The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 77

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 77
***
“In two days, at 2 PM, at the Central Plaza. I’m kidnapping you.”
The moment I opened my eyes, I bolted upright, murmuring the words Ren had spoken the day before yesterday.
Today was that day.
The day I would be kidnapped!
To announce a kidnapping like this—how audacious.
“That Mage is quite entertaining, isn’t he?”
It was truly entertaining and refreshingly original.
After finishing breakfast with Nix and completing our stroll through the Garden, I fell into contemplative silence.
Three hours until the kidnapping.
According to what Mystic had said.
This bear doll that I now inhabited was a treasure belonging to Alfredo, the Grand Mage and leader of the Magic Tower.
It had been lost for over fifty years.
“Blake said he bought it from an old peddler woman.”
How had that old peddler woman come to possess the Grand Mage Alfredo’s treasure in the first place?
The fact that she’d sold it to Blake was equally bewildering.
Regardless, that aside.
“So the Magic Tower intends to bring me back to the Grand Mage Alfredo?”
I stretched my legs across the Garden’s grass, savoring the intense summer sunlight as I spoke.
Nix, who had been idly observing the fountain beside me, nodded in response.
“Yes, it seems likely. The Military Commander is anxious about it, which is why he instructed you never to meet with the Mages. If he learns that you met them yesterday, he’ll be absolutely furious.”
Nix spoke with a dejected tone.
“What should I do? It seems I’m about to do something Blake will hate once more.”
“No, no, no. Whatever it is, absolutely not.”
Without even hearing me out, Nix shook her head firmly.
“I cannot stand by and allow anything that would put you in danger, Vivian.”
Her determination to protect me no matter what was admirable. But as I’d mentioned before, I wasn’t the sort of person to refrain from doing something simply because others told me not to.
If I lived that way, my life as a witch would have been unbearably dull.
And sitting idle wouldn’t resolve anything.
Witnessing the sinister gleam in my eyes, Nix asked with an air of resignation.
“You’re trying to learn more about Aslan Leblanc, aren’t you? That’s why you’re going to the Magic Tower.”
“Now you’re predicting what I’m going to do?”
“Yes, I think I have a rough idea.”
And that you won’t be dissuaded either.
Having come to understand this through our time together, Nix grasped my hand firmly.
“Vivian… honestly, I’m fine with everything, but I hate seeing you hurt. I hate the thought of you disappearing before my eyes.”
“I won’t disappear. Even if you all hate it, I’ll return to the Leblanc Mansion, I promise.”
Nix seemed torn between wanting to believe me and her hesitation.
“Then I’ll come with you. Please, let me come along.”
“Ugh, seriously. What is this? I’m about to get kidnapped!”
“Pardon?!”
I snapped my mouth shut, realizing I’d just blurted out today’s schedule.
Nix’s eyes widened so dramatically they nearly bulged from her head.
“Kidnapped? Good heavens. Then I absolutely must go with you!”
Our Nix had lost all sense of caution.
Of course, this “kidnapping” was nothing more than a pathetic performance—they’d even given me the location beforehand, and I was going to walk right into it myself.
Still, it meant traveling all the way to the Magic Tower.
The journey from the Leblanc Estate to the Magic Tower would be far from simple.
Once I arrived at the Magic Tower, there would be much to investigate—information about Aslan, and about this bear doll they called the Tower’s treasure.
It would have been easier to go alone.
Nix’s concern was tender and warm. Yet on the other hand, I found myself constantly needing to verify that she hadn’t been hurt or vanished.
“Nix. I know you’ve worked in dangerous places and done undercover operations. But a kidnapping case is simply too much for you.”
“But Vivian, in this teddy bear form, there are limits to how many places I can move through.”
“….”
“I understand you’re trying to gather information even while being kidnapped. I know I could become a burden.”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, until Nix was barely whispering, her words nearly buried beneath the weight of her own doubt.
“Still… I want to be useful.”
Useful.
We typically spoke of usefulness as something tied to practical value and utility.
But Nix was not such a being. Nix herself held value to me simply by existing.
I furrowed my brow, my eyes narrowing sharply upward into a rather intimidating expression.
“Nix, usefulness? Where did you get such a notion?”
“I’m your butler, your knight, your friend—but I haven’t been very good at protecting you.”
So I’m not useful.
At Nix’s words, I pressed her with a slightly angry tone.
“I protect myself. Neither Blake nor you need to shield me.”
“But what if that’s what I wish to do?”
Nix’s dark eyes grew shadowed and somber. There was a pitiful quality to them, like an abandoned puppy, yet beneath it gleamed the sharpness of a wolf.
At the same time, infinite trust and love shone through.
