My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

The first place I headed after departing from Steel Balance was the Guild.

I had already gotten my adventurer card issued at the Guild branch in the abandoned city to serve as I.D., and I didn't really care to take on requests and up my rank so, ordinarily, there wouldn't be a reason for me to go there.

My purpose for going there was quite simple.

To send a message.

I had heard from the young inn owner at the abandoned city about something called the 'Magic Tower'.

As it turned out, the mage whose life I saved, Lud, had a connection there as most skilled mages apparently do, and I was informed a little about it on the way over here.

A place where many genius mages and scholars gather to study and research magic.

Lud stated the tower consisted of 13 floors; the higher one goes, the more skilled the individuals that reside there, and the harder it is to get in.

Thinking of it like a progression system where the low-tier mages on the lower floors work hard to improve their magic and wisdom in order to move on to the higher floors, repeating this process until they either die or hit their limit, it makes sense.

Lud, a certified '3rd-circle' mage and a B-rank adventurer, claimed to have made it to the 6th floor of the tower.

He said it was harder to climb floors the higher you go since it was required to improve your magic by an exponential amount, and the reason he left the tower to become an adventurer was because he felt he had hit a ceiling.

Regardless, because he had a connection with the Magic Tower, I wanted to take advantage of it.

After I saved his life, he said he would come to my assistance if I so requested it, and so I would use that connection to get close to the tower.

More specifically, the two Archwizards who reside in the tower's 12th floor.

Lud didn't know much about them because their existences are shrouded in great mystery, but supposedly they are the two most powerful mages in the world, even on par with the Twelve Transcendents.

I asked what the difference was between them and the transcendents, but Lud gave me an ambiguous answer.

'You remember how I said that power or strength isn't the only thing that determines one's status as a transcendent, right?'

'Basically, even if someone is more powerful than a transcendent, it doesn't necessarily make them a transcendent themselves.'

'Still, if what you want is to travel worlds, then maybe, if you could somehow get the Archwizards to help you, I'm sure you would find a way to accomplish your goals.'

'After all, nothing is impossible with magic.'

Or so he claimed.

Lud only suggested it as a potential solution to my problem because the matter of receiving a transcendent's help was so complicated, but it seemed that when he thought about it a bit more, enlisting the help of one of the only two Archwizards in existence was just as, if not more complicated than that.

In any case, those two masters of magic whose figures no one has glimpsed in years.

The only inhabitants of the Magic Tower's 12th floor.

Before travelling all the way to Alfheim, said to be home of the elves as well as the World Tree, I would make a quick stop by the Magic Tower.

If the Archwizards are anything half as grand as what Lud makes them out to be, then they should offer much help to my cause.

Postponing my thoughts as I arrived in front of the Guild, I entered without hesitation.

I found the location so easily just by tailing Rhode, who mentioned something about heading there just before everyone parted ways.

I thought about using Reality in a creative way to get there instead, but I didn't want to risk it not working and then getting lost for no reason.

Fortunately, perhaps because River was quite a large city, the Guild building was equally big and was located just off the main street.

Entering the building, I was hit with a wave of roaring chatter.

The interior was mostly wood and stone, and it felt like the design was intended to be simple yet elegant.

On the left side, there was a whole wall filled with paper posts and notices like a wide message board, and on the right, there were tables and benches for adventurers to rest and converse, as well as a pub-like bar to order food.

The layout was more or less the same as the Guild building in the abandoned city, except this one feels much more vigorous.

Glancing briefly in that direction, I ignored the bustling atmosphere and walked straight ahead to what looked like a receptionist desk, where a uniformed lady stood with a smile.

"Welcome!"

"I'd like to send a message to a particular adventurer."

It didn't take five minutes to relay my message to Lud about the Magic Tower to the receptionist, and she said she would deliver the message to him whenever he next came to the Guild.

Of course, if that was all I came here for, then I would've simply told Lud myself before we parted ways.

I already knew he would be taking a couple of days rest, so there was that much time for me to do something before we set off for the Magic Tower.

I wanted information.

"It's quite lively here."

"Yes, well, after the disaster of the Corrupted Plains, all the Lan evacuees have immigrated here, and that includes the adventurers of Lan."

Lan was the name of the abandoned city.

