Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 25

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 25

As her mentor said, without Bruno, she was nothing more than a poor child from the slums with nothing to her name.

“I valued your passion highly and allowed you to freely handle expensive research tools that someone of apprentice status could never even dream of, but it seems that only fed your greed.”

Her legs trembled uncontrollably.

Just as she was about to blindly beg for forgiveness without thinking.

“Vivian, look down there.”

Belinda’s voice from the day before held her back.

The terrace of the coffee house that looked directly down at the gates of Monteo, the Royal Capital.

The tip of Belinda’s fan pointed to a group of people.

Hunters returning from the dungeon were celebrating each other’s safe return, embracing their comrades.

“Do you know what they would never let go of, even if it meant abandoning their weapons?”

“…’Comet’s Lighthouse.'”

Inside dungeons where even compasses lose their direction, what hunters relied on was the ‘Comet’s Lighthouse’ that endlessly pointed to the position of the stars.

Only the light of Comet’s Lighthouse served as their sole guide leading them home.

Belinda’s fan now pointed to the left.

Workers who had gotten off the merchant caravan’s wagons lined up in front of iron cages, waiting their turn.

It was to send word to their families in distant hometowns.

“What allows them to send news of themselves to their families so quickly?”

“…’Twin Songbird’s Nest.'”

May good news travel faster than anything else.

With that sentiment, she had created the ‘Twin Songbird’s Nest’ that could transmit voices to distant recipients.

They were all Vivian’s creations.

Vivian couldn’t take her eyes off the faces of the people using her magical tools.

Always locked away in the small room of the Magic Tower doing research, she had never seen how her mentor’s magical tools—no, her own magical tools—were actually used.

“That’s the value I saw in you. When you feel worthless, remember this scene.”

Vivian, who had been hanging her head, slowly looked up at her mentor.

“I, I am…”

Belinda’s voice pushed at Vivian’s back.

“If you can’t believe in yourself, then believe in their joy.”

“I’m… not.”

“What?”

I’m not a poor child from the slums with nothing to my name.

I’m someone who can bring smiles to people’s faces.

Someone valuable, recognized by Lady Belinda.

I am…

“I’m not as lacking as you say I am, Master.”

“You…”

Bruno was momentarily speechless at his disciple’s rebellion, who had never dared make a peep before.

Facing him with his mouth agape, Vivian quietly pronounced her verdict.

“I was the one who released the manufacturing method for ‘Cecile’s Lullaby’ to the slums this time. I even filed a patent application for ‘Cecile’s Lullaby’ under my name at the Magic Tower.”

“You… you lowly thing, how dare you repay kindness with betrayal!”

Bruno finally pulled out his staff.

But Vivian was no longer afraid of him.

Belinda had said that those with ability have a responsibility to handle their talents.

Vivian finally realized that all this time, she had failed to believe in her own worth and had avoided that responsibility, passing it off to someone like him.

She unfastened the brooch she had been wearing all along.

It served as her Magic Tower access pass, and returning it meant severing ties with the Magic Tower.

Though she was throwing away the only thing she had received as payment for eight years of work, unlike before, Vivian had no hesitation.

“Thank you for everything, Master.”

* * *

An upscale tavern located in the Commercial District.

Bruno’s face was flushed red from drinking one glass after another.

“That little… how dare she… how dare she!”

Drunk and with a slurred tongue, he didn’t stop venting his rage.

Though Vivian had returned her identification, he thought she was just putting on airs out of dissatisfaction with being worked as an apprentice for so long.

She would return by evening.

Wasn’t she a fool who would rather choose death if she had no money, nowhere to sleep, and couldn’t practice alchemy?

But his golden goose never returned to beg for forgiveness.

Bruno had to acknowledge his painful mistake.

As he was grinding his teeth in fury at Vivian.

“Mr. Bruno?”

A woman he’d never seen before naturally sat down across from Bruno.

‘Wait, is that actually a woman?’

He had drunk a lot, but not enough to cloud his judgment.

Yet he couldn’t distinguish the gender of the person who had sat down in front of him.

