I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 78

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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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* * *
Half a day had passed since the commotion, and morning had broken.
“He says he’ll arrive in the afternoon. Seems he rode through the night as well.”
Liz read aloud the message from the Tower Master that had arrived by courier.
Her voice, as she spoke, had grown unnaturally quiet.
‘Liz’s condition keeps feeling off.’
On the surface, she laughed and worked as usual, but I’d already found evidence of something wrong.
It started this morning.
A delivery courier from the merchant’s house had left a box of supplies at the foot of the stairs outside the door.
Ordinarily, Liz would bring it inside, or if she was busy, the delivery courier would help carry it in.
But this time, Liz simply stood before the wide-open door for a long while without moving.
‘What’s gotten into her?’
With just the threshold between us, her knuckles gripping the edge of the doorframe had gone white.
I happened to be helping with work in the lobby when I noticed cold sweat beading on her face, and something felt wrong.
“Would you like help, Liz?”
Without waiting for her answer, I quickly scooped up the box and carried it inside.
Only then did Liz laugh awkwardly and respond.
“Thanks. I’m not feeling well today. A bit feverish…”
‘Is that really it?’
I accepted the explanation at first, but soon the truth became clear.
Liz is afraid of the outside.
‘I’ve never seen her look out a window.’
She declined walks, and she startled violently whenever someone appeared behind her.
She’d been kidnapped the moment she turned a corner on her way to the bakery. An ordinary day had become the most terrifying thing of all.
‘And there’s that guilt…’
Though I’d said I forgave her wrongdoing, it didn’t seem to be truly resolved in her heart.
Lately, whenever our eyes met, Liz would wear an apologetic expression—something unconscious, something she herself didn’t notice.
‘This is something that needs time.’
I decided to pretend I didn’t notice.
Instead, I stayed close by her side, spending time together.
I was reading a book while sitting in a mushroom chair when I heard carriage wheels from outside.
The moment the wheels stopped, I dashed across the lobby.
“Tower Master!”
The Tower Master, stepping down from the carriage, had dark circles under his eyes from the past few days.
‘He must have ridden through the night after hearing the news.’
I’d heard he had a full schedule of meetings with nobles, but it seemed he’d canceled everything and come back.
“…There was a commotion, I hear?”
The Tower Master asked in his usual dry tone.
But his large hands seized my face and kneaded it this way and that, leaving me too dazed to think clearly.
He turned my face side to side, rolled up my sleeves, and swiftly examined my wrists where the rope had left faint marks.
“I’m fine now! There’s nothing wrong!”
Once the Tower Master confirmed that I’d sustained no serious visible injuries, he pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Haa…”
A long sigh escaped his lips.
“This is serious.”
“What is?”
“It’s a relief your body wasn’t injured, but I still don’t know how to heal a wounded heart.”
“I’m not hurt anywhere.”
“That can’t be right. You’ve been through something so terrible. It must have affected you in some way, whether you realize it or not.”
It seemed the Tower Master was viewing me as rather fragile…
‘Kids like me, rough and rowdy as we are, we’re fine.’
It’s Liz who’s carrying the trauma.
I shook my head and scurried after the Tower Master as he headed toward the stairs.
* * *
The air in the Office felt as cold as a harsh winter.
Bedel set the report down on the desk and swallowed dryly.
Claude removed his travel gloves and looked at Bedel.
“Report.”
“…The hideout was a house in the Northern Slums. We conducted a thorough search, but it was empty.”
“Who was the woman who approached Liz?”
“Someone going by the name Daerli. She made contact over several weeks. Her real name appears to be Daerli.”
Claude took the report as Bedel provided his explanation.
Daerli used an alias, frequenting the areas around the Magic Tower—including the bakery where Tower staff often gathered. Eventually, her target became Liz.
Exploiting the fact that they were women of similar age, Daerli disarmed Liz’s guard and, together with Pipi, lured her outside the Tower before bringing both of them to a general store that had been prepared as a kidnapping location.
“Inside the general store, there was a secret passage. Following the passage that stretched northward leads to a sparsely populated empty lot, where they apparently took Pipi by carriage.”
