While Carat was deep in a happy dream,
The little wizard’s letter found its way to his beloved master of the magic tower, Isaac.
In the very top room of the tower, within the master’s office, Isaac, comfortably seated and jotting down magic formulas, received Carat’s letter.
“What’s this about?”
He calmly read through the letter sent by Carat. Although skeptical and a capable young wizard, Carat was a child who seldom opened up his heart.
Yet, the letter sent by the child was unusually upbeat.
[Lord of the Magic Tower, by any chance, do you have a lover? If not, I would like to introduce you to my friend ‘Mel’! I vouch for him, he’s definitely not a suspicious person!
-Sincerely, Carat]
He was a child with a strong sense of caution, but the letter was filled with affection for ‘Mel’.
“Are you talking about Meldenik Babeloa?”
He narrowed his eyes and put down the letter.
“Suddenly a lover, I can’t grasp the flow.”
Until recently, Carat was burning with hostility towards Meldenik.
But to suddenly offer an introduction, isn’t it strange?
On his table, the beer candy she had given him was still lying there.
Meldenik, who had given a pencil case and pencils to Henry and beer candy to him, had quite an interesting face.
Life seemed really enjoyable.
“I wonder what a life that’s not boring is like.”
Recalling her happy-looking face, Isaac inadvertently smiled.
“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you smile.”
The eccentric magician Rasmus, who was sprawled on the opposite sofa, suddenly stood up and exclaimed.
Isaac tightened his lips again and tilted his head slightly.
“Do you have time to focus on my expression now?”
Rasmus has been very busy recently.
For example, catching thieves hiding in the magic tower, and hatching the dragon hatchling Isaac had brought in.
“Right, haha… We should catch those petty thieves who invaded our magic tower!”
Rasmus hurriedly changed the subject after being hit right on the mark.
“Have you met Lady Meldenik?”
“Yes.”
Isaac quietly responded.
“You didn’t kill her, did you?”
“Of course not.”
“Henry totally fell for it too. He grabbed my arm and shook it, asking where he could see that woman.”
“I bet.”
“What’s going on? Am I the only one who finds this situation weird? She’s not really a witch, is she?”
Despite Rasmus’s confused words, Isaac just shuffled through a pile of papers on the table, ignoring him.
Eventually, Rasmus grew tired and slumped over on the couch.
Watching him rub his eyes, Isaac, with a half-lazy expression, finally spoke up.
“She wasn’t weird.”
Definitely not the type to hide in a dark tower and steal things like a common thief.
Isaac, with a playful look, tapped his pen on the table as he continued.
“If anything, she seemed more on the cute side.”
He suddenly remembered the way she looked up at him with big, round eyes, handing him a candy, just like a rabbit.
At that, Rasmus suddenly sat up from the couch.
Then he raised his hand to wipe the drool that had leaked out of his mouth.
“Excuse me? I must have heard you wrong?”
Seeing the disbelief in his subordinate’s eyes, Isaac skillfully changed the subject.
“No, who is this cute person you’re talking about? Let’s talk more about her instead of that petty thief!”
Isaac said with a cold laugh.
“It doesn’t seem right for you to say that when you got blindsided by ‘that petty thief’ while I was away.”
Rasmus quickly backed down and muttered,
“Uh…, I hope the thief is caught soon.”
“Right.”
Despite the Tower Master’s absence, managing to break through the tower’s barriers and stealthily steal a few items meant that the thief was powerful.
And there weren’t many in the empire who were that strong.
“Why did that petty thief, apart from Mana’s Vessel, steal other artifacts?”
“I wonder.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Mana’s Vessel is famous, so I get that… But why steal artifacts that aren’t even that important? What a fool.”
Rasmus stretched, his body feeling stiff. His beard had become prickly from the research he had conducted all night in the tower.
Isaac smoothly continued the conversation.
“In other words, Rasmus. There might be a connection between those items that you are unaware of, but the thief knows.”
Isaac leaned his chin on his hand and closed his eyes with a look of boredom.
“There’s no way to understand what that guy is thinking. The wizard tracking the Azure Necklace has also lost contact.”
Rasmus, pouting in dissatisfaction, brought up the story of the junior wizards who had gone missing while tracking the criminal.
“……”
Isaac narrowed his brows for a moment. Meldenik Babeloa wasn’t confirmed as the main suspect.
However, her actions were indeed more suspicious than anyone else’s. They couldn’t let down their guard until the very end.
He quietly asked Rasmus while leaning his chin on his hand.
“Have you ever seen it?”
“Seen what?”
“The presence of both demon and dragon energies in a person.”
Rasmus, puzzled, asked back.
“No? Not even once. And I can’t even feel the presence of dragons or demons to begin with.”
“That seems unlikely though…”
Strangely enough, there was someone who said that. Meldenik Babeloa.
“For now, just make sure you hatch the dragon egg properly.”
Isaac decisively spoke again, turning his gaze away from Rasmus.
“Huh? Well, I am keeping it warm, so it should hatch soon.”
“Right. Once the dragon awakes, we can also catch the thief…”
Since the vessel for mana is one blessed by a dragon, another dragon should be able to easily track its location.
‘And while at it, I should also look into this curse of the dragon related to Meldenik.’
It was the first time. The first time he felt curious about another human and that curiosity remained gently over a long time.
Isaac was lost in thought, which felt as dense as fog, for several minutes.
He sensed someone approaching the table where he sat.
He didn’t need to open his eyes to know it was Rasmus, so he just left him be.
“Wow!”
Soon, a voice full of astonishment and wonder was heard.
“This is really delicious? You sell this, no, wait, why does my voice sound like this?”
A thin, stretched voice that seemed deliberately imitated was heard.
Isaac looked down and chuckled quietly.
‘Is it some kind of voice-changing magic?’
He could feel the trace of magic, but he hadn’t expected such a unique spell.
The bouncy girl, Meldenik, must have cast her own kind of magic on the candy too.
“No, what? Why won’t it undo? This magic?”
Isaac, with his chin propped, observed Rasmus and then bluntly spoke.
“First, tell the other magicians to stop searching for the thief.”
“Yes. Understood! Wait, is this some ancient magic? Why won’t it undo?”
Rasmus, who had his cheeks puffed out, lit up with interest when he found a letter on the table.
“But does the Master of the Tower have a lover? I’d like to introduce you to ‘Mel’… What is this?”
“It’s nothing.”
Once again, a brief smile flickered across Isaac’s lips and then disappeared.
“Oh? You smiled again.”
At Rasmus’s oblivious remark, his expression hardened again.
He was merely amused by how Rasmus amusingly mimicked Carat’s letter in a ridiculous voice.
Isaac turned his gaze away from Rasmus, who kept opening his mouth to point out his expressions.
For now, he was thinking of writing a reply to Carat, who would be waiting for him.
[To Carrot,
I don’t have a ‘lover.’ I’m truly curious about this person named Mel you recommended as a lover. Should we make a promise to meet?
-Isaac]
Putting quotation marks around the word ‘lover’ was just a bit of spite, nothing more.
