The Ball-Busting Rogue
During my life as a man, there were a handful of words I could never forgive.
For example.
“You can’t play games.”
“What the hell is this danger?”
“Scared?”
And so on.
Among the many insults that scratch at a man’s pride, one stands out as especially infuriating and unforgivable.
It happens when some punk shows up and threatens your asshole.
Think about it.
Some bastard rolls up and says politely, “Excuse me, but may I penetrate your rear entrance?” How could you not swing your fist?
You could hold back.
Probably you’d run instead of fight.
But Lee Dam was the type who’d pick the first option.
The beast that had spewed every filthy word she wanted all her life, without hesitation, charged straight at the enemy and never fled.
“Lee Dam Punch!”
WHAM!
This time too, she refused to deviate from her life’s direction.
Mana-rich but magic-less, she had only one way to strike.
Her pathetic, half-starved fist.
The protruding metacarpal that hit the target—the one that took the blow—slammed into Chiron.
“Ghk!”
The noble who had never been hit or thrown in his life toppled backward.
Chiron crashed flat on the floor and looked up at Lee Dam, clutching his cheek.
“What kind of barbaric—!”
“What barbaric talk from a guy who declares he’ll politely deflower someone else’s virginity!”
Lee Dam lunged forward snarling, but—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Iron spears shot down from the sky and pinned her limbs.
“Enough!”
Beldora Millennium reached out a hand.
She sighed and stepped between the two of them.
“Tone it down. This is my tower.”
As the Tower Lord of Fire Magic, it was only natural her temper flared at the sight of the Iron Magic Tower’s rogue doing whatever he wanted. One punch from Lee Dam, however, had flipped the entire situation on its head.
Chiron sprang up and shouted the opposite.
“Are you kidding?! You just assaulted the face of the Tower Master while you’re still an Apprentice Mage! You really think this is just a minor disciplinary matter?!”
Lee Dam jumped in.
“Then what, you wanna do, you bastard?”
“Huh?! What barbaric—!”
“Barbaric? It’s the Apprentice who got dragged here to get ganged up on that’s the barbaric one!”
“I was even considering your sexual preferences—!”
“SHUT UP!”
Beldora roared again.
Even though she was small, that thunderous voice carried real fury.
Both of them stared at her. She took a breath.
What could she even say now?
Chiron had shown up with no sense of decency and straight-up scouted him, but that was just an ethical issue.
Lee Dam’s punch to Chiron’s face, however, was a clear violation of tower regulations.
This could drag the entire Iron Magic Tower into the mess, or even turn the Fire Tower into an enemy.
One of the four elements, filthier, fiercer, and more aggressive than the rest.
“… ”
The Tower Lord who had barely held the title long enough to claim it was hesitant for a second, then spat out one word.
“Y-yeah… you’re not even a member of our tower yet.”
“… ”
“… ”
Beldora had thrown in the towel.
Lee Dam and Chiron stared at her with disbelief.
“Whoa, what kind of boss is this.”
“… Beldora, this is weird.”
“You brought him yourself and now you’re letting him go free?”
“Free—! Haa, our Fire department doesn’t do that cheap shit! The guy you want—!”
“I don’t need your Fire Mage fire batons.”
CRACK! CRACK!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the iron spears binding Lee Dam’s body.
Her mana, stored deep inside, was naturally spreading outward to protect its owner.
“Waa?!”
“… !”
Both Tower Masters’ eyes went wide.
An Apprentice Mage who hadn’t learned a single proper spell had just corrupted the Tower Master’s magic with nothing but raw mana volume.
And even more shocking: it wasn’t even because of her will. It just happened.
Mana itself was serving her.
“W-we’re part of your tower!”
“No! Wait—! Beldora, your story changed!”
Beldora shouted quickly, drool flying, but Lee Dam had already reached Chiron.
“Yeah, come to our side—!”
“LEE DAAAAM!”
Instead, she pressed her forehead against Chiron’s chest and declared, “You’re next.”
“… ”
“… ”
“Punch me. Ah, one each and it’s a fair trade.”
Was this really happening in a tower whose entire purpose was the essence of knowledge?
This wasn’t a mage. This was just a ball-busting rogue.
Lee Dam was shaking her head side to side like she was drilling a screw, rubbing her head.
