✪ Chapter 6 ✪
I quickly raised my ice spears to block the monsters’ attacks.
Then…
I grabbed Sir Carlo’s hand.
And absorbed a portion of his fire magic.
“…!”
“Please don’t be surprised.”
“I’m used to seeing that look.”
It had been a long time since I last used this technique.
The first time I showed it during the Magic Tower entrance exam…
I still remembered the expressions on everyone’s faces.
They were so happy, saying the century-long drought of water mages was finally over.
Of course…
This ability was classified as top secret by order of the higher-ups.
But somehow…
Word reached even the Master of the Magic Tower, who was rarely ever around.
After that…
My workload only kept increasing, and I ended up working overtime almost every day.
That’s the strange part.
I heard the Master only wandered the world or locked himself away in seclusion.
Some people even wonder if he’s really human at all.
I’d never even met him.
Yet every now and then…
Mysterious research reports would suddenly appear inside my desk drawer.
Almost like love letters.
Of course… I just stuffed them into the drawer together with Lucas’s letters.
Thinking about it now…
The Master of the Magic Tower was the biggest problem.
Damn that Master.
Quitting really is the answer.
I muttered to myself.
Before us…
Purple water infused with two different elements burst into the air like blazing flames.
Sir Carlo looked down at the hand that was still touching mine.
His lips moved slightly.
“…It’s amazing.”
“Even seeing it again.”
I wasn’t quite sure what he meant.
“What was that?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”
“First, the one at our nine o’clock.”
At that very moment…
Poisonous saliva was spraying from one of the Cerberus monsters.
“Yes.”
“Please close your eyes for a moment.”
Still holding my hand…
Sir Carlo casually moved his other hand.
Blue flames instantly trapped the monster inside a blazing prison.
At the same time…
Sharp ice spikes pierced through several of their hearts.
As if we had planned it beforehand…
The monsters caught fire one after another and collapsed.
Just as he had asked…
I kept my eyes closed for a moment.
When I opened them again…
Every corpse that had covered the ground had already disappeared.
His incineration magic was unbelievably fast.
As I followed behind him, washing away the remaining blood with water magic…
I couldn’t help being impressed.
He should’ve just stayed in the Special Management Department.
His magic was far too good to waste buried under paperwork in the Security Department.
“Miss Rosé.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Thanks to you, no.”
“I nearly lost ten years off my life…”
“No.”
“Maybe just a few more years.”
“I heard tomorrow is an important day for you.”
“Not tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“I’m going on a blind date.”
Of course…
He already knew who my date was.
When I didn’t say anything else…
Sir Carlo silently finished dealing with the remaining monsters.
Then, expressionless, he asked,
“His Highness the Crown Prince must be very fortunate.”
“He is.”
“He’s handsome.”
Thud.
As he turned to look at me…
He accidentally stepped on the last monster’s body and slipped.
Everything happened in an instant.
Startled, I quickly placed a hand on Sir Carlo’s back.
“Are you alright?”
What is with this guy?
He’s such a klutz.
“…”
“H-He didn’t lose consciousness… did he?”
For some reason…
He wasn’t getting up.
My surprise slowly turned into worry.
“Sir Carlo!”
“Sir Carlo!”
Crack—!
Maybe today…
Our luck was simply terrible.
The temporary barrier we’d put up during the fight suddenly came undone.
In the distance…
A large horde of monsters came rushing toward us.
“Damn it.”
“GRAAAAAH!”
“Hey!”
“Wake up already!”
Please get up… or we’re both going to die!
As I shouted desperately…
Sir Carlo’s fingers finally twitched.
But there wasn’t enough time to wait for him to wake up.
The hole in the barrier fluttered like torn paper.
Without hesitation…
I poured my magic into it.
Even that power…
The one that could never be discovered.
CRASH!
BOOM!
The monsters slammed into the barrier with deafening force.
But they couldn’t break through.
My security barrier…
Had worked.
“Phew…”
“…I’m sorry, Miss Rosé.”
Only after quite a while did Sir Carlo slowly open his eyes.
I looked at him with a tired smile.
“Shall we head back?”
He didn’t notice…
Did he?
“As far as I can tell…”
“Miss Rosé…”
“I think your magical spectrum is extraordinarily broad.”
“It isn’t.”
I shook my head so hard that I regretted it immediately.
I’d answered far too quickly.
Instead of simply denying it…
I probably looked like I was desperately trying to hide something.
Fortunately…
Sir Carlo didn’t say anything else.
I thought he’d actually seen something.
If he really had…
And if I’d realized it…
I wouldn’t have let him go so easily.
“Ahem.”
I quietly closed my eyes, pushing those dangerous thoughts away.
After finishing our mission…
We returned to the teleportation platform in the border region.
While waiting with Sir Carlo for the magic elevator…
My heartbeat refused to calm down.
The reason was obvious.
Because I thought he’d figured it out.
Carlo.
A mage from the Special Management Department.
My memories about him were vague.
I’d been living inside this world for far too long.
Besides…
His role had never been that important to my own life.
I’m not even completely sure whether Carlo is really his full name.
Or which noble family he belongs to.
Still…
If he was the talented fire mage from the Special Management Department…
Then he had to be the same Carlo I remembered.
The male lead’s only friend.
And his childhood friend.
His transfer to the Security Department…
That was the unexpected part.
Maybe it had simply been his own decision.
I still remembered my first day at the Magic Tower.
I’d been shocked when the two of us joined the Security Department together.
Maybe Sir Carlo hated working too.
The Special Management Department.
The department directly under Crown Prince Lucas.
It was made up entirely of powerful fire mages, including Lucas himself.
They oversaw everything inside the Magic Tower.
Getting noticed there meant a bright future.
But I’d also heard…
The workload never ended.
Compared to that…
The endless overtime in the Security Department almost sounded easy.
“Are you feeling alright after your fall earlier?”
Seeing someone who normally worked tirelessly suddenly faint…
Had genuinely worried me.
What if…
He comes back to work and dumps all of his assignments on me because he’s exhausted?
Just imagining it made my lips tremble.
Absolutely not.
I’m not dying alone.
I secretly glanced at Sir Carlo.
As usual…
He calmly watched for the arrival of the teleportation platform.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Thanks to you.”
Fortunately…
He looked just as healthy as he claimed.
I searched through my pocket while continuing the conversation.
“Do you feel nauseous?”
“Or dizzy?”
“Nothing serious enough to need medicine.”
“That’s too bad.”
“My potion works really well.”
Before I could even finish speaking…
Sir Carlo quietly looked away from the emergency potion in my hand.
Well…
It did make your stomach turn upside down for a moment.
I hadn’t made it myself.
It was one of the Master of the Magic Tower’s special recipes.
A potion that tasted like sunfish.
“You’re pretty healthy.”
“Well… that’s good.”
At least I didn’t have to worry about getting even more work dumped onto me.
Thinking back…
He hadn’t even hit his head when he fell.
His body looked perfectly fine.
I still had no idea what had made him lose consciousness.
As I quietly stared at him…
Sir Carlo finally spoke.
“You should go straight home today.”
“You don’t want to be late for tomorrow’s schedule.”
“Not tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince likes anyone related to water.”
“So…”
“You probably don’t need to worry too much about how you dress.”
His voice sounded unusually low.
He almost seemed…
A little depressed.
That’s strange.
He was the one who told me to go home early.
What a strange person.
