Phoebe Astheria Roton.
Her notoreity was widely known, but very few had experienced her in person.
From the moment Reed became the next tower master and Phoebe was appointed as his secretary and deputy tower master, she had become a docile half-dragon who couldn't defy Reed.
Because of this, some were lulled into complacency, but those standing before her now couldn't afford to smile.
It was literally a self-destructive act.
None of the magicians could open their mouths.
Phoebe, who stepped forward, spoke to them with a smile as if she was in trouble.
"Everyone, please surrender. We didn't come here to harm you."
Her dragging voice.
At a glance, it sounded frightened.
What's the human psychology like?
Even if they know they're going to lose, humans think they can win the moment they see a chance.
Phoebe sincerely asked for surrender, but the magicians who heard her voice were rather energized.
"Don't, don't be scared! That girl is also a magician! Kill them all!"
The magicians with daggers rushed toward Phoebe.
"Um... I did ask politely..."
Phoebe let out a sigh with a regretful face.
They still didn't know.
She is a half-dragon.
The reason she became the Mad Dragon of Asteria had nothing to do with magic.
Phoebe disappeared.
At the same time, one of the charging magicians disappeared as well.
"Huh, what?"
"What?"
The magicians, who had yet to grasp the situation.
The magician standing in the center discovered his comrade had vanished and began to look around.
Phoebe was standing behind them with the missing magician.
Only, the disappeared magician was unconscious, and Phoebe was looking at them with an indifferent face.
Was it magic?
No. She was within the range of magic jamming, so she couldn't have easily used magic.
But no matter how they tried to rationalize it, they were only filled with terror.
Because it meant that it didn't take her even a second to knock one out.
"Does anyone else want to come?"
"This, this devilish girl!"
"I definitely warned you... You're the ones who ignored it!"
Although it could be seen as mockery, Phoebe felt she had given a proper warning.
"Then let me make it clear for you!"
Phoebe picked up the dagger of the unconscious magician.
The magicians, seeing her pick up a weapon, hesitated.
But it didn't seem like Phoebe was going to use the weapon.
"Now, everyone, if you try to swing something like this at Phoebe, this is what happens!"
Phoebe held the dagger between her index and thumb.
"Look! Eiii!"
Crack!
She broke it.
Contrary to her cute speech, she easily broke the steel dagger with two fingers.
She did it as effortlessly as if she were splitting a biscuit in half, without a single sign of struggling.
"You understand now? It's dangerous."
Phoebe laughed heartily, resembling a safety instructor giving a demonstration.
The magicians who saw the dagger break in two dropped all the daggers they were holding, feeling the difference in strength.
"Please... please just spare our lives!"
"I just followed orders! Please! Spare my life!"
They began desperately begging for their lives.
Phoebe looked down at them and then asked Reed,
"What should we do with those who surrender?"
"Knock them out. They pointed a knife at me, so we should at least do that."
"...Understood."
Phoebe, realizing the situation a bit late, exuded a completely different aura than before.
Attempting to harm the tower master was an unforgivable crime in her eyes.
With her aura, Phoebe struck each of them on the head with the palm of her hand, one by one.
Bam!
With a grotesque echo, the magicians fell down as if they had all been switched off.
Being proficient at controlling her strength, knocking them out was no big deal for Phoebe.
"Wait! We came under the order of King Morgan! Every single one of us is under his command!"
"Be quiet!"
Bam!
After making even the leader unconscious, Phoebe turned to Reed.
"What should we do now?"
"For now, tie them all up."
Killing them would be a headache.
Phoebe turned their robes inside out and tied them with their own belt, making it appear as if their upper bodies were bound in a sack.
The so-called 'pumpkin binding'.
Exposing everything from their toes to their groin was the best way to suppress a magician.
Usually, robes were enchanted with magic resistance spells, making it difficult to sever them with magic. Attempting to forcibly cut them with high-level magic could backfire.
'This is a rather malicious method.'
Despite not aiming to embarrass them, it was an excellent binding technique to induce a sense of shame.
The magicians had all been subdued and the family possession spell had failed.
Now, only Morgan remained.
"Ugh....."
Morgan, who had been on the slab, woke up.
Pain surged through his heavy eyelids with every movement.
Everything was as it was before.
"Why...?"
Morgan hurriedly looked at his hand.
A large, wrinkled hand.
Clearly an old man's hand.
It had failed.
The magic had failed.
Morgan shouted in a voice filled with anger and betrayal.
"Why! Why did the magic fail! Commander! What the hell is this..."
Morgan, who was about to continue his words, stopped talking when he saw the person who entered his eyes.
A man with gray hair and golden eyes.
He was leaning back and staring at him.
