“...What?”
“What did you say?”
The mages stared blankly at Freesia.
“What do you mean you restored it? Don’t tell me you mean the data?”
“No way she could’ve done that. Even if she’s scared of the Duke, that’s clearly bluffing!”
The panicking mages looked oddly excited.
It seemed they thought that by drawing attention to Freesia, they might reduce their own punishment.
“Shut up.”
“Guh.”
“Hk.”
With a single sentence, Kaien silenced the mages.
He gestured to Aaron.
“Aaron, verify it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Aaron quickly stepped forward and placed a verification artifact on top of the thick pile of documents.
Vwoooong.
The activated artifact trembled.
Numbers began appearing above it.
0… 1… 2… 3…
The count rose rapidly.
“......!”
Aaron’s eyes slowly widened.
After a moment, he shouted in disbelief.
“Oh my god. It’s all been restored!”
“What? Seriously?”
“How is that possible! It looked completely hopeless!”
The mages, who had been calmly waiting for Freesia to fail, turned pale in shock.
One mage, unable to believe it, checked the artifact himself—and froze.
“Damn it… it’s really 100%!”
He pointed at Freesia with a trembling hand.
“This is insane! Restoring all of this overnight is impossible! What exactly did you do?!”
“Quiet. Quiet!”
Aaron shouted at the mages, then turned to Freesia.
“Miss Violet, could you explain?”
“Wait… Violet? Violet as in…?”
One mage pointed at her.
“Don’t tell me she’s that ‘Cinderella Tragedy’?”
Freesia’s expression hardened.
“She’s that idiot who couldn’t even keep up at the Academy and was always about to fail because she just followed her fancy fiancé around!”
“Oh! I’ve heard that rumor too. Duke, it must be that woman tampered with the artifact— mmph!”
In an instant, Kaien grabbed the speaking mage by the lips.
“Mmph?! Bbbf!”
The mage’s lips stretched out like a duck’s as he groaned in pain.
“Quiet. Your voice is annoying. It’s hurting my head.”
“Ughh…!”
The horrifying sight instantly shut the others up.
‘Wow. Amazing…!’
Freesia’s eyes widened too.
For a completely different reason than the other mages.
‘So cool. I want to do that someday too…!’
Someday, she would twist Felix Roheim’s disgusting mouth like that.
Filled with excitement, Freesia quickly pulled out her notebook and began writing.
Kaien turned his gaze toward her.
“New recruit. Explain.”
“Yes, sir!”
She quickly tucked the notebook away and spoke.
“W-When I analyzed the front and back of the lost data, I found a consistent pattern. I was able to reconstruct the missing parts based on that.”
Her explanation was slightly hesitant, but quite clear.
“...Pattern?”
“There was something like that?”
The mages exchanged confused glances.
That kind of advanced application wasn’t in any of their textbooks.
‘There’s no way that failure student knows something we don’t!’
In the heavy silence, Kaien said nothing.
He simply stared at Freesia like a statue.
After a moment—
“Hah.”
A faint curve formed on Kaien’s lips.
“Impressive.”
Slowly brushing his mouth, he continued.
“Not bad, new recruit.”
The mages’ eyes widened in shock.
Not bad?
Not bad?!
No one had ever made Kaien Croitz say something like that before.
‘Why is he praising a D-grade failure like that?!’
As they seethed with jealousy, Kaien’s lips curved into a lazy smile.
“So someone who actually speaks Imperial language has finally joined the Mage Tower.”
“......!”
The mages’ faces turned bright red in humiliation.
“It was decent.”
“......!”
Freesia blinked, hesitating.
As if she was hearing praise for the first time in her life.
After a moment, she awkwardly replied.
“T-Thank you…!”
The mages glared at her with burning jealousy.
One of them was an upperclassman from the Academy who had known Felix Roheim.
Whenever Felix talked about his fiancée, he used to sigh.
‘Ah… my fiancée? She’s not exactly dumb, but she just likes playing around, so her grades are terrible. That’s just how girls are, right? Hanging out in groups, chatting nonsense, going out to eat.’
