Chapter 239: Prank (1)

The dawn was breaking, but it was still too early for the workday to begin.

A convoy of carriages descended upon the Tower of Wishes.

The occupants were none other than the Masters themselves—rare figures who might only be seen a few times a year. For them to converge at the tower at nearly the same hour left the guards utterly bewildered.

“W-what’s going on?”

“I have no idea.”

Meanwhile, on the third-highest floor of the tower—the Masters’ exclusive conference hall, used for discussing the Labyrinth’s major affairs—all fifteen Masters had gathered for the first time in over a decade.

At the head of the table, in the chair of honor, sat Aileo, Floria’s disciple and the chairman of the meeting.

Whenever Floria was absent, Aileo, as the tower’s most senior Master, had always presided over matters of state.

Druk.

“I wonder why they had to summon us all so urgently,” Harold muttered as he entered the meeting hall, having just heard the Master’s summons while engrossed in his research. He continued to grumble as he took his seat.

The assembled Masters turned their gazes to Aileo.

“Why have you called us all together at once? Some of us have pressing research to attend to.”

“Let’s get straight to the point,” Aileo replied. “I have research waiting to be completed.”

Curiosity filled the Masters’ faces.

The fact that they had all been summoned meant the matter at hand could be nothing trivial.

But Aileo’s following words delivered a shock far beyond their expectations.

“The Grand Masters… have passed away.”

A stifling silence descended, heavy with disbelief. No one seemed to grasp what they had just heard.

Among them, Harold’s reaction was the most intense. “Master… is gone?!” His eyes dimmed.

Finally… Master.

He had known for some time that Douglas’s life was nearing its end. Though a mix of emotions—grief, resignation, and a quiet melancholy—stirred within him, he accepted his guru’s death with relative ease.

Just then, the old woman seated opposite Harold spoke up. “Tsk, even at your age, Harold, you only hear what you want to hear. I said the Grand Masters, plural, have passed away… Did I hear right, Aileo?”

Aileo nodded at the old woman’s question.

“Delfina is right. It wasn’t just Douglas who passed away… All three of them are gone.”

Aileo’s confirmation drew groans from the crowd.

“What!”

“How could this have happened!”

Addressing the murmuring crowd, Aileo added, “Early this morning, we received an urgent message through the emergency communication network. A troll was captured near the Hayrek domain, and… items believed to belong to the Grand Masters were found in its stomach.”

At this, Harold’s eyes widened, and he shouted, “You mean they died because of that kind of trash…?”

“Their prosthetics—arms, eyes, and wings—weren’t mere trinkets, were they?”

”…?!”

“They were unique artifacts, possessions exclusive to those individuals. And those very items… reportedly came from the belly of a troll.”

Harold’s lips pressed into a firm line.

Aileo’s words rang true. Given that Aileo was a disciple of Floria, he wouldn’t likely fabricate such a tale in the wake of his guru’s death.

Yet, despite this, it remained impossible to believe.

Harold bit his lip.

“The remains… were the remains found?”

“Regrettably… all we retrieved from the troll’s belly were their personal effects.”

“Hmm…”

Everyone here knew how potent a troll’s digestive fluids were.

That’s why it was understandable that nothing was found except the artifacts, which had exceptional durability.

“Still, I can’t believe they’re dead. Not just one person… but three of them gone at the same time.”

“I share that feeling. The Grand Masters’ belongings—or rather, items—that were recovered are being transported here, so we can confirm their authenticity then. For today, I’ve gathered you all to prepare our hearts in case the news turns out to be true.”

“When are they expected to arrive?”

“Given the gravity of the situation, even if they come as quickly as possible, it would still take two to three weeks.”

“Hah…”

A heavy sigh filled the room at the news of the Grand Masters, the spiritual pillars and gurus of them all, having passed away.

Yet among those who sighed, there were a few who couldn’t quite hide a fleeting excitement. William was the most prominent example.

He raised his hand to request speaking rights and opened his mouth to speak.

“If it’s really true… if the Grand Masters have truly passed away, what do you intend to do?”

His question drew the gazes of all the Masters.

Master Valen responded, “What are you trying to say?”

“If their deaths are confirmed and the news spreads like wildfire, the repercussions will be immense… It could even shake the very foundations of the Tower.”

“Shake the foundations of the Tower?”

“Our Tower of Aspiration has no Tower Lord. Yet it has stood unshaken until now because of the three of them.”

Master Han, losing his patience with William’s circuitous words, roared, “So what are you suggesting?”

“If the deaths of the three of them are indeed confirmed…” William replied calmly, “shouldn’t we fill the vacant Tower Lord position?”

”…?!”

William’s words stirred the meeting hall into a frenzy of whispers.

