Veronica's Break
"Sally! How did you get here?"
Still held in her arms, Veronica asked.
"I missed you so much I figured something out!"
"Does that mean we can see each other all the time now?"
Veronica's voice was bright with hope—but Sally shook her head.
"No, that's not possible. Between security and all the rest of it, getting out like this isn't easy."
"Aww… It's already been years. When is this going to end…"
Sally stroked Veronica's dejected head.
"Just wait a little longer, Veronica."
The two of them still exchanged letters, of course. But the Black Magic Tower censored every one of them—security, technical leakage, the usual excuses—so writing anything truly personal was awkward at best.
"Anyway, you've had it rough, haven't you, Veronica? The Tower Master is waiting for you too. Get yourself sorted and let's go!"
"Okay!"
A little while later, after packing her things and washing up, Veronica headed off with Sally to see her master.
Waiting for her was the Master of the Red Magic Tower, Scarlet Mars, who welcomed her with open arms.
"It's been a while, Veronica!"
"Master!"
Veronica ran to Scarlet and threw her arms around her as well. Anyone else seeing the Tower Master like this would have struggled to believe their own eyes—but for Veronica and Scarlet, it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Right, come sit down."
Scarlet urged her to take a seat. But instead of launching into the academy stories her master wanted to hear, Veronica looked between Scarlet and Sally and hesitated for a long moment.
She would rather die than tell this to just anyone—but if she had to tell someone, these two were the only ones she could trust. A little embarrassment was better than letting things with Louis fall apart completely.
"Master. And Sally. There's something I've been worrying about…"
"Hm? What is it?"
"What is it, Veronica?"
Both of them leaned in with interest.
"Is it some kind of bottleneck with your magic—"
"No, no, it's not that…"
Scarlet had assumed Veronica had hit a wall in her magic. Veronica's problem, however, was a little more difficult than that—at least as far as Scarlet was concerned.
And so Veronica began to pour out everything that had been weighing on her.
Some time later…
"…And that's how it happened. What am I supposed to do now?"
"Haa…"
"Haa…"
Scarlet and Sally both let out a sigh at the exact same time.
"Veronica… You don't actually hate that boy, do you?"
"Of course not! Absolutely not, Sally!"
Veronica nearly jumped out of her seat at the question.
"I mean, looking at how you've been acting…"
Sally started to say more, then reined herself in. Instead she turned a withering look on Scarlet.
"Tower Master. Just how exactly did you raise this girl…"
"Ahem."
Scarlet very carefully avoided Sally's gaze.
"Anyway, Veronica. I don't know the full picture, but even I can tell things have gone terribly wrong."
Scarlet's confirmation of the worst only made Veronica's face crumple further.
"Th-then what do I do?"
"What do you do? You go apologize right this second!"
Sally cried. Veronica, however, only looked confused.
"But Sally, I already apologized, and Louis still…"
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on just a second, Veronica."
Sally cut her off.
"Veronica, you apologized? When?"
"W-well, after the duel ended…"
"She said earlier that as the price of the duel, Veronica had to apologize to Louis."
Veronica and Scarlet answered one after the other. At that, Sally pressed a hand to her forehead and exhaled a long, deep sigh.
"Haa…"
"W-why? What's wrong, Sally?"
"I suppose an apology alone really isn't enough."
Veronica and Scarlet spoke again—and Sally exploded.
"You mages are unbelievable! That is not an apology!"
"…?"
Faced with their blank, bewildered expressions, Sally—who among mages was practically the only one with something resembling normal human relationships—slapped a hand against her chest in pure frustration.
"Veronica. Do you honestly think Louis took that apology as sincere?"
"I guess I should have put more heart into it…"
"That's not the problem!"
Sally shouted at Veronica, who was still reflecting on entirely the wrong thing.
"In the first place, that so-called apology was a condition of the duel—something you had to do, right?"
Veronica nodded.
"Haa… Then of course Louis is going to take it as you apologizing through gritted teeth. Who in that situation would ever believe you meant it from the heart?"
"Is that so…?"
"Not 'is that so'!"
Sally had never found Veronica so exasperating in her life. Under the force of Sally's terrifying intensity, Scarlet had already shrunk into a corner.
