I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 51

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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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After the Butler guided me through the Mansion and I was shown to my room, I made my way down to the dining hall for dinner.
“Did you enjoy the tour? Feel free to explore anywhere in the Mansion while you’re staying here.”
At the Tower Master’s words, I found myself wondering what to do after the meal.
But before I could decide, the Tower Master asked me for something first.
“Though I was hoping you might help me out today……”
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
I tilted my head questioningly. At that, the Tower Master nodded, his expression growing slightly darker.
“Mm…… It’s harder to take the first step.”
“I’ll help with anything!”
“……All right.”
Then the Tower Master’s face eased a fraction.
“And eat a bit more heartily, would you?”
I launched into a barrage of nagging because the Tower Master was eating at a snail’s pace, as if even chewing felt like a burden.
At that, the Butler began clapping lightly, his face bright with delight.
“My word, what good fortune it is that Pipi has come to the master’s side.”
“Why is that?”
“The master has loathed eating since childhood. I’ve never seen him comply so readily with anyone.”
“Really?”
Taken aback by this unexpected comment, I narrowed my eyes and studied the Tower Master carefully.
The Tower Master muttered something about it being nonsense and deftly avoided my gaze.
The Head Maid, who had been helping with my meal, also smiled warmly as she spoke.
“You two look just like a close parent and child.”
Before the Tower Master could protest, I hurriedly waved my hand in denial.
“That’s absurd! I’m nothing but a devoted employee!”
“……Hmm.”
At my hasty denial, the Tower Master’s expression turned strangely rigid.
And I noticed everyone gazing at him with pitying eyes.
After that, the Tower Master fell silent.
I finished my meal feeling as if I were sitting on pins and needles.
Following the Tower Master afterward, I arrived at a room in the Direct Descendant Area.
“This is Philion’s room. He was told to keep all his belongings locked away in here, so it should still be secured.”
A lock lay on the floor—the Tower Master must have visited while I was touring the house—but it seemed he hadn’t been able to open the door.
“Shall I open it?”
“……No, just stay by my side.”
He glanced at my face once, then slowly opened the door.
So tense was he that faint handprints of sweat marked the wooden door.
As the door swung open, stagnant air and layers of dust became visible.
All the furniture and belongings were draped in white cloth to keep the dust off.
The Tower Master lingered at the threshold for a long while, hesitant to step inside, and there was something precarious in his posture.
‘So he’s been avoiding this all along.’
I took a light breath and boldly stepped inside first.
“Ugh, the dust!”
I turned around after throwing open the windows, and the Tower Master had already entered the room.
He lightly pressed a button near the doorway.
Hummmm—
As though the room were awakening from slumber, lights flickered on simultaneously and all the dust was sucked up into the ceiling.
“What?!”
Startled, I watched in amazement, and the Tower Master offered a quiet explanation.
“When Philion turned nine, he asked his father for this as a birthday gift—a Magical Device that draws in all dust and toxins.”
“It’s just like the one in the Magic Tower……”
I meant the Purification System that was installed throughout the Magic Tower for precise experimentation and safety.
The Tower Master nodded at that.
“This is a simplified version based on that design. Even so, it cost an astronomical sum.”
The Tower Master then peeled away the white cloths one by one, restoring the room to its original state.
“Sigh……”
The Tower Master examined each object with aching eyes and let out a weary breath.
A shriveled ink bottle, a broken pen nib, a desk warped and stained with corrosion in places, and a Flask-shaped Doll that he’d treasured since infancy.
Those alone made it clear that someone named Philion had truly lived here.
“Philion……”
I watched the Tower Master touch his younger brother’s belongings one by one, his hands trembling faintly.
‘He really did love his brother.’
After a long while, the Tower Master finally seemed to gather his courage and opened a large box sitting on the desk.
To anyone’s eyes, it was a box filled with relics from the Magic Tower.
“This is… a notebook that my brother treasured.”
