“I’m sorry. The young Miss insisted on seeing Lady Ceres before she left...”
“That’s fine. Please come in.”
Once Julia’s health had improved, Ceres enrolled her in the academy. The girl was clever enough to pick up reading on her own, but that wasn’t enough. She needed a proper education.
Most noble families hired private tutors, but the Drow barony couldn’t afford such a luxury.
Fortunately, the capital had an academy for young children. Because it was run by the imperial family, the cost was relatively manageable.
After enrolling, Julia often stopped by the shop to see Ceres once her classes were over.
“Are you hungry, Young Miss?”
“Mm. I’m a little hungry.”
“Please wait just a moment.”
Nod.
Thanks to that, the small chair Mark had prepared just for her was no longer sitting unused.
After settling into it, Julia swung her feet lightly as she looked around the shop.
“Oi, you bast—”
Blink blink.
“...Ahem. Friend, that happens to be my food, doesn’t it?”
“What nonsense are you saying, you motherfu—!”
Blink blink.
“...Don’t say ridiculous things. I was the one who ordered this.”
“Haha... r-right, of course?”
“Hahaha!”
Whenever Julia appeared, the entire mood of the shop shifted.
The rough language that filled the space vanished. Even those on the verge of losing their temper found themselves swallowing their words under her bright, sparkling gaze.
“Julia?”
As the customers sat in silence with their faces nearly buried in their stew, someone stepped in and broke the stillness.
“Ceres!”
Before stepping inside, Ceres had already guessed the reason for the unnatural silence.
When she spotted Julia happily eating the cake Mark had given her, she sighed quietly.
“I told you not to come here.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“Why is it dangerous?”
“Look closely.”
Ceres gestured toward the mercenaries eating.
“Do they look like nice people to you?”
“Cough!”
In an instant, panicked coughing erupted from all around the shop.
“Hey, cover your face! You will scare the kid if she sees that ugly mug!”
“Worry about your own face, idiot!”
As more of them hurriedly buried their faces deeper into their bowls, Julia just kept nodding.
“They smile every time they see me.”
“.....”
“They are nice.”
At that answer, Ceres slowly turned her head.
As soon as the mercenaries met her narrowed gaze, awkward smiles spread across their faces. Some of them were the ones who had caused trouble on her first day.
At least they have the sense to feel embarrassed.
“Still, don’t come here anymore.”
“......”
“Answer me.”
“...Okay.”
Watching her nod, Ceres sighed again.
She always answers so obediently.
At this rate, she would probably come back again tomorrow. For someone so small, she had a surprisingly stubborn streak.
“Ceres, say ah.”
When Julia held out a spoonful of cake toward her, Ceres chuckled softly.
Fine, she would let it slide this time because Julia is too cute.
***
“Find it for me. Please... you have to find it... sob.”
The Magic Tower was a place countless mages dreamed of entering, and one already filled with those who had made it inside.
At its very top sat the Tower Master’s room, where sunlight poured in through a vast window and illuminated a space kept in immaculate order.
In the middle of that pristine room, there was one presence that was completely out of place.
“Ugh... the Ice Mana Stone... please, find it... sob.”
His long wine-colored hair, reaching all the way to his waist, dragged across the floor as though it were sweeping it clean. Not a single tear fell, yet he continued to whine as he crawled about in a full-blown tantrum.
Watching this spectacle in silence, the secretary Luca finally opened his mouth.
“Lord Cheion, perhaps it’s time to stop cleaning the floor and bring this to an end.”
“No! I’m not stopping until you find the mana stone!”
“I’m sure the cleaning staff will be delighted.”
The man kicking his legs in stubborn defiance was none other than Cheion, the master of this Magic Tower.
Cheion de Devrica.
Though born a prince of the Devrica Empire, he had left the Imperial Palace at a young age to pursue magic and devoted himself to the Tower.
By his early teens, he was already drawing attention for his effortless control over magic. At just twelve, he earned the title “Guardian of Mana”, granted only to the greatest mages. And by the age of twenty, only two years ago, he had risen to the position of Tower Master.
