Episode 2
Bang. Bang. Bang!
I slammed my fist against the wooden door of the tower.
I’ve thought this before, but seriously
I’m hitting the door, so why am I the one getting exhausted?
If this were another web novel with a status window, my stamina would definitely drop by one every time I knocked.
Just as I was lost in that stupid thought, the door opened.
A man wearing a robe, looking completely worn out and half-dead, appeared.
“Who—haaah… you again?”
It was a Mage Tower wizard I’d gotten used to seeing by now—Kaiden.
The moment he saw my face, he let out a deep, tired sigh and rubbed his face.
Honestly, I got it.
This was already my third visit today.
“Hello! Can I meet him today?”
“No. Please go back.”
“I know he’s in the basement.”
“Yes, everyone knows that. But what do you expect me to do when he refuses to show himself?”
“Then just let me check. Maybe he’ll meet me this time!”
Kaiden kept scrubbing his face before finally letting out a long breath and frowning.
“When things go wrong, it’s low-ranking mages like us who deal with the consequences. Please stop here and go home.”
I actually felt a bit sorry for him.
From his perspective, I probably looked like a nightmare customer.
Sorry—but if I want to live, I don’t have a choice.
“Just this once. Let me in, and I promise I’ll never come back.”
“No.”
“Kaiden, you work on making magical tools here, right? With all the recent wars, your workload has increased a lot, and you’re exhausted.”
“If you know that, shouldn’t you just leave?”
I smiled gently at his sigh-filled reply.
“You received a request from the Duke of Haven to produce a large number of tools in a short time. And the deadline is coming up.”
“…You really did your homework.”
“If you don’t guide me to his room today, I’ll come back tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. I’ll keep coming and bothering you.
But if you let me in today—even if I don’t get to meet him—I won’t come back again.”
Kaiden stared at me, mouth hanging open, then scrunched his face in despair.
“So… what’ll it be?”
After imagining his miserable future, Kaiden lowered his head and muttered a quiet curse.
“This is why you never deal with nobles…”
Then he shot me a resentful look with his dull gray eyes and jerked his head toward the inside of the tower.
“Follow me.”
Finally.
After five times being ignored and three visits, I was one step closer to him.
I wanted to dance with joy—but I’d probably cough up blood if I did— so I celebrated quietly in my heart and followed Kaiden.
“Haa… I should really quit this damn job.”
I had to listen to his grumbling the entire way down the basement stairs.
Didn’t matter.
If it meant getting even a chance to meet him, I’d take all the insults he wanted to throw at me.
Halfway down, Kaiden suddenly spun around and glared at me.
“Listen carefully. Absolutely—absolutely—absolutely! Do not piss off Lord Dante. Understood?”
He stressed every word.
There was fear in his gray eyes.
He was scared of Dante.
Why, though?
Lize said he was weak and creepy.
…Was it because he was a great mage?
“Answer me. I honestly can’t predict what you’ll do.”
Answering was easy.
“Yes! Got it!”
I smiled brightly.
Kaiden stared at me for a moment, then dropped his head in defeat.
“Damn it. I don’t feel a single ounce of sincerity…”
Then he started muttering to himself like a madman.
“No, it’s fine. I did my part. Yeah. This has nothing to do with me. Nothing at all…”
Suddenly, he stopped talking.
When he looked up again, his face was strangely peaceful—like someone who’d just reached enlightenment.
“Go straight down this way and you’ll reach Lord Dante’s room. I’ll be leaving now.”
With light steps, as if a huge burden had been lifted, Kaiden climbed the stairs and disappeared.
I turned toward where he pointed.
At the end of the hallway stood a wooden door.
My heart pounded.
After taking a deep breath, I stepped closer and knocked.
“Are you in there?”
No response.
No sound at all.
“Mister Mage, I know you’re inside.”
I pressed my ear closer.
There it was—a faint rustling sound, fabric brushing.
