◈ Episode 530. Delegates (2)

The Crystal Hall.

“I swear before the Everlasting Truth.”

Matisse Dean Karl.

Standing at the podium, he placed his hand on the 『Ivory Sculpture of Truth』.

The gazes of those watching were clearly divided.

“Take a picture, take something, take anything……!!”

Those who hadn’t even mastered the basic discipline of silence.

“Was this the inside of the Magic Tower……?”

“Oh, it’s beyond beautiful, it’s unbelievable! No, the hall is growing in size in real-time, and no matter how many people enter, it never seems to fill up!”

“This is no joke.”

“Just one. It’s a shame we can’t broadcast it live.”

It’s the international press corps.

“Whatever, what kind of windfall is this, thanks to Lee Hoyeol?”

It’s unprecedented for a mall to open its doors to the public other than the lobby.

Countless cameras captured the view of the Crystal Hall.

Naturally, they were met with disapproving glances.

“Heum.”

But they quickly looked away.

Bellier Yusia, senior mage of the Healing School.

She sat far away from the press.

She looked at Marcelo.

Then she opened her mouth.

“Why is that, Senior Vangrit?”

“What? What are you talking about……?”

“I don’t know why you agreed to that, both of you.”

The proof was not going to happen by Matisse’s will alone.

Yes, Master Marcelo had given him permission.

Matisse’s proof would not take place in front of the mages of the Magic Tower.

It would be in front of the whole world.

Bellier raised her eyebrows.

“Not a slap in the face, not a little. I can’t fathom it.”

The ridiculousness of their request, and the ridiculousness of their response. Belier’s stomach clenched. She couldn’t get Chief Lee’s voice out of her head.

‘……Once you say something, you always keep it.’

So even when he said he would pay for his sins in hell, he would keep his word. Knowing that, Bellier could only remain calm.

‘He has performed the miracle of resurrection.’

Bellier had witnessed it, even if only indirectly.

Hell, however, was a different story.

Bellier swallowed dryly.

‘……All power comes with a price.’

It’s like healing magic.

Just as it took a whole life to cleanse the evil fruit, so too must there be a limit to Chief Lee’s power of resurrection.

Bellier sighed.

“……whoa.”

But she didn’t think much of it. It’s no use worrying about it without a solution. It would be better to research a new healing magic that could help Chief Lee.

By the way.

“Are you sure you’re okay to stay here, Senior Vangrit?”

“What? I’m fine!”

“Hmm, doesn’t look like it to me.”

“Haha. Does it look that way……?”

“Are you trying to deceive my eyes?”

This was Bellier, who had just yesterday diagnosed Vangrit’s condition himself.

An injury that would keep him out for at least a month.

Still, Vangrit chuckled.

“Hehe, can you cut me some slack……? I’ve been kicking his ass since yesterday, and I still have the strength to see this through to proof, unlike Senior Bensch.”

At least half a year.

Bensch had sustained injuries that would prevent him from manifesting arcane magic, let alone using the decisive battle magic tool he was so obsessed with. It was obvious from the way he pretended to be fine.

“To say the least, Senior Bensch.”

Bellier stuck her tongue out.

“I didn’t know you would pass out while chatting?”

Not even the Shadow Mercenaries were that good.

Anyway, Vangrit’s feelings were well understood.

Bellier nodded grimly.

“Then, shall we watch without getting too excited?”

And then, a glowing Ivory Sculpture of Truth.

For a moment, the five-colored light enveloped Matisse.

Matisse spoke.

“I hereby declare the truth and nothing but the truth.”

The words fall from his lips, spilling out.

“What exactly is black magic, and is it dangerous?”

Formality.

“Are you sure it was Lee Hoyeol’s black magic that covered Jeju Island?”

Respectful.

“Is it true that Lee Hoyeol’s black magic almost put our allies in danger? I’m not asking this out of the blue, I have a report!”

Questions that don’t even feel grateful.

‘……Bellier is right.’

Vangrit, Tower Master Marcelo.

He glanced back and forth at Senior Matisse.

