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Chapter 2
The library of the Magic Tower was a place where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every book related to magic in the world had been gathered.
The joy of seeing, with my own eyes, the library from the magical world of the novel lasted only a moment. Soon, my mind became complicated once again.
“How on earth am I supposed to make a living in this world?”
Sitting by the window in a quiet corner of the Magic Tower library, I buried my head in my hands as I searched for an answer to the question that refused to leave me.
Thankfully, faint remnants of the knowledge Edel had diligently studied before I possessed her still lingered in my mind. She had lacked magical power, but there was no doubt that she had loved magic with all her heart.
If she’d lived in the world I came from with that kind of passion, she would’ve been highly respected. She probably could’ve become a professor.
Suddenly, I felt sorry for wherever the real Edel might be.
But this was my life now.
The fire had truly reached my feet.
Wiping away the tears threatening to spill, I opened the notebook in my pocket, wrote down a number, and circled it.
When you’re completely lost, the best thing to do is examine what you already have in your hands.
Quietly staring at the notebook, I began listing Edel’s objective strengths one by one.
Her career isn’t bad. She’s worked at the Magic Tower for over four years.
Even if Edel’s role in the novel hadn’t been significant, she had still entered the Magic Tower and had been officially registered as one of its mages.
All things considered, her background was actually pretty decent.
A prestigious name carried weight no matter where you went.
“Right… A mage from the Magic Tower, the center of magic on the continent. That doesn’t sound bad at all.”
The problem was that Edel—
Or rather, I—
Was a mage with practically no magical power.
A mage’s greatest advantage was being able to cast magic.
But I didn’t have that advantage.
In that case…
“Maybe I should study magic even more and become a teacher instead?”
I remembered teaching at a private academy during my university days. The academy director had even asked me to keep teaching and offered me higher pay, so I could say I had been fairly well recognized.
Yeah.
Teaching children again might actually be quite rewarding.
“I wonder if they require something like a teaching degree here?”
Ugh.
I really don’t want to go back to school.
Hopefully, being from the Magic Tower would be enough.
Still, it felt like I’d come up with a decent idea.
Next to the first number, I wrote:
Teacher.
Then I scribbled down the next number.
“What else is there…?”
Hmm.
Nothing was coming to mind.
I randomly pulled several books from nearby shelves and rapidly flipped through their pages.
Since I had no idea what kinds of jobs existed outside the Magic Tower, I intended to search for any clues I could find.
It seemed Edel had thoroughly studied magical theory and history, but because she’d spent her entire life inside the Magic Tower, she knew almost nothing about how the outside world worked.
“Come to think of it, newspapers or magazines would probably be more useful than books like these.”
Hmm.
At this rate, I might have to ask Duke Melize for help.
Or maybe I could ask one of the kind-looking mages I’d occasionally greeted in passing.
The book I’d picked up was titled The History of Artifacts.
“Artifacts? Oh, those things that let people use magic even without magical power?”
I didn’t even need Edel’s memories to know that.
Artifacts had appeared numerous times throughout the novel.
Though they had always seemed incredibly expensive.
Opening the first page, I found a simple explanation written in this world’s language.
Creating an artifact required high-quality mana stones and magical power.
Perhaps this was the world’s minimum courtesy toward someone who had transmigrated, because the words naturally flowed into my understanding.
“’The purer the mana stone, the more efficient the resulting artifact.’ Well… it still says you can’t make one without magical power.”
With my abilities, there was no way I’d produce anything worthwhile.
What a shame.
Clicking my tongue, I put the book back on the shelf.
I’d better look for something else.
“Let’s see… something I can do… slowly and steadily…”
Then—
A voice reached my ears.
Unpleasant.
Unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar.
“So, instead of writing that ridiculous diary again, are you wandering around trying to find a way to gain magical power?”
The loud voice clashed horribly with the silence of the library.
At some point, two men had entered through the library doors.
Their long shadows stretched across the floor as they stopped in front of me, glaring with obvious contempt.
Ah. So it’s these guys.
Thanks to the memories left behind before I possessed Edel, I recognized them immediately.
These were the ones who constantly bullied her.
A large mage with thinning brown hair carefully combed over to one side stepped forward.
This was probably the intermediate mage, Benyamin.
The third son of a noble family… the one who kept trying so hard to pick up whatever scraps fell from Duke Melize’s table?
He was also the violent bastard who had recently caused Edel to fall from a library ladder.
