Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Just Good at the Beauty Trap
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Just as there's giving, there must be receiving.
Just as there's gaining, there must be losing—that's the way of the world.
I still had no idea why the imperial family had suddenly increased the funding, but thanks to my hardcore efforts, I'd managed to secure a "30x funding" blessing.
Didn't it make sense to return 95% of it to the ones who'd earned it?
But the Violet Magic Tower Master seemed to object to this fair distribution of funds.
"Th-this is my tower...! The Violet Magic... Magic Tower is mine!"
"But I earned that funding."
"That doesn't mean you get to hog it all...!"
"Even with the remaining 5%, it's 1.5 times more than last year."
"It grew! But!"
Like a kid who'd gotten ten million won in New Year's money only for her merciless parents to say "We'll give it back when you're an adult," leaving her with just fifty thousand, the Violet Magic Tower Master threw herself on the floor in a full tantrum.
"M-my disciples... They were using those cheap, shabby magic stones and recycling them... Now they were hoping they could finally use mid-grade ones instead of the lowest-grade ones...!"
As the Violet Magic Tower Master sprinkled in a dash of "desperate family provider" vibes for her crew, even my well-trained conscience started to sting a little. The seniors who'd joined the Violet Magic Tower first were all pretty ragged around the edges.
The day all the towers had gathered to scout me, the reps from the other towers had entourages trailing behind their masters—everyone decked out in robes emblazoned with their towers' cool emblems.
But behind the Violet Magic Tower Master? Not a single attendant in sight. I'd thought maybe the Violet Magic Tower wizards were all outsiders at heart, but nope—it turned out they just didn't have uniforms, so no one came.
Yeah, the Violet Magic Tower was so strapped they didn't even have uniforms.
I'd seen a senior licking bread crumbs off a plate to save on research budget.
It was kinda heartbreaking seeing high-earning wizards living so scrappily.
But if I gave in here... my own research would fall behind.
My thrilling, grand research: implementing virtual reality for TRPGs.
'Gotta spawn a super badass dragon so players can heroically slay it in an epic finale.'
The whisper in my heart soaked in deep.
Weren't the Magic Tower seniors' pains and tears just unavoidable sacrifices?
Spotting the venomous glint in my eyes, the Violet Magic Tower Master kicked into tantrum phase two.
She crawled over on her knees, scratching at the floor, and clung to my pant leg, whining.
"The fuuuunding...!"
"Hm."
My resolve started to waver.
Did I really have to sacrifice my research budget (provisional) to the tower like this?
Then, like a bolt of lightning, inspiration struck my mind.
"The seniors need the funding, right?"
"...Huh?"
"So if every single Magic Tower senior thinks 'I don't need the funding,' then I won't feel any guilt, right?"
Like that'll work, her mouth shaped silently.
Wizards are research-fund fanatics by nature. Even in a relatively broke tower like Violet, they were still sucking up imperial funding. Wasn't it weird they were licking dishes clean and skipping uniforms to save cash?
They poured every penny for clothes or good food straight into research. That's how they stayed broke.
People who want to pour their lives into creating something have that obsessive streak.
Not as bad as me, but respectable enough venom. They wouldn't give up funding easily. But I had a surefire plan.
"Let's persuade the Magic Tower seniors. If I fail, I'll cleanly take just 50%."
"Yay...! Fifty percent...!"
She clearly didn't think I'd succeed, already cheering victory. Bubbles of illusion floated up around her, happy as could be.
Peering into one, I glimpsed visions of the seniors trash-talking me: "That psycho's after my research funds!!" "If you don't leave right now, I'll confess to you."
When the Tower Master was in a good mood, her imaginings sometimes leaked out like this.
Bluntly saying my real thoughts—"My research is more important, so I'll take 95% of the funds"—would lead straight to those visions.
But beauty is a timeless persuader across East and West. There's even a saying you can't spit at a handsome smile. So the answer was obvious.
"Time for the beauty trap."
"?"
Clap clap.
With a surge of will and mana, Heart-chan appeared behind me in a bizarre pose.
Summoning a humanoid from behind? Bizarre pose is otaku etiquette.
Shut-ins buried in research have glaring weaknesses. Obvious ones: beauty traps.
Compared to social butterflies who've built up temptation resistance out in the world, self-canned researchers have paper-thin defenses...
And my strike force? The third revision of Virtual Idol Heart-chan, the femme fatale NPC born of Illusion Magic, heartbreaker of men across the continent.
The Violet Magic Tower Master's face flushed beet red.
"F-for research funds, you're using Illusion Magic as a disguise... to seduce the male seniors...!!"
"Players and characters are separate, you know."
"B-but half the tower is... women! It won't work on them..."
"It would if it was just Heart-chan."
Where there are female chars, there are male ones. Common sense.
Sure, some weirdos run all-female TRPGs with only women characters, but I pursue humanity's natural yin-yang harmony. How could I skimp on male chars?
