On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 8

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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 8
A level of Attunement Ability beyond compare.
The speed at which the bat Magical Beasts had calmed—even in hindsight, it was wondrous.
Could an Attunement Ability really become something you wielded as naturally as a part of your own body within just a year?
Among all the Attuners he’d ever encountered, there was no one like that.
The old rumor surfaced in his mind—that the stronger the Magical Power you were exposed to, the stronger your Attunement Ability became.
‘Could she have actually met a Crystal Whale?’
Cade, having thought that far, let out a hollow laugh as if the very idea were absurd.
‘She hates even wading in the water. There’s no way.’
Ben, standing nearby, tilted his head and asked in confusion.
“Why the sudden laugh, sir?”
“……It’s nothing.”
Just then, the rear guard arrived.
But among them was someone who absolutely should not have been here.
Ben’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Rana?! What are you doing here?”
Still clumsy with Teleportation and Levitation, Rana stood before Cade, supported by another Wizard’s grip.
Cade regarded the young Wizard he had explicitly removed from the subjugation mission with obvious exasperation, then turned his gaze to the Wizard who had brought her here.
The Wizard flinched and stammered.
“W-well…… She threw a fit demanding to see the Tower Master immediately…… and caused such a scene that I had no choice but to bring her along.”
“And you brought a child all the way to a Monster Beast subjugation?!”
Ben pressed the Wizard even as he glanced at Rana, sensing something amiss.
Though young, Rana had never been one for such flagrant petulance.
While everyone exchanged puzzled looks, Rana pulled something from her pocket—a letter of sorts.
“Tower Master! Please take this!”
“…….”
The moment Cade saw what it was, recognition flickered across his face, and he simply stood watching.
It was an Invitation—one of countless the Imperial family had sent.
One that Cade had deliberately never even held.
The Wizards who glimpsed the Invitation gasped and searched Cade’s expression.
“Are you insane? Why did you bring that?!”
“Today, someone who said she was the Crown Princess’s attendant came to the school and gave it to me.”
“What?”
Cade’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
“She said if I didn’t deliver this to the Tower Master by today, they’d shut down the school…….”
“……That’s beyond the pale.”
Using a child as a threat, as a tool—it was almost absurd. A mirthless chuckle escaped him.
“So you’re determined to keep attending school, then?”
“Yes.”
Without hesitation, Rana’s answer made Cade snatch the Invitation.
Ben’s eyes widened even further than when he’d first spotted Rana.
Contrary to her bold declaration, Rana’s expression faltered as she studied Cade, and she shifted anxiously.
“I’ve delivered it, so you don’t have to open it, do you?”
“We’ll see.”
Now that they knew they could reach him through the Invitation delivery, it was obvious they’d use Rana to pressure him until he accepted. There was no doubt about it.
Rana would be caught in that trap without a choice.
“They’re persistent. I told them I have no intention of leaving Melgote except to subjugate Monster Beasts.”
Cade tore open the envelope on the spot.
Then, seeing the location written on the Invitation, he let out a bored laugh, openly displaying his contempt—dull, transparent, predictable.
“Where exactly did the Crown Princess pawn off her dignity?”
He crumpled the Invitation carelessly and tucked it into his coat.
“You, take Rana back to dry land right now. Rana, you should start preparing yourself for punishment.”
“Yes!”
As if she had never been downcast, Rana’s voice brimmed with vitality.
Cade sighed and waved his hand dismissively, urging them to leave.
Then, leaving only a brief signal with the other Wizards, he immediately resumed the Monster Beast subjugation.
Leaping forward, Cade began slaughtering the Magical Beasts on the water’s surface.
His Magic was always astonishingly formidable, but today there was something hurried about it.
Ben scrambled to keep pace and asked.
“Tower Master, why are you in such a rush today?”
“Someone’s waiting for me.”
“Sir? Who could possibly—— Oh, the Invitation.”
Cade neither confirmed nor denied this, only unleashing wave after wave of Magic across the water.
It looked as though a tempest had descended upon the sea.
***
Two days into my shift at the Marine Observation Station.
“Stop! Please stop asking me questions!”
Yukel, the Civil Servant, finally exploded.
