On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 36

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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 36
‘I’m exhausted.’
The moment I reached my room, I collapsed onto the bed.
It had already been three days since I’d left the Observatory and rushed straight to the Tower Master’s library, burying myself in books.
‘Even if I love reading, this is too much.’
The scale of the library was so enormous that three days was nowhere near enough to find what I was looking for.
I couldn’t even confirm whether a book with the information I needed existed in that collection.
‘Still, it’s not as though I’ve gained nothing.’
I pulled out my notebook from my bag and opened it.
Whenever I’d found useful passages while sifting through ancient texts, I’d copied them down, and among them were things like these.
“Attuners are unnatural beings. If they can read the emotions of Magical Beasts simply because they possess magical power like animals do, then they should be able to read the minds of Wizards as well.”
“They know the emotions of Magical Beasts that even Wizards cannot read. It is worth investigating Empathy not as a different branch of Magic, but from the perspective that it originates from the source of Magical Beasts themselves.”
The author was merely presenting a viewpoint—it wasn’t a sufficiently researched hypothesis, and the book was old—but the content seemed plausible.
Since becoming an Attuner was due to Magical Beasts, attuning with Magical Beasts might not be a human ability but rather the power of the Magical Beast itself.
‘Thinking about it that way, I’m not even sure whether my catching Aster’s Empathy Energy was my own ability.’
I was jotting down points of concern in my notebook when—
a knock sounded at the door, followed by the innkeeper’s voice.
“Miss, are you in your room?”
I hurried up and opened the door to find the innkeeper holding a letter.
“It’s late, but a letter has just arrived for you.”
“Thank you.”
I could tell from the seal stamped on the paper envelope alone.
The letter from the Director that I’d been waiting for had finally arrived.
My exhaustion vanished in an instant, and I gave the innkeeper a tip before retreating into my room.
But when I opened the letter, there was only a single page inside—no official document in sight as I’d hoped.
‘Don’t tell me they’re now asking me to hand this matter over to someone else?’
Anxious at this worrying possibility, I read through the letter.
‘…Wait? What does this mean?’
I was unsettled by the unexpected contents of the letter.
To summarize: aside from the Interior Minister, he had told no one about my letter, and he was consulting with the Interior Ministry to draft the most suitable and proper official document for receiving the new Tower Master’s first seal, which was why his reply was delayed.
In the meantime, other departments had apparently rushed to issue their own official documents first and dispatched people to Melgote in throngs, catching even the Director off guard.
‘That doesn’t make sense. If it wasn’t the Director, how did all those Civil Servants even know about this and find their way here?’
I feel badly for suspecting the Director without basis, but I couldn’t think of anyone else who might be responsible.
‘Could it be…?’
An uneasy thought was beginning to take shape when the hallway suddenly grew noisy outside.
‘What’s going on?’
Several people hurried back and forth down the corridor, and then someone began pounding on the door—a knock far too careless to be from an innkeeper.
“You in there! I know what you’re up to! Open this door right now!”
Startled by a woman’s shout, I quickly folded the letter into my pocket and stepped toward the door.
Not knowing who was outside, I couldn’t open the door carelessly, and just as I was about to demand what this rudeness meant, I heard a familiar voice.
“Really, is it true? There was a burglary?”
It was the innkeeper’s voice.
“That’s right. My room’s been ransacked and my valuables have gone missing. I can’t trust the local Security Forces, so I’ll find the culprit myself.”
“C-couldn’t you please wait until the owner returns shortly? Or I could bring the master key, and this dark…!”
“There’s someone in here, yet they won’t open the door—that’s highly suspicious. Breaking down the door might be faster. Unbecoming as it is for a woman alone in a foreign land to be victimized by a thief, I am a mercenary, after all!”
Only then did I realize what was happening, and I hastily opened the door before they could smash it to pieces.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, no. The burglar…?”
The woman, who had been about to draw her sword and demolish the door, looked taken aback.
