CH 95

―That’s right! The letter!

Ratta raised her tail high and soon slumped on the bed.

She glanced at Lucion with sad eyes and buried her face under the blanket.

―No, Ratta doesn’t like the letter. Ratta isn’t going to touch it. Ratta can endure it. Because Ratta is nice.

Lucion looked bitter.

“Do I have to check the letter?”

[If you don’t like it, then it’s fine. I’m not forcing you.]

Russell shrugged.

Lucion tried to say something, but his eyes lowered down.

With her face buried in the blanket, Ratta had stretched out one of her front paws and held his pants carefully.

“Ratta. You want me to open the letter?”

―Ratta never told you to open the letter. Ratta didn’t say anything.

The blanket swung from side to side.

“Then, I should open it outside, not in the room. I don’t want to burn the hall like last time.”

“Shall we get ready to go out?”

When Hume asked, Lucion shook his head and took out Ratta from under the blanket.

Ratta’s eyes were sparkling.

“No, I’ll just go.”

“I understand.”

The moment he opened the door to let Lucion go out, Hume was startled.

“…A-Anthony-nim.”

“Anthony…?”

Lucion also paused.

“Yes, Young Master.”

Anthony bowed his head.

[Puhahaha!]

Russell laughed happily.

Bethel fiddled with her arm as Lucion glared at Russell.

[Should I have told you that Anthony was coming? I thought he has a business with Lord Lucion.]

“Young Master, I’m very sorry to suddenly come to you like this.”

Anthony looked apologetic.

Originally, he came to ask Hume about Lucion’s condition.

“No. Is there a problem that made you come here like this?”

“That’s not it. I’m just here to see your condition. How do you feel now?”

“Not bad.”

“It’s a relief. If you’re still tired, you can go to bed.”

“No, I’m going to open the letter.”

“Then, I will open it for you.”

If it was Anthony, the letter could be entrusted to him.

But Lucion looked at Hume for a moment.

Hume kept his lips shut with anxious eyes as if he couldn’t speak in front of Anthony.

“It’s all right. I’ll leave it to Hume.”

“Ah, I almost made a mistake.”

Anthony smiled briefly at Hume’s earnest expression.

Since Lucion’s room was burned down because of the letter Shaela sent to Lucion last time, he began to check in advance whether the letter had magic or not.

There was magic in this letter, but it wasn’t dangerous.

He thought it was a good thing that he didn’t bring it up.

“Young Master.”

“Yes.”

“All the deployment of the knights has been completed as the Young Master has instructed.”

“Yes.”

“Then, I’ll leave you to it.”

Anthony bowed his head and quietly stepped back.

Now that Novio and Carson were away, Lucion was the owner of this mansion.

However, the mansion just went on as usual.

* * *

“I’ll open it.”

Hume said excitedly.

He had the letter in his hand.

“Yes.”

Lucion was already far away, and Ratta stood between Hume and Lucion, wagging her tail and twinkling her eyes.

The only place that wouldn’t be affected no matter what kind of magic inside the letter was the training hall.

Just in time, the patrol was strengthened and the training hall was empty.

There were a lot of people wandering around Lucion on the way here, but he didn’t feel that the atmosphere in the mansion had changed.

He thought it was a good thing.

“Can I really open it?”

Hume asked again.

[Hurry up and open it.]

Russell urged him.

He had already noticed that the letter had magic, so he was very curious about what kind of magic it was.

[Lord Lucion. How about moving back this much?]

Like Russell, Bethel also already knew so pointed to a spot about two steps away in case Lucion got hurt.

Lucion stepped back further, following Bethel’s words.

“Ratta, you come this way, too.”

Unlike usual, Ratta walked towards Lucion very slowly.

It seemed she was very curious about the magic that would pop out of the letter.

Screech.

There was an unusually loud sound of the wax removal.

However, contrary to expectations,  nothing happened, so Hume looked at Lucion.

“Nothing happened.”

