I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 80

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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 the entrance to the Old Archive.
I’d slipped into the archive while Cassian was occupied with his Swordsmanship practice.
‘I need to find some kind of clue.’
Last time I’d fled in pain and confusion, but today I meant to extract something concrete. Even if memory couldn’t be summoned at will, I had a different strategy now.
There was a chance I’d come away empty-handed, but what I was hunting for today pointed in an entirely new direction.
I took a deep breath and crossed the threshold in one stride.
‘Start with what I found before.’
The first time I came to this archive, I’d known the lock was weak before I’d even touched it.
I’d brushed past it without much thought then, but the more I dwelt on it, the stranger it seemed.
‘Even if I can’t remember anything else, there must be something specific about this room that comes back to me.’
I stepped into the dim archive.
The moment I thought I should turn on the light, my body moved of its own accord.
‘It’s true—I’m familiar with this place. Every other part of the Magic Tower felt strange, but only here feels like home……’
After lighting the lamps, I moved through the archive methodically, searching.
Then, without thinking, I sidestepped something on the floor—and caught myself, looking down.
“Hmm……?”
What I’d avoided was a floorboard slightly warped, creaking underfoot.
Only after stepping over the squeaking spot did I realize what I’d done.
‘So it is.’
Why had I spent enough time in the Old Archive before the Regression to know it so deeply in my bones?
My working hypothesis was that I’d taken a job that gave me frequent access to the archive.
But what puzzled me was: why the Old Archive specifically?
If it was simply ‘the easiest job to find,’ that would be an answer I could live with.
But on the other hand……
‘What if I came here because I needed to discover something only found in the Old Archive?’
‘My work back then was probably…… something a bit shadowy.’
It was pathetic how little I could trust myself, even though the person before the Regression had been me.
That was why my biggest purpose coming here was to search the interior of the Old Archive thoroughly.
‘As long as nothing dangerous appears, I’ll count myself lucky.’
I began searching the walls methodically, hoping to find nothing at all.
After a long while of checking every spot where a hidden mechanism might exist,
“……There’s nothing?”
Surprisingly, I found no hidden devices or suspicious objects—not on the walls, not on the floor, nowhere.
All that remained was to examine the books on the shelves.
‘What kind of books are kept here?’
I moved along the shelves, checking the titles.
What was stored here felt less like books and more like reference collections.
Rather than published works, these felt like documents hand-stitched into binding one by one, and many lacked titles on their spines, so I had to pull them all out to check.
‘Hmm, “Poison Waste Disposal and Sewage Purification Systems: Operational Guidelines, First Edition……” “Extinct Ancient Deadly Toxins: Comprehensive Encyclopedia……”‘
These were probably things that had outlived their usefulness and been stored here.
‘Magic Tower Blueprint Collection…… Annex Facilities Register……’
A few steps further, I found books gathered on the structure of the Magic Tower itself.
‘……What is this?’
The moment I saw those books, my heart began to race.
I drew out the blueprint collection and opened it with ease. It fell naturally to the page showing the Underground layout.
‘Why does it feel so familiar? This is the first time I’m seeing this book……’
I pulled through the books urgently, checking them.
I recalled the day I first went Underground.
I hadn’t actually felt familiarity from visiting the Underground itself, yet the blueprints inside these books were overwhelmingly recognizable.
‘The Underground holds all the essential mechanisms of the Magic Tower……’
My body trembled of its own accord.
That bitter remorse from my dying moment returned—the failure to protect the Magic Tower, the relentless regret.
That feeling had drawn me to the Magic Tower in the first place.
So I’d secretly harbored hope. That perhaps my former self had been on the Tower’s side.
‘……But what if that regret……’
What if I’d only felt remorse because I died before finishing the task I’d been given?
‘What if the very desire to “protect” it was just my own delusion?’
What if the truth was that I’d been trying to destroy the Magic Tower, but couldn’t bear to face it, so I’d simply distorted my own memory instead?
‘I don’t have memories of the last couple of months, so…….’
I might have distorted them in whatever way suited me.
