The Shut-in Sage

I had commissioned a massive iron hammer from Dozul.

Naturally, I’d had him forge a socket for a Magic Stone, effectively transforming it into a Magic Hammer. In the Original Game, there was a weapon called Mjolnir—it boasted the highest Attack Power in the game, provided you actually managed to land a hit.

Since I had managed to procure a surprisingly large Magic Stone for this project, I was able to pour about a tablespoon’s worth of Enchantment Magic into the weapon. That should have been enough to boost its power significantly.

"Ugh, it’s heavy..."

I should have possessed a decent Aptitude for strength, yet I couldn't even manage to lift the thing off the ground.

"Did I not warn you? Who could possibly wield such a monstrosity?" Dozul asked. Even as a Dwarf, he looked like he was straining just to shift it.

"Don't worry. The man who can handle it is on his way."

Dozul gave me a skeptical look. A few moments later, Fritz arrived, looking entirely clueless as to why he’d been summoned.

"Yuri, you called?"

"Yeah. Your custom weapon is finished."

"R-Really!?"

Fritz’s eyes lit up with excitement. He began scanning the room for his new gear, completely overlooking the giant hammer resting on the floor right in front of him. I pointed toward the slab of iron.

"It’s this."

Fritz froze. His eyes followed the line of my finger, eventually landing on a Dagger sitting nearby. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Hahaha... Wow, you scared me for a second. I thought you were actually going to make me swing a hammer that looks like it weighs a ton—"

"The Fritz Hammer is your weapon, Fritz. It’s only natural, since you’re the only one strong enough to use it."

Fritz stopped dead in his tracks, his hand halfway to the Dagger. He turned to look at me with the stiff, mechanical movements of a rusted robot. I simply nodded, encouraging him to give it a test run.

With a hollow expression, Fritz reached down and hoisted the Fritz Hammer. He lifted it effortlessly. As expected of Fritz.

"Hey, Yuri. You do know what weapon I usually use, right?"

Why was he asking me this now? I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"A Shovel, right? Of course I know."

"You’re wrooooooong!! My weapon is a sword! Didn't you literally make a Stone Sword for me!?"

"Ah... so you weren't just carrying that around for the aesthetic."

"You’ve seen me use it! Repeatedly!"

True, there might have been times he drew a blade, but since he even did his daily practice swings with a Shovel, I’d just assumed he had a quirk for eccentric weaponry.

"Look, this is a necessity. Just use it for now."

"If it’s necessary, fine. But where are we even going to use a thing like this?"

"At the Sage’s Tower."

---

The three of us—Fee, Fritz, and I—arrived at the base of the Sage’s Tower.

"Can I count on you to follow the plan?" I asked.

"...Are we really doing this? I don't see how this could possibly work."

"If it fails, we’ll pack it in. It’s an experiment, so just give it a shot."

"Haa... Fine. I get it."

Fritz took a stance with a greatsword first, testing the structural integrity of the tower. He lashed out, and to my surprise, the blade bit deep into the stone. It was unexpectedly fragile.

"This should work," Fritz muttered.

"Right. Everyone else, get back. It’s going to get dangerous."

I had come up with a shortcut to conquer the Sage’s Tower. My plan was simple: I was going to destroy the tower itself.

It was a structure that stretched endlessly toward the sky. Logically, that meant if the foundation were compromised, the upper floors would come crashing down. As a bonus, the collapsing masonry would crush every Monster inside.

Of course, the Sage living on the top floor would be in some danger, but given her stats, protecting herself should be trivial. In the Original Game, when she had to escape the collapsing Demon Lord's Castle, she used her magic to shield herself from the falling debris and simply flew away. I was banking on her doing the exact same thing here.

Since the benefits were so clear, I felt it was my duty to attempt a "tower-toppling" strategy that hadn't been possible in the game. And if you’re going to demolish a building, you need a hammer—hence the custom job for Fritz.

To ensure the collapse didn't go sideways, I had Fritz make precise incisions to control the direction of the fall. Then, Fritz wound up and slammed the Fritz Hammer into the tower's base.

Even with his Superhuman Strength, taking down a tower of this scale was a tall order. To tip the scales, I cast Enchantment Magic on Fritz himself. Buffing others wasn't my specialty, but it was better than nothing.

Then, the impossible happened.

Instead of the tower collapsing, the bottom floor was struck with such force that it slid out perfectly, flying into the distance like a piece in a game of Daruma Otoshi. The rest of the tower simply dropped down one level, remaining perfectly upright.

"What?" I blinked.

"W-Wow. It flew away so cleanly," Fee chirped.

"Hey! What the hell did you do!?" Fritz shouted. "Why is part of the tower flying through the air!? What about the Monsters inside!?"

