I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 47

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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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At my strong insistence, the entire Magic Tower observed Pellian’s memorial day.
Of course, we didn’t hold any grand ceremony—only essential personnel worked, while everyone else received the day off.
Those who knew Pellian could climb to the rooftop, which I’d opened to them, and pay their respects; those who didn’t could simply enjoy their unexpected holiday.
After that day, the tower staff’s assessment of me began to shift.
“It seems like the Lord has become… somewhat more lenient, hasn’t he?”
The moment Liz whispered this, another researcher nearby who was eating nodded vigorously in agreement.
The four swordsmen sitting beside me felt the same way.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re less terrifying these days. But somehow that makes you even scarier!”
“When you suddenly act like a person, it’s frightening. And I saw you planting a tree directly on the rooftop yourself……”
Even the sharp-tongued Cassian added his reluctant two cents.
“……You’ve become even more disagreeable, somehow.”
Immediately after he said that, I scolded him for his rudeness.
But truthfully, I couldn’t agree with him at all.
Of course, the Apple Tree on the rooftop—at least that was him keeping his promise to me, and my heart grows warm every time I think of it.
But beyond that……
‘Has the problem really been solved?’
If anything, he’s become stingier about experiments.
For several days now, the moment I bring up experiments, he shuts me down without a second thought.
Here I am, supposedly an experimental subject, and yet I’m not allowed to do any experiments—it’s maddening.
During poison-testing time, he tells me to go downstairs and do mascot work instead……
‘But my official title is still experimental subject.’
I don’t mind the mascot work, but it lacks any real expertise.
If someone more pleasant and better at entertaining guests comes along, I might lose my position.
‘I have to keep my place……”
Being excluded from core duties made anxious thoughts creep in.
Since I’d already detoxified all of Cassian’s poisons, it was hard to find opportunities to take initiative and prove my usefulness.
What kind of experimental subject is one who can’t do experiments?
If I end up being branded as an unreliable experimental subject and one day he suddenly says, ‘I don’t need you anymore’……
‘I hate that!’
The thought alone sent a chill down my spine. I couldn’t lose the nest I’d barely found.
* * *
As I continued to fret over this, Cassian quietly approached me as I sat on a bench.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you lately? You’ve got no energy.”
“……It’s nothing.”
“Nothing, my foot. Your face is all twisted up.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue.
Unable to withstand his persistent questioning, I eventually spilled everything.
“……The thing is, the tower master hasn’t let me do any experiments lately. I’m worried that I’ll end up being seen as a useless experimental subject, and one day I might just be kicked out.”
After hearing what I said, Cassian asked with a serious expression.
“What do you do in that experiment?”
Now that I thought about it, Cassian had only seen me detoxify him; he probably didn’t know much about what I actually did.
I answered quickly.
“My ability has to be kept secret.”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Really, it’s a secret……”
“What, you think I’d go around telling people?”
Cassian grumbled irritably.
I nodded and answered, “Mm-hmm.”
“I’m good at detoxification, but originally I came to the Magic Tower because of something else—I’m fine eating any poison.”
“……You’re fine eating poison?”
“Yes. No matter what grade of poison it is, I can eat it without any problem. If it’s just a stronger poison, I might taste something bitter and unpleasant, but that’s it.”
“That’s……quite remarkable. But how did you find that out?”
“Well, I tested it myself, of course.”
I said this with some pride.
At that, Cassian’s face suddenly went pale.
“Who was it that……”
“What?”
“Who dared to feed you poison?!”
Oh no……
I flinched in alarm at the sight of Cassian’s fury.
I’m grateful that he’s so angry on my behalf, but…
‘Wait, I never set up that backstory…?!’
What were the odds that an ordinary commoner child would ingest poison?
‘Practically none.’
There was barely any utility in targeting someone like that, and good poison was expensive.
The cost of the process exceeded the cost of a simple throat-slit, so there was no reason to do it that way.
‘Come to think of it… the Tower Master couldn’t possibly have missed that logic.’
Then why did he accept me?
It was something I hadn’t thought about until now, and I found myself puzzled as to why the Tower Master had taken me in while calling me an experimental subject.
“Pipi, who dared to feed you poison?”
Cassian, unable to know what I was thinking, pressed me again.
I turned it over in my head for a moment, then answered smoothly.
