I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 27

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

In that instant, all eyes turned to me.
‘……Ah, right.’
I should have remembered the industry axiom: so long as you don’t lose your mind, you can survive even from the brink of death.
But watching my friends take those blows, I’d lost my head entirely and forgotten the most fundamental rule—keep your identity hidden.
‘A normal person……couldn’t throw a fork with that kind of precision, could they?’
Before the regression, I never would have made such a mistake.
My softened heart had finally caused me to slip up.
And now that the fork was already thrown, there was no taking it back.
‘There’s no help for it. I’ll use the universal excuse.’
I raised my hand, forcing an innocent expression onto my face.
“It was me. I threw it!”
“……You?”
“Yes. I saw that bad person threatening everyone, so I just threw it without thinking—and I got lucky and hit them!”
Of course, since I’d struck both times exactly where I’d aimed, I doubted this explanation alone would convince anyone.
The Mage Tower Master’s gaze slowly shifted to the fork embedded in the corpse.
I quickly added more, trying not to make my excuse too obvious.
“I was actually quite good at stone-skipping back in my village as a child!”
I made a gesture of flinging a pebble, and the Mage Tower Master studied my face slowly once more.
I felt cold sweat creeping down my spine, but I kept my expression perfectly composed—and eventually, the Mage Tower Master nodded.
“……All right. You were fortunate.”
His voice sounded utterly unconvinced, wavering between doubt and acceptance.
But he didn’t press further.
“Take the injured children to the Infirmary.”
He withdrew his gaze and issued the order, then pulled from his pocket a small object embedded with a Communication Device.
“Bedel. Come to the storage room next to the Club Room with two capable men. We have an Intruder in the Mage Tower.”
The Mage Tower Master, calling for Liz’s senior, gestured to us with his eyes as if asking why we hadn’t left yet.
‘……Did he let me off?’
I stared at the Mage Tower Master’s back before turning away.
It was clearly a flimsy excuse, yet he didn’t press for details.
‘……I need to be more careful.’
His leniency left me grateful, yet somehow unsettled.
I couldn’t reveal my circumstances, so some lying was unavoidable.
Everyone tells lies to survive anyway.
‘Why does it bother me so much?’
In the face of his kindness, I felt a pang of guilt.
* * *
We carried Oli on a Stretcher to the Infirmary.
“What on earth has happened……. You all worked hard.”
Liz greeted us in the Infirmary, apparently having heard the story already.
She skillfully treated the wounds and said that fortunately, Oli’s life wasn’t in danger and her vital organs hadn’t been damaged.
However, her bones were broken, so it seemed she’d need to rest in bed for some time.
“Sniff……sniff…….”
Meanwhile, Lili never left Oli’s side, crying openly.
“Why did they have to target Oli of all people…….”
Leo murmured beside her as Killian applied medicine to his bruises.
Of course, I had a feeling I knew why the assassin had targeted Oli.
‘She could move through the Mage Tower without suspicion, she’s young and timid so she wouldn’t speak much anyway—it wouldn’t raise alarm.’
Besides, Oli frequently visited the nearby Bakery, making her the easiest of the Quartet to observe.
She’d even bought pastries for Lili from the local bakery—not just her own baking, but any sweets, really, since Lili loved them all.
‘If I told them this, Lili might cry even harder.’
And since it could also raise suspicion about my identity, I decided to keep it buried.
“……Lili.”
Lili kept crying frantically, and I was worried she’d exhaust herself.
I placed a hand on her back to comfort her, and she hung her head deeply.
“……It’s because I blurted it out. I opened my mouth about the Basement, and…….”
Lili began to blame herself.
“I couldn’t even save Oli, and if something happens to the Mage Tower because of me…….”
I tilted my head.
‘Why is she blaming herself?’
How difficult it is for an ordinary person to evade an expert’s methods.
“That’s…… because they took Oli hostage! I only mentioned a secluded place, so wouldn’t the Master forgive us for that?”
Leo patted Lili’s shoulder as he spoke.
Yet his face had gone rigid with tension, as if he too feared the Mage Tower Master’s reprimand—or worse.
‘The Master wouldn’t do such a thing.’
He might seem indifferent on the surface, but he was a genuinely kind person.
Besides, neither Lili nor Leo knew what lay in the basement.
If the assassin had been searching for hidden places within the Mage Tower, then what they’d revealed couldn’t have been crucial information—the Master would have prioritized saving his friend instead.
“Whatever they said, it wouldn’t have helped the enemy anyway.”
As I spoke, Lili lifted her head.
Seeing her nose flushed red, I felt my own spirits sink in sympathy.