If it was to protect the Magic Tower, there was no reason I should have known any of this.
It wasn’t just that I knew it — the moment I opened the book, every word I’d memorized came flooding back perfectly.
‘What was I……?’
What had I been doing before the Regression?
I remembered the envelope on the Tower Master’s desk. The document with the blank name field.
I’d nearly reached for his hand. Nearly written my name in that empty space with my own fingers.
Because I’d come to care for the Tower Master and everyone in the Magic Tower, the guilt and disappointment in myself felt crushing.
I slid the Blueprint Collection back onto the shelf. My hands trembled so badly it took two tries to get it in place.
‘I did find something…… something, at least.’
Evidence of my guilt — that I might have been searching here for a way to destroy the Magic Tower.
‘Would it be better if I just disappeared?’
I sat in one corner of the Archive, lost in that thought for a long time.
With no windows to mark the passage of time, I crouched there and contemplated my future.
‘Could I survive a few years of living frugally……?’
At least I had some money saved up, including my wages, so that was something.
But I’d have to leave behind everything the Tower Master bought for me.
‘……What if I miss them after I’ve gone far away?’
I pressed my forehead to my knees and pouted at the thought.
What should I pack to travel light, and which route should I take?
While I was mulling this over, I realized I wasn’t drafting a resignation letter — I was planning to run away.
Maybe it was because fleeing the moment my identity was exposed was such an ingrained habit.
I clenched my fists.
‘……Everyone would worry if I suddenly vanished, wouldn’t they?’
When I thought of the Magic Tower people who came looking for me after I was kidnapped, they’d surely be devastated.
Could I really make people sad in the present because of something that might happen in a future that hasn’t come yet?
‘I’m starting to suspect I’m just looking for an excuse to forgive myself.’
Doing what suits me, desperately spinning out hope because I want to stay put.
‘……Right.’
Running away is out of the question.
I’d already forgiven my neighbors — the ones who dragged me into hell — because innocent people might have gotten caught in the crossfire.
Those things haven’t happened yet, at this point in time.
‘So I should apply the same rule to myself.’
Right now, I’m not an Assassin of the Guild — I’m a Test Subject of the Magic Tower.
‘If the Guild tries to touch the Magic Tower or wreck my life again the way they tried to kidnap me, I’ll repay them thoroughly.’
I jumped to my feet.
And I pulled out the book with the Magic Tower’s blueprints and clutched it to my chest.
‘I’ll check the entire Magic Tower and seal every entrance so that suspicious people can’t get in again.’
* * *
“Pip! There you are — I’ve been looking for you.”
Cassian came rushing toward me the moment he spotted me, his hair still slightly damp from washing.
I rounded the corner of a hallway and my eyes widened in surprise.
“Why are you running around like that?”
“Because you disappeared. ……What’s that?”
“Yes? What do you mean?”
“……The Magic Tower Blueprint Collection? Why are you reading that? Is it fun?”
“I want to earn my keep.”
“What do you mean?”
I noticed Cassian’s hands as he grumbled.
Blisters had formed, burst, and formed again — so he’d wrapped bandages around his hands to make it easier to swing the sword.
Cassian, who’d picked up the wooden sword again to protect me, was training with real dedication. He’d taken a break from practice after getting hurt, so picking it back up must have been quite the hassle.
‘……Right, he wants to protect me.’
I wanted to protect the Magic Tower too, and my new friend Cassian, and this new life I’d been given.
‘No — I’m going to protect them.’
Not just want to. Going to.
Whether the me from before the Regression came to the Magic Tower on a Mission or not, it doesn’t matter anymore.
As a member of the Magic Tower, protecting it is what my heart truly wants.
In place of the me from before — the one I don’t remember — I’ll repay it that way.
‘I’m still not certain about……Adoption, though.’
It was the moment that thought took hold.
Thump—
Something resonated from deep within his body.
Like a seed bursting in parched earth, a sensation of something blooming enveloped his entire being.
It was a throb he felt he’d experienced once before, when he’d purged Cassian of poison.
‘What is this…?!’

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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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