I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 41

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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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Nothing particularly unusual had occurred.
Beyond the window, the street was as peaceful as always, and the carriage rolled along without incident.
And yet a chill wouldn’t quite leave me…….
‘Ah, I see it now! This place looks perfect for an ambush.’
If someone meant to target the occupants of the carriage, this route was far too convenient.
The buildings nearby were tall enough to fire arrows from easily, and there weren’t many people about.
‘No, that’s not…… come on, surely not.’
The carriage we rode in was the Tower Master’s personal carriage, marked with the Magic Tower’s insignia.
No one in their right mind would target the Tower Master’s carriage.
Perhaps my nerves were simply on edge from the recent disturbances.
Just as I tried to dismiss the thought—
The carriage, which had been rolling smoothly, suddenly slowed and came to a complete stop.
‘……What in the world?’
The street ahead was completely blocked by carts piled high with goods—towering heaps of them.
Not just one or two.
More than ten enormous carts stood tangled together, choking the entire road in a gridlock.
When I opened the window, I heard the coachman leap from the carriage and begin quarreling with a shop owner.
“Listen here, who on earth sent all these goods at once?! They’re blocking the road!”
“I—I don’t know either! They just appeared here and the messenger ran off!”
“Who sent them?! Tell me who!”
“There’s no sender’s name on the order form!”
“That doesn’t make sense! This isn’t charity work—a shipment this size and no name listed?!”
The shop owner bowed repeatedly to the protesting coachman, clearly as bewildered as anyone about who’d sent these carts.
‘……This is strange.’
I wondered if someone had deliberately blocked the road, but the sheer volume of goods seemed excessive for that.
As I watched the commotion unfold below, the Tower Master’s brow furrowed slightly.
He turned his head slowly and gazed out the window.
“……There’s something off about this.”
“Sir?”
“Somewhere in that pile of carts, I sense traces of suspicious magical activity.”
He rose from his seat.
Gripping the carriage door handle, he spoke to me in a low voice.
“Test subject. You stay here in the carriage. I’ll investigate and return.”
“Yes, sir.”
Certainly, it was unwise for suspicious magic to be used in the middle of a crowded street.
‘It should turn out to be nothing.’
I nodded obediently.
If anything went wrong, the carriage with its Physical Barrier would be safer than outside, so I was prepared to do as told.
The Tower Master closed the carriage door and walked slowly toward the pile of carts.
The hem of his green robe swayed with each step.
I pressed myself against the window, watching his receding figure.
‘Hmm?’
Not long after the Tower Master had moved away, I detected something strange.
Sniff.
An odd scent caught at the tip of my nose.
Right after the smell came the sound of hurried but quiet footsteps receding rapidly.
‘……Poison?!’
The slightly pungent scent was characteristic of poison. I had a keen sense for such things—whenever I caught the smell of poison, I’d sense it as an acrid sensation.
Of course, whether it was poison or not didn’t matter much to me. No poison could touch me.
‘……But.’
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
Suddenly blocking the road with carts, hiding suspicious magic to lure the Tower Master away, and seizing that moment to slip poison into the carriage.
‘I’m being targeted specifically.’
Normally, I was an unremarkable, ordinary-looking child who drew no attention, but this time I’d attracted considerable notice while walking beside the Tower Master.
If someone wanted to probe the Tower Master’s defenses, trying to slip past by targeting me would be a reasonable choice indeed.
‘Then I can’t just sit here unharmed.’
A child immune to poison was far too suspicious.
If whoever released the poison was watching from somewhere, showing them that I sat here perfectly unaffected would be a mistake.
“Kyaaah! M-Master!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs and tumbled out of the carriage door.
“Tower Master! There’s a strange smell coming from inside the carriage! I’m scared!”
Perfect. My acting was flawless.
The Tower Master, who had been inspecting the cart, snapped his head around. His face had gone rigid and cold as he rushed toward me.
His eyes scanned the carriage methodically, then he raised one hand and swept it lightly through the empty air.
Instantly, the colorless mist that had been wrapping around the carriage revealed its boundaries with perfect clarity.
The Tower Master then withdrew a small gem and chanted an incantation, drawing all the poisoned mist into the stone in one swift motion.
The transparent gem shifted to a deep blue in seconds, and only then did he tuck it into his robe.
He strode toward me and swept me behind him in one fluid movement.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Wh-where… I got scared when that strange smell suddenly appeared!”
I kept whimpering like a child, gripping his sleeve tightly in my fists.
The footsteps had faded, but the accomplice might still be watching us.
Yet buried in the fold of his robe, my face was growing harder and colder by the moment.
