I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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From the moment I descended into the Basement, the Necklace had been flickering at regular intervals, all because of the Poison Aura that Cassian was emanating.
Glimmer, glimmer, glimmer—that sort of rhythm.
But the instant I opened the Letter addressed to Cassian, that steady flicker cut out abruptly before resuming its rhythmic glow.
‘Could it be detecting some new poison?’
If so, that meant poison had been found inside the Letter that Cassian was meant to receive……
I unfolded the pages.
No suspicious powder fell out.
Only a Letter written in clean, flowing script—from the Duchess.
‘There are stains here and there.’
Tearstains marked several spots across the pages.
Sending a Letter like this, I doubted she’d actually tried to poison Cassian or me……
‘No, you can’t trust human malice. Not ever.’
Someone else might have tampered with it afterward, and besides, without knowing what poison it was, I couldn’t jump to conclusions.
‘I’ll report this to the Tower Master later.’
Since it posed no threat to me, it was time to read the Letter and earn my keep.
“To my son Cassian.”
I paused to gather myself, then began reading the opening words carefully, one syllable at a time.
‘……Hmm.’
After reading a line, I paused and studied Cassian’s face.
Still unconscious, no change whatsoever.
He wouldn’t hear me even if I read this aloud, so I didn’t understand why he wanted me to do it.
Was that what family meant?
“……I wonder if life at the Magic Tower has been difficult or joyful for you. I do hope that one day you’ll recover enough to wake and feel something for yourself.”
I continued reading through the Duchess’s Letter methodically.
The content struck a careful balance—neither overwrought nor indifferent.
Only someone who’d seen her face while writing could know how much sorrow and tears had gone into every word.
‘If Cassian had been conscious, perhaps she wouldn’t have sent it at all.’
I read to the end, my heart growing heavier with each line.
The Tower Master stood beside me, listening quietly to my recitation. He seemed unwilling to interrupt that connection between Cassian and his mother.
“I wish I could come to your side myself. But circumstances being what they are, I can only feel the frustration of distance…… Huh?”
A faint, barely perceptible tremor ran across my palm.
I stopped reading and opened my hand.
Cassian’s fingertips were trembling slightly.
‘……You’re actually hearing this?’
With only his eyes closed, was he hearing everything around him?
Curious, I continued reading the long Letter without pause, but Cassian’s hand didn’t move again after that.
‘A momentary glitch, perhaps. A mistake.’
It was deflating, to say the least.
In any case, I’d finished all the tasks I’d been asked to do, so it was time to move on to the next matter.
‘Oh, before I go.’
I rose from my seat, holding the Letter as evidence.
“Were you planning to keep that Letter separate?”
“No, that’s not it. Rather…… there’s something I need to tell you once we’re upstairs.”
I glanced toward the still form of Cassian and lowered my voice.
I wasn’t certain whether he could hear me, and I didn’t want to speak here in that uncertainty.
‘That your mother used poison, or……’
Or that it seems your mother might have been poisoned herself—I could hardly say such things.
The Tower Master raised one eyebrow at my suspicious behavior.
“If I’m to hear this story, we’d best hurry upstairs.”
With that, he simply lifted me up.
Judging from my demeanor that something important was afoot, he apparently had no patience for me to climb the stairs on my own.
‘Not that I’m complaining—it’s faster.’
Held in the embrace of his long, steady strides, I returned to the Office and lifted the Necklace at my throat with one hand.
Within the violet gem, the Magic Tower’s emblem continued to pulse with light.
“……Why is it still glowing?”
It made sense that it would shine in the Basement, and the Tower Master wasn’t concerned about that—but glowing here in the Office was strange.
The Poisons stored in the Office were all sealed in Reagent Bottles to prevent leakage.
“It was fine when the Letter was still in its original envelope. But the moment I took out the pages, the Poison Aura reaction began.”
The Tower Master’s body went rigid for a moment as he set me down on the sofa.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Because I wasn’t certain, I thought it necessary to leave the Basement and verify the matter directly.”
At my straightforward explanation, the Tower Master’s head dipped in the faintest nod.
“……Leave the envelope and letter. I’ll examine them.”
I set the envelope and letterhead carefully on the desk.
“What is this about?”
“Whatever it is, it’s not your concern to worry over.”
“But if it weren’t for my ability, I could have been poisoned too, couldn’t I?”
