The audience chamber of the Imperial Magic Tower.
A space that hadn’t received visitors for a long time, where a small-framed girl sat hugging a teddy bear. In front of her was a table filled with tea and snacks.
Hee hee hee~
A delicate hum.
She looked just like a girl, but any decent mage knew better. She was known as a mage and the secretary of the Black Tower Master.
Teddy. That was the name of the secretary of the Black Tower Master.
Hee hee hum~ hum~
Since her visit to the Imperial Magic Tower, Teddy kept humming while munching on snacks, occasionally surveying the details of the audience chamber.
“Excuse me~ pretty sister~ when will the Inspector arrive?”
Teddy waved the teddy bear’s arm and asked Agnes.
Agnes blinked quietly. Though she was called “sister,” Teddy was actually older.
‘Why does it have to be her?’
Agnes kept a straight face but found the situation rather awkward. Among the mages who often sounded conventional, Teddy was quite the notorious troublemaker.
“As I mentioned, the Inspector of the Imperial Tower is on vacation today. It is not possible to meet her.”
“Ah~ I see~”
Teddy’s eyes sparkled as she nodded.
“To be on vacation just when I’m visiting… what kind of outrageous coincidence is this? Huh? What do you say?”
She began talking to the teddy bear she was holding.
“Did she deliberately take a vacation to avoid meeting me? Oh dear, that’s a bad thought! The Inspector must be unusually tired today and wanted to rest!”
“…”
Teddy openly mocked the Inspector of the Imperial Magic Tower.
The situation itself was understandable. It would be easy to interpret that the Inspector took a vacation on the day the Black Tower’s messenger visited to deliberately avoid her.
The problem was this audacious attitude.
Agnes recognized that Teddy was being rude but couldn’t scold her outright. She could only instinctively feel how much times had changed.
‘Is this truly how the Imperial Magic Tower is perceived now?’
Would other towers treat the Imperial Magic Tower so carelessly?
That was something that should have been absolutely impossible.
But Agnes knew very well why Teddy had the audacity to act this way.
How had the Imperial Magic Tower spent the last ten years?
Whenever the topic of performance came up, they would divert the conversation, and during exchange meetings, they always found excuses to avoid participating. A full ten years.
Was that all?
They couldn’t even provide a decent explanation to countless questions directed toward the Imperial Tower. Other towers couldn’t possibly be unaware of the current state of the Imperial Tower.
‘…It feels like the Imperial Tower is at the execution block.’
Agnes became convinced while observing Teddy’s attitude.
‘The Black Tower is overflowing with confidence.’
It seemed that other towers had prepared well.
For a decade, the Imperial Tower had shown no substantial progress, yet here was Teddy flaunting her power, intent on shattering them this time for sure.
“It would be best to expect another day.”
“Yes~ Yes~”
“The concern that the Imperial Tower will not attend the exchange meeting is unfounded. Recently, the Imperial Tower has been in high spirits—”
Teddy didn’t seem to pay much attention.
Perhaps the news of Ezekiel’s activities involving the second princess hadn’t reached the other magic towers yet. Agnes swept her hair back in frustration.
“You’ve heard about the recent successes in Ruiple, right? Don’t worry.”
“Oh, really? You seem to love using the word ‘recent’ a lot.”
Teddy looked at Agnes with innocent eyes.
When their gazes met, she suddenly grinned.
“Wait a minute~ if things are good recently, that means they weren’t good before! It’s been pretty serious, but thanks to this Inspector, it seems like things are finally starting to look up!”
Agnes felt a shiver run down her spine for a moment. She realized she had misspoken.
Teddy, looking delighted, jumped up from her seat.
The girl spun around holding her teddy bear’s hands, pretending to dance while continuing to talk.
“Just how amazing is this Inspector? They must be extraordinarily remarkable—for sure!”
“…”
“The Imperial Magic Tower has been in a ten-year void. A whole decade! Do they really have the capability to fill that gap all at once?”
Agnes pondered briefly on how to respond, but she soon made her decision. Having lived her life by the manual, she wasn’t overly flustered.
“I don’t understand what you mean. However—”
Agnes’s voice took on a firm tone.
