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Chapter 74: The Delivery Department (4)
The heart of the East, Rouen.
A certain door burst open with a loud bang in the city where the Yellow Mage Tower stood!
“D-Director of the Magical Engineering Department!”
“......”
Unperturbed by the rude intrusion of the Intelligence Department head, Tony gave him a curious glance.
“What is it?”
“I’ve found something.”
“...Don’t tell me this is about the task I assigned you a few days ago? That’s awfully quick.”
“No, it’s about a topic that briefly came up in a meeting weeks ago. I’ve discovered that the White Tower has been buying up magical engineering papers and large quantities of levitating stones.”
Recalling the conversation from back then, Tony nodded slowly.
“I remember. So, what did you find out?”
“The answer is bikes.”
“Hmm?”
Bikes?
Could it be the bikes he was thinking of?
As Tony tilted his head, the Intelligence Director grinned smugly.
“Do you remember the report I gave you three or four months ago about the bike rental business?”
“Of course. It was a failure in the mountainous north and the desert west.”
“Exactly. It didn’t just fail; it was a catastrophic collapse. Back then, the rental company owners were desperately trying to sell off their bikes everywhere.”
“They were, indeed.”
Tony vividly recalled the desperate pleas of those who even approached the Yellow Tower, begging to sell the bikes for even half the price.
Of course, the Yellow Tower had no intention of buying them back, as they had already deemed bikes a failed product and had exited the market.
“And now you’re telling me the answer is bikes? Are you saying the White Tower bought up all those heaps of scrap metal?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“...?”
Tony’s eyes widened at the unexpected response.
“I don’t understand. They bought them? Why?”
“Considering their past purchases of magical engineering tools and levitating stones, it seems they’re planning to modify the bikes for some purpose.”
“...The most likely use would be for delivery.”
“Ah, but that might not be it.”
The Intelligence Director lowered his voice as he spoke.
“There are rumors that the White Tower is planning to withdraw from the delivery business.”
“They’re pulling out of delivery and yet bought bikes? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, maybe they’re planning to start a new business. Delivery doesn’t make money, after all.”
He spoke nonchalantly, but Tony thought differently.
‘The north and west combined had over 5,000 bikes in operation.’
Purchasing all that stock wouldn’t have been cheap, even at drastically reduced prices.
‘Are they planning to use those for a new business?’
It made no sense. Even if the White Tower had profited handsomely from potions, business ventures still needed a semblance of logic.
‘Above all, Fidelina Chase, the White Tower elder, is a financial genius.’
She had kept the White Tower afloat for years on meager revenues, which was proof enough.
So, if they were doing this, it must mean they were confident about something.
‘What could it be?’
A shiver of unease ran down Tony’s spine, a sensation he deeply disliked.
To think he would feel such apprehension coming from the White Tower of all places.
“Find out exactly what the White Tower is planning with those bikes.”
“Leave it to me.”
“And have you uncovered the reason for the information blackout from Vince?”
“......”
At that question, the Intelligence Director’s expression grew heavy.
“I’m sorry. I tried to use our usual insiders, but they were terrified and refused, saying their lives were at risk.”
“Is it that serious?”
Recently, information from the distant Vince territory and its surrounding areas had been completely cut off for about a day.
“Yes. It seems the Imperial Family classified the information as top-secret.”
“Top-secret, huh?”
That was the highest level of classification in the Imperial Family’s system.
Feeling an ominous unease, Tony shifted his gaze back to his documents.
“...Keep digging.”
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* * *
As morning broke, a familiar face appeared in the room.
“Wow, I finally found you.”
Fran Sirius.
Without hesitation, he stepped inside, complaining as he went.
“I’ve never met a novice mage as busy as you. Where have you been running off to?”
“Here and there. Busy with things.”
Thinking back, it had been a long time since they’d last met.
Was it before hunting the Heavenly Silkworm and heading to Baran?
After that, even upon returning to the Mage Tower, there was no time to meet due to intensive training.
“Pfft, you clung to me like glue, promising to teach me everything, but now...”
Fran pouted, but judging by his improved magical prowess, he hadn’t been idle either.
“For someone complaining, you’ve trained pretty hard on your own.”
“Of course. Did you think I’d just slack off without you?”
Fran retorted bluntly, and with a whoosh, one of his arms disappeared.
At the same time, a cool breeze brushed past, like a fan had been turned on.
“I can now partially turn parts of my body into wind.”
Partially, huh.
Though not fully, it seemed he had overcome his trauma to some extent.
“What do you mean by ‘partially’?”
“Only my limbs for now. I’m still too scared to try with my head or heart.”