Good grief. What’s with those completely unrestrained facial features?
His voice was already rough enough.
Up close, his face was even worse.
Edel had always been looked down upon, but the bullying had truly begun after the Crown Prince was brought into the Magic Tower.
Duke Melize had placed a powerful barrier around the top floor, and only he and Edel could pass through it.
That was where everything had started.
Perhaps because it involved the Crown Prince—the very center of political power—Benyamin seemed to have become intensely jealous of Edel.
Even though it wasn’t like Edel volunteered for the job.
This was my first time meeting him in person since possessing her.
Apparently, he’d already forgotten how he’d run away with his tail between his legs after seeing Edel unconscious because of him.
Or perhaps he’d simply assumed he could get away with it since Edel hadn’t said anything.
“Well, I suppose they have to let someone without magical power stay here somehow. Hahaha!”
The mouse-faced mage beside him snickered obnoxiously.
Wasn’t he the son of one of Benyamin’s family’s retainers?
I couldn’t even remember his name.
Thinking about how Edel had endured people like these all this time made anger rise inside me.
Calmly placing my book down, I covered my mouth with one hand.
“Oh my. Goodness. What exactly did you just say?”
“W-What?”
I couldn’t exactly grab them by the hair and start fighting.
The best I could do was irritate them as much as possible.
I widened my eyes dramatically, as though I had suffered an enormous shock, and stared at the two men.
Neither had expected me to answer back.
“You mean to tell me that the extremely important task personally assigned by the great Master of the Magic Tower, Duke Melize of the Ruden Empire… is nothing more than a diary?”
Pretending to know nothing, I trembled slightly, putting on the most troubled expression I could manage.
People like these were easiest to deal with when you fought them on their own level.
Looks like Edel kept trying to handle everything by herself. But that’s not how I do things.
I’d spent ten years working.
I’d seen every kind of unpleasant person imaginable.
This wasn’t the first—or even the hundredth—time I’d met idiots with this sort of mindset.
I knew exactly what worked best.
“But Lord Melize personally judged it to be necessary! That’s just awful!”
In other words—
You’re questioning the work that Duke Melize himself ordered.
That was the implication.
Judging by the way Benyamin’s and the mouse-faced mage’s faces gradually turned bright red, the message had landed perfectly.
“N-No, that’s not what I meant!”
“It wasn’t the Tower Master—it was the diary!”
They blurted out a completely incoherent explanation.
“Yes, exactly. The diary. The one Lord Melize personally said was absolutely necessary and important. You’re saying that it’s useless, aren’t you?”
“T-That’s not…!”
I sighed deeply, wearing an expression full of disappointment.
“So that’s how you really feel… What should I do? I can’t simply ignore the opinions of my senior mages. I suppose I should ask Lord Melize directly.”
I blinked innocently, as if I truly knew nothing and merely intended to ask him.
It was a completely different reaction from the Edel who had always lowered her head and silently endured their abuse.
“N-No, now that I think about it, it’s not meaningless at all! You there, Mikel! What kind of nonsense are you saying?!”
“M-Me?”
Ah.
So the little rat’s name was Mikel.
Suddenly being blamed for everything, Mikel pointed at himself in confusion.
After freezing for a moment, he quickly caught on and nodded vigorously.
“N-No! I was the one who said it, but that’s not what I meant! Right! Exactly!”
Well, well.
A perfect example of a superior throwing all the responsibility onto someone beneath him.
“A-Anyway, we’re busy! Ahem!”
Unable to meet my unwavering gaze, Benyamin awkwardly mumbled a few excuses.
Then he and Mikel hurried away.
“Pathetic little nobodies.”
It was unbelievable that grown men would get jealous simply because Lord Melize treated a young girl kindly.
What was Edel supposed to do about being adorable?
“Ugh. Cheap and shameless.”
In transmigration novels, this was usually the point where the protagonist suddenly awakened some overwhelmingly powerful ability and instantly crushed annoying people like that.
Seriously.
Punching them once or twice would’ve felt incredibly satisfying.
Instead of receiving any transmigration cheat, all I’d inherited was Edel’s knowledge.
Nothing more.
If you’re going to transmigrate me, couldn’t you at least throw in overwhelming magical power or something?
How much longer would I have to keep seeing the faces of those incompetent, irritating fools?
I couldn’t help letting out another sigh.
“Sigh… I should go see the Crown Prince.”
When you’re feeling troubled, appreciating a handsome face really is the best medicine.
