Tales of the Legendary Magus

Chapter 220: The Hardest Riddle

"Where to look, where to look," Villin mumbled as he walked through the tower aimlessly. He was a little troubled currently. Generally finding small underground sections would be extremely easy but since this tower was enchanted the range he could easily look at sharply decreased, if he had to look through the entire tower it'd take more than a day.

Villin, who was wandering through the tower was currently the hottest topic of conversation. Other than the fact that he may be the son of the Decorus headmaster, he nearly killed Alexi earlier and actually killed a woman within the tower. This made for two deaths thus far. One person died in the earlier chaos and Villin killed one as well.

This meant that three people could still be killed without consequence. This made people extremely careful of Villin. Wherever he went he was watched, some looked at him cautiously while others looked rather scared.

The tense atmosphere wasn't too uncomfortable, since most of the time Villin already left a room by the time people actually spotted and recognized him.

When he had checked half of the rooms starting from the top and skipping living rooms, Villin still hadn't found anything. 

"Come on, Villin, think!" he told himself somewhat annoyed as he kept looking at the floor beneath him.

"The existence of a game and the fact it was placed here probably meant they wanted it to be a competition. There is no way the only starting point is on the top floor. If I were the designer, where would I put all the starting points?"

Villin thought that perhaps, properly finding the first hint would be quicker than going all over trying to chance upon a box he could use to figure out the game. 

The auction, and the Goodlaw family that hosted it, probably made this game to decide who to spend more resources on in this short period of time. The fact that there was a starting point in the penthouse was a clear sign of this. In the beginning, most people would rush there and only the best fighters would have a chance at getting the penthouse.

It was also possible that some of the other living areas had starting points as well, but it wasn't certain enough for Villin to make his move. He didn't want the other guards to team up on him, if he threatened them too much then that may happen.

"Now, where else could it all begin," after pondering for a little while, Villin suddenly thought of somewhere, "Of course! At the beginning!"

If there was any place where there would be a good chance of finding an underground room or space, it was obviously the bottom floor. Space wasn't limited there and they could go as deep as they wanted.

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A few people were still on the bottommost floor. When Villin arrived, the first thing he saw was that the lady's corpse disappeared, probably placed to the side. The two strong men who saw Villin deal with Alexi were also still here. They seemed to be in a vivid conversation with each other and didn't see Villin come down the stairs.

The blonde boy was still here as well. Villin saw him sitting in a meditative manner with his eyes closed.

Villin didn't comment on it, until he got down the stairs entirely and put his first step on the actual ground, as soon as he did, he felt a foreign presence beneath him, causing him to immediately jump back again, a few steps onto the stairs.

When Villin looked around in confusion, he saw the blonde boy had opened his eyes and was looking at him with the same confused glance Villin was throwing about.

It was then that Villin realized what it was he felt. It was the same technique he invented back in his cell, there was a faint bit of magic power flowing through the ground stealthily. If Villin didn't constantly use the technique shortly around him as well, he wouldn't have noticed.

The blonde boy stood up and started walking to the extremely wary Villin. When he stood a few steps away from Villin he stopped, a frown on his face, "How do you know the royal spying technique?" the boy asked as he looked Villin in the eyes.

"How do you know the magical crease technique?" Villin responded. He had an idea of what was going on but didn't plan on acting weak, it was best to stand his ground here.

"Magical crease technique? Why would you call it that?" the boy asked with seemingly genuine curiosity.

"Because in order to utilize it you create a magical crease within the ground and expand it further and further." came the response, only holding half-truths.

"No, You are supposed to create tunnels for easier transfer of power, how would you even create a magical crease underground?" the blonde boy asked. 

At this point, Villin got a slightly better idea of the boy's personality. At the very least, he was careless. He had just explained the technique both himself and Villin used honestly, without hiding anything. It was a rather dumb move in Villin's opinion.

"But tunnels collapse, creases expand. It costs less magic power to expand," Villin responded with a made-up reason. The boy already seemed like he somewhat got his guard down but Villin wanted to wait a little more before asking where he was from.

"That sounds like it makes sense," the boy responded hesitantly "but it doesn't. There is nothing underground, what is there to crease?"

"There is always something to crease. There is magic power all around them, what do we do as magi if not alter them? Why would we not be able to crease them?" Villin asked, continuing the act.

"But, magic power doesn't have form. It has to go through the web before the nodes make it so that it does. You can't just form magic power that isn't yours!"

"So you say you can't form rogue magic power? Isn't that what wards do though? Attract and form magic power for hundreds to thousands of years in the future?"

"But wards are wards. They take a massive amount of time and effort to be created, and the fake ones get made through the web, making the magic power your own"

At this point Villin had to admit he was quite engaged in the discussion himself, even if he didn't truly believe in what he was defending, he didn't intend to stop.

"Well yes, but most of the steps within the creation of a ward is to make it have the effects you wish. Just having a ward hold together the magic power around it in a certain shape should be extremely easy. You would use transfiguration to create runes and make a tiny, extremely limited ward that way, creating an easily expandable crease underground."

"This with the creating of runes using transfiguration hmm I suppose, that would be possible." the blonde boy responded with some surprise.

Villin seemed to be taken aback by the boy's positive response, he thought for a little bit. "I suppose, that would indeed be possible" Villin thought with a fair bit of confusion himself.

He thought about it and figured the idea may actually have some potential. As someone who could create wards bare-handed, it may be possible to use transfiguration to create runes as well.

"Golmi." the boy introduced himself as he took a step closer to Villin and extended his hand.

After a moment's hesitation, Villin shook the other boy's hand. "Villin."

The two looked at each other for a few moments before Golmi began talking, "I found something earlier, a hidden compartment within the tower's wall holding a letter."

Surprised Villin looked on as Golmi took a small box out of his pocket and handed it to him.

When he opened it, he found a note inside.

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There you do, you found the beginning.

Harry you should find, for he has the answer.

I don't know who else it may be.

Ron seems possible, but he is untrustworthy as could be.

Dean, on the other hand, has never told a lie.

Farming lives, the opponents aren't kind.

Lovers get separated and children killed.

Over dinner, you should not talk about such horrors.

On the hour one dies, an exception is made.

Run now, for time is short.

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"This did a kid write this?" Villin quietly asked as he was stunned at how horribly written this poem was, and how easy to find the hint was."

"I think it's a riddle, or code!" Golmi said with a bit of excitement, "It seems incredibly tough though, I've been looking for a teammate and you seem smart enough, you have any idea on what it may be.

Villin barely held himself back from looking at Golmi like he was a fool. It seems he seriously thought of this boy wrongly, he seemed rather stupid, and much, much too trusting.

"The hint says 'Third Floor', just look at the first letter of each line," Villin said, barely keeping himself from coming over as condescending.

"Oh my, what a riddle, to think you solved it so quickly! It seems I was right to trust in you!" Golmi said in an excited tone that didn't completely match his facial expression.