The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 58

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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 58

I jerked upright from my half-slouched position on the sofa. Golsuni, who had been tumbling around on my knees, went rolling across the cushions.
[Squeak!]
Sorry, Golsuni.
I bolted for the laboratory and dropped into the chair at my desk.
“All right, let me think this through. Mutants are made from Black Mana Crystals, right?”
Stripped down to basics, Black Mana was a kind of virus, and mutants were hosts infected by that virus.
“I think I’ve seen something like this in zombie movies.”
A zombie virus vaccine created by someone with antibodies—that sort of thing.
In the original story, no one had managed to restore a mutant to normal until the very final arc.
In theory, only Magpie Ravens could reverse them, but there was no way they’d ever thought of some method to cleanly extract just the Black Mana embedded in a mutant’s body.
These people were innocent victims exploited by the Magpie Ravens, but they were also dangerous entities that attacked others.
With no consciousness and no ability to feel pain, they would keep charging until they were dead—unless you severed all their limbs.
Many people died in that process.
In Lucifenia alone, hundreds had either become mutants or been killed in their attacks.
Which meant that in just a few months, someone I knew could become a mutant too.
Just thinking about Charles, Pepe, Meri, or Peter becoming mutants made my skin crawl.
“…Well, might as well give it a shot.”
[Chirp?]
I picked up my pen and began calculating applied equations that could be applied to an antidote recipe.
The odds were slim, sure, but Charlotte was a genius with magical pharmaceuticals—maybe it could actually work?
After locking myself in the laboratory for three straight days wrestling with equations, I finally derived the calculation formula for a “Mutation Regeneration Cure”—combining Black Mana with the existing antidote.
“Theoretically, it looks possible….”
The actual effect would likely differ from the equations.
I could really use a test subject.
“Well, can’t be helped. I’ll settle for this much for now.”
It wasn’t like I was Leoni trying to save the world—I could always test it later.
I rolled up the papers and stuffed them into a drawer.
“Huh? Contractor, you were here?”
A shadow fell across the window, and Eden vaulted over the sill with a casual leap.
Why did he insist on using the window when there was a perfectly good door?
“Eden, doors exist for a reason.”
“Don’t impose human etiquette on me.”
When would our two-hundred-year-old demon get past this adolescent phase?
“Hey, catch.”
As if to prove a point, Eden perched cockily on the windowsill and tossed something at me. I reflexively reached out and caught it.
“What is this?”
“No clue. Isn’t it yours?”
“Huh?”
“It fell out of the sky.”
Something fell out of the sky?
“Here.”
What Eden had thrown was a small pendant gleaming with a brilliant blue hue. When I flipped it over, I found my name inscribed on the back.
What on earth.
Why was my name written on it?
This isn’t even mine.
“…Where exactly did this come from?”
“I told you, it fell from the sky.”
Eden grumbled about how it had come plummeting down right above his head while he was flying on a griffin.
I narrowed my eyes.
A pendant that fell out of nowhere from the sky?
…Wait.
The sky?
“Could it be…”
The instant the thought crossed my mind, the pendant suddenly exploded in a deafening blast, flooding my vision with a brilliant, searing blue light.
[Screech!]
“Damn it, Golsuni!”
Eden caught Golsuni before she could tumble away, scooping her up smoothly.
Nice catch.
The light faded, and a figure materialized from its glow—a beautiful man with long, fine seafoam-green hair that fell to his waist, gathered neatly at the base.
“Ah, my back.”
He’d been patting his lower back when his eyes found me, and he broke into a brilliant smile. Long lashes framed opal-colored irises, curling gracefully as the corners of his eyes curved with an almost hypnotic elegance.
“Oh, you made it here safely.”
…….
“It’s lovely to meet you, Charlotte.”
Of course.
So that’s who it was.
Aside from recognizing the face, I was so flabbergasted by his method of entrance that my jaw dropped.
