On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 24

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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 24
Being an Attuner didn’t mean you could do whatever you wanted while communing with a Magical Beast.
No matter how much an Attuner lowered the creature’s guard, attempting to control it through punishment could end badly.
Aster exhaled a sigh of exasperation.
“Vivian. Since you’re going to lose anyway, it seems you’ve chosen another cowardly method true to form. We only need to recover the detection device the Crystal Whale took—if you cared so much about Magical Beasts, you should’ve joined the Monster Sanctuary instead.”
His tone was instructive, yet carried no hint of shame or guilt.
‘Am I the strange one? Why is he so confident?’
What was certain, though, was that he had put everyone aboard the research vessel in danger.
Suddenly, the Crystal Whale—struck by his Empathic Communication and whip—revealed its displeasure by diving deep, then bursting forth and breaching above the surface.
“Aaaahhh!”
“The, the Crystal Whales…!”
The other Crystal Whales, equally enraged, hid their bodies beneath the water while lashing the surface with their tails alone—Tail Slapping.
Because of the whales’ tantrum, the waves grew steadily rougher, and the research vessel pitched side to side.
The Wizards protected those who nearly flew overboard past the railings.
The Crystal Whales’ mana collided chaotically with the remnants of the Monster Beast, creating bizarre weather.
Snow swirled, then thunder and lightning cracked, then lukewarm wind blew in.
Yukel and Simona clung to each other, their faces drained of color.
Even the Crystal Whales’ unsettled emotions whispered into me, and I felt nausea rising.
Yet Aster still hung from the railing, trying to call a whale closer.
“If you pull the Crystal Whale over now, both it and we could get hurt.”
“If we leave it like this and the detection device gets taken deeper into the ocean, what then?”
“Tower Master!”
In my frustration, I called out to Cade loudly.
“Do we really have to find the lost Mana Detection Device?”
Cade’s Robe fluttered roughly as he approached, the corners of his mouth lifting at an angle.
With his composed and unhurried bearing, he seemed to stand in an entirely different space.
He drew close, as if insisting I listen carefully, and answered.
“And if we don’t?”
……
I bit my lip hard and turned to look at Aster.
They say multiple Wizards can even levitate a ship, but under these conditions it was impossible.
Where the Crystal Whales’ mana thrashed violently, a Wizard’s mana couldn’t flow straight—it bent toward the crystal instead.
The larger the spell and the more mana it consumed, the worse the effect. We could only use simple, small spells.
“Aster. Stop.”
Aster didn’t even turn to look at my call—he just kept trying to pull the whale over. His aura was brutally coercive and forceful.
According to other agents, Aster had been famous since his hiring for handling Magical Beasts gently.
When he’d calmed the deer Magical Beast, he’d been kind enough, so I couldn’t understand what had changed.
‘No, wait. He started gently with the Crystal Whale too, didn’t he? Could he be turning forceful whenever the creature won’t obey?’
That was when Simona let out a scream.
“Simona! Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine.”
“But you’re bleeding?”
A heavy Rope that had hung from the sail had struck her head. Blood dripped down her temple.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
After deliberating, the moment I pressed myself against the railing, Aster sneered at me.
“So you’re going to do the same thing anyway—what was all that about being different?”
“I don’t know about being different, but I’m certainly different from you.”
I stretched my hand toward the Crystal Whales, which kept thrashing their tails.
“Calm down! I didn’t mean to provoke you!”
The golden Empathic Energy that flowed from me rippled across the churning sea surface.
The massive, overwhelming tidal wave of emotion from the Crystal Whales crashed against me.
Ugh……
My and Aster’s Empathic Energy collided within the whales, sending an even more violent emotional surge barreling toward me.
“Vivian. Look here. A new Compass—a birthday gift for your mother. Unfortunately, I’ll be away that day, so you’ll give it to her in my stead, won’t you?”
“Take your hands off this at once! Don’t you know how precious and historically significant this is? You’re not to set foot in my Study again.”
“You should sleep early tonight. We’ll head out to sea before dawn tomorrow.”
My father’s voice drifted like a specter at the edge of my hearing.
