On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 68

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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 68
“I’m just looking for a way to trace the Black Mage’s traces.”
Cade’s words weighed on my mind.
‘Black Magic is like some dark history that disappeared ages ago—why is he searching for a Black Mage?’
The aura from the Grand Duke of Melgote felt slightly different from what I sensed in the Black Magic Grimoire.
It was a strange sensation—less murky than that, yet emanating an odd, twisted vitality.
Unlikely as it seemed, if that unsettling feeling were somehow connected to Black Magic, asking Cade about it might actually help.
But encountering him was difficult enough, and since I myself didn’t understand what that sensation was, I had no idea what to ask.
‘If I’m caught holding the Black Magic Grimoire, my excuse was just one line. He might not even want to talk to me.’
I couldn’t ask the other wizards either, which only frustrated me.
‘Is there really no way to figure this out alone?’
As I pondered this, I glanced around the bookshelf that connected to another archive.
‘If I could see or touch the Black Magic Grimoire up close, maybe I’d understand properly…….’
Wasn’t now, with Cade gone, the perfect opportunity?
I quickly tidied the books I’d taken out and picked up Tris.
“Tris. Can you take me to that shelf you brought Cade to? Will you help me?”
[Chirp!]
My docile, adorable Magical Beast carried me on her back and soon delivered me to the entrance of the Black Magic Archives.
But the moment I stepped down from Tris’s back and approached the bookshelf.
A magic circle suddenly flared on the floor, and my feet stuck fast.
“W-what is this? A trap? Tris, there wasn’t anything like this last time, was there?”
[Chirp?]
“Tris. Can you break this? You’re such a capable Magical Beast—you should be able to.”
Had Cade anticipated I’d come back and set this trap?
If so, his prediction was right, but binding my feet like this was just too underhanded!
Tris couldn’t dispel this magic either—she whimpered without even stepping onto the circle.
Then a robe’s hem brushed past my shoulder.
Cade stood before me, looking down at me—though I hadn’t even noticed him arrive.
That look of “I knew it” made me ashamed, and I avoided his gaze.
“Vivian. What are you doing here?”
“……There’s something I needed to confirm.”
“Are you going to report me?”
“I didn’t come here planning to, but I suppose it’s possible.”
When I answered curtly, Cade snapped his fingers.
The magic circle vanished instantly, and my feet were free.
“This section isn’t an area I’ve permitted you to enter. Leave at once.”
He made a move to place me back on Tris’s back.
“Wait. What does Black Magic feel like?”
He paused at my urgent question.
“……What?”
“You said there was something to confirm. I want to know how you distinguish Black Magic, what it feels like.”
“Are you some kind of follower?”
“Are you going to report me?”
At his measuring gaze, I felt wronged and spoke back accusingly.
“Because you keep avoiding me, I can’t ask you anything. So I came to try touching the Black Magic Grimoire myself. There’s something bothering me.”
“……!”
“Why are you searching for traces of Black Magic anyway? I know the question is strange, but―.”
Before I could finish, Cade grabbed my shoulder with a serious expression.
He lowered himself to meet my eyes, his gaze sharp as a hunter’s.
“Why are you asking that? What’s bothering you?”
“T-the Grand Duke seems a bit off. I can’t shake this creeping, unsettling feeling.”
As I shook off his grip and replied, he furrowed his brow.
“Off? If anything, doesn’t his aura feel unpleasantly clear?”
It seemed to Cade as well, just as publicly known—the Grand Duke of Melgote’s Magical Power felt clear.
“Everyone says the Grand Duke’s Magical Power is as clear and pure as a Crystal Whale, but to me…….”
I shuddered, reliving that inexplicable atmosphere about the Grand Duke.
“If that’s a Crystal Whale, then it’s a taxidermied corpse of a Monster Beast that drowned in its own decayed Magical Power.”
“…….”
“……Yeah. I know it sounds unbelievable. I don’t believe it either.”
As I spoke, I reached my hand toward the bookshelf.
