“Huh? Oscar!”
Tesila, who recognized him, waved happily and greeted him.
Oscar nodded to her, but his gaze remained fixed on Tony.
‘He definitely entered the theme later than I did...... yet he’s already out?’
When he calculated the time, only barely more than a day had passed.
He had said from the beginning that he had only cleared about two days in his schedule, so it seemed he had enough confidence to justify it.
“The second intrusion? Ah, now that I think about it, there’s no need to ask.”
The very fact that he himself had come out unharmed meant the theme dungeon had already been cleared.
Oscar nodded and replied.
“Yes, I was lucky, so it ended quickly. It looks like things ended incredibly quickly for you two as well.”
“This side was a theme where psychological factors played a major role.”
Psychological factors.
He felt like he could roughly understand what that meant without even hearing the details.
‘Pentarion Ereus. If it was that selfish old man, he wouldn’t have exactly cherished him just because he was his disciple.’
Rather, there was a high possibility he had hoarded his own knowledge and simply acted spiteful.
He must have been worried that his capable disciple would surpass him, and so prevented him from devoting himself fully to magic.
Of course, because of that, the field of magic engineering had developed, so it was truly ironic.
“Oscar Crucian.......”
Tony Havertz looked this way with a rather complicated gaze.
‘Well, it’s not like I don’t understand.’
After all, he, together with the Heavenly Sword and Sasha, had executed Tony’s master, who had betrayed humanity.
That said, it was also ambiguous to call him an enemy.
Because thanks to that, Tony must have been able to take the position of master of the Yellow Magic Tower.
Oscar slightly lowered his head first.
“......I never thought I’d receive congratulations from you. This feels extremely strange.”
Reading the awkward yet peculiar atmosphere between the two, Tesila muttered.
“What? Are you two perhaps on bad terms?”
“No, it isn’t particularly like that.”
Oscar shrugged and looked at Tony.
“Of course, our White Tower hasn’t exactly had a close relationship with the Yellow Tower until now...... but who knows what will happen from now on.”
“From now on, huh.”
Tony muttered softly.
“......Certainly, your side is better than the Red Tower or the Blue Tower.”
“I was already hoping to have a conversation with you regarding business matters, so I’ll arrange a meeting soon.”
“Business?”
“Matters related to batteries and trains.”
At those words, Tony’s eyes changed.
As befitting an intelligent person, he must have realized from those words alone what parts they could fill in for each other.
“That is good news.”
He then checked the watch on his wrist and gave the two of them a nod.
“Then I’ll see you again next time.”
Oscar watched Tony head toward the massive door for a moment.
Then, sensing something strange, he flinched in surprise.
“Wait, where is that man going right now?”
At that question, Tesila made a puzzled expression.
“Well, obviously he’s going to the exit, right? He succeeded in clearing the dungeon. Why are you asking something so obvious?”
Obvious?
Oscar’s brow narrowed.
He had intruded twice, and he had succeeded in clearing it twice.
But Veronica had been personally sent out of the dungeon by the guide, and Killian had supposedly been moved to the cabin.
“By any chance, when the clear is successful, does everyone leave like that? Regardless of the difficulty?”
“That’s right. Otherwise, what other way would there be to leave the dungeon?”
Tesila let out a silly laugh and looked behind her shoulder.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t see your friend. Ah! Did he perhaps use that space magic thing?”
Oscar pressed his mouth shut and sank into serious thought.
Why?
Why had only those two been treated as “special”?
The guide’s attitude, which had seemed to subtly keep him in check, kept coming to mind.
‘Don’t tell me those guys didn’t go outside the dungeon, and they’re trapped somewhere instead?’
What flashed through his mind in that instant was the demon race, who used every sort of dirty and sinister trick.
If it were those bastards, it wouldn’t be strange for them to create a dungeon and then take humanity out one by one.
“Oscar?”
At that moment, he turned his body sharply at the voice he heard from behind.
There stood Killian, with a languid expression as though he had not fully woken up.
“My memory is a bit hazy, but I did beat that shadow fellow, right?”
“You...... are you really Killian?”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
Oscar bombarded the fellow, who was blinking both eyes, with questions.
“When we fought in Baran City, where were you injured?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot that? My internal organs were ruptured, so I asked you to carry out a request on my behalf, didn’t I?”
“On the way back after finishing our schedule in Baran, where did we first meet the mage hunter?”
“If I remember correctly, it was the underground black market.”
Seeing the fellow answer smoothly, as if asking why he was doing this, Oscar felt unsure.
Oscar examined his physical condition and asked.
“......You definitely lost consciousness only a few minutes ago.”
“Is that so? Then that astonishing recovery ability must be proof that I am a warrior of the forest.”
This made him seem real too.
Oscar looked around and lowered his voice.
“Nothing happened inside the cabin, right?”
“Happened? Nothing happened. To begin with, I was alone when I opened my eyes.”
“The tattoo magic?”
“I tried using it just in case as well.”
Crackle!
The tattoo engraved across Killian’s eye shone brightly.
“It operated normally. Of course, I have no intention of depending on this.”
“......I see.”
Was it needless worry?
Oscar slowly nodded.
“Don’t wander off anywhere else and go straight to the White Tower.”
“You’re nagging again.”
“Sssip.”
“Fine. I shall do so.”
Killian opened the gigantic door and went outside.
As Tesila watched him, she said,
“You look incredibly uneasy. Did something happen?”
“......No. Nothing.”
For now, it was fortunate that Killian was safe, but that did not mean the suspicious parts had disappeared.
It was a fact that the two of them had left the dungeon in a different way from others.
Oscar asked.
“Lady Tesila, by any chance, when the dungeon clear is completed, does the guide appear?”
“Hm? Guide? The person you meet in the cabin when you first enter the dungeon? No? This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
As expected.
