Chapter : 73
“What did you say?! You should’ve told me that first, you idiot!”
Swish!
Jimonem roughly snatched the document envelope from the assistant’s hands and hurriedly pulled out its contents. Inside was a thick stack of papers along with a small letter.
“I took a moment to wonder—‘Who in the Magic Tower shows the greatest interest in me and Tadebna?’
After some thought, I concluded there’s no one but Elder Jimonem~.
I’m grateful for your interest, so I’m sending my thesis to you first, Elder.
You’re looking forward to it, aren’t you~?
And please be sure to show my thesis to the Tower Master as well.
I would prefer it if the reply came directly from him~.”
“How insolent.”
How dare she even mention the Tower Master…!
Hmph. Go ahead and beg desperately. Let’s see whether I run to the Tower Master or not.
With a deeply furrowed scowl, Jimonem tossed Eani’s letter aside and skimmed through the thesis she had sent.
I heard she’s never properly studied magic. Let’s see what kind of ridiculous nonsense she dared to call a thesis.
As he lazily flipped through the pages, his hand suddenly froze.
His eyes widened. He pulled the manuscript right up to his face.
The assistant, who had been picking up Eani’s discarded letter from the floor, tilted his head.
“Elder?”
“……Ma.”
“Ma? Would you like me to bring you some hemp—?”
“Tower Master—!”
Bang!
In complete contradiction to his earlier resolve, Jimonem took off running like a madman.
“A—a new private mage has appeared, Tower Master—!”
For the sake of filling the blank in his achievements, he ran straight toward the First Star of the Magic Tower—the Tower Master!
“To Lady Eani Nacelle,
Our Magic Tower could not contain its admiration for your astonishingly exceptional magical knowledge.
In particular, several portions of the theses you sent surpass even our Tower’s existing research.
It is a grave failing on our part that we did not recognize such talent sooner.
Lady Nacelle, if you would allow it, we would like to invite you to the Magic Tower for an in-depth discussion.
Your family would surely take great pride in this occasion.
We sincerely hope you will come to the Tower and open a more delightful chapter of scholarship with us.P.S. We have carefully reviewed the matter concerning the Quind Hotel that you mentioned. Every mage has at least one field to which they devote themselves. It seems that for you, that field may be your business ventures. Our Magic Tower respects and supports the areas of interest of all mages. Regarding your request to ‘maintain investment in the Quind Hotel,’ we will review it as positively as possible. Please do not worry.
We look forward to the day we may meet you in person at the Tower.
The First Star of the Magic Tower,
Tower Master, Skoleo Yarnon.”
“Hm~.”
As I read the most recent letter exchanged with the Tower Master, I narrowed my eyes.
He’s blatantly desperate to recruit me.
Even this was a toned-down version. When I first received a letter from him, he had directly urged me to join the Magic Tower.
I used the excuse that I’m the fiancée of the young Duke of Seind, and that the Seind Duchy prefers not to be deeply entangled with the Magic Tower. That made him step back a little.
Instead, he keeps inviting me to the Tower, insisting we meet in person.
I’ll probably keep receiving letters like this from now on.
I can’t ignore the Tower Master outright, so I’ll have to keep replying with various excuses.
How bothersome.
Well, I do understand why he’s being so proactive.
The thesis I sent wasn’t ordinary.
They’re unpublished works of the Sun Mage, after all~.
From the papers I brought back from the cabin, I selected ones likely to pique the Tower’s interest and sent them off as if I had written them myself~.
If someone like me—who already has a black mark against her—wants to suddenly capture the Magic Tower’s attention, I have to throw out bait of this caliber, don’t I?
Of course, I have no intention of engaging in deep academic discussions with the Tower.
My goal is only one:
To buy time for Marquis Quind.
The Marquis might not know it, but revealing my identity to the Magic Tower requires far more delicacy than expected.
I must hide the fact that I’m a great mage whose abilities surpass Ashil’s, while still presenting myself as too valuable to ignore.
Only by walking that tightrope can I clear the mission the Marquis entrusted to me.
That’s why facing the Tower Master directly would be risky.
Well, even if I conceal my abilities, what could the Tower Master possibly notice?
But if—just by some chance—my true abilities were exposed…
Mm~. I’d rather not imagine it~.
According to Ashil, the Magic Tower is far more serious about securing exceptional mages than the public realizes.
If so, they would never let a gem like me slip away.
There’s no money in it, and I don’t want to get dragged into even more troublesome affairs than I already am.
Speaking of which… if the Tower is so serious about recruiting mages… was that why they had Marquis Quind’s ex-husband gather information on children with high magical power?
…Hmm, I’ll investigate that gradually.
In any case, there is good news.
The Magic Tower is currently in the busiest period of the year.
They have to prepare for the annual Magic Tower Symposium held at year’s end.
The Symposium is a major event where mages from across the continent gather at the Tower to present the results of a year’s research.
As the host, the Tower Master must be overwhelmingly busy—too busy to cling to me beyond sending letters.
Yes, I’ll decline this invitation using the Symposium as an excuse~.
I’m also too busy running my businesses right now, so I’ll ask him instead to invite me to the upcoming Symposium.
Since the Symposium welcomes many external guests, I’ll firmly suggest we meet then.
I’m interested in the Symposium anyway.
At that time, many of the Tower’s key guests will be present, so the Tower Master’s attention won’t be focused solely on me.
Marquis Quind should really appreciate how much effort I’m putting in for him~.
“Hehe~.”
Still, when I think about electricity, I can’t help but hum to myself.
The resort is just a business to satisfy my interests—but electricity is on an entirely different level.
The scale of capital that would flow through it would be beyond imagination.
If things go well, could I end up richer than Hutton~?
I was just finishing my reply to the Tower Master when—
“Lady Eani.”
With a knock, Elin entered.
“The young lord’s carriage has passed through the estate’s iron gates.”
“Then I should go greet him~.”
I neatly folded the letter, placed it in an envelope, and headed toward the entrance lobby with light steps.
Hutton especially liked it when I came out to greet him.
He says all the fatigue from work just melts away~.
Today too, when he sees me, he’ll probably smile brightly, wrap his arm around my waist, and lift me up~
With that thought, I entered the lobby—
“Hm?”
The head maid and dozens of maids were already lined up in formation, waiting.
The head maid, standing at the very front, approached me with an ingratiating smile.
“You’ve arrived, Lady Eani.”
I glanced at the gathered maids and then at the head maid.
“I told you there’s no need for all of you to do this, didn’t I?”
It was enough for Hutton’s personal attendants to wait for him at the entrance.
Not every maid working in the estate.
She deliberately gathered all the maids yesterday too, and now she’s doing it again today.
The head maid quickly replied.
“How could we remain still when Lady Eani herself is at the entrance?”
We, lowly as we are, must always follow beneath the noble Lady Eani!
I tilted my head slightly as I looked at her, spouting flattery while lowering herself as if it were second nature.
“So you’re saying this is all because of me?”
The head maid jumped in place, startled.
“Not at all! We only step forward voluntarily because we wish to emulate Lady Eani. We would never dream of blaming you.”
I narrowed my eyes and slowly tilted my head to the side.
She wasn’t doing this to spite me.
On the contrary, she’s staging this performance to curry favor with me.
It seems she’s trying to make up for the mistakes she committed toward Eani Nacelle in the past—
She certainly has stamina.
Even she wouldn’t be free from nightmares.
And while the Duchess of Seind may have enjoyed this sort of thing—
What a shame~. I absolutely hate it.
