CYSIAW (95)

— Right! The letter!
 

Latta was about to raise her tail high, but she soon dropped flat onto the bed.

Latta was about to glance at Lucion with sad eyes, but she buried her face in a blanket.
 

— No. Latta hates letters. She won’t touch it. Latta can endure it. Because Latta is kind.
 

Lucion had a trembling expression.
 

“Do I have to check the letter?”

[If you hate it, you don’t have to. I’m not coercing you.]
 

Russell shrugged.

Lucion wanted to say something, but he cast down his gaze.

Latta, who buried her face under the blanket, stretched out one paw and carefully grabbed onto his pants.
 

“Latta. Do you want to open the letter?”

— Latta never said she will open the letter. Latta didn’t say anything.
 

The blanket shook left and right.
 

“Then, we have to open it outside, not in the room. I don’t want to burn everything like before.”

“Should I make preparations to go out?”
 

Lucion shook his head when Hyum asked, and took out Latta from under the blanket.

Latta’s eyes were very bright.
 

“No, it’s just for a moment.”

“Understood.”
 

Just when he opened the door for Lucion, Hyum was startled.
 

“… Ah, Anthony-nim.”

“Anthony…?”
 

Lucion also halted in his tracks.
 

“Hello, Young Master.”
 

Anthony bowed.
 

[Puhahaha!]
 

Russell laughed happily.

Lucion glowered at Russell, while Bethel rubbed her arm.
 

[Should I have informed you that Anthony was coming? I thought he had something for Lord Lucion.]

“Young Master. I’m truly sorry for coming to you so suddenly.”
 

Anthony made an apologetic face.

Originally, he had planned to come to stealthily ask Hyum about Lucion’s condition.
 

“It’s nothing. As you have come, does that mean some problem has occurred?”

“Not really. I only wanted to check on Young Master’s condition. How do You feel right now?”

“Not bad.”

“I’m glad. If You’re still tired, You can sleep more.”

“No. I was going to open nunim’s letter.”

“Alright, then how about I unseal it instead?”
 

If it was Anthony, he could leave everything to him.

However, Lucion looked at Hyum for a moment.

As if he didn’t dare to speak up in front of Anthony, he tightly pressed his lips with anxious eyes.
 

“It’s okay. I’ll leave it to Hyum.”

“Ah, I almost made a mistake.”
 

Anthony smiled briefly, seeing Hyum’s eager expression.

After Shaella sent a letter to Lucion that burned down his room, it was his duty to check if the letter contained any magic.

There was magic in this letter too, but it wasn’t dangerous.

He was glad he didn’t say it.
 

“Young Master.”

“Yeah.”

“All knights finished taking their stations, as You have commanded.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll excuse myself then.”
 

After bowing, Anthony slowly retreated.

Right now, with Novio and Carson absent, Lucion was the owner of this mansion.

However, things continued at the mansion exactly as usual.
 

***
 
“I’m opening it.”
 

Hyum spoke with excitement.

He had the letter in hand.
 

“Okay.”
 

Lucion was at a distance and Latta stood between Hyum and Lucion, wagging her tail with sparkling eyes.

They were at the training ground where there would be no problems even if the letter contained magic.

It just so happened that the training ground was empty because of the strengthened patrols.

Besides the many people walking around, Lucion didn’t sense any change in the mansion’s atmosphere.

He thought it was really fortunate.
 

“Can I really open it?”
 

Hyum asked again.
 

[Quickly open it.]
 

Russell urged him to hurry.

He already knew that there was magic in the letter, so he was very curious what it was.
 

[Lord Lucion. How about you step back a bit further?]
 

Because Bethel already knew just like Russell, she pointed at the spot two steps away, so it wouldn’t injure Lucion.

Lucion took two steps back as Bethel said.
 

“Latta, you come here, too.”
 

Unlike usual, Latta was very slow to approach Lucion.

It seemed she was enormously curious about the magic that would jump out of the letter.
 

Tap.
 

The sound of breaking the seal was unusually loud.

However, when, unlike what they predicted, nothing else happened, Hyum looked at Lucion.
 

“Nothing happened.”

[No way.]
 