When I insisted on hearing as someone directly involved, the Tower Master regarded me with an expression of weary resignation.
“You’re merely a test subject—there’s no need for you to become entangled in the Duke’s House’s complicated affairs.”
The words alone sounded like a reminder to know my place and station, yet his expression wasn’t particularly cold.
It almost seemed as though he was worried I might stumble into something dangerous…….
‘Worried? Concerned about me?’
Why would the Tower Master ever worry about me?!
Startled by the thought that had flickered through my mind, I stood abruptly rather than press further.
“I—I should go eat now!”
“Test subject—”
The addition of reading through the letter had already eaten into my meal time.
Using that as an excuse, I bolted from the Office, and the Tower Master’s expression twisted oddly as he reached to stop me.
Instead of answering, I slammed the door shut and strode briskly down the Corridor.
‘To think I’d have such awkward thoughts! I’ve clearly gone soft and weak!’
No matter that I’d given up my work as an assassin, this sort of malleable indulgence made me uneasy.
* * *
The letter, the poison, the necklace, my increasingly wavering heart…….
All of it lay heavy in some corner of my mind, yet I fell asleep nonetheless.
……How long had I slept?
My eyes snapped open all at once.
‘……What is it?’
A faint, acrid scent pricked the tip of my nose.
The room was silent and dark, yet a whisper of Poison Aura—something that should never have been present—drifted thinly through the air.
‘Others probably didn’t notice.’
Had I not possessed my overwhelming olfactory sensitivity, the others would never have detected it.
Besides, everyone would have been asleep by this hour.
‘……Has the Purification Device broken again?’
It felt similar to when the Purification Device had malfunctioned before.
The leak seemed to have just begun—the Poison Aura was far fainter than then, but it was Cassian’s familiar toxic scent.
I couldn’t let everyone sleep and slowly die like this.
I threw a light robe over my nightclothes and raced toward the Tower Master’s Bedroom.
Pricking my ears to listen for his breathing, I heard nothing from inside the room.
‘The Tower Master must have noticed the problem too.’
I abandoned the empty room and turned my steps toward his Office.
‘This one’s empty as well?’
The Office was equally vacant.
‘I was certainly planning to report first this time…….’
I shrugged, resigned to heading straight down to the Basement, when—
I spotted the secret passage door standing wide open in the distance.
Poison Aura was seeping upward through the gap.
‘He’s already gone down!’
My heart lurched.
Tower Master though he is, he lacks Poison Immunity.
If the overwhelming Poison Aura had overcome him and he’d collapsed…….
‘No! I have to save the frail Tower Master!’
Without hesitation, I plunged through the open door.
As I descended toward the Basement, the poison-laden air grew heavier and thicker.
‘……This is bad.’
Bounding down the stairs several steps at a time until my breath came short, I found the Basement door standing open.
Cassian was convulsing on the bed.
His entire body trembled faintly, his breathing shallow and ragged.
At his side stood the Tower Master, a shimmering violet Barrier raised around him, several Reagent Bottles clutched in his hands.
“Tower Master!”
At my call, the Tower Master turned his head and looked at me.
His face was as expressionless as always.
He seemed confident enough, but….
‘His complexion looks a bit ashen, doesn’t it?’
He appeared to have been about to feed Cassian the contents of an open reagent bottle.
It would have been his way out of this predicament, but since Cassian was thrashing about so wildly, it looked difficult to slip it quickly into his mouth.
“If you give him that, will it solve things?”
“It’s a temporary measure.”
“Then let me detoxify him briefly to calm him down, and you can give it to him in the meantime?”
“……I don’t care for it.”
The Tower Master’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if annoyed.
But since my proposal made sense, he had no choice but to allow me to approach his side.
‘……Hmm.’
The moment I grasped Cassian’s hand, an enormous quantity of poison began flowing into me all at once—far more than usual.
In less than a minute, I felt I’d absorbed as much as I normally would take that long to draw out.
Yet the intensity of his convulsions showed no sign of diminishing.
Still, it seemed easier to administer the medicine now, for the Tower Master tilted the bottle and let the liquid flow into Cassian without touching him.
The moment the liquid went down his throat, the Tower Master’s hand moved smoothly through the air.
Purple light hovered briefly over Cassian’s chest before fading away.
Cough—!”
Immediately after, a large spray of dark red blood erupted from Cassian’s mouth.
“Oh…….”
I blinked, my eyes glazed over, drenched in blood.

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