It was all thanks to the Tower’s tradition of selecting its master based solely on ability, regardless of age and experience.
“Mana stone...”
Knock knock.
Click.
“Here are the documents you requested.”
Sob.
“Yes, just leave them there.”
“It was radiating cold... sob... the mana stone...”
“Thank you for your work.”
Even as Tower Master Cheion continued to whine, people constantly came and went from the room. Some dropped off documents, while others entered to clean or tidy the space.
However, not a single person paid any attention to the Tower Master crawling across the floor. Everyone avoided his gaze and hurried out as quickly as possible. Some even cast noise-blocking spells on their ears, determined not to hear anything.
“We’re investigating it as quickly as we can, so please be patient a little longer.”
At this rate, if he wasn’t given something to placate him, he would carry on like this all day.
After letting out a sigh, Luca approached Cheion, who had escalated into full-blown wailing. He jabbed him lightly in the side with a stack of documents.
Luca had already dragged Cheion closer to the wall so no one would trip over him. Even so, Cheion’s wailing still echoed throughout the entire tower, making his head throb.
Perhaps it was thanks to the cold water he had gulped down to deal with Cheion’s outrageous temper and steady his own rising irritation. When Luca spoke, his voice came out surprisingly composed.
“There will be news soon.”
“Soon? How soon?”
At those words, Cheion raised his head. His eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Very soon.”
“And when exactly is ‘very soon’?”
“Soon.”
“When is that supposed to be?”
“....”
Deciding that further conversation was pointless, Luca hauled Cheion up into a sitting position. He brushed the dust off his back and straightened his tangled hair.
“It’s almost time for Lord Aseraian to arrive.”
“When is my mana stone coming?”
“......”
Seeing that he had already called it his mana stone, Luca pressed his lips shut.
Sob...
Despite Luca’s efforts to straighten him out, Cheion flopped back onto the floor and began sniffling again.
“What is he doing now?”
“You’re here.”
At that moment, a familiar voice echoed through the room. Luca bowed politely in greeting.
It was Aseraian de Devrica, Crown Prince of the empire and Cheion’s elder brother.
“My mana stone...”
“Mana stone? Did he lose one?”
Aseraian tilted his head. He didn’t know what kind of stone it was, but if it was lost, why not just buy another?
“He has been like this ever since he watched a certain recording not long ago.”
“A recording? What recording?”
“It started with a new mage who recently joined the Tower. She came across an interesting mana stone at a shop in the city and recorded it using a video orb.”
“So?”
Why not simply go and buy it?
“It was apparently a stone someone brought in to sell, but in the end, they left without selling it.”
After seeing that recording by chance, Cheion had been like this. He neither ate nor slept, just replaying that same footage.
“Sob... my little blue stone...”
“This is ridiculous. He’s making a fuss over something that isn’t even his?”
“It’s not exactly new behavior. At this point, we just let him be.”
Watching his younger brother carry on like that, Aseraian’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It was true that this was nothing new, but...
“So it’s not an ordinary mana stone?”
“Yes, it has an ice attribute.”
“Ice attribute...”
If that was the case, then his behavior made some sense.
Ice attribute mana stones were now nearly impossible to find within the empire. They had once circulated occasionally, but at some point, they became extremely rare.
“This is all because of that damn frozen human!”
As if he had been thinking the same, Cheion suddenly shot upright and burst out in anger.
“How long does he plan to keep the North sealed off?!”
“Who knows.”
“But ice attribute materials only come from there!”
D*mn that Grand Duke of Persia!
With the North sealed off for three hundred years, ice attribute materials that once appeared from time to time had all but disappeared from the market.
“Even so, he’s still doing his duty.”
A faint smile curved at Aseraian’s lips.
“He deals with the Black Forests that appear there, unlike a certain someone who likes to slack off.”
Cheion flinched. Still grumbling, he slowly began to crawl toward the corner, as if trying to escape Aseraian’s gaze.
“Did you hear that a Black Forest has formed near the outskirts of the capital?”
“I-I don’t think I heard about that...”
“I reported it to you a week ago at precisely 10:30 in the morning.”