My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 81

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 81

“Aiming for the heart—so you’re hoping to extract a core from me, are you?”
Sorry to disappoint, but humans don’t have cores like monsters do.
Instead, there exists a sort of “vessel” in that place—vital force that holds the innate mana one is born with and maintains its concentration at a steady level.
“Do you want to steal the mana I possess, or do you want to erase it completely?”
“Screeeech!”
My head swam with questions, but the monster couldn’t answer them. Monsters don’t speak human language, after all.
Enraged at failing to kill me in one strike, the creature shrieked and roared into the empty air again and again.
At that cry, a horde of monsters came surging through the sky in moments.
The monsters pouring endlessly from that dark void—their numbers were beyond any reasonable estimate.
I gathered the mana leaking away and designed a spell as convincing as my strength allowed.
‘I have to strike the core.’
Before I die, I have to kill it first.
I conjured several bullets of Attack Magic in my palm and completed a weapon that fired like a pistol when I pulled the trigger.
But the lack of power meant that a few spell incantations for firing the magic were omitted.
Trying to find the activation error in the incomplete spell by reading the formula rapidly with my eyes, I was forced to admit defeat.
“…I heard that dragon-shaped monsters can breathe fire from their mouths too.”
Right on cue, as I noticed the spell that wouldn’t activate, two dragon monsters appeared on both sides of the roof, their tongues flicking.
“Screech.”
“Caw-caw.”
Whoosh!
Sure enough, flames erupted along with the breath they exhaled.
So this was it. My end would be burning to death.
‘Last time I fell. This time I’ll be burned alive. Quite the dramatic life.’
Soon one of the two monsters opened its massive jaws and drew in a deep breath.
It seemed like it was about to show me a particularly scorching skill.
I couldn’t bear to watch the sight unfold, so I squeezed my eyes shut.
But even then, the power of a Grand Mage was gathering slowly in my palm—and since I hadn’t fully made it my own, I needed a bit more time to activate large-scale magic.
Thirty seconds to kill every monster darkening the sky.
No, just ten seconds would be enough to damage even one of those fire-breathing beasts right now.
‘Please.’
That’s what I prayed, silently.
Save me. I’ll do anything you ask.
But I never thought an opportunity would actually come.
In the span of a breath, a warm wind brushed against my rigid body.
At the same time, I heard something slash cleanly through the air, and then dull, heavy shapes fell one after another, hitting the ground with heavy thuds and rolling away.
“…?”
In shock, I opened the eyes I’d clenched shut.
When I lifted my head, the monsters that had threatened me were gone, leaving only severed corpses at my feet.
Checking the severed heads, they belonged to the fire-breathing dragon that had been shrieking and flicking its tongue just seconds before, and the other dragon that had been cackling beside it.
“What…?”
When did they die?
“Who on earth…?”
I spun around in bewilderment, and in the next instant, the horde of monsters that had been flying freely in the sky came crashing to the ground.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Only four sounds.
Hundreds of monsters fell from the air all at once, cleaved in two.
“….”
My legs gave way and I sank quietly to the ground.
It was a sight that went beyond awe—my whole body bristled with wonder.
Every monster that had invaded Delpinid lay dead, and dominating the sky was nothing but a man’s back.
Even from that distant, small silhouette, I could recognize him.
Of course I could. He was someone I knew well.
It was the Black Hair and the Robe that only members of the Mage Tower Security Division could wear—I’d seen them countless times before.
“Madam.”
“….”
“Are you all right?”
He descended from the vast emptiness above, reaching me in an instant.
Despite the fall from such a height, he landed before me with the same composed expression he’d always worn.
Between the shattered buildings, the wind shrieked with a piercing howl.
Even through the dust storm that threatened to blind me, I could see with perfect clarity.
“Ma….”
Carlo—nothing more than a minor supporting character in the novel I’d read—my husband….
“The Mage Tower Master?”
I wanted to cry.
“Carlo….”
The rumors were true? The Tower Master had been hiding inside the Mage Tower all along?
No, it couldn’t be. My husband couldn’t possibly be the Mage Tower Master!
* * *
“…I will tell you everything truthfully.”
With a few gestures from Carlo, the chaos around us was effortlessly restored to order.
The pitch-black Portal that had opened to the Demon Realm, the hundreds of Monsters that had swarmed the sky and its edges….
All of them plummeting to the ground in an instant, their forms dissolving into corpses.
In this place where everything had returned to its proper place, only we remained in disarray.
Between us, our conversation, the secrets he and I had each hidden from one another.
“…Ah.”
I sat down on the bed beside Carlo. I should have said something to him, but all that escaped my lips were single syllables—”ah,” “um”—nothing more coherent.
It was rather difficult to maintain any composure when my thoughts could barely form words.
‘Hmm.’
I had actually hidden my magical rank from him.
But my husband had hidden his identity too.
It was a far more significant secret than the fact that I was a Grand Mage….
“No less than the Mage Tower Master….”
My workplace colleague. My husband….
‘The very highest authority at the workplace I’d cursed so much.’
The more I turned it over in my mind, the more my head spun.
How could this be?
For someone like me—a Transmigrator, of all people—this was something I’d never imagined in my wildest dreams. I’d even married him, and yet all this time I hadn’t the slightest suspicion of anything amiss.
The shock refused to fade. If I could, I’d have torn at my Hair with both hands without restraint.
But for now, all I could manage was to sit like a wooden puppet, staring at him with unfocused eyes.
As the silence stretched, Carlo slowly moistened his dry lips with his tongue.
Then, as if at a loss for what to do, he spoke in a low voice.
“You, madam….”
“….”
“You were the victim of someone’s scheme.”
Suddenly, this grim turn in the conversation.
When the tremor at the edges of his voice gradually gave way to a completely steady tone, my own confused mind followed suit, settling into clarity and composure.
“So you’re saying the composition of the Mana Suppression Potion itself was unchanged, but I shouldn’t have drunk it all at once?”
“Excessive suppression actually loosens the cognitive abilities of whoever takes it. The Mana that escaped uncontrolled was likely caused by the same principle.”
The medicine Carlo had prepared for me was a highly concentrated stabilizer meant to be taken in multiple doses over time.
Moreover, it was exactly the kind of Mana Suppression Potion that even novice Mages—those who hadn’t yet mastered their power—would hesitate to take, and only in cases of grave injury requiring the seal of their Mana.
What’s more, it had been deliberately formulated as a liquid rather than a pill meant to be swallowed whole, so that it could be taken in real-time while monitoring one’s condition….
In short, it was an essential potion for a complete beginner—a newborn Mage whose Mana had only just awakened.
I tilted my head, unable to agree with this point.
“But my condition was just exhaustion at most—it wasn’t anything that serious, was it?”
“Left unchecked, you would have gone into Runaway.”
“Runaway?”
My stubborn objection dissolved in an instant. Yes, that’s right—the power of a Grand Mage hidden deep within had been remarkably potent.
My Mana level was that of a newborn child.
Still, I suspected Carlo would know everything anyway.
“I know that you are the next Grand Mage of Water.”
“…What?”
When did he…?
“I knew all along. From our first meeting.”
At his words—from our first meeting—I tilted my head once more.
“Are you talking about the day we first met? My first day at the Mage Tower?”
A memory did surface, vague but present.
I’d been lost that day, and I’d first encountered a man named Carlo in the elevator.
But he shook his head.
“No. Long before that.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————