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chapter 05
Crash! Boom!
The deafening explosions that had been echoing from somewhere in the distance kept making my shoulders flinch.
I-I really am inside the Magic Tower, right?
Not at some construction site?
[Current coordinates of Benefactor: 41.40338, 2.17403! You are accurately located inside the Magic Tower!]
‘R-Right. Thanks for checking.’
Before coming inside, I had synchronized my mind with the chick, so we could communicate without speaking aloud.
It said the synchronization would break if we got too far apart, so I’d brought the chick tucked inside my pocket.
If anyone discovered it, I planned to pretend it was my pet chick. After thorough investigation, I’d learned that due to its structure, even a mage wouldn’t be able to identify what it really was unless they dissected it.
What an intelligent and mysterious little thing.
‘Still… so this is what the inside of the Magic Tower looks like.’
The ceiling stretched so high I couldn’t even see the end of it, and countless staircases twisted upward in a maze-like spiral toward the top.
The sight was both mystical and majestic enough to leave me staring with my mouth hanging open.
So if I passed, I’d actually get to work in a place like this.
My heart pounded excitedly.
“Please come this way. I’ll guide you to the examination room.”
“O-Okay!”
A staff member led me onward. Just as I hurried to follow—
A group of people suddenly ran down the hallway in tears.
“Uwaaaah!”
“He mocked me because I didn’t know the Fifth Element Conversion Formula! Told me to go back to kindergarten! Me, the academy’s salutatorian!”
“He told me to write my name ten times with my butt! Said I needed to relearn the alphabet! Ughhh!”
That… sounds like they’re talking about the Tower Master here, doesn’t it?
‘Wow. So the rumors about his personality were true.’
Coming here on my own to work as the secretary of someone like that…
Was this really the right decision?
Though it was kind of shocking that the academy’s salutatorian didn’t know the Element Conversion Formula.
‘I’m pretty sure that was in Chapter 3 of the first-year curriculum… Ah! The door opened.’
A neat-looking young man walked through the doorway.
Thin glasses. Proper brown hair. He looked like someone who had been born to embody the word civil servant.
I quickly stood up, completely tense.
“You are an applicant responding to the secretary recruitment notice?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
[Don’t be scared, Benefactor! You have me, equipped with ultra-high-speed calculation abilities! You possess the ultimate cheat key that guarantees you’ll never get caught!]
D-Don’t say it like that.
It sounds like I’m cheating!
As a law-abiding citizen who had never even littered once in my life, my heart pounded with guilt.
“Only applicants who score above 80 points on the recruitment exam will be granted an interview opportunity.”
The young man handed me a thick stack of paper and a writing utensil.
That was definitely the test paper, but—
‘Why is it so thick…?!’
“Well then. Good luck.”
He spoke solemnly as I nervously looked down at the exam.
And then, moments later—
‘…Huh?’
My eyes widened.
One hour later.
‘The time limit’s up.’
Aaron, the young man who had handed Frisia the exam, stood from his seat.
It was time to collect the papers from the applicants.
‘She might’ve already left.’
Half of the applicants gave up before the time limit ended, crushed by the difficulty.
But when he opened the door, the woman was still sitting there.
‘That’s unexpected.’
Messy hair. Thick glasses. A timid demeanor obvious at first glance.
Based on her frail appearance, he hadn’t expected anything from her, but surprisingly, she seemed to have a bit of determination.
However, the moment he glanced at her test paper—
‘…Thought so.’
The exam sheet was almost completely blank.
The problems personally selected by Kayen required absurdly complicated calculations.
If someone had properly worked through them, the paper couldn’t possibly look that clean.
This applicant had obviously spent the entire time unable to solve anything.
Suppressing a sigh, Aaron spoke in a businesslike tone.
“The time limit has ended. I will collect your exam.”
“Ah, yes. Here.”
The woman’s hand trembled slightly as she handed it over.
With such a timid personality, even if she somehow miraculously passed, there was no way she’d survive serving their devil-like master.
Hiding those thoughts, Aaron spoke kindly.
“We will inform you of the grading results shortly. Would you like to wait here?”
“Yes, I will.”
Leaving the woman behind, Aaron returned to his private office.
Then he began grading.
Judging by the state of the paper, it probably wouldn’t take long.
He’d just be drawing red X’s everywhere anyway. Maybe five minutes at most?
‘Looks like I’m not getting a junior colleague today either.’
I don’t even need some extraordinary genius capable of passing this insane difficulty level.
I’d honestly cry tears of gratitude if someone would just come help with the basic workload!
‘At this point, I can’t even remember the last time I got off work before sunset… Please, just lower the difficulty already!’
Grumbling internally, Aaron picked up his red pen—
Then froze.
“…Huh?”
There was a correct answer written beneath the first question.
‘Well, it’s multiple choice. Guessing is possible.’
His pen moved to the next problem.
And shortly after—
“…Whaaaat?!”
Aaron’s eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out.
“M-Master!”
Panting heavily, the aide practically rolled into the room.
Kayen glared at him coldly.
“What’s with the commotion?”
“T-The secretary applicant. The exam results are strange.”
“Strange as in unbelievably stupid?”
“No!”
Aaron wildly waved the test paper in front of Kayen.
“Not that! Look at this!”
Every moment spent grading the exam had made Aaron’s chest swell with excitement.
‘S-She got it right.’
‘She got this one too? Not bad.’
At first, while grading the first few questions, he hadn’t thought much of it.
The early questions were the easiest, so several top-ranking applicants had solved those before.
But even those applicants inevitably collapsed once they reached the harder sections.
However—
‘T-This is insane.’
‘She got another one right.’
‘What the hell?! How did she solve this?! Even I don’t know the answer!’
The woman hadn’t submitted a blank paper.
She had solved nearly all the problems mentally.
Problems that other applicants couldn’t solve even after filling pages with calculations!
Aaron excitedly waved around the test paper covered in circles.
“A perfect score! A perfect score! We finally got our first perfect scorer! She passed every single problem that looked like it was designed by some personality-deficient psychopath!”
“Personality-deficient? Psychopath?”
“I-I misspoke. Please kill me!”
Kayen lazily gestured at the prostrating Aaron before looking over the exam paper himself.
As he skimmed through the answers, a slight gleam appeared in his golden eyes.
“Hm.”
The corner of his lips curled faintly upward.
“So she’s at least reached average human intelligence.”
‘THAT’S average human intelligence?! Then does that make most of the Empire subhuman monkeys?! Your standards are completely insane!’
Still lying flat on the floor, Aaron swallowed the protest he couldn’t dare voice aloud.
After lightly tracing a finger over the answer sheet, Kayen flicked his hand.
“This applicant. Her personal information.”
Aaron’s eyes widened.
‘Huh?!’
It was the first time.
The first time Kayen had ever requested an applicant’s personal information.
Since anyone could take the recruitment exam, background checks such as criminal history were only done afterward.
In other words, unless something seriously problematic appeared, this practically meant acceptance.
A spark of hope burst to life in Aaron’s chest.
‘At last… I’m finally getting a junior colleague!’
Finally, he too would gain a kind and intelligent coworker instead of only serving that cold-blooded master.
“Y-Yes sir! I’ll bring it immediately!”
However, Aaron’s expectations were soon drenched in cold water.
The personal records of the applicant, Frisia Violet, were mostly ordinary and unremarkable.
Except for one thing.
