“Whatever you're planning to do, it’s dangerous—”
“The Magic Tower won’t be put at risk over something like this.”
“I mean...”
Perhaps there was something convincing in the certainty of my voice. Cade stopped arguing and stepped back.
Before he could change his mind, I quickly picked up the stone and moved right up to the window.
The emotions of the agitated magical beasts crashed into me from all directions, but I had already calmed myself. There was no danger of being swept away by them.
I focused on each individual heartbeat.
Their hearts pounded so rapidly and desperately that they seemed as though they might shatter at any moment. I wanted to wrap them in comfort.
Soon, a warm golden power flowed out from me like rippling waves and enveloped the magical beasts.
The waves soothed their anger and embraced their fear exactly as I wished.
The magical beasts, which had been crying out and hurling themselves against the barrier until their bodies nearly broke apart, gradually settled down.
It worked.
Just as I was about to extend my hand outside the window, Cade's large hand suddenly closed around mine.
Startled, I tried to pull away, but his grip was firm.
“Are you underestimating the Magic Tower’s barrier that much?”
Only after hearing his exasperated sigh did I realize my mistake.
“Oh. Right. The barrier.”
I had been in such a hurry that I almost made a very uncharacteristic error.
Cade obediently followed the movement of my hand as I adjusted it.
The chilling coldness that had pierced my heart only moments ago had vanished. Now he felt like the Cade I remembered, which only made me more confused.
Why is he acting one way one moment and another the next...? No. Stop thinking about useless things. Focus.
I steadied myself and extended my hand holding the stone out the window so the magical beasts could see it clearly.
As our overlapping hands passed through the window, white light briefly flickered across the barrier before disappearing.
“Look. This isn't one of your young.”
One of the squeaking beasts lowered its guard and landed on my hand to inspect the stone.
As its anger faded, I could feel sorrow and emptiness filling the void it left behind. For a moment, I nearly reached out to stroke it.
But the beast let out a long, high-pitched cry, grabbed the stone, and immediately departed with the rest of its group.
They were intelligent creatures.
They had no intention of leaving traces of their offspring lying around carelessly.
It felt as though a storm had swept through and passed in mere moments.
“Phew...”
As I let out a sigh, Cade drew my hand back inside the window and stared at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What was that just now?”
“What was what?”
My indifferent response only seemed to make him more suspicious.
“Since when were you a Communer? Did you become a civil servant because you awakened communication abilities?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“To become a Communer, you have to—”
“Yeah. Whether it was good luck or bad luck, it happened.”
The ability to communicate with magical beasts.
Just as the name suggested, it was a mysterious power that allowed one to sense magical beasts, communicate with them, read their emotions, and even lower their guard.
It was an extremely rare ability that manifested after exposure to magical beast mana.
Thanks to a royal ordinance that granted Communers special recruitment opportunities within the Imperial Beast Ecology Survey Bureau, I had quickly secured a position as an imperial civil servant.
For years, I had been single-handedly supporting the household of a fallen baronial family.
To maintain even our small estate and pay the servants on time, becoming a government employee had been the best option.
Stable jobs that provided regular salaries and guaranteed retirement benefits weren't exactly common.
For the most part, I was satisfied.
Except for being assigned to the Crystal Whale Department.
“So you really are a Crystal Whale Ecological Investigator?”
“You're only believing it now? It's about as surprising as you being the Master of the Magic Tower. Honestly, I feel the same way.”
“But...”
When I saw him close his mouth before finishing his sentence, I quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness he isn't asking how I became a Communer. Not that he'd be interested anyway.
A cracked mirror in the corner of the office reflected Cade's back.
Even beneath his mage robes, his broad frame and straight shoulders were impossible to hide.
It was a sight that was all too familiar to me.
A sight I never wanted to see again.
My stomach churned, and I lowered my gaze, clutching the official document to my chest.
“I should get going.”
“Return to the Imperial Palace.”
“No. I can't.”
Carefully placing the document into my bag, I spoke with determination.
“My job is to stay in Melgote until you stamp even one of these documents.”
“A civil servant's job is really that easy?”
“Ah, I forgot the important part. I've been assigned to the Melgote Marine Observation Station. I'll be reporting there starting tomorrow.”