“Who are you?”

“You are indeed Mr. Bruno! Oh my, I’ve been looking for you for quite a while. Your teacher’s assistant sent me. The assistant also told me you’d be here at this time.”

“That useless trash, why is she looking for me now?”

“Well, I don’t know the details, but she said she completed the task you gave her.”

“The task?”

Bruno’s eyes, which had been narrowed from the alcohol, suddenly widened.

She must have found out who bought the Panshield.

Bruno’s lips twisted cruelly.

Right, there was no way the naive Vivian could have planned all this. The buyer of the Panshield must have been manipulating things from behind.

‘I’ll make them both regret crossing me.’

The Magic Tower was extraterritorial anyway. Even if he committed murder, the Kingdom’s laws couldn’t punish him.

With his target for revenge now clear, he felt energized.

He stood up abruptly and swayed.

He was confident in his drinking capacity, but strangely, it was difficult to control his body.

“Oh my, you seem to have had too much to drink. Lean on me. Come on, let’s go.”

He leaned his swaying body against the other person and barely managed to take a step.

But not long after leaving the tavern, he realized something was wrong.

“Hey, where are we going? This is the slum area. Even passing dogs know not to enter at night.”

“Did someone who knows that disturb the order of the slums?”

“…What?”

“Even sewers have their own rules. How would the rats living in the sewer feel if an outsider trampled on them with dirty feet—good or bad?”

A chill ran down his spine.

Bruno, sensing danger, pulled away from his opponent and fumbled through his coat’s inner pocket. But there was nothing to be found.

“Clinging only to such a pathetic staff—that’s why mages never improve.”

Terry sneered as he snapped the staff he had stolen from Bruno’s possession.

“Th-there seems to be some misunderstanding.”

Bruno rolled his eyes around seeking help and stammered as he opened his mouth.

He had heard rumors before. There were two forces in the slums that should never be crossed.

The Sewer Rats who controlled all the rats in the slums, and the Strays without collars.

He had mocked them as nothing more than sewer rats and ownerless mutts.

“It’s about time for you to sleep now. Are you the slow-acting type? Don’t tell me you’ve never tried the drugs you sell yourself?”

Terry’s words weren’t lies—suddenly his eyelids felt unbearably heavy.

Bruno shouted as if making a last desperate attempt.

“H-how dare you touch a mage of the Magic Tower! Do you intend to make an enemy of the Mage Republic! The Magic Tower has extraterritorial rights…!”

“You still don’t understand. Just as the Magic Tower has extraterritorial rights, this slum is also a kind of extraterritorial zone.”

“Wh-what are you talking about.”

“Even when people die here, they blame those who entered this place, but no one tries to find the killer and punish them legally.”

Terry’s face bore a bright smile as he said this.

And he whispered sweetly to the fainting Bruno.

“Please have sweet dreams, Mr. Bruno. When you wake up again, you’ll be begging until your voice is hoarse for us to please kill you.”

* * *

Warm autumn sunlight.

The fragrant aroma of tea.

Sweet desserts.

And as the perfect finishing touch, Leo diligently studying with his lips pursed in concentration.

Ah, I don’t know how long it’s been since such peace visited us.

“Miss Belinda, I’m done!”

“Alright, let me see.”

I began checking Leo’s homework with a red pen.

Leo waited for the results with an anxious expression.

And finally.

“Five macarons.”

Leo, who received a passing score, cheered “Yay!” while throwing both hands up in the air.

Then he selected three out of the five macarons he received as a reward and shared them with me, Penandel, and Vivian.

Even while holding only two macarons, Leo had become the happiest child in the world, and his thoughtfulness was so beautiful that I wanted to give him a whole bunch of macarons to eat to his heart’s content, but…

‘I must hold back since he might get cavities.’

I endured with tremendous patience.

Soon the adults gathered together and were about to pop the macarons Leo had given them into their mouths in one bite.

“What are you all eating without me?”

I nearly screamed at the familiar face that suddenly poked its head out.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————