Even he could see the questions coming.

‘I suppose it’s all part of the quest to understand anomaly.’

How the world works.

I had a rough idea.

In that sense.

I can’t imagine why you’re pushing for this proof.

Vangrit rubbed his throbbing side.

‘Chief Lee has already admitted his mistake.’

What could Senior Matisse do in such circumstances?

Perhaps.

Perhaps he could explain his error in more detail.

‘I’ve even sworn on an Ivory Sculpture of Truth…….’

Senior Matisse could only speak the truth.

I was already worried.

It was not easy to guess the repercussions that would unfold after the proof was completed.

It was then.

“I will answer all questions.”

Matisse opened his mouth.

.

.

.

“Jeju Island, it was the black magic that enveloped it.”

The moment Paimon’s sphere appeared.

Matisse was guarding the Magic Tower. From the moment the freedom to enter the Magic Tower was obtained, there was no need to obtain permission to enter the Magic Tower, and that decision was entirely Matisse’s will.

Matisse doesn’t hide his reasoning.

“Even I, Matisse Dean Karl, the founder of Black Magic, could not escape its influence. It was the black magic, dense and menacing, that enveloped Jeju Island.”

『The Ivory Sculpture of Truth』

If one who swears by it speaks a lie.

Those who lie will pay dearly.

The end of a huge piece of ivory.

The bloodstains reveal the price.

The camera pans to the ivory Sculpture of Truth.

……gooooo.

There is no movement on the Ivory Sculpture, so Truth.

Once again.

The questions come pouring in, informal.

“So, Senior Matisse, do you agree with the speculation of many experts that Player, Lee Hoyeol, may be a threat to humanity!”

A threat to humanity.

‘Maybe so.’

seug.

Matisse looked at his ring. The gems that adorned it had all been destroyed by contact with the black magic. Considering the distance between the Magic Tower and Jeju Island…….

Matisse was certain.

‘If I had headed for Jeju Island, I would have been…….’

I would have become a ruined man, unable to withstand Chief Lee’s black magic, unable to escape from his infinite darkness, like the demon worshippers imprisoned in Mugan.

Once again, Matisse spoke only the truth.

“I agree with that opinion.”

“……!!!”

The declaration was met with flashes, this time from all directions.

Matisse looked around the Crystal Hall.

All of the Magic Tower were staring at him with incomprehension.

Except for Tower Master Marcelo.

Matisse gave Marcelo a small smile.

He’d guessed it from the moment he’d been allowed to prove it.

‘So, you think the same way I do.’

A murmur.

More blatant questions follow from the press.

“Then may I ask what attitude you intend for the Magic Tower to show? Doesn’t being a threat to humanity also mean being a threat to the Magic Tower?”

“We will build a new alliance with Magic Tower as the centerpiece…….”

“I wonder if you are thinking of leaving the Holy War Alliance!”

But.

They are still under some serious misunderstanding.

The language of Reality and Arcana are not very different.

Which means they both need to be heard.

Matisse opened his mouth.

“There must be a misunderstanding.”

“What do you mean, misunderstanding? Surely you agree……?”

“I said ‘might’ be a threat.”

Matisse’s pupils glowed frostily.

Okay.

Even more so than when he’d scolded Bensch William.

Gooooo.

Matisse flicked his magic lightly.

They don’t even know the basic rules of the Magic Tower: silence.

They don’t even know the rule of no force in the Crystal Hall.

…… flashes.

“Wh, what’s the matter with you all of a sudden……?!”

Matisse shouted at the cringing reporters.

“It was a simple manifestation to help you understand. Just as the slightest variation in the interference process changes the type of magic that is manifested. Human speech is magic.”

“……?”

“I am asking you not to misinterpret my words.”

“……!!!”

Nothing was expected.

After entering the Crystal Hall.

They wanted a shot, an answer, a reaction.

The press had it all on camera.

But cold water.

No, it was as if ice water had been poured on it.

The people who had been so energetic all shrunk.

Step by step.

“Hiiig.”