Clap.
Middle-aged one-eyed monocle slicked-back butler, dignified.
Clap.
Black-bellied—pure on the outside, little devil within—shorts-wearing shota butler.
Clap.
Grumbly but secretly caring, diligent bad-boy magpie-hair young butler.
Clap.
Sexy voice, romance-novel speech patterns, suspiciously shifty half-lidded butler.
"Master, I've prepared northern continent coffee suited to this autumn weather."
"Master, Master! Not Joseph's—try mine! The Jasmine tea has steeped perfectly!"
"Hey, boss! You said it was bitter last time... so I put extra care into this one."
"Heh heh heh... Milady. Black tea infused with my own brand of affection. Will you accept it?"
"Eeeeek...!!"
As the butler quartet surrounded the Violet Magic Tower Master in a "tea, anyone?" siege, she shrank like a capybara caught in a trap, trembling.
Leaning down to check her face: flustered red, but her quivering lips curved upward. Embarrassed, but she liked it.
Seemed one of the basic butler archetypes A-B-C-D clicked for her.
"Any discomfort, milady? Tell this Joseph."
"Master, your face is so red! Maybe a fever—let me check..."
"Uh, if it's a cold, I got this scarf I just made. Here, for you, boss."
"They say colds heal faster if passed to someone else. If it's not too forward, may I take milady's cold... mouth to mouth—"
The Tower Master's face flashed "Ew, no." So I nixed the half-lidded butler on the spot. Too buttery? The rest passed; her expression brightened.
Ten minutes of merciless butler carpet-bombing and brainless headpats later.
The Violet Magic Tower Master had melted completely.
"Test run complete."
I was certain. She was easier to topple than most, but even accounting for that, I could "persuade" the seniors just fine.
I snapped my fingers. Heart and the butler brigade snapped to attention and marched off in formation. To wring "I don't covet the research funding" from every soul in the tower.
"N-no... stooop...!"
The gooey Tower Master mustered her last strength, reaching out a hand.
She sensed it too. My NPC legion would conquer the tower at this rate.
But with her melted face and wobbly legs, what could she do?
All that was left for the Tower Master was to savor the bliss like a baby deer at night, watching her tower fall. I pulled my hood low and lounged on the sofa.
The tower conquest took two days and two hours.
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Two more years passed since I'd hogged all the funding and started my research.
Pastoral days of cleverly dodging the Violet Magic Tower Master's evil schemes to steal my funds, all with Illusion Magic.
I hit a wall implementing auto-pilot for NPCs. To create a realistic world, I needed at least ten. More was better.
Couldn't manually control them forever. Felt it hard puppeteering the butler legion—my head was gonna explode.
They had to move by auto-set personalities. But I needed to hijack in emergencies. Yeah... I needed AI tech.
Could I pull it off with just Illusion Magic? Maybe collab with other schools?
As I brooded, the Violet Magic Tower Master plopped down beside me.
Korea's got this chair that mind-controls you into spilling your life story. That subtle vibe loosens tongues.
Yeah, atmosphere.
I felt it too.
The Violet Magic Tower Master went quiet a moment, then spoke carefully.
"...What kind of magic do you want to make?"
Her sudden seriousness from the usual scaredy-cat shifted the mood.
That midnight vibe where you unlock your heart and bare your soul.
I answered plainly.
"A world."
"This one... the world we're standing on right now... isn't enough?"
"Can't you get it without beating around the bush?"
"S-smartass..."
She hemmed and hawed, then decided on a fastball.
Resolution flashed in her round eyes. Core of steel, unbreakable.
"You know you've never called me by name?"
"You're the Tower Master."
"And the others?"
"......"
None.
I didn't even remember, honestly.
Some mental disorder. Other people's names just didn't stick.
They'd register for a sec, then poof—gone.
Thought maybe reincarnation perk turned curse, so after joining the tower I got checked out. Body, soul—pristine. No curse marks. Pure mental issue.
I eyed the girl's face, memorable only as "Violet Magic Tower Master."
That was sadness and worry.
"...Sometimes, very rarely... you don't seem alive. Like your heart's somewhere else."
"......"
She was right.
Unwanted reincarnation. Or a defective one.
Better if I'd lost my past life memories. But I remember a lot. Air not quite clean, pine scent from the hills behind home, mom's soybean paste stew, sizzling grilled flounder, raw beef shreds with kimchi.
Trash bags split open along the commute, streetlights that flickered four times at night before lighting up.
Ex-girlfriend's photo still tucked in my phone album. All my TRPG logs so far.
Yeah.
My soul lingered in 21st-century Korea.
"If there's something I can help with..."
"Want me to show you?"
"...Huh?"
"The world I came from. Want to see it?"
Impulsive words. The Violet Magic Tower Master nodded.
And so began my first true mastering since reincarnating.