It was a different area than where Liz had been kidnapped.
“Including the two clerks who were in the general store, the kidnapper of Liz, and those at the final destination… that makes at least seven perpetrators identified so far.”
The timeline was long, and the number of criminals was large—clearly a coordinated crime.
“It appears the true target this time was not Liz, but Pipi. Liz was merely bait.”
“…Why Pipi, of all people?”
It was not a question seeking an answer.
Reading through the compiled testimonies of Pipi and Liz, he could already guess the reason.
They had clearly wanted to verify whether Pipi had been of any help in detoxifying Cassian and Aquila.
“The Assassin Guild is definitely behind this… What infuriates me is that I cannot strike them down immediately.”
He was mobilizing the Information Guild and intelligence sources from both ducal houses to assess the scope of the Assassin Guild.
Given the nature of assassins, the guild operated on a cell-based structure.
This meant that to prevent rebellion and provide Pipi with a safer world, they would need to root out every last trace.
‘Leaving loose ends would be troublesome.’
That was why, despite uncovering the masterminds, they had not yet moved for a complete annihilation while mapping out the extent of the cell-based organization.
Still, given the caliber of those leading the operation, it was merely a matter of time before this malignant presence ceased to exist entirely.
However, trouble emerged for the members of the Magic Tower in the meantime.
‘I do not wish to tell Pipi that outings must be restricted.’
The fault lay with the assassins, yet it would be unfair for Pipi and the mages to be confined to the Tower.
So if he wanted to give Pipi an ordinary, happy life, what Claude needed to do was eliminate anyone who might interfere with her outings.
“We’ll need to arrange escorts. Until all matters are resolved, all mages should carry incapacitating poison with them for the time being.”
Though Liz had been kidnapped with seeming ease, this was due to the nature of poison mages.
Given the right toxin, a poison mage could amplify its effects and annihilate enemies single-handedly.
The only reason they refrained from direct combat was the difficulty in targeting poisons to specific individuals.
For the same reason, selecting appropriate toxins that would cause no harm to civilians was the real concern.
“I will convey this to everyone.”
Bedel observed that the Tower Master was quietly burning with anger toward the real culprits rather than reproach, and felt relieved as he bowed and withdrew.
* * *
As evening meal time arrived, the Tower Master called me to the rooftop.
‘The rooftop?’
Puzzled, I climbed up and gasped at the sight of the apple trees planted on the rooftop and the white table set among them.
“Wow! Are we eating dinner here today?”
“Yes.”
I cheered and rushed toward the beautifully arranged table.
There, beside the more appetizing meal than usual, place settings had been set for two.
I looked at the Tower Master seated across from me and asked.
“You’re eating with me today?”
My meals were less eating in the usual sense and more a kind of research activity.
Because of that, except during travels, the Tower Master usually kept records while I ate.
“Hehe.”
Having learned during travels that meals taste better when shared, this was a delightful choice.
Watching what I loved, the Tower Master chuckled softly and picked up his utensils.
We ate while admiring the rooftop transformed by the beautiful scenery around us.
Partway through our meal, as I took a bite of dessert, something occurred to me, and I swallowed and asked the Tower Master.
“Excuse me, Tower Master. You said before you left that you had an important favor to ask when you returned.”
At my question, the Tower Master’s movements paused slightly as he drank his coffee.
‘Am I finally going to hear it!’
Whether it was dismissal or a pay cut or what!
Swallowing nervously as I ran through my list of possibilities, the Tower Master stared at me for a long moment, then handed me something from behind his back. A thick envelope.
“I had originally planned to tell you after everything was resolved… but it seems circumstances turned out differently.”
I accepted the envelope and carefully opened it.
Inside were documents filled with rigid legal terminology.
The language was difficult, but one word jumped out at me the moment I read it.
Adoption.
And an empty space for the child’s name.
“There’s no precedent for a noble adopting a commoner’s child. So I was preparing the laws and procedures… but now I understand. Perfect timing never comes.”
People can meet with any accident at any moment.
“Pipi.”
The Tower Master looked at me directly.
“Will you be my daughter?”
Every expectation I’d held in my mind came crashing down.

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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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