Chapter 132
Chapter 132
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Chocolate from the Gods
-----------------------------------------------------------------
No one could dismiss the Wood Magic Tower by its tier anymore.
It had fully inherited the old evaluation from the Fire Magic Tower that joining it was tantamount to embarking on a path to success as a mage. And in reality, after developing fertilizer and cola, it was becoming a sort of dream team as brilliant mages who had been hiding here and there gathered in one place—
For Isaac and Cohen, the longtime residents who had guarded this place for years, however, the most tangible change after the remodeling was that it no longer leaked during rain.
The two, who handled odd jobs instead of participating in development due to their lack of mana control skills, were chatting with worried expressions.
"Where's the Tower Master?"
"She's holed up in her room, still making something."
"It's hard to say anything when she's so full of enthusiasm... but we really need to start making Luca Cola soon. We're short on supply for the cathedral."
The Tower Master Reina's infidelity.
Instead of producing cola, a few days ago she had suddenly started developing something new with the mages, shouting, "This is it! I can feel it! This is exactly what this season calls for!"
They couldn't even approach her to talk because she wouldn't tell them what it was and was staying up all night adjusting the "Plain Fact."
"Can we make it without Lady Luca?"
"Lady Linea's here."
It wasn't just Luca who could maintain her aura.
Knights of similar caliber, like Ophelia or Linea, could surely do it too.
"Lady Linea seems busy with cathedral duties. Will she come?"
"If the cathedral's demanding cola right away, she will."
"Good point."
"Either way, it's worrying. They took a huge shipment of cola to the New Continent, so we need to make up for it."
"How about sending the orange-flavored cola you made recently, Cohen?"
"Should we? If we just say it's the new 'Orange Luca Cola,' the cathedral probably won't complain..."
As they said, Luca-Cola already had a wide variety of flavors prepared, just not released yet.
They hadn't launched them only because Reina insisted strongly that "this doesn't taste like cola."
"It's delicious enough, and I think everyone would love it... but she seems too fixated on the 'cola' keyword."
"What can we do? We just follow orders."
At that moment.
"Ah, seniors. Hello."
The brilliant female archmage Yunos spotted Cohen and Isaac and bowed.
They replied awkwardly, flustered.
"You're here, Lady Yunos."
"Seniors. As I mentioned before, I'm now officially a mage of the Wood Magic Tower. So please don't use formal speech like before. Aren't you two the most senior members here?"
"But as mages, you're far superior to us, aren't you?"
Yunos was the brilliant mage that all magic towers, including the Fire Magic Tower, had been after.
She was probably a genius talented enough to surpass even Vice Tower Master Stella in terms of mana capacity.
Compared to them, who could only vaguely sense "some mana," she was on another level, so the two bowed their heads awkwardly—
"No. For the tower to function properly, the hierarchy must be maintained. If that breaks down, the tower won't run smoothly, right?"
Reina was like that, and so was Vice Tower Master Stella.
They wondered if there was any magic tower as indifferent to hierarchy as the Wood Magic Tower—
"...If you put it that way, fine."
"We'll treat you casually. Ahem."
There was no need to refuse being treated as seniors outright.
"What about the Tower Master?"
"Same as a few days ago. Do you know when it'll end?"
"No, I don't really... We're just rotating shifts."
Controlling the "Plain Fact" required an enormous amount of mana inevitably, so mages with exceptional abilities like Yunos had to back it up in groups.
Once the ritual was complete that way, it seemed Reina could handle it alone afterward... but these two couldn't know the details anyway.
"Anyway, excuse me."
"Mm. Good work."
"You can leave the floor cleaning and meal deliveries to the seniors."
More like butlers than senior mages.
"It's reassuring. Please take care of it. Then—"
As Yunos turned to leave.
"...It's done!!!!"
From beyond the lab door came Tower Master Reina's shout.
The startled group hurried to the lab, where amid the exhausted collapsed mages, Reina was holding something high toward the sky.
"Ahaha! This is it! Finally complete!"
