I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 3

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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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Inside the Laboratory.
The Tower Master gazed into the reagent cabinet with an impassive expression.
I watched him drift past the bottles of poison that gave off relatively harmless odors, my eyes narrowed.
The label read Grade 5 Poison.
‘He doesn’t believe the bit about having a Poison Immunity Body.’
With Grade 5 Poison, most people would get a mild stomach ache at worst.
It was such a weak, low-toxicity substance—barely enough to tease a stubborn child insisting on becoming an experimental subject.
‘Hmph. What do you take me for.’
If he started with something this trivial, it would take forever to prove I was immune to all poisons.
To deliberately showcase my abilities, I fixed my gaze on a reagent bottle with a luminous pink tint.
‘If I remember right, that’s Grade 2 Smoke Poison.’
An extremely toxic substance with lethal potency—though its area of effect was narrow, so it lacked mass casualty potential.
No one else would be caught in it, which made it perfect for this moment.
I let out a soft snort and slyly crept toward the wall cabinet crammed with reagent bottles.
Then, with a flick of my tail, I gave it a nudge.
Crash!
The pink bottle shattered, and a rosy cloud of poison rose into the air.
It didn’t reach the two of them, but my small frame was completely engulfed in the mist.
“Ahhh! The—the ventilation!”
Liz screamed.
As expected, the poison didn’t so much as graze my fur.
“What do you think you’re doing.”
A hand suddenly parted the smoke and seized my body, hoisting me up without warning.
The Tower Master’s brow was deeply furrowed, his expression reproaching me.
“I thought you’d stand there forever if I didn’t.”
I wagged my tail breezily and grinned without shame, and the Tower Master’s mouth fell slightly open as if words had abandoned him.
“You are…….”
His gaze flickered, as though remembering someone, before it grew cold again.
“So how is it—do I pass? Weekly salary of fifty gold and room and board guaranteed?”
Instead of answering my question, the Tower Master handed me to Liz.
“Take him and wash him off.”
Liz lifted me into her arms with a worried expression, concerned the poisonous vapor might linger on her fingertips.
So what’s the verdict?
From behind me, I heard the Tower Master’s parting words.
“……That poison is quite expensive. It’s coming out of your wages.”
“Whimper.”
He could let that slide—it was nothing!
* * *
Liz led me to a bathroom adjoining her own room.
I stared at the steam rising from water cascading into a bathtub, and with an ominous feeling in my gut, I ventured a careful question.
“……This isn’t a rat stew, is it?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
A tub this size could fit water enough to bathe ten trainees from the Assassination Guild.
And the water wasn’t even cold—it was wonderfully warm and steaming!
I suspected the bath itself was a trap, that she meant to cook rat-human stew, so I asked obliquely, and Liz tilted her head in confusion.
“How about this temperature?”
“……Ahhh.”
The moment I hesitantly stepped into the tub and submerged myself in the warm water, my rigid body turned soft and pliant.
‘What is this luxury?’
I couldn’t suppress a small yawn as my body suddenly grew drowsy.
No matter how sharp I tried to keep my senses, the persistent déjà vu I felt throughout the tower kept my guard from rising.
Once Liz noticed my contentment, she quickly dipped a cloth in soapy foam and began scrubbing my body vigorously.
To remove the poison residue, she scrubbed—truly scrubbed—and my nose wrinkled involuntarily.
This was my first time being bathed by someone else since I escaped my grandmother’s vigorous scrubbing when I was three.
‘Incredibly tender hands.’
I peeked at Liz’s profile as she washed me earnestly, and my toes curled at the strange, ticklish feeling stirring in my chest.
‘Next time I should try ingesting it instead.’
Poison absorbed through the skin was inconvenient to deal with afterward.
The Assassination Guild operated under the philosophy that those who died were fools, so I’d never once thought about cleanup.
Now that I was no longer an assassin, I had to adapt myself anew to these people’s ways.
‘……Not bad, this warmth.’
Muttering under my breath, I finished my bath, and Liz dressed me in the spare clothes I’d brought.
“The Tower Master wants you in his study. He hates being kept waiting, so hurry!”
Fine. I trailed after Liz, resolving to scrutinize the Tower Master’s contract carefully for any fraud.
The Tower Master’s study was different from where I’d been before.
