Chapter 4

“I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but it’s danger—”

“The Magic Tower won’t be put at risk over something like this.”

“What I mean is…”

Perhaps there was enough confidence in my voice to convince him. Kade 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 battered against me, but now that I had calmed myself, there was no danger of being overwhelmed by them.

I focused on each of their heartbeats.

Their hearts raced frantically, fragile as though they might shatter at any moment. I wanted to soothe them.

Soon, a warm golden power flowed out from me like gentle waves and enveloped the magical beasts.

The waves stroked away their anger and embraced their fear, just as I wished.

The creatures, which had been crying out and throwing themselves against the barrier hard enough to break their bodies, gradually calmed down.

It worked.

Just as I tried to extend my hand out the window, Kade’s large hand suddenly wrapped around mine.

Startled, I tried to pull away, but his grip was firm.

“Aren’t you underestimating the Magic Tower’s barrier a little too much?”

Only after hearing his sigh did I realize my mistake.

“Oh. Right. The barrier.”

I had been in such a hurry that I almost made a very uncharacteristic mistake.

Kade obediently followed the movement of my hand as I shifted it.

The chilling coldness that had pierced my heart moments ago was nowhere to be found. Now he felt like the Kade I used to know, and that only confused me more.

Why does he keep changing like this…? No. Stop thinking about useless things. Focus.

Pulling myself together, I held out the hand carrying the stone so the magical beasts could examine it properly.

As our overlapping hands passed through the window, white light briefly shimmered across the barrier before fading.

“Look. This doesn’t belong to your flock.”

One of the squeaking creatures lowered its guard and landed on my hand to inspect the stone.

As the anger left it, I felt sadness and emptiness filling the void. For a moment, I almost reached out to pet it.

Instead, the creature let out a long, high-pitched cry. Then it quickly took the stone and departed with the rest of the flock.

They didn’t want traces of their young left lying around carelessly.

They were intelligent magical beasts.

It felt as though a storm had passed through in only a few moments.

“Phew…”

As I sighed in relief, Kade pulled 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?”

At my indifferent response, he looked even more suspicious.

“Since when were you a Communicator? Did you become a civil servant because you gained the ability?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“To become a Communicator, you would have had to—”

“Yeah. Whether it was lucky or unlucky, it happened.”

The ability to communicate with magical beasts.

As the name implied, it was a mysterious power that allowed someone to sense magical beasts, communicate with them, read their emotions, and even lower their guard.

It was an extremely rare ability that occasionally manifested after prolonged exposure to magical energy from magical beasts.

Because of a special regulation that allowed Communicators to be directly recruited by the Imperial Bureau of Magical Beast Ecology, I had quickly secured a position as a palace official.

For years, I had been supporting my family alone after the fall of our baronial house.

If I wanted to maintain our small estate and pay the servants on time, becoming a government official was my best option.

Stable jobs with guaranteed salaries and retirement benefits weren’t exactly common.

Overall, I was satisfied with the work.

Except for being assigned to the Crystal Whale Department.

“You really are a Crystal Whale Ecology Researcher?”

“You’re only believing it now? It’s just as shocking as finding out you’re the Magic Tower Lord. Trust me, I’m surprised too.”

“But…”

Kade started to say something, then closed his mouth.

I quietly felt relieved.

Thank goodness he isn’t asking how I became a Communicator. Not that he’s interested anyway.

In a cracked mirror hanging in one corner of the office, Kade’s back was reflected.

Even beneath his mage’s robe, his broad back and straight shoulders were impossible to hide.

It was a figure I knew all too well.

And one I never wanted to see again.

My stomach twisted.

I lowered my gaze and hugged the official document against my chest.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Go straight back to the Imperial Palace.”

“No. I can’t.”

I carefully placed the document into my bag and spoke with determination.

“My job is to stay in Melgot until you stamp at least one of these.”

“Were government officials always this idle?”

“Oh, I forgot the important part. I’ve been assigned to the Melgot Marine Observation Station. I start work tomorrow.”

At my cheerful reply, Kade’s expression immediately darkened.

The fact that my mere presence could make him uncomfortable was strangely satisfying.

