MTIC 07

Chapter 7

The top floor of the Magic Tower, the Tower Master’s room.

Sunlight poured in through enormous windows that were easily over two meters tall.

The scorching sunlight of the desert was transformed into a pleasant warmth by the magic placed on the windows.

On the desk where the soft light stretched across the surface, a hand holding a quill stopped just before it touched the paper.

“What on earth should I write?”

Jade couldn’t bring himself to put the words down easily.

He had sent messengers countless times before, but he had never had to think this hard about what to write.

He had simply written whatever was necessary.

But this time was different.

He had absolutely no idea what he should say to Miel. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come to an easy conclusion.

Several days had already passed since he turned back time.

During those days, Jade had been overcome by a strange feeling.

At first, he had simply been bewildered. It had been difficult to accept the fact that he had returned to two years before the day of his death.

But soon, the question that had arisen on that day began to consume his thoughts.

‘Why did Miel try to save me?’

That was only the beginning.

Once he started thinking about Miel, other questions began to emerge one after another.

They were questions about the memories of the life he had experienced.

Jade hadn’t noticed it at first.

But before long, he realized something.

Everything he had experienced before turning back time felt as though it had been subtly manipulated by someone.

After setting his thoughts about Miel aside for a while, Jade retraced his own life.

And when he did, he discovered that there wasn’t just one or two strange things.

The strangest thing of all was his obsession with Lowen.

Back then, she had been the woman he desperately wanted.

He didn’t know why, but from the moment he first saw her, he had been irresistibly drawn to her as though he were under a spell.

His gaze had moved only to look at Lowen, and he had acted solely for her sake.

Because of that, he had fought Richard, who had always been by Lowen’s side, as if they intended to kill each other—and ultimately, he had lost.

At the time, it had felt as though a thick fog had filled his mind.

Within that fog, he had lived his entire life for her, as though someone had commanded him to do so.

Moreover, whenever he tried to recall the past in greater detail, he felt as though an invisible curtain stood in his way.

Fortunately, the present was different from the past.

Jade’s mind was clear.

The thick fog had lifted, leaving his thoughts bright and lucid.

Now, even when he recalled Lowen’s name and face, he felt none of the emotions he once had.

Rather, he felt nothing at all—so little that it was almost strange.

Even when he thought of Richard, whom he had once hated and despised so much, it was the same.

His emotions were dry and bland, as though they had withered away.

‘Why?’

‘What did I even like about that woman that made me cling to her like that?’

Jade couldn’t easily shake the questions from his mind.

He spent three straight days thinking about them.

‘Why did I make those choices back then?’

‘Why was I so obsessed with that woman?’

Countless questions came to him, but there was only one conclusion.

Ultimately, the past had nothing to do with the present.

Not only that, it was something that would never happen again.

Unlike his former self, Jade’s mind was clear now.

He had no intention of repeating the foolish things he had done back then.

His previous life had been the result of his own choices.

If the same choices appeared before him now, he would make completely different decisions.

Jade concluded that he would no longer be bound by the events of the past.

Even if he continued to think about them, he would never find an answer, and it only made his head more complicated.

So he decided to devote himself to the life he had been given in the present.

Once he finished thinking things through, Jade immediately headed to the library.

He was curious about why he had been given a second chance.

Perhaps there was a type of ‘time magic’ that even he, the Tower Master, didn’t know about.

However, even after searching through countless books in the library, he found no such magic.

So he sought out the mages residing in the Magic Tower who were interested in time magic.

‘Time magic? I’ve looked through quite a lot of research material related to it, but there hasn’t been a single successful case yet.’

‘According to legends passed down from long ago, even the Great Sage attempted it and failed.’

None of the mages knew anything either.

Ever since magic first appeared in the Empire, mages had researched time magic.

But there had never been even one successful case.

In other words, time magic was impossible.

If that was the case…

A possibility came to Jade’s mind.

If it wasn’t magic, then there was only one explanation.

A god who had pitied his past life had given him another chance.

It was rather ridiculous for an atheist like Jade to start looking for a god now, but there was no other way to explain what had happened.

Jade agonized over it.

His mind had once again become complicated because of the question of whether or not gods existed.

Once again, after spending two days thinking about it, he reached a conclusion.

Whether it was the past or his regression, he shouldn’t worry about it.

He should simply focus on doing what he needed to do.

It was approximately the sixth day since he had turned back time.

Only then was Jade finally able to return to his usual work.

