The Golden Tower's Secret
For the past two weeks, the Count’s estate had been peaceful, but once again, a commotion broke out.
“AAAAAAHHH!!!”
Crash, bang.
From one side of the mansion, the sound of something shattering echoed out from the window of the Count’s office.
The knights and servants walked past the door with vacant, indifferent eyes, thinking the same thing:
‘Serves him right.’
It was a familiar routine by now.
At some point, the Count would have something stolen, and he would fly into a rage.
The thefts occurred so frequently it was as if someone were doing it just to pass the time.
The people of the estate had naturally learned how to deal with that fury.
“…….”
Just stay quiet, like the dead.
One only needed to keep a distance far enough that the Count’s temper tantrum couldn't reach them.
If they did that, it was actually quite refreshing to watch.
While everyone was stealthily retreating from the office, a blond man pushed the door open.
“Please, calm your anger. It’s not as if the stolen items were anything of great importance.”
It was the Count’s son, Phillips.
“Shut up, shut up…!”
The Count gasped for air, his breathing ragged.
Phillips could not understand why his father was reacting with such intensity.
“This time, it was just a single button from a robe and three quill nibs.”
They were trivial things.
Things that could be dismissed as having been dropped due to his own carelessness or as someone’s mischievous prank.
“It’s him. It’s definitely him…! That bastard from the North who has been interfering with my business at every turn!!”
“Didn't the investigation report state that there were absolutely no signs of intrusion?”
It was the result of an investigation conducted by Alik, the Captain of the Capital Guard himself.
He was a man who usually didn't handle such petty crimes.
He was a man who had once been named as a candidate for Knight Commander.
Even the head of the Golden Magic Tower, the El-Master, had personally guaranteed those results.
“No. My eyes… my eyes, at least, cannot be deceived.”
“Is that so.”
Even so, the Count’s conviction was unshakable.
“He said he’d carry out an immediate execution, yet he dared to deceive me!!”
The Count, who had once again thrown the items on his desk, had a look of madness-tinged fury in his eyes.
‘He’s the Grand Duke. How dare you, indeed.’
Watching him, Phillips mocked the Count inwardly. He felt a sense of pathetic pity.
There had been a time when his gaze held respect for his father.
From a serf to a knight.
And then to a noble title.
He had achieved feats worthy of being recorded in history books.
He had built a family from nothing and expanded its stature endlessly through cooperation with the Imperial Prince.
But now.
“Kian, bring me all the documents related to Kian Ventus!”
There was only an old man left, venting his anger in the wrong places.
“… I shall do so.”
Phillips bowed his head in greeting and slowly exited the office.
Kian Ventus.
The last remaining member of a fallen noble family, a genius mage who had been absorbed into the Count’s family as a collateral branch under the pretext of financial support.
After returning to the capital with the Grand Duke’s carriage and declaring a severance of ties, his expulsion seemed imminent.
“Is this self-inflicted?”
What on earth was there to be swayed by in the distant, desolate northern lands that he would betray his family?
Swallowing his curiosity, Phillips made his way to the archives located in the basement of the mansion.
The archives were filled with the smell of musty dust.
Among the vast piles of parchment, a gleaming steel safe caught his eye.
And in front of it, two small, remaining footprints.
“What is this…?”
Phillips, taking in the strange sight, went through the faces of the servants in his mind.
Among them, there wasn't a single child.
“Hmph….”
Phillips let out a laugh and stretched his leg toward the footprints.
Swish, swish—.
“You should have hidden them better.”
Muttering to himself, he manually erased the traces.
It seemed the paranoia the gossip-mongers whispered about his father wasn't just a rumor after all.
“Heh, heh, heh.”
But it didn't matter either way.
The more the Count went insane with rage, and the more his condition was suspected to be senility, the more it worked in Phillips’ favor.
Because every time that happened, his position as the heir became more secure.
***
Why do things like this only happen to me?
I dashed through the sky, clutching the documents I’d copied from the Count’s basement safe.
- Is there anything more annoying than this…?
I rummaged through the mansion with a light heart. Just like back when I was robbing carriages in the North.
In the process, I found a flashy safe in the basement. Naturally, I opened it with magic.
- … Huh?
I saw a familiar name inside. Kian Ventus.
- Was this guy a noble?
With another light heart, I picked up the documents. But the content was incredibly heavy.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a slave contract.
He wasn't just a noble; he was a fallen noble.
A family in name only, stripped of their territory.
I read through the contents of the documents again.
