On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 5

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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 5
That wizards don’t carry weapons is a matter of pride in their magic, a kind of self-respect—but Cade had none of that.
He seemed to view it simply: if a weapon could destroy a hostile presence, the method hardly mattered.
The previous Tower Master had recognized his magical talent and raised him from childhood, yet apparently had failed to cultivate his character.
Cade had always been alone at the Magic Tower, and he seemed to accept it as natural.
When he suddenly defied the former Tower Master and left one day, no one was particularly surprised.
What shocked them was his return after the previous Tower Master’s death.
“I wondered if he’d finally come back as a person…….”
“He wasn’t that way with the civil servants.”
“But he laughs now, and we can actually have conversations. I thought maybe he’d gotten some kind of socialization training somewhere.”
“Burning someone’s head off while laughing doesn’t count as socialization. Though I’ll admit I’m grateful he’s on our side.”
The wizards worried that Cade’s true nature, which he’d been suppressing, might resurface.
“Is he really trying to kill that civil servant…… ? It seemed like he was genuinely angry this time, didn’t it?”
“Go upstairs and try to stop him.”
“Me? No way. You go. You’ve been on missions with the Tower Master before—you two were a pair once.”
Ben swallowed hard as the memory of that sharp dagger grazing his neck resurfaced.
“I…… can’t do it…….”
“So we just let a civil servant get killed inside the Magic Tower?”
The wizards knew that the civil servants dispatched to the Magic Tower were merely office workers following orders from above.
The previous Tower Master had taught that wizards were guardians and seekers of magical power, not slaughterers.
The current Tower Master was about to commit meaningless slaughter against an innocent civil servant.
Just as they were muttering that this really wouldn’t do, a perfectly convenient person appeared.
“I’m back! Huh? Why’s the atmosphere so weird?”
“Rana!”
It was Rana, the youngest wizard in the Magic Tower at just fourteen.
They hastily pushed her toward the stairs.
“Rana! The Tower Master is trying to murder a civil servant!”
Rana was a full ten years younger than Cade, so innocent that even he hadn’t been able to treat her coldly.
Learning late, Rana had only recently started attending the School to learn letters, and she climbed the stairs with a bewildered expression.
“But the Tower Master has never actually killed a civil servant, right?”
“He dragged the civil servant into his office!”
“Damn it! The Tower Master’s really going through with this!”
Rana, startled into alarm, rushed frantically to the office and pounded on the door.
“Tower Master! I hear you dragged a civil servant in there!”
She had to stop him before he went through with it. Rana wasn’t yet an adult—if the Magic Tower fell into chaos, she’d have nowhere to go.
“How many times do I have to tell you! Civil servants can’t be killed! They’re just pitiful salaried workers!”
She knocked hard and shouted, and the door opened faster than expected.
Beside the Tower Master stood someone who looked far too unharmed to be a dying civil servant.
A woman with jet-black hair and deep green eyes was perfectly suited to the white civil servant’s uniform.
“Hello. I’m Rana. You seem fine?”
“I’m Vivian Solling, and I’m perfectly well.”
The way she bowed slightly was elegant.
Rana, flushed by Vivian’s sharp yet intelligent air and her sharp, alert gaze, clutched her schoolbag strap tightly.
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
“Rana. Don’t make a fuss. See our guest out.”
“Do you mean I should set her hair on fire instead?”
As Rana tilted her head in confusion, Vivian shot Cade a look of disbelief.
“You’re having a child do that? Really? I’m sorry to be blunt on first meeting, but aren’t you insane?”
Cade let out a weary sigh.
“I’m tired of that sort of thing. Just let her go.”
Then, the moment Vivian stepped out of his office, he slammed the door shut.
Rana guided Vivian, who was staring at the firmly closed door, toward the stairs.
“He’s a bit prickly, isn’t he?”
Vivian gave a startled cough and smoothed her expression.
“I had no idea there were wizards this young.”
“The Tower Master entered the Magic Tower even younger than me. Before he was ten, they said.”
