On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 69

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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 69
“You look like the Tower Master.”
“So I’ve lost my humanity entirely, is that what you’re saying?”
“……?”
Ben was taken aback. Why was Cade saying such things all of a sudden?
The Tower Master had been called a brute and a madman by countless civil servants without so much as a blink.
Was he trying his hand at reputation management now, of all times?
As Ben wrestled with what to say, Cade pressed on.
“You haven’t seen me in ages. I’m doing fairly well compared to before, aren’t I? I don’t look that terrible.”
“This is insane.”
Finally, Ben’s alarm broke through. He fixed Cade with a stare.
“You were cold to the investigator and looked like you were wilting, then you started being nice as you pleased and seemed to snap out of it. But the day we were supposed to go out and eat together, you’ve been wilting again.”
Ben still couldn’t understand why Cade had left Vivian Solling in the forest that day and returned to the Magic Tower alone.
Cade seemed deeply shaken, and Vivian Solling hadn’t looked pleased either, so Ben had never dared ask.
Then there was the Tower Master’s marked avoidance of Vivian Solling after that.
Rumors had spread among the wizards that the Tower Master had confessed and been rejected.
“You destroyed the entire training ground. What do you mean by suddenly asking if you’re a monster?”
“I―.”
“You’re the Tower Master!”
“…….”
“Of course you’d look like a monster from outside the Magic Tower. You had a level of power that looked monstrous to other wizards too. Does anyone become Tower Master?”
“You don’t understand. That’s not what I meant……. Never mind.”
Cade dusted off his dirt-covered robe only after Ben had left, reproaching him for pitying himself.
He couldn’t bare his weaknesses, not even to his aide. Better to let him think this way.
‘Before he became my aide, he recoiled from me even when he knew nothing. If he finds out, he might resign.’
From the start, Cade had no idea how far he could trust his aide or what he could tell him.
The rambling words he’d spilled to Ben made him anxious—what if they became hints to something?
He surveyed the training ground, now fully restored, and thought coldly.
‘Vivian Solling.’
Whether it was because of the 2nd Princess or something else, one thing was certain: she’d taken an interest in Dark Magic.
Even if he found it difficult to face her, leaving her to her own devices was far too dangerous.
‘Once you’ve made up your mind to find something out, there’s no way you’ll sit still.’
Deep in thought, Cade vanished from the spot without warning.
***
Unable to enter the Mirror Library, time felt hollow.
My duties had ended with my visit to the Monster Enclosure, yet it was still morning.
Outside of the Monster Enclosure and the Mirror Library, I usually stayed cooped up in the Magic Tower Library or my room, but today I’d decided to venture out.
I wandered outside the Magic Tower, taking in the parts of Melgote I hadn’t yet explored.
Though that wasn’t my main purpose.
‘Again.’
As I walked through the Shopping District, I focused on a faint tremor carried on the breeze.
Sure enough, the presence of a Crystal Whale emanated from inland, not from the sea.
It was so faint and wispy that I had to strain to sense it, but it was no mistake.
I followed the direction of that vibration.
‘Ugh, really! It’s gnawing at me so much I can’t rest.’
I couldn’t believe I was moving on my own two feet like this.
‘What am I doing right now? Nobody asked me to do this, yet here I am tracking down a Crystal Whale.’
The very thing I’d wanted so desperately to distance myself from.
There was good reason why a department handling only Crystal Whales had been established, separate from the others.
Crystal Whales naturally lived in the sea.
So unlike departments that could handle matters within the continent, nobody knew how far field assignments would have to range.
Moreover, the crystals growing on their backs made them targets for countless poachers.
No magical beast was free from poaching, but Crystal Whales faced the added problem of overhunting, meaning weekends and late nights at the office were constant.
No matter how much work I pushed through, the load never diminished.
But being dispatched here and then trapped in the dispatch zone, doing extra work without so much as hazard pay or bonuses—that was truly unfair.
