♡ Chapter 5 ♡
(The Hidden Disciple Hides His Power)
“W-wait, j-just a moment, Lord Kanyak! What are you doing right now…? Don’t tell me you’re trying to calm the Princess’s mana rampage?”
“I am.”
“How are you going to handle mana you can’t even see? If you carelessly interfere with someone else’s mana flow, it could rampage even worse instead!”
Even calming a visible mana rampage was difficult, so calming mana that could not even be seen was nearly impossible.
No matter how much the man before him was called a genius of the century, he was still human in the end. If he made even one mistake, an extremely terrible disaster could happen where both the Tower Master and the Princess were lost.
“We’ll know once I try.”
“Kyyaaaaaaah…!”
At that answer, Robel let out a raw scream from the depths of his soul, and at last his dry eyes became wet.
Countless ways to escape this situation rushed through his mind, but there was still no proper solution.
Stabilizing a twisted mana flow was not something just anyone could do.
Their mana sensitivity had to match, and if their powers clashed, a rejection reaction could happen, making things worse for both sides.
Because of that, the one interfering could also end up in mortal danger.
It was like trying to untangle a tightly knotted thread in complete darkness within a limited time.
And the moment you made one mistake, the thread died and so did you.
‘And he really intends to do something that insane?’
Robel shouted and protested that it absolutely could not be allowed, but he was immediately thrown out for being noisy.
Since Kanyak even locked the door, Robel could only stand outside the room and cry helplessly.
“Crazy Tower Master, mad tyrant of a master!”
Usually, Kanyak would have thrown Robel out the window from the top floor—about 274 meters high—but sadly, the room beyond the door remained quiet.
“….”
In the finally silent room, Kanyak looked down at Sierra, who was breathing hotly.
It was faint, but he could feel it.
The dangerous life she had left was very short.
‘Normally, people don’t die just because their mana is shaken a little.’
But the Princess would die from this one rampage.
Without fail.
“Kanyak…”
The image of the Princess calling his name with an uneasy look the moment she saw him in the underground flashed through his mind.
Her deep violet eyes, like newly blooming violets, had strangely left a strong impression on him.
They had clearly never met before, yet the feeling that she was familiar was not pleasant.
But it was already too late to regret not pretending not to notice and just sending her back to the palace.
“…Tch.”
Throwing away those distracting thoughts, a blue light slowly began to gather in Kanyak’s hand.
“…Mm…”
As I slowly opened my eyes under a strange ceiling, feeling the weight on my eyelids, I saw someone sitting by the bed, nodding off.
‘Who is that?’
On the table beside the bed was a bowl of ice water, and a cold cloth had been placed on my forehead.
That was proof that I was still alive.
“H-how…?”
I was sure I had died just like that.
Perhaps sensing that I was awake, the person beside me suddenly lifted his head.
“Ah, Princess. You’re awake? That is truly a relief.”
The man looked deeply moved as he wiped invisible tears from his dry eyes.
…What exactly did he just wipe?
“I truly thought the Magic Tower was going to be destroyed like this…”
For a moment, his fake sobbing filled the air, then, receiving my puzzled gaze, he slowly introduced himself.
“Ahem, allow me to greet you properly for the first time, Princess. I am Robel Arkham, subordinate to Lord Kanyak, the Tower Master.”
“Robel, what happened to me?”
I had definitely lost consciousness in front of Kanyak.
And I should have died.
‘It doesn’t hurt. My body feels much lighter, and breathing no longer feels like my ribs are breaking.’
I could not understand it at all.
At my question, Robel answered with relief.
“Lord Kanyak restored Your Highness’s mana flow to its original state. According to him, the mana stone you tried to take would only have delayed the rampage for a short time.”
“…Was my mana rampage really certain to happen?”
“Yes. I do not know whether you are aware of it, but Your Highness’s mana is almost impossible to feel. Even now, to me, you feel close to an ordinary person.”
That meant my mana was being suppressed so perfectly that a rampage was only natural.
I had suspected it, but to think this really was the reason.
There had been a reason my mana was sealed.
The old me, Lusha, had been a great mage, and naturally my amount of mana had been enormous.
If it had not been sealed, Sierra’s already frail body would have shattered immediately.
Sierra’s body was like a tiny sauce dish, while Lusha’s mana was like one liter of water.
To stop it from overflowing, the entrance had been forcibly blocked.
‘This body was almost like a corpse, so it could never handle my mana. I left it sealed, but that became poison instead.’
