Chapter 21
“Why is your father suddenly calling me?”
“I don’t have a father.”
“Ah, right, right. Anyway… I have no idea why the Tower Master is calling me.”
Mikael frowned and let out a deep sigh.
“What good is it, having the grand title of ‘the Tower Master’s disciple’? There’s no such thing as privacy. He never gives me a heads-up—just summons me whenever he feels like it… only to dump annoying errands on me…”
Mikael finally spoke again.
“Since the Tower Master called for me, I’d better go. You can practice on your own for a while, right?”
“Of course.”
“When you use magic, think carefully about how much mana you’re using and how you’re controlling it. Even if you’re the Tower Master’s daughter and you’ve got strong innate mana affinity, if you use magic efficiently, your skills will improve much faster.”
With those words, Mikael vanished.
Whoosh!
Swoosh!
Following the method Mikael had taught her, Jaina began artificially creating countless gusts of wind.
Since mana control was difficult for her, she decided to practice with the wind magic she had tried once before.
Swoosh!
Whoosh!
As she trained, Jaina mulled over what Mikael had pointed out.
“Because I’m the Tower Master’s daughter, I was born with strong mana affinity? Not because I’m dragonkin?”
Jaina had long since erased the word “father” from her mind, but hearing “innate” naturally brought Diamid to mind.
— Taylor, magic begins with feeling the mana…
— Mana?
— Mana is a dragon’s friend. First, you must let them follow you.
Once, she had watched her aunt teaching Taylor magic and asked:
— Aunt, won’t you teach me magic too?
— You carry filthy blood. Even if I taught you a hundred times, it’d be useless. How dare a half-human mutt dream of such things.
And yet, only days later—Jaina succeeded in drawing out mana before Taylor, who had received proper lessons.
Her aunt had said mana would reject her as proof of her impurity, but reality was the opposite.
Later, she even succeeded in wielding dark magic before Taylor, a pure-blooded dragonkin, could.
Though the bullying only got worse after that.
Her relatives must have thought she had scarred the pride of their great dragon lineage.
“Because I take after the Tower Master, huh…”
Had she been only an ordinary human, it would have been as her relatives claimed—difficult to learn magic.
But the blood of Diamid, a grand mage whose name would live through the ages, was a little different.
“No… it was just because the bread I ate was of good quality.”
Jaina lowered her eyes.
“I have no father.”
It was at that moment, when her concentration wavered.
Whoooooosh!
The wind Jaina had conjured slipped outside her mana field.
“Huh?”
Like a storm, the massive wind surged toward her. She tried to brace herself with her small legs, but it was no use.
Her feet lifted off the ground.
No!
She immediately tried to adjust her weight to anchor herself, but because it was tied to transformation, her inexperience made it difficult to adjust only her weight.
Transforming into a dragon wasn’t an option either—the place was too public, and her identity would be exposed.
“Ahh!”
She tried wrapping her body with mana instead. If she concealed herself from view, she could transform into a dragon and land safely.
But…
“Ugh!”
The thin branch she grabbed snapped, and Jaina ended up dangling from a massive trunk.
Fortunately, the wind caught on the trunk, and her swinging body soon steadied.
“Mmm…”
Swept away by the wind, she had landed atop an enormous tree. Even with both arms outstretched, she couldn’t wrap around its trunk.
“For a tree this huge… no wonder this is the Magic Tower.”
Jaina gazed at the surroundings in awe.
A garden blooming with flowers of colors rarely seen (though in truth, it was a bed of poisonous plants cultivated by mages).
A shimmering violet lake under the sunlight (said to have been cursed by some monster long ago).
A zoo where cute young animals cried out (beasts captured and magically miniaturized).
From here, she could see the vast grounds of the Magic Tower—a surprisingly beautiful view.
“I wonder if there’s a place for me here.”
Unlike the artificial winds she had created, a cool natural breeze drifted in from afar.
Sitting on a thick branch, Jaina turned her eyes away from the Tower, toward some unknown place in the human world.
“Mmm.”
Before she knew it, leaning against the trunk, she drifted into sleep.
