My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 12

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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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Chapter 12

A workplace where the commute home transforms into the commute to work in the blink of an eye—a place of death.
Mabop, Embryo.
I leaned against the elevator wall like gum stuck to metal, repeating the mantra over and over.
‘Damn it. Someday I’ll repay this with a resignation.’
Hoping Mabop would collapse seemed unlikely, given that it was the number-one dream workplace for mages. Better to pray for my own swift and successful retirement instead.
By the time I reached the eighty-eighth floor where the Security Department was located, my complexion had turned ashen like those of my colleagues around me. I glanced at my coworkers wearing similar haggard expressions and spoke.
“What kind of magic is causing problems this time? It’s not a design flaw like the other day, is it?”
Just thinking about those feral demon beasts I’d encountered before, irritation flared up in my mind.
They weren’t particularly strong, but their body fluids carried toxins, making disposal quite troublesome. Because of that, my commute home had been delayed.
“…Why are you all silent?”
I set down my Access Card necklace on the desk and asked again, but for some reason everyone remained quiet.
Elyne, who had arrived early, already wore the expression of someone whose spirit had fled.
“What’s with all of you?”
“Carlo has to come….”
“Is it really that bad?”
The team lead’s seat, as always, stood empty, and I was told Carlo had left for fieldwork since lunchtime.
Apparently, a situation had arisen where requesting cooperation from other departments was inevitable.
“How many?”
“More than five incidents. They’ve appeared in other territories too.”
“Ah.”
I recalled how, just moments ago while riding up to this floor via Teleport after arriving at Mabop, the Emergency Express Magic alert had flickered a couple of times over. I figured I’d hear about it once I got here, but I never expected news like this.
‘Has this world finally gone mad?’
A hollow laugh escaped me just as Carlo returned, hastily throwing on a Mage-exclusive Robe.
“My apologies for the delay.”
Unusually, he wasn’t dressed in formal wear.
‘I’ve never seen him looking so relaxed before.’
I caught sight of his loosely unbuttoned shirt and muttered under my breath. It suits him well.
* * *
The old saying held true—my personal emergency had manifested into reality.
Mabop had issued an Eagle Alert Level 1.
It was the first time in centuries that demon beasts had appeared simultaneously across the Human World like this.
‘If only Elyne could awaken as an Arch Mage soon, the world would be safe.’
Not only was the position of Water Arch Mage still vacant, but so was the seat of the Arch Mage who governed the Flow of Earth.
From what I knew, the moment Elyne’s latent potential would finally bloom was after she married Lucas, in the aftermath that followed.
With a serious problem occurring in this world that I’d never seen in the original work, waiting for her alone with hope was far too optimistic.
While the incompetent team lead was finally doing his job by a margin, seeking help from other departments, Carlo began spreading a large map across the center of the office and started the briefing.
“Stein, Lutiens, Pionio. Demon beasts have invaded through gaps created by weakened barrier magic in these three locations.”
“Has the extent of the damage been assessed?”
“So far, there have been no reports of injuries or casualties.”
Looking at the Stein territory that Carlo was pointing to with his hand, I felt relief wash over me inside.
‘My parents said they were doing well, after all.’
When their voices came through the Communication Channel, confirming their safety, I genuinely reflected on how complacent I had been.
Until moments ago, I’d been muttering about this emergency situation and that, yet deep down I had simply assumed everything would be fine. I felt deeply ashamed of myself.
Though it was an unexpected accident, fortunately the residents’ quick initial response meant the assessed damage was not severe.
The residents of the affected areas, having safely evacuated to secure locations, were now waiting for rescue teams.
The Crisis Management Department mages dispatched from Mabop would arrive there soon.
‘We’ve put out the immediate fire.’
A few days of all-nighters and the damage recovery would likely be wrapped up.
Of course, we’d need to supply each Security Department employee with a box of Energy Drinks.
‘…I might as well consider myself dead for the next four days.’
Saving people was never easy, after all.
That’s why we’d always been working overtime as routinely as eating, to prevent such dangers from arising in the first place.
Now that the accident had already happened, it was only natural that the effort required would be greater.
‘At least no one actually lost their life. That’s something.’
I turned the assignment over in my mind and shifted the work files onto my desk.
All right. Let’s see how long I can survive this.
“Since I’ve made the effort to come in, I suppose I’ll just have to see if I can make it out tomorrow.”
“I shall join you in that endeavor. An excellent idea, Rozé.”
Does declaring oneself a slave count as an idea now?
I didn’t dare offer a retort. Carlo simply watched my internal collapse with apparent fascination.
