13: Tower

“God damnit!” shouted an immature voice of a disgusting man.

His words dripped with a mixture of disdain and fear as sweat dripped down his greasy face.

“You’re telling me that the blasted prince is giving up his title, uncle isn’t able to protect me?!”

“That’s correct, my lord.” A man wearing a suit and tie responded. Baron Slake’s butler, a man sent by Slake’s uncle, was fiercely loyal, even if only because of the blood ties to Duke Rose.

Slake thought back to his uncle and how he protected him in every step of the way. Even when he committed horrible crimes, his uncle was there for him.

His uncle, Duke Alvin Rose, was a hero of the kingdom, adored by many, and even appreciated by the king.

But Duke Rose was currently tied up in business. Duke Rose was in the midst of investigating whether or not the fourth prince would be a risk to the kingdom or not by giving up his noble title in The Shelf.

The war between the kingdom and the empire was progressing faster than ever, and the center of conflict now was a lack of weapons and a surge of fighting in the center east region of Tiola.

“He… why isn’t that fucking bastard here to protect me?!” Baron Slake screamed. “He said he’d protect me, no matter what I did!”

The butler looked at the Baron with disgust for a moment, which he quickly managed to hide.

“The Duke is predisposed, as of now. I would recommend you stop seeking that woman, for now. You’ve a dozen brothels in your region, all of which have sworn to do anything you desire.”

“But I don’t want a random woman!” Slake shouted. “I want her!”

The butler couldn’t help but show his frown for a moment.

“I advise you to stop. You’ve already shown a clear failure to the kingdom once with the adventurer’s hall, and should you fail again once more, the kingdom would be sure to ‘let you go’ with Duke Rose not being here to defend you. You only need to wait for his return, sir.”

Baron Slake shook his head in anger.

“Don’t you dare tell me what to do!” He said, his red face dribbling with spittle. “You work for me! Not the other way around!”

The butler looked at the man with visible disgust, not even hiding it now.

“I work for Duke Rose. An honorable man with a horrible nephew. I am only here out of respect for him, not out of obligation to you. I do not work for you, and my employment is not contingent on whether you appreciate my work or not, Baron Slake.” he said plainly and cleanly.

“Then leave! You’re not wanted here!” Slake shouted.

The butler sighed, then walked away, not even dignifying Slake’s outburst with a response. He was long since tired of the outbursts of this man, so why not follow his own wishes for a change?

Baron Slake stood there for a moment. Stunned.

“Where the hell are my other servants?” He screamed.

But no one answered. The only people left that Slake still employed were his guards.

And would a man such as himself be able to control them?

Somewhere far away, back in the city of The Shelf, Eliza was standing in front of a receptionist, carrying two gold coins in tow.

Lily and Mary were looking all around the magic tower with awe… and a bit of annoyance.

“Look, missy, I’m saying that your kids there are almost certainly not going to be able to use magic! The only reason that fancy schmancy prince is able to is cause he’s rich!”

Eliza, holding Lily’s and Mary’s hands, knew that even though she had enough money, she was nowhere close to being rich as the prince was.

But for some reason, she still wanted to do it anyways.

“Look, I just… I have the gold arrows. I’ve given them to you. I just…”

Slowly, Eliza was beginning to feel like it was a mistake to come here on a whim.

The lady behind the counter sighed. She had golden hair and white eyes, and was wearing purple robes.

“Look, that gold coin is just the bare minimum. You aren’t going to get more impressive as a mage without a lot of money. Being a mage is all about your imagination, but in order to improve, you need money. Lots of money. You can’t use your imagination to change something you don’t understand. So if you wanna understand something… You spend money on it. You see?”

Eliza nodded.

“I’m more than willing to continue to teach them things they don’t know.” She said, still feeling competitive. She had modern knowledge that people in this world didn’t have. If any normal person could teach a future archmage, it would almost certainly be her.