“That’s more than enough. You’ve done well.”
In any case, the head or heart would likely transform into wind instinctively in a crisis.
That’s how it had worked even before he began training.
“You wouldn’t have come just to see my face. You’re stuck, aren’t you?”
Fran averted his gaze at Oscar’s blunt question.
“...Actually, yeah. I’m not sure how to make use of this ability. So I came to hear your thoughts.”
“Hmm. If you had to fight Lazli again right now, how would you use it?”
"Not sure. Probably like this."
As Fran finished speaking, one of his arms turned into wind, radiating a sharp, cutting energy.
He had transformed his entire wind-arm into a Wind Cutter.
"Wouldn’t I use this? That way, even a knight wouldn’t be able to approach me easily."
"Not a bad idea, but…"
Personally, I found it a little disappointing.
That’s because Fran’s physical abilities were far inferior compared to mine or Killian’s.
"If you decide on such a growth direction this early, you’ll hit a limit sooner than you think."
Meeting a knight or mage skilled in close combat would make him powerless in an instant.
Perhaps Fran already knew this, as he let out a heavy sigh.
"I know. That’s why I came to you. I wanted that brilliant brain of yours to come up with an idea."
"Brilliant brain, huh…"
Though it had nothing to do with being brilliant, I already had an answer to his dilemma.
The first Wind Spirit wielder, the 7th Tower Master.
We could refer to his combat methods.
"Follow me to the training hall."
It was already the second time I’d come to the training hall with Fran.
I handed a weapon to the figure standing idly by.
"Here, take this."
"…What’s this? It looks like a whip."
"That’s because it is a whip. From now on, it’s the weapon you’ll practice and master."
Fran’s face immediately showed displeasure.
Understandably so; whips were notoriously difficult weapons to handle.
"Why a whip, of all things?"
"Because it’s the weapon that best suits your abilities."
A whip’s lethality ranks among the highest of melee weapons.
First, its range surpasses that of a spear, and its speed is unparalleled.
Even without magic, it can break the sound barrier in an instant, making it the only weapon capable of such a feat.
"It’s also incredibly destructive. If it hits properly, it can literally tear skin apart."
"…If it’s so great, why don’t people use it?"
"Because it has a few fatal flaws that overshadow all those advantages."
I gestured lightly with my hand.
"Instead of explaining, it’s faster to show you. Try swinging it at me."
"If it rips your skin off or something… No, forget it."
Realizing who he was worrying about, Fran swung the whip with all his might.
Crack!
The whip instantly broke the sound barrier, lashing toward me.
I caught it effortlessly.
"Your hand…! Are you okay?"
"I’m fine."
Thanks to the gentle breeze enveloping me, this level of attack was easy to catch.
Seeing that I was unharmed, Fran let out a sigh of relief.
"…Monster. Let go of it already. I can’t retrieve the whip while you’re holding it."
"That’s the first major flaw of this weapon."
Looking at the taut whip, I continued.
"Using a whip involves large preparatory motions, making its trajectory easy to predict for a sharp-eyed opponent. And if the whip gets grabbed like this, the fight’s over. It’s a weapon that puts everything into offense but lacks any defense."
Every single one of these flaws was critical.
That’s why the whip, despite its superior speed and destructive power, was dismissed as a mainstream weapon.
"But what if you covered this whip with the Wind Spirit?"
"…Huh?"
Fran seemed to realize something at that moment.
The whip vanished from my grasp, dissipating into the wind.
He had easily retrieved it, a look of amazement on his face.
"So, for someone like me, the whip can’t be grabbed, right? Since no one can grasp the wind."
"And if you turned the whip into wind, making it invisible, predicting its trajectory or timing would become nearly impossible."
On top of that, wind breaking the sound barrier would be difficult to counter, even if visible.
"In short, with the Wind Spirit, you can nullify all the whip’s weaknesses."
"…Hearing you explain it like that, it sounds like the ultimate weapon."
Staring at the whip in his hand, Fran spoke up.
"But wouldn’t the whip’s destructive power be weaker if it turned into wind?"
"Good question. You’re right. If it were simply eroding surfaces with wind, there’d be no need to use a whip."
After all, the world is full of better weapons.
However, the 7th Tower Master came up with a brilliant way to eliminate even that last weakness.
"There’s an intermediate spell I’m currently restoring from the White Tower archives. Want to learn it?"
"Of course! What’s the spell called?"
"Breath of Steel."
It’s a spell that makes any wind the user controls as solid as steel.
Combining this spell with the Wind Spirit would make Fran’s whip the perfect weapon.
An invisible force, faster than sound, would target his enemies’ lives.
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