And that “useless woman” was being acknowledged by the Duke?!
There was no doubt—she must have used some kind of trick they didn’t know.
Just as the mage with the stretched lips glared in frustration—
Kaien spoke again.
“New recruit should get some sleep first.”
Only then did Aaron notice her clothes were the same as yesterday.
Her lips were slightly cracked, and her face was pale.
“Did you stay up all night here?”
Aaron quickly nodded at Freesia.
“Please head home and rest. You’ve worked very hard today.”
“Then I’ll report back to work tomorrow…!”
Freesia bowed quickly, glancing at Kaien, then left.
Kaien turned to the mages.
“And you lot.”
His voice was calm—almost gentle.
The mages flinched.
“I have a special gift for my incompetent yet overly jealous assistants.”
“A… gift?”
Despite the harsh words, the word “gift” gave them a flicker of hope.
Kaien smiled faintly.
“A chance to return to basics.”
“…Pardon?”
“Yes?”
“All of you are demoted to general laborers. Start again from cleaning and maintenance. Sounds fun, right?”
“No?!”
The mages shook their heads desperately, teary-eyed.
Kaien’s smile deepened.
“Of course, if you have enough skill, you can be promoted again. Do your best.”
He patted one mage on the shoulder.
The mages immediately dropped to their knees.
“D-Duke!”
“We’re sorry! Please give us another chance!”
They had lived proudly under the title of Mage Tower researchers—now being reduced to laborers was unbearable humiliation.
Kaien waved a hand as if bored.
An invisible force dragged the mages away.
“Duuuuuke!”
“Please give us a chaaaance!”
Their cries echoed into the distance.
Still smiling faintly, Kaien suddenly spoke.
“Was the new recruit called Freesia Violet?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Aaron nodded quickly.
Tap. Tap.
Kaien tapped his desk in silence.
His long fingers moved in a slow rhythm.
Then, his smile faded completely.
“Investigate her background.”
I left the Mage Tower in a dazed state.
So many unexpected things had happened that my mind was still in chaos.
But one voice stayed vividly in my ears.
“You were impressive.”
It was the first time.
The first time I had ever been acknowledged by someone.
So this is what it felt like.
Just remembering it made my heart pound and my ears burn.
I wanted to feel it again.
[Benefactor, you are truly brilliant!]
Pipi, who had been silent the whole time, jumped excitedly inside my pocket.
[Pipi only did simple calculations! I’m amazed by your ability to apply them, Benefactor!]
Hearing praise even from Pipi made my face heat up.
Like overeating after a long fast, too much praise made me feel dizzy.
[But I… was not helpful to you, Benefactor.]
Pipi suddenly sounded gloomy.
[Today I was just a talking calculator. You are far more intelligent. I may be useless.]
“What are you saying! You saved me so much time by handling all the calculations!”
I sent a telepathic reply in shock.
“And thanks to you, I even managed to get back at Felix. That’s something I’ve never done in over ten years!”
[Is that… truly how you feel?]
Pipi peeked out of my pocket.
Two tiny black bead-like eyes looked up at me from its yellow fluff.
[Am I useful?]
“Of course. Extremely useful!”
Pipi instantly brightened.
[I will work harder! Until the day Benefactor cannot live without Pipi!]
Seeing Pipi regain its energy made me smile softly.
[By the way, Benefactor… can you input more data into Pipi?]
“Huh?”
[I want to help you even more. But honestly… my memory is empty right now.]
Pipi sounded down again.
It seemed most of the data inside Pipi had been lost during the explosion incident.
“How do I input data?”
[Anything you experience becomes my data! Reading books, studying papers!]
…That just sounds like you’re telling me to study.
[I also want to learn well enough to eventually open your blocked mana channels!]
I froze.
“…You knew about that?”
Well, it made sense since it could read my memories.
Apparently, before my parents passed away when I was young, I had been something of a magic prodigy.