Chapter 15
Bookshelves crammed tightly with books, and magic tomes and artifacts scattered here and there.
It looked just like someone’s study.
Judging by the size of the spacious room and the solitary desk, it seemed like it belonged to someone fairly high-ranking, but was it really okay for me to be in a place like this…?
This was totally trespassing.
Whether I intended it or not, that’s how it would look to others, no doubt.
These people here seemed like total weirdos… If I got caught being in here, I had no idea what they might do.
A chill suddenly ran down my spine, and I swallowed dryly in an inexplicable tension. Cold sweat broke out, like a child realizing they’d done something wrong.
…First things first, I decided to get out of this room.
Just as I was about to move cautiously, a voice suddenly came from behind me. It was a smooth voice, like a gently flowing lake.
“This place is off-limits to outsiders.”
I was already so tense that I jumped in fright, as if springing up. I barely managed to stifle the yelp that tried to escape.
Like a thief caught in the act, I creakily turned my head slowly. An awkward smile was plastered on my face.
“Ah, haha…! Hello.”
The owner of the voice was leaning against the door, looking down at me. When I forced my gaze up from where I’d been keeping it lowered and met his face, I held my breath.
And for good reason.
‘…What? He’s handsome!’
Because he was an incredibly gorgeous man, the kind I’d want to tuck away in my jewelry box!
Wait, besides Axel and the Crown Prince, there was someone this stunning?
Forgetting that I’d been caught trespassing, I gaped openly at him, mouth wide open.
His silver hair, like woven threads of silk, gleamed even whiter in the natural light, and his bright yellow eyes were like pure gold melted down.
He exuded a holiness that felt like he belonged in a temple, not the Magic Tower.
As I felt the illusion of drool trickling down and wiped my mouth with a swipe, the man folded his eyes into crescent moons with a smile and parted his lips.
“It’s embarrassing if you stare so blatantly.”
It was a smile that screamed he knew full well how good-looking he was. If he were an animal, he’d be a fox through and through. And not just any fox—a nine-tailed one.
Barely snapping out of being entranced by this nine-tailed fox, I casually addressed him as if I hadn’t been drooling at all.
“Haha, your impression is so striking that my eyes were drawn without me realizing. You’re the second most wholesome-looking person I’ve ever seen! You’re a mage affiliated with the Magic Tower, right?”
To emphasize my utter harmlessness, like ‘I didn’t do anything~’, I beamed brightly and gave him a thumbs-up. But the man just stared at me blankly without a word.
As the silence stretched without a response, my composed expression crumbled, and cold sweat trickled down. Finally, unable to bear the atmosphere, I held out the invitation I was clutching and showed it to him first.
“Actually… I didn’t mean to come in here on purpose. I took a wrong turn. Um, by any chance, do you know where I should go with this invitation, sir?”
The man strode over to me, took the invitation, and stared at it intently before tilting his head as if pondering.
Finally, someone who knows!
As I looked at him with eyes full of expectation, he—who had been deep in thought with his eyes even closed—suddenly grinned and shrugged. Then he answered shortly.
“I don’t know.”
Ah…
My soaring expectations plummeted straight to the bottom in an instant.
If you don’t know, just say so—why act like you’re thinking it over? This guy in front of me didn’t seem normal either.
Would I even get to meet them today? At this point, I was starting to think the Magic Tower was messing with me on purpose.
There was more than one thing pissing me off.
Irritation surged up suddenly, but I couldn’t show it, so I swallowed it down and forced another bright smile.
“…Ah, so you don’t know. That’s too bad. Then I’ll go look for someone else! Excuse me.”
With that, I smoothly bid farewell and tried to slip past him to open the door.
“So, Judith Melberine… right?”
At those words, I froze in my tracks.
Because it felt off.
‘…My name isn’t written anywhere on the invitation, so how does he know it?’
Gently releasing the doorknob, I turned to him and asked.
“How do you know my name?”
The answer that came was utterly absurd.
“Yeah. Actually, I’m in charge of this.”
He said it with a lazy smile. For a moment, I was stunned, then I yelled at him.
“You said you didn’t know earlier!”
Is he seriously messing around!
This place really was full of weirdos. This guy looked normal on the outside, but inside, he was definitely a nutcase.
“I was just pulling a prank. It was fun, right?”
‘What kind of person is this…!’
Faced with this unexpected lunatic, I fumed inwardly alone, trying to calm my anger, when the man tossed more fuel onto the fire.
“Was it not fun?”
Hey, would it be fun if you were in my shoes…!
My insides weren’t just boiling—they felt like they were about to spew heat from my mouth, but I held back. I knew fighting would put me at a disadvantage. This was basically the mages’ home turf.
I took a moment to compose myself and asked him.
“Excuse me, so are you—or rather, sir—the one who told me to come to the Magic Tower?”
“Precisely, not me, but my superior above me.”
“Who’s your superior?”
“That’s a secret.”
His words circled around like we were playing twenty questions. Nothing was a straight answer. My favorability toward him was already racing toward negative territory.
I shot him a sideways glare and pointed out something that had been bothering me.
“…But why are you using informal speech with me from the start?”
“Why? You wanna do it too?”
The response was a sight to behold. He leaned back on the sofa and said casually.
‘…Huh?’
“If you want to, go ahead. I don’t care about that stuff.”
At his brazen attitude, I trembled with rage before finally dropping my head.
There was a saying: To deal with a lunatic, you have to become an even bigger lunatic than them.
And right now, my opponent was a top-tier lunatic.
So, there was only one way to handle this.
After taking a breath, I suddenly jerked my head up and looked at him.
“Yeah. I’ll use informal speech too. Whatever. I’m not that uptight either.”
I said, flashing a grin back at him.
As if he hadn’t expected that, the man stared at me blankly before bursting into laughter.
“Ahahaha!”
Having reached a state of enlightenment or something, his reaction didn’t faze me. Instead, I just wondered why he was acting like that.
Staring at him intently, I went ahead and sat down across from him. As his laughter subsided, I tossed out a question.
“Let’s introduce ourselves properly, though you probably know. Judith Melberine. So, what’s your name?”
“Name?”
“Yeah. Name.”
Hmm… The man had a thoughtful look on his face.
‘Why does he have to think even to say his own name? Are all mages like this?’
As strange prejudices about mages piled up in my mind, he finally spoke.
“Noxie.”
“Noxie?”
He nodded when I repeated it.
“Cool. Noxie. Then let’s talk about what I requested.”
“Yeah.”
“As you probably heard, I need a camera about the size of a business card that prints photos instantly. And it has to be top-quality resolution, no compromises.”
“Ah, that.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Noxie snapped his fingers.
And in that instant, a camera popped out into the air.
