Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Laying the Groundwork for the Future (4)
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"……Speak."
Midnel replied with a face that showed he was far from eager.
"Please keep the fact that I'm Ecarot's guardian a secret."
"……."
"It's to prevent any potential mishaps. What do you think?"
Midnel's expression softened noticeably.
"I understand perfectly. I'll do as you ask."
"Thank you."
I stood up and ruffled Ecarot's hair.
"Well, it's time for us to part ways for a bit."
"……."
Ecarot stared at me intently, then suddenly threw himself into my arms.
"Whoa."
I was caught off guard by the unexpected action but soon extended my hand.
Pat, pat.
I lightly patted Ecarot's back—his small frame, where his wingbones protruded more than one might expect for his age.
"Take care. I'll tell those people you were gossiping about earlier to visit you often."
"……."
"If you ever want to get in touch with me, just ask them."
A small voice came through the warmth of our touching bodies.
"……When we meet again,"
Ecarot sniffled once and said,
"can I call you brother?"
Well, well, this kid?
I thought, but ended up bursting into laughter.
"Sure."
Our relationship wasn't one of lord and vassal. He wasn't the type to be held onto by force anyway.
The corners of Ecarot's mouth curved softly.
"I'll study hard."
"Good."
I removed the ring from my pinky and held it out to him.
"You're grown when you can wear this. Got it?"
"……Yes."
Ecarot carefully took the ring with both hands and tucked it into his bosom like a precious treasure.
"Now that the goodbyes are done, I'll take my leave."
Midnel, who had been waiting, approached us.
"I won't see you off. You didn't enter in a way that expected such formalities."
"Of course not."
Even after becoming a major patron, his attitude hadn't changed.
In some ways, he was a remarkably consistent man. That's what made him all the more trustworthy.
"Let's go."
Midnel led Ecarot out of the room. I followed behind them.
"Farewell."
Ecarot bowed his head slightly, then gradually moved away. I waved once with a jingle of my hand and turned back.
I retraced my steps to the entrance. I planned to head straight back to the merchant group, but
"-!"
I froze in place upon seeing a pair of man and woman standing at the entrance.
"Truly astonishing. To think the lady was a mage affiliated with this Mage Tower."
Cain, gazing at her with a gentle smile,
"It's just a minor talent."
And one woman, blushing shyly.
'Cain here again?'
I was starting to suspect some force was deliberately making our paths cross.
'And who's that woman? Does Cain have connections in the Mage Tower?'
Cain was supposed to forge ties with the Mage Tower only after meeting Ecarot. So this was even more shocking than yesterday's encounter.
"To call it a minor talent is far too modest."
Cain feigned surprise and flattered her.
"The title of the Tower Master's first disciple isn't something easily obtained."
The woman cupped her cheeks with both hands.
She seemed to be barely holding back the urge to swoon with every word Cain said.
"I was ignorant and offended you yesterday by daring to address a great mage so casually."
"No, no. It's fine if it's you, Cain."
The woman waved her hand dismissively and beamed.
"Just call me Siena."
Thud. It felt like a heavy stone dropped into my chest.
'……Siena?'
Could it be that Siena Cruelty I knew?
In the original story, she was a second-in-command character overshadowed by Ecarot.
There wasn't much description of her. Just that she'd developed a strong hatred after being horribly mistreated by vagrants in her childhood.
A mage's talent stems from deficiency. The deeper and wider the pit of lack, the greater the mana they can wield.
It was only natural that Siena became a powerful mage.
'Why is she with Cain?'
This was a development not in the original. It strayed far beyond my predictions.
"To think I nearly harmed a great mage like Miss Siena. I should have punished those scum more harshly."
As Cain let out a sigh-like murmur, a faint crack appeared in Siena's smile.
"No. I was just startled at the time…… I froze in place."
I could only be exasperated listening to this. For 'that' Siena to be too flustered to act was utterly absurd.
'From the circumstances, it seems Cain rescued her. Is that why she held back?'
As I pieced together their situation, a sudden thought struck me.
'No way—the woman Cain went to save at the festival yesterday?'
……Damn it all.
At the protagonist Cain's absurd luck, and this situation unfolding so perfectly in his favor.
I was utterly fed up.
"-Ah."
Siena spotted me and let out a short exclamation.
"Why……."
Cain, following her gaze, stopped dead. His eyes turned blood-red.
"Abel."
He fully turned to face me.
"You again."
"That's my line."
I shot back without backing down and approached Cain.
Step, step.
The closer I got, the clearer Cain's face became. Sharp like a carved sculpture, devoid of even a hint of emotion.
No—more precisely, dripping with cold hostility.
"What's your business at the Mage Tower?"
Even his voice flying toward me was as chilling as a north wind.
'……Oh, really?'
In the original, he was endlessly generous and magnanimous, but merciless toward those he deemed enemies.
That unyielding focus on one direction, pursuing justice upright—that was his driving force.
The face he showed to enemies was the one now before me.
'So now he sees me as an enemy.'
A belated realization brought a hollow laugh bubbling up.
'Now?'
All my actions so far must have been mere annoyances to Cain. Like a lizard chattering fearlessly before a dragon.
'Now.'
I'd clawed my way here with blood and bone-shattering effort.
