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Chapter 11
“I’m sorry. Those without magic power are not allowed to enter.”
The guard at the main gate of the Magic Tower spoke politely but firmly to Roabellin. Her face flushed in embarrassment.
“W-What do you mean I don’t have magic power? I do—just a little, but I do! I just can’t show it properly right now. To use it properly, I need to… I need to meet the Tower Master first…!”
The guard cut her off.
“If your magic power is below a certain standard and too faint, this magic gate judges it as nonexistent. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do for you.”
‘My goodness… has my divine power weakened so much that it’s considered nonexistent?’
Roabellin was stunned, but since the magic gate itself had made that judgment, there was no point pleading with the guard any further.
‘For now, I’ll go down to the town and ask people if there’s any way in. There has to be some method.’
She had set out so confidently, only to be blocked at the very start. Tears threatened to fall. Roabellin bit her lip and turned around, forcing herself to stay brave.
‘If I want to ask about the Magic Tower, I should go to a magic tool shop. That’s where mages come and go the most.’
She went down to the town and found a magic tool shop. As expected of a town with a Magic Tower, it was filled with strange magical tools unseen elsewhere. But now was not the time to be distracted by such things. Roabellin cautiously spoke to the shop owner.
“Um, hello. How can I enter the Magic Tower? Do you… happen to know a way?”
The middle-aged woman, who looked as though she had been through all sorts of things, roughly examined Roabellin’s appearance.
Roabellin had used magic to make her face look a little more ordinary than her real one. Her hair, braided into one strand, was the most common brown in this country, and her eyes were an ordinary blue. She wore fitted black pants, a loose white blouse, and a leather vest.
In other words, to the shop owner, she looked less like a mage and more like a pretty, energetic common girl.
“Why do you want to go to the Magic Tower? Are you a mage, miss?”
“No, not exactly. Uh… well, kind of!”
“Then why come here asking how to get in? You went to the entrance, didn’t you? The magic gate didn’t let you through, did it?”
True to someone who dealt daily with mages and would-be mages, the shop owner was sharp. When she immediately saw through Roabellin’s pitiful situation, Roabellin felt herself shrink.
“…Yes. That’s why I’m looking for a way in.”
Seeing her speak timidly but still stubbornly, the shop owner clicked her tongue.
“Do you think the Magic Tower is some place anyone can just walk into? Because it’s called a tower, people think it’s just one small building. But you saw the entrance—it’s nothing like that. It’s more like an entire district.”
The owner grew passionate, even spraying saliva as she explained.
“It’s not just about size. That place is basically a state institution that isn’t under the control or interference of any country. Do you think just anyone without magic power can enter a place like that?”
Overwhelmed by the woman’s momentum, Roabellin drew her shoulders in slightly.
“I-I know that, but… I really need to meet the Tower Master.”
“That may be your problem, miss. But does the Tower Master need to meet you?”
“…No, not really.”
“Then did you prepare some incredible reward that would tempt him? Excluding money, since he has more than enough of that.”
“…No.”
“Then there’s your answer.”
“….”
Beaten down by pure facts, Roabellin had nothing to say and could only open and close her mouth silently.
‘She’s right. I’m the desperate one. Why did I think I could just walk out and easily meet the Tower Master? And why did I assume he’d help me? He’s not running a charity. I’m not the daughter of a great ducal family anymore… I still can’t let go of the idea that I’m special. Sigh… what do I do now?’
Perhaps because she looked so pitiful, the shop owner softened a little.
“I don’t have anything against you personally. It’s just that there are always people like you who come without a plan, saying they want to enter the Magic Tower.”
“Yes… it’s okay. Thank you for telling me honestly.”
Roabellin spoke weakly, bowed, and turned to leave. Just as she was about to head for the shop door—
“The Tower Master is not in the Magic Tower right now. Why are you looking for him?”
A low, attractive voice stopped her from behind. Roabellin turned in surprise—and froze at the unexpected face before her.
He was clearly a stranger…
‘Wow… he’s really handsome.’