[No way.]

Russell stood close to Hume, looking at the letter.

The magic hadn’t been activated yet.

[Is it magic that works only when the conditions are fulfilled?]

Russell muttered and looked at Lucion.

[Lucion. Come here. I guess it works only when you touch it.]

“I guess so.”

He should’ve known from the moment Carson gave him the letter.

As Lucion approached Hume, Ratta jumped and followed Lucion.

[Is it really okay, Russell?]

Bethel asked anxiously.

“It’ll be fine.”

Lucion smiled.

He thought the previous letter was filled with magic because she thought it would be opened outside, not in the room.

It was very difficult to put magic into things.

That’s why magic items were expensive.

Lucion received the letter from Hume.

At that moment, flowers popped out of the letter and slowly hovered around Lucion.

Anyone could see that it was Shaela’s magic.

It was magic who was only Shaela, who could handle plants, could do

It felt like spring had come again with purple petals similar to wisteria flowers flying around.

Saint Lucion Cronia! Ta-da!

Lucion burst into laughter when the flowers suddenly formed letters.

[…Wow, this is no joke.]

Russell admired.

He couldn’t imagine how much she would have stayed up all night for this magic.

[Is this flower real or a hallucination?]

Lucion looked at the petals and opened his mouth at Bethel’s question.

“I’m telling you, my sister can handle plants. She mainly uses flower magic.”

[Flower magic…? I’ve never heard of it.]

Russell perked up his ears.

“Um, Sister’s mana is a bit of a variant, so it can give various changes to plants. Sister explained it to me before, but I’m not a wizard, so most of the time I didn’t understand what she was saying.”

“It’s pretty.”

Hume reached for the flowers.

It melted down like snow when it touched his finger.

“…The flowers melted.”

Hume looked at Lucion, startled.

He knew that petals didn’t melt.

“It’s Sister’s magic. It’s very special, right?”

Lucion’s eyes were already on the letter.

When he saw the letter written in a full paragraph, not just in one line, he thought he was glad that he followed Russell’s words.

-Congratulations, Little Bother. I try to write a letter with only one line every day, but it feels like my fingers are drying up.

He could already imagine Shaela’s distorted expression.

-I wrote a letter because I heard that the tower will open after 30 years.

‘The tower will open?’

Wizards didn’t have good images in this world.

Unlike knights who used the same mana, wizards had no loyalty, hated obedience, and were selfish and relatively sensitive.

It was to the point that he couldn’t think of a wizard just by looking.

‘Well, I’ll definitely recruit an ice wizard in preparation for summer.’

But the wizards were strong.

The Empire made a move before they turned into a nuisance.

It was the Tower.

The Mage Tower was the only resting place for wizards allowed by the Empire, and it filled the wizard’s fantasy with the magic they wanted to make and study with the money from the Empire.

When the Mage Tower was first built, the wizards protested fiercely, asking if they were no different from birds, but after it was built, they were so blinded by its great benefits that they said they wanted to enter because even being birds were fine.

Of course, the Empire didn’t provide them with the Tower for free.

After providing a fantastic space called the Mage Tower, using this as an excuse, the Empire received reports of any magic-related information, such as magic items and magic skills, and took that information hostage to make the wizards in the Mage Tower promise to be on the side of the Empire unconditionally.

‘…But the Mage Tower clearly never took up much of the story in the novel ‘The Grasp of Darkness’.’

Lucion pondered the contents of the novel, wondering if he remembered it wrong.

However, the Mage Tower accounted for only one side.

This, too, was an explanation that came out because Heint was looking at the Tower.

Even though the Hand of the Void ran rampant within the empire, the Mage Tower didn’t move.

In other words, they kept themselves private.

The Mage Tower promised to be on the side of the Empire, but a lot of them had expressed that they weren’t interested in the world because they were building their own world.

‘It should have been like that even now.’

What on earth had changed that the Mage Tower would be opened after 30 years?

[What’s wrong?]

