I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 5

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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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Unaware of my anxiety, Liz pulled me toward the inner chambers where ordinary mages worked.
‘Will it be all right?’
For some reason I couldn’t shake my unease, and kept stealing glances back at Martin.
“What’s wrong? Interested because he’s roughly your age?”
As I continued glancing backward, Liz asked softly.
Since most of the apprentices were minors, she seemed to think I was pleased to see someone my own age.
“That’s not quite it…….”
It was just that Martin had the look of someone about to cause trouble, and that bothered me.
But without evidence, I couldn’t very well say so.
Really, if he didn’t cause me any harm, there’d be no need to worry about him at all…….
‘Still, something feels off.’
The way he’d stared at me like he wanted to kill me—it suggested that if something did go wrong, it would go very wrong indeed.
But since there was nothing I could do about it yet, I simply followed along quietly on the tour.
The small, elite group of ordinary mages stopped what they were doing as we approached, regarding me with curious eyes.
“So this is the famous experimental subject.”
“Pretty cute, sure, but…… really bewitched the Master that badly?”
I wondered what rumors had circulated about me, and who this “Master” was, but no one offered an explanation.
Just as I was beginning to feel uncomfortable under their evaluating gazes—
Liz sighed and cut them off.
“Seniors, surely you know Pepe belongs to the Master? Why are you making him uncomfortable?”
“Oh, right.”
The uncomfortable stares vanished at once.
I tugged lightly on Liz’s sleeve and asked about the situation.
“Huh? Oh, the Master is the Poison Tower Master—to us, practically a god. Literally our Master.”
Liz whispered, her body trembling slightly.
It seemed the Poison Tower Master was godlike in both good and bad ways.
She earnestly warned me never to let my nickname slip in front of him.
“I understand…… But wait, why does it matter that I belong to the Poison Tower Master?”
“The Master despises anyone touching what’s his. If you belong to him, you’re essentially his property.”
Speaking cheerfully, Liz led me on a complete circuit of the Laboratory before heading back out to where the apprentices were.
‘Where…….’
Checking on Martin’s movements, which I’d momentarily forgotten, I saw him staring toward the door we were exiting.
The moment his eyes met mine, they flashed with something sharp.
‘That doesn’t look good.’
Just as I was thinking we should leave immediately, someone unfortunately stopped Liz, asking her to look at something.
“Liz…….”
“Sorry, Pepe. I’m an apprentice supervisor, so I have to answer their questions. Just look around for a bit.”
Then she launched into an intense explanation about toxic compounds.
It didn’t look like I’d be leaving this room quickly.
‘I can’t just leave Liz here alone.’
It would be better to keep watch on Martin without being obvious about it.
Martin, unaware of my scrutiny, casually drifted past the workbench of the apprentice who’d made the mistake earlier.
The bench was too high for me to see what he was doing, but I clearly saw him slip something from his hand into his pocket.
‘That’s the handkerchief from before.’
I nearly jumped in shock, but years of life as an assassin had trained me to maintain composure.
I deliberately moved in that direction.
Fortunately, the various workbenches scattered throughout the room concealed my small frame, and Martin didn’t seem to notice me.
‘The name was…… Oli, wasn’t it?’
I remembered Liz calling the apprentice who’d made the mistake by that name.
Oli stood there with a dejected expression, holding the Explosive Toxin that had been the reason for his scolding.
The smell I’d noticed earlier wafted up from inside the open Reagent Bottle.
“Wait! Close the lid!”
I took care not to startle him as I quickly had him seal it shut.
“Wha—why?”
Oli, startled, gripped the sealed Reagent Bottle tightly and asked.
“Even a single drop on the workbench will make it explode? You’ll suffer terrible injuries!”
His face drained of color and he set the Reagent Bottle down.
“Really…….”
Oli rubbed his hand across the bench surface, his expression hardening. His fingertips gleamed with a silvery sheen.
“What’s going on?”
Liz came running over and asked as we made a commotion.
“He was trying to use an Explosive Toxin while Silver Powder was on the experimental bench.”
After hearing my explanation, Liz’s eyes widened in alarm and she glared at Oli.
“According to handling protocols for explosives, apprentice mages aren’t allowed to use catalysts in experiments — I told you that on your first day at the Tower!”
“B-but I didn’t use the Silver Powder!”
“It’s your experimental bench, isn’t it?”
Oli’s face went pale under Liz’s interrogation.
“You should let people finish speaking. It’s true he wanted to use the Explosive Toxin, but the Silver Powder wasn’t what he used.”
“You’re saying someone else used the Silver Powder on Oli’s bench? Did you see who?”
I paused before answering, glancing sideways at Martin.
He stared back at me, unable to hide the tension in his eyes.
‘Is he trying to intimidate me?’
Before the Regression, he wouldn’t have dared even look in my direction, let alone glare at me like this.
It was almost amusing how young he still appeared.
“Him.”
The moment I pointed at Martin, everyone’s attention snapped toward him.
Martin’s face went deathly pale for an instant, then he quickly recovered his composure with brazen ease.
“No evidence whatsoever — you can’t just slander someone by claiming they’re under the Poison Tower Master’s wing!”
As he spoke, his agitation seemed to climb higher and higher, and his excitement became unmistakable.
‘Is it because he’s still a minor?’
Martin bore all the hallmarks of a criminal, but an unfinished one at that.
“Criminals always prattle on about evidence.”
I cut him off flatly, letting my contempt show through, while Martin’s excitement only seemed to make him look ridiculous to everyone watching.
