~Chapter 70~
“Rel?”
“Wow, Ash!”
Shiz’s face lit up with joy.
I wasn’t sure if it was due to teleportation, but suddenly Aska appeared out of nowhere, looking at Shiz and me. He then spoke something strange.
“Did you come out to greet me?”
“No, that’s…”
I was in a daze, pointing at Reyester who was standing in front of me.
“Ah.”
Only then did Aska notice Reyester, who was poorly disguised. A strange silence filled the air between them.
“Why are you dressed like that, and coming to Rel’s house?”
Reyester didn’t look happy either. In fact, he definitely didn’t. His face clearly showed that Aska was bothering him.
“Well, now that she’s mine, I should check on her often. And what about the Dawn Tower master, what brings you here?”
“Oh, you know why, don’t you?”
Aska responded casually and reached out to pick up Shiz. The way Reyester looked at Shiz, who was being picked up, had a cold expression.
“…”
An eerie silence hung in the air. I wasn’t sure why it felt so creepy.
“Rel, do you think the Crown Prince will keep coming by?”
Aska asked me, but it was Reyester who answered.
“I’ll probably visit often.”
Aska was the one who asked, but it was Reyester who replied with a cold tone.
“Are you planning to drag Rel into your low-class scandals?”
“Did you just call me low-class?”
Aska remained silent, which confirmed it.
I stared at him in shock.
‘That’s an insult to royalty!’
Things had been uneasy since that time near the Labota Sea, and now it seemed like Aska and Reyester didn’t get along well.
‘Could it be because of me?’
Until now, I never noticed any reason for these two to have bad feelings toward each other, so I started reflecting on myself.
Maybe they were having some sort of competition on who could cause me more trouble.
But at this point, both had made it clear that they were annoyed, and there was nothing I could do about it. It was beyond my control now.
Just when the heavy silence was becoming unbearable, a new visitor arrived.
“Hey, magician. There’s a strange car in front of your house…”
“…”
“What’s going on?”
It was the red-haired investigator.
***
Weeds grow wild if not dealt with in time and can ruin the land.
It’s true that there’s a right time for everything.
‘I should’ve cut everything off when I had the chance.’
I looked around the living room of my house with a feeling of despair. The people of the kingdom should never find out about this scene.
“Dad, do it.”
“Dad!”
“That’s right.”
The sight of a ruthless tower master, who had no warmth or humanity, leaving his work aside just to be called “Dad” was something I couldn’t get used to.
“Little one, want me to give you a piggyback ride?”
“Ew, no.”
“You don’t want that? How about sword fighting?”
“I’m sick of it. I’ve done it too much.”
“You don’t want that? Then what do you like? Playing house? Playing the ground game?”
The sight of the usually cold and grumpy investigator struggling to entertain a child.
“Ground game? That sounds fine. Shall I give your daughter some land as a gift?”
The arrogant Crown Prince, who only had the sky above him, casually offering royal land as a gift.
“Have I gone mad…?”
I muttered in disbelief, and immediately received warning glances.
“Rel, watch your words.”
“Magician, be careful. The child is listening.”
“Speak nicely in front of the child, Lord Relshiz.”
It felt like the three of them, who always picked on me, were now all on the same page and lecturing me. I thought I was going to lose my mind.
‘Why? Why are they all acting like this?’
It was summer.
Maybe the scorching heat had affected their minds.
My rivals had started acting like they were the fathers of my child.
***
Aska, Felix, and Reyester.
These three were coming to my house all the time as if it had become their secret hideout. They seemed to have a little contest going on to see who could come more often.
Philippa, who had been fine when Felix came around, slowly started to lose her smile once the Crown Prince also started showing up.
‘What if I make a mistake and end up locked in the royal underground prison…?’
The constant visits of the Crown Prince, the investigator, and the Tower Master were drawing more and more attention. Eventually, I started receiving invitations to meetings that I hadn’t received in years, not even when I was the royal chief mage.
Everyone seemed to be wondering what was happening at my house.
The only one enjoying it was little Shiz. She must be happy with all the handsome uncles coming to visit and play with her every day.
I had a lot on my mind.
‘Should I run away again?’
I thought about the time when Aska had stopped my attempt to escape so brilliantly.
This time, I would leave at night without being caught. But Aska’s tracking magic still bothered me.
I still didn’t understand the magic that connected to my mana channel and made Aska chase me.
Completing my reverse spell was already difficult enough, and I didn’t have the energy to study how to counter tracking magic.
The guests kept piling up, and it was making it harder to focus on my research into the restoration spells.
“Ah, life…”
I pressed my throbbing head with my hands.
Ironically, to solve the “crack” problem, I needed the crack to happen first.
Since the crack in the capital, I hadn’t seen any signs of it happening again. When I asked Shiz if she had heard any “cracking” sounds, she just shook her head.
‘A crack or something, it might as well just happen already.’
It felt like the water was almost overflowing from the glass, and I was just waiting for the secret to spill out.
Maybe that was why things started happening.
But, of course, it happened in a way I didn’t expect at all.
***
The Dawn Tower.
A place where only carefully selected mages could enter, and yet an outsider suddenly barged in.
“Why can’t I meet Aska?”
“The Tower Master isn’t in right now. Also, Lady Fletcher is an outsider and isn’t a mage, so unless you have an official entry permit, we can’t let you in…”
“You think I don’t know you’re just trying to turn me away? I just want to see him for a moment.”
“Well, if you want to see him, you’ll have to go somewhere else…”
The assistant to the Dawn Tower master, Jared, was almost crying.
The truth was, the Tower Master had gone on leave to work from home for a while.
The precious, jewel-like crimson eyes of the woman glared fiercely at him. Finally, Jared revealed where Aska might be.
“If you want to see the Tower Master, you should visit Lord Relshiz Baltain, the royal chief mage. He’s likely there.”
The woman’s face immediately changed.
“…Relshiz Baltain? The royal chief mage?”
“Yes, yes. That Relshiz.”
Her soft, pink hair fluttered, and the beautiful noblewoman’s face twisted in frustration.
“Again, again Baltain!”
She muttered in a voice full of anger and pointed her finger sharply at Jared.
“If I go and he’s not there, you’ll regret it.”
With that, the woman turned coldly and disappeared, leaving Jared to sigh deeply.
“Anyone would think she’s really his fiancée…”
***
Finally, perhaps realizing their mistakes, no guests came to my house today. And I was very pleased.
“Phew, finally quiet.”
I hoped it would stay this way. Please.
Philippa had left early, and without anyone around, I decided to take out all my journals and review them.
Though I had been a bit behind lately, I was still steadily continuing the work of deciphering and reworking the remaining spells.
I carefully organized the restored magic on the empty pages.
“Looks like I’ve restored about a third of the original spell?”
Although it wasn’t a huge success, it was progress, little by little.
“Good. Very good.”
I put the journals away and looked out the window. The scorching summer sun was burning down on the land.
I had recently activated cooling magic in the house. The cool, pleasant breeze was drifting through the room.
‘I’ll need to keep supplying magic stones, but I can manage the cost.’
It was a cool, peaceful afternoon. There were no guests, and I was about to continue analyzing my journal when suddenly…
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong!
The doorbell rang repeatedly and loudly.
I quickly lowered my head and tried to hide my presence.
‘Who could be ringing the bell so loudly like that?’
