# 32
“What a greedy old man.”
Riyekan, who had become the new master of the tower and thus owner of all spaces within it, muttered in disbelief after visiting the room of the previous deceased master. That old man who had risen to the position of Master after Master Senistry’s departure had pretended the tower’s finances were depleted due to paying the price for contracts with fairies, but in reality, he had embezzled everything himself.
Angered, Riyekan collected all those treasures and made them tower property, arranging for the tower’s mages to request viewing privileges or borrow them for research. Moreover, he reassigned the previous master’s empty room to the magical beast research team to use as a stable.
However, Master Senistry’s room itself had remained veiled in mystery until now. There were only rampant speculations that since she was the one who had made the Noon Moon Tower prosperous, even more extraordinary treasures might be sleeping there than in the previous master’s room.
The man thought she might still be alive. Master Senistry had risen to the position of Master at a young age, and wasn’t that old when she disappeared, and great mages tended to live long lives.
It seemed that speculation was wrong. The fact that the treasury had opened without the owner’s permission meant the owner’s death.
“Damn it, why at a time like this…!”
The man opened the space with his Master’s authority and leaped down from the top of the tower to the third floor in one bound. The wind brushed past his ears. As he landed on the arch-shaped bridge, the mages who had been crowding around recognized him and scattered to both sides.
“Master, Master Senistry’s treasury…!”
“I know. Move aside!”
At the harsh command, the mages moved even further away. The man strode forward to approach the door.
“Master, you mustn’t!”
As he was about to enter the doorway, Legas, who had chased after him belatedly, grabbed his leg and clung to him.
“Let go, Legas.”
“Master!”
The man looked down at Legas with a cold expression. It was a murderous look as if he might trample whoever was hindering him, but Legas didn’t back down.
“We don’t know what devices might be set up. You know what kind of mage Master Senistry was!”
Master Senistry was a princess of the Abon Kingdom who had been sent to the tower after being abandoned for having the ominous ability to communicate with fairies. She didn’t despair but honed her magic to become Master, and based on her ability to interact with fairies, brought tremendous wealth to the tower.
Then, petty as it was, the Abon Kingdom sent knights to order her to return. Master Senistry developed various magical war devices to protect herself in response.
“There are no records of her disposing of failures or experimental products during her research. They must be inside the treasury, and if they’re still operating, how dangerous could they be…!”
Legas’s words, intended to instill caution, instead made the man even more agitated. Those words meant that Lee Jin-ha had entered such a dangerous place unprotected.
The man kicked Legas away and forced his body through the doorway. The light tried to push him back, but he forcibly injected magical power and eventually tore through the barrier.
“Master!”
* * *
So soft. Sleeping in such a soft bed would make my back hurt…
Jin-ha, who had been thinking absentmindedly, opened his eyes wide and raised himself up, pressing against the sinking floor. It was inside some room. There was no furniture except for the bed in the room surrounded by snow-white walls. Like a hospital room.
Jin-ha plucked off the patches attached to his body one by one. A beeping sound rang from the machine placed next to the bed.
It looked like a machine displaying vital signs, but it was an unfamiliar shape.
“…”
How long had he been unconscious?
The hospital room was dark. It didn’t seem like it had been a day or two, but it might have been three or four hours. Would news about him have spread by now? A missing person who disappeared from a corridor made for showing off the magic tower to nobles, a path mages don’t normally traverse…
Thinking it was better not to get his hopes up, Jin-ha got off the bed and walked toward the window.
“…What is this…”
What he saw outside after opening the curtain was a battlefield. It was truly a battlefield, albeit a somewhat strange one. So many birds were flying around noisily that they blocked the sun, and arrows shot from mechanical devices on the ground pierced their bodies. The attacked birds disappeared into light, but soon other birds filled their places.
It was at that moment when Jin-ha took a step back in confusion. All the birds suddenly turned their heads toward him. Hundreds of pitch-black eyes stared at Jin-ha.
<Found you.>
Light flooded in abruptly. All the birds suddenly vanished, and the sunlight that had been blocked by their wings poured down. Jin-ha squeezed his eyes shut.
When he opened his eyes again, he was enveloped in a familiar body heat.
“Found you…”
A trembling voice fell upon his ear.
