The World I Was Supporting Was Real - Chapter 94



94. You’ve opened your eyes. Come to the Wood Magic Tower.

Reina deciphered that newly sensed, mysterious aura.

Just as when she first opened her eyes to mana, a scholar’s thrill of encountering the new sent shivers through her, and she gradually absorbed the energy into her body.

‘Woah…!’

The very first sensation was—warmth.

Unlike mana, which held a somewhat cold impression, this ‘new something’ being absorbed into Reina’s body felt like a mother’s caress, a warm embrace.

To exaggerate, it felt like being a baby in a cradle.

Of course, it wasn’t merely that emotion that surprised her.

Perhaps more important was the difference.

It was a powerful force, feeling like it had concentrated the typical mana by a hundred… No, a thousand times.

Perhaps even more.

‘Is *this* what… the Saintess meant by “unvarnished facts”?’

A power like mana, yet undeniably different at its core, something unheard of in academia!

And, the moment she realized it – little by little, she could feel that power being absorbed into her.

No.

Not absorbed.

This is—

‘…Huh?’

—*Whooosh!*

“!?!!?!!!!”

Reina, face flushed, could deeply feel ‘it’ entering her body.

Flowing through every corner of her was a ‘mana pathway.’

Every mage who had awakened to mana possessed mana pathways within their bodies.

The foundation of magic lay in absorbing mana into one’s body and harnessing its power alongside one’s knowledge.

The more accustomed one became to mana pathways, the more familiar one became with magic itself; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say.

Reina had opened her mana pathways at the tender age of six.

Wasn’t she, who had been freely wielding mana countless times since then, a genius mage?

And in *that* place—

A place that had only ever allowed mana passage, ‘that power’… is entering.

Entering. Entering. Being absorbed, endlessly.

“Aah… aah… aaahhh!!!!!!”

And then, that thing, as if wantonly churning inside Reina’s mana pathways—

Something akin to knowledge, existing in the ‘domain of gods,’ something a mortal could never understand—seeps in.

—Kugugung! Kugung!

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble.

And, not long after, from both her eyes and mouth—

“◀◎◆※★△◐◑◈!!!!!!!!!!”

—light, began to pour out.

The light, was literally light.

A pure white light. The light of a god, banishing the darkness.

A terribly sacred light was being fired out, *shoo-shoo*, from both of Reina’s eyes.

Not just her eyes, but also leaking from her mouth. Light. Light. God’s light.

Right now, Reina was—literally, glowing. More intensely than any moment before!

“△◐◀※◎◆※◎◆※◎★◑◈※◎◆◎◆!!!!!!!!!!”

Truth!

The word of god! The will of god! The knowledge of god!

Something that did not exist in this world, something clearly far beyond, began to spread out into the collapsed mage tower’s reception room.

“∀◑∃∮◐∂ΦβΓ●△▼●※…….”

Reina remembered.

Those who met a saint, all uniformly described facing light that flowed from the scriptures.

And at the same time, they would abruptly awaken to the word of god… Absolutely, she had heard such stories.

And then, it hits.

… … It wasn’t the Bible.

What was shining… it was me.

From my eyes.

From my mouth.

Clearly radiating that light, God’s ‘raw fact’… … !!!

‘I… … ‘

I…

It was me, I was the light source… … !!!

“Ah… Lord Igwogwo…!”

Beside her, Erin, witnessing this unprecedented human radiance, knelt and prayed.

May Lady Reina safely overcome this trial bestowed by God.

May she be reborn, with a human body chosen by God, a being capable of wielding even a fraction of God’s ‘raw fact’… … !!!!!

How much time passed like that?

“Haa, haa, haa-haaa… haa…”

The light that had been pouring from Reina’s eyes and mouth was gradually fading –

She cautiously caught her breath… and looked at the face of the saintess Erin.

“How is it…? Do you think you know what God’s raw fact… might be?”

Reina, like a nun newly baptized,

With a face so refreshed, so pure, so clean, so clear…

Just moments before, her emerald eyes, which had been practically spitting light, now glittered brightly.

“This is it!”

“Yes…?”

“Ahahaha…haha…ahahaha! That’s it! This is it! Ahahahaha!!!”