“The Master caught another intruder heading that way, remember? The information Lili gave wouldn’t have been useful anyway.”
“But……”
“So the Master will understand. You were only trying to protect your friend.”
Lili finally burst into tears again and threw her arms around me.
‘I’m the one who should be troubled.’
Lili had no choice but to reveal what she knew, and still she tormented herself over it.
Yet I discovered the enemy’s true identity and kept silent to the very end.
Only to hide my own secret.
‘There was no choice in the matter, but……’
I felt a pang of guilt when thinking of the Mage Tower Master’s face.
* * *
After the Quartet—minus Killian—had all been settled in the Infirmary to rest,
the Mage Tower Master called me aside.
“I need your help with something.”
“Me?”
“Yes. We need to move Cassian.”
“Wait—did they reach all the way into the Basement?”
My mouth fell open.
The reason I hadn’t been overly concerned about Cassian despite the enemy breaching the Mage Tower was that I’d believed the Basement itself had remained sealed.
There was a powerful Barrier protecting it, after all, so I thought he’d be safe.
“This time it held, but what if the same thing happens while I’m away from the Tower?”
“But the Barrier……”
“If Cassian walks out on his own feet because of a commotion outside, the Barrier won’t matter.”
I frowned.
Surely he wouldn’t do something so foolish……?
Yet as Cassian’s condition improved with each passing day, the Mage Tower Master was clearly considering every possible scenario.
“Besides, that place houses the device that detoxifies the entire Tower, so it’s not advisable to come under external attack there. Better to keep him above and disguise his presence.”
I nodded, understanding.
The Basement truly deserved to be called the heart of the Mage Tower.
While everyone believed only the Detoxification device on the Top Floor mattered, the Basement performed the same crucial function.
“But what role am I supposed to play in this?”
If the Master wanted to move Cassian, couldn’t he simply do it himself?
As I tilted my head with the question, he answered matter-of-factly.
“You’ll be moving rooms as well.”
“……What?!”
“He’ll be disguised as my distant relative’s child who’s come here for recuperation, with his appearance altered. You and Cassian will move your rooms to be directly beside mine.”
I understood the logic of disguising Cassian’s identity.
But why move my room?
“Since he needs Detoxification every day, it’ll be more efficient having you nearby. Use the room next to Cassian’s.”
My eyes widened.
‘They want me to use the room next to Cassian and the Master?’
……I’d grown attached to my current room, but if my employer ordered it, I had no choice.
As I was thinking that, a question that had been circling in my mind slipped out without thought.
“By the way, did you have relatives…… or family?”
“Otherwise, would I have materialized from thin air?”
At my question, the Mage Tower Master let out a scoff of exasperation.
I’d somehow gotten the impression he was born in a laboratory, so……
* * *
A few days later, the people of the Mage Tower learned of the external attack.
To better protect the younger residents, accommodations were moved to a floor with improved security, and the Quartet members received better rooms than before as well.
And I, having earned the title of “the one who caught an assassin with a fork,” at the same time…….
“Pipi, pull your headscarf down a bit more.”
By some peculiar logic suggesting that enemies might retaliate against me if they found out, I ended up moving my lodgings to the room next to the Mage Tower Master’s.
As a result, the researchers at the Mage Tower made such a fuss whenever they saw me, insisting I cover my face.
‘At this point, it almost feels like they’re just teasing me…….’
I adjusted the white lace headscarf on my head and silently clicked my tongue in irritation.
‘It’s not like I’m worth anything to anyone. Why would they bother targeting me?’
In any case, the newly assigned room was situated near the Mage Tower Master’s quarters, so it turned out to be impressively spacious and well-appointed—I had no complaints there.
And today was finally the day Cassian would be moved to his room, disguised as if he’d arrived by carriage from outside.
“Did you know the Master’s relative is coming today?”
“Yes, I heard he’s a boy around my age who’ll be using the room next to mine. The Mage Tower Master told me about it beforehand.”
I nodded in response to Liz’s question.
Just as I’d suspected, the Mage Tower Master hadn’t explained any of the details to her.
‘I’m sorry.’
Troubled by the fact that I’d been lying to these kind people, I apologized silently to myself.
So I’d finally developed a conscience!
As Liz and I were lingering on the first floor, we soon heard the sound of hooves clattering and a carriage arriving.
“I’m nervous, Little Master…….”
Liz, who was frightened of the Mage Tower Master, trembled with a visible shudder and murmured anxiously.
Then the door opened.

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