Surprised, Jin-ha tried to push the man away but found himself hesitating without knowing why. The man then hugged him even tighter. It was suffocating.
“H-hey, stop…”
“Let me stay like this for a moment.”
Seeing the man like this reminded Jin-ha of when they met in the forest, and he stopped resisting in confusion. He had thought that attitude back then was all lies, but looking at the current state, that didn’t seem entirely true.
Just where did this man’s lies end and his truths begin?
“…”
He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t summon the courage to broach the subject of their relationship.
After hesitating, Jin-ha simply reached out and patted the man’s back. The back, which had seemed to tremble and tense up, soon relaxed gently and leaned its weight onto Jin-ha.
He’s an arrogant and nasty man. But strangely, seeing this vulnerable side made Jin-ha’s heart soften. He hesitated, then said quietly:
“Um… thank you for coming to find me.”
“Mmm…”
With a gasp-like moan, the man took a deep breath. Jin-ha could feel the man’s chest expanding and contracting against his own.
When the man finally raised his head, his eyes were moist. His cheeks were flushed as if with fever, and his lips expelled hot breath. It was an appearance that somehow evoked sensual thoughts. The man closed his eyes tightly before opening them and smiled, narrowing the corners of his eyes.
“Do it again.”
“Thank you for coming to find me…?”
“Not that, my back.”
Jin-ha awkwardly patted the man’s back. Sensing Jin-ha’s reluctance, as if thinking a grown man had too many demands, the man twitched his lips in dissatisfaction.
“Ah, damn it. This isn’t working after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hunter Lee Jin-ha truly doesn’t do anything the way I want.”
“What are you talking about?”
The man pushed Jin-ha away, looked at him silently for a moment, then shook his head and sighed as if it didn’t matter anyway.
“Never mind. Let’s go back.”
Seeing the man return to his irritable self, Jin-ha let out a hollow laugh. He was still capricious and annoying, but Jin-ha wasn’t as angry as before because of the man’s pale complexion and back soaked with cold sweat.
The fact that he had exerted himself to this extent to save Jin-ha couldn’t be a lie.
Right. He’s a genius, so his moods boil up and down, and he’s self-centered with fluctuating emotions—what can you do? Perhaps it was fortunate to be the object of that capricious attention.
“But didn’t you say our next appointment was in three days?” Jin-ha probed with a hint of amusement.
The man paused.
“I feel like it’s been less than a few hours since I heard that.”
“…It would have been if Hunter Lee Jin-ha hadn’t fallen into a place like this. Why did you come to such a place anyway?”
As if Jin-ha would have wanted to come to a place like this. As Jin-ha was about to retort, the man suddenly wrapped his arm around Jin-ha’s shoulder and pulled him.
Bang!
A net, the kind used to capture beasts, crashed into the spot where Jin-ha had been standing just moments before. The ends of the net dug into the floor, suggesting it was meant for monsters. If he had stayed still, he would have certainly been caught like a trapped animal.
“What’s this now…”
The one who had shot the net was a squirrel doll the size of a human dressed as a nurse. The squirrel doll, with something like a bazooka resting on its shoulder, struck a pose of obvious disappointment.
The man clicked his tongue and pulled Jin-ha toward the window.
“Hunter Lee Jin-ha, do you like birds?”
“…I’m not sure?”
“I hope you do.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
“You’ll come to hate yourself.”
His grinning expression was ominous. Before Jin-ha could ask what that meant, the man embraced him and threw himself out the window.
“Ahhh!”
Jin-ha inhaled sharply and clung tightly to the man. Despite having undergone countless descent training sessions, falling backward with no preparation was a first.
The man’s low laughter brushed softly against his ear, calming his fear. Jin-ha managed to open his tightly shut eyes.
The place they had escaped from was a large castle. Where Jin-ha had been sleeping was one of the spires, and below it were numerous animal doll soldiers armed with weapons. The soldiers’ gazes fixed on them, and they all began rushing toward Jin-ha and the man’s anticipated landing spot.
The soldiers were piling on top of one another, stepping on each other to reach up toward the intruders with outstretched hands.
“Shh, focus.”
At that moment, their bodies suddenly rose.
“Well? Do you hate it?”
“No…”
Jin-ha realized he had become a white wagtail. He was flying through the sky.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
