I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 85

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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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* * *
Crash!
The teacup shattered beyond the thin curtain, the sound echoing sharply through the room.
The Attendant on Duty thought his heart had stopped. But because it was the Emperor who had dropped the cup, he bowed his head and asked respectfully.
“Your Majesty, are you well? Were you not injured by the shards?”
Yet the Emperor made no reply.
Though he had withdrawn from the world after a tragic loss, the Emperor was not one to ignore his attendants’ words under ordinary circumstances.
But hearing only the sound of his increasingly ragged breathing, the Attendant’s worry grew by the moment.
“Your Majesty, I shall step inside the curtain for but a moment, if I may.”
As the Attendant parted the curtain and entered, he saw—and could scarcely believe his eyes—the Emperor’s face, drained of all color, pale as blank parchment.
“Your Majesty…?”
“Just now… did you sense it too?”
“Pardon? Your Majesty, I’m afraid I don’t understand. I sensed nothing…”
“…Of course. Of course you didn’t.”
The Emperor slowly pressed his palm against his brow.
Beneath his hand, his red-rimmed eyes trembled with confusion.
‘Have I finally lost my mind thinking of blood relations?’
Since his beloved younger sister—cherished like a dear daughter—had died seven years ago, the Emperor had no blood kin remaining in the world.
The imperial family had never been large enough to boast even distant branches.
His profound affection for his sister stemmed from this very fact: they were the only two of their generation.
Yet in the end, she had died—horribly, in childbirth—after a marriage he had bitterly opposed.
He had no heirs with the Empress, and all that remained to him was this vast empire and its people, who depended upon his care.
So the Dragon Venom he had felt just now…
‘Could it have been mere illusion? Surely it was illusion.’
Basilisks could sense the awakening of Dragon Venom in their kin from anywhere in the world.
An unconditional love for their own kind was one of the defining traits of the Basilisk.
Being such a rare Mystical Beast, they must have evolved that way to preserve young members of their kind.
Which meant that unless a bastard child left by a predecessor had suddenly awakened, such a thing should be utterly impossible.
Considering when that predecessor had died, the very notion of a young illegitimate child existing now made no sense whatsoever.
“It cannot be. Only I possess the power to wield Dragon Venom.”
The Emperor clenched his fist and bit his lip.
Then…
“Summon the Commander of the Imperial Guard.”
The Emperor, unwilling to abandon even the faintest thread of hope, issued his command to the Attendant.
The Commander of the Imperial Guard, who soon came running, received orders to have the physicians search for any children who had recently displayed high fevers and emanations of toxin.
* * *
When morning came, I awoke to the cheerful congratulations of everyone around me.
“Goodness, Pipi! Your hair! Your hair has grown so much!”
Each time Liz looked at me, she marveled at how long my hair had become, speaking in excited bursts.
The Four Swordsmen left in high spirits, distributing snacks that Lilly had made in advance to give me upon my awakening.
And Cassian, waking late from sleep and seeing me, froze for several seconds before managing a single word.
“…What are you? Why are you bigger?”
“I was in hibernation.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Apparently that’s what happens with hibernation. The Tower Master told me so.”
Though he wore an expression that suggested he was turning something over in his mind…
In any case, Cassian could not find a rebuttal to my explanation and stammered helplessly.
“…My basket!”
Instead, he continued his protest with an aggrieved expression.
What Cassian had brought was a basket, half-melted and riddled with holes.
“Oh, that’s…”
“I wove the fur lining myself.”
“As I came out of hibernation, my body generated intense heat…”
I trailed off, unable to offer further excuses.
At that, Cassian spoke with an expression of unmistakable mischief.
“Then next time, show me your Beast Form again.”
His face had turned crimson—whatever was going through his mind, anyone watching would have thought he was proposing marriage.
‘Hmm, so he’s taken with my cute form.’
Even I had to admit that my lush, flowing tail, my bright and clever eyes, and my soft, plump, delightfully fluffy body made for an irresistible package.
Children are said to fall head over heels for cute animals, and it seems Cassian is no exception.
“…There’s nothing I can’t do.”
“…Really?! This time it’s no misunderstanding—you’re giving me permission with your own mouth!”
As if showing him my Beast Form changes anything. Honestly.
