Special Side Story Episode 4

With an awkward smile, he subtly averted his gaze, and at that very moment, a shout came from the end of the street.

"Tower Master!"

The figure waving his hand, his robe emblazoned with the Magic Tower's insignia fluttering, was Parmas, one of Xenon's aide mages and an accomplice in the marriage proposal plan. Stationed at the Magic Tower, handling various duties on behalf of the Tower Master who traveled between Veladia Castle and the Tower, he was also a commendable subordinate who genuinely and quite sincerely supported the Tower Master's successful proposal. So much so that Xenon, moved by his sincerity, had entrusted him with parts of the execution plan.

Xenon, about to reflexively return the greeting, suddenly noticed that Parmas's expression seemed somewhat urgent. And the only reason he would wear such an expression at this moment would be...

"It really is the Tower Master."

A foreboding feeling crept up, but he couldn't confirm it. Because Anelli, standing right beside him, spoke up with a perfectly calm expression.

Perhaps finding the title 'Tower Master' quite impressive, Anelli stared at Xenon with a peculiar look in her eyes. Xenon quickly let out a hearty laugh.

"Ahaha... So I'm a fake one?"

Something must have gone wrong at the Magic Tower. Or with the marriage proposal plan he had prepared.

Wouldn't it be better to buy some time to handle whatever problem it was by showing Anelli around the village first? He briefly considered this, but before Xenon could say anything in response, Anelli strode purposefully towards Parmas.

Having been briefed beforehand, Parmas seemed to immediately grasp Anelli's identity, offering an awkward bow.

"Greetings, Resurrected One. I am Parmas, a mage of the Magic Tower."

Anelli nodded in acknowledgment of Parmas's greeting, then turned to look at Xenon.

"If we go in like this, will the Tower be there?"

"Yes, that friend over there is my aide mage. He should have everything prepared."

Xenon answered with a nod, then glanced sideways at Parmas. Parmas, who had been rolling his eyes and gauging the reactions of Anelli and Xenon, swallowed dryly.

"Um, Tower Master, just a moment, no, I mean..."

Parmas couldn't bring himself to continue, merely looking at Xenon with an embarrassed expression. While Xenon couldn't decipher everything in that intense gaze, at the very least, the opinion that Anelli should not be brought into the Tower at this moment was clearly conveyed to him. Xenon quickly spoke to Anelli.

"Uh, Lady Anelli. Wouldn't it be a shame to go straight to the Tower? How about taking a look around Aswood first?"

"Huh? Not really. I'm more curious about the Tower."

Anelli replied nonchalantly and, without giving anyone a chance to stop her, strode right past Xenon and Parmas. Her figure, heading down the straight road, vanished the instant she entered the Tower's precincts.

Xenon and Parmas also hurriedly followed after her, crossing the barrier. And the moment they entered, Xenon found himself speechless and rooted to the spot.

To his dazed ears, as he stared up at the Tower, came Anelli's carefree voice.

"This isn't about to collapse, is it?"

Looking up at the stone tower, blackened and stained as if explosions had occurred intermittently, Anelli uttered a relaxed exclamation. Completely unaware of Xenon's despairing state of mind, she simply wore an expression of curiosity. Only Parmas sensed Xenon's feelings and whispered in a shrinking voice.

"...I, I'm sorry. Tower Master."

It was no comfort at all.

* * *

To summarize the whole story:

First, the rose petal path, diligently decorated at dawn, had been very neatly cleaned up by nearby merchants as soon as day broke. Having vaguely heard rumors that a very important event was taking place at the Magic Tower today, the merchants, in their own way, intended to create a clean village scenery to contribute, however slightly, to the Tower's event.

It was truly regrettable that the fresh petals looked like trash that needed to be cleared away in their eyes...

But ultimately, this was Xenon's fault for not having told someone in advance to check on the rose petal path. It would have been better to explain the plan earlier and secure cooperation, so by any measure, it was a result of Xenon's complacent judgment.

But what about the Tower? Decorating the bleak stone tower's exterior with beautiful magic was something agreed upon by all Tower members. Moreover, the one leading it was Xenon's teacher, Secian!