‘Could it be the Assassin Guild again?’
What in heaven’s name had I done to deserve this?
Why did everything have to fall apart now, just when I was trying to make a fresh start?
* * *
After the chaos subsided, the carriage resumed its journey toward the Magic Tower.
When the familiar spire came into view in the distance, I spotted a shop flashing past the window and began kicking my feet urgently.
“Tower Master! That bakery over there!”
“A bakery?”
“We absolutely have to go! We have to!”
That had to be the bakery where Ollie bought bread for Lily!
‘Ollie mentioned being disappointed that he couldn’t bring pastries for his friends after his injury.’
This would be the perfect gift to bring back after an outing.
The Tower Master was reluctant to stop on the road, thinking back to what had just happened.
But when I looked up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, he let out a soft sigh.
“You’ve already forgotten everything that happened a moment ago, haven’t you?”
“It’s practically right here! And you’ll be with me, so it’s the safest place in the world. Right?”
At that, the Tower Master shook his head and tapped on the wall where the coachman sat, signaling the carriage to stop.
I descended alongside him and squeezed his hand tightly.
The moment we appeared in the bakery, I saw the shopkeeper—who had been uncertain at first—startle at the sight of the Tower Master.
“Mmm… the smell is wonderful, isn’t it!”
I grinned broadly at the Tower Master and stepped up to the display case.
“Let’s see… I should definitely get something for Sa Chong Sa. Liz loves sweets, so some sweet pastries for her… and the elders, and the researchers—how many of them were there again…”
I pressed my hands together and began deliberating with absolute seriousness.
As I counted on my fingers one by one, the list of people grew and grew.
“There are so many people to think of!”
I beamed. It meant I’d be spending more coin, and somehow that made me giddy with joy. My life felt fuller, more densely packed with meaning.
The Tower Master watched silently as I selected the breads, then took over carrying the heavier, larger ones for me.
By the time I’d filled several trays and approached the register, the Tower Master moved to pay first.
“Wait! No you don’t!”
I planted my hand on my hip and began stamping one foot insistently.
When his gaze fell on me with displeasure, the Tower Master looked down at me in confusion.
“What.”
“Gifts are supposed to be bought with your own money!”
I’d already decided that my first thousand gold would be spent exactly this way!
As I puffed out my cheeks and withdrew the coin from my pocket, the Tower Master let out a dry laugh.
“So you’re going to spend your newly earned coin right here.”
“Are you seriously mocking a thousand gold right now?”
I shot him a sideways glance, bought the bread with triumphant pride, and returned to the carriage.
“Oh, there’s nowhere to sit…”
I couldn’t just set the bread bags on the carriage floor—they were food, after all.
Once I’d spread all the bags across the carriage seats, barely any space remained for the Tower Master to sit alone.
“Ugh…”
Frowning, I tried rearranging the bags, when suddenly the Tower Master tapped his knee.
“Come here.”
I hesitated uncertainly, but he extended his arm, lifted me up, and settled me onto his lap.
“Eek!”
I’d ended up sitting right on the Tower Master’s lap!
At my startled gasp, his chest trembled slightly beneath me.
I felt him swallow his laughter, and after blinking a few times, I simply leaned my face against him.
* * *
Meanwhile, on the rooftop across from where the attack had taken place.
A woman with her face hidden beneath a robe watched the carriage receding into the distance, then slowly rose to her feet.
‘……Hmm, so the child survived.’
It had been the woman’s method — blocking the road with a cart laden with worthless junk, then testing Pipi with poison.
The Guild Master had ordered her to find out, by any means necessary, whether Pipi was a child with something exceptional about her, and the woman’s choice had been simple.
If the child lived after the poison, she was someone who’d introduced a variable into their operation; if she died, then she hadn’t been a variable at all.
It was a test only possible because Pipi’s life didn’t matter to them in the first place.
‘But she detected it by smell and avoided it?’
When the pale blonde-haired child came bounding and tumbling out like a frightened rabbit, the woman felt a shiver run through her.
Even she, who had used the poison, hadn’t been able to detect its scent — yet the child had sensed it.
Outwardly, it looked like a child of her age fleeing in panic, but the woman felt certain: this one had exceptional ability.
“Aha, this is rather interesting.”
Quiet movements, and a subtle caution beneath.
She’d be a perfect fit for the same line of work.
But already claimed by the Magic Tower — unlikely to become an assassin now…….
Of course, if the child truly was the key variable who saved the Duke, she’d find it difficult to live out her natural span.
The woman licked her lips and turned on her heel to make her report.

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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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