After the Nightmares suddenly started attacking the city and increasing in number, the surrounding land lost its fertility and became a place more inhospitable than a desert.

Now, they call the affected region the Corrupted Plains.

"Are things like that common here? I'm from a faraway place."

"Oh, no, not at all. It is only in recent times that the Nightmares have begun rapidly proliferating in number, and in fact, they didn't even exist until around 50 years ago."

The Nightmares appeared 50 years ago?

And now, 50 years after their appearance, they're doing something strange.

"Do you know why that is?"

The receptionist shook her head, her expression grim. "We think it's a scheme by the Demon King, but to be honest, nobody is really certain why this is happening... Are you a registered adventurer, sir?"

I pulled out my card and explained. "I registered three days ago."

"I see. Actually, there is an Unranked quest for all adventurers regarding the mystery of the Nightmares; if anyone can figure something out and provide evidence, there will be a reward."

To be honest, I didn't care about the Nightmares, I didn't care to resolve this world's issues, and I didn't care to put myself through unnecessary trials and tribulations.

All I wanted from this place was a way to return to Earth; nothing more, nothing less.

"Why don't you just ask the transcendents for help?"

At my words, the eyes of the receptionist darkened.

"Ah... Perhaps, are you from a land in the east? Unfortunately, despite its grandiosity as the largest human civilisation in all the world's continents, our Empire of the Sun possesses no transcendents at this time."

Hm.

I didn't realise this place was the largest human empire on the planet, but if that is the case, it is indeed strange that there isn't a single transcendent residing here.

If it's the biggest empire, it should be a vast land, after all.

The Eastern Empire has the Lord of the East, but the Empire of the Sun has no transcendent?

I don't think that's entirely true.

Though, perhaps the only transcendents here are those who travel such as the Vagabond Knight.

They must possess individuals with a fighting force equal to or even higher than some of the transcendents, however―the two Archwizards of the Magic Tower are such an example.

I'm sure they are not the only two beings in this empire to have attained such strength.

But also, the receptionist's words were a little strange.

Discover secrets at m-vl-emp _yr.

She said 'at this time', indicating that there once was a transcendent controlled by the empire.

And so I probed.

"You make it sound like there used to be a transcendent here."

Hearing my clueless words, the receptionist gawked at me as if looking at someone unbelievable.

"...What?"

"Ah! N-no, my apologies. It's just, I didn't realise there existed people who had never heard of him..."

She covered her mouth and murmured, and two seconds later, cleared her throat to explain to me properly.

"To start, I'll need to tell you the story of the Demon King and the one to save us all."

Demon King.

It was one of the transcendents Lud briefly mentioned as disliking humans, and the receptionist also said something about him regarding the Nightmare issue.

I didn't know anything about him, but I thought asking would drag things on too much, so I postponed it.

"You've probably heard of the Demon King a million times, even if you've never heard of anyone else, so I'll keep it short."

"There is always a Demon King in existence; whenever he dies, he is reincarnated into a new soul and body, so it is impossible to get rid of him forever."

"Ever since he first appeared more than a millennia ago, humanity has been at war with the Demon King, generation through generation."

"However, due to his immense power as a transcendent, the Demon King and his forces were easily overwhelming the forces of humanity."

"Backed into a corner, humanity used the last of its power to summon a transcendent of its own in an effort of final resistance."

"The man who came from another world to save us."

"We call him the Hero."

With the immeasurable power of the Hero, the Demon King was killed and the demonic forces were driven back.

However, killing a transcendent was an impossible task, even for another transcendent like the Hero, and so in exchange for the Hero's own life, the Demon King was slain.

Humanity was saved and as a result of winning the war, the Sun God Empire was founded.

50 years later, however, the Demon King returned, and thus the cycle continued.

"Until roughly 50 years ago when the previous Demon King was killed and the Hero perished in battle alongside him."

This time, just after the Demon King died, some bizarre kind of aberrant monsters began to appear all over the world, called Nightmares.

And now, around the time the Demon King was estimated to be reborn, the Nightmares suddenly began exhibiting inexplicable behaviour, starting with the disaster of the Corrupted Plains.

"It is too much of a coincidence to not be a plot of the Demon King."

Luckily for humanity, it was that time of the cycle for them to be saved yet again.

For the time of the Hero to be summoned was drawing near.