Chapter 282

Chapter 282 – That is the Owner of the Magic Tower

People scale mountains simply because they are present.

My motivation for picking the lock on that vault was identical.

However, the subsequent maneuvers I needed to pull off demanded a greater degree of reflection.

‘I have just breached the personal safe of Professor Pellina.’

The contents inside were technically my rightful property.

Therefore, if I proceeded to extract the object, would that count as an act of larceny or not?

That exact dilemma was the source of my pause while standing right over Fresen’s artifact.

Naturally, mapping out the trajectory of upcoming events, taking possession of Fresen’s artifact was the correct—honestly, the most logical—path.

And yet.

‘Professor Pellina and I aren’t exactly close.’

Our familiarity was limited to a handful of brief exchanges following the incident in the Trial Chamber.

If we passed each other entirely alone in a corridor, we would probably swap a casual hello. But if either of us were walking with a group, we would hesitate to even offer a nod.

And if we did exchange greetings under those circumstances, and an onlooker inquired, “Who was that?” saying “Oh, just a friend,” would feel incredibly strained.

Conversely, brushing it off with “Just an acquaintance” felt artificially cold.

I weighed my options for a brief moment.

The gravity of the choice was weightier than selecting a lunch menu, though certainly less critical than deciding on dinner.

A stretch of time dissolved as I stood there.

“……Ah, whatever.”

Given that there was no telling if Professor Pellina even anticipated an expression of appreciation, taking the item was the most logical route right now.

It couldn’t be classified as theft.

‘It belongs to me regardless.’

Of course, a skeptic might raise an objection.

What if the imperial auditors failed to discover the hidden compartment altogether?

To that hypothetical detractor, my response would be:

‘Go ahead and take a flying leap off the second-story banister.’

A person might survive.

……Then again, they might not. That particular drop is almost certainly terminal.

At any rate.

The second my resolve crystallized, all hesitation vanished from my movements.

I securely transferred Fresen’s artifact into my subspace pocket and then began analyzing the remaining objects inside the hidden vault.

“Alright…… I can’t quite identify this, but it bears all the hallmarks of academic research papers.”

I was uncertain if these documents pertained directly to the Fresen artifact.

If I chose to take the object, leaving the corresponding experimental records behind felt messy…… The discipline of artifact examination operated on an entirely different plane than standard sorcery, making the data notoriously difficult to interpret.

‘Ugh, I might as well clear the whole thing out.’

Ultimately, I swept every single item out of Professor Pellina’s concealed vault, relocated them into my subspace, and slipped out undetected.

To emphasize the point once more, this was absolutely not a robbery.

This was the single most reliable strategy to ensure both Professor Pellina and I survived the fallout.

‘……Granted, I would manage to survive no matter what.’

Hold on, looking at it through that specific lens, shouldn’t this be categorized as an act of altruism?

As I exited Professor Pellina’s private workshop, I continued to turn the thought over in my mind.

By the time my feet hit the path back to the residential quarters, I had arrived at a firm conclusion.

“A good deed a day keeps the trouble away.”

Professor Pellina has been thoroughly insulated from ruin. Task complete.

The pure joy of rendering assistance to a fellow human being.

That was the entirety of it.

The following morning.

Could it be attributed to the good karma I accumulated yesterday? After sinking into an exceptionally profound slumber, I found myself blinking awake to an incredibly noisy, chaotic racket outside.

‘……I seriously need my rest.’

Lately, I had deliberately shifted my early morning breath control regimens to the late evening hours for the explicit purpose of securing adequate sleep.

A deep night’s rest was essential not merely for patching up lingering internal trauma, but also for physical development.

Consequently, I attempted to sink back into the blankets, but the sheer volume of the uproar outside shattered any hope of sleep.

“What is all that racket?”

Who were the fools disrupting the peace at this ungodly hour of the morning?

Suppressing a wave of mounting annoyance, I rolled out of bed and approached the windowpane to spot the exact culprits sabotaging my physical growth.

The troublemakers were plenty.

A mere glance revealed dozens of figures milling about below.

‘Those aren’t academy undergraduates…….’

Examining their attire, they clearly didn’t belong to the faculty either.

Which meant……

Focusing tightly on the specific crest emblazoned across their chest pockets.

“Ah, the imperial auditors have landed.”

Just as predicted, Parun.

The man possessed a brain whose operational output relative to its physical mass was exceptionally high-tier.

But that was where my appreciation hit its limit.

The academy administrators might be losing their minds dealing with investigators showing up at the break of dawn, but that fell strictly under adult responsibilities.

