Chapter 13

Four days after returning from the monster-subjugation mission.

In the underground training hall of the Magic Tower.

A deafening crack rang out, as if a massive boulder had split apart.

Smoke billowed through the air.

At the center of it, a mage sprawled on the ground staggered to his feet.

Watching him, Kade casually crooked a finger toward the area beyond a line he had drawn on the floor.

“Next.”

“Hiiik!”

Another mage was yanked over the boundary line as though pulled by an invisible force.

His shoulders trembled.

At Kade’s glance telling him to begin, the mage hurriedly gathered his mana.

BOOM!

Crackle—

Before the smoke had even cleared, he was slammed into the ground, creating a fresh cloud of dust.

The dazed mage struggled to regain his senses and practically crawled out of the boundary.

The mages waiting their turn helped him to his feet.

“You should at least pretend to dodge. Next.”

The icy edge in Kade’s gaze sent chills down everyone’s spine.

As the intervals between monster-subjugation missions grew shorter and shorter, they couldn’t keep relying on the same group of mages every time.

The others needed to improve their combat magic as quickly as possible.

Watching Kade personally spar with the mages, Ben thought:

He really has absolutely no talent for teaching.

That was often true of geniuses, but Kade was especially bad.

In the past, when people asked how he could cast spells so quickly, his only answer had been:

“Just calculate the magic circles faster.”

Even now, the gap in ability was so enormous that he wasn’t capable of adjusting himself to match his opponents.

There was no way the others could learn anything from this.

Besides, the ominous atmosphere that had persisted for several days had reached its peak today.

At this point it looked less like training and more like venting frustration.

He seemed fine on the day of the banquet.

But the more he thinks about being forced into attending through threats, the angrier he’s probably getting. Especially since they even used Lana.

As Ben watched the brutal training session and swallowed a sigh, a mage approached and spoke quietly.

“Assistant Ben. That government official is here again.”

Ben turned around with a stunned expression.

“Now?”

Of all times, the official had chosen to arrive when the Tower Lord’s mood was at its worst.

Not even Lana would be able to stop him today.

This official’s luck was truly terrible.

“Who’s here?”

“AAAH!”

Ben nearly screamed as Kade suddenly appeared beside him without warning.

It was like seeing a ghost.

“I asked who’s here.”

“Th-The government official who came before is asking for you, Tower Lord.”

“Take her to my office. Training is over.”

Kade brushed the dust from his robe.

Then he vanished in an instant through teleportation.

The mages watched him disappear and all arrived at the same conclusion.

He’s really going to kill someone today.

***

While I waited in the lobby, a mage named Ben appeared and guided me to the office.

He introduced himself as the Tower Lord’s assistant.

For some reason, however, he kept glancing back at me with a deeply troubled expression.

“Mr. Ben? Is something wrong?”

“…Sigh. Never mind.”

“…?”

He stared at my face before letting out another sigh.

It was unsettling.

At least it was better than the mages on my first visit, who had openly looked down on me and treated me like entertainment.

Still, it bothered me.

When I responded by staring fixedly at the back of his head, Ben suddenly spun around.

“Aren’t you afraid of the Tower Lord? Aren’t you worried he might kill you?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You somehow survived the last visit unharmed, so why did you come back?”

Apparently, he viewed me as some clueless child who didn’t understand the situation.

To be fair, if I hadn’t been transferred departments, I never would have come anywhere near the place ruled by that lunatic Tower Lord.

The fact that said Tower Lord was also my ex-boyfriend made it even worse.

“We aren’t personally acquainted, but I trust that he won’t kill me. Things weren’t that bad last time, so please don’t worry.”

“…”

Ben looked at me as though all hope was lost.

Then he clicked his tongue in pity.

What was that reaction supposed to mean?

As I followed him up the stairs, I rubbed my tired eyes.

Do I really look that awful? Like I’ll die the moment the Tower Lord gets angry?

I was self-conscious about the dark circles I hadn’t managed to conceal completely.

But soon even that concern disappeared.

With every step up the stairs, I could feel my exhaustion piling on.

