9 Chapter 7: The Towers

Alright, I am back. The pause wasn't as long as I expected it would be. I expected it to be at least a week, but I have the motivation to work on the novel right now.

Thank you, for everything. ❤

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The next day, the rumors have already spread around the city. The rumors of "The Vampire of the Slums" were already known by the nobility and most people in the slums. For normal people, the news was unavailable, but rumors of course spread anyway, so most people just pretended to don't know the rumor.

This was something, that Harlow was afraid of. What if higher authorities will come for him? The principal herself is stronger than him, and he heard not once that there is someone stronger than the principal. What if the government will hire someone like this? He will be dead in no time if he will be not secretive.

After he woke up, he already knew about the rumor. It didn't take long for the newspaper to announce it. However, that was not all, as he predicted, the newspaper took some things out of context during the interview. Even though it was stated that he had 6 elements, they speculated about what if he has more but he hides it? Not only that, they have made a big boom around his race and his huge mana flow. It was an inconvenience for him since he didn't want too much unnecessary attention, even though he got already a lot of it, just by winning against Ruprecht.

He already, got into a bad mood just by that. Well, he would see how the rest of the day goes.

************

"Marquess. Have you heard already about the 'Vampire of the Slums'" A man, in a dark tuxedo suit, which tiny french mustache asked? There was no whip [I don't know if it means the same as it means in polish, however it Polish that means, like no way or something like that.] that he was a butler.

"Yes, it's been already 6 months, hasn't been?" The man, in front of the butler, asked.

He was a well-built man. He had a red-blood and short hair. His eyes were one of a predator's and had beer-like color. Scars were all on his face, it would be no joke, calling him intimidating, even most men that have balls of steel would've lost their minds before him. He once was known as "The Beast of the North" and bestowed with the title of Marquess for his contributions to the Empire. His name was Clais Von Lackendorf.

"Yes, it has been. Marquess" The Butler replied. Even though he was standing in front of the predator, he was standing still. He already knew that Clais was kind-hearted to those, whom he trusted.

"Alright, the vampire was too long-running wild already, deploy military there and mages that are confident to fight against the vampire. And announce it to all ladies, since only them were the victims of this"

The Butler, even though knew the heroic side of Marquess, still took a breath, no, a sigh of relief about Marquess'sdecision.

"Understood, Sir. We will do as you order"

"Let's see, how much can the vampire withstand"

After those words, Marquess began to psychopathy grin and laugh, it was a sign that he was confident with the victory against the vampire.

At this moment, the manhunt began.

*********

A six month has already passed. For Harlow, it was a peaceful time, for the town quite the opposite. Not only "the vampire of the slums" have appeared, but also crime rate, which came after the vampire. Many people used the chaos in slums, to commit crimes, and not only there, but also around the city. However, not for too long, it didn't take long, for the military to be deployed in local regions. However, it didn't stop it all.

The crime rate was still high, especially for the empire. The town crime rate rose to 21.25 percent.

At this point, he realized what was needed to be done, he had to dispose of the body, well, to be exact burning it would be a better idea, and with his magic, it would be a realistic idea.

'Well, those are worries for later! I first need to pick the tower'

Yes. Towers of the academy, there were 4 main towers in the academy and 4 sub towers. Each of them specialized in one kind of mage.

First was Red Tower. It was Battle Mage tower. It was the tower, where students were trained to become battle mages, it wasn't a popular choice, many people wanted to be scholars or private mages, and when going into the military, there was a small chance you would gain fame.

Red Tower was divided into another 3 sub towers. Or rather, factions.

The first faction was Red. The original Red Faction, that formed the Red tower. They had the most fame, and they were the most 'barbarian' once. Their motto was "The victory doesn't matter, as long as there is destruction". Even the motto itself says how barbarian they were.

The second faction was Orange. They were quite peaceful for battle mages, their motto was "Peace at all price", they believed that peace could be achieved without destruction and war, at some points, they were called the "Peace mages".

The third, and the last one was Bright Red. There were all-range battle mages, they were mediocre between Orange and Red. They had no motto whatsoever and they were called "the mediocre mages". They were the mages that had the most fame for their history, even the Marquess himself was once Bright Red Member.

The second tower was the Blue tower. It was the scholar and scientist tower, that concentrated on technology and wisdom. All you had to do was to have knowledge and wisdom when joining this tower, you didn't have to have a huge mana flow, to join it. It often collaborated with Green Tower.