"Ah... yeah. Don't worry about it. It’s... mostly going according to plan."

"How can I not worry about that!?"

"Don't stop now. Keep going."

"Fine! But you're explaining everything the second we're done!"

Fritz went back to work. I stared at the tower, baffled. Why didn't it crumble? Even to me, the scene was utterly bizarre.

However, I noticed that Fritz’s Level increased the moment the floor segment vanished. That meant the Monsters inside were being dealt with effectively. I made a mental note to go find the "flying dungeons" later.

I watched in silence as another segment of the Sage’s Tower was launched into the horizon.

---

Fritz continued his rhythmic demolition until every floor except the very top had been swatted away.

"Is this enough?" he asked, leaning on his hammer.

"Yeah. That’ll do."

It turned out you didn't need to crawl through a dangerous dungeon after all. If you just broke the map, you could trigger the event flags effortlessly.

Of course, the person we were here to see was Sage Melty. She was the type of person you avoided at all costs unless you absolutely needed something.

A woman finally poked her head fearfully out of the top-floor window. She had long, disheveled blue hair, a petite frame, and slightly pointed ears. Her outfit was... provocative, to say the least; she was wearing nothing but a single, tattered, oversized shirt.

"Yuri-sama, looking is forbidden!" Fee cried, immediately covering my eyes with her hands.

"I... I thought my life was over..." the woman stammered.

What is she being so dramatic for? I wondered. If she was a Sage, she could have easily used Defense Magic to shield herself or just flown away. Perhaps the situation was more dire than I realized. Maybe there was a threat hidden here that forced her into hiding.

The woman’s gaze landed on us. She froze, began to tremble, and immediately tried to retreat back into the room.

"Wait! Don't run away!" I called out.

"I-I won't taste good! I'm nothing but skin and bones! There’s no meat on me at all!" Melty cried, frantically clutching her chest. "No meat... at all..."

There was a profound, inexplicable sadness in her voice.

Still, why did she think I was going to eat her? I knew my eyes looked sharp because of my role as the Mastermind, but surely I just looked like an ordinary kid.

"Haa... this is a headache. Fee, can you handle the talking?"

"Leave it to me! Yuri-sama gives us tons of food to eat!"

"So you’re just fattening me up before the slaughter...!"

"Can we please move past the cannibalism!?" I snapped.

The conversation was going nowhere. Was this girl really a Sage? I didn't see a trace of the brilliant deduction skills she’d displayed in the Original Game. If anything, she reeked of pure incompetence.

I decided to let Fritz take the lead.

"Haha, it’s a well-known fact that Yuri’s common sense is a bit... skewed," Fritz said.

"...Wait. Since when is that a 'well-known fact'? I’m perfectly normal."

"You really need to buy a dictionary and look up the word 'normal,'" Fritz said, looking at me with pity.

He was still resting the Fritz Hammer on his shoulder. Given how terrified Melty was of me, there was no reason she wouldn't be equally petrified of a man carrying a massive, blood-stained-looking mallet.

But Melty’s reaction was the polar opposite of what I expected. Her face flushed a deep crimson, and she stared intensely at Fritz. She began to approach him with slow, deliberate steps.

Fritz grew visibly tense, swallowing hard as she neared. Finally, Melty reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Name your price! Please, sell me that Magic Tool!"

As it turned out, she wasn't blushing because of Fritz’s face—she was head-over-heels in love with the Fritz Hammer.

"No, no, this isn't for sale," Fritz said, pulling back. "More importantly, why were you trapped in a place like this?"

It was a simple question. Even in the Original Game, the reason for Melty’s presence in the Sage’s Tower was never explained. But I had a very good idea of who was responsible.

"Well, I was here for research—"

"You were likely captured and imprisoned by the Mastermind's group, weren't you?" I interjected. "Going to the top floor alone only to have them release Monsters so you couldn't escape... that’s the kind of trap only an idiot would fall into. A Sage would never be so careless."

A "Wise Person" wouldn't fall for such a blatant setup. It was far more likely she’d been coerced or held via hostage.

Melty’s eyes went wide, and she began nodding her head with desperate intensity.

"T-That’s right! Exactly! That’s definitely what happened! There is absolutely no way I just climbed up here by myself for research and got stuck!"

I knew it. The Mastermind’s reach extended even here. I thought they had been quiet lately, but they were clearly working in the shadows to destabilize the Kingdom.

Rescuing Melty was a major blow to their plans. I didn't realize that Melty had actually wandered into the tower of her own volition and was simply covering her tracks, so I felt a cold sense of foreboding. I tightened my resolve, wondering just how deep the Mastermind's web truly went.