If I can be forgiven for one mistake just by dropping my Shapeshifting once, that’s fair enough. Showing him this much isn’t a problem at all.
I nodded readily and ushered Cassian out of the room.
“Phew…… That was a close call.”
This time, crimson venom dripped steadily from my hand.
I hurriedly positioned my hand over the Basin the Tower Master had prepared—made of a material that could contain poison.
‘I… I need to calm down.’
The pressing problem was that I was spiraling out of control at unpredictable moments. It felt exactly like I’d become a venom sprayer instead of a flame-thrower.
There was no particular reason for it; it just started happening all of a sudden.
It happened more when my emotions were shaken, but absurdly enough, even while lying in bed, the venom would sometimes erupt in an uncontrolled torrent.
‘Am I losing my mind…….’
I’d been practicing control in the Underground with the Tower Master, but progress was slow.
‘Hibernating rodents exist, sure. But a venom-spewing hibernating rodent? I’ve never heard of such a thing.’
And would it stop at just rodents? Some burrowing creatures do produce paralytic toxins, but nothing like the lethal venom I’m producing.
“This is really strange.”
Speaking it aloud made it feel even more suspicious.
The Tower Master kept saying it was nothing serious—that the discharge from emerging hibernation settles down with time. She cited some text that supposedly said so.
But awakening from hibernation shouldn’t suddenly generate venom, and it certainly shouldn’t just spray it everywhere uncontrollably. Something doesn’t add up.
And the way the Tower Master spoke about it, her eyes held a confused, unsettled look, as if her thoughts weren’t settled……
‘I couldn’t confront her directly about it, but something about this doesn’t sit right with me.’
Ultimately, since I couldn’t know when it might erupt, I’ve been confined to my room.
But it seems my excuse of feeling unwell or being in low spirits isn’t enough to fool people anymore. Everyone looks suspicious.
‘This won’t do.’
I needed someone who knew what was happening to my body, what this venom is, and how to control it.
Or at the very least, someone who could tell me whether this is part of the hibernation process.
‘Someone who won’t hem and haw like the Tower Master.’
And there was exactly one person who came to mind.
* * *
Claude pulled out Philian’s Research Journal, brought from the Estate.
A pregnant woman producing lethal venom. She was a Basilisk.
Philian’s final research subject was the Hybrid fetus of a pregnant Basilisk.
‘I never saw her face, but her husband was probably…… a hibernating rodent.’
He had spent a lifetime in laboratories and didn’t believe in fate, yet now he found himself wondering if this could be anything but destiny.
The mate of the continent’s mightiest Mystical Beast, the Basilisk, was a Rodent—the lowest prey among Beast Forms.
A meeting between serpent and rat. Impossible by any measure.
He hadn’t cared much about it before and paid it little mind, but now he understood. Now he saw why the Former Princess had come quietly to find Philian.
‘I heard the Emperor opposed it vehemently…….’
His beloved younger sister, raised with every care, had taken a fancy to some mouse attendant and become pregnant. The Emperor had every reason to rage.
He’d thrown her out of the Imperial Palace, telling her to leave if she insisted on living her own way, but in the end, the Emperor couldn’t abandon his sister.
While Philian conducted his research, imperial envoys came repeatedly to Claude, threatening him with the Emperor’s scrutiny.
Claude didn’t want to burden his sibling, so Philian had died without ever knowing that the work he was conducting was meant to protect the Former Princess’s child.
Not long after Philian’s death, the Former Princess too lost control of her overwhelming venom during childbirth and let it explode.
The toxic miasma, saturated with immense magical power, swept through the surrounding area, and by all accounts, the Former Princess, the baby, and the father all perished…….
‘Could that baby have been Pipi?’
She’d been found in a forest quite far from the delivery site, and the timing was oddly misaligned, so he couldn’t be certain…… but something told Claude that baby was Pipi.
‘This is…… destiny.’
Fate arrives in ways one can never anticipate.
Claude’s fate had arrived as red eyes, soft downy chestnut fur, a magnificent tail swishing back and forth, and ears perked up straight.
As if asking him to complete what his sibling had left unfinished.
* * *
A change of clothes. My saved wages. A heap of dried meat.
After gathering all my things, I held the Note in my hand.
[Leave Request. I am requesting four days of emergency leave.]
It’s not running away. I’m a conscientious employee who doesn’t skip work without notice.

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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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