“If you want to get rid of me quickly, you’ll have to stamp one of those documents.”

Something every other official had failed to do—

I, the person they constantly looked down on and ignored, would succeed.

“Huh? Wait.”

Just as I was encouraging myself, a sudden concern occurred to me.

The truth was, my reputation among other officials was far from good.

People already talked behind my back.

If word spread that I had handled this matter through my personal connection to the Magic Tower Lord—

…I don’t even want to imagine it.

Even after transferring departments, I didn’t want to deal with those rumors.

Worried that someone outside the office might overhear, I stepped closer to Kade and whispered.

“There’s something we need to make clear before you stamp anything.”

“I told you, I’m not stamping it.”

As Kade stepped back, I followed him and spoke seriously.

“I don’t want anyone to know about our relationship. It’d be awkward for you if the mages knew about me too, right?”

“…?”

“We were nothing to each other. We’re complete strangers who met for the first time today.”

Kade seemed to think for a moment.

Then he smiled brighter than he had at any point that day.

“That’s an excellent idea.”

“What?”

“…You’re the one who suggested it. Why are you angry?”

I pressed my lips together, trying unsuccessfully to hide my irritation.

Did he really have to say it was an excellent idea? Has he already found someone he doesn’t want knowing about his ex-girlfriend?

I had perfectly valid reasons for wanting our relationship kept secret.

But seeing how relieved he was still bothered me.

I was the one who got dumped.

So why was he the one acting desperate to hide it?

I shot him a resentful look and slung my bag over my shoulder.

Just as I was about to leave, someone started pounding on the office door and shouted:

“Magic Tower Looord! I heard you finally dragged a government official inside!”

It was a young woman’s voice.

Kade pressed a hand against his forehead with a tired expression.

Meanwhile, in the Magic Tower Lobby

After the Magic Tower Lord disappeared with the government official, the mages stood frozen like statues, utterly bewildered.

Officials from the Imperial Palace routinely arrived carrying documents that were outrageously unfavorable to the Magic Tower.

None of them ever lasted more than ten minutes before running away in tears with their hair on fire.

Since Kade had become the new Magic Tower Lord, that had become something of an unspoken law.

But today, that law had been shattered.

“What did I just witness?”

“She called the Magic Tower Lord a piece of dog sh—”

The palace’s unreasonable demands were nothing new.

But after Kade became the owner of the Magic Tower, the situation had grown even worse.

There were even rumors that while he was away from the tower, he had scammed members of the royal family and gotten caught—but because there was no evidence, the palace was using official documents to take revenge.

That was how absurd the documents were.

Everyone had considered themselves lucky whenever Kade merely set their hair on fire and sent them away.

Yet today…

“The Magic Tower Lord personally put out the flames.”

“And then he disappeared with the official, saying he was tired of this nonsense.”

The mages all looked up toward the ceiling and turned pale.

“The Magic Tower Lord is finally going to kill a government official…!”

If he actually killed one, it would become a major problem.

“Do you think something happened between them outside the Magic Tower?”

The mages knew very little about how Kade had lived during the years he was away.

Whenever they asked, he simply replied that it was none of their business.

No one dared pry further.

“Maybe she’s someone holding a grudge against him…”

“Do you really think the Magic Tower Lord cares about things like that? If someone annoyed him, he’d have killed them on the spot.”

Now, Kade was a reliable leader.

But in the beginning, things had been different.

Before returning to the Magic Tower, Kade had seemed like someone fundamentally broken.

Ben, one of the mages who had accompanied him on monster-suppression missions, recalled a particular incident.

“Kade. It was right in front of an orphanage. There were children there.”

“So? I made sure the monster was dead.”

“Blood splattered all the way onto the orphanage windows. The kids saw you carving those monsters apart. Have you thought about how traumatic that must have been?”

“I don’t see the problem. You’re just picking a fight, aren’t you? If you want to fight, do it properly.”

“W-What the hell?! You crazy bastard! Since when does a mage carry a knife around?!”

Ben shuddered as he remembered Kade pulling a dagger from inside his coat and swinging it at him.

That lunatic.