He was here.
“Ahem!”
I cleared my throat and spoke.
“Mister Mage. Did you receive the letters I sent? I always got turned away at the tower entrance, so this is my first time inside. I have a lot to say… would it be okay if I came in?”
Still no answer.
Time kept passing.
I didn’t have much of it.
I couldn’t leave like this again.
There wouldn’t be a second chance.
I inhaled deeply and raised my hand to knock again.
“Mister Mage—!”
Click.
The door opened before I could finish.
And there he was.
The man who almost never showed himself.
The man I’d spent days desperately trying to meet.
But this guy—
“Who are you?”
This was nothing like what Lize said!
Wasn’t he supposed to be weak and flimsy like a duster?
Instead, he was bigger and more solid than most knights.
His jet-black hair was messy and falling over his forehead, yet somehow it suited him.
His eyes tilted slightly upward, giving him a sharp look, but the two beauty marks lined up under one eye added a mysterious charm.
So in short—
He was handsome.
The candlelight in the basement flickered, reflecting in his bright yellow eyes.
“Why are you looking for me?”
He brushed his bangs aside casually, looking lazy—yet dangerously alluring.
Dante had a decadent, almost sinful aura.
Now I understood why Kaiden was scared of him.
If someone with that face got angry, anyone would freeze.
“If you have nothing to say, I’ll be going back inside.”
That snapped me back to my senses.
“No! I do! I have a lot to say!”
Dante paused and turned back to look down at me.
I took a breath and spoke.
“I wrote it in my letters too. I’m here to propose a deal.”
“A deal?”
I was confident.
There was no way Dante would refuse.
No—he couldn’t refuse.
Smiling at his questioning gaze, I said—
“I possess ancient magic. I’ll give you my magic—so please grant my request.”
Dante froze and slowly looked at me.
The emotion on his face wasn’t surprise.
It felt closer to anger.
He closed his eyes, frowned, and let out a heavy sigh.
“You bothered me with letters just to say something like that?”
So he did read them.
I thought he hadn’t.
“Dozens of people have come to me claiming to possess ancient magic. Strong mages. Well-built magic knights.
None of them were even close.”
Then his eyes snapped open.
His yellow gaze gleamed like a beast’s.
“And you—who looks like you’ll drop dead any second—expect me to believe you possess ancient magic?”
I hadn’t expected this reaction.
But I couldn’t back down now.
I wasn’t like those fakes.
“If you don’t believe me, check for yourself. You can do that, right?”
I held out my hand.
His expression hardened as he stared at my fingertips.
“Oh. I can’t actually manifest magic at all. So I don’t have a way to prove it myself.”
Dante scowled at my hand, then ran his fingers through his hair roughly.
Then—he grabbed my hand.
The force pulled me toward him.
At a distance so close our clothes brushed, a sharp medicinal scent filled my nose.
Leaning down, Dante growled in a low voice.
“If you’re lying to me, you’ll pay a very heavy price.”
His voice was cold. Empty.
“Once you confirm it, you’ll accept my deal.”
“You’re still saying that…”
He scoffed and tried to pull away, still gripping my hand—muttering something under his breath.
That’s when it happened.
Blue light flared around him and instantly wrapped around both of us.
At the same time, a burning heat shot through my palm.
“Ah—!”
The pain spread from my hand, up my arm, and through my entire body.
A pounding headache.
Nausea twisting my stomach.
My breath grew shallow.
Damn it.
I knew this feeling.
The pain that always crushed my throat.
The sensation that dragged me toward death.
My vision blurred.
Even now, it still hurts.
This isn’t good…
At the very least, I didn’t want to scare him on our first meeting.
Gathering the last of my strength, I spoke.
“Um… I’m about to pass out. I’ll wake up in a bit. Don’t panic, okay? I’ll see you later. Bye…”
With that, my legs gave out—
And I collapsed onto the floor.