The receptionist looked at Eliza with an upset expression.

“Fine. Go ahead, waste your money.” She said, and then rang a small bell. As she did, the entrance of the tower vibrated.

“Yes?” A voice echoed through the entryway of the magic tower.

“Yeah.” The receptionist said. “Got two more for you, Sir Baleheart.”

A long pause overtook the room.

Then, a man sighed.

“Send the fools to the room with the machine. I’ll be there in a few minutes, when I’m done with this experiment.”

As the voice echoed, a young man with red hair entered the entry way, an expression of annoyance visible on his face.

“I’ll lead you to the room. Just follow me.” He said.

Eliza followed the young man, who looked clearly annoyed at the group being in the magic tower.

Even Lily and Mary were starting to notice, Eliza felt. The two girls were no longer looking around at the tower, interested in seeing the new area. They instead seemed to be looking either at the floor or at the man leading her here.

Eliza felt a bit even more like her haste in coming here was a mistake. This might be a memory that Lily and Mary might not be too pleased with in the future.

‘Should I just leave now?’ she wondered, feeling like she was making a mistake.

But she followed the young man to a room. Inside, she could see a large piece of machinery, almost the size of an entire room.

“Sir Baleheart will be in the room soon. Until he arrives, don’t touch anything. That device there costs more than half the town.” The man said with an almost eerie expression. He soon left, leaving the three in the room alone.

Mary and Eliza gulped, but Lily was looking at the machine excitedly. Somehow, Lily’s excitement at seeing something new took away all of her fears and hesitation about being here.

“Mommy! Mommy! What is that thing?” she asked.

Eliza stopped being a bit fearful, and then smiled. She didn’t know if there were machines in any other place in this world, except for places similar to that. Moreover, this felt like a chance to show off in front of her daughter, which she felt had been happening less and less with her daughter soaking up the classes at school so well.

“It’s called a machine. It’s like how people use hammers to nail in nails into wood. This machine does something to help people, just like hammers help people. It probably helps people check if they can use magic, I’d guess?”

At that, from the entrance of the room, a man scoffed. A man that they didn’t know was there. Eliza was stunned. She was observant enough to notice Rin when she was hiding, yet this man in front of her was able to hide himself from her observation.

The man had bright orange hair and a scrawny face... He looked a little uncomfortably long at Eliza's figure while she was in her stunned state.

“How did you…” She asked, then shook her head.

This man was a mage. Not an assassin. He had tools she didn’t know about, and likely would not know about.

And this one in particular… liked to show off in front of people he felt were lesser than him.

“Of course a commoner like you wouldn’t know.” The man scoffed. “Jacob Baleheart. The expert mage in charge of testing overconfident fools such as yourself!”

He laughed, as if he was viewing Eliza as a joke.

“That’s mean…” Lily said, but Jacob didn’t even respond.

Jacob may have been rude to nearly everyone, but he wasn’t so obnoxious as to argue with a child.

Eliza thought about his words for a moment.

“Expert mages can manipulate matter, not just energy, from what I know. Why would this machine need an expert mage to run it?” Eliza asked.

Having been in this world for so long but still in a constant state of learning due to how new everything was for her, Eliza had naturally picked up many things that the average commoner would not make an effort to learn. From sword aura, to magic knowledge, she would always ask questions when there was something she didn’t understand.

To many, it was annoying, but occasionally she would find the common gossiper and learn quite a bit of information. Learning to sort out the actually useful information was a different matter, though.

The man frowned. Not because of Eliza’s question, but simply because Eliza had an idea of matter and energy. He didn’t respond. And moreover... he didn't know anything about the machine.

“Well, ahem, I… Need not explain such a thing to you?” Jacob said nervously.

He wouldn’t be willing to admit that he wasn’t actually an expert mage, but instead just the man forced to test people in the place of the busy higher level mages.

After all, a man is only as good as his word… And Jacob was quite the liar.