He did not know the reason, but it seemed certain that he and those two problem children were special cases.
Though he still did not quite know why.
‘For now, I guess I have no choice but to clear Fran’s theme dungeon and ask the guide directly about this.’
Of course, that was assuming the guide appeared then as well.
But for some reason, he had a strange certainty that the guide would show himself then too.
“......I’ll be going now.”
“Wait, you’re going to go in again right away without even resting?”
“I can rest inside too.”
“That’s true, but...... no. I suppose you would be worried about your friend. This way.”
Tesila guided him to Fran’s door and said,
“If you succeed in clearing even the third intrusion, wait outside. I might be late.”
“Understood.”
He also did not want to miss the chance to use the powerful force that was Tesila’s adventurer party.
Oscar stepped straight into Fran’s door.
What stood there was a tower soaring endlessly upward.
Kwaaaaa!
A gigantic typhoon was raging through the tower’s lower sections.
Above that, lightning was striking without pause.
When he tilted his head farther back, he could also see floors wrapped in flames that would not go out.
There were also floors thick with poisonous fog, and floors frozen solid.
“What the hell is that?”
It was not as if it were some comprehensive gift set.
Oscar stared blankly at the bizarre tower, then turned his head.
‘......It’s coming.’
Something was flying toward him at an incredibly fast speed.
But only for a moment.
Oscar, realizing who the owner of that mana was, lowered his guard.
“Wait, Oscar?”
The person who had flown over using 『Flight』, Fran, also opened his eyes round and landed softly.
Oscar quickly scanned him from head to toe.
‘Oh-ho, Level 6?’
The last time he had seen Fran, he had been Level 5.
Although he had thought Fran would become stronger after forming a contract with the colorless spirit......
‘That had nothing to do with a mage’s achievements.’
Even if he became stronger by borrowing a spirit’s power, there was no reason the number of his mana circuits would increase.
And yet, currently, six distinct mana circuits had been installed in Fran’s body.
“......What is this? Is this also part of the trial?”
“Why, does it suddenly get hard for you when I appear in front of you?”
Hearing that indifferent voice, Fran muttered.
“Seeing how unlucky you are, you really are Oscar. No, wait, that guy hasn’t been that unlucky lately, has he?”
“Seeing as you still have the energy to spout nonsense, you must still be managing to live.”
“That venomous tongue...... Oscar!”
Fran jumped in surprise and approached.
“How on earth did you end up here...... Ah, did you perhaps intrude?”
“Why wouldn’t I have? I was asked to rescue you problem children because you had disappeared.”
“It’s not really enough to call us disappeared...... We’re not children anymore, either.”
Oscar glanced at the grumbling fellow and said,
“Exactly. Once you’re about a Level 6 mage, the time for causing that sort of worry should have passed.”
“Ah, you noticed?”
The fellow, wiping the bridge of his nose, smiled happily.
“It seemed like the reason my skills had been stagnant all this time was because of the low-grade spirit you installed in my body.”
“......Don’t tell me you blamed that on me.”
“Eh, no way! Of course not! I do have a conscience!”
The moment Fran, startled, waved his hands and began making excuses.
A spirit popped out from behind his head.
-Contractor’s heart rate increase confirmed. It is assessed to be because he is lying.
“Oho.”
Oscar folded his arms and tilted his head crookedly as he stared at him, and Fran gulped.
“I-it’s not that I blamed you in particular...... I just thought, ‘You were the one who installed it for me.’ I was reminiscing.”
-Correction. The contractor had resolved that, if he met Oscar Crucian later, he would strongly confront him about it.
Fran scratched his cheek and avoided his gaze.
“Did I say something like that? I don’t really remember.”
-If you do not remember, I shall repeat exactly what you said at that time......
“N-no! It’s fine, so stop!”
Fran hurriedly stopped Mu and smiled awkwardly.
“Haha, maybe because this guy spent his whole life in the spirit world, he still tends to misinterpret human speech.”
“Let’s just say that’s what happened for now. Congratulations on Level 6.”
Although it was slower than Veronica or Killian, it was an achievement faster than the other mages of their generation.
Besides, considering that those two had already surpassed the middle stage of Level 6, the fact that this fellow needed to catch up to them remained unchanged.
“I’m on my way back from the other two’s dungeons.”
“......I’m last? That’s a little upsetting.”
“No matter how I thought about it, your dungeon seemed like it would be the hardest.”
Oscar glanced at Mu.
Fran, understanding what he meant, nodded.
“True. I don’t know what those two’s dungeons were like, but this one is definitely troublesome.”
The fellow looked at the towering tower and said,
“Reach it. That was the voice I heard after entering this place.”
“Reach it?”
Oscar’s gaze naturally moved toward the tower’s highest floor.
Although it was hidden by clouds and could not be seen, the meaning of that gaze was clear.
“Ah, for reference, I’ve already climbed the tower to the very top. Nearly fifty times, even.”
“......And even then, you didn’t receive a clear-success judgment?”
Was it not simply a matter of reaching the highest floor?
“Yeah. I went all the way to the top, even to the rooftop, and searched everywhere in case there was some hidden mechanism. So then I wondered if it meant I had to reach Level 6, and I reached it, but the result is...... as you can see.”
“Don’t tell me it’s asking you to reach Level 7?”
“I also don’t think that’s it, but there’s no other method, so for now, I’m training.”
“Hmm.”
Simply reaching Level 7 was probably not the clear condition.
If that were the condition, there would be no reason for such a flashy tower to exist.
‘Whatever the clear condition is, it’s certain that it’s related to that tower, so......’
Oscar lightly loosened up his body and said,
“Get ready.”
“......For what?”
“We need to climb it.”
He intended to check for himself whether there was anything Fran had missed.

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