Did these people have no concept of doors?
Eden, cradling Golsuni protectively against his chest, pointed an accusatory finger with his eyes blazing.
“What the hell is this bastard doing here?! Golsuni almost got blown away! You want to die?”
“He’s the Master of the Mage Tower.”
I answered on his behalf.
“…The Master of the Mage Tower?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, unable to mask my bewilderment.
“Thank you for your efforts, demon. We managed to infiltrate the Main Castle safely thanks to you.”
“What the hell, you bastard—are you seriously not moving that hand?”
Elion paid no mind to Eden’s curses, simply continuing to ruffle his hair with a series of gentle pats until Eden was about to unleash his Divine Power, at which point he hastily withdrew his hand.
“I’ve stopped.”
The way he subtly got under people’s skin confirmed Elion’s true nature.
That sort of character wasn’t easy for anyone else to imitate.
But was it really acceptable for the Master of the Mage Tower—a face unknown to the world—to keep slipping in and out of someone else’s territory like this? Charlotte was one thing, but what if someone else saw him?
Elion spun around and started toward me with long, measured strides.
Back off.
Too close.
“Your reaction is rather lukewarm for someone I came to see. I thought you’d been waiting for me.”
“I didn’t expect you to burst in like that.”
“If I’ve startled you, I apologize. I wanted to get here faster, but since the Lord of this territory is supposedly notorious for his hatred of mages, sneaking in was unavoidable.”
Elion drooped his eyes and pouted theatrically, complaining that he’d nearly gotten a cramp in his legs from being crammed inside the Teleport Stone.
Eden asked with a sour expression.
“What is this—you two know each other?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why are the answers different?”
[Chirp!]
Thanks to Elion’s misleading response, even Golsuni chimed in, eyeing us both with suspicion.
“I don’t know him.”
“How cold-hearted. You were the one who sent me a letter first, Charlotte.”
He pulled a letter from his breast pocket and waved it.
“…Eden, could you take Golsuni and step out for a moment?”
[Chirp, chirp…?]
Don’t give me that look, Golsuni—you’re not my younger sibling catching me in infidelity.
“Now.”
“…Hurt my contractor and you’re dead.”
With that grim threat, Eden clutched the struggling Golsuni and leaped straight out the window.
Elion waved at them cheerfully as they left, then pulled a chair over and sat down across from me.
“An underage demon and a young golem—quite an unexpected combination.”
“Just so you know, don’t even think about stealing them for research.”
“…I hadn’t planned to.”
Liar.
“Well, that’s not what we’re here for anyway.”
Elion’s expression shifted instantly, and he produced a Black Steel Stone from his pocket, laying it before me.
“It was such an adorable lure. I found myself unable to refuse.”
“You could have sent an elder or an advisor.”
“If anyone else had been the one to send this, I would have.”
Elion flashed a dazzling grin, his mouth opening wide as he laughed brightly.
“But as you know, I take quite a bit of interest in you, Charlotte.”
“Because I’m a research subject?”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t even deny it.
I mustn’t be fooled by what sounds like flirtation. He regarded Charlotte—the continent’s sole Hybrid Mage—as a fascinatingly worthwhile object of study.
I absolutely must never breathe a word about wielding Black Mana.
I might wake up in a laboratory.
“So, where did you find this?”
Elion asked with practiced nonchalance.
The shameless way he tried to extract an answer outright was exactly what the Mage Tower bred.
“It’s a secret.”
“Why?”
“Would any fool hand over the goose that lays golden eggs?”
“Ah, so you didn’t just stumble upon it—you actually discovered a Deposit Site?”
He pieced together the circumstances from my answer and spoke. His opalescent eyes glimmered with unmistakable delight.
“A Deposit Site, no less. To think of searching for such a thing. My rare-variety Mage really is capable, isn’t she?”
Since when was I ‘his’ rare-variety Mage? This is absurd.

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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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