“……Really?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a civil servant leave unharmed. Usually they run out crying.”
Vivian touched her hair self-consciously.
“That’s a relief. Did you come to rescue me, Rana?”
“Goodness, rescue is too much of a stretch. I just came to stop the Tower Master. When I got back from school, everyone was in a panic saying the Tower Master was about to kill a civil servant.”
“……Grown adults pushed a schoolgirl into the Tower Master’s office?”
Were they in their right minds? Vivian muttered to herself as she stepped into the lobby.
The anxious wizards breathed a sigh of relief at Vivian’s unharmed appearance.
“She’s…… alive.”
“Doesn’t look injured at all. Did he just psychologically torture her?”
“But why is she looking at us like we’re trash?”
Vivian passed through the lobby of wizards, regarding them with disdain.
Outside the Magic Tower, the sun was already beginning to set.
Rana pointed to a waiting carriage.
“You can take that. It won’t go all the way to the Imperial Capital, so you’ll have to get out halfway.”
“I’m not returning to the Imperial Capital anyway.”
Rana’s eyes widened.
“You’re staying in Melgote?”
“I need the Tower Master’s seal, after all.”
“The official documents……”
“Yes. Those garbage documents.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll only need one signature on the least garbage document.”
Rana thought that Vivian was somewhat different from any civil servant she’d ever seen.
Perhaps because of that, she found herself saying something she’d never said to a civil servant before.
“See you again soon.”
“Yes. Study hard at school.”
Rana watched the carriage disappear into the distance, then looked up toward the highest floor of the Magic Tower.
It was too high to see clearly, but the curtain seemed to have just rustled.
‘It doesn’t seem like he ever meant to kill her. Not when he called the finest carriage for her.’
***
Heavy water pressed down on my entire body.
No matter how I stretched my hands and thrashed, the distant surface only grew further away.
I sank into darkness for a long time.
As the undulating darkness stirred my memories, I remained simply a part of the ocean.
“Are you going to search for the Crystal Whale again? When will you be back this time?”
“Don’t make that face, Vivian. I might discover something truly remarkable this time.”
“What good is that? Have you spoken to Mother? How long has it been since Aunt’s funeral…….”
“Oh, has it really been that long…… ? Let’s talk when I get back.”
“You said the same thing last time. Wait! Father!”
The last image I had of my father was, as always, his retreating back growing distant.
As that back—never turning toward me—receded, it became clearer, and then another’s back seemed to overlap it.
“I’m sorry, Vivian. Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself.”
I was sick of watching retreating backs disappear. I wanted to close my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see, but my eyes were already closed.
When Father’s back disappeared, when Mother’s coffin disappeared, when Cade’s back disappeared—I had wanted to close my eyes each time.
I had feared that if I closed them once, it would be like sand slipping away before I could open them again.
‘So Cade left too. I knew anyone who turned away would leave eventually, so why do I always…….’
The moment I exhaled the last breath I’d been holding.
Whoooooom—
A vibration rang through the ocean, wrapping around my entire body.
Through my fading vision, a massive fin passed.
Even that brief glimpse told me what this presence was.
A colossal Crystal Whale circled through the water and stopped before me, filling my field of vision.
That of all things should be at my side as I died…….
‘I’d rather die alone. Get away.’
I mustered my last strength and swung my hand toward the Crystal Whale.
Then, suddenly drawing near, my hand touched the whale’s rostrum.
Brilliant white light exploded from where my hand made contact with the Crystal Whale.
“……!”
My heart began to race as though it might burst. My soul resonated with the Crystal Whale’s incomprehensible power.
This sensation was new to me. An overwhelming force poured in through every part of my body, and countless emotions surged up at once.
[We never left. We were always here.]
A voice like a vibration echoed in my mind, and my vision suddenly brightened. Just before consciousness slipped away, I felt my body lift onto the whale’s back.
***
I jolted awake in alarm, and the sound of a ship’s horn filled my ears.
This was the Inn—the administrative building was providing long-term lodging here.
‘……It was a dream.’

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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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