Matisse took a step closer, and the now sullen reporters fell silent. Only then did a disciplined silence fall. Finally, a sense of decorum.

Finally, he could get down to business.

“I’m aware of all your questions. I thought you’d be wiser, but you still haven’t gotten to the heart of the matter. If Chief Lee were here, he would have said something like this to you.”

“……?”

“You still haven’t figured out the topic.”

“!”

Build a new alliance?

Responding to Chief Lee?

Magic Tower cooperating with this new force?

The idea was beyond laughable.

“It is not for you to judge whether or not a threat exists.”

Did they not realize that?

“Do you still not understand that whether something becomes a threat to humanity or vice versa depends only on the will of the person involved, Chief Lee?”

Matisse’s words were a wake-up call.

“……He did.”

In this case, it wasn’t Skal, who had awakened as a Dragon Knight, nor the Great Alliance, nor the High Ranking Demon King Paimon, nor the mysterious hand that had pierced such Paimon with a single blow that stopped him.

“It was Lee, Lee Hoyeol……!!”

It was Hoyeol himself, after all.

Matisse stared at the Ivory Sculpture of Truth.

“So what I am saying in this proof is simple. I am sharing my knowledge, not for me, not for the Magic Tower, but for you. I am sharing my knowledge at the cost of a troublesome proof.”

The sculpture still stood firmly in place.

It was Matisse.

Proof that he still hadn’t told a single lie.

“So I hope you choose wisely.”

He utters the last words.

“Even animals have sticks and carrots. I won’t go against the one who holds everything.”

*

“Well done, Senior Matisse.”

Marcelo smiles.

“It looks like you put a lot of effort into controlling yourself?”

Marcelo looked past.

So…….

He remembered what Matisse had been like before he’d entered the Magic Tower.

A solitary man who walked the lonely path of black magic.

He was like a hedgehog, to use a metaphor, because there was not a single person who could understand him. If only he had been there to prove it.

‘I’m sure some of the journalists will have seen …….’

Matisse shook his head.

“I’m embarrassed to hear you say that.”

“I didn’t mean to provoke such a reaction.”

“I apologize for that, too, Tower Master.”

” ……After all, I don’t think I can beat Senior Matisse with words.”

Matisse would have been the youngest ever elected to the position of Chief Mage if he hadn’t been the youngest ever elected to the position of Chief Mage, for he was closer to the generation of Elder Mages than to the senior ones.

Marcelo was not exaggerating when he said.

“In that sense, this proof has been amazing, too.”

Matisse asked.

“Didn’t you already guess that, Tower Master?”

Marcelo answered with a laugh.

To Marcelo.

Matisse spoke his mind.

“I don’t know what Chief Lee will think of my proof.”

Matisse knew a little, if not a lot, about the world of adventurers.

He knows that it’s a world where news travels faster and farther than telepathy.

But unlike Matisse, who was concerned, Marcelo was relaxed.

“Well, I don’t know, maybe you should tell him in person.”

” ……What? What do you mean by that?”

seug.

Instead of answering, Marcelo looked at the book on the table.

Adventurers’ magic tools for the quest for the anomaly.

I gestured toward the phone.

It was still silent.

There hadn’t been any vibrations since earlier.

The meaning was simple.

Marcelo shrugged.

“I’m sure it’s all thanks to Senior Matisse’s excellent proof, right?”

*

TQBC.

The Arcana Team, live from the field.

The PD shuddered when he saw the footage.

“Holy shit……!!”

For the sake of ratings, for the sake of crushing VBC Today’s Arcana, for the sake of laughing at Hyun Yongseok’s cheap ass, I promised myself that I would sell my soul to the devil.

……If it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done.

“……Destroy all the footage from the Magic Tower.”

“What? What the hell was on film, what a waste!”

“Wasteful? You’re saying wasteful now?!”

PD said thoughtfully.

“This is a threat, right? The Magic Tower has sworn to the truth and is threatening us! The one who offends Lee Hoyeol and gets screwed is not Lee Hoyeol, but you, the human race. I’m warning you without a single lie……!”