I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 53

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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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‘This place is really wonderful.’
The past few days in Serpence Territory had been nothing short of perfect.
I’d begun to think this must be what heaven felt like.
Even after the Tower Master had sorted through all of Philian’s personal effects, he didn’t return to the Magic Tower immediately.
Having come to his domain for once, he decided to take some time off — to enjoy a proper vacation.
Thanks to him, I was experiencing something called a vacation for the first time in my life.
‘……He’s really relaxed now.’
The Tower Master came down to the Lakeside with me, and we spread a large canopy beneath a tree, resting in its shade.
The cool autumn breeze swept through, and even my chest felt refreshed.
The Tower Master sat in a chair reading Philian’s research journal, while I settled beside him and unpacked my painting supplies.
This was the first time in my life I’d ever drawn with real tools instead of twigs on dirt.
“Mmmph…… there.”
I stretched my stiff body as if easing out the soreness, adjusting my composition with the colored pencils.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t need to hide if I were simply drawing a beautiful landscape, but right now I was secretly sketching the Tower Master.
‘Crooked as it is…….’
If I was to remember today for the rest of my life, this single drawing would help.
I planned to give the Tower Master the landscape, but keep the portrait of him for myself.
If someday, by some chance, I was no longer needed and had to leave the Magic Tower…….
‘Then I’ll look at this and remember.’
The Tower Master would occasionally glance up from the journal, clearly wanting to peek at what I was drawing.
But whenever I bent my arm protectively over the paper to hide it, he’d give up trying and instead hand me a cool beverage.
‘There are so many colors in the world.’
I marveled as I experimented with various colored pencils, rubbing them together.
This vibrant, full-spectrum world was a gift the Tower Master had given me.
‘Oh, I’m in the mood. I should write something too.’
Maybe I’d write something like “Thank you” on the side?
It was time to show off the effort I’d secretly put into practicing writing ever since Liz had mocked my terrible handwriting.
Lost in such thoughts and scratching away busily, the Tower Master suddenly looked up from the journal and asked me something.
“Pipi.”
“Yes?”
“……What do you think makes a good family?”
At the sudden question, I tilted my head, colored pencil still in hand.
“A good family?”
“Yes. Any form. If there’s a kind of family you think is good……”
The Tower Master’s tone was unusually careful — like someone taking an important test.
I thought for a moment before answering.
“Well…… hmm? I think a family that doesn’t abandon you when you’re sick, and shares half their food with you at dinner…… that would be good enough?”
At my answer, the Tower Master’s expression seemed to dim slightly.
Had I answered wrong somehow?
“……Then is there anything you want to do in the future? Something you want to achieve?”
“Something I want to do?”
“Yes, anything at all.”
I fell into deep thought again.
Perhaps because I’d always lived in the present tense, thinking about the future felt strangely uncertain.
“……Oh!”
After a long moment, I remembered something and clapped my hands.
The Tower Master looked at me with a face full of quiet hope.
“Um, I think marriage might be a bit too soon.”
“……What?”
“You asked about family first, then about the future — that’s about marriage, right? But I’m only six years old, so it’s still a long way off. I’d like to think about it when I’m bigger.”
At my earnest reply, the Tower Master stared at me blankly for a long while.
“When did I ever say anything about marriage…….”
“I wasn’t right?”
The Tower Master pressed his forehead. His mouth opened as if to say something, then twitched slightly.
“……Never mind.”
“Huh?”
I tilted my head in confusion, but the Tower Master turned his gaze back to the journal.
His profile seemed to be both swallowing a sigh and suppressing a smile at the same time.
‘……What is this? Did I misread it?’
I refocused on the painting without understanding what had happened.
* * *
I’d thought I’d enjoy a few more days of vacation……but the peace shattered that very evening.
An urgent message arrived from the Duke’s Territory.
The Tower Master checked its contents, then handed it to me with an odd expression.
“It’s from the young lord. A letter for you.”
“Why would Cassian send me a letter?”
Surely he hadn’t resorted to writing just because he couldn’t manage without me for a few days?
My stay in the Serpence Territory had stretched a bit longer than expected…….
I opened the letter and read its contents.
[Miss Epiphany,
The wind in the garden blows chill,
And I can’t be bothered to write properly anymore.