"...They said my teacher left his post early this morning..."

"Yes, Priest Morico urgently requested his help."

No matter how much the Magic Tower and the Temple growled at each other, when a real problem arose, they didn't turn their backs but helped each other. How much more so for Secian and Morico, who had maintained a long friendship despite their bickering. Thus, Secian left his post at the request of his sworn friend.

However, he hadn't forgotten his disciple's earnest request either, so before leaving, he had apparently cast a spell to beautifully decorate the entire Tower in advance. He had even safely supplemented it with a written ritual formula on paper to maintain such a wide-ranging spell.

The problem was that this spell consumed magical power faster than expected. Even with the ritual formula minimizing the consumption, as the spell's stability began to waver, the Tower's mages were plunged into worry.

It wasn't a spell that needed to be maintained permanently anyway, only until the Tower Master proposed. The Tower was crawling with mages, so if they pooled their heads, maintaining the spell for a few more hours shouldn't be a problem, right?

Having reached this conclusion, the aide mages began repair work on the spell in earnest. However, it was no easy task for others to supplement a spell one person had cast over a wide area. Finding it difficult to directly interfere with the spell itself, they agreed to try adding more ritual formulas instead. And the result...

"So it clashed with my teacher's spell..."

"Well, Master Secian's spell is so exceptional and intricate..."

Was Secian a former Tower Master for nothing? Although he had now retired as an elder mage, it wasn't due to lack of skill but purely health reasons. Secian was still the Magic Tower's greatest mage.

If his disciple and current Tower Master, Xenon, had stepped in to supplement it, it might have been possible, but sadly, there was currently no one in the Tower skilled enough to meddle with Secian's spell. Even the more capable elder mages were absent due to their own circumstances.

And so now, what greeted Anelli and Xenon was a pitiful-looking Tower, marred by black soot and cracks from magical clashes.

"I really should have blown up the Temple."

Why did they have to call his teacher today of all days? He was there yesterday and will be there tomorrow; they could have at least called him in the afternoon!

Grinding his teeth while pointlessly blaming the innocent Morico, Xenon first took a deep breath.

Alright, the stone walls being a mess was regrettable and sad, but since you can't even see the exterior once you're inside, let it slide. But then.

"Why is the carpet laid inside the Tower gone?"

"Ah, that..."

Just yesterday, worried that the chill of the stone walls might ruin the good atmosphere, he had laid luxurious carpets from the top floor all the way down to the lowest floor. Even the mages were very pleased with this, as their joints had been hurting from running around the hard tower.

They were just rejoicing yesterday that now their bones wouldn't break even if they fell, so why had it reverted to cold stone floors?

At Xenon's icy question, Parmas scratched the back of his head.

"Well, while moving a slime carcass, it was so soft and plush that I ended up tripping. And unfortunately, I tripped right on the top-floor staircase, so the slime carcass rolled all the way down to the first floor..."

Foul fluid oozes from slime carcasses; it's so sticky and the smell so pungent that handling it requires being prepared to discard the clothes you're wearing. With such a thing rolling around on the carpet, removing it was the best option.

Xenon pressed his lips together and fell silent for a moment. Then he calmly asked another question.

"The decorations hung on the walls?"

"While demonstrating a firework spell this morning, a spark flew and instantly caught onto them..."

"The flower petals I was going to scatter in my lounge?"

"During the fire..."

Xenon, who had been interrogating Parmas step by step to grasp the situation, gradually grew resigned. By the end, he had no choice but to accept it. The sad fact that the Tower's condition today was far worse than usual.

"Tower Master, the Resurrected One is looking for you."

Xenon, who had left Anelli seated in the Tower Master's lounge to speak briefly with Parmas, unconsciously let out a deep sigh at the aide mage's summons. But he soon rubbed his face with both hands, trying hard to pull himself together.

Things had gone a bit awry, but Anelli wasn't the type to be bound by formalities anyway. He had to quickly push aside the gloomy thoughts. The most important thing wasn't the pretty appearance of the Tower or such, but the proposal itself he would make to her.

Yes, the answer is sincerity!

"Huh?"

Xenon fumbled at his chest, then immediately turned pale.

The ring was gone.