The day after the meeting at the Tower of Wishes, the Transcendence Academy was eerily silent. With the vacation ceremony concluded, 99% of the students had returned home for break.

But someone was still racing through the academy at breakneck speed. It was Shiba, tasked with delivering Louis’s Academic Achievement Award after the student missed both his overnight stay and the vacation ceremony.

I can understand the overnight stay… But skipping the award ceremony? That’s utterly unacceptable!

Despite having his name called over the loudspeaker a dozen times, Louis never appeared. Shiba, who had spent the entire ceremony nervously inventing excuses for his absence, stormed off to find him, fuming.

His search led him to the Pest Extermination Research Society’s room.

“Huh?”

Shiba’s face lit up as he heard muffled voices coming from inside the Research Room. He tugged excitedly on the door handle.

“Louis…!”

The door swung open, and Shiba froze in his tracks, his eyes darting around the scene.

“U-uh… Louis?”

At least Louis, the person he’d been frantically searching for, was inside.

The problem was the others.

Judging by the voices, Shiba had assumed it would be Louis and his travel party. But…

”…Who are these people?”

The three occupants of the Research Room were strangers to Shiba. Moreover, their attire and appearance clearly marked them as non-students of the Transcendence Academy.

A one-armed old dwarf and two stunningly beautiful women occupied the research room’s table, drinking tea with such ease that it seemed as if they belonged to the society. There was no sense of awkwardness about them at all.

However, Shiba’s meticulous data on every student at the Transcendence Academy didn’t include any individuals matching their descriptions.

Slurp.

Louis took a sip of his tea and glared sullenly at Shiba.

“What are you doing? Come on in.”

“R-right. But who are these people?”

“They? Just some dimwits.”

“Hey, now! Dimwits? I have a certain reputation to maintain.”

“Oh, please, Tower Lord. We still have some dignity.”

“Tch, did your reputation get you kidnapped?”

Erica and Douglas, who had been grumbling under their breaths, snapped their mouths shut at Louis’s remark.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Louis blurted out, “Oh, right… Which idiot was running around broadcasting that I had the Tower Lord’s symbolic Proof Medallion and Rusty Sword?”

“W-Why are you asking about that so suddenly?”

“I got kicked out.”

”…Huh?”

“When I showed them the Proof Medallion and Rusty Sword, they called me a scammer and told me to get lost.”

”…?!”

“And that riddle on the Iron Door in the underground labyrinth… Whose twisted mind came up with that answer?”

The trio froze, their expressions hardening as Louis abruptly unloaded his litany of complaints.

Erica and Douglas felt a chill run down their spines.

If it’s about a saying… they must mean that one, right? That ill-tempered dragon?

T-the Tower Lord got kicked out by the guards?!

Their minds raced through their past actions.

Simultaneously, their eyes met in mid-air, and with a desperate unity, they cried out:

“It was Victor!”

“Victor did it!”

Hearing the urgency in their voices, as if they truly believed their story, Floria spoke in disbelief.

“You two… Even so, exploiting the deceased is a bit much…”

Floria’s words confirmed it. They were the ones behind the rumors about the Token of Proof and the rusted sword, as well as the inscription on the Iron Door.

Louis, a menacing smile forming on his face, said, ”…You’ll have separate interviews with me later.”

“Hup!”

“Ugh!”

Douglas and Erica, their faces turning pale, winced in fear.

Floria!

You traitor!

They glared at her, but Floria, lacking her prosthetic eye, remained unfazed by their stares.

Meanwhile, Shiba tilted his head, utterly bewildered by the conversation unfolding as if he weren’t even there.

What are they talking about?

He couldn’t follow the flow of the conversation at all.

Louis couldn’t help but wonder why the women, who looked older than him despite their youth, and the weathered dwarf seemed so uneasy around him.

Victor? Something about that name… it feels familiar.

As Shiba tilted her head in confusion, the door to the Research Room creaked open.

Knock-knock.

“Louis, are you here?” Sierra asked, stepping inside. She held a small envelope in her hand.

Louis looked up at her entrance. “What’s up?”

“Oh, the Academic Scholarship Certificate is ready. I brought it to deliver it to you…”

Sierra glanced around the room, surveying the unfamiliar faces. She tilted her head curiously.

Who are they? They’re not students. Are they Academy officials?

Why are these people drinking tea here?

She echoed the very question Shiba had pondered moments earlier.

Just then, another person burst in.

“Huh? Teacher, you’re here?”

“Brother Louis! Where have you been?”

The Flame Siblings stormed into the room, their faces flushed. Louis pushed Tania’s clinging face away with his fingers.

“Greet my disciples,” he said.

His words startled all three.

“Di-disciples? Are you saying… the Tower Lord’s disciples?”