It had absolutely zero relevance to an innocent, law-abiding academy pupil such as myself.

Even so, the hour was far too awkward to successfully pass back out.

After pondering my choices for a second, I hauled an armchair across the floor and positioned myself comfortably right by the glass.

It was a bright Sunday morning, characterized by lazy columns of sunlight filtering through the window. The air outside still carried the crisp freshness of early morning condensation.

Me, unwinding.

The auditors, grinding away.

The faculty, running around in a blind panic.

‘……Total rejuvenation.’

What is true rejuvenation? It isn’t anything elaborate.

Being granted the luxury to lounge in absolute comfort while monitoring their frantic, stressful routines felt incredibly restorative—almost like watching my vitality pool refill simply by being a spectator.

As I sat there soaking in the spectacle, a highly familiar peep— cut through the distant sky, signaling the arrival of Breakfast No. 1.

“Looking for a snack?”

Peep, pee……

“Fine, go ahead.”

I extended a moonstone toward Breakfast No. 1……

Peep! Peek!

“Ow, that’s blistering! Watch it……!”

The creature would mindlessly snap up whatever I offered.

I directed a stern look at Breakfast No. 1, then extracted a piece of dried meat from my subspace, ripped it down into tiny shreds, and offered them one bite at a time.

Peep, pee……

Breakfast No. 1 appeared highly content, emitting cheerful chirping noises as it worked its way through the dried meat.

In the absence of the senior headmaster, the tiny creature behaved in a notably subdued manner.

‘It actually looks somewhat endearing up close.’

“Asik.”

As a point of clarification, Asik was my shorthand moniker for Breakfast No. 1.

Peep?

The creature cocked its head to the side, clearly identifying its designated name, and I proceeded to supply it with more dried meat.

“Direct your attention over that way.”

Peep?

“Consider yourself incredibly fortunate to have entered this world as a magical creature. Contemplate the nightmare of being a human. Birds might manage to catch worms by rising early, but humans? They flutter about like discarded sheets of paper or tiny ants, exhausting themselves over completely useless matters that you can’t even consume…… What a waste.”

Exactly how early had those investigators been forced to wake up just to launch an early morning raid on the academy grounds?

Even if they had set up a temporary camp nearby the previous evening, the sheer logistics of organizing their gear meant they likely hadn’t secured a single hour of proper sleep.

Truly miserable.

Regardless.

“I do wonder if Professor Pellina is maintaining her composure right now.”

I genuinely hoped she wasn’t descending into a state of absolute hysteria.

This particular contingent looked highly calculated—they would almost certainly overturn every square inch of her workspace, including the concealed vault.

‘She’s going to experience a massive shock initially.’

The Fresen artifact hidden away inside that secret compartment represented her illicit, unapproved research endeavor.

An outsider might argue that keeping it shouldn’t qualify as a massive offense, but under the current scrutiny, it absolutely did.

So what happens when they finally crack open the hidden vault?

‘Surprise.’

The item was supposed to be there, yet it has completely vanished.

To Professor Pellina, the discovery would register as nothing short of a divine intervention.

‘We desperately wished for it to disappear, prayed for it to go away—and then, magic, it actually did.’

Visualizing her imminent relief and happiness, I shredded another piece of dried meat for Breakfast No. 1……

“……That ungrateful little pest just took off.”

The sheer nerve of Breakfast No. 1 to evaporate into thin air the exact moment its stomach was full……

I made a clicking sound with my tongue and prepared to head out to secure my own morning meal.

On weekend days spent within the residential halls, I typically shared breakfast with the trio of half-wits, and the designated hour had already arrived.

“Yawn, Aster, you’ve made it?”

“Correct.”

“How incredibly tedious.”

“My apologies.”

Trading absolute drivel with a visibly groggy Chenbi, I fell into step with Damian as we moved to collect the final member of our idiot trio.

“Incredible, my friend. Are we celebrating a local carnival today?”

“There is no carnival.”

On occasion when dealing with Damian, I found myself genuinely unable to determine if he was completely aware of the truth and simply playing dumb, or if he was fundamentally oblivious.

For the time being, I decided to attribute it to a total deficit in situational awareness.

“Oh, you’ve arrived? What is the source of all this noise outside?”

“Our friend here claims it’s a carnival.”

“If you voice that opinion out in the open courtyard, people will literally pelt you with rocks.”

“That presents no issue. I can simply deploy a defensive barrier.”

“……Right, of course.”

The verbal sparring between the idiot Damian and the idiot Evelyn was profoundly, heartwarmingly moronic.