I hesitated for a moment, overwhelmed by the depth of that overflowing heart.
The love of humans bound by finite lifespans was always so fierce and burning.
A different kind of love than mine—the patient, enduring affection I offered across the ages.
Different though it was, this love too was beautiful.
Nix’s resolve to follow me wherever danger lay moved me deeply.
To honor that resolve was only natural.
I opened my mouth slowly, gazing at Nix—who waited for my answer with eyes like those of a curious black kitten.
“Very well, Nix. Then I’ll entrust you with a task.”
“Anything at all!”
The way she proclaimed her readiness to handle whatever I asked, urging me to trust only in her, was utterly endearing.
“I’m going to cast a location-tracking spell on myself. And I’ll mark that spell on a map so you can see it. You keep watch over it from the Mansion.”
“…From here?”
“Yes. Keep track of my location on the map until I safely return to the Mansion. If an emergency arises, I’ll make my position glow red on the map.”
“Why can’t I just come with you?”
Nix whined that it would be simpler that way, insisting it would be easier to just follow along and keep watch. I gently deflected her stubborn questioning.
“Be the place I return to.”
Nix’s eyes widened slightly.
“Wait for me to come back to where Blake, you, and the people of this Mansion are.”
To a warm and peaceful space that now felt like my own home.
“I promise I’ll come back.”
No other words came after that.
Instead, Nix lifted me up and held me tightly in her embrace.
Two hours before the abduction.
After placing a few gold coins into the bundle Nix had given me and tying it prettily to a small branch, I slung it over my shoulder and set out from the house with determination.
***
Mage Ren sat on a bench in the most secluded corner of the Central Plaza, licking an ice cream.
The pistachio flavor from the ice cream stand right in front of the Central Plaza was always the best.
It was even more special because it was hard to taste such things when staying at the Magic Tower.
“I’m in quite a good mood.”
Perhaps because today’s abduction seemed like it would go smoothly.
Ren crossed his legs and leaned back leisurely in his chair.
Two evenings ago.
After leaving the Leblanc Mansion, Ren returned to the Magic Tower and spent a good while teasing Mystic, who insisted on immediately reporting the situation to Alfredo.
“As if Alfredo would ask you to bring the Magic Tower’s historical records. He’d probably tell me to bring you back right away, just like I said!”
“Don’t you dare insult Alfredo. He’s not a madman like you who acts without thinking!”
“Fine, fine. You go back to the Magic Tower then. I’ll stay here and investigate more about the magical activation incident in the Capital.”
With those words, Ren immediately left the Inn.
Since he’d cast a spell to shake off even Mystic’s tracking, that fool would probably be wandering in circles for a while.
“Really, you’d think he’d just take the easy route.”
Having made his declaration of abduction, all that remained now was to actually carry it out.
Ren believed that treasure would come find him directly.
Why?
Because the moment he saw that teddy bear, he felt they were of the same kind.
Unable to resist curiosity, compelled to possess whatever caught his fancy—a personality with unmistakable obsessive tendencies.
Those gleaming, pale green eyes that shone with stubbornness.
“Hmm, perhaps because it’s a treasure, but I’m already quite taken with it.”
Since the treasure had been lost for so long, he’d never properly seen it before, but now that he had, it was an object that sparked his desire.
Making such an audacious request to see the Magic Tower’s historical records, no less.
Ren let out a soft chuckle.
The teddy bear probably didn’t realize it, but the Magic Tower was not a place to be taken lightly.
He had coaxed her into a deal under the pretense of showing her something in secret, but Ren had no intention of actually revealing anything.
All he needed to do was bring her to the Magic Tower first, and after that, what could possibly go wrong with Archmage Alfredo there?
He might feel a twinge of guilt toward Ian, who had gone to such lengths to release me and maintain good relations with the Magic Tower.
But he was the type to forget things quickly anyway, so it didn’t matter.
“Ah, I’ve already finished it.”
He tossed the ice cream stick he’d devoured into the trash bin and slowly rose from his seat.
With a snap of his fingers, a magical clock materialized before him.
“1:50.”
Ten minutes before the treasure would appear.
He contemplated what he would do after the kidnapping.
First, bring her to the Magic Tower and place her in the laboratory.
Then, thoroughly investigate how she moves without any magic whatsoever.
After that, present her to Alfredo.
And in exchange for bringing him the treasure, he would demand to be released from this tedious, monotonous work at the Diplomatic Corps.
Brimming with ambition, Ren waited for Vivian.
And so time ticked away.
“2 o’clock.”
When the appointed time finally arrived.
Ren burst into laughter without thinking, a loud, delighted sound.
Beside the trash bin, a teddy bear with a bundle of twigs slung over its shoulder raised its other paw in greeting.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————