The lazy spring sunlight bathed her.
Tracking magic was one of the forbidden spells within the Tower.
It was banned due to fears of abuse. But at that moment, Mikael regretted ever supporting the restriction.
“That brat—I’m going to make sure she never uses wind magic again!”
Last time, tracking magic had failed as well, and he’d painstakingly reworked it… only to lose her inside the Tower this time.
She had ended up in strange places before, and now again, she’d gone missing after using wind magic.
“Even I—hailed as a genius—never went flying off twice while learning wind magic!”
She had inherited the wind attribute from her father… but maybe too much of it. How strong must her mana affinity be, for this to keep happening?
— We searched every corner. Jaina isn’t here.
Hearing Hilbenzia’s report through the communicator, Mikael ground his teeth.
“What if there’s another bastard like Moben lurking?”
After all, she was dragonkin—something that drove the Tower’s mages wild.
“I never should have left her alone…”
He should have stayed and taken responsibility for teaching her, not abandoned her midway.
This too was his fault—for failing to properly watch over her. Even if he’d been summoned urgently, still…
“Should I petition the Tower Master to lift the ban on tracking magic?”
Thanks to his improvements after last time, he could now use tracking magic on Jaina, a half-dragon.
But he remembered how Diamid had coldly cast him aside when Jaina was captured by Moben. Would Diamid agree so easily?
He would need a very convincing reason.
“Damn it.”
If he told the truth—that he wanted to find Jaina—it would only stir trouble. Better not to remind Diamid of her existence.
“I’m stuck either way!”
Mikael ruffled his hair roughly.
“Where on earth is that kid?”
People never left Diamid alone. They were wary of him, tried to trample him if they disliked him, or fawned in hopes of using him.
In his younger years—before sealing away his emotions—he had desperately tried to protect them.
But what he received in return was only hatred and wounds.
So Diamid had shut himself away inside the Tower, distancing himself from humans.
The Tower was his fortress.
No one dared provoke him. When he made rules, they obeyed without a word. Thus, the Tower remained ever silent.
But recently, disturbances had begun inside the Tower.
The only existence that did not move according to his will.
— The Tower Master’s daughter was found collapsed.
The one who had moved even Mikael, who trusted no one.
— It seems she fell victim to a deliberate attack from another mage who discovered her dragonkin heritage.
When Mikael had told him that the girl had been attacked, Diamid had coldly dismissed it.
But the moment Mikael turned away—something small stirred faintly in his chest.
“This is dangerous.”
Emotions could make one lose reason, could make one weak.
That was why he had sealed them away. Yet… he couldn’t stop paying attention.
“The seal hasn’t broken. Am I just too sensitive because she’s her daughter?”
Perhaps the fierce anger toward her still lingered in his heart.
Chirp, chirp—
From beyond the window came birdsong.
With spring, the weather had warmed, and the number of birds had grown.
Diamid moved to shut the window… then stopped.
Outside his study stood a massive, lush tree. It was the sacred tree, said to embody countless blessings.
A rare source of magical material, one he often studied. He would sometimes glance at it…
Rustle, rustle—
A faint sound, sharper to his ears than the birds.
And there she was—the girl who had been troubling his thoughts—fast asleep atop the sacred tree.
He didn’t know how she had climbed up, but with branches as thick as a grown man’s waist, she didn’t seem in danger.
“…Sleeping soundly, are you.”
The branches and leaves shielded her from the spring sunlight.
Shadows flickered across her face, strands of fine hair swayed in the breeze.
Her chest rose and fell with her quiet breaths.
It was a peaceful sight.
Perhaps the most peaceful he had seen in a long time.
“Why climb that tree?”
Was she trying to catch his attention?
He quickly dismissed the thought.
The view from his study window changed constantly—yesterday it had shown one of the dormitories, the day before, a laboratory.
“So it’s pure coincidence the sacred tree is showing now.”
The scenery reflected by the window changed according to his mood.
Mikael and Hilbenzia didn’t even know this. There was no way the girl could.
“Then why climb so high?”
As he pondered how she might have gotten there, an old memory resurfaced…