Martin’s face flushed crimson, and the gazes of those around him shifted with suspicion, subtly turning against him.
The fact that no one stepped forward to defend him showed he hadn’t bothered to build any goodwill around the Tower.
“Besides, there is evidence — you’ve hidden it in your pocket.”
I pointed at the slight bulge in Martin’s pocket.
Martin flinched and knocked my hand away, stumbling backward.
“You’re not suspecting me based solely on what this child says, are you?”
Martin looked toward Liz, his voice taking on a pleading tone.
“It feels unpleasant, like some kind of inspection…”
Liz sighed deeply and approached Martin.
“It’s your chance to clear this up simply. Just show me what’s in your pocket.”
“I-it’s personal property!”
“I’ll only look. Show me.”
“…No, absolutely not.”
The moment Martin realized he couldn’t escape the situation, a sinister gleam lit up in his eyes.
“Aaah!”
Martin shoved Liz.
Liz cried out in surprise but quickly cast a simple spell in panic.
Martin hung suspended in midair, clutching a handkerchief in one hand, his other reaching toward the Explosive Toxin that Oli was holding.
“Wait? I set it so he can’t move, but…”
Liz trailed off in confusion, then turned around.
“Quite the spectacle.”
The Poison Tower Master stood at the entrance with an expressionless face, purple light wavering faintly at his fingertips.
It was the Poison Tower Master who had suspended Martin in the air.
“M-Master…”
Martin let out a hollow, despairing murmur as he hung there.
“I see the situation clearly enough.”
The Poison Tower Master scanned the Explosive Toxin and handkerchief with a single glance, then let out a derisive snort.
“All of this because of that brat…!”
Martin seemed to scramble for some excuse, his mouth working frantically.
But the moment the Poison Tower Master made a light gesture with his hand, Martin’s voice vanished entirely.
‘So the Poison Tower Master doesn’t only deal in toxins and poisons.’
The mages around me gazed at the Poison Tower Master with admiration.
Whatever spell that was, it seemed to be something far beyond my understanding as a non-mage.
“What interests me isn’t your motives or excuses.”
The Poison Tower Master sneered.
With contempt now etched across his already cold face, he looked all the more sinister.
“I don’t understand why every criminal who gets caught suddenly wants to make excuses. It’s beyond me.”
The Poison Tower Master muttered this with a sneer, and Martin’s mouth clamped shut.
As Martin’s lips kept opening and closing soundlessly, the Poison Tower Master waved a hand dismissively and released the Silence Magic.
“C-crime? But I……”
Martin’s protest came out in a crawling whisper. The Poison Tower Master let out a derisive laugh, as if he’d known exactly what the man would say, and took a step closer.
“You’ve committed two crimes.”
His violet eyes gleamed dangerously.
“First, you dared to harm my tower.”
Whether it was Oli or Martin who’d set the explosives off, the Laboratory would have been destroyed either way—so he wasn’t wrong.
“And second.”
The Poison Tower Master glanced at me briefly.
“You tried to lay hands on my Experimental Subject. Only I have the right to do that.”
“That’s not——”
“Pay the price for touching what’s mine.”
In an instant, the air around Martin grew heavy.
A violet Toxic Aura pressed down on him.
“Kagh!”
Martin gasped for breath.
The Toxic Aura dissolved only the Poison Tower Robe he was wearing, then vanished.
Standing in nothing but a plain everyday shirt underneath, Martin blinked blankly.
“As of today, you’re dismissed.”
“Tower Master, please!”
Before Martin could even beg for mercy—
One of the ordinary mages who’d been watching from inside emerged and seized Martin by the scruff of the neck, dragging him away.
The Toxin Manufacturing Chamber fell silent.
“An unnecessary interruption. My walk is delayed.”
The Poison Tower Master murmured in a dry tone.
I glanced back at Liz once, then quickly stepped forward to stand beside the Poison Tower Master.
It seemed he’d come looking for me himself when I hadn’t returned on time, and stumbled upon this scene.
The moment I took my place at his side, the frost in his eyes—which had been set in a frown—relaxed slightly.
‘Phew.’
On the path toward the Garden that followed—
“Well done.”
His praise cut through the silence without warning.
I’d braced myself for a scolding—either for escalating the situation or for not exercising restraint as an Experimental Subject and prioritizing safety.
“If not for you, we’d have lost an entire Laboratory, and everyone inside would be dead.”
I looked up at him steadily.
“……Heh.”
My chest swelled with a strange warmth—
And I found myself simply smiling.
That night.
I’d been dozing lightly, having followed a packed schedule all day.
Lying in bed, I heard footsteps outside the door.
The door opened with a soft click.
‘Oh, no.’
Someone had come to check whether I was respecting the 9 p.m. curfew.
I quickly steadied my breathing and feigned sleep.
The edge of the blanket shifted slightly.
After a long moment, I heard a quiet murmur.
“Hmm, no injuries after all.”
It was the Poison Tower Master.
“……Young subjects are unpredictable in their recovery. I should monitor closely.”
He surveyed my exposed form, then drew the blanket back over me.
His warmth receded shortly after.
He’d praised me earlier, but had he actually been displeased at heart—worried I might be injured, since I was his Experimental Subject?
‘No, that’s not it.’
It felt more like something careful……
Almost like concern.
That was the feeling.
‘……No, it can’t be. He said it himself during the experiment.’
There’s no reason to lie even to myself when no one’s listening, so that must be the truth—and yet.
Is it because I want to be worried about that I keep feeling like he came here out of concern for me?
Something burns inside, itching and restless.
I pulled the blanket close and buried my face in it.

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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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