Can You Call Me Senior Brother

Where the Tower of Stars is located in Valuana is a question, and one that most native Valuans would likely be unable to answer. In a world where they exert influence everywhere, mages seem isolated from the lives of ordinary people.

The bridge between the two is the Mage Guild. But as of now, the gates of the guild outpost in the Imperial Capital are shut tight.

Rorschach had traveled with a caravan and arrived at the city gates just as the sun began to peek over the horizon; he was exhausted and in desperate need of a stable bed. After a quick inspection, Rorschach discovered a doorbell.

He pressed it, but there was no reaction, leaving him no choice but to start pounding on the door, his knocks growing heavier by the second.

The door creaked open a sliver. "Who is it? Do you know where this is, and what time it is?"

Clang~ clang~ clang~ clang~ clang~ clang~ clang

As the voice faded, the bells of Saint Miller Monastery in the distance struck seven times.

"It is seven o'clock, sir. Do the guilds in Valuana not open at seven?"

"Quack!"

"Huh? Speak up!" The gap in the door widened, revealing a sleepy-eyed youth with a face full of freckles.

Rorschach finally got a good look at him, and the youth caught sight of the visitor in return. "Oh, Master Mage!" The other's movements quickened, and the door finally opened wide enough to allow someone to enter sideways.

They were the only two in the golden hall. Rorschach noticed that the wall behind the front desk featured a complex mechanical structure of brass pipes, levers, and a few exposed gears and instruments.

"Sorry, sorry. Pounding on the door at this hour, I thought you were a drunken sans-culotte playing a prank!" The guard waited for them to enter before laboriously closing it. "It's been ages since anyone applied a Grease Spell to the door hinges!"

Is that what a Grease Spell is used for?

Rorschach didn't have a high opinion of this youth who was clearly slacking off on the job. "I am not wearing culottes, so I am indeed a sans-culotte."

"Master, please don't say that! But you must understand, banging away first thing in the morning is quite unrefined, and besides, there is a doorbell!"

"I did press the doorbell, but no one responded."

"Huh?" The youth thought of something and pulled two bundles out of his ears. "Look at me, I was so sleepy I forgot I still had my earplugs in! Sorry, sorry, I offer you my most sincere apologies." However, the youth made no move to actually apologize.

"May I ask what business brings you to my humble abode so early?"

This grand, gilded hall, and he calls this building his humble abode? Rorschach suppressed the urge to retort and got straight to the point: "I need to go to the Tower of Stars."

"Oh, a young Spellcaster heading to the Tower of Stars, then you must be Master Luo... Master Rorschach!"

"Rorschach."

The youth hopped over to the front desk. "Forgive me, Mr. Rorschach, we have been waiting for you for a long time! You see, for an Imperial citizen to come to Valuana and head to the Tower of Stars is always a novelty. Especially since there are so few Spellcasters and the circle is so small, right? Your familiar is a duck! What can it do? Lay golden eggs?"

"Regrettably, it is male." Rorschach found that for every sentence he spoke, the lad had three to say in return.

The youth pulled one of many levers behind the desk, muttering to himself, "Task number zero-four-one-two."

With a puff, a brass pipe extending from the ceiling down to the counter spat out a paper tube. The youth opened it to check, pulled a few more levers, and after a series of gear-turning sounds, the wall shifted and a drawer popped open.

"Master Rorschach, these are the items you were meant to receive. My teacher asked me to hand them to you. This card—you only need to inject a bit of magic power, and a needle will guide you to your destination."

He rubbed his hands together happily. "My name is Pascal, an apprentice. Master Rorschach, it is quite a coincidence that my mentor is also Teacher Kano. We are fellow disciples!"

"Very well, Apprentice Pascal."

"I'm just working here to scrape together some credits." Pascal looked dejected. "Don't you want to know what kind of person our mentor is—a vampire who makes his own students sit at a Mage Guild desk to make up for their credits?"

"Oh? What is our mentor like? Could you introduce him to your junior brother?"

"Ahem," Pascal seemed highly pleased to be called "Senior Brother" and introduced him solemnly:

"Lionel Kano, Eighth-tier Archmage, newly appointed Chief Professor of the Tower of Stars, member of the Arcane Council, senior member of the Alchemy Council, high-ranking arbiter of the Owl Court, the only son of the Kano family, and the most prominent Spellcaster in Valuan high society—though he isn't exactly handsome. A successful man who insists on sleeping in every morning and only starts working in the afternoon. A mentor so incompetent that no one is willing to sign up for his research group anymore."

Why would he start bad-mouthing his own mentor right after listing his titles? Setting aside the slightly resentful commentary, Rorschach only felt that the thigh Teacher Caroline had recommended he hug was incredibly thick! Sigh, life in Valuana is hard, but he felt that if he clung tight to the Master's leg, life would be much easier!

The lad pulled out another map and a business card, pointing to a spot on the city's central axis. "Starting at nine o'clock every day, Teacher Kano dines at the open-air restaurant in the Starlight Torch Tower. He told us to pass on the message that it would be best if you met him there before heading to the Magic Tower."

The business card was simple: "Lionel Kano," with a background of eight nested golden rings surrounding a starlit high tower. Clearly, this card revealed his rank as an Archmage and his affiliation.

Considering he was going to a restaurant frequented by high-level mages, Rorschach asked Pascal to keep an eye on Yazi for a while.

Following the point on the map, Rorschach passed through the "Stomach of Valuana." The unloading of goods had finished, and the city's commoners and servants of the nobility were milling about.

The butcher shops were already open, some even using incredibly expensive large panes of glass to display sausages, smoked meats, and fresh cuts that glistened with fat. Several children were pressed against the glass, drooling, until a burly butcher came out to shoo them away, grumbling as he wiped off the black handprints they had left behind.

Vegetables of every variety filled the vendors' stalls, and they would occasionally use spray bottles to refresh their produce.

"Oh Johnny, if you cook these fresh, tender bamboo shoots well, the master will surely reward you," a vendor said, having pegged a high-value customer and pushing his expensive greens.

It was still early for nine o'clock. In his previous life, Rorschach had hated going to the vegetable market, where noise and filth were the eternal themes. But here, a long-lost, somewhat familiar feeling drew him inside.

"Valuana is truly the largest city on the Southern Continent; the produce here is even more abundant than in the Imperial Capital."

There was a bakery. Rorschach hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so he bought a piece of buttered bread and went to the butcher to have two slices of smoked meat cut—while many people could only afford to buy by the slice, it was convenient for Rorschach to make his own "sandwich."

Though there was no sauce, the refreshing taste was not bad. The fat and smoky flavor of the meat, followed by the milky aroma of the butter and the scent of the wheat, emerged one after another, making Rorschach take bite after bite.

Just as he was about to finish, a commotion broke out in the main market.

A dark, thin person scrambled out of the seafood section in a panic. "Stop thief!" "Damn sans-culotte!" followed closely behind.