My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 33

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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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Episode 33

“Oh. It’s started.”
The first volley came from the twin brothers who ran the Jo Brothers’ workshop.
Once we reached the shopping district near Back Hill, he and I settled onto a nearby bench.
From there, we began in earnest to analyze the magical power bursting across the sky.
“Those must be the people from the workshop we saw earlier.”
“You caught on quickly. Interesting mana combination, isn’t it? I’ve taken a personal interest in it myself.”
“…Even so, it’s just amateur Wind Magic, full of gaps.”
“Oh, come now. There’s no such thing as perfect magic from the start.”
Fwoosh. Fwoooosh.
Each time the sky flashed, the afterimage of firelight burst across my vision like a bright flash, lingering for a long moment.
Just as Carlo said, there wasn’t a trace of perfection in their clumsy technique.
I found myself drawn to the spectacle because it reminded me of fireworks from my past life, the one I knew before.
“The real fireworks in this world are so safe and warm that sometimes I find them tedious.”
“….”
“My life was never safe, always precarious.”
The sunset finally faded, and darkness crept in slowly until our surroundings grew pitch-black.
If Serenenti’s days were exceptionally bright, its nights were infinitely dark.
I liked the daytime here well enough, but I genuinely disliked the nights.
Once night fell, vision became obscured and judgment clouded.
My accident in my previous life had happened in an instant like that.
‘I’d confused where my footing was and missed a step, falling.’
I’d come here painlessly, fortunately, but now I hated the darkness.
I wanted to avoid it as much as possible.
“And yet….”
Maybe this life was so brutally difficult just by existing in it.
In this foreign world, whenever I discovered something even slightly resembling my past life, a wave of longing would wash over me unexpectedly.
Of course, the fireworks display the Jo Brothers had prepared was admittedly pitiful by anyone’s standard.
At least their fundamentals in Wind Magic were polished enough to keep the air below the sky from becoming thick and murky, which was a relief.
Given that even the Magic Tools presented at the magical event had the residents’ letters returning within less than thirty minutes, there wasn’t much to expect.
‘Still, I’m simply grateful.’
When memories I didn’t want to forget grew hazy, this let me pull them out by force and see them again.
I breathed in slowly as I watched the sky flickering with unsteady light.
Hearing my breathing grow more at ease than before, Carlo glanced sideways and looked at me.
“….”
“I was just breathing. Not admiring the scenery.”
At my words, he gave a small nod.
Carlo had been frowning ever since the fireworks began.
Well, he’d spent all his youth at the Magic Tower, in the Crown Prince’s personal division no less, wielding only Advanced Magic.
‘I can understand his frustration.’
Not only had he been forced to take a vacation in some rural village with no connection to him, but now he was stuck watching incompetent magic work.
I fully understood his displeasure.
I conjured Water-Colored Mana Lights on both sides of the darkened bench and spoke.
“You’ve had quite the ordeal.”
“Not at all.”
“Should we head back and call it a night?”
“Are you tired, Roze?”
“No, I’m still wide awake actually.”
I hesitated over whether to mention it.
After a moment, I continued.
“It’s just that this bench is on an incline, so my feet don’t quite touch the ground properly.”
It was an ideal spot to watch the scenery, but the bench sat on an upward slope.
Somewhere awkward between downhill and uphill.
Carlo’s expression remained dull and joyless as he halfheartedly watched the fireworks, but my own predicament had been troubling me for some time now.
‘It’s hard to even explain this.’
I’d plopped down on the bench on impulse, but unfortunately I was far too short for it.
My feet, with nowhere natural to rest, had been dangling precariously in the air for what felt like dozens of minutes now.
My body, thrown off-balance by the awkward height, clung uncertainly to the seat.
Gradually my posture began to crumble, and as time wore on, my lower back ached more and more.
‘Ugh.’
I’d reached my limit.
But admitting it felt mortifying somehow.
I found myself scratching my cheek sheepishly, wondering if I could come up with some other excuse instead.
“Besides, staying outside too long does get tiring, doesn’t it?”
“….”
“And it’s gotten quite dark already, I think?”
Being a homebody by nature, I’d long since used up my tolerance for being away from the house.
But the more I spoke, the more I regretted opening my mouth.
“Mm.”
I should have made it sound like I was being considerate of Carlo while I was at it.
“Um, perhaps—”
“….”
“…Did I only think of myself?”
And yet we’d already been in Serenenti for over three hours.
I’d finished seeing the sights long ago, and I’d already indulged in enough nostalgia from my past life.
I’d decided to head back to the Stein Residence before night fell any further.
I’d noticed it since we were in the café earlier—there was something unusual about the way Carlo was treating me.
“You said you were returning to the Magic Tower tonight, didn’t you?”
“Nothing’s been decided for certain yet.”
“What about dinner?”
“That too.”
“…I see.”
He answered evasively, just as I’d expected.
I simply looked down at my two wayward feet beneath the bench, keeping them still.
I’d asked just to be sure, but it seemed I was right—so I quietly looked away.
I’d known for some time that Carlo was favorably disposed toward me.
‘…Is he interested in me?’
Whether his favor was romantic rather than collegial—I still couldn’t quite judge.
But kindness and affection were always separated by the thinnest of lines.
What I hadn’t anticipated, though, was this.
“Huh—”
Suddenly my body found its balance, and I whipped my head around.
My feet were no longer suspended in air. I felt something supporting them.
“…?”
When I lowered my gaze, I saw something dark beneath my feet.
A jet-black leather texture that looked nearly identical to someone’s own, a long form that appeared twice the size of my own foot.
It was Carlo’s foot.
He’d naturally placed his foot beneath mine as a rest, then asked casually:
“Is this more comfortable now?”
“…What are you doing?”
“I should have done this sooner if I’d known you were uncomfortable.”
“No, that’s not—”
“I’ve put Roze through enough trouble today as it is.”
Carlo went on to say he’d buy me dinner as an apology, compensating with words for what he couldn’t say.
As if becoming a human footstool wasn’t enough, now he was going to forfeit his leave again.
We were really nothing to each other.
I stared up at him blankly, then suddenly burst into laughter and lowered my head.
“Ha, really…”
The night sky, quieted now that the fireworks had ended, was gradually fading of color.
Yet somehow my mood felt refreshed.
“I’ve thought before about wanting to be someone’s support like this.”
“….”
“But I never imagined doing it quite like this—making someone lean on me the way you do.”
“…That’s meant as a compliment?”
“Of course. I’m telling you that you’re rather cool right now.”
And I wanted to say thank you.
Because he had given me a memory I would never forget.
I smiled quietly, dabbing at eyes that had grown warm.
“Don’t worry. Trust me. I’ll take care of our family and protect them to the end.”
A promise I never managed to keep.
The memories left behind when I departed had all become the past, yet I continued to remember them, to cherish them still.
Somewhere, someday.
I held fast to the belief that I too could become a steady foundation for someone.
“I’m grateful, but I think it’s time we got up. Would you mind clearing this away?”
“The height difference is quite steep, and I worry you might misstep, Roze.”
“That’s overprotective. I’m a mage just as you are, after all.”
I laughed lightly.
Such needless worry.
If my footing slipped into thin air, I could respond readily with my Mana.
Even setting aside being a mage, anyone possessed enough crisis instinct for a situation like that.
As I rose from the bench to argue the point with him, Carlo finally answered.
“Were the people you sought to protect aware of your efforts?”
“…Pardon?”
“That your protection, too, was a form of overreach.”

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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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