I was out of my mind. Why did I ever think that?

I had considered working overtime just to avoid coming to the Magic Tower.

I didn’t expect that to turn into three straight days of overtime.

Including the weekend.

It seemed that whenever the monster-subjugation force returned from the distant sea, the Marine Observation Bureau became busier than usual.

The mages would mark the locations of abnormal weather patterns they had encountered.

The first step was comparing those reports with observation records.

After that, my job was to update the magical-beast distribution maps using monster sighting records.

And that wasn’t even all of it.

What kind of insane person says overtime is better than going to the Magic Tower?

The Magic Tower is obviously better.

At least they had given me today off after making me work all weekend.

I genuinely thought I was going to collapse.

Even now, my head throbbed from lack of sleep and accumulated exhaustion.

I had stayed up late again last night sorting through documents that seemed unlikely to involve the imperial family.

Still, all that effort was worth it.

This time Kade should find them acceptable.

Knock. Knock.

“Tower Lord, I’ve brought the investigator.”

After Ben knocked, a voice from inside told us to enter.

The door opened.

Kade stood by the window with his hands clasped behind his back.

As Ben stepped into the office, he suddenly froze.

“When did he change clothes?”

The muttered comment made me flinch.

You only just noticed his clothes are different from last time?

And why are you saying that while looking directly at Kade?

Are you trying to tell on me?

Today I wasn’t wearing the government uniform I’d worn to the banquet.

I was wearing a dress.

Kade turned toward me casually.

Then he paused.

I immediately straightened my clothes.

…Does it really look inappropriate?

Since this visit was still work-related, I should technically have worn my uniform despite it being my day off.

But after working late into the night and rushing to work again in the morning, I hadn’t had time to send it out for cleaning.

The simple, modest dress was far more comfortable.

Still, it felt strange showing up to work dressed this way.

Perhaps Kade thought I looked like I was here for leisure.

There wasn’t much I could do about that.

“It’s been a while. I wanted to visit sooner, but I’ve been busy.”

Because Ben was present, I spoke to Kade as though we were strangers.

“…”

If he intended to criticize my appearance, I wished he would at least send his assistant away first.

Instead, Kade simply stared at me in silence.

The atmosphere in the office grew increasingly strange and uncomfortable.

Then Kade slowly raised a hand.

“Tower Lord!”

Suddenly Ben cried out in alarm.

He even stepped in front of me as though shielding me.

“Ha-Haha. This investigator seems very different from the government officials who came before, don’t you think?”

“…?”

I looked at Ben in confusion.

“From what I’ve heard, unlike the others, she doesn’t seem interested in getting close to the imperial family. And she only brings documents that won’t cause trouble for the Magic Tower…”

Ben was dramatically embellishing everything we’d discussed on the way here.

I had no idea why.

As Kade’s expression grew colder and colder, Ben quickly lost momentum.

Kade idly played with the jeweled cuff of his sleeve and let out a short laugh.

“You seem to know her well.”

“…Did the two of you meet privately?”

“W-What?! Of course not!”

Ben nearly jumped out of his skin.

“I’m your assistant! I’d never do something rat-like such as leaking Magic Tower information or secretly meeting with government officials!”

The conversation had taken such an unexpected turn that my clothes and dark circles no longer seemed important.

Did someone leak information from the Magic Tower to government officials before?

If so, Kade’s suspicious attitude suddenly made a lot more sense.

Ben desperately tried to defend himself.

But Kade’s expression showed no signs of softening.

With no other choice, I stepped out from behind Ben and added my own explanation.

“T-Tower Lord. Today is the first time Mr. Ben and I have actually spoken. He hasn’t told me a single thing about the Magic Tower.”

“…”

Kade stared at me.

Then he let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Get out.”

“T-Tower Lord…!”

With a flick of Kade’s hand, Ben was forcibly shoved out the door.

He looked back at me in panic.

There was nothing I could do.

The door slammed shut.

Now only Kade and I remained in the office.

There was a question I had asked myself over and over whenever I dealt with him.

This time, I couldn’t hold it back.

“Are you insane?”