From the moment Kian Ventus reached adulthood, all his mana operation rights and achievements were to be the property of the Count’s family.
The next page contained a ‘Petition for Deprivation of Title’ intended for submission to the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It was filled with false facts, claiming that after being sent on assignment, he had ‘colluded with the Northern Grand Duke’s family to leak family secrets.’
“Oh… damn….”
It was a story I had never heard from Kian even once.
And it was likely a story he didn't know about either.
Tucked into the last page of the documents was a single, worn-out paper.
It was a secret report containing records of how the Count had secretly bought up the debts left by Kian’s parents and applied administrative pressure to ensure they defaulted on their territory taxes.
I immediately made several copies of these documents and sent one to the North.
And with the rest clutched to my chest, I dashed toward the Golden Magic Tower.
That was because Uriel was the only person I knew in the capital I could trust.
I arrived at the familiar place shortly after.
I sat on the very top of the towering magic tower and scattered my mana.
Mana that only Uriel would recognize.
“Ruen! It’s been a while!”
Soon after, just as I expected, Uriel’s voice reached me.
I tossed the bundle of documents to Uriel, who had sat down beside me with a thud.
“What is this?”
Uriel slowly read through the documents.
The smiling, welcoming face soon stiffened.
“…… It seems Kian is in big trouble.”
“Hmm….”
It wasn't just a matter of his title.
If the contents of those documents were true, Kian was an ungrateful traitor and a spy who had turned his back on his benefactors.
It was a given that both Kian’s personal honor and the honor of the North would plummet together.
“Is there any way?”
“Umm….”
While I was brainstorming countermeasures with Uriel, a vibration hummed from my chest.
It was a vibration felt from the mana I had woven before leaving the North.
“… Professor?”
Before long, Kian’s voice could be heard through the mana.
“I just confirmed the documents you sent. Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you.”
The voice flowed instantly through the connected mana.
It was a method I’d created myself but forgotten about, but seeing him contact me on his own like this, it seemed my study materials had been effective.
A silence followed immediately after my response.
And then.
“…… I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I expected the title to be extinguished… but I didn't think about the possibility of it being linked to the North as well.”
Kian’s voice as he spoke the apology was gloomy. It sounded as if he were holding back tears.
“Well, it’s unavoidable for now, so let’s move on…. Do you have any solutions in mind?”
“… I don’t know.”
“Sigh….”
It was a checkmate.
Setting aside the slander the Count had written down, a head of a family could unilaterally expel a collateral branch.
Especially now, when Kian’s cooperation with the North was being accepted as fact.
No matter how much it was baseless slander, the suspicion of being a spy would naturally fall upon Kian and the North.
“It’s a checkmate….”
Then, before the Count could deliver these documents to the Imperial Court….
‘Should I just secretly wipe out the Count’s family beforehand?’
I was confident. It was definitely possible.
It was just that the cleanup would be a bit of a headache.
While I was groaning to myself, agonizing over a countermeasure.
“Ruen.”
Uriel, who had been keeping a quiet silence, tapped my shoulder.
“There is a way.”
“… What is it?”
Uriel pondered for a moment. A heavy silence.
Soon, Uriel lifted their closed eyes and looked at the mana in my hand with a firm gaze.
“Kian, become my son.”
What Uriel spat out next was quite an out-of-the-blue statement.
“What?”
“… Pardon?”
Kian and I asked the question at the same time.
“According to Imperial law, my surname holds much higher rights than that of a Count.”
I tried to steady my confused mind at Uriel’s words.
If Kian were to enter as Uriel’s adopted son.
And if that adoption were said to have been planned from before he left for the North.
“I guess that would work.”
It would lend credibility to the claim that Kian’s complete affiliation with the North was not an act of espionage, but for legitimate exchange.
“Yes! Kian is a mage who lacks nothing to be the next Tower Master, so it’s a gain for everyone.”
“…… Next Tower Master?”
“Because my surname is inherited by the Tower Master of the Golden Magic Tower.”
This was a bit unexpected.
“… What is that surname?”
At my question, Uriel turned their head and scanned the surroundings. Even though it was the top of a high tower where only clouds were visible.
It seemed the surname of the Tower Master’s family was kept a secret.
I felt an inexplicable sense of unease at that gaze.
Kian’s appearance came to mind.
Tall height, gentle features.
“Don’t you know? It is Uriel.”
I felt a stinging pain in my forehead where I had slapped it without realizing.
The Tower Master's family name is Uriel.
“Ah.”
That appearance, excluding the hair and eye color, was similar to the description of the Tower Master in the original work.