Who could have possibly predicted it?

Those two specific individuals had managed to forge a tight enough alliance to routinely split meals while trading absolute nonsense.

At any rate, after consuming a massive breakfast inside the second-year dining hall, we proceeded directly into the cafeteria space.

Our schedule remained identical whether we had official lectures to attend or not.

“Yawn, let’s just linger in the cafeteria for an extended period today. I’m feeling incredibly drained.”

Damian let out a massive yawn, resting his face flat against the surface of the table. Evelyn stared up blankly toward the ceiling tiles, completely incapacitated by a post-meal food coma.

Chenbi had checked out long ago, sound asleep with his face buried in his arms.

‘This is the peak of the protected student lifestyle.’

My personal tranquility, fiercely protected by the senior powerhouse Musphelrun.

……Granted, his mere presence completely wrecked the tranquility of nearly everyone else in the vicinity, but my own peace remained thoroughly unbothered, so it was a net positive as far as I was concerned.

Just as I was mentally renewing my appreciation toward the senior Musphelrun,

An unfamiliar academy student began navigating toward our specific table.

“Um, excuse…… me, if I…… could……”

What is this?

Peeking out from a completely slumped position using only my eyes, my field of vision cut off right around their chest level. A crimson handkerchief was tucked neatly into their breast pocket—a clear indicator of a first-year undergraduate.

What business did a first-year student have wandering deep into the second-year dining area?

I hoisted my head up with an expression of total apathy, and the student’s features suddenly registered.

‘……Obern?’

Narrowing my eyes, Obern deliberately evaluated each of our faces one after the other before tentatively speaking up.

“Um, so…… is this individual senior Damian senior?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“In that case, this must be Chenbi senior, and this individual…… Evelyn senior?”

“That’s right.”

Chenbi massaged his heavy eyelids, pulling himself upright into a sitting posture to give an answer.

“Y-Yes……”

Evelyn, who had crossed paths with Obern on several separate occasions within the confines of the Black-White Slums, provided an answer that sounded slightly self-conscious.

It appeared the underlying connection from back when everyone was operating under concealed personas felt incredibly bizarre now that everything was out in the open.

Obern’s attention shifted next, settling squarely on me.

“Then you must be Aster…… senior?”

Scratching at the back of my neck, I gave my reply.

“Incorrect.”

“……I beg your pardon?”

“I am not Aster.”

“Huh? Wait, what? No, aren’t you? Why would you say that? You match the description perfectly. Absolutely…… or perhaps you don’t?”

Obern began to sputter, completely thrown off balance by my denial.

‘Oh right, now that I recall, this particular kid……’

Possessed the unique Gift known as Overclock alongside the trait of Awakened Insight. Insight was capable of cutting straight through to the fundamental truth of things.

Even if I chose to explicitly deny my identity, they would perceive instantly that it wasn’t a genuine lie.

Regardless.

‘Seeking me out so deliberately like this…… Did the senior Musphelrun direct them to my location?’

Letting out a wide yawn, I fixed my gaze on Obern.

[Yeah, it’s me. What’s the issue?]

[Uh, um, well…… You truly are the senior, correct?]

[Didn’t I just confirm that?]

Only after forcing me through multiple rounds of verification did Obern finally find the courage to speak up.

[Um…… My Master explicitly instructed me that if an emergency materialized, I should immediately seek out the senior, so I swallowed my pride and came here.]

[What’s the problem, is someone giving you a hard time?]

[No, it isn’t an issue like that……]

Obern’s voice trailed off into nothingness as he cast a meaningful look over at the sleeping trio of idiots.

It was an obvious cue to move this conversation to a private space.

It carried all the hallmarks of a dilemma that Obern couldn’t possibly untangle on his own. It was time to step in.

“I need to step outside to handle a brief discussion.”

Dropping that explanation for the benefit of the oblivious trio, I exited the cafeteria grounds with Obern leading the way.

Obern was, after all, the direct apprentice of the senior Musphelrun.

And I always make it a point to square my debts.

If the direct apprentice of the senior was caught in a serious bind, turning a blind eye to the situation would render me entirely devoid of basic human decency.

A person who knows exactly when to bend to authority.

That is the owner of the magic tower.

“Lead the way, holy boy.”

“Uh, oh…… right.”

Obern followed a step behind me, his posture noticeably anxious and timid.

The moment we navigated our way into an isolated, quiet corridor, Obern immediately cut straight to the core matter.

“The Forbidden Mage…… made an attempt to infiltrate the academy borders.”

“When you say the Forbidden Mage, you mean……”

……Salvatium.