Yet Cain brushed off such things lightly, only acknowledging me as an 'equal' enemy after I directly denied and confronted him.
"……."
My gut twisted as if being clawed apart. A pain different from the hunger from Requiem.
The blow to my pride was more agonizing than anything I'd endured.
'……I really do hate you.'
No, I hated him even more from this moment. We truly seemed incompatible.
Hiding none of that emotion, I stared straight at Cain.
With a thick sneer I didn't bother concealing.
"Why do you care?"
"……."
A smirk flickered at Cain's lips. The expression of 'I knew it.'
"Right. It was a pointless question."
Cain loosely crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.
"I was just curious how someone with no ties to the Mage Tower ended up here."
"I……."
"If you don't want to say, forget it. I don't want to talk to you either."
Cain whipped around to look at Siena standing behind him. His frozen face melted in an instant, blooming into a warm spring smile.
"I showed you an embarrassing side of me. My apologies, Miss Siena."
……This bastard?
Before I could even scoff in disbelief, Siena brushed back a stray lock of hair.
"Not at all. I don't see what you'd have to be embarrassed about."
Her pale blue eyes turned to me. Over the deep, dark sea-like hue, ripples of wariness gently spread.
"Who's this?"
"Abel Ovest Kindriel."
"Not a friend, I take it."
"No, of course not."
At those words, Siena immediately lost interest in me and focused on Cain. The ripples of wariness subsided, and longing spread over her now-calm eyes.
'……So this is how it feels.'
The feeling Cain must have had before Princess Violet. Far more petty and filthy than I'd imagined.
"Thank you for inviting me to the Mage Tower. It was a valuable experience."
"You're too kind. Please visit often."
"How could I impose? Everyone knows how busy mages are with their research."
Cain blatantly ignored me as he conversed with Siena.
"Even so…… it would be fine if it were you, Cain."
"Music to my ears. And to top it off, such a precious gift—I'm at a loss for how to thank you."
My ears perked up at that.
'What? Precious gift?'
What the hell did Siena give him?
"I should be the one thanking you. Just accept it with a light heart."
"I'm simply grateful for your generosity, Miss Siena."
Cain deliberately skipped any details about the gift, continuing the conversation.
As if he knew I was listening and wanted to taunt me.
'What a detestable prick.'
I'd gone to such lengths to take or ruin what Cain was supposed to have, ensuring he couldn't get it.
'And yet again.'
His sudden bursts of luck fell into his lap as if preordained. Without any real effort, so effortlessly.
It was as if the entire universe desperately wished for Cain's success—and mine, for failure.
It was revolting and infuriating.
"……."
With a cold face, I passed by Cain and Siena. They didn't glance my way until the end.
Click.
As I closed the Mage Tower door and stepped out, my breathing finally eased, like I'd been holding it in.
"……Ha."
Apparently, I'd been unconsciously tense since running into Cain and Siena.
"Huu……."
I gazed at the clear autumn sky and deeply inhaled the now-crisper air into my lungs.
The tightness in my chest gradually loosened, my taut nerves relaxing.
"……Pathetic, really."
I'd handled everything so well until now, yet one variable shook me like this.
It wasn't like me at all.
"It's fine."
I muttered to myself.
Yeah, I wasn't sick of it. Look at all I'd prepared so far—and how much more lay ahead.
"I can do this."
I squeezed my eyes shut tight, then snapped them open. Just as I was about to step forward,
Creak—
The door opened behind me, and Cain walked out.
"……."
Cain glanced at me, then quickly looked away. He headed straight for the carriage waiting at the entrance.
That was when it happened.
"Young Master Cain!"
A young male servant came running up in a hurry.
"Young Master! There you are!"
"What is it?"
"Lord Carlo is urgently summoning you!"
Cain's complexion changed slightly.
"My father? Why?"
"Something serious has happened in Sud Territory. You need to prepare to return immediately."
"What? Right now?"
"Yes, he said to come back to the mansion at once."
Cain halted, lost in thought. Eventually, he glanced at me once, then turned.
Click.
Cain and the servant disappeared into the carriage. It soon departed and vanished from sight.
"If it's something serious, it must be that."
Left alone, I muttered softly.
"But why so soon?"
Cain wasn't supposed to return to Sud Territory today.
In the original, he only learns of the incident in the territory after the week-long harvest festival ends and rushes back.
There, he encounters the Sword of Summer, Cadenza, and uses the ice magic crystal he possesses to successfully claim it.
'But this time, he didn't get the magic crystal,'
He'll fail. He has to fail. And yet……
'Why am I so uneasy?'
It felt like Cain would somehow become Cadenza's master through some ridiculous stroke of luck.
'No, that's impossible.'
Cadenza is as unforgiving a sword as Requiem. No human could grasp it barehanded without a magic crystal and survive.
Besides……
"It's changed again."
The flow of the original story I knew was shifting bit by bit. In utterly unpredictable ways.
"What if……."
I glared at the departing carriage with furrowed brows.
That uneasy premonition became reality the next day.
[Urgent Report: Massive Monster Outbreak in Northern Mountains. Plundering of Villages Surging. Requesting Support.]
A hastily scrawled telegram had arrived at the imperial palace.