It was furnished entirely differently, as if this were a space for handling both internal and external affairs.
The furniture was opulent, as one would keep for receiving guests, and stacks of documents caught the eye.
“Rather leisurely of you.”
The Tower Master, seated on the sofa, rebuked me without particular heat.
I quickly released Liz’s hand and rushed before him.
“Good, sit.”
Terrified his mood might change, I hurriedly sat across from him, and immediately a thin sheet of paper was extended toward me.
‘Let me see…….’
.
Party A was Claude Serpens, and Party B was blank.
“You can read, then…… Can you at least write your name?”
If you were a commoner, struggling through reading was normal; not being able to write was the rule.
“Of course.”
“Not bad.”
When I let out a small laugh, the Tower Master nodded perfunctorily as if it didn’t much matter.
‘The terms are all written correctly.’
Thank goodness he hadn’t swindled me by claiming I was some common girl.
I read through the clauses carefully, then tried to write my name with great elegance and flair……
“Pfft.”
Seeing my crooked handwriting, Liz burst out laughing without thinking.
With these tiny, underdeveloped paws, it was difficult to write properly!
But since I’d already bragged, making excuses would be pathetic, so I could only sit there with a burning face, trembling inwardly.
‘Starting today, I’ll practice my handwriting a hundred times and write beautifully!’
I could forgive many things, but I could never abide being mocked.
Resolving that I would soon write better than Liz, I divided the contract with the Tower Master.
“Good. Now you are my experimental subject.”
“……I’m sorry, your what?”
“Experimental subject.”
The Tower Master spoke with not a trace of humor on his face.
White, with red eyes…… that kind of rat?
I felt insulted and furrowed my brow.
“Those rats and I are different species! I’m a hibernation mouse, and most of those are house mice!”
These other species, I swear! Does everyone think all rodents are the same?
My bushy tail thwacked against the sofa, betraying my displeasure.
“But now that you’ve come as an experimental subject, you are my experimental subject.”
“Uuugh…….”
As I puffed out my cheeks in protest,
the Tower Master crossed his arms and looked down at me with an arrogant glint in his eyes.
“Now it’s time to fulfill the contract.”
“You’re going to experiment on me again?”
No wonder the pay was so good!
Had I perhaps signed myself into slavery?
I shot the Tower Master a suspicious look for a moment, and he pointed to the first contract clause.
[Party B shall participate faithfully in Poison Tower experiments.]
The man who had thrust forward what I thought was standard language now held something out before my eyes.
“Eat.”
It was, unexpectedly…… stew, steam rising from it in gentle wisps.
Or rather, it wasn’t just stew.
It was a luxurious dish I had never seen in my life—golden broth infused with precious spices, their aroma filling the air.
“……Is this poison?”
“For a small-time experimental subject like you, poison is too good.”
The Tower Master spoke arrogantly, arms crossed.
“Sm-small-time?”
“To test the finest poison, one needs the finest experimental subject. Is your body in peak condition right now?”
His gaze swept over me with the cold precision of someone assessing meat.
Naturally, my own eyes dropped downward.
Small, skeletal, frail as a wooden skewer…….
I couldn’t argue back. My lips pressed shut.
“From now on, you’ll eat five meals a day.”
“F-five meals, sir?”
“Breakfast, brunch, lunch, a snack, and dinner.”
“U-um…….”
Nervous tension made me swallow hard.
‘Does he mean to burst my belly?’
I’d never seen an employer describe me as “good” in any context.
So I couldn’t imagine this man had anything but some ulterior motive.
“And starting today, your room is the 3rd Floor Guest Room. Liz will show you.”
‘A guest room? Five meals a day? Could it be…….’
I found myself thinking of the witch from children’s tales — the one who fattens up little ones to devour them.
There was no such thing as a grown-up in the world who fed and sheltered someone without reason.
At least not in the world I knew.
So an employer offering a guest room? It made no sense…….
‘This isn’t trusting people. It’s just…….’
Had I walked straight into a den of swindlers?
Yet even as I looked at the Tower Master, my instincts remained eerily silent — nothing but a whisper of unease, no alarm bells.
And I, who’d always had a knack for sensing danger!
Seeing my anxiety, he added coldly:
“My experimental subject must be the finest.”

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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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