Yet what choice did I have? Ignoring it left me so unsettled that I kept stopping in my tracks.
The fact that I’d come out onto the streets of my own accord made me even angrier at myself.
‘I’m not even that righteous a person. Besides, if I petition the administration now, they won’t send more investigators anyway.’
When I’d asked for the Tower Master’s Seal, I was lucky if I didn’t hear endless complaints about making unnecessary trouble.
‘If I actually do manage to find the Crystal Whale, I might at least understand what’s going on and have one less thing to worry about.’
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, as I walked further inland following the Crystal Whale’s presence, the concentration grew subtly denser.
At last, I reached a large warehouse beyond an empty lot.
‘A warehouse doesn’t seem like where a Crystal Whale would be. Did they stash illegally harvested crystals here?’
The warehouse door was covered in magic circles. When I drew closer, a luminous padlock shape materialized with a whisper.
It appeared to be magically locked.
“……!”
The warehouse itself looked ordinary, yet they’d sealed the door with such powerful magic.
Whatever was inside, something extraordinary had to be stored there.
‘Isn’t this a bit much? What on earth are they hiding?’
I peered around the door and crossed back over the empty lot to ask a shopkeeper in the nearby shop district.
“Excuse me. Do you know who owns the warehouse over there?”
The shopkeeper adjusted his glasses and looked puzzled.
“A warehouse? There’s a warehouse over there?”
“The large warehouse you can see past the empty lot.”
Even as I pointed out the exact location, the shopkeeper shook his head.
“Hmm. I’m not sure. I don’t know which warehouse you mean.”
“It’s hidden by buildings from here, but if you walk a little further that way, you can see it right away.”
The shopkeeper from the next stall came over and answered instead.
“There used to be a tunnel leading to the sea over there, but it was closed after too many accidents. I don’t think any buildings went up near there after that.”
“Yes, that’s right. Now that you mention it, I remember too. Aren’t you perhaps mistaken about a different building?”
“……!”
Faced with their consistent response, I didn’t press further and withdrew.
Given the location, it was a perfect spot for a communal warehouse storing the shop district’s inventory. The shopkeepers couldn’t possibly not know of it.
Besides, it was only a few steps away from here.
They’d cast such formidable locking magic, and that clearly wasn’t enough—they’d also layered on Perception Blocking Magic.
‘Then how did I perceive the warehouse? It wasn’t just passing by coincidence. I found it by following the Crystal Whale’s aura, so that’s why?’
Having reasoned it out, I returned to the warehouse door.
‘It’s nagging at me. Is there a way to open it without magic?’
I didn’t want to come all this way and return with nothing.
As I felt along the door, checking for other locks, it happened.
Click.
Clink.
Creak.
The magic circle suddenly shifted, and the locking mechanisms disengaged one by one.
Then the door swung open by itself.
I startled, my hand flying to my chest.
‘What’s happening? My Attunement Ability just responded. But Attuners don’t have the ability to open doors, do they?’
Whatever it was, I couldn’t miss this stroke of luck dropped right in front of me.
I checked my surroundings and carefully stepped inside. The warehouse contained something shocking.
‘This is……!’
Inside were the mysterious whaling ships that had been overhunting Crystal Whales in violation of maritime law.
For some reason, even in just this warehouse—within a few meters—Teleportation Blocking Magic, Recording Magic Blocking, and Perception Blocking Magic were all layered on.
Whoever frequented this warehouse was no wizard; the expensive crystals hanging on the walls had small notes describing what magic was inscribed on each.
‘I need to find out who owns these whaling ships. If it’s something like this, the director won’t complain.’
Still reeling from the shock, I approached the vessels.
Beyond the traces left by the crystals, I could sense the presence of an actual, living Crystal Whale.
I didn’t understand how it was possible inside a warehouse, but the aura of a living Crystal Whale was undeniably there.
Click.
Clink.
That moment, I heard the sound of locks disengaging from outside the door.

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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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