On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 64

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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 64
A dark figure materialized abruptly in the Tower Master’s austere office.
The cloying, sickly stench of blood filled the space in an instant.
It came from the monster’s blood soaked into Cade’s skin.
With each step he took, crimson droplets fell to the floor.
He drove himself mercilessly, exhausting body and mind in the hunt—only to find respite in the slaughter itself.
Yet the moment he returned to the Magic Tower, knowing Vivian Solling remained within its walls, his thoughts spiraled into chaos.
Splash.
A dark handprint smeared across the windowpane.
He dragged his hand downward, and the reflection staring back at him was a grotesque mask of gore.
“……Monster.”
Cade’s voice dropped to a murmur as he slammed his fist against the glass, shattering his own reflection.
“What’s wrong with it? It can’t get its act together, can it? Ha! Completely broken?”
“Hey. Bring me the broken one. I need something obedient.”
“It’s disgusting. Like some creature. How is anyone standing here normally without losing their mind?”
“The one the Tower Master brought. Seems broken, doesn’t it? Gives me chills just thinking about it.”
“Serajad. Am I truly broken?”
Behind the phantom echoes of voices past, Vivian’s voice followed like a period to a sentence.
“You’ve always been like this. You’re incomprehensible, strange! There’s something wrong with you!”
‘Vivian. Am I really broken?’
Cade thought perhaps he was. Vivian was clever, after all.
She would never fail to notice if something in him was broken.
If he were not broken, he would never have made her so furious—so sorrowful.
‘I’ve been found out.’
He stared at his reflection in the glass for a long moment, then jerked the curtains shut with irritation.
A knock came at the door, and his aide entered.
“Tower Master. There’s a problem with the Central Barrier Stone. However…….”
Ben hesitated before continuing.
“An inspector is requesting an audience with you.”
“What for?”
“She says your ‘work’ in the Coniferous Forest needs to be documented. She’s asking that if you’re going to keep running, you could at least prepare the paperwork.”
“That’s all? ……Well. There’s nothing else she’d want anyway.”
“If you’re going to see the inspector, I can handle the Central Barrier myself―”
“No. Go now.”
Cade pulled an empty bucket from beneath his desk and held it above his head, turning it upside down.
From the bucket that had contained nothing, luminous water cascaded down like a waterfall.
In moments, the monster’s blood was completely washed away. A single snap of his fingers dried him completely.
Once again, Cade fled the office to escape Vivian’s presence.
Ben followed him through Teleportation, his expression troubled.
They arrived at the Central Barrier, located on the outskirts of Melgote.
Countless wizards’ mana was woven into its structure, much like the Magic Tower’s own barriers.
Frozen earth clods had accumulated into hillocks in the cold, and scattered throughout were the remnants of what appeared to be an ancient monastery, crumbled beyond recognition.
Difficult to find and rarely visited, it made for a suitable location to house the Central Barrier.
Cade examined the barrier’s conduit first.
A Barrier Stone stood at the center of an enormous Magic Circle.
Upon it floated a Ring, swathed in layers of mana, radiating brilliant light.
It was the vital conduit that bound together the countless protective barriers of Melgote and the Magic Tower in intricate harmony—an indispensable mechanism.
“The Ring is intact. Though the protective barrier’s mana will need replenishing.”
As Cade examined the protective barrier’s condition,
a wizard appeared, dragging an unconscious mercenary and dumping him at Cade’s feet.
“I stopped him before he could take his own life. He’s clearly under the Grand Duke’s command.”
“Naturally. Dump him somewhere far from here. If you drag him back to the Tower, he’ll explode anyway. If it bothers you, throw him in the sea.”
Cade waved his hand dismissively, then froze.
“―There’s something wrong with you! There’s clearly something broken!”
The voice came unbidden to his mind, and with it, an image of Vivian’s contemptuous gaze.
“……No. Leave him at the entrance of the Duke’s Residence instead.”
“At the Duke’s Residence, sir? Understood.”
The wizard seemed puzzled by the changed order, but at Ben’s pointed look, he obeyed without question.
The Grand Duke’s assault had caused the protective barrier surrounding the Ring to slip slightly out of alignment, mana seeping away.
This was why they had to return periodically to replenish its power.
