself at Arte's feet.
The resolve he'd lost—fleeing briefly to pay his daughter's tuition—had returned after suffering Arte's magic.
"You called, Champion of Intellect?"
"From now on, Shirone will take the Ivory Tower's test. Ensure his graduation goes smoothly."
"I will convey your will to the king. The Star's wish shall be fulfilled smoothly."
Officials and politicos from other nations often tell stories of kings being grabbed by the lapels for a Star's wish, and they all say the same thing:
If a Star wants something, you simply give it.
'It's already been criticized and decided.'
The Ivory Tower's manual.
"Let's go, Tokei."
Tokei waved to the crowd.
"Then everyone, live happily and depart peacefully."
Bands of light wound up from Arte's feet and formed a massive whirlpool that shot into the sky.
'So this is the Ivory Tower.'
As the students watched in a daze, Raiman—who had emerged from the building too late—ground his teeth and glared at Shirone.
He had intended to make him crawl through his legs, but now Shirone had become someone even the crown could not touch.
'Hold it. No one ends well after being marked by the Ivory Tower.'
With three candidates, Shirone's chance to become a Star was a full 33.3 percent.
If he provoked them on a whim, the price to pay later would be far too great.
"Arian Shirone."
Raiman forced a smile and said, "By royal decree, all your crimes are pardoned. May you become a splendid mage who brings honor to the kingdom."
There was no royal edict, but it was a foregone conclusion anyway, and at Raiman's declaration of defeat the students cheered.
"Woooo! Congratulations, Senpai Shirone!"
"This is amazing! The Ivory Tower!"
Just being named a candidate was a glory for their alma mater, so the students' joy was natural.
'Find Ra.'
For Shirone, the one-in-three chance tasted bittersweet.
This was a problem on a completely different level from those he'd solved so far.
On top of that, his competitors' kar scores were slightly higher than his.
'Who on earth are they?'
Putting competition aside, Shirone was simply curious.
* * *
The imperial palace Yeomra of the Jincheon Empire.
Fitting an empire with a population of over two hundred million, Yeomra—where the emperor resided—was vast even among the Three Imperial Seats.
The guard's numbers equaled the forces of many nations, and the number of sorcerers alone exceeded two thousand.
They held an overwhelming numerical advantage, but lagged in quality, and now they were buying talent from around the world with astronomical funds.
"Princess, His Majesty the Emperor requests your presence."
No sooner had the maid finished than the woman meditating in the octagonal pavilion snapped her eyes open.
She was Emperor Jin Gang's thirteenth daughter, Jin Seongeum.
Her gaze, fixed straight ahead, was steel steady, and her pressed lips were red as flame.
"I will go at once."
As Seongeum prepared to move, the maids took positions according to the numbers engraved on their jade necklaces.
From ten steps to a thousand steps—the set distances indicated how close each could approach Seongeum; if anyone took one step too many, they would be punished that day.
When they arrived at the palace whose eaves soared skyward, the guards raised their spears in unison.
Captain O of the guards approached with the clank of armor and bowed.
"Princess."
Seongeum's brow twitched.
"Stand back to the twenty-third step."
"...."
Although Seongeum assigned distances to everyone she met, it was unthinkable for the captain of the guards to abandon his post.
"Hmph, really?"
When Seongeum scoffed, he suddenly realized he was twenty-three paces away from her.
'...There's nothing I can do about this.'
Her obsession with space came from a special realization that made her Jincheon's finest sorcerer.
The emperor had called her today because the Ivory Tower had designated Seongeum as a candidate—only the world's best would be chosen.
"One hundred ten paces. Two hundred thirty paces. Eighty-seven paces. Four hundred thirty-three paces."
Seongeum measured distances even for the guards.
The basis was unclear, but hearing it felt oddly persuasive, so there must be some standard.
When the guards refused to move, as before, Seongeum's expression hardened and she lifted her eyes.
"You lot…!"
The only maid permitted ten paces hurriedly reported, "Princess. Today, His Majesty the Emperor has especially—"
'Ether waves.'
When Seongeum focused, all sound vanished and even the shapes of the scene were pushed beyond perception.
Only in that dark world came countless tremors like raindrops stirring a surface.
If matter pressing on space causes gravity, then even empty space must be filled with something.
What she had realized as an unlocker was the base that constitutes space itself—ether.
'Contraction of space.'
Feeling the emperor's wave, she cast her magic; four kilometers folded as the landscape of Hwangryong Hall rushed in.
With two different scenes awkwardly juxtaposed, Seongeum's foot crossed the boundary of space.
"Father."
With that single step, she stood before the Jincheon Empire's emperor.