“You hardly look like a burglar. Still, one can never be too careful.”
From her distinctive speech and foreign features, she appeared to be from the Eastern Continent.
“I’m Vivian Solling, staying in this room. As you can see, I’m a Civil Servant of the Empire. And who are you?”
“I’m Choyun. A mercenary from the Eastern Continent.”
Choyun the mercenary gave a polite bow in greeting. True to her Eastern Continent origins, she was tall and powerfully built.
“So there was a burglary in your room?”
“That’s right. My room’s been ransacked and my valuables are gone. You don’t look like a burglar, but I’ll examine the room anyway.”
“Wait, are you seriously about to search my room right now!”
Without so much as asking permission, she simply strode into my guest room.
I tried to block her path, but I was no match for a mercenary of her size.
“Oh no, what a mess. I’m so sorry, miss.”
The innkeeper standing at the door could only shift nervously from foot to foot, unsure what to do.
The innkeeper had done nothing wrong. Against a mercenary this unreasonable, even the owner wouldn’t have been able to stop her.
The mercenary rummaged through the wardrobe, opened desk drawers, and even searched through my bag.
“This is outrageous! No matter how precious your belongings are, you can’t do this! Follow proper procedure and report it to the Security Forces!”
“You think the mighty Empire’s Security Forces would help a mere foreigner like me?”
The mercenary didn’t even glance at me as she replied.
Whether she was genuinely searching for valuables or not, she suddenly started flipping through books and scrutinizing some notes I’d jotted in the margins.
Then she suddenly stopped, drew her sword, and thrust it sharply through the open window.
“What—what are you doing!”
“Kyaaaaaah! The curtains!”
Both the innkeeper and I screamed at once.
The mercenary narrowed her eyes as though sensing something, scanning the surroundings.
“…My belongings don’t appear to be here.”
She sheathed her sword, though she continued to eye me with suspicion.
“Something’s odd. There are traces of multiple people coming and going in this room.”
“Have you never heard of an inn?”
“In any case, I apologize. Forgive my rudeness.”
“Leave. Now.”
At my curt gesture toward the door, the mercenary complied without protest.
Even so, as though still uncertain, she cast one last glance around my room.
“Should you need anything, knock on my door. I’m in the room right next to yours.”
“That’s all right. The Security Forces station is close by.”
“But there’s a sword even closer—right here.”
Standing in the doorway, Choyun flashed a reassuring smile and tapped her sword hilt.
“There’s an even closer sword here. Well then.”
I held up the paper knife threateningly and slammed the door shut with a bang.
“Have a good night!”
I heard her shameless parting words from beyond the door but pretended not to.
‘What on earth! How can a person be so arbitrarily self-centered?’
I irritably set down the paper knife and turned away.
In that moment, a scream erupted from the dark shadow visible outside the window.
“Kyaa, sucked—!”
The instant I saw Cade place a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, I clapped my hand over my mouth, but the scream I hadn’t completely suppressed seemed to leak out into the hallway.
The mercenary came running back and began pounding on the door again.
“What’s happened! Open this door at once!”
“Just go away!”
Finally, after I shouted irritably, all my strength drained away and I collapsed into a chair.
Cade quietly entered the room, and as he waved his hand, a faint light enveloped the space.
“You can speak freely. I’ve cast Soundproofing Magic.”
“Cade. How—when did you get here?”
I asked wearily as he felt along the room’s door, examining it carefully.
“Ever since the mercenary started searching your room.”
“Ah. So that’s why she suddenly thrust her sword through the window…”
Now the mercenary’s reckless behavior made sense, though it sent a chill down my spine.
She’d sensed Cade standing outside the window under Transparency Magic.
Despite her rash entry and odd conduct, it was clear she was a remarkably skilled mercenary.
The thought of such a person staying in the room right next door was more than unsettling—it was frightening.
“There’s a strange person in the room next door. What should we do?”
“You need to change rooms.”
“But I have so much luggage…”
“Not you.”

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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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