The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death - Chapter 303

The Royal Magic Tower, as the name suggested, was a huge tower situated in the middle of the Rhine Kingdom’s capital, Icarus. Meanwhile, surrounding the tower was a magic town that was similarly located within Icarus City, and students of the Royal Magic Tower would typically spend their free time seeking entertainment in this magic town.

“While it might be called the Royal Magic Tower, the magic town surrounding the tower is also included within the Royal Magic Tower’s domain,” Blonde Twintails explained.

Unlike the Royal Magic Tower itself, the magic town surrounding the tower was free for outsiders to visit. While using her sun hat to conceal half of her face, Alice followed Blonde Twintails into the magic town and came across many people who weren’t students or teachers of the Royal Magic Tower.

Of course, most of these people were still magicians, and their goal in visiting the magic town was to sell some magic products to the students and teachers of the Royal Magic Tower. Because of this situation, with the Royal Magic Tower as the center, this magic town had become the largest magic market in the Rhine Kingdom.

While strolling through the streets of the magic town, Alice noticed that the air here was brimming with mana. She was initially surprised by this situation, but she quickly understood why this was the case.

Like most liquids and gasses, the concept of diffusion was also applied to mana. Because of this, mana would naturally seep out of magicians and magic items over time. However, while magicians could prevent their mana from scattering to the surroundings, most magic items did not come with such functionality. Meanwhile, seeing how magic items were being traded all over the town, it wasn’t hard to imagine how the town’s environment had become so rich in mana.

“How does it feel? Did you get intimidated by the rich mana environment here?”

Blonde Twintails was a member of the Rhine Kingdom, so she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride when she talked about this mana town. She was aware that while other kingdoms had magic academies that rivaled the Royal Magic Tower, none of them had developed their magic academies to a point where it had become a gathering place for magicians.

“This is quite intimidating indeed.” Alice nodded in agreement. However, her thoughts were evidently different from Blonde Twintails’. When she noticed the ambient mana in the town was concentrated to a point where it had almost achieved condensation, she couldn’t help but frown and ask, “If someone decides to detonate the mana in this town, the wrestling power should be on par with a taboo, right? Aren’t you guys worried about this possible danger at all?”

“Why do you have such dangerous thoughts in that small head of yours?” Blonde Twintails’ mouth twitched when she heard Alice’s words. She didn’t think that not only would Alice not be surprised by the mana environment here, but the girl would even bring up such a dangerous topic. After letting out a huff, Blonde Twintails stopped her feet and pointed to the distance, saying, “We have naturally considered this possibility. Look at the top of the tower.”

Alice followed Blonde Twintails’ finger and looked at the huge magic gem slowly rotating above the Royal Magic Tower. The magic gem was surrounded by a large magic array, and the magic array was constantly emitting gentle mana fluctuations.

“That’s the magic crystal made by the Third Hero. There is a taboo sealed in this magic crystal to detect dangerous mana fluctuations and neutralize any source of mana within its range. The magic crystal won’t do anything if you use ordinary spells and magic tools since neither of those things is enough to detonate the town’s mana. However, if someone tries to detonate the mana here as you said, they’d have to utilize a taboo-level spell at the very least. In that case, the magic crystal will immediately discover the offender’s actions and neutralize their mana,” Blonde Twintails said. Then, she continued guiding Alice to the Royal Magic Tower, adding, “And if someone manages to overcome the magic crystal’s neutralizing effect and detonate the town’s mana? The power of the resulting explosion will definitely be at the level of taboos.”

That crystal can neutralize even taboo-level mana fluctuations?

Alice took a moment to process Blonde Twintails’ words before understanding. It would seem that the magic crystal atop the Royal Magic Tower was made to prohibit the activation of taboos in the tower’s vicinity.

However, this wasn’t a concern to Alice since she still lacked the mana to cast complete versions of taboos. And should she cast taboos while wielding a pair of panties or the Hero’s Sword, she was confident that she could disregard the magic crystal’s neutralizing effect.

She also highly doubted the magic crystal could neutralize all taboos. If this magic crystal could accomplish such a feat, Heroes of past generations would have used it to thoroughly restrict the mana usage of the Demon Kings they faced.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering since just now, but you don’t seem to be an ordinary civilian,” Alice suddenly said as she looked at the blonde girl walking in front of her. “At the very least, I don’t think the average civilian would have the means to forge a functioning student ID for the Royal Magic Tower…”

“So you do want to know my identity?” Blonde Twintails stopped walking when she heard Alice trying to probe her identity indirectly. “And here I thought you had no interest in my identity whatsoever. I’ve been waiting for you to ask me about my identity the entire time in the cafe, yet not once did you ask about it.”

Alice laughed awkwardly. Her mind had been filled with how she should sneak into the Royal Magic Tower previously, so she didn’t think to ask about Blonde Twintails’ identity. She only thought to do so now after suddenly realizing that Blonde Twintails seemed capable of doing things outside the average person’s means.

“Since you’ve asked, I’ll tell you.” After patting her barren chest, Blonde Twintails said, “My name is Lilith Doyle, and I am currently studying in the Royal Magic Tower as an ordinary apprentice magician.”

“An ordinary apprentice magician?” Alice couldn’t help but look at Blonde Twintails strangely when she heard the other party’s answer. After all, she recognized the surname ‘Doyle,’ and it was none other than the Rhine King’s surname. “Are you part of the Rhine Kingdom’s royal family?”

“So it seems you’re not completely ignorant,” Lilith said, waving her fist at Alice and lightly humming when she heard Alice’s question. “But while I might be royalty, I don’t have any succession rights. I am nothing but a decoration kept at home… Even though I’ve put so much work into learning how to manage the country, it’s a pity my father can never appreciate my efforts.”

Lilith sighed after she finished speaking. Then, she shook her head and continued:

“Whatever. Let’s not talk about such a depressing subject. Anyway, while I might be the Rhine Kingdom’s princess, my status is far inferior to yours. You are a legitimate successor to the Gryffin Kingdom’s throne, while I am only a princess with no real power.”

Alice smiled awkwardly in response to Lilith’s grumbling, not knowing what she should say in this situation. She couldn’t possibly say that she wasn’t actually Hatter’s daughter but the Hero instead, right? Though, based on this conversation, Alice noticed that Lilith didn’t know about her identity as the Hero. This meant that the Rhine Kingdom’s King Haydn hadn’t informed Lilith about the matter regarding the Hero’s identity.

So, it would seem that Lilith Doyle wasn’t given much importance by her father after all.