Reina laughed, loud enough to shake the reception room.

At the age of six. Since opening her eyes to mana… this was the first time she had ‘felt’ a new power.

She still remembered it vividly. The very moment she awakened to mana.

The thrill of being able to use an unseen force that definitely existed in this world to change it was the only driving force that moved her, a person who was naturally lazy.

And – this time, it was a different caliber than mana. To put it more bluntly, it was an overwhelming power that couldn’t even be compared to mana.

This is the power of god!

The plain facts given by Igwogeodeon-nim!

Reina could finally understand Ian, the fire attribute magic tower lord who had first devoted himself to god.

If plain facts were like this… of course, you wouldn’t be able to help but believe in god.

She didn’t even need to practice to use this new power.

After all… the plain facts had already swept through every nook and cranny of her body’s ‘mana channels’.

She was immediately able to use this power freely as if she were manipulating mana!

‘So that’s why the light was leaking out!’

Just as Reina, with her now-clearer mind, slowly nodded her head –

“It seems, Lady Reina, you too have come to understand. The plain facts of god…!”

“Can you see it too, Saintess?”

“Of course…! Why, Lady Reina… you’re wearing a very dashing ‘woman’s expression’ on your face right now. Hehehe…”

Reina only then noticed that her face was hot.

It seemed she was greatly excited by the discovery of a new power.

“That’s right… the candid facts of the god are so very amazing, that once you know about them… absolutely, you can never go back to before you knew them. I believe the moment will come when Lady Reina will understand my words…! “

“Saintess…!”

Normally, Erin’s strangely clingy attitude would’ve made her feel uneasy—

But the extraordinary mind of a mage, excited by encountering something completely new, had no time to spare for such things.

“I’ll ask again. Using air, mana, and candid facts, can you make a fertilizer that dramatically increases intelligence?”

“……!”

Reina’s mind spun rapidly.

As the candid facts coursed through Reina’s mana channels – she was able to glimpse a different dimension of ‘godly knowledge’.

And so… she was able to answer immediately, without a moment’s hesitation.

“I think it’s possible! If we have candid facts and sufficient mana, not only is it possible to create a miraculous fertilizer, but it might not be a dream to innovatively develop the wood-element magic tower!”

“Such a trustworthy answer… !”

Erin slowly placed a hand on Reina’s shoulder –

“Welcome to being a woman of the god, Lady Reina!”

She welcomed her new family member using the most fitting words she knew.

* * *

After parting with the Saintess.

She immediately made her way to the laboratory where the mages gathered.

Normally, it was the time he’d be lounging in the Tower Lord’s room, so the mages there greeted their master with expressions that were a bit surprised.

“Huh? Tower Lord. Good morning. It’s been a while since you’ve been in the lab, hasn’t it?”

“It has been a while, Tower Lord. Do you have any instructions for us?”

“Before instructions, I’d like to ask what you’re doing right now…”

At Reina’s pointed question, a mage who’d been leaning against a huge empty cauldron and offering a listless greeting pointed to the book in his hand and said,

“Huh? As you can see, I was reading the Bible…”

“And the research activities?”

“You know, Tower Lord. If we don’t understand ‘plain facts’ all our research funding gets cut. So, we’re just studying the Bible.”

‘… … .’

Come to think of it, that *was* the situation.

The Wood Attribute Magic Tower was practically destroyed with the appearance of the Saintess, so it would be strange to see anyone burning with passion for research.

Forcing them wouldn’t lead to any normal research progress anyway.

“……That aside, are you two the only ones in the lab right now?”

“Yes.”

“What about the rest? Shouldn’t there be around 20 people if you gathered them all?”

“As we told you before, three have transferred. One to the Water Attribute Magic Tower, and two to the Metal Attribute Magic Tower.”

…Right. That happened. I can’t believe I forgot about that.

“Even so, shouldn’t there be 15 more?”

“The fifteen others went straight to the Fire Attribute Magic Tower the moment it opened its doors, no questions asked.”

“…….”

Right!

That’s how it was!

All the mages who were even remotely passionate were already gone, fled from the useless, wood-attribute magic tower!