Russell tried hard not to look at the letter, but he couldn’t stand Lucion’s reaction.

“The Tower will open.”

[What? W-What did you say?]

Russell stammered in astonishment.

Such a knit-closed group was opening up.

[How much are they going to open it? From the first floor?]

“Wait. I haven’t finished reading it yet.”

Lucion looked at Bethel and Hume and Ratta, who were tilting their heads because they knew nothing about Mage Tower, which was a rather plain reaction, and read the letter again.

-So I wrote a letter because I wanted to let you know first. Neither Father nor Brother knows yet. By the way, I don’t know when the Tower will open. When I know it is accurate, I’ll send you another letter.

Lucion twitched for a moment.

He thought it was very much like Shaela.

-Ah, why are they going to open the Tower? I can’t go into detail, but (I’m telling you because it’s you, Lucion) there’s been a lot of talk inside about the opening of the Tower for a few years. Of course, I’m all up for it! Anyway, the guy who opposed the opening of the Tower died a while ago. I don’t know how many days I laughed out of relief.

‘The wizard died?’

-How did they die? Their magic failed and the room exploded with a bang. Honestly, I’m not that type. Since the Mage Tower is closed, this incident will be buried quietly. Anyway, let’s meet when the Tower opens. Make sure of it!

This was the end of the letter.

The timing was very strange.

The only thing that had changed was that Luminos, a group of wizards and villains, disappeared much earlier than expected.

“It doesn’t say how many floors are going to open.”

Lucion told Russell what he had found out.

[Then why are they opening it?]

“Among the opposition party, a wizard who was quite powerful died in a magic failure.”

[Really? That’s the worst death as a wizard. They probably hover around as a ghost.]

Russell shook his head.

[Well, anyway, look. Isn’t it nice to see the letter? You have a reason to go to the East.]

“That’s right. I’m really glad I read it.”

Lucion grinned at the letter.

The Kingdom of Nevast planted spies in Cronia. They delivered information through four reporting points, and the last point was in the East.

“But, Young Master.”

Hume spoke out.

“What is a Mage Tower?”

―Ratta too. Ratta is curious about that too.

Ratta, who was still playing with the flying flowers, ran and looked up at Lucion.

* * *

The night had come.

Novio, the ruler of Cronia, and Carson, his successor, were away.

With that fact alone, the beasts who had held their breath for so long rushed towards the mansion using the darkness as a shield.

But no one crossed the gate of Cronia’s mansion.

Cronia’s knights spoke through death to the ignorant people who thought that Cronia’s strength originated from those two people.

That Cronia was originally strong.

Thud!

Anthony’s thick iron broke the enemy’s head.

The white gloves he usually wore were stained red, but his figure was undisturbed.

“Everyone, be quiet. It’s time for Young Master to fall asleep.”

As quietly as a horse, Antony swung his mace and broke the legs of the enemy.

Pat!

When the enemy tried to scream, Anthony crushed their facial bone with his foot.

How worried Lucion must have been to have a nightmare that had only recently stopped.

He was going to do his best as a butler so that Lucion could sleep comfortably, not just tonight but also every night.

* * *

Whoosh!

While Hume was running toward the city, he suddenly swung his hand forward, and Lucion, who was carried on his back, shuddered.

“Ah, that scared me.”

“My apologies. The other person sprayed me with something lethal, so I waved my hand without even realizing it.”

Hume fidgeted and looked at Lucion.

[He didn’t just swing his hand, he also smashed their head.]

Russell looked at the body that had fallen to the floor.

Lucion had no choice but to come down to the ground and take Ratta out of the shadow.

He had escaped the mansion without Anthony’s knowledge, so he didn’t want to leave behind any witnesses, whether they were ghosts or not.

“It’s fine, Hume.”

It bothered him that the dead man was heading towards the mansion, but Lucion comforted Hume and called for Ratta.

“Ratta.”

―Tada! It’s Ratta’s turn.