“When I was little, a potato sprouted. You’re not supposed to eat sprouted potatoes, right? But I ate it and was completely fine.”
Sprouted potatoes become poisonous.
It was the most accessible poison a household might encounter.
“And when food was really scarce, I’d eat poisonous mushrooms too. Nothing happened to me from those either. That’s how I figured out I had Poison Immunity.”
“I see… so you had to eat poisoned food because there was nothing else…”
Cassian looked down at me with the expression of someone observing a pitiable, wretched creature.
I scratched the back of my neck.
Being immune to any toxic substance—it really was an incredible ability.
When all the other trainees were starving, I could fill my belly with wild poisonous mushrooms growing in the dugout.
After someone died from following my lead and eating the same thing, though, not a single trainee ate what I ate anymore.
“From now on, you’ll never go hungry again.”
“Of course not. If I have this ability and still starve, I deserve to die.”
That’s what it means to be the world’s biggest idiot—having resources and not using them.
I let out a scoff and lifted my head proudly.
“Wait. So the experiments you do here are…”
“Poison-ingestion experiments. The Tower Master is developing the ultimate poison. If I show any abnormality when I consume it, it means it surpasses even the strongest known poison.”
“So… even if nothing happens to you, he gives you poison?”
Cassian’s face twisted further.
He clenched his teeth so hard I heard a grinding sound between them.
“Why not? It’s my job. It’s a high-paying position where I never die—do you have any idea how long it would take me to earn what I make here if I worked outside?”
I spoke to the clueless Cassian as though lecturing him, arms folded.
At that, Cassian’s fist tightened in displeasure, but he slowly took a deep breath and calmed his anger.
“You’re right… I can’t judge your circumstances by my own thinking alone.”
“You’ve grown a little, haven’t you.”
I smiled with satisfaction.
Then Cassian gave me a sidelong glance and gently patted my shoulder.
“All right then. Let me try to solve your worries for you.”
“What? How?”
What are you going to do?
I flailed my hands in panic, but Cassian paid no mind and strode away toward somewhere.
* * *
Claude received the boy with a slightly puzzled feeling at Cassian’s sudden visit.
“What’s the matter?”
At that question, Cassian stared at Claude with an expression of deep reluctance.
“Why are you making Pipi worry?”
“…What are you talking about?”
At the sudden rebuke, Claude’s pen came to an abrupt halt.
Being criticized by a mere nine-year-old child should have irritated him, but since it was Pipi in question, his mind was caught.
“Either you give Pipi real experiments to run, or you assign her a proper role. You have to do one or the other, don’t you?”
“…”
At Cassian’s censure, Claude’s eyes twitched.
“Because she has no role, she’s just floating around, restless and anxious.”
“Pipi is… concerned about that?”
Most people preferred to rest, so he’d naturally assumed Pipi would too.
Of course, occasionally people passionate about research would find their way to the laboratory, but Pipi didn’t love poison to that degree.
Something stirred within Claude’s chest.
Unlike usual, Cassian didn’t notice any dissonance when Claude used the name Pipi, and he nodded firmly.
“I came to the Magic Tower with the condition that I’d run experiments, but you haven’t assigned me any. And yet you haven’t given me any other role either. So what’s Pipi supposed to be here?”
He was a man who answered every question without hesitation, yet before the inquiry of a mere nine-year-old child, his words dried up.
He remained silent for a time, until finally, after a long pause, he managed a hollow reply.
“……That’s none of your concern.”
Cassian protested at those words, but they never reached Claude, who had withdrawn into himself.
‘Yes, what is Pipi supposed to become?’
He couldn’t keep calling Pipi an experimental subject indefinitely.
That he no longer wanted to give the child dangerous poisons—he’d already come to recognize this before his brother’s grave.
But then, could he offer that child any position to replace that of experimental subject?
Employer and employee? Guardian and ward? Custodian and charge?
None of these relationships held the full weight of what he felt.
And this thought naturally led to another question.
‘Once I finish Pellian’s research… will I be able to know then……?’
* * *
“Pipi, you’ll need to go on a short journey.”
The next morning, as I was having breakfast, I nearly spit out my juice at the Master’s words.
‘Wait—is he casting me out right now?!’
In that moment of shock.
“I’d like you to come with me to my Territory.”

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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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