Chapter 90
Surprisingly, Reyester was letting all of this happen.
Who would’ve imagined those two would become this close?
“Here.”
“Wow! You folded it so well!”
“Kid stuff like this is easy. I’m perfect at everything.”
Reyester’s paper flower really was perfectly folded. Felix pressed his lips together, looking like he was trying hard not to curse.
“Pink Unni, aren’t you going to fold paper too?”
“No, I don’t want to. I hate getting paper cuts.”
And the biggest surprise was her—Irene Fletcher.
Ever since the exchange event, she’d been sneaking over more and more, and now she practically showed up like an uninvited regular guest.
But honestly, it was still better than when she used to parade Shiz around the shopping district and turn her into a celebrity. So I just let her be.
Wearing a pretty white dress, Irene fussed over Shiz’s messy hair, carefully fixing her appearance.
“How can she be this soft? She’s too cute. So cute it makes me angry. Was Relshiz also this adorable when she was little? Huuuu…”
She kept muttering weird things to herself, and it was honestly terrifying, so I stayed far away.
Why was this happening in my living room?
Even when I rubbed my eyes, the scene didn’t change. Fine. Time to accept reality.
‘Well… at least today Aska isn’t here. That makes things a little less stressful.’
After the awkward moment at the exchange event, Aska had gone back to acting normal—coming and going between me and Shiz as if nothing happened.
Though… things weren’t exactly the same. His attitude felt slightly different.
‘He seems… softer?’
Something had definitely changed, but it was too subtle to pinpoint, so I just ignored it. Aska being strange wasn’t anything new.
Maybe he heard me thinking that.
Suddenly, the air nearby distorted. Like gathering mist, Aska appeared and glanced around the living room, frowning slightly.
“A-Aska, sir!”
Irene, who’d been quietly sitting, shot up to her feet, cheeks flushing red. She had clearly been waiting for him.
She rested her chin on her hands and stared at him with sparkly, lovesick eyes. Felix shook his head like he’d seen enough nonsense for today.
“There are a lot of people here today.”
“YES! A LOT OF PEOPLE, SO WHAT?!”
I let out all the frustration I’d been holding and yelled at him.
“And YOU—why are YOU here again?! With this many people around?!”
He showed up so often that the mansion’s security barrier might as well not exist. I was ready to punch him if he made a dumb excuse—but he said something unexpected.
“We received a report that a crack might appear.”
“…What?”
Not a crack, but a suspected crack?
What does that even mean?
Just like that, the calm surface of the day rippled.
* * *
The easiest way to make a magician powerless is simple—
Take away their ability to use magic.
In that sense, this city in Edelheim was basically a forbidden zone for magicians.
I absolutely did not want to come here.
An oily smell stung my nose. Giant machines clanged loudly, and tangled pipes hissed out puffs of steam.
At the same time, the architecture and strange mechanical devices—so different from the capital—drew the eye.
“Wow! That huge water wheel!”
“That’s called a wind-up wheel, actually.”
“It goes choo-choo! It sounds like a train!”
This was Tilbon—the city of machines and mines.
They said a dragon’s nest once existed here, and the land was filled with minerals.
The most abundant was dragonstone, whose most important trait was:
‘It blocks mana completely.’
Because of that terrifying mineral, Tilbon’s machines and science had advanced more than any other city.
(Even the Edelheim royal palace can’t use magic because they use dragonstone from here.)
The expected crack site was right here in Tilbon.
It wasn’t confirmed yet—just suspected—because no abnormal signs had actually appeared.
‘They said weird noises came from deep inside the mine. Something unprecedented.’
So we came to check in person.
Me… Shiz… the Dawn Tower Master… and even the Investigation Chief.
I grabbed Shiz, who was too busy staring around, and whispered:
“How is it, Shiz? Do you see anything? Hear anything?”
“Mmm… I don’t hear anything. And I don’t see anything either.”
That was the strange part.
We brought her all the way to Tilbon, but she couldn’t sense any sign of a crack.
‘Is it because of the dragonstone?’
It was a problem.
If Shiz couldn’t detect anything, I had no way of dealing with the crack.
Shiz was lightly disguised. Even while running around excitedly, she kept touching her now-black hair, looking uncomfortable.
“Unni, can’t I change it to a different color? Pink? Or blue?”
“What? No. A color that doesn’t stand out is better.”
“I hate black. It’s ugly!”
By the way, I switched her title back to “unni,” since that’s what she originally used when it was just the two of us.
Her dark hair was supposed to help her blend in, but she kept whining so loudly that people turned to look at us anyway.
So much for a disguise.
“Nothing’s changed here.”
Felix, standing nearby, scratched the back of his head.
He had come as an investigator and tried to look… well, investigator-like as he asked questions around.
It sounded strange, but that was exactly how it looked.
“You’ve been to Tilbon before?”
“Sometimes, for work.”
“Hmmm.”
His tone was slightly… prickly.
What kind of work would bring him this far from the capital?
‘Well, I ran into him in Para last time because of another crack.’
So I guess he traveled for investigations.
“Let’s move.”
Aska approached us after speaking with a guide.
“It’s an honor to meet you, ma’am! I’m Phil, today’s work team leader! Call me whatever’s easy!”
The middle-aged miner, covered in dust, introduced himself with a thick southwestern accent.
“Hello, Mr. Phil.”
“Amazing, seeing real magicians in Tilbon. Are you heading straight into the tunnels?”
“We have to. If it is a crack, the longer we wait, the more dangerous it gets.”
“Good heavens! Then we’d better hurry!”
Phil looked around, spotted a tram, and waved excitedly.
“This way! Hurry on!”
We boarded the tram and moved deeper into Tilbon.
Because the place was rich in minerals, the streets were full of jewelry shops and workshops.
“Mommy, there are so many cars here!”
“Haha! That’s Tilbon’s pride. Our machines are so advanced that we probably have more cars than the capital.”
After a while, more miners dressed like Phil appeared. The smell of iron, oil, and smoke grew stronger.
The tram dropped us off at the center of Tilbon and rolled away.
“Are we here?”
“Here? We’re just getting started!”
Phil led us to an elevator.
“Don’t tell me… we’re riding that down?”
“You can walk if ya want.”
I felt dizzy.
To get to the suspected crack site, we had to ride a cable platform down into the mine.
And the platform… did not look safe.
Creak… groan… creeeak…
The wind made the entire structure rattle violently. I instinctively stepped back, and Phil laughed.
“Hahaha! Believe it or not, that thing can carry twenty men as strong as me!”
“I-Is it really safe…?”
“Sure, sure. No one’s died.”
Not exactly comforting.
If only Aska could teleport us—but in front of dragonstone, even the great Tower Master was just a regular guy.
“Alright, before we go—!”
Phil clapped once, then suddenly grabbed Shiz and lifted her back.
“This little lady can’t come in.”
“Whaaat?! Why?!”
“It’s dangerous.”
“I LIKE dangerous! I’m a brave kid!”
“Yes, yes. Please be brave outside.”
“Ugh! But there are shiny stones inside! I wanna see!”
“Don’t worry! We got shiny stuff outside too!”
No matter how much Shiz complained, Phil didn’t budge.