Robel added that, because of the heat caused by the rampage, they had placed the wet cloth on my forehead for a while.
“Where is the Tower Master? I want to thank him.”
“If you mean Lord Kanyak, he should be back soon. Um… he was summoned to the Imperial Palace.”
“…Ah.”
I had completely forgotten about the palace in all the confusion.
Now that I thought about it, there had been more than enough time for them to discover the clone.
Looking outside the window, it seemed to be dawn.
Considering the Emperor and Ati’s personalities, it was surprising they had not already stormed into the Tower demanding I be returned.
“I’m sorry. I was too out of it…”
“No, it is alright. Though it may be strange to say, it is fortunate that you came to the Magic Tower. Your condition could not have been healed by normal medicine.”
Ugh. So if it had not been for Kanyak, I really would have died.
“Ka… no, I mean, the Tower Master is amazing. It couldn’t have been easy.”
“Well, he is the youngest great mage in history, after all.”
“The… what?”
A great mage? Who? Kanyak?
My eyes widened at those words.
‘The Kanyak I knew was only at the level of a talented high-ranking mage.’
Perhaps because he knew I had been bedridden for such a long time, Robel did not seem surprised and kindly explained further.
“It is already widely known, but… five years ago, after the former Tower Master, Lady Lusha, passed away, Lord Kanyak released the power he had hidden and proudly placed his name among the great mages in history.”
“He released hidden power…? Why?”
“Well, I do not know the details, but I think he blamed himself deeply for not having enough power to properly protect Lady Lusha in her final moments. That is only my guess, however.”
It was strange.
Kanyak was only a very minor extra whom I had picked up from the streets and personally taught magic to.
And that Kanyak had hidden power?
And I had not known?
‘If he had this kind of hidden-power setting, shouldn’t he have had a role in the original story?’
But Kanyak had not existed in the original story at all.
As I sat there in shock, Robel tactfully stepped back.
“I will take my leave now, so please get some rest.”
“Thank you, Robel.”
No matter what, I had become truly grateful to Kanyak.
Even for a great mage, it could not have been easy to treat someone like me, whose mana could not even be seen.
‘Choosing Kanyak as the next Tower Master really was the right decision. If it had been Rafael, the Tower would have been ruined.’
There seemed to be a few secrets I did not know, but hearing that he had grown up well and survived in the end still made me proud.
“It really was good that I left it to you.”
“Left what to me?”
At the sudden voice from behind me, I startled and turned around.
There stood Kanyak, clearly in a very bad mood.
Just like in the underground, he appeared without a sound.
“I heard what happened. Thank you for saving me.”
“If you’re thankful, then pay the price.”
That rude hand gesture appeared again, his fingers curling at me.
If I asked what had happened at the palace…
…it looked like he might explode, so I decided not to.
“…Alright. A promise is a promise.”
I got up from the bed and removed the small portrait of the first Tower Master hanging in the middle of the wall.
There was a narrow groove behind it, and when I put my hand inside, I pulled out a notebook.
“You really hid it in a place no one would think of.”
Kanyak, who had quietly watched my actions, took the notebook from me as if he could hardly believe it.
Then he tried to open it.
“…A sealing magic circle?”
The notebook would not open.
A powerful sealing spell on it hummed fiercely, refusing again and again to let it be read.
“Miss Thief, it seems you have talent for fraud too.”
After bullying the notebook for a while, Kanyak finally gave up and glared at me with betrayed eyes.
Whether he did or not, I just shrugged and smiled brightly.
“I said I would tell you where it was. I never said you could read the diary.”
A sealing magic circle could only be undone by releasing the exact spell placed on it.
Or by having more mana than the caster.
Because of that, the owner usually left a hint.
But since Lusha had died and no hint remained, opening the diary was impossible now.
That made sense, because Lusha had been the official hidden villain of the original story, and among all the characters her amount of mana had been overwhelmingly the greatest.
On the other hand, Kanyak—an extra who was not even mentioned once in the original—might have become the youngest great mage in history, but when it came to sheer mana quantity, he still could not surpass Lusha.
“Seeing how calm you are, it seems you have some method. Let’s hear it.”
I still did not know why he was so obsessed with my diary, but—
This was a chance.
A chance to learn why my disciple had hidden his power…
And since when his personality had become like this.
How that angel-like child had turned so twisted.
Who taught him to act like this.
Was it me?
Why he was so obsessed with someone else’s diary.
And everything else.