He seemed to glow, and Roabellin unconsciously parted her lips.
Tall, with broad, solid shoulders. Black hair and golden eyes. His cool, deep gaze and sharply sculpted nose and jawline carried both nobility and wildness at once.
Even though he was only looking down at her expressionlessly, a strange, bewitching sensuality seemed to flow from his face. Roabellin swallowed without realizing it, then suddenly snapped back to her senses.
‘Hey, get a grip…!’
If he knew that the Tower Master wasn’t there—
“Ah, I need some magic power… That’s why. So when will the Tower Master return? And, um… sir, are you just coming out of the Magic Tower?”
Though he looked at her without expression, Kaisertern’s mind was in turmoil.
‘I could’ve just ignored her and walked past. Why did I bother speaking?’
He had simply overheard a young woman—who looked barely of age—asking how to enter the Magic Tower. She was just an unknown commoner. He didn’t know why he had stopped her.
But when she turned at his words and their eyes met, an inexplicable, intense sensation wrapped around him.
‘I’ve never seen that face before, yet it feels oddly familiar. I sense faint magic… some kind of protective spell.’
“…Hmm.”
He gave an ambiguous answer. Taking courage from his half-response, she asked again.
“Then… you have magic power too, right? Are you strong? As strong as the Tower Master, maybe?”
It wasn’t exactly a question one should ask a stranger, but it wasn’t entirely random either. If he had gone into the Magic Tower to check on the Tower Master’s whereabouts, that meant he must be a powerful mage himself. The very fact that he had business there proved it. At the very least, the gate that had rejected her had opened for him.
‘Aside from Aunt and the attackers that day, he’s the first person I’ve seen with magic power!’
Strong or weak aside, having magic power itself was rare. Feeling as though things might finally work out, Roabellin’s heart lifted slightly.
Kaisertern found her suspicious for seeking out magic power, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
‘Strange. She’s not an overwhelmingly striking beauty. So why does she feel like someone I’ve seen before?’
He didn’t realize that, beneath her slightly altered appearance, he was sensing the girl he had once met long ago.
Feeling awkward about himself, he deliberately spoke coldly to push her away.
“That’s none of your business.”
He spoke down to her casually and turned away.
Roabellin stared blankly at his back, then snorted.
‘Ha! You start the conversation and then act like this? Are you kidding me? Is being handsome all it takes?’
But she couldn’t let him just leave.
“W-Wait!”
He was her only hope right now. Afraid he would walk away, Roabellin hurried after him and grabbed his arm with both hands—or tried to.
“Ah!”
Kaisertern reflexively pulled his arm back and swung his hand toward her pale neck. His body had reacted before his mind.
At the last instant, he remembered that she was a slender woman with barely any magic power.
“…!”
He stopped his hand, but since they were so close, he still lightly struck the area beside her neck. Startled by his sudden movement, Roabellin stumbled forward and smashed her face into his chest.
As she lost her balance from the impact, Kaisertern instinctively caught her—one arm around her waist, the other holding her arm—ending up half-embracing her.
“Cough, cough! Oww…!”
To him, he had merely stopped himself halfway. To Roabellin, who had been defenseless, it didn’t feel that way at all.
There was the basic difference in strength between man and woman, and Kaisertern’s body—honed through long training—was far sturdier than that of ordinary men.
‘Why is he so fast? Is he some trained assassin or something?!’
The spot that had been hit hurt so badly that tears welled up in her eyes. Kaisertern looked down at her and asked bluntly,
“Are you hurt? You’re weaker than you look.”
Rubbing the sore place, Roabellin managed to reply,
“Cough! What is wrong with you? Just because you didn’t want me to grab you, cough, you didn’t have to attack me! Cough, cough!”
As she coughed, she felt even more wronged and tears spilled over.
Kaisertern looked silently at her tear-filled eyes, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.
‘…What is this?’
Her round, smooth forehead, her slender nose, and that sorrowful face with tears in her eyes overlapped with another face in his mind—a vague, hazy face that brought with it an inexplicable sense of longing and nostalgia.