“I fully understand that the rudeness of the Black Tower has crossed the line. You must certainly know that this place is an institution established under the wishes of Her Highness the Second Princess.”
“Hmm?”
“The exchange meeting is just around the corner. Isn’t it enough to resolve your curiosity then? The rudeness shown due to impatience will not be forgotten by the Imperial Tower.”
“What? Why are you suddenly so scary…? Huh…”
Teddy pulled the teddy bear close, making a pitiful face as if pleading.
Of course, she soon grinned again.
“Alright, alright! It was just a joke! A joke!”
Teddy went back to munching on snacks.
“By the way, Inspector~ where did she go on vacation? Since the exchange meeting will be tough, she should have taken a good rest today!”
“She went to Dominan Valley.”
“Dominan Valley? Hmm…? What, suicide or something…?”
Teddy stopped midway through her sentence and slapped her mouth.
“…Watch your words. This is a warning.”
“Cough cough~ I’m sorry~ People who are exiled or considering suicide often visit Dominan Valley, right? I was just wondering! I thought perhaps the Inspector couldn’t handle the burden and went there…”
Teddy’s hand reached out for the plate. She had already eaten all the snacks piled high.
“But, Secretary of the Imperial Tower~”
“Yes.”
“This time at the exchange meeting, the Imperial Tower is confident, right?”
“Confident?”
“Yes. You said you wouldn’t forget my rudeness?”
Teddy smiled innocently like a little girl.
“Our other five towers also have incredibly good memories, you know? The repeated delay in presentations at the Imperial Tower and the avoidance of exchange meetings… we remember everything!”
“…”
“You’re going to show something to clarify it all this time, right?”
That was a challenge disguised under the guise of naïve questioning. It was also a declaration of war directed at the Imperial Tower.
Rattle— rattle—
Agnes quietly turned the cube as she thought.
‘…What have they been preparing for?’
It was true that the Imperial Tower had failed to establish itself over the last decade, but the fact that Teddy showed such brazen behavior implied that the Black Tower had faith in something.
They must believe they could overwhelmingly surpass the Imperial Magic Tower at the exchange meeting, that they would outshine the others and possibly seize control over the situation.
In contrast, the Imperial Tower had only Ezekiel to rely on.
Of course, Ezekiel’s actions so far had been drastic and impressive. He had already begun to refresh the mindset of those belonging to the Imperial Tower and stir up a commotion.
But could they really fill a ten-year gap all at once?
…Other magic towers had sharpened their teeth and prepared for a full ten years. Could they truly turn the tables with just one event?
Hee hee hee~
Teddy stood directly in front of Agnes, close enough that their toes almost touched, gazing quietly up at her.
“Your eyes are deep in thought. Secretary of the Imperial Magic Tower~ You’re not as confident as you claim, are you?”
Agnes realized what she needed to do next.
“Not at all.”
The poor situation of the Imperial Magic Tower was no reason to bow down to other towers. If she bent now, the entire Imperial Tower would be seen as bending.
Better to break than to bow.
“I felt no need to reply with words. The Imperial Tower will only speak through results.”
Agnes continued with a piercing glare.
“I will remember you, Teddy of the Black Tower.”
“Yikes~ so scary~”
Teddy dashed toward the door.
She looked frightened, yet a smile lingered on her lips.
“The exchange meeting is in exactly two days! You absolutely can’t be late! If you take a vacation that day, I’ll know you ran away!”
“…You may leave. There are limits to manners.”
After Teddy left, Agnes let out a quiet sigh.
She couldn’t hold back against Teddy’s provocation, and ultimately, she’d crossed the line.
“…Ezekiel, Inspector.”
Ezekiel.
—I’m not sane to begin with.
So said Ezekiel, the Inspector.
Now, he truly was the only hope.
Agnes quietly took out a notebook and wrote a line.
[I guess sometimes I’m not sane either.]
The Emperor’s Audience Chamber in the Imperial Palace.
The massive door opened silently.
A woman.
The figure of a woman standing in the gap of the opened door was slowly illuminated.
Sss…
As the audience chamber grew brighter, her identity was finally revealed.
The Empire’s 1st Princess, Ether.
She faced the Emperor on the throne with the eyes of a wolf that had starved for days in the snow.
The energy she radiated was undeniably fierce.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.