At my cheerful response, Cade's expression twisted.
The fact that my mere existence could make him uncomfortable felt oddly satisfying.
“If you want me out of Melgote quickly, you'll have to stamp the documents.”
Something every other civil servant had failed to accomplish.
Something those people dismissed and looked down on me for.
I was going to succeed where they couldn't.
“Huh? Wait.”
Just as I was encouraging myself, a troubling thought suddenly occurred to me.
The truth was that my reputation among other government employees was far from good.
People already talked badly about me behind my back.
If word got out that I had handled this matter through my connection to the Master of the Magic Tower...
...I don't even want to imagine it.
Even after transferring departments, I didn't want to keep dealing with that nonsense.
Worried someone outside might overhear, I moved closer to Cade and lowered my voice.
“There's something we need to make clear before you stamp anything.”
“I already told you I'm not stamping it.”
As Cade stepped backward, I followed and spoke seriously.
“I don't want anyone to know about our relationship. You'd probably find it awkward if the other mages knew about me too, right?”
“...?”
“We weren't anything to each other. We met for the first time today. Complete strangers.”
Cade seemed to think about it for a moment.
Then he answered with the brightest smile I'd seen all day.
“That's an excellent idea.”
“What?”
“...You're the one who suggested it. Why are you angry?”
I pressed my lips together, trying to hide my irritation.
It didn't work very well.
Did he really have to say it was an excellent idea? Has he already found someone whose existence he'd rather not have know about his ex-girlfriend?
I had obvious reasons for wanting us to be strangers.
But seeing him look so relieved about it rubbed me the wrong way.
I was the one who got dumped.
So why was he acting like he wanted to keep it secret?
I shot him a sulky glare and slung my bag over my shoulder.
Just as I was about to leave, someone started pounding on the office door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Master of the Tower! I heard you actually dragged a civil servant inside!”
The voice belonged to a young woman.
Cade pinched the bridge of his nose with a weary expression.
After the Master of the Tower disappeared with the civil servant, the mages stood frozen like statues, completely bewildered.
Imperial officials who arrived carrying official documents unfavorable to the Magic Tower usually lasted less than ten minutes before fleeing in tears with their hair on fire.
Ever since the new Tower Master took over, that had become an unspoken law.
But today, that law had been shattered.
“What did I just see?”
“She called the Tower Master... dog crap.”
The Imperial Palace's unreasonable demands were nothing new.
But after Cade became the new owner of the Magic Tower, things had grown even worse.
Some even whispered that while he had been away from the tower, he had swindled members of the imperial family and gotten caught, and that these ridiculous documents were the Palace's way of taking revenge because they lacked evidence.
The documents were so absurd that everyone felt grateful whenever he merely set an official's head on fire and sent them away.
And yet...
“The Tower Master personally extinguished the flames.”
“He even said he was tired of this nonsense before taking the civil servant away.”
The mages standing in the lobby all looked up toward the upper floors and turned pale.
“The Tower Master is finally going to kill a civil servant...!”
If he actually did that, it would become a major incident.
“Do you think something happened between him and that official outside the tower?”
The mages knew very little about how Cade had lived during his years away.
Whenever anyone asked, he simply replied that it wasn't their concern.
No one had dared press further.
“Maybe it's someone who holds a grudge against him...”
“You think the Tower Master cares about something like that? If someone annoyed him, he'd have killed them on the spot.”
Now that Cade was the lord of the Magic Tower, everyone felt reassured by his presence.
But it hadn't always been that way.
Before returning to the tower, Cade had seemed fundamentally broken in some way.
Ben, who had often accompanied him on monster-subjugation missions, recalled one particular memory.
“Cade. It was right in front of an orphanage. There were children there.”
“So I made sure to kill them thoroughly.”
“Blood splattered all the way onto the orphanage windows. The kids saw you butcher those monsters. Have you even thought about what kind of trauma that'll leave?”
“I don't see the problem. Are you just picking a fight? If you're going to start one, do it properly.”
“W-What the hell?! You crazy bastard! What kind of mage carries a knife around?”
Ben shuddered as he remembered Cade pulling a dagger from inside his clothes and swinging it without hesitation.
That lunatic.