‘People causing trouble whether it’s the Magic Tower or here. All the same.’
As Cade infused mana into the protective barrier, he gazed quietly at the Ring, the barrier’s conduit.
It held a green stone that matched Vivian’s eyes perfectly.
***
The Grand Duke of Melgote emerged from the basement of his residence and wiped the blood from his hands with a towel offered by a servant.
The magical beasts in their cages trembled at the scent of kindred blood, their breath catching in terror.
The Grand Duke smiled, clearly entertained by their fear.
It was a smile both graceful and benevolent, at odds with the bloodstains soaking into the towel.
“Emilynn. How did it go?”
“The wizards arrived quickly, so most have already fled. We caught one.”
“One? That’s quite impressive.”
“But the mercenary was left outside the residence.”
“How petulant. Tell them to bury the mercenary on some appropriate mountain.”
“Your Grace……he’s alive.”
The Grand Duke turned to regard the head servant.
“With all his limbs severed?”
“No, Your Grace. He’s completely intact. Only unconscious.”
“……Is that so?”
The Grand Duke’s smile deepened in a curious way.
“There’s been a shift in sentiment. I remember leaving a certain civil servant alive too, the one who flits about the Magic Tower. I wonder what’s changed. Pity I can’t sleep well from wondering.”
“Shall I send a spy into the Magic Tower?”
“Spare yourself. A spy would only be exposed at once and wind the Tower Master up, which is mildly entertaining but inefficient. I’ll investigate my own way.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The head servant withdrew tactfully from the dining room and waited near the door.
The Grand Duke swirled his wine glass slowly, watching the cowering magical beasts.
They were beasts of considerable lethality.
He felt greatest pleasure when creatures of such formidable power existed beneath his heel as mere toys and tools.
‘If that one didn’t exist, the Magic Tower would be under my heel by now.’
The Grand Duke clicked his tongue in regret and took a sip of wine.
Had it not been for Cade, the Tower Master’s seat would have been hers.
The position of Grand Duke of Melgote was not without merit, yet it paled beside the Tower Master.
Imperial blood, however noble, meant nothing when the princess was never even considered a successor candidate—she was merely a bargaining chip in foreign dealings.
Had she not manifested her mana and claimed Melgote, she would already be some eastern prince’s bride.
The Grand Duke set down his wine glass and began drumming the tabletop with one finger. Tap. Tap.
‘Once I have the Central Barrier, not only Melgote but the Magic Tower’s barrier as well will fall into my grasp…….’
He recalled the Ring, the Central Barrier’s conduit.
Since only the true owner of a conduit could lower or manipulate its protective barrier, his choice to use that Ring was quite sound.
‘There’s no leverage with the dead, no way to threaten or seduce them. If his betrothed were still alive, how much more entertaining this would be.’
When he’d discovered that the next Tower Master candidate had a beloved, the world had seemed within his grasp.
But she died before he could even use her, leaving him no choice but to shatter the Ring to take the Central Barrier.
He’d been attacking the Ring’s protective barrier consistently, but the Tower Master was no passive observer, so progress had been slow.
‘If only that arrogant wretch would be less arrogant, I could have grounds to confine him somewhere. But he makes no such careless moves.’
It was frustrating how he avoided blatant mistakes, even when reminded of his dead lover.
‘For all his refinement, he’s merely a lowborn creature. A beast. And yet he dares possess such power?’
The more the Grand Duke dwelt on it, the greater his rage became, and mana roiled within his clenched fists.
‘The Tower Master’s seat was mine.’
The wine glass, unable to withstand that power, shattered with a sharp crack, glass scattering everywhere.
The head servant approached without alarm and wiped the Grand Duke’s hand clean. His mana-sheathed skin bore not a scratch.
“Emilynn. I’ll need something from the archive soon.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Her voice was gentle, but the Grand Duke’s gaze burned with inferiority and greed.
‘Once I have that, I’ll want for nothing more.’
The Tower Master was an accomplished wizard, but that was all he was.
‘I could become even stronger. Or perhaps……’
The ability of a subordinate was the same as possessing it oneself, was it not?
One simply had to seize it and keep it at one’s feet.
As the Grand Duke’s smile grew colder, the magical beasts huddled ever tighter, trembling in dread.

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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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