"Tower Master, is it really done?"
"Yes! Look at this!"
Reina proudly held "it" out in front of Cohen and Isaac.
It was... brown, round, and sprinkled with something like nuts.
"What... is this?"
"This is it! That... that thing! The one you eat a ton of around this time... you know—"
—Chocolate!
"Chocolate? What's that?"
"Just try it! It's food!"
"Another edible one?"
From chicken onward, excluding fertilizer, everything seemed edible, making them wonder if Lord Igugwoden was a god of food—
But figuring Reina wouldn't make it up, the three divided it a bit and put some in their mouths.
And—
"...!!"
"Wow, it's sweet and delicious!"
Seeing Yunos's pupils dilate with flushed excitement and Cohen nodding in admiration, Reina placed her hands on her hips and stuck out her belly proudly.
Her quite large chest shook rhythmically, which was the highlight.
"Right? Delicious, huh?! It's been looping in my head for days! Telling me to make this!"
"...Uh...."
At that moment.
Isaac, munching on the chocolate, made a resolute face as if he hated to ruin the mood but had to say it—
And carefully raised his hand.
"Isn't this... rashim?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"...Huh?"
At Isaac's shocking words, Cohen asked with a horrified expression.
"What? This is rashim??? That soggy, bitter, tasteless stuff?"
Rashim.
A beverage processed from rashit fruit. Before the Wood Magic Tower produced potions, it was said to have been consumed for its awakening effect—a relic of the past by current standards.
"My father loves rashim, so we make it often for him. He forces his son to drink it too, so I know the taste well. It's exactly that. Specifically, like pouring tons of sugar on it, adding nuts, and solidifying it somehow...."
"Come on, Isaac. Be reasonable. Rashim tastes like melted shoe. It's not this smooth."
"Well, yeah, but... no matter how I think, it feels like it."
"Listening to the senior, it does have that unique... subtle bitterness of rashim...."
At that moment.
"...Isaac."
"Yes?"
Reina, with a shadow on her face, looked up and stared piercingly at Isaac with extremely serious eyes—
"This is 'chocolate.'"
"Uh... yes?"
"I sensed something flowing through the Plain Fact and spent days making this 'divine item.' It can't be something like rashim, right?"
"But, Tower Master. No matter how I think—"
"Cho-co-late!"
Reina puffed up her cheeks—
Stamped her feet, and soon started throwing a tantrum.
"It's not rashim! It's chocolate! A divine item! The result of my hard work can't be just sugared rashim!!! You idiot!!!"
"Ah, I didn't mean to belittle your efforts—"
"Isaac. What are you doing? Bow quickly. Tower Master, sorry. Isaac's always been a bit dumb."
"R-right. I'm originally a bit dumb. Sorry. Please forgive me just once."
As Isaac bowed along, Reina's expression, which had been on the verge of tears, finally softened a bit.
"Good. Isaac. Behave properly. You've been in the Wood Magic Tower long enough. Let's do well. Okay?"
"Yes. Of course...."
Well, no need to argue if it's rashim or not to the end.
Even if she were Tower Master, if days of all-nighters resulted in sugared rashim, she'd be down too.
"So... why did you make this?"
At Yunos's question, Reina clapped.
"Right, look at me. There's a reason I made this."
"A reason?"
"Yeah. I said earlier, remember? Something flowed through the Plain Fact. It felt like the god's will...."
The "Plain Fact" itself was the energy from the god's domain transmitted here via the pillar of light.
Sensing it meant feeling the various "divine products" hidden within.
It was the same with cola.
Just like sensing cola, which didn't exist here, right after eating chicken—Reina was connected to the god's world in a way different from the Saintess.
"Come to think of it, you said it's something eaten a lot around this time?"
"Yeah! Probably in the god's world... something like that."
Mages, who should be the most rational truth-seekers, invoking the god's name was a natural sight from the Erin-Eirene era.
"It hit me hard: make this and deliver it. Since divine inspiration came, I thought I should make it."