"Veronica."
"Y-yes?"
Sally was more serious than Veronica had ever seen her. Veronica tensed up without even meaning to.
"The moment the semester starts, you run straight to Louis and apologize. No—an apology alone won't cut it."
Veronica swallowed hard.
"Tell him everything you told us. From what I can see, you're still hiding a few things, aren't you?"
Veronica flinched. She opened her mouth to protest, but Sally was faster.
"I won't pry into what they are…"
"Well, I'm curious."
"Tower Master, please be quiet for a moment!"
"Understood…"
Scarlet crumpled again.
"Tell him everything, honestly, and then apologize. Got it?"
Veronica hesitated.
Tell him everything? Honestly?
That I like Louis—and that I deliberately treated him badly because of it?
She would die of mortification. Biting her tongue and ending it all would be easier—
"Or you can just stay distant from Louis and—"
"I don't want that!"
Veronica cried out.
"Then apologize properly. Spill everything, the whole truth. Understood?"
"Y-yeah…"
In the end, Veronica nodded.
Of course, there was one thing Sally didn't say out loud.
Even then, there's no guarantee he'll accept it.
That was the real problem. Sally's head was starting to ache for reasons she couldn't quite pin down.
At last Veronica's consultation came to an end, and the three of them drifted into lighter conversation—stories from Veronica's academy, Scarlet's experiments and news from the Red Magic Tower, and even the things Sally had seen inside the Black Magic Tower.
"Come to think of it, something strange has been going on."
Scarlet spoke up.
"What is it?"
"For a while now, the Imperial Household has been buying their basic magical goods from a different tower."
"What?"
"And that's not all. They're saying they're going to cut our subsidy too."
"Hah! That's no small matter!"
Sally exclaimed.
"Why on earth would they do that?"
"Truth is… I don't really know either."
"Excuse me? They didn't even give a reason?"
"Well, it isn't that they didn't…"
Scarlet scratched the back of her head.
"Someone came from the Imperial Household to deliver the news, and, uh… the second I heard they were cutting the subsidy, I kind of lost it…"
"Don't tell me you drove the imperial messenger out…"
Sally asked, worried.
"No—I got so mad I started flinging magic around, and the messenger just bolted…"
"You absolute maniac!"
Sally's headache ratcheted up another notch.
"Anyway, I plan to visit the Imperial Household myself next. I need to find out exactly what's going on and fix it."
"Yes. And make sure you apologize properly while you're at it."
Listening to the two of them, Veronica broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn't help remembering what had happened at Felice's funeral.
That punishment the Princess mentioned… could it be…?
Veronica fidgeted restlessly in her seat.
In any case, once their conversation wound down, Scarlet had a mountain of work waiting for her, so Sally and Veronica stepped out of the room.
Veronica turned to Sally with a request.
"Sally, that money I've been saving up…"
"Huh? What about it?"
Veronica had money from the commissions she'd taken outside the tower—practice, mostly, but paid all the same. As the Tower Master's successor she already received every form of support the tower could offer, so the sum she had quietly set aside without spending was nothing to sneeze at.
"I found a use for it."
"Where?"
"It's a secret."
"Aww… Fine, I'll go dig it out for you."
"Thanks, Sally!"
Sally gave her a puzzled look.
"But Veronica—didn't you say you were saving that money so you could open a workshop of your own someday?"
It had always been Veronica's dream. In time the Red Magic Tower would be hers anyway—but a magic workshop of her own was the romantic ideal of every mage alive.
"Well… I can always save it up again."
Sally kept asking, curiosity plain on her face, but Veronica only answered with an awkward little smile.
That money truly had meant a great deal to her. But she had two places that needed it now.
Half of it would go to her master. She would tell Scarlet the full truth about the gargoyle, then hand the money over as operating funds for the tower. Compared to what the tower spent it was a pittance—but if she didn't do at least this much, her conscience would never let her rest.
The tower's subsidy being cut was surely the punishment the Princess had alluded to at the funeral. Veronica had never imagined the sanctions would fall not on an individual, or even a family, but on the tower itself.
And the other half had a use of its own.