The third, Green Tower. It was a tower of Alchemists, it was a tower that contributed to every Tower that existed. They produced weapons, research items, potions, and everything else. Though it was the hardest one to get into, not only you had to have a huge mana flow, to even manifest mana around you, then you also had to have enough mana to put into an item. It was the hardest thing magician could do. Well, add to that 11 years of education, where a normal mage's education takes 6.

However, it didn't mean that it was a bad subject to choose if you had an offer from the tower, quite the opposite, most people would accept the offer, because of their bright future. If you had good grades enough in the Green Tower then you would have a bright future as Magical Blacksmith.

The fourth, White Tower. Was the tower Magician swordsmanship course. Among the Military, they were the most popular ones. If one wanted to join the army and contribute to the empire, it was the best course. Among all of the other three Towers, they were the ones that didn't intervene much into the world and politics and supported only the emperor faction.

There was also Magica Archer Faction, however, they weren't counted as mages same with Magical Warriors. They were treated as completely other things compared to mages and alchemists.

Harlow had a real dilemma on what to choose. It wasn't easy. He could enter every since he had good grades in every subject. Honestly, he wanted to be in both Red and Blue Tower. However, he couldn't for time being, he could right now only learn alchemy somewhat in Library when he would have time to do so.

"Then I will go with Red Tower I guess? Wait... No..... A white tower is also a great option..."

It indeed wasn't an easy option. If he would choose red tower, then he would probably be an all-range mage or CQB mage, it was like dream for him, in his previous life he wanted to always become a magician, however, the world he lived in had no mana.

However, Being a Magician swordsman was as good as being Magician. You could operate both sword and magic, it would mean he would have a license to have a sword, and who knows, maybe become nobility later.

'This is the same as choosing between SL [Solo Leveling] novel or Manhwa, you can't choose which is worse and which is better. It's just impossible'

Some time has passed, Harlow has used Albeod to help him get his satisfactory answer. The final answer that came out, was to join White Tower. It granted the most benefits. Sword License, Magician License, Nobility or rather the probability of the Nobility and many other.

However, the thing he was thinking about the most, was the Magician License and Sword License. Those two things would've granted him the ability that would make his potential to grow much bigger.

He has somewhat experience in Swordsmanship, well to be exact, he has learned some Philippines Martial arts when he was in the military. It combined CQB with Swordsmanship.

'Tomorrow is the day we apply right? The white tower will probably send me an offer anyway, so I will wait

It was true, the very next day, offer from every Tower, and from every faction have come. Including of course White tower. From every other tower, it had the most elegant letter.

'Great'

In the letter, those words were written.

We, the White Tower. Invite the student, Harlow Shallfear, into our course on magician swordsmanship.

As such, the student will be allowed to study the course and will have privileges of special course, and Custom Sword and its license.

In addition to the privileges will be a payout of 10,000 Germanian Marks [1 gold coin] per month.

Best Regards, The administrators of White tower.

Harlow of course has read all of the letters, not reading them would be considered rude, and out of all the letters, the White tower has given him the most privileges.

Everyone with a sane mind would've to pick White Tower, not picking them was the same as admitting that someone wanted to torture himself and to be hated by many people.

To join one of the Towers, you first: Had to pass their test. Second: Officaly "join" the tower. It was a decision for the rest of your life. So a lot of time was given to students to think about it. To be exact, a whole summer.

As he finally decided, he came to the Principal's office.

"Ma'am, I would like to join White tower." The message was short, yet more clear than the middle finger meaning.

"Alright, I will inform them about your acceptance of the invitation."

"There is no need"

A strange man entered the room as he has said that.

He was in a white military uniform, he was well built and had a scar on his right eye. His eyes were ones of the predator, that could eat you if he wanted to or just play around with you. His looks were more intimidating than Marquess. In his left hand, he held a saber, however, it didn't appear as he would be hostile to anyone.

He was the administrator of The White Tower. His name was Heinz Von Ulme and he was a count. He was a direct puppet of Marquess Clais. However, it didn't mean anything wrong they were in-arm comrades.

"I will lead this young boy, myself, to the White tower." He said.

Principal instead of saying anything, just nodded her head. It was a sign that she accepted it.

'Epic.'

Harlow right now was in front of a man, that was the administrator of White Tower. He looked for some time, on Harlow, as if he was checking his body. His eyes were quite lustful, however, they got under control after few seconds.

'God... His body... Is just perfect! Not only that! He has a lot of mana, I can tell just by looking!'

Even though his thoughts were quite distributing at first, he didn't mean anything wrong. He was just in surprise at how well built was the body of this young man in front of him, and the mana as well was huge.

"Well, let's come to the tower, shall we?"