“Fruit juice is better for the body than Energy Drinks.”
“Of course.”
He sidled over to my desk and quietly set a Strawberry Juice—my drink of choice—within my reach.
All it amounted to, though, was an instruction to become a healthier slave.
Hours had passed. I was deep in work, shuttling between a desk buried under layers of blueprints and an experimental bench where trial and error kept its endless rhythm.
Elyne, who had been investigating the Demon Realm’s movements with Long-range Magic, drifted over and posed a question.
“Rozé. Am I the only one who thinks something’s off about the demon beasts’ invasion route?”
“Tracking flows isn’t my specialty. If your magic says so, then it must be.”
Every mage had a threshold where their instinct suddenly grew sharp.
It was like that scene from a movie I’d watched in a past life—the spider-hero’s peculiar tingle.
Despite my listless reply, Elyne’s eyes sparkled as she explained the demon behavior she’d sensed.
“I think it’s like animal instinct. Maybe a habitat somewhere in the Demon Realm suddenly became unstable, and the demon beasts searching for safety damaged the Barrier Magic.”
“So they hit a dead end and just smashed their heads against the wall?”
“Exactly!”
Correct? Nothing about this feels correct anymore.
Two in the morning now. Twelve hours into the all-nighter.
I was ready to collapse onto any surface and sleep.
“Funny thing. I want to go home too.”
“What? But you were just talking about the demon beasts—”
“That doesn’t matter right now.”
I mumbled hollow words. Yes, home. I need a home.
Without one, humans can become just as savage as anything else.
Looking at it that way, the difference between demon beasts and humans felt razor-thin.
Demon beasts, whatever—just send me home.
I confirmed another failed experiment and propped myself up on the desk with both hands, muttering darkly.
I’d always known Elyne had strong scholarly drive, but unfairly, she possessed the physical stamina to match it.
At some point she’d started studying the Magical Ecosystem in her spare moments, and now it seemed the demon beasts’ behavior had revealed something to her.
“Perhaps a crucial period in the Magical Ecosystem is approaching. If we use this chance to uncover the root of this continent’s ancient problem, then maybe we can finally find a way for two different worlds to coexist!”
Yes. Do that after you become an Arch Mage.
My stamina was at its limit; even Energy Drinks couldn’t prop me up anymore.
I spread a blanket across the desktop and collapsed onto it.
Defense-related attributes are typically Earth and Water. The Wind and Fire attribute team members, whose roles were lighter, had quietly left hours ago, and a few of my Earth attribute colleagues, who’d hit their limits before me, had apparently retreated to the dormitory.
I envied them. If I had a next life, I’d want to be born a Wind mage.
“No. Better not to be born at all. I need to break this cycle of misfortune….”
I’d only wanted comfort, but somehow I’d ended up walking a thorny path ahead of everyone else.
I’d only meant to sidestep the suffering that would follow the ending, yet misfortune seemed to compound with interest.
‘This twisted world. Don’t you know hypocrisy counts as virtue?’
The office had a laboratory attached, so dozens of ventilation ducts dotted the ceiling like some experimental mobile. I blinked my dry eyes slowly. A hollow laugh welled up.
‘The dormitory’s probably full too.’
“…Where’s Carlo?”
“I think he went back to his quarters.”
“Good. One less spectator.”
With no one watching, I pushed two empty desks together to make a makeshift bed.
These desks were sometimes used as experimental tables, so their tops were marble. I had no choice. My body had no strength left even to leave the office, let alone reach the dormitory.
‘A stone bed. Not bad.’
I hummed an old stone bed commercial jingle in my head as I crawled onto the desk.
‘Nice, but my back’s going to shatter.’
I closed my eyes and fashioned an imaginary warm water cushion to support my lower back—it helped just enough.
Elyne had taken a perch on the experimental bench across the way, explaining how much interest she had in demon research.
I lay there exhausted, reading her report in name only.
Ugh. My eyes keep closing.
“Did you read through all of it?”
“Mm-hmm. The hypothesis about the invasion route—you said there were two?”
“The first is what I mentioned before: a major shift in the Magical Ecosystem. The second is….”
Even as drowsiness pulled at me, my eyes dutifully traced the lines of text in the report, following the steady cadence of Elyne’s voice.
Intrusion. Origin. Reconnaissance.
“Reconnaissance…?”
I jerked awake, my eyes flying wide.
“You want to reconnaissance the Demon Realm?”
“That’s right. It’s necessary.”
‘That’s insane.’
I closed the report in my hands and set it down by my pillow, then rolled away from her to face the wall.
No matter how earnestly Elyne pressed the matter, there was no way the crown prince would agree to it.
‘The Demon Realm is far too dangerous. There’s no chance.’
My eyelids grew unbearably heavy. I nodded absently to show I was listening to what she said, and slowly drifted back toward sleep.
Regret could wait.
“…I’m sorry? An external assignment?”
But I had no idea it would happen this fast.

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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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