Magic Tower (6)
Crrraaack.
The grip clamping down on my forearm was so fierce I was certain it would leave a bruise. Pain radiated from my arm through my entire body. It hurt like hell—but inside, I was grinning.
Cancel it right now! I can grip even harder if I want!
Everything was going exactly according to plan. I had made Rin cling to me. I hadn’t expected her to latch on quite so physically, but clinging was clinging all the same.
Rin, the mage of the Hero’s party, was without exaggeration one of the hardest characters to recruit in all of Crack Kingdom. Countless veterans had poured endless hours into mapping her likes, her preferred actions, her ideal dialogue choices, desperate to crack her affection route. Not a single one ever succeeded. Her likes and dislikes ran on a real-time adaptive system that shifted with every situation and every flicker of emotion. The old-timers finally threw up their hands and declared that raising Rin’s affection high enough to recruit her was impossible unless the heavens themselves intervened.
But while they were giving up, I tried something different. I stopped treating Rin like a game character and started treating her like a person.
In Crack Kingdom, Rin’s preferences changed with her mood and circumstances. What she liked, what she wanted to do, what she wanted to hear—everything was in constant flux. Yet one thing never changed: Rin was still Rin. To raise her affection, you first had to understand exactly what kind of person she was. So I studied everything about her. And in the end, I built the Rin recruitment route that everyone else had abandoned as impossible.
“Ow, ow, ow. That hurts, Lady Rin.”
“Nngh. R-Rin, that’s enough. Let go of his arm…!”
The moment I winced and complained, Eve seized Rin’s hand and forced it free.
“Young Master, I’ll use my ability at once.”
“No, it’s fine. Lady Rin didn’t squeeze that hard. Just a faint handprint, that’s all.”
“But…”
“I said it’s fine. And using the Blessing of Restoration on a living being drains your stamina, doesn’t it? We’ve still got a lot to do together—you’re not planning to collapse already, are you?”
“Haa… Understood.”
I soothed Rina, who looked ready to heal me on the spot with a deadly serious expression, then turned my gaze back to Rin. Eve had her arms locked around the girl, pinning both of Rin’s arms. Rin ground her teeth and glared daggers at me.
“Lady Eve, please let Lady Rin go.”
“W-What? But if I let her go she’ll just… do something rude to Baron Offen again… R-Rin throws a tantrum whenever things don’t go her way. A-Are you sure it’s all right?”
Rin was that bad? Kind-hearted Eve speaking so bluntly made me wonder for a second whether releasing her was wise. Still, I nodded.
“…It’s fine.”
I trusted the knowledge I had built.
“I-If Baron Offen says so… R-Rin. If you hurt Baron Offen again, you’re really getting scolded.”
Eve gave Rin a stern warning, then released her. Free once more, Rin scowled and slashed a mana quill through the air.
I want to hear why you claim you don’t need me.
I arranged my face into a look of mild discomfort at the words floating in the air.
“Hmm, do you really need to hear it? Spelling out to someone’s face exactly why they’re unnecessary feels a little… awkward. I’ll take nothing in return—can’t you just accept the treatment and leave it at that?”
No. You will tell me the reason. That I am unnecessary—I’ve never heard those words from anyone. So I must hear from you why you don’t need me. Right now, that is the most important thing.
Fierce pressure rolled off Rin, as if she might lunge at any second. Eve’s earlier warning kept her rooted in place, but only barely.
Speak. I’ll keep hounding you until I’m satisfied.
Rin fixed me with a savage glare and wrote the demand again, adding that she would cling to the matter until she was convinced. The instant I read those words, I had to throw every ounce of willpower into keeping my expression neutral.
Perfect. We’re already halfway there.
This exact situation—Rin cornering me with that ferocious intensity—was precisely what I had been waiting for.
“Well, if you insist on hearing the reason that badly, I suppose I have no choice. I’ll tell you.”
I kept the look of mild reluctance on my face and opened my mouth. Time to thoroughly dismantle Rin with nothing but my tongue.
Seated at a table in the ice-cream café, I looked across at Rin and spoke.
“Before we begin, allow me to restate this clearly. I do not need you, Lady Rin.”
That was a lie, of course. I needed Rin’s help desperately. Only with her could I clear Iel Forest into farmland and begin the agricultural reforms. The reason I kept hammering her berserk button instead of revealing that truth was simple.
You don’t need to say it again—just hurry up and give me the reason.
Provoking Rin until she was thoroughly pissed off was my personal method for raising her affection.
If Rin were an animal, she would be a cat. An extremely clever, extremely sharp-tongued, extremely haughty, and extremely temperamental cat. A cat that magnificent had a nose held so high that tasty treats or shiny toys would never tame her. You had to wound her pride first, create a crack, and then slip through it. That was the core of the Rin recruitment route I had built.