The grim reality of the wood-attribute tower, which she had ignored by constantly escaping into sleep, resurfaced and stared back at Reina with a blinking gaze.

From noble mtl dot com

This place, the wood-attribute tower, was once comparable to the fire-attribute tower, the “cradle of mages”, where only the best of the best gathered—

but Emperor Eirene’s conversion, the establishment of the Gweodeon religion as the state religion, and the peace treaty with the demon race had virtually erased the reason for the towers’ existence.

Quick-witted mages had all escaped, and now only four mages, including the tower lord and the deputy tower lord Stella, wore the distinct green cloaks symbolic of the wood-attribute tower.

“…Thanks for staying, anyway.”

“Nah. Going anywhere else would just be a pain, ya know?”

“Tower Lord, if you’re here to read scripture, would you like to do a scripture quiz together? The deputy tower lord said we have to memorize passages to get even a little funding.”

“No. Don’t worry about the money. I’ll handle that.”

“…Huh? The tower lord is going to solve the budget problem?”

The mage who had suggested the quiz stared at her with widened eyes as if in disbelief-

“Yeah. Why?”

“No… did you perhaps decide to close the tower?”

“Why would you jump to that conclusion?!”

“Well, if we close the tower, no money goes out… so that would solve the money problem! That’s what I thought you meant.”

“Hahaha. That’s a very tower lord-like solution.”

Her mind almost went blank for a moment at the mages’ attitude, which seemed both positive and subtly negative-

But who was she? Wasn’t she the continent’s only genius mage who had awakened to plain facts, beyond mana!

“Anyway… let’s just leave that as it is. What was your name again?”

“Cowen.”

The mage, who had uttered the unprecedented statement that he stayed here because he hated being bothered, stated his name in an indifferent tone.

One could have said, ‘How can you not know the names of your mages?’ but just as the tower master didn’t care about hierarchy, Cowen, too, didn’t seem like the type to place much meaning on such things.

“Do you happen to know where Stella went?”

“Well… I think she went to the Imperial Palace to secure funding before the Wood magic tower gets shut down, one way or another. Probably.”

While Reina was doing nothing, it was she who managed the tower, and all external activities were also her responsibility.

She was practically the de-facto tower master of the Wood magic tower, which was in dire straits.

“Tell her to come right back.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“And…”

“It’s Isaac.”

“Isaac. From now on, you’re going to transcribe exactly what I say, and then we’re going to put it in the newspaper as an announcement.”

“Announcement? What kind of announcement?”

“Obviously, an announcement to recruit mages to research with us at the tower!”

“……?”

Isaac couldn’t hide his confusion at the thought of who, now, would come to the decrepit Wood magic tower with the aim of research–

But what else could he do? When an upper person orders something, a subordinate follows. That was how it went.

Isaac grabbed the inkpot and feather pen rolling around on the table.

“I’m ready.”

“Okay. Write down exactly what I say from now on.”

Ahem.

After a short cough—

Reina spat out the sentences, as if writing the last public notice of a wood-attribute mage tower lord on the verge of ruin.

“Mage recruitment. Mages from other towers are more than welcome. Uh… wait a minute. It’d be better to offer a carrot here, so they can transfer affiliations without hesitation.”

Scritch, scratch.

At Isaac’s fingertips, Reina’s notice was being completed.

『Mage Recruitment』

「Mages affiliated with other attribute towers are very welcome (If now, you can be granted a rank of ‘Higher Mage’ or above in the wood-attribute tower without testing, guaranteeing a higher rank than your current one)」

「Mages registered as adventurers without affiliation are also very welcome (No test required either) [Required: Must be skilled enough to collaborate with others by utilizing mana]」

「Research with no end in sight, 24-hour shifts, no guarantee of return home, a certain possibility that handling large amounts of mana continuously will cause side effects on the body」

「If the research is successful, you will make bread out of the air」

「If you’ve opened your eyes to the ‘God’s blunt facts’ in this notice, come to Wood-attribute Tower lord, Reina Firenstea, immediately (Bonus points for bringing snacks)」

If you exclude Isaac, who, with a very serious face, thought ‘Has our tower lord finally lost her mind?’ it was, in many ways, a fantastic notice.