Miscellaneous tasks and paperwork. More miscellaneous tasks and mounting documents. And responsibilities I somehow ended up shouldering that didn’t seem to belong to me.
In the midst of it all, I had to make a choice.
Since there was no proper handover, I either had to guess my way through the work not knowing what was needed, or ask about everything I didn’t understand.
I chose to ask. And I had many questions.
“How much longer are you going to be asking questions while you work? Am I your personal tutor?”
The Civil Servant patted his chest emphatically, as if dying of exasperation.
‘As if he were actually teaching me like a tutor.’
At first, he’d ignored me, but when I kept asking, he eventually answered—grudgingly, though it felt like he was leaving out the substance entirely.
Even the things he explained clearly were all tasks that required formal approval before I could advance to the next stage.
Suppressing my frustration, I was simply nodding along to what he said
when someone suddenly draped an arm across my shoulder.
I couldn’t think of anyone familiar enough with me to do that.
Lifting my head in confusion, a blonde woman was smiling warmly. I’d never seen her before.
“Yukel. Why are you angry again?”
“Go away, Simona. Do I look like I’m not angry? She came from the Imperial Capital, and you want me to spoon-feed her everything?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t get worked up. Go clear your head. I’ll handle this City princess just fine.”
The Civil Servant glared at the woman who’d put an arm around my shoulder, then shot back at her.
“Please don’t be so soft with her.”
Then, exasperated, he tapped his chest and left the office.
The woman finally withdrew her arm from my shoulder and extended her hand.
“You’re Vivian, right? Hi. I’m Simona Heart. I’m a Research Director here at the observation station.”
“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you.”
As I took the Research Director’s hand, she shook her head with a slight smile.
“If you came from the Imperial Government, you should try to make a good impression. Why does everyone from there have such a hard time fitting in?”
I was wondering if this was a new kind of sarcasm when she continued.
“Don’t mind what Yukel said. He got scolded the moment he clocked in yesterday too. He’s not a bad person, but he’s a nag with a pretty rough personality.”
“……?”
“There’s no shortage of con artists posing as Civil Servants to make money. This was the first time the Tower Master himself requested a background check, though.”
Now that I thought about it, that made sense.
It stung a bit, but Cade was the Tower Master—he had every right to verify my identity.
“Come on. I heard you’d be working here for a while, so you should know the layout of the observation station.”
“Thank you very much.”
I followed Simona, the Research Director, in a daze.
She introduced me to the station staff, showed me the key locations, and even pointed out some shortcuts.
I hadn’t realized there were so many hidden passages winding through the complex interior.
It had been over a year since I became a Civil Servant, and for the first time, I’d met a proper senior. My mood lifted a little.
I absorbed everything the Research Director told me while asking question after question about things I’d been curious about since yesterday.
“When the research vessel sets sail, do you coordinate the schedule with fishing boat captains beforehand to avoid conflicts?”
“Do the researchers work under the same department as the office staff?”
“There’s an open space at the end of the north corridor—is that also related to marine weather?”
The Research Director, who had been answering my questions readily, gradually took on a puzzled expression as they accumulated, tilting her head.
“That’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Hmm. No, never mind. But thinking about it, you don’t know anyone in Melgote at all, do you?”
“No, not really.”
The Research Director’s expression brightened with anticipation.
“There’s a birthday party tomorrow evening that I’m invited to. Come with me. And call me senior.”
***
For all my earnest promise to go with Simona, my senior,
the next afternoon, I suddenly found myself out on an urgent task. Yukel had given the sudden order.
Since I wouldn’t be back until evening, I let Simona know I couldn’t keep our promise.
‘She even told me to call her senior…….’
The Civil Servant hadn’t manufactured an excuse to send me away.
There was a genuine situation—small Magical Beasts stranded at the Submerged Coast, and it was dangerous.
The distance alone was exhausting, and by the time I made it back to the observation station, I was completely drained.
‘I’m so tired. I just want to rest.’
The moment I thought that, Yukel called me over.
“Investigator Vivian. I need the Submerged Coast report on my desk by tomorrow.”
“……What? I just got back from the Submerged Coast.”

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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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