Chapter 6

I rubbed my stiff eyes and sat up, running a hand through my hair.

It was the dream from that day—the day Kade broke up with me and I fell into the sea.

The day I gained my ability as a Communicator.

I haven’t had that dream in a long time.

Every now and then, sailors who fell overboard were rescued by crystal whales.

Still, I had never imagined I would experience something like that myself.

And I certainly never imagined that I would gain the ability to communicate with magical beasts because of it and end up becoming an Imperial official.

I pulled aside the heavy curtains and opened the window.

An icy sea breeze rushed into the room.

The northern continent’s Gaiana Empire remained cool even in the middle of summer.

And among all its regions, the coldest place was Melgot, the city along the northern coast.

True to its title as the Land of the North Wind, the morning air felt sharp enough to leave frost on the skin.

Yet even that frigid air wasn’t enough to clear my head.

I barely slept. I tossed and turned all night.

And that dream only made me more tired.

A large seagull glided across the gray sky above the sea.

I tried looking elsewhere, hoping to distract myself, but the dream kept returning.

My father’s back as he walked out through the mansion gates toward the sea where crystal whales swam.

A back.

Then another back.

And another.

I’m sick of it.

As if his face had never existed at all, my father only remained in my memories as a retreating figure.

Whenever I thought of crystal whales, I inevitably remembered his back growing farther and farther away, and my stomach twisted.

Even though there was nowhere left for him to go, he always seemed to be moving farther from me.

In my dreams, whenever Father finally turned around, his face was unfinished.

He smiled and called my name.

But he had no eyes.

I couldn’t even remember what kind of eyes he used to look at me with.

If not for the crystal whales…

My father had been obsessed with them.

So obsessed that he neglected his family.

As always, he had claimed he was on the verge of a groundbreaking discovery before sailing off to sea.

And this time, he never came back.

Seven years had passed since Baron Soling—my father—had disappeared.

In that time, my mother had died.

Yet Father never appeared, not even at her funeral.

The impoverished House Soling, which had possessed almost nothing to begin with, gradually collapsed.

With no relatives left alive, I was now the only remaining Soling.

Had I not worked as a tutor of Ancient Languages and managed to pay the estate taxes, our mansion would have been confiscated long ago.

This is all the crystal whales’ fault.

Sure, one of them had saved my life.

Sure, it had awakened my ability as a Communicator.

But after helping destroy my family, wasn’t that the least it could do?

Becoming a Crystal Whale Researcher isn’t exactly something I’m grateful for, either.

I wanted to block out the sea—even for a moment.

I’d be staring at it for days anyway.

I irritably pulled the curtains shut and turned around.

Then I slammed face-first into a dark figure that had appeared out of nowhere.

“Ugh!”

Startled, I looked up.

Standing there was Kade, his hood pulled low over his head.

I froze.

Then I hurriedly grabbed the blanket draped over a chair and wrapped it around my pajamas.

The books stacked on the floor scattered as I stumbled backward.

“K-Kade?! How did you get in here?”

Only after blurting out the question did my brain catch up.

Kade is a mage.

Of course he had probably teleported in.

That didn’t make it acceptable.

Just because someone could teleport didn’t mean they had permission to barge into a woman’s room uninvited.

“Do you realize this is trespassing? How did you even know I was here? And what if someone saw us together outside the Magic Tower—”

Kade quietly watched me as I fired questions at him.

Then he asked:

“Were you crying?”

“…What?”

I touched my cheek.

Not a trace of tears.

He had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and now he was asking nonsense.

“Whether I was crying or not is none of your business. Why are you here?”

“This was lying on the floor in my office.”

He pulled something from his pocket and held it out.

A badge engraved with a sandpiper and quill design.

My government identification badge.

I hadn’t even realized I’d lost it.

“So you really are a government official. Sorry for doubting you.”

Even after learning I was a Communicator, he’d still doubted I worked for the government?

I stared at him blankly before accepting the badge.

“Thanks for bringing it back, but I was going to the Magic Tower today anyway. You didn’t have to come all the way here.”

“I’ll be away from the Magic Tower for a few days. There’s no point in coming.”

“What? How long?”

