Chapter 32
“No… sir.”
…Awkward. So awkward!
Speaking politely to Kainel of all people — my tongue could barely manage it.
Clicking her tongue inwardly, Seres turned away to bring out the stew.
“I’ll do it.”
“It’s fine.”
Seres ladled the stew into a bowl herself and carried it out of the kitchen.
Jay reached out as if to take it, but Seres lightly shook her head.
When would she ever get another chance like this — to see him so close again?
Probably never, right?
She didn’t know how he’d ended up stopping by here, but if she could see him again — even once more — she wanted to look at him properly.
Clink.
“Please enjoy your meal.”
When she set the bowl of stew before Kainel, he stared quietly down at the food.
What? Looking for something? Did I forget an ingredient?
Ah!
Wait—this guy wouldn’t possibly…
“Don’t leave the bell peppers.”
Hey, what are you picking out now?
Bell peppers.
…They’re minced as fine as grains of sand. You can see them?
I can.
Just eat them.
No. I won’t.
Starting tomorrow, I’m only cooking dishes made with bell peppers!
Gr–Grace? That… I don’t have to eat that too, right?
Of course you do, Artia. Do you think Grace will make it just for me?
Damn it! This is all your fault! What are you so proud about, you idiot!
Kainel had hated bell peppers ever since he was little.
She’d tried every trick to make him eat them, but it had never worked.
“……”
Kainel’s hand paused mid-air, spoon in hand, and his gaze flicked back toward Seres.
“…Bell peppers?”
“Oh, you like… them? That’s good.”
Seres clicked her tongue inwardly again.
He used to pick them out immediately, but not this time. Had his tastes changed?
She realized too late that she’d spoken without thinking, dredging up old memories, and gave him an awkward smile.
“……”
Kainel stared at her for a brief moment, then silently went back to eating—
but not without deliberately pushing aside every visible bit of bell pepper.
This bastard.
You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Just to show me.
He’s even more stubborn than before!
Sigh.
Three hundred years, and this is what you’ve been doing? You couldn’t even change your palate?
Seres bit back the urge to grab a spoon and shove the peppers into his mouth herself.
Jingle.
“Huh? Why’s it so empty today?”
Someone entered — it was the Tower Master, Cheyan.
He looked around the unusually quiet shop with a puzzled tilt of his head.
“Well, at least I don’t have to wait in line today.”
“…Is that really something you should say in front of the owner?”
“Hey, I just meant it as a joke.”
His smile didn’t fade even under Seres’s glare.
“At this rate, your shop’s gonna go out of business.”
“And what about your magic tower? Not worried about that collapsing?”
Didn’t a tower master have duties or something?
He dropped by almost every day now, and she still couldn’t understand why.
He didn’t even seem to like stew that much!
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. My tower runs better when I’m not there.”
“……”
…And you’re proud of that?
Well, figures.
Despite being the Tower Master, hardly anyone even recognized him.
For a man who’d printed his own face on the cover of his books, he wasn’t exactly famous — probably because he rarely left the tower.
Though Julia seems to like him well enough.
A Tower Master who’s only popular with kids — what a title.
“Want some stew?”
“Yep!”
Seres gave him a pitying look before heading back to the kitchen.
“Huh?”
Cheyan smiled brightly as he watched her go, then turned his head—
and finally noticed Kainel.
He tilted his head curiously, then his eyes widened.
“Frozen man!”
At that shout, both Kainel — who was eating — and Seres — who’d just returned from the kitchen — turned toward him.
“Haah.”
Seres exhaled a weary sigh and shook her head.
Did the Tower have some kind of secret naming manual or something?
Shut up, ‘Frozen Man!’
Even Artia had called Kainel that long ago — and now this Tower Master too? They just recycled nicknames over there or what?
“……”
Kainel seemed to have the same thought; he gave Cheyan a faintly puzzled look.
“Excuse me!”
Cheyan suddenly darted over, eyes sparkling.
He’d been dying to ask this if he ever met the guy!
“By any chance, have you seen my Bluey?”
“…Bluey?”
Even with Kainel’s expression screaming what nonsense are you talking about, Cheyan continued enthusiastically.
Ha. Kainel might still have the same taste buds, but he’d learned to insult people with his face alone.
Seres felt oddly proud of her old friend’s “growth” — until she froze.
“I’m sure of it — it came from up north where you live. It looks like this…”
In his hand was a video memory crystal.
The moment he went to activate it—
Whack!
“Waaah!”
A swift hand snatched it and slammed it to the floor.
“What are you doing?!”
It was Seres.
Crash! Bang, bang!
And she didn’t stop there — she stomped it into pieces while Cheyan shrieked.
“Aah! My foot slipped. Oops.”
“…Couldn’t you at least come up with a better excuse?”
Cheyan gave a hollow laugh at the shattered remains of his crystal.
“What the hell was that for?! Why would you do that?!”
What do you think — to prevent chaos, obviously.
Seres sighed quietly, still pressing her foot on the fragments.
She’d recognized the video immediately — it was the same magic-stone footage she’d tried to sell earlier.
There was no way she could let Kainel see that.
Why the hell did he have to pull that out now?
If Kainel had seen it…
Ugh, no thanks. Just imagining it hurts.
“I’ll compensate you.”
“Compensate?”
“Yeah. But don’t tell me you expect full price — it was second-hand. You’re not that shameless, right?”
…Great. Colin’s going to lecture her again.
Hopefully that thing wasn’t too expensive.
While Seres frowned, uneasy, Cheyan’s fake tears vanished in an instant. His eyes gleamed.
“I don’t need money.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“No, no! I mean I’ll take compensation, just not in money!”
As Seres began turning away with relief, Cheyan hurriedly grabbed her sleeve.
“Then what?”
She asked warily, a hint of suspicion in her tone.
Cheyan flashed a grin.
“Do me a favor later.”
“No. I’ll just pay you.”
“Why not?!”
“Because it’ll be something weird.”
“It won’t!”
“I’ll just get you another used one.”
“But my Bluey won’t be in that one!”
That damn Bluey again.
If she could, Seres would’ve pulled the blasted magic stone from her pocket dimension and thrown it at him right then.
“Whatever you say.”
“You promise? That’s a promise!”
Yeah, right. If he tried anything stupid later, she’d just rewind time and fix it.
Seres crouched down, carefully gathering the shattered bits of the crystal.
Better to erase the video completely.
Who would’ve thought he’d try to show that to Kainel here of all places?
She glanced sideways.
Click.
Just as expected.
Even with all that racket beside him, Kainel simply continued eating his stew in silence.
Seres could only shake her head.
Later that morning
“Have they still not found my wife and son?”
“We’re widening the search, but there are so few leads… I’m sorry.”
“Dave… Oh, my poor Dave…”
“Please hang on a little longer, sir. We’ll find them.”
Once again, Nox — Dave’s father — had come to the guard post at dawn, collapsing weakly onto the floor and weeping.
“If anything happens to my wife or Dave…”
His trembling voice made the onlookers avert their eyes in pity.
“We’ll find them, sir. Don’t lose hope.”
“Please… please, I beg you.”
After sobbing for a long while, Nox left with someone supporting him.
Everyone in the district knew him by now — the man who came every day, begging for help.
They all pitied him: a husband whose runaway wife and child were rumored to be caught in violence, maybe even in mortal danger.
Even with the city guard doing everything they could, there was still no trace — no progress at all for the desperate man searching for his family.