“Huh? Disciples?”

“Louis’s disciples?”

It was a big deal. If you were Louis’s disciple, that meant you were next in line to become the Lord of the Tower.

Of course, no one knew when Louis might die.

Am I going to die…?

Louis waved his hand dismissively at their surprised faces. “I know what you’re thinking, but these kids have nothing to do with the Labyrinth. I’m not teaching them technology; I’m just teaching them how to fight.”

“Ah! I see…” They nodded in understanding.

Watching them, Tania asked, “Who are these people?”

Her curiosity was soon answered by the newcomers who barged in. “Louis, we’re here!”

“Hey, where’d you run off to yesterday? We waited forever! It’s vacation time—let’s go have some fun!”

Louis, seeing the door slam open again, took another sip of his tea and said, “You’re late.”

“If they were coming, they could have all come at once… Anyway, you recognize them, right?”

Floria was the first to react.

“Ah, it’s them! The Tower Lord’s friends!”

“Heh, like Louis, they’ve grown beyond recognition.”

“Those are them?!”

The memory of the electric shocks from their past must have resurfaced, as Erica shuddered and her shoulders twitched when she saw the Twins.

At that moment, Kani and Khan noticed them and greeted them.

“Huh? Isn’t that… um… um… what was her name again?”

Kani shot a disapproving glance at Khan, who was clutching his head in frustration. “Douglas, you idiot.”

“Ah, right! So you’re Erica, and that must be Floria?”

“Correct. It’s been a long time, Lord Khan and Lady Kani.”

“Hey, long time no see,” Kani said, waving her hand at Floria with a jingle.

Just then—

Thud-thud.

The sound of something falling made everyone turn to see Shiba and Sierra’s Academic Achievement Awards and Scholarship Certificates lying scattered on the floor.

Startled by the sudden attention, the two hastily scrambled to pick them up.

Shiba scratched the back of his head and spoke hesitantly, “I’m sorry… We were just surprised. Um, if it’s not rude to ask… Did you say ‘Lord Douglas, Lady Floria, and Lady Erica’?”

“And?”

“Yes.”

“Correct.”

“Haha, how strange! To have three people bearing the names of the Grand Masters gathered in one place like this. What a fascinating coincidence!”

Douglas scoffed at Shiba’s words, his tone derisive.

“Coincidence? What’s wrong with us using our own names?”

At that moment, Erica stood up and placed her arms around Shiba and Sierra’s shoulders.

She whispered in a low voice, “This is a secret, but… we’re the Grand Masters.”

Shiba and Sierra’s expressions froze for a moment. But they still looked unconvinced.

After all, for the Grand Masters—the pinnacle of the Labyrinth, who hadn’t been seen in decades—to be gathered in a mere research room in the Transcendence Academy, sipping tea?

It was utterly absurd.

Noticing Shiba’s skepticism, Erica snapped.

“I’m telling you, it’s true!”

“Ah, yes…”

Douglas and Erica’s faces twisted at his lukewarm response.

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“Ha ha, my boy, it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

No matter how they argued, Shiba’s expression remained unchanged, only becoming more suspicious.

Louis, who had been watching the scene, chuckled mockingly.

“Heh heh, now you know how it feels to be called a scammer to your face, don’t you?” His words were a dig at their earlier expulsion from the Labyrinth’s entrance on suspicion of fraud.

Floria sighed softly and replied, “We were telling the truth.”

“Pfft, that’s obviously a lie, right?”

“We tried to tell you—”

“His name is Shiba.”

“Oh, thank you, Tower Lord. Yes, do we have any reason to lie to Shiba?”

She was right. They had no reason to pretend to be Grand Masters to gain anything from her.

Shiba shrugged. “Alright, I understand. But even if the three of them were Grand Masters—”

“Not ‘if,’ we are!” Erica snapped, her voice rising.

Shiba nodded placatingly. “Yes, yes. Since you’re Grand Masters—”

Shiba’s gaze shifted to Louis. “Why do Lady Erica calls you ‘Tower Lord’?”

The conversation I had overheard.

The title “Lord of the Tower” clearly referred to Louis.

As Shiba’s gaze settled on him, Louis shrugged.

“Why? Because I am the Lord of the Tower, of course.”

”…Lord Louis, what did you say?”

“Lord of the Tower of Wishes.”

“Huh?”

“Owner of the Tower of Wishes.”

A tense silence fell over the Research Room.

During this pause, Shiba’s gaze shifted from Louis to Floria, Douglas, and finally Erica.

The look he turned on the three of them was icy.

A low murmur escaped his lips.

”…I knew it was a lie all along, didn’t I?”

What the fuck, you bastard?

A vein bulged on Louis’s forehead.