Lily looked around for a moment.

“What’s a matter?” She asked.

Eliza smiled. Even though it took her quite a bit of effort not to say ‘what’s a matter with you?’ like she would have, back on Earth, she explained a bit to Lily.

“Matter is almost everything. It’s stuff itself. Everything you can touch, and almost everything you can see is made of matter. If I pick up a stone and drop it… the matter moves. It doesn’t disappear, it can just be moved around. Even things like air, and things you can’t see are matter. There are exceptions, like fire, for instance. Fire is energy, though, not matter. When I make ice with my sword aura, it’s taking the nearby moisture in the air and freezing it, since the moisture in the air is matter. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but… I’ll explain more another day, okay sweety?” Eliza said.

Jacob felt a bit confused now. How did a commoner woman picked out from the street have knowledge that took the magic tower long research and years to learn to teach effectively? And moreover, she was teaching it just as well as Jacob himself would be able to teach…

And more than that, she's also an expert swordsman?

Jacob felt a bit of his pride be wounded. He himself had pretended to be an expert mage earlier to feel more important than he actually was, yet… 

“Well, ahem!” Jacob said, feeling overconfident. “Any expert mage can affect or manipulate matter! There are hundreds of expert mages, you know. Yet it takes a sword wielder to become a swordsmaster before they can manipulate matter in the same way! That’s why mages are so impressive, you see!”

Then, he realized he was somehow getting competitive with a person he was meeting for the first time today, even when he hadn’t yet done his actual job in the magic tower yet. He felt shame as his face burned up.

He wasn’t here to talk with a random woman he had just met, he was here to do a single test and go back to his research. 

“I’m sorry for the delay…” He said, feeling a bit ashamed. Even though he was a braggart... He could feel shame. And it was especially important to not be rude to a sword expert, even if only self proclaimed.

“Hold on a moment.” Jacob said.

He went over to the large machine and moved several levers in place, then placed his hand on a large thorn.

As he did, a sliding gate on the room sized machine opened up.

“Alright, just enter here. It’ll tell us if any of you have the capability to use magic.” Jacob said, not even realizing he was treating Eliza with much more respect after seeing her knowledge.

And… he didn’t even realize that it was supposed to only be the girls who were tested today.

Eliza nodded.

“I’ll enter in.” She said, holding the hands of the two girls once more.

When they were inside, the door closed, and Eliza could feel a tiny spark of something in the air, almost like electricity.

Lily and Mary seemed to not experience that same feeling, but Lily did notice that her mom was acting a bit strange while in the machine.

And then after a few minutes, the door opened unceremoniously. Eliza and the two girls stepped out, confused at the show.

“Ah… Seriously?” Jacob shouted, confused.

Eliza walked up to the man, curious about what he was looking at. The machine, which she didn’t understand, had seemed to rely on pneumatics in some ways due to its moving parts, but she had no idea how such a machine was able to test people with such primitive technology as it had.

‘They’re probably a hundred years behind the technology on Earth…’ Eliza thought to herself. ‘But… why have mages not made and sold machines everywhere else? If they have this capability… Is it too expensive for them to be produced, then?’

Even though the comparisons were not healthy in the long run of understanding Atlan and the continent of Tiola, Eliza’s constant comparing of things helped her establish a basis of knowledge of Atlan that she didn’t have before.

Jacob looked at the three of them.

“Ah… Miss…” Jacob said, clearly aware of how his tone had changed. He may have been aware of his flippant personality, but with certain people, you had to act with respect, no matter what. “You’ll… have to go again.”

Eliza was confused, but she grabbed Lily and Mary’s hands.

“No, just… by yourself, this time.” He said. “They don’t have the ability to use magic yet, but… You do.”

“Excuse me?” She asked, a bit stunned. “I can use sword aura. Could there be a mistake with the machine, then?”

The man shook his head.