I haven’t been feeling well lately. No energy, and I keep feeling cold and shivery. Lost my appetite too.
I think it’s because you’re not here.
Why don’t you ever come pick me up? Come quickly.
—Cassian Behemoth]
“Heh.”
It was a letter brimming with petulance.
At first, traces of an effort to maintain formality—as though the Duchess herself had written it—were visible, but he’d clearly grown too lazy to continue.
“I think I’ll need to teach him quite clearly that urgent messages aren’t to be sent carelessly.”
The Tower Master’s face darkened at the realization that something marked as urgent had arrived only because Cassian was being dramatic.
“It seems the young lord needs more thorough instruction in the decorum befitting his station. ……Though it’s hardly my concern.”
The Tower Master clicked his tongue softly.
Sensing this information would inevitably reach the Duchess’s ears, I quietly offered a prayer for Cassian’s wellbeing.
“Since he’s asking this favor of me, shall we depart a bit earlier? It was only a vacation, after all.”
“……Sigh. And here I thought I’d enjoy my long-awaited rest.”
The Tower Master sighed quietly, then called for his steward and ordered him to pack the carriage.
And the next morning, we climbed into the carriage and headed toward the Duke’s Territory.
‘He might get upset if he finds out just the two of us spent the vacation together.’
To placate him, I’d packed some delicious cookies as a bribe, and planned to give him one of the paintings I’d done by the Lakeside.
Thinking of how pleasantly we’d reunite, even the weather seemed brighter.
But as we drew near the Duke’s Territory, I spotted someone in the distance, kicking up dust as they rode toward us at full gallop.
It was a messenger from House Behemoth, bearing their crest.
“Tower Master!”
Our carriage came to a halt, and the messenger shouted through the window with a grim face.
“Fortunate that you’re arriving now! The Duchess is searching for you urgently. She says it’s an emergency!”
At those words, the Tower Master’s face turned cold and he nodded sharply.
“We’ll set out at once. Drive the carriage at full speed.”
He gestured for the messenger to go ahead first, then issued orders to the coachman. All trace of his usual composure had vanished from his face.
“W-what on earth has happened?”
I asked the Tower Master carefully, feeling the air turn decidedly frigid.
He pressed his lips together once, then answered.
“……It seems there’s a pest in the Duke’s Territory that we failed to eliminate.”
“Y-yes……? You don’t mean…….”
I’d been briefly confused, but the realization that flashed through my mind made me swallow hard.
“He’s been infected again.”
“……Oh no!”
I clenched my trembling fists.
I hadn’t failed to consider the possibility of reinfection, but I never imagined it would happen so quickly.
And of all times, it had to happen while we were away…….
‘Hold on just a little longer. I’ll come save you right away……!’
I could detoxify him again, but until then, Cassian would have to endure that awful pain once more…….
The sound of the coachman cracking the whip and driving the horses grew louder, and the carriage began to tear down the road like a madness.
The scenery I’d admired only moments before blurred chaotically behind us.
The carriage finally came to a stop in front of the Mansion.
We rushed inside, guided by the Governess directly to Cassian’s room.
“Y-young master…….”
The Governess had clearly been weeping for some time, her eyes swollen and red.
Her complexion was almost heartbreaking in its paleness, yet I found myself incapable of pitying her.
‘Who could it be? Who among them has pushed Cassian back into Addiction?’
Cassian’s Governess, a handful of attendants and servants—not one of them wore an expression that invited suspicion.
“Ah, you’ve finally arrived!”
The Duchess had kept only a skeleton crew and was nursing Cassian herself, in secret.
“Whatever is the meaning of this?”
As the Tower Master addressed the Duchess, I hurried to her side and took her hand.
“I—I don’t know. He seemed a bit down since yesterday, and I thought his mood had soured because I scolded him for sending that Urgent Message without permission. But then this morning he suddenly collapsed……”
The Duchess’s words tumbled out in a confused rush.
Our eyes—the Tower Master’s and mine—met across the room.
‘It’s not the Duchess.’
Her body was clean. Still in its Detoxified state.
A faint sound escaped him.
A small moan drifted from the head of the bed.
The moment I thought he might be calling for me and drew near, the jewel on his Necklace began to flicker.

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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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