“Punch me?! You wanted to swing that fire batons around so bad, but you can’t even hit with your own fists?!”
“… ”
“Aaah?! Punch me and end it. Here. Hit this side.”
She even stuck her cheek out like she was about to get slapped.
The kind of girl you’d bring out to the street and have delinquents hang out with.
“Beldora.”
Just moments ago, right after she had witnessed the impossible mana talent.
“Fine.”
The woman named Lee Dam wasn’t just a talented mage. She could flip the entire flow of the tower.
With that kind of talent, she was irreplaceable!
“Give up.”
But she didn’t.
Chiron honestly had no idea how to deal with a girl this unhinged.
“Haha! Scared, huh! Then scram, you bastard! Your asshole isn’t getting—!”
* * *
“Real bastard, punching like that.”
Lee Dam, who had taken one hit from Chiron, lay on the sofa with a dazed expression.
“You could’ve just walked away. Typical.”
“I would’ve hit anyway.”
Watching her grumble, Beldora let out a sigh of relief.
It had worked out after all.
Chiron’s sneaky plan to steal her away had been blocked.
And Lee Dam had hit him? The cheek-cheek deal was more than enough.
“Let’s hold off on the name for now. Probably won’t be the one you want anyway.”
“Ugh, no choice. Temporary name—‘Project Brokeback’.”
“Ah, whatever. Do whatever.”
Why?
Well, she hadn’t even used magic properly, yet she was more exhausted than she had been all day researching spells.
She just wanted to go home.
No, today she hated even the sight of Lee Dam.
“Please, leave.”
Beldora’s desperate plea made Lee Dam stand up immediately.
A subordinate who told her boss she was done with work?
She wasn’t leaving.
“…… What did you just say?”
The exhaustion had left Beldora’s voice, but power returned.
Even if she was an Apprentice from the same tower, she couldn’t stomach a subordinate defying the Tower Master.
“You said you weren’t part of our tower yet.”
Lee Dam was petty.
No, she was a petty woman.
Though rumors claimed her massive breasts symbolized motherhood and compassion,
sadly, to Lee Dam they were just annoying fat.
In a worse analogy, they were balls without a single sperm-producing function.
Meaningless, useless, dangling things.
“So what was it. You said you weren’t part of our tower yet—?”
“… ”
“When the situation gets complicated and you throw in the towel, it’s not iron, it’s a KitKat?”
“Kit… ? Don’t know what that is, but— hrmph.”
Beldora rose and stepped closer, offering a benevolent smile and reaching for a handshake.
“Welcome to the Iron Magic Tower, Lee Dam.”
“… ”
“Shake?”
“… ”
“Arm’s going to fall off.”
“Haa.”
In the end, she shook Lee Dam’s hand.
She squeezed hard, deliberately trying to start a power struggle.
“Aaah! You’re crazy!”
Even though she was small, her grip was insanely strong, and Lee Dam lost.
* * *
“Hmm, hmmmm.”
Lee Dam hummed a tune while holding an iron ingot.
More precisely, it had been an ingot until now, but in her hands it had melted into something as soft as clay.
The second night at the Iron Magic Tower.
The tower itself was like a giant dungeon, with separate living quarters for mages.
Even though she was an Apprentice and lived in the underground rooms,
the higher her rank, the better the room she got on the upper floors.
Lee Dam didn’t care about rooms at all.
The empty abandoned house she had repaired with blood, sweat, and tears in Windmill Village was worse than this cramped single room, but the facilities were way better.
“Hmm.”
The churning iron ingot suddenly took the shape of a cool robot.
Previously she had had to buy models or figures, but using magic to imagine the image in her head made anything she could think of possible.
“Best. Best.”
Lee Dam smiled happily, picturing hundreds of robots in her head.
If she had time and materials, she could make them all.
And because it was a tower, raw materials were easy to come by.
She had already built two and set them up on her desk, but she was starting to worry there wouldn’t be enough space.
‘Then I’ll have to take a bigger room.’
She wasn’t really interested in promotion, but it wouldn’t hurt.
“Hmm.”
It was late at night, but Lee Dam’s crazed eyes sparkled.
She had to detail the tiny parts of the figures now, so she sat down and focused.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
“Everything’s coming out—!”
Weird noises came from outside.