“No, ma’am. The machine is flawless. It was made by an archmage….” Jacob said. “You… should theoretically be able to use magic. It would be… a good idea to go back in, just in case being near... the two children somehow affected the outcome.”

Eliza was a bit hesitant, but she walked in. Leaving Mary and Lily alone wasn’t something she desired, but she still walked in despite that. The two girls were watching the machine and its moving parts as the test began.

And after yet another test ended, Jacob frowned.

“That’s… a shock. Yes, miss, it looks like you can use magic…” Jacob said.

Eliza was a bit stunned. She didn’t really care that much about magic, at least not now that she had gotten used to her body… She had initially wanted to learn it, yes, but it served very little purpose to her now.

Eliza now only desired to help Lily grow up well, after all.

“Well, take a minute to get settled with the news, then follow me to the library. The magic tower automatically lends a copy of the basics of magic to any newcomer who is able to use it.”

Eliza paused.

Did she want to learn magic? She only came here to open up options for Mary and Lily.

But then… after a minute of thinking about it, she realized this wasn’t a bad thing for her.

Mary wanted to be a mage in the future, thanks to Eliza speaking so freely about jobs already. Mary was Lily’s childhood friend, as well as the child of Eliza’s best friend in this world… Eliza could easily help establish a foundation in becoming a mage if she herself became one.

And that would help her prove that the kids she cared about were better than that snot nosed prince, she thought.

“Very well. Lead the way.” Eliza said to Jacob.

The group soon found themselves in the library. It was the largest collection of books Eliza had seen since arriving in this world, putting even some libraries on Earth to shame.

“Ah, Jacob. Here to sort the book returns?” the man guarding the library entryway said, smiling.

“No… I’m here to find a book on the basics to lend out.”

The guard’s eyes widened for a bit. Then he nodded.

The group continued towards a specific shelf, filled with hundreds of books, all with the same title. ‘Basics of Magic,’ the book was titled.

As Eliza was watching Jacob go towards the bookshelf, she happened to spot a single book on the shelves that didn’t quite seem like it belonged on the shelf.

“The Angel of Battle?” Eliza asked.

Jacob turned his head to look at the book on the shelf, confused as to why it was there.

“Huh? That book shouldn’t be here…” Jacob said, pulling it out. He skimmed through it for a moment, then handed it to Eliza.

Eliza paused. Why had he given it to her?

“Why did you…? What do you want me to do with this?” she asked.

“I don’t know. You should keep it, since you’re interested in it. It’s easier for me that way, at least. If it doesn’t belong here, it’s probably left by someone after they used it as a research material. At that point, if anyone at all, such as yourself, wants it, they can take it. The magic tower doesn’t care about materials like this.” Jacob said, now a bit humbled. He realized that Eliza was superior to him now, being a mage as he was and a sword expert as well.

In some ways, he was a man who was weak to those who were strong, and strong to those who were weak. To most people, he was pathetic. Even Eliza, who had just met him, didn’t care for how fast the man went to act normally in conversation with how rude he acted at first.

“Anyways, here’s your copy.” He said, handing Eliza a book. “You’ll need to return the magic lesson book in one month’s time, or you can extend it for a gold arrow a month. Have… a good day, miss!” Jacob said, almost running away from Eliza.

And in a few minutes, she had left the magic tower, two books in tow. The person at the desk was arguing with a teenager who had wanted to get tested, but by now she didn’t have the energy to be out anymore.

Somehow, she felt like nothing that had just happened was real, but she could visibly see the books in front of her.

The people in that building had sapped her of her emotional energy just by interacting with them. Even if they were annoyed with having to constantly deal with people, they shouldn’t act like that one man had.

It felt like mages were quite weird with their personalities, at least.

Eliza looked at Mary, who was looking up at her with a confused expression.

“Mary… don’t be a person like that man we just met in the future, okay?”

Mary looked up at Eliza confused.

“Okay, aunty!” She said, nodding.