Russell stared at the letter in Hyum’s hands.

The magic didn’t activate yet.
 

[Was the condition to activate magic not met?]
 

Russell mumbled and looked at Lucion.
 

[Lucion. Come here. It looks like you have to touch it for it to activate.]

“Looks like it.”
 

Carson had to open the letter before giving it to him.

Lucion walked up to Hyum, and Latta excitedly ran after him.
 

[Is it really okay, Russell?]
 

Bethel asked worriedly.
 

“It’s fine.”
 

Lucion smiled.

Didn’t she put so much magic into the last letter thinking it would be opened outside rather than in his room?

It’s very difficult to put magic into an object.

That’s why the magic items were so expensive.

Lucion accepted the letter handed by Hyum.

Then, flowers exploded from the letter and slowly hovered around Lucion.

Anyone could see it was Shaella’s magic.

The plant magic that only she could use.

The sight of purple petals of wisteria flowers whooshing around was reminiscent of spring.
 

Saint Lucion Cronia! Babambam!
 

Suddenly the flowers formed a sentence and Lucion burst out laughing.
 

[… Wow. That’s no joke?]
 

Russell was amazed.

He couldn’t imagine how many nights it took to make this magic.
 

[Are those flowers real or an illusion?]
 

At Bethel’s question, Lucion said, while looking at the flower petals:
 

“Real. Nunim can control plants. And she mainly uses flower magic.”

[Flower magic…? It’s the first time I’ve heard about it.]
 

Russell perked up his ears.
 

“Uum, nunim said that because her mana is a bit mutated, it can cause various changes in plants. She had explained it to me before, but because I’m not a mage, I couldn’t understand most of what she was saying.”

“It’s pretty.”
 

Hyum stretched out his hands towards the flowers.

When they touched his fingers, they melted like snow.
 

“… The flowers melted.”
 

Hyum looked at Lucion in surprise.

He didn’t know that the flower petals would melt.
 

“Only nunim’s magic is like this. Really special, right?”
 

Lucion’s gaze turned towards the letter at some point.

Looking at the letter that wasn’t just one line, but densely written, he thought he did well to follow after Russell.
 

— Congratulations, little brother. As I always write one-line letters, I wanted to write a long one, but my fingers feel strange.
 

He imagined Shaella’s twisted expression.
 

— The reason I wrote a letter is because I heard that the Magic Tower is opening for the first time in 30 years.
 

‘The Magic Tower is opening?’
 

In this world, the mages didn’t exactly have a good image.

Unlike the knights, who also used mana, the mages had no loyalty, hated submission, were reckless and were extremely sensitive.

Even he didn’t think much of mages.
 

‘Well, I have to get an ice mage for summer, for certain.’
 

However, the mages were powerful.

The empire made a move before they could become a headache.

The Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower was the only haven of mages in the empire where they were permitted to make and research the magic they wanted, while receiving funds from the empire, filling mages with dreams.

Around the time the Magic Tower was created, the mages strongly protested, saying what the fuck is this, but once it was built, their eyes rolled over for the enormous benefits and said they wanted to enter, as even the fuck was good.

Of course, the empire didn’t provide them the Magic Tower for free.

After providing the dreamy space called the Magic Tower, the empire used it as a pretext to receive information about magic, magical items and magic technologies, etc, and to take that information hostage to force the mages of the tower to promise to unconditionally side with the empire.
 

‘… However, there was not much content about the Magic Tower in the ‘Clutches of Darkness’.’
 

Lucion thought he could be remembering it wrong, so he carefully recalled the novel’s content.

But it just mentioned the importance of the Magic Tower.

There was a description of Heint starting at the Magic Tower.

Even though the Hand of Void was running wild in the empire, the Magic Tower didn’t move.

In other words, they kept their doors closed.

The Magic Tower promised it would side with the empire, but from the beginning, they expressed many times that they had no interest in the world, as they were building their own.
 

‘They should be the same even now.’
 

What on earth changed that the Magic Tower was opening after 30 years?
 

[What’s the matter?]
 

Russell tried hard not to look at the letter, but Lucion’s reaction made it difficult.
 