“The reason, the reason… Simply put, I said I don’t need you because I don’t need you. Give me a moment to organize my thoughts.”
Is this man joking with me right now?
The first preparation for raising Rin’s affection: become someone she needs.
Listen, Baron Offen. If you couldn’t heal my throat, I would have stormed out of here already. What exactly are you doing?
Rin’s pride was immense, yet she was not easily ruffled. She was far too intelligent to waste even half an ear on insults from someone beneath her level. To scratch her, you first had to stand on equal footing. By healing her throat with the Blessing of Restoration, I had matched her level. That was why she sat there, pride thoroughly scraped raw, yet unable to rise and leave.
“All right, I’ve sorted it out. I’ll explain now.”
Hurry up and say it.
Having become someone she needed, the real recruitment could begin.
“The reason I don’t need you, Lady Rin, is that people with far greater abilities than yours are already helping me.”
Step one of recruiting Rin: tell her she is unnecessary, then list every reason in meticulous detail.
Abilities greater than mine? What nonsense is that.
“You are an extraordinary mage, of course. The greatest genius the Magic Tower has ever produced.”
And someone who knows that still says such things?
“Yes. You are an extraordinary mage—yet you are weaker than Gid.”
Rin’s furiously scribbling hand froze mid-stroke.
“Gid is an all-purpose laborer. In a single day he can carve roads through a vast forest, repair every wall of our territory, and still possess the combat power to repel any enemy that dares invade. He never tires. Your magic is impressive, of course, but do you truly believe Gid’s strength and stamina fall short of yours?”
I poured out Gid’s virtues like a machine gun while her hand was still. Rin hesitated several times with the mana quill, then wrote with noticeably diminished force.
O-Of course they fall short. Gid’s physical abilities are outstanding, yes. But Gid is a warrior. I am a mage. With area magic I can finish in a single day the work Gid would need a month to complete.
She was right. The entire reason I had come here was to heal Rin’s throat and bring her into my territory. Without her area magic, clearing Iel Forest was impossible. I buried that truth and merely shrugged, as if her point were trivial.
“Hmm, is area magic really that impressive? I wouldn’t know. When Gid swings his arm once, everything just gets smashed or uprooted, you know?”
What.
“Well, your area magic is certainly remarkable. But Termin Territory is tiny. Small enough that Gid alone can handle everything. With someone like him around, what possible reason would I have to need you, Lady Rin?”
My deliberately needling tone made Rin clench the mana quill harder. Being told she lost to Gid had clearly scraped her raw.
Grind.
Fine. Fine. You’ve never seen my magic, so of course you can spout such ridiculous nonsense. I understand. But the true value of my magic isn’t limited to large-scale area spells.
Rin scrawled the words so fast she didn’t even notice the cracks her grip had put in the mana quill.
I can perform more delicate calculations and chants than any other mage in the Magic Tower. Recently I’ve even developed magic formulas that incorporate magical engineering. I can cast convenient spells the likes of which exist nowhere else in this world. The mountain of paperwork a lord must handle? I could finish it in an instant. Office work is nothing to me. And with me around, the mansion’s security would be absolute as well.
She had decided that proving her worth through household administrative work would be easier than competing with Gid. That was a fatal miscalculation.
“Is that so? Then can you do something like this, Lady Rin?”
What? What do you mean by that.
“Rina. Fix her mana quill.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Rina, who had been sitting at the neighboring table with Eve, approached and touched a fingertip to the cracked quill in Rin’s hand.
“Return to your original state.”
With the spoken command, orange light bloomed from Rina’s fingertip. When the glow faded, the mana quill gleamed as if brand-new, without a single scratch.
Rin blinked at the perfectly restored quill, then stared at me. I smiled sweetly at the girl who had been so stunned she forgot to write.
“Our Rina is an exceptionally capable maid, you see. You would need to match at least this level to even compete. Do you think you’re up to it?”
E-Even so, with me here the mansion’s security would be rock-solid…
“Mansion security? We already have Lady Eve for that.”
Even after witnessing Rina’s Blessing of Restoration, Rin had clung to the security argument—until I mentioned Eve. Only then did her hand finally stop.
“Lady Rin, I am truly blessed with good people. Extraordinary individuals are already supporting me. Unfortunately, it seems I will manage just fine even without your help.”
I delivered the words exactly like a rejection letter sent to a failed job applicant. Of course I didn’t mean a single syllable. But this was the only way to properly provoke her—and only by provoking her could I draw out the reaction I needed.
Then all I have to do is prove my usefulness, right? You—spend just one day with me. I’ll show you exactly how useful I am!
Yes. Exactly like that.