Chapter 231 - Episode Twenty-Seven - The Witch Altamir (3)

You have absolutely nothing to do with the royal family??

Altamir looks at me in astonishment.

Her cheeks twitch and her left eyebrow twitches.

Eh The-, then what did you come here for? Why did you destroy the tower? Harassment?

N, no, I got carried away Somehow, Im sorry.

As Altamir seemed unexpectedly harmless, I drew a magic circle around her body on the floor while she was unconscious, creating a ward that made it impossible for her to get out, and then tried to communicate with her.

It seems that when Altamir was transformed into a spirit, she couldnt be seen, so she took her disciples and conducted research deep in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.

But when Apocalypse appeared around the Dinrat kingdom, Lord Peltaire, an important figure in the Kudor Church, with whom she was originally involved, asked her to build this tower as a ward to seal Apocalypse, which led to her being noticed by the royal family.

It may seem like a tragic figure when you hear it like that, but it is because of her research into forbidden magic, especially the spiritualization of the human body and the reanimation of the dead, her design of the Colossus, which was forbidden by the alliance with other countries, and her ulterior motive of taming the Apocalypse, which led to the discovery that she had used money from the government to tamper with the warding of the tower. When I heard that, even I couldnt help but feel a bit defensive. Its not that I dont understand how they feel.

If left unchecked, she could become the trigger of war with other countries.

In the end, thanks to Lord Peltaires mediation, the incident was settled under the pretense that the Kingdoms Court Magicians had sealed Altamir and Apocalypse in the tower.

Altamir herself was originally an alchemist, so it was not hard for her to stay in the tower and do research.

I thought that Lord Peltaires influence was gone, and that the royal family had come to take me out, not knowing when I would go out of control.

Altamir exhaled a deep sigh, holding both eyelids with her fingers.

Well, Ive heard that there are a lot of rare magical beasts out here, so I went exploring, or rather, I went sightseeing.

Altamir put her hands on the floor.

In case youre wondering, even I know the name Peltaire.

He was the former Pope of the Kudor Church.

Hes probably long dead since hes one generation ahead of me, and Ive only seen his paintings at best.

Chronologically speaking, he became Pope ten years after Altamir was sealed.

I thought it was reasonable that he was able to influence the tower at will, even though it was sealed.

This tower itself had become nothing more than a zoo for Altamir raise magic beast.

I had a lot of questions about the sealing technique and the strangely elaborate interior, but now most of my doubts have been answered.

I was doing quite a good job, arent I? The cliffs with a view of the starry sky on the second level, and the cave of magic ore on the fifth level. It was hard to raise them because Jormungandr is a picky eater. It seems that someone destroyed them all, though.

Altamir speaks somewhat dismissively.

Im sorry, but Altamirs pride and joy, the second level, was in ruins by the time we entered, in the aftermath of the Abel sphere.

Yes, thats right! The cliffs where you can see the starry sky are Be-Beautiful, arent they, Mea!

Ple-, please dont dump it to Mea there! No! This kind of thing shows on my face!

Ive got it all figured out, so thats enough.

But what can I do?

The Altamirs tower has become a hole in the ground.

Im not sure how the story of Altamir is being passed down in the royal family, but depending on the internal handover, they may assume that the collapse of the tower has broken the seal on Altamir and send a team of Court Magicians to defeat Altamir.

Im the one whos going to be scolded at by Lark in the first place.

If I had not taken the liberty of twisting his advice, breaking into the tower, and then smashing it to create a bad situation that would lead to a disagreement with the royal family, all the trust that I had worked so hard to build would be lost.

Rather, it seemed that the Barony of Fage had been entrusted by the Royal family with the task of monitoring the Witchs Tower.

If Im not careful, Larks head may fly off in two ways.

I wont get off scot-free either.

Now that its come to this, well have to persuade Lark-san to build a full-scale fort in the Fage territory and fight a full-scale war.

Me-, Mea will follow Abel no matter what happens, okay.

Mea !

Altamir watched the exchange between me and Mea and pressed her fingers on her temples in annoyance.

Im going to fix it somehow, so you guys dont have to do anything else. If you dont have any hostile intentions, you can release this ward and leave now.

Altamir thumped the bottom of her foot on the magic circle I had drawn on the floor.

If theres anything I can do to help you

Go home.

Oh, yes. That would be very helpful.

She seemed to be very tired now.

After I removed the magic circle and lifted the warding, I asked her about something that had been bothering me.

I was wondering if I could have some of the remains of the colossus ?

Colossus is a violation of national law, so dont do it. It could get you into trouble, you know. You can take anything you want from the lower levels, so just go home already.

She seemed to hate me a lot.

Im reluctant to leave, but its time to leave the Witchs Tower.

I was going to break through the wall and build a slope to get home, but I was afraid she would get mad at me, so I decided to just walk home.

My legs were at their limit, but for once I had no choice. I dont want to do anything more than I have to.

I hadnt come to this tower with the intention of ruining peoples retreats, either.

Ive read Artamias books and respected her, and I think it would be a shame to get kicked out without talking much about magic.

Im also curious about the results of research done in the last hundred years.

What, is there anything more?

After I showed signs of leaving, Altamir just stood there, her eyes narrowed as she stared at me.

Can I come back when things have cooled down?

Altamirs cheeks flushed slightly, then turned sideways.

W-Well, its been a long time since Ive talked to anyone, and if its after the tower is fixed, I can help you out for a bit.

The permission was unexpectedly easy to obtain.

She said something like that when we first met too so maybe shes a bit lonely.