"Deliver?"
"Yeah!"
"To whom?"
Reina looked around the three faces and answered confidently.
"That is—"
* * *
"...To me, you say?"
When a ship from the Empire arrived, Eirene went out wondering what it was about, and a Wood Magic Tower mage bowed his head.
"Yes. Our Tower Master requested we deliver this 'chocolate' to Your Majesty."
"And the reason is the god's will?"
"Yes."
Just recently, after yielding the chance to connect with the god—
Eirene had been wrapped in an emptiness hard to explain in words.
She was fine at the time—but the opportunity to converse with the god had flown away.
As a devoted Empress serving the god faithfully, she accepted it, but as a woman... she couldn't hide her regret.
And now this item arrives amid that.
The Wood Magic Tower Master Reina was the only mage certified by Erin who could sense the "Plain Fact."
Considering that, the chance of nonsense was low....
"...."
Eirene received the box full of chocolate from the mage.
The brown round things... looked like desserts at a glance.
Trying one—
"Waa...!"
Eirene unwittingly let out a girlish voice and covered her flushed cheeks with her hands.
This... was delicious.
More than any dessert from the Imperial Family's chef!
A sweetness like the embodiment of a lover's love filled her mouth.
Was this too a Plain Fact from the god—the god's love?
"If Your Majesty, who always faithfully carries out the god's will, would understand, our Tower Master said."
"I see... Understood. You must have had a hard journey."
"No. By the way, the rumors about no mana in the New Continent are true...."
The mage looked around in a daze.
At that moment—
"Sorry for being late, Your Majesty."
Ophelia came running from afar, rabbit on her head.
"You're here, Ophelia. Mages from the Wood Magic Tower crossed over. They have much to do, so could you guide them?"
"Of course. It's only natural to obey Your Majesty's command. Leave this place to me."
As she bowed in greeting, Ophelia's eyes caught the box Eirene held.
"That is...?"
"Ah, this is—"
At that moment.
—Hop!
"Ra, Rabbit Lord?"
Before Ophelia could react, the rabbit jumped into the box Eirene held, grabbed one chocolate with its front paws—
"—Chokko-godon!"
"???"
"Batnenta-in-godon!"
And started munching it.
Then... its long ears perked up again.
"Pya! Igogodon!"
Seeing the satisfied rabbit, Ophelia exclaimed in surprise—
"What? There's a day like that?"
"Igogodon."
"I see... Very intriguing. Even the god's domain has customs...."
"...Wait. Ophelia. What did the rabbit just say?"
"Pardon?"
The rabbit only repeated odd cries like "Igogodon" outwardly—
But Erin said only Ophelia could understand the divine messenger rabbit's language.
"Ah, that is...."
—Hearing Ophelia's explanation, Eirene's face... flushed red.
And she realized.
Why the god had this delivered to her.
'If the rabbit's right, the god giving me "chocolate" is...!'
* * *
That night.
After bathing as usual and changing into comfortable clothes, Eirene—
Instead of sleeping, carefully took one chocolate from the box.
And... very cautiously, knelt on the bed—
—Plop.
She slightly loosened the front of her negligee.
The continent's greatest and largest cleavage, impossible to hide with any clothing, was vividly revealed.
Even Erin, whose Divine Power Pouch rivaled anyone's, would yield; the two extremely ripe white masses asserted their presence as if to tear the fabric.
Feeling like a pilgrim walking the capital's streets—
Eirene carefully placed the "chocolate" the god gave her...
Between what the god valued most, her Divine Power Pouch—i.e., atop her cleavage.
Then, face fully flushed, gazing at the sky with half-lidded eyes...
'Lord God. On this "Valentine's Day"... I, Eirene, offer this chocolate as a gift to my most beloved Igugwoden....'
The story the rabbit explained.
One custom in the god's domain: on "Valentine's Day," women give chocolate to the men they love—
'So... please, without burden, accept me... ♥'
—She offered herself to the god once more.