“I don’t know yet.”

I hesitated.

Then asked:

“Is it because of me?”

Surely not.

Surely…

Yet he answered without hesitation.

“Maybe.”

“…”

The anger surging inside me disappeared as quickly as the tide retreating from shore.

He was the master of the Magic Tower.

I was a first-year government employee.

Getting angry at him would accomplish nothing.

The strength drained from my fingers.

The blanket slipped slightly from my grasp.

All that remained was a sense of helplessness.

I stared up at him.

Then, almost unconsciously, I grabbed the hem of his robe.

“Then what am I supposed to do…?”

Kade visibly flinched and stepped back.

But not enough to pull his robe free.

Even if he refused to stamp the documents, I could continue trying as long as he remained in the Magic Tower.

But if he wasn’t there—

There was no way I could simply follow a mage around.

He could teleport away whenever he wanted.

I need this opportunity.

Is it really because it’s me?

Because I was the official who happened to show up?

The uncertainty left me speechless.

Unable to think of a convincing argument, all I could do was hold on.

Kade frowned.

An unreadable emotion crossed his face.

Then he pulled his robe away and spoke coldly.

“It’s because of the monsters. Their numbers have increased lately. I need to deal with them before they reach the docks.”

“…Monsters?”

Unlike magical beasts, monsters possessed no apparent intelligence.

They were vicious creatures that left corrupted mana and contamination wherever they went.

No one knew exactly how these sea monsters came into existence.

But everyone knew their numbers had risen dramatically over the past few years.

And because they were far more vulnerable to magic than ordinary weapons, mages had been busy hunting them down.

I had even heard stories about Crystal Whale researchers nearly losing their lives because of monsters before I joined the Bureau.

Then it isn’t because of me.

Was he just messing with me?

I glared at him.

“Fine. I’ll wait.”

“…You’ll wait?”

“You’re going off to hunt monsters. Of course I’ll wait. But once you’re back, I’ll be visiting the Magic Tower immediately.”

Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to be this persistent.

Kade simply stood there, motionless as a nail hammered into wood.

“Now hurry up and leave. I have work.”

Out of habit, I opened the room’s door halfway for him before immediately realizing my mistake and closing it again.

I’m still not used to Kade being a mage.

Feeling awkward, I turned around.

He was already gone.

He had teleported away.

“…”

I stared at the empty space where he had stood.

Then let out a long sigh.

I would have to remain here until I got the Magic Tower Lord’s seal.

Which meant I would continue seeing Kade.

The Kade who was so different from the person I remembered.

Then again, maybe it was natural that he felt unfamiliar.

There was nothing strange about someone being kind only to their lover.

Though this feels less like a difference and more like I got scammed.

Had he realized he’d been too harsh yesterday?

Why else would he come all the way here just to tell me he wouldn’t be at the Magic Tower?

And return my badge, too.

Could it be that he still has feelings for—

The moment the thought appeared, memories immediately surfaced.

The day he broke up with me.

The way he interrogated me at the Magic Tower.

…No. Of course not.

There’s no way.

I had no idea how long the monster-hunting expedition would take.

Still, perhaps this was for the best.

I needed time to settle into my new workplace anyway.

Seeing Kade may be uncomfortable, but this is work.

As long as I do my job properly, that’s enough.

And since I’ve been assigned here, I’ll do my work at the observatory properly as well.

Melgot was far from the Imperial Palace.

Maybe the rumors about me hadn’t reached this place.

Thinking that way, I felt surprisingly calm despite it being my first day.

* * *

Unfortunately, reality shattered that hope the moment I stepped into the Melgot Marine Observatory.

Hostile looks immediately fell on me.

“That’s her?”

“Who?”

“Oh. The one the Palace was sending.”

“…”

Apparently the rumors had reached Melgot after all.

But how?

Even the office administrator looked displeased by my presence.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Vivian Soling, assigned here from the Imperial Palace.”

I greeted him politely.

His response was a sharp glare.

“I’m Administrator Yukel. What exactly did you do at the Magic Tower before work started this morning? The Magic Tower Lord requested a verification of your identity.”

I blinked.

“Someone… did what?”