[Miel. I have something to discuss with you, so return to the Magic Tower immediately.]

“…This isn’t very good.”

Jade let out a small sigh as he looked at the words he had painstakingly written on the paper.

Then—

Riiip.

He tore the paper apart, took out a fresh sheet, and started again.

With the new sheet of paper in front of him, Jade found himself troubled by a certain girl who simply wouldn’t leave his mind.

He had only remembered Miel again yesterday, after temporarily forgetting about her due to all his other worries.

While dealing with the Magic Tower’s accumulated workload from the past several days, he learned that she was currently out on a request.

Naturally, the question he had buried in the back of his mind resurfaced.

‘Come to think of it, why did Miel try to save me?’

‘There was no reason for Miel to save me.’

Jade remembered when Miel had first entered the Magic Tower in the past.

From their very first meeting, he hadn’t liked her.

He had allowed her to enter the Tower only because the Great Sage had asked him to, but he certainly hadn’t enjoyed having to look at a mage who hadn’t even properly proven her abilities.

So even after making her his disciple, he hadn’t taught her any magic.

He had simply sent her out on requests.

Eventually, he heard that she was learning magic from Elder Schlien, but it had been outside his concern.

It was only natural that Miel didn’t particularly like him.

From the very beginning, their relationship had been strained, and they had grown so distant that it seemed impossible to repair it.

As a result, later on, the only time he ever spoke with Miel was during the Magic Tower’s annual events.

And yet…

Why had Miel been at Shreden Castle on the day he met his end?

Not only that, she had thrown herself in front of him and tried to save him right before his death.

‘Why?’

There weren’t many people who could sacrifice their own lives for someone else.

Family.

Or perhaps a friend.

A lover they loved more than life itself.

Other than those people, there probably weren’t many.

‘Could it be…?’

Jade thought of one possibility.

‘Miel was in love with me.’

Now that he thought about it, everything seemed to fit perfectly.

The way she had stared at him with her mouth slightly open when they first met.

The way she had gone out on every request without uttering a single complaint, no matter how much work he gave her.

And even though he had been looking at another woman, she had secretly watched him from behind, only to appear when he was in danger and sacrifice herself for him.

An indescribable emotion surged violently within Jade’s heart.

Even though he had never taught her magic as her master and had done nothing but give her work, she had been in love with him.

She had possessed feelings so strong that she was willing to sacrifice herself in his place.

He had never realized it because she normally wore such a cold expression, but she had harbored passionate feelings for him.

And he had only realized it now, far too late.

Jade sighed.

Regret, gratitude, and countless other indescribable emotions collided within him.

So he decided to do for her all the things he had never done before.

But in order to do those things, he first had to meet her.

Thus, Jade decided to send Miel a messenger for the first time in a long while.

The problem was that he couldn’t figure out what to write.

“I can’t exactly ask Schlien about this.”

Jade ran a hand through his hair and agonized over the matter.

He had already torn up nearly ten sheets of paper.

He wanted to convey his feelings calmly, without revealing too much emotion, but he couldn’t figure out how.

After agonizing over it for a while, he slowly began writing.

Eventually, a message containing nothing but the exact purpose was completed.

[Return to the Magic Tower as soon as possible.]

Jade wondered whether he should add a little more.

But in the end, he shook his head and infused the paper with magic.

The paper imbued with his red magic soon transformed.

Then, through the open window, it flew toward its destination.

Schlien, an elder of the Magic Tower, hurriedly pulled out his notebook.

A messenger had just flown out of the Tower Master’s room.

He immediately wrote down the date and time the messenger had been sent.

Schlien had only started recording the Tower Master’s daily activities in his notebook a few days ago.

The day the Tower Master had emitted that ominous magic power.

That day, Schlien had sensed something strange in his behavior and secretly begun keeping an eye on him.

And after that, the Tower Master really had started acting differently from usual!

He had suddenly begun asking around about time magic.

He had even shut himself inside his room and refused to come out.

It was as though he was planning to research some forbidden magic.

Everything about it was suspicious.

So Schlien had begun recording his strange behavior in his notebook.

“I sincerely hope he isn’t researching forbidden magic.”

Schlien stroked his beard with a deeply worried expression.

Then a mage who had been watching him suddenly shouted.

“Elder Schlien! We’re busy right now! What are you doing?!”

“Oh dear. What am I doing? Sorry, sorry. I’m coming right away.”

Schlien immediately had to return to work.

Completely unaware that all his worries were entirely unfounded.