I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 2

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

* * *
I was in the midst of packing when a knock sounded at the door. When I went to see who it was, several of the neighbors had gathered there.
“Oh my, Epiphany. You weren’t still lying in bed, were you?”
“Epiphany, the sun’s already high in the sky.”
The women from the Village Women’s Association had come to visit, setting down a small food basket as they looked me over.
They were worried about me, who had lost my grandmother not long ago.
Grandmother was the one who had picked me up from the forest and raised me, abandoned there before my umbilical cord had even been cut.
Not a soul in the village was unaware that, despite our meager circumstances, only Grandmother—who had taken on the burden of caring for a parentless child with no connection to us—had been my sole ally.
“Your grandmother would be sad seeing you like this.”
Their expressions were deeply concerned.
“I’m just… lacking energy lately.”
I answered with a downcast face.
The ears perched atop my head drooped slightly with my mood.
“That’s exactly when you need to eat properly. You’re still so young—I’m really worried about you.”
“That’s right, pull yourself together now.”
They handed me a slice of bread and a glass of milk, watched me chew on it a few times, and then excused themselves to visit the next house.
On the surface, they were kind women worried about a six-year-old orphan, but as I saw them off, my heart felt nothing but cold.
‘Hmph.’
Dozens of ways to hurt them flashed through my mind, but I’d decided to stop being an assassin, so I swept them all away.
After receiving the Top Assassin rank from the Guild, I’d once looked into how I’d been kidnapped and brought to them in the first place.
‘Oh, you? Some bumbling fool tried to kidnap you, but got caught by your parents. They told him to take an orphan instead of you.’
Being an assassin and all, but taking out civilians without payment was tiresome work.
Since it would make them an accomplice anyway, they settled on simply taking me instead—something they couldn’t report to anyone.
In exchange for guaranteeing the child’s safety—
Hell opened up for me.
‘Sigh.’
I stared down at the bread the women had left behind and let out a sudden breath.
In a way, one of them could be considered my enemy. But I’d cleanly abandoned all thoughts of revenge.
If I’d ever intended to take revenge, I would have done it before the Regression.
But I don’t even know who pushed me, and I never enjoyed killing enough to slaughter the innocent along with the guilty.
‘If Grandmother had been in the same situation…’
No matter what, she wouldn’t have turned in the six-year-old neighbor child, but still—isn’t that just how people are?
Even I might feel that way: I can’t sacrifice my own family, no matter what.
When I recall the day I came home after being beaten and crying from the village children, Grandmother might have thought differently than I do now.
‘Don’t cry! Does crying make anyone care for you?’
‘Whimper…’
‘Next time, do this. Stick your foot out when they pass by and make them trip.’
‘What if I get beaten more?’
‘Then stick your foot out again. The one who hits last wins.’
Well, that was Grandmother for you, but I doubt she’d want me to ruthlessly slaughter the village folk.
“Ha, I’m too good-hearted for my own good.”
I shook my head and bit firmly into the bread.
One thing was certain, at any rate.
Before such a worst-case scenario happened again.
I had to get to the Poison Tower fast!
* * *
After gathering just the necessary clothes and a few essentials, I hitched a ride on a cart and arrived at the Poison Tower.
I stared at the ring fastened to the tower’s door.
To call someone and have them open the entrance, I’d have to tap that ring, but…
‘It’s too high!’
At six years old, I couldn’t reach it.
‘And I don’t remember anything like I thought I would.’
The miracle of regaining my memories the moment I arrived simply didn’t happen.
I only felt a nostalgic warmth, a sense that I’d made a good choice.
After looking around for a while, I raised my fist and pounded roughly on the door.
Thump-thump-thump!
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
The soundproofing was so good that the door only opened after I’d knocked for quite some time.
Just barely avoiding tumbling over, I dusted off my skirt and glared at the figure who appeared.
“Did you knock on the door?”
A woman in a green robe—the symbol of the Poison Tower—looked down at me with puzzled eyes.
“Yes. This place isn’t very child-friendly. I think you should install another doorknob lower down.”
I shrugged as I spoke, and she tilted her head, murmuring to herself.
“Well, children don’t come here in the first place…….”
“Not anymore. I’m here now.”
I rested my hands on my hips and answered back.
“……So why did you come?”
On the woman’s face, I could see her thinking I was just a reckless little thing.
I pointed to the notice board stuck beside the door frame and answered as clearly as I could.
“This. You really do provide top-class room and board?”
“Uh, yeah.”
I wasn’t sure how top-class it really was, but there it was—top-class room and board.
