Chapter 21
A young wizard, who was full of spirit, came out to greet Evanessa. He had definitely drawn the short straw.
Any wizard would be reluctant to enter the room where the patients who had caught ‘that’ were quarantined.
Although Terry looked like he was in his late teens judging solely by his appearance, the chances were high that he was older than he looked. Wizards were endowed with slower aging and longer lifespans due to their innate magic. This was a fact made immediately apparent just by looking at the church’s pope.
“We have all been waiting anxiously for the Saintess.”
After finishing his introductions, the magician named Terry kept on talking. Evanessa absentmindedly listened to his chatter and responded only when appropriate.
After passing through the Wizards Tower’s illusionary barrier, the two found themselves standing in front of five different doors. Without any hesitation, Terry opened the door that was the second from the right. This was a trap meant to impede any intruders. As anyone who tried to enter, without an escort, would find themselves returned to the entrance after a day; if you wanted to visit the Wizards Tower, you absolutely needed to be accompanied by one of the wizards residing within.
When Terry opened the door, it revealed an endlessly rising, spiral staircase.
‘We don’t really have to walk all the way up there, do we…?’
Evanessa stared up at the spiral staircase with distant eyes. As the servants and maids following her were left stationed at the entrance to the tower, Evanessa was all alone.
Terry reached into the front of his robes and started taking things out, searching for the correct item, and commented,“You know, all of us are more than a little disappointed that the Saintess can only formally visit us here at the Wizards Tower a few times a year.”
“Will we be going to the top floor again?”
“Yes! After all, it’s best to contain ‘that’ as much as possible.
Even so, there was another reason why the top floor of the Wizards Tower had become an asylum where the patients were kept isolated. In the game, apart from the ordinary inhabitants of the tower who were responsible for the housekeeping of the upper floors, the rest of the wizard’s tower’s residents were actually housed on the lowest floors.
Evanessa avoided looking at a specific alcove on the first floor that connected to a corridor.
“Well then, Saintess, please pardon my rudeness.”
‘Is he about to use magic?’
As this scene didn’t receive a detailed explanation in the game, Evanessa silently nodded her head in acceptance. Following this, Terry gently placed a hand on Evanessa’s shoulder.
The item that Terry finally retrieved from the front of his robes was a black dragon-shaped stone. He then started chanting in some unintelligible language. At the same time, something similar to white mist poured out from the tips of Terry’s fingers and wrapped around the stone. Suddenly, the dragon’s jaws snapped open and a mysterious phenomenon began to take place.
“Whoa!”
Firstly, her view of their surroundings started to blur, and then countless scenes started flashing past her eyes as if a video had been fast-forwarded. Secondly, a terrible feeling, like she had been sucked into a vacuum, came over her and her inner ear was shaken, leaving her violently nauseous.
Only
A moment later, a large iron gate appeared before Evanessa, who had clapped both hands over her mouth.
“Huh? Saintess, could it be … did you actually keep your eyes open?”
Terry was alarmed at seeing Evanessa’s obviously distressed condition. He hadn’t purposefully missed out on informing her of the precautions to take. After all, Evanessa was supposed to have already visited the wizard’s tower twice a year.
“…Blargh!”
“Ah! Saintess, not there! That is the Tower Master’s prized statue!”
Evanessa’s condition eventually stabilized after Terry used his healing magic.
However, it had already taken a miracle for her to walk over here this morning. She was still here only because she didn’t want the notoriety for failing to deal with the wizard’s tower’s crisis.
“…are you okay? It would have been too difficult to go from the 1st floor to the 99th floor in any other way. I had to use a magical tool that the Head Wizard charged for us.”