“The Magic Tower is opening.”

[What? Wh-what did you say?]
 

Even Russell fumbled with his words in shock.

That closed-off group was opening?
 

[How much are they opening? One floor or the whole tower?]

“One moment. I didn’t read it until the end yet.”
 

Lucion looked at Bethel, who reacted somewhat apathetically, and Hyum and Latta, who tilted their heads, not knowing what the Magic Tower was, and started to read the letter again.
 

— So, I wrote this letter to inform you first. Father and older brother still don’t know. Well, I also don’t know when the Magic Tower is going to open. I’ll send another letter when I know for certain.
 

Lucion twitched slightly.

He thought it was really like Shaella.
 

— Ah, why is the Magic Tower opening? I can’t tell you the details, but (I’m saying it because it’s you, Lucion) there were many talks about opening the tower for a few years now. Of course, I voted yes! Anyway, the guy who opposed opening the Magic Tower died not a long time ago. I might have laughed for a few days out of relief.
 

‘A mage died?’
 

— Why did he die? His magic failed and his room exploded. Frankly, he wasn’t a bastard to make such a mistake. The tower is closed, so it will probably be quietly buried. Anyway, let’s meet when the Magic Tower opens. Pinky promise!
 

The letter ended with that.

The timing was really strange.

The only thing that changed was that the mage organization and the villain, Luminos, disappeared much earlier than expected.
 

“How many floors would be opened wasn’t written.”
 

Lucion informed Russell about what he found out.
 

[Then why is it opening?]

“A mage with considerable power in the opposing group was killed by a failed spell.”

[Yeah? For a mage, death is the worst. They’ll probably hover around as a ghost.]
 

Russell shook his head.
 

[Well, anyway, look. Isn’t it good that you read the letter? Now you have a reason to go east.]

“Yeah. It was a really good decision.”
 

Lucion smiled beamingly, looking at the letter.

The Neavera Kingdom planted spies in Cronia. They relay information through the four report points, and the last report point was in the Eastern region.
 

“But, Young Master.”
 

Hyum spoke up.
 

“What is the Magic Tower?”

— Latta is curious too, Latta too.
 

Latta, who was playing with the fluttering flowers, ran over and stared at Lucion.
 

***
 
Night has come.

Novio, the ruler of Cronia, and Carson, his heir, were absent.

This one fact made the beasts that were hiding rush towards the mansion under the protection of darkness.

However, no one crossed the door of Cronia’s mansion.

Because the Cronia Knights taught the ignorant people who thought that the two people were all of Cronia’s power through death.

Cronia was strong to begin with.
 

Crunch!
 

Anthony’s hand holding a big iron hammer smashed the head of an enemy.

His usual white gloves were dyed red, but he didn’t look even a bit disheveled.
 

“Deal with them quietly. It’s time for the Young Master to sleep.”
 

Anthony quietly swung the hammer and broke the leg of the enemy who tried to run.
 

Crunch!
 

When the enemy tried to scream, Anthony crushed his face with his foot.

He worried that Lucion would have nightmares, that have barely stopped, again if he worried a lot.

As a butler, he would do his best to make sure he sleeps well not only tonight but every night.
 

***
 

Swish!
 

While running towards the town, Hyum suddenly waved his hand, causing Lucion, who was piggybacking on his back, to shake violently.
 

“Ah, that startled me.”

“My apologies. Because the opponent emitted murderous intent towards me, I unknowingly waved my hand.”
 

Hyum fidgeted, checking Lucion’s expression.
 

[You didn’t wave your hand, you broke her head.]
 

Russell stared at the corpse that fell to the ground.

Lucion landed on the ground without hesitation and took out Latta from his shadow.

He sneaked out of the mansion without Anthony’s knowledge, so he didn’t want to leave any witnesses, even ghosts.
 

“Don’t bother, Hyum.”
 

He was concerned about the dead person, who was heading in the direction of the mansion, but Lucion comforted Hyum and called out to Latta.
 

“Latta.”

— Whoo! Now it’s Latta’s turn!
 

*~*~*
 

Translator’s note: Novio and Carson leave, and the genre changes into tower defense for the Cronia knights….