"Nice to see you again, wise king."
"The Tower Master of Silence... how did you...?"
Even as he spoke, Morgan's eyes swept the surroundings.
All the magicians had already been subdued.
"How do you think I got here?"
Reed smiled and responded politely.
"I knew you were trying to swap bodies with your son here."
But Morgan didn't blink an eye.
"What are you talking about! I was kidnapped and brought here! I know nothing! Uh, hurry up and get out of here!"
The sight of him hurriedly standing up and acting nonchalant already made Reed nauseous.
That's why he became calmer.
"It's already too late for you to play innocent."
"Too late for what..."
"The Tower Master of Black Sky has spilled everything. In exchange for giving up your spell."
"..."
"I've heard everything, from your attempts to trap your daughter during the demonstration to the fact that all the incidents that have happened in Cohen City were all done with your approval."
"I, I..."
"Did you do nothing? Really?"
Morgan, still wearing a benevolent face, was taken aback.
He tried to make an excuse, but his mouth did not open easily when facing Reed's eyes.
Reed had already seen through everything about him.
But Morgan still tried to squeeze out a lie somehow.
Then, his mask crumbled first.
"Damn, that little wretch....!"
Morgan showed hostility as if there was nothing more to hide.
Reed greeted him once more.
"Hello, Wise King."
"How dare you! You dare to spoil my plans?"
Morgan pointed his finger at Reed with a sizzling sound.
"So you're not denying it now. That you tried to kill your own daughter and son."
Then Morgan chuckled and said.
"They are my children who I loved and raised. What's the problem if I decide to do as I please with them? Every king, every nobleman does the same!"
Children are political tools.
This is a place where it is common to arrange marriages and send daughters off to marry in order to establish friendly relationships.
"But you crossed the line. Do you really think that trapping my daughter in a trap and taking over the body of your son is what a father should do?"
"All this is for the kingdom of Hupper. What I've achieved, what I've created, only I can understand!"
Reed quietly looked at him.
He asked him in a calm, unemotional, and plain tone.
"Do you really think others will understand what you're saying? Do you think your people will praise you as a wise king when they find out that you've stolen the life of your own son?"
"Wise ones prevent things from happening, while fools clean up after things have happened. Even though the chaos was caused by me, I was the one who cleaned it up! What's the problem if I use foolish methods to lead foolish people!"
Foolish and wise.
He was a very wise king when it came to leading the fools.
"You remain calm, Morgan Hupper."
"The fact that you came in here means that the barrier magic has undoubtedly been broken. If the barrier magic was broken, then the knights will be coming here."
It was a secret move that Morgan had prepared.
If an intruder who could break the barrier magic came, it was clear that he would be threatened, so he had prepared to get help from the outside somehow.
About an hour had passed since Reed invaded.
It wouldn't be strange if the knights were to rush in right now.
Soon, the knights will surround this secret place and come in.
The only ones present were Morgan and his son, Morgan the second, and Reed.
It was already decided who they would listen to.
Undoubtedly, it would be advantageous for Morgan.
"Master of the Silent Tower, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop opposing me any further. Let's live as if we don't know each other."
Morgan proposed, as if granting mercy.
He thought that if he was in the position of the tower master, he would accept it.
"That's good to know."
However, that was just Morgan's thought.
Reed spoke, completely unfazed.
"Isn't this the perfect moment to expose the true nature of human trash like you to the world?"
And as if pulling out a trump card, he brought forward the hand that he had been hiding.
Morgan's eyes widened at the sight of what he was holding.
Click!
-"For the endless prosperity of the Hupper Kingdom!"
Undoubtedly his voice.
The voice that Morgan had recorded during the demonstration.
-"Whose voice does this sound like?"
Reed's voice followed, asking Morgan.
The real Morgan couldn't answer.
Knowing already what he had said, he could only tremble.
-"Haha, since everyone says so, this voice must undoubtedly be mine."
Morgan confirmed.
His kind voice turned into a beastly shout a few seconds later.
-"Damn, that little wretch....!"
At the vividly heard shout, Morgan was startled.
There was no need to play any more.
Regardless of what Morgan might say, his voice would have been very well recorded.
"Let's see if your foolish people understand all of this."
Morgan couldn't speak anymore.
Who would have known?
That the Master of the Silent Tower had recorded this entire situation with that device.
"But..."
Morgan managed to utter with difficulty.
"Do you think... the knights... will just sit there and listen to that?"
"..."
"To them, loyalty is everything. Regardless of what I say or what atrocities I commit, they are entities that obey my command!"
He was right.
Knights didn't need logic in their loyalty.
Even if he committed evil deeds, the knights would follow the king.
Although he spoke confidently, Reed was not entirely at ease.