“And it’s really a weekly wage of 50 Gold, not annual pay, right?”
50 Gold was three years’ worth of a commoner’s annual salary.
Even I, after earning the title of Top Assassin, had only made 80 Gold per assassination job.
And they’re paying that as a weekly wage?
“Yeah, it really is a weekly wage, but…….”
It seemed the rumors about the Poison Tower making a fortune off poison and medicine were true.
“But why this……? Who told you to come? You did read the last sentence, right?”
I did.
The key was in the last sentence.
In “(Upon death) funeral arrangements guaranteed.”
Which meant your life wasn’t guaranteed…….
This was the reason the Poison Tower had difficulty recruiting test subjects, and also why the conditions had become so generous.
But even so?
‘I won’t die.’
For some reason, I had immunity to all poisons—a truly special constitution.
I’d survived eating the wild poisonous mushrooms in the Underground Shelter because of this very trait.
So this was the perfect job!
“I’ll volunteer as a test subject.”
Grin—
I smiled as I said it, and the woman looked at me with startled eyes.
And well she might.
This was the Poison Tower. What I’d volunteered for was to be a test subject who consumed poison.
“Anyway, let’s go inside and talk?”
I shrugged and scurried through the open door.
The woman who’d opened the door shook her head and followed after me.
It seemed she had the role of guiding outsiders through the tower; the reception desk was unattended.
“Oh, by the way, my name is Epiphany. You can call me Pip.”
“Right, I’m Liz……. No, wait, that’s not the point. Did you come here to interview for a job?”
“Of course—a test subject interview.”
“What? Do you even know what kind of experiment this is? We have people drink toxic substances. Even most adults end up bedridden for months!”
Of course, that’s only if they’re lucky—most end up being confined to bed, so that weekly wage of 50 Gold is really just a price for your life.
“It doesn’t matter. I won’t die even if I drink poison.”
Of course I wouldn’t die, so this was absolutely doable work.
Compared to that, the weekly wage was overflowing riches, and for a six-year-old orphan with nowhere else to go, there was no better job than this.
‘If I get thrown out of here, I won’t even find memories, and I’ll have to do something harder.’
Being so young, it was difficult to lie about my age and get hired as a servant maid, and in the end, begging was all I could do.
The more familiar I became with back alleys, the worse it would be, so there was no more suitable job than this.
‘Becoming part of the tower and contributing to research might also help ease this strange guilt.’
I looked around the lobby while pressing my chest down firmly.
“Fine, fine, they all come hoping they’ll be safe.”
I didn’t mind Liz’s concern, but I hated inefficient, surface-level conversation. I couldn’t help myself and blurted out:
“I’ve had immunity to all poisons from the beginning! It’s been like this for a long time!”
Hearing those words, Liz stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes flashing.
“Poison immunity? That’s…… the exact condition the Tower Master is looking for in a test subject.”
She looked at me intently with a skeptical expression, then rubbed the communication crystal on the wall.
“Tower Master, someone claiming to have poison immunity has…… appeared. However…….”
As Liz spoke in a tense whisper, a brilliant flash suddenly blazed before my eyes.
‘Oh no!’
Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again.
A handsome man appeared in the Lobby by Teleportation.
Long, jet-black hair framed violet eyes whose pupils were vertically slit.
Definitely a reptilian demi-human.
‘Is that the Tower Master?’
Deep shadows of exhaustion hung beneath his sharp, elongated eyes.
“Where’s the immunity subject…… hmm?”
He swept his gaze across the Lobby once.
Then his eyes found me, and he raised one eyebrow.
“Sir, before I could finish explaining, she came downstairs…… and claims this child has Poison Immunity.”
“……Ha.”
The Tower Master let out a derisive snort, as if he’d just heard the most absurd thing in the world.
“……Is that so?”
“Y-yes?”
“You’re saying this scrap has Poison Immunity? How many times do I have to tell you not to waste my breath repeating yourself, Liz?”
“……Eek!”
Liz’s face drained of color in an instant.
‘Seems like a demanding sort…….’
I’d need to negotiate. The final decision-maker was here now, so I just had to convince the Tower Master.
“Why not just test it? If I drink poison, you’ll know right away.”
The Tower Master let out another snort at my words.
“And if you’re wrong? You die on the spot.”
“I could sign a waiver.”
I jumped down from the chair and pressed on.
“I’ll sign a waiver saying it’s fine if I die, and then we can run the test.”
Something shifted in the Tower Master’s expression.
“Since I’m an orphan anyway, no one will demand accountability. But if you’re worried about liability, I’ll sign a waiver. I really do want to become a Test Subject.”
I desperately need room and board and a steady income!
As I muttered that to myself, the Tower Master finally nodded.
“Fine. We go to the Laboratory.”
Phew. I wondered just how potent a poison the Tower Master would administer.

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