It was a thick Research Journal, its leather cover worn smooth by years of handling.
The Tower Master remained seated in his chair, placing me on his lap as he opened the notebook. In doing so, the contents came into view naturally.
The pages were crowded with intricate equations, drawings of medicinal herbs, and notes that were difficult to decipher.
‘The start date is… nearly seven years ago.’
The subject was the creation of a Universal Antidote of sorts.
‘That’s an extraordinarily difficult subject.’
A substance that could neutralize any poison whatsoever.
“The handwriting gradually… it’s getting worse.”
The penmanship was neat at first, but as I turned the pages, it grew rougher, with passages here and there that appeared hurried and jagged.
“Why would a Universal Antidote be necessary? Of course it would be good for people… but wouldn’t it make all poisons meaningless?”
Wouldn’t researching such a thing in the Tower of Poison create difficulties from a profit standpoint?
At my murmur, the Tower Master’s chest rose and fell deeply.
He let out a long breath before answering.
“…Because I wanted to save two people.”
“…Save people?”
“Yes. There was a pregnant woman of a certain race whose body naturally produced poison. Without an antidote, the baby would have died…”
This notebook was the result of day and night devotion to that task.
The Tower Master’s voice grew thin and trembled.
“Not knowing that his own body would break down and kill him first.”
‘Why do I feel guilty?’
Philion died while conducting research of his own volition.
Yet in the Tower Master’s voice, I detected not only longing, compassion, and regret, but also something more negative—a sense of guilt.
“…Did you also research this together, Tower Master?”
“…No. I…”
The Tower Master’s entire body went rigid.
I glanced at him, wondering if I’d touched on something wrong, and saw his throat move heavily.
“Originally, the request came to me. But Philion said he wanted to try it himself…”
“Ah…”
“I told him to go ahead. I should have done it instead…”
The Tower Master’s voice was anguished as he murmured.
‘This is his regret.’
I was about to say that it wasn’t his fault, that Philion was the one who chose, but I held back.
Some regrets run too deep to be changed by another person’s words.
“…What about this?”
Rather than probe deeper into his heart, I gestured to the other bundles in the box and asked.
“Those are gifts the Requester sent to my brother. I remember hearing he accepted them with a request for our best efforts.”
He had planned to open and use them once the research was complete, but he passed before ever untying the ribbons.
I withdrew a card tucked between the ribbon and box, opened it, and found a message from the Requester asking that we look after his wife and child.
‘He must have been praying for the research to be completed…’
Since the researcher died during the work, it never reached completion.
Gifts sent with such desperation and love—pleas to save someone precious—went unused.
‘That child must have died too…’
If the child had been born around seven years ago, they would have been about my age now.
Thinking of it that way, my heart felt heavier somehow.
In truth, it was a child with no connection to me, whose face I’d never seen. There was no reason for me to care so much.
‘…Is it because I grew up without parents?’
Just as I had longed desperately for my parents as a child, these parents must have waited desperately for their child, didn’t they?
What would the father have felt if he’d known that the gift he sent, begging for his child’s life, was never even opened?
The thought of it ached.
Perhaps it was because of Philion, who died trying to save them.
“…Still.”
Words spilled from my lips without my meaning to speak.
“He devoted himself to the end, loving someone enough to want to save them…”
For a moment, the Tower Master stiffened.
Yet from the fact that he didn’t stop me, it seemed he was listening quietly.
“Until now, I could only think of his death as a tragedy. But seeing this… it was a righteous death, wasn’t it? He died desperately trying to save a life.”
The Tower Master’s body trembled slightly at my words.
“……You’re right, Pipi.”
Something hot dripped down from above my head.
I pretended not to notice, keeping my eyes on the page below, careful not to let any tears fall upon the writing.
[All control subjects deceased. Unable to determine how the fetus survives this poison.]
The words written in the latter half of the journal seemed to burn themselves into my eyes.

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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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