I stumbled for a moment but gripped the railing so hard my hands went numb, and I held on.
Praying desperately for them to hear me.
In that instant, my eyes met those of the nearest Crystal Whale.
Beyond words, a strange sensation as if the whale and I were connected as one consumed my entire body.
At the same time, Aster’s Empathic Energy choked my breath away.
‘I want to push that aura away. It’s unpleasant and disgusting.’
I naturally pushed outward against the Empathic Energy he was emitting, caught its flow, and pulled it toward myself, stealing it away.
I didn’t know how I’d done it, but it didn’t seem difficult at all.
“How did you…?”
Aster stared at me in shock, but ignoring him, I called out to Cade.
“Tower Master. Move me over the sea. Into the midst of the Crystal Whales.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Cade seemed to hesitate for a moment, then took my hand as if to escort it and stood beside me.
“…Huh?”
And we both rose gently above the railing.
I’d thought he was going to move only me, but he took my hand and moved with me.
“Walk. Just move your feet slowly.”
“…!”
I lowered my foot below the railing, relying on his single hand.
I was walking through empty air.
Even though I felt no ground beneath my feet, I could walk.
“Wow.”
It felt as though I were walking atop the golden waves I’d unfolded.
In the midst of those fierce waves, I extended my power like a vine, trying to attune with each Crystal Whale one by one.
“I didn’t come to attack you. I just wanted to talk.”
I suppressed the churning in my stomach and focused on the whales’ emotions.
Emotions far more complex and varied than those of other Magical Beasts.
Rather than suppress those feelings—as turbulent as a stormy sea—I cradled them in my embrace.
Even if I couldn’t hold their emotions deep in my heart, I could observe and accept them.
In this moment, I was them, and they were me.
‘We are safe.’
The heartbeat that thundered like a great drum gradually found its rhythm again.
The capricious strange weather stilled, the roiling surface calmed, the pitching research vessel steadied.
The Crystal Whales, now peaceful, circled slowly around the research vessel, conversing among themselves.
“That’s enough.”
The moment I saw them return to peace, strength drained from my legs and I nearly collapsed.
If Cade hadn’t supported me, I would have fallen into the sea without question.
He parted the stabilized Crystal Whales’ mana and returned to the research vessel.
The instant my feet touched the deck, Aster grabbed my arm.
“What did you do? What was that, you—!”
I kicked his shin, and he screamed and fell back.
“What about you? How could you, as an Attuner, do such a thing?”
“Wow. Now you’re using violence.”
“You used it first! I feel their emotions whether I want to or not—how could you try to crush them like that?”
Having harmonized to some degree with the Crystal Whales’ feelings, my anger toward Aster didn’t fade easily.
I truly couldn’t understand it.
There was even a saying that Attuners were designed so they could never do anything cruel to a Magical Beast.
When you feel their pain and fear through your very skin, how could any Attuner want to torment them?
‘If you’d attuned with a Crystal Whale during the test, if you’d felt that their emotions were far more rich and complex than other Magical Beasts, you could never do something like that.’
As I glared at Aster in indignation, doubt suddenly struck me.
“You couldn’t have.”
A question I could barely believe formed on my lips.
“Did you act that way during the Crystal Whale attunement test too?”
……
“……No, you couldn’t have. If you did, you wouldn’t have passed the Department Transfer Test.”
Aster said nothing, and an icy silence hung over the deck.
Just as I was about to press him for an answer.
“Um? The Crystal Whales are moving again.”
A clerk pointed at the whales, trembling with unease.
I sensed the presence of more Crystal Whales approaching from farther away and looked down at the sea.
The Crystal Whales’ full attention was fixed in one direction.
“It doesn’t look like only the Crystal Whales are moving.”
As I pointed to the thick wall of fog that hung heavily before us, everyone’s gaze turned there—the Sea Fog the research vessel had broken through earlier.
From within that dense mist, a ship emerged.
There were no flag patterns or ship decorations, but I recognized what that vessel was immediately.
A horned Magical Beast was tethered to the bow railing.
“It’s a Whaling Vessel.”
I murmured.
That ship was an illegal Crystal Whale Whaling Vessel.

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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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