Chapter 25
“Ah, why! I stayed up all night making this! I’m tired! I need to sleep! I’m going to sleep! I’ll sleep for the next 24 hours straight!”
“Want me to help you sleep forever?”
“You barbarian who draws swords inside the Magic Tower! Swords are banned here!”
“Don’t start with me.”
“Y-you! People should know your true nature! Everyone thinks you’re kind and righteous, but they don’t know how you curse and draw your sword at the slightest thing!”
“That’s because no one else pisses me off like you do, you brat!”
Knock knock.
At that moment, the sound of knocking was followed by someone entering the room.
It was Luca, Chae-yan’s secretary.
“Sir Chae-yan.”
“What?”
“They found that person.”
“Who?”
“The owner of the Ice Mana Stone.”
Bang!
Before Luca even finished speaking, Chae-yan shot up from his seat and rushed toward him.
“They found them? Where? How? What about the mana stone? What are we waiting for? Lead the way! Let’s go now!”
“…Weren’t you just saying you were going to sleep?”
“Come on, hurry up!”
Ignoring Aserai-an’s incredulous remark, Chae-yan stomped his feet impatiently, urging Luca on.
“They said… they lost it.”
“What?”
“They lost the mana stone.”
“…Can you repeat that? I think I just heard something very wrong.”
“They lost it. The mana stone.”
“……”
Chae-yan, who had been practically vibrating with excitement, froze as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.
Seeing that, Luca calmly explained the situation again.
“The owner said they lost the mana stone—on the day they left the magic shop.”
“……”
Chae-yan’s eyes trembled in disbelief, and soon grew wet.
“M-my… my precious blue stoooneeeee!!”
“Unnie.”
“What?”
Ceres finally had some free time and went to town with Yulia, who had something she really wanted to buy.
The place the child dragged her to was a bookstore.
There, Yulia picked up a rather thick-looking book.
Apparently, every kid these days had a copy of that same book.
‘…That kind of book is popular now?’
『Magic Isn’t Hard!』
It was supposedly written by the Tower Master himself. Why anyone would want to read that was beyond her.
‘Three gold coins for that?’
It made her blood boil, but since the child wanted it so badly, she bought it anyway.
“Can’t we get one more ice cream?”
“No, we can’t.”
They had gone sightseeing around town and already bought one ice cream.
Apparently, it was delicious, because Yulia gave her sparkling puppy eyes, begging for another.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m scared of Collin too.”
Honestly, Collin’s nagging was far scarier than that sweet little face.
If he caught wind of unnecessary spending, he’d storm around the house with burning eyes, searching for more.
‘He’d nag for at least a week straight.’
He’d follow her around sobbing dramatically about how “we need to save to survive.”
“Tch.”
Yulia, knowing full well how terrifying the butler Collin could be, gave up on the second ice cream.
“Oh? That’s Dave’s dad.”
“Dave?”
As they walked—Yulia holding Ceres’s hand with one hand and her ice cream in the other—the child suddenly stopped.
“My friend Dave. You saw him before, remember?”
“Mm.”
Ah, that little boy.
Ceres remembered taking Yulia to the academy not long ago.
A boy had cheerfully run up, greeted them politely, and held Yulia’s hand to lead her to class.
Yulia, acting all cold and grown-up, had immediately pulled her hand away and walked off alone.
Ceres had been a little hurt that day.
“Dave doesn’t come anymore.”
“Why? Did he quit the academy?”
“His mom ran away with him. She didn’t like that man anymore.”
“…What?”
“Guess she liked another man better.”
“……”
Ceres looked at the girl, who nodded as if it were the most normal thing in the world, and had to think carefully about where to even start explaining.
‘That rumor spread all the way to the kids?’
As she wondered how Yulia had heard it, she caught sight of a man surrounded by people, receiving their condolences.
She could hear words like “affair” and “ran away” among the murmurs.
The man’s gloomy expression did seem to confirm Yulia’s story.
‘Still, if she ran away because of an affair, would she take her child with her?’
Usually, they’d leave alone.
‘Maybe she really did love her son a lot…’
“Dave said you’re pretty.”
“That boy’s got good taste.”
“Tch.”
Pouting, Yulia reached for the book in Ceres’s hand.
“I wanna hold it.”
Maybe now that she’d finished her ice cream, the book finally interested her.
Ceres handed it over, and the girl immediately opened to the first page as they walked.
“It’s dangerous. Read it at home, not while walking.”
“Okay.”
Even so, she didn’t close it.
With a sigh, Ceres glanced down at the open page.
There was a portrait at the front.
A handsome man with long, sleek black hair and a bright smile.
‘That must be the new Tower Master.’
Ceres shook her head slightly. It wasn’t common for authors to plaster their own faces in their books.
‘A bit narcissistic, aren’t we?’
“He’s handsome, isn’t he?”
“Huh?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Ceres blinked in confusion at the sudden comment.
“This guy. They say he’s really powerful, too! He even made the new Black Forest alarm system. Cool, huh?”
“…You mean that awful wailing thing?”
“Yeah, that one.”
A few days ago, a few homes had received a test version of the alarm device.
When they tried it—
SCREEEEECH!!
Her instincts had nearly made her smash it to pieces.
If the person who gave it to her hadn’t been watching, she might’ve actually done it.
‘What kind of mind thinks that sound is a good idea?’
Who in their right mind would design an alarm like that?
She seriously doubted the maker’s sanity.
‘Ugh, three gold coins down the drain.’
And now she’d spent that much on a book by that same lunatic.
Maybe Collin’s frugality was rubbing off on her—Ceres was beginning to feel the pain of wasted money.
“Are you going to the stew shop again?”
“Yeah. Gotta prep for tomorrow’s sales. So behave and listen to Antonian, okay?”
“Tch.”
“What’s with the tch this time?”
“He only makes me study. Never plays with me.”
Good. That meant he was doing his job.
“If you draw on your worksheets again like last time, you’ll get in trouble.”
“……”
“Answer.”
“Okay.”
Smart kid, but zero focus.
Antonian had complained more than once that she flat-out refused to study when she wasn’t in the mood.
And when Ceres checked her worksheets, she found not answers but drawings of animals and flowers.
‘Yulia.’
‘Yeah?’
‘How much did that workbook cost again?’
‘One gold and twenty silver.’
‘Right. Collin cried when he bought it, remember?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Then should you be doodling on it instead of studying?’
‘Yes.’
‘…Do you want to redo it or hold your hands up for an hour?’
‘…I’ll redo it.’
Ten minutes later, she had all the correct answers.
Ceres genuinely didn’t know whether to praise or scold her.
After dropping Yulia home, Ceres headed straight to her shop.
The store was closed for the day, but there was still a mountain of prep to do—
chopping ingredients, simmering broth, the works.
Jay had offered to help, but as a maid for House Drow, the girl couldn’t stay too long.
‘It’s not an easy dish.’
It was amazing that Mark had managed it all alone for so long.
Admitting the man’s skill, Ceres continued toward the shop as dusk settled.
“……”
But when she arrived, she couldn’t go in.
Something dark and bulky was blocking the door.
‘…A beggar?’
That’s what it looked like—clothes so filthy they could’ve been used to scrub the streets, hair tangled with twigs and weeds.
A man sat there, face buried in his knees, looking utterly exhausted.
Ceres stared at him for a moment—then nudged him lightly with her foot.