Cade, lost in thought, suddenly startled and grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t touch it carelessly.”
“But I need to know what Black Magic feels like?”
He seemed unwilling to cooperate, even after hearing me out.
Then something I hadn’t seen in the darkness caught my eye.
One section of the wall was gouged out as if it had been slashed to pieces—completely torn apart.
“Is that…… something you did?”
“What. You find that strange too?”
“It’s not that it’s not strange. If you hate something enough to do that kind of damage, then why…….”
If that destruction came from rage at Black Magic, surely we could cooperate at least briefly.
Even if he’d been avoiding me ever since our fight and his escape, with anger like that, couldn’t I at least use what I’d discovered?
But Cade didn’t seem to be considering it.
“Don’t enter the Mirror Archives anymore.”
“What? I still have plenty of materials I want to find—changing your mind so suddenly―.”
“Even if I tell you not to come to this section, you’ll sneak over whenever something piques your curiosity.”
“That’s…….”
I couldn’t deny it. Even if I tried, he wouldn’t believe me.
“I’ll give Tris a command to keep you out of here. Don’t even think about sneaking in. Leave now.”
Cade’s announcement was as good as a warning.
He was the master of this place and I was only a guest—I had no choice but to be driven out of the Mirror Archives.
***
Crash! Crunch-crunch-crunch…….
Boom!
Whoosh―.
With each movement of Cade’s hands, the Magic Tower’s underground training ground grew increasingly devastated.
Though Restoration Magic kept it from permanent damage and it would return to normal with time, the pace of destruction far outstripped the pace of repair—it was in ruins.
The wizards who had come down to train caught sight of Cade and the state of the training ground and fled in a panic.
As the thick dust settled, Cade appeared, breathing heavily.
Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his hair was disheveled—exhaustion was plain on his face.
‘Damn it…….’
Even slaughtering Monster Beasts and dousing himself in cold sea spray couldn’t empty his tangled mind.
Only by filling his head with successive Magical Formula Calculations could he suppress anxious thoughts at all.
Yet stopping once made it pointless.
‘Did she figure it out?’
Cade couldn’t hide his unease and clenched his fists.
“……There’s something I needed to confirm.”
“What does Black Magic feel like?”
“There’s something bothering me.”
“It’s not that it’s not strange.”
Vivian’s voice echoed in his ears, stoking his anxiety.
When she developed a desire to know something, she became reckless—he’d sometimes found that admirable.
But now it felt only like a merciless move driving him into checkmate.
As if breaking into the Black Magic Archives wasn’t enough, she said there was something to confirm.
‘Did she sense something? Can she pick up on that sort of thing through a Familiar?’
His heart beat uneasily. Standing alone in the slowly repairing training ground, he felt utterly broken.
It was a secret he’d kept hidden from Vivian all this time. A past he didn’t want anyone—not Vivian, not anyone—to discover.
‘Vivian did say the Grand Duke of Melgote felt strange…….’
There was a time when Cade himself had suspected the Grand Duke of being a Black Mage.
Given the circumstances suggesting Imperial Family involvement in former Tower Master Serajad’s death, coupled with traces of Black Magic discovered…….
But the Magical Power resembling a Crystal Whale and the manner in which it was wielded looked unmistakably like a wizard’s work.
The Imperial Family’s involvement and the traces of Black Magic were likely separate issues.
‘Of course, Vivian is clever, and there are unknown aspects to Attunement—she really might have learned something.’
But if that weren’t the case.
If her words about the Grand Duke were merely an excuse, and she’d actually sensed his secret…….
Cade squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore the unwanted memories flickering before him.
Then Ben appeared above the ruined training ground. He sighed, his expression heavy with unspoken words.
“Finished at last? Even the Tower Master can’t monopolize the training ground.”
“Do I look like a monster to you?”
“……What?”
At the sudden question, Ben hesitated, and Cade pressed the heels of his palms to his furrowed brow before speaking again.
“I asked if I looked like a monster…… or a beast. Like a broken human.”

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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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