Chapter 291

Chapter 291 – Now It’s Even This

Following my conversation with Damian, I went straight over to meet with Parun.

This discussion couldn’t be delayed indefinitely, and he absolutely required an update regarding the situation with the Third Imperial Princess.

For the time being, I chose not to overthink the tangled web of underlying truths.

‘Well… it’s not as if I outright lied to him anyway.’

To put it more accurately, it was closer to a tacit understanding between us to simply look the other way.

With those thoughts in mind, I arrived at Parun’s residence.

“It has been a while.”

“Indeed it has.”

Parun appeared completely unbothered, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, but I merely cast a brief look his way before settling onto the couch.

“Would you care for a drink?”

“Whatever you have is fine.”

“Give me a moment.”

While Parun left the room to fetch the refreshments, I spent a few moments observing the details of his private study.

Word had reached me that even his personal property had been targeted and searched, yet the study itself seemed virtually untouched. Every piece of furniture and book remained precisely where it had been during my previous visit.

This neatness offered a silent testament to Parun’s methodical nature.

I waited in silence for a short while.

“Here, drink this. It’s the only thing I have on hand at the moment.”

The item Parun extended toward me was a small glass container filled with a fatigue recovery solution—essentially a watered-down potion.

“Ah, appreciate it.”

Snap.

Unscrewing the plastic top produced a distinct, grating sound of friction. A moment later, Parun sat down on the opposite side of the table with a similar snap from his own bottle.

I took a small swallow of the revitalizing liquid and let my eyes wander idly toward the ceiling.

‘The design up there is remarkably detailed.’

Was it woven fabric or intricately printed?

The overhead covering—whether made of high-quality cloth or premium paper, I couldn’t quite determine—instantly struck me as an incredibly expensive material.

It had an undeniable elegance to it. The craftsmanship was highly prominent.

It must have required a small fortune to decorate a room with such material. If the study looked like this, what would the washroom in a residence of this caliber look like?

I recalled hearing a rumor somewhere that a home’s true wealth and luxury could be judged by the state of its bathroom…

“You are remarkably quiet today.”

“Huh? Oh, right.”

Parun’s sudden remark snapped me out of my thoughts, and I took another gulp from my bottle.

“No, I was just thinking that the wallpaper is quite impressive.”

“…The wallpaper? I have no idea what you are getting at.”

True to his usual demeanor, Parun chose not to press the issue further, acting as if my strange behavior was par for the course. Instead, he simply shifted his eyes toward the ceiling where I had been staring.

He then gave a small nod and muttered under his breath, ‘At least they didn’t overcharge me,’ confirming that the material had indeed cost a pretty penny.

Up to this point, our interaction felt entirely normal, mirroring our past encounters.

Yet, something felt off.

Why did this lingering sense of discomfort persist?

Even though I hadn’t actively concealed anything or committed any wrongdoing, I couldn’t shake the nagging sensation that I was playing Parun for a fool.

‘I suppose a silkworm really does belong on a mulberry leaf.’

For an inherently straightforward person who lacked the talent for deception, attempting to hold back the truth was a genuinely agonizing experience.

Unfortunately, the realities of the world were far too brutal for someone to survive purely on honesty alone.

Just as I was beginning to sink into a bleak contemplation of how unforgiving life could be, Parun spoke up again, breaking the silence.

“Didn’t you come here with a specific purpose in mind?”

“Not particularly. I was simply wondering how you were holding up.”

Parun knit his brows together, fixing me with a glare that suggested I had just uttered something utterly ridiculous.

…Is it really that strange for me to ask about your well-being?

A faint, disbelieving chuckle began to rise in my throat. Or rather, it would have, if Parun hadn’t kept talking.

“If you aren’t prepared to discuss your business just yet, I will speak first.”

“…?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“I intend to conclude my tenure at the academy in the near future.”

“Are you… stepping down?”

“Yes. No matter how many times I weigh the options, this seems like the most opportune moment. Once the conflict involving Lortel and Decullan draws to a close, the aftermath is going to complicate things in numerous ways.”

“Even so, remaining affiliated with the academy offers a wide array of privileges.”

Parun dismissed my counterargument with a firm shake of his head.

“If my long-term goal was to remain there indefinitely, then certainly, I would stay put.”

I had to admit he had a point.

If his objective was retirement, executing it now while Decullan’s attention was divided was the ideal strategy.

However, Parun wasn’t finished sharing his plans.

“Furthermore, I am planning to convince another individual to depart along with me.”

“…? Are you referring to Henji’s younger brother?”

“He is included… yes, I ought to bring that lad along. He completely lacks the temperament for laboratory research, no matter how one views it. But he isn’t the fool I am talking about right now.”

For context, Henji’s younger brother had resided at the orphanage until he was placed under Parun’s supervision. Given that the boy was technically a captive laborer of the Magic Tower, Parun possessed a direct interest in his whereabouts.

If it wasn’t him, then who could it be?

As I stared at him with an inquisitive expression, Parun clarified his statement.

“A member of the academy faculty.”

“A professor?”

Which one could he possibly mean?

A sudden wave of apprehension washed over me.

“A specialist in the fields of magitech engineering and magical artifacts. They possess quite a substantial reputation within that discipline, though it’s entirely possible you haven’t encountered their name.”

There was no way it could be…

“Are you by any chance familiar with Professor Pelina?”

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

The moment Parun finished speaking, an icy stillness enveloped the room.

The surroundings remained perfectly motionless as if the passage of time had ground to a halt, but within my own mind, my thoughts were snapping and tangling into a chaotic knot.

‘Why in the world is Pelina being brought into this?’

What reason could there be for Professor Pelina’s name to surface in this conversation? For that matter, how did the two of them even… well, they did share the same campus. But were their ties deep enough to warrant discussing a career change together?

An endless stream of questions began to churn in my head.

“Why have you gone completely silent? Does that name ring a bell?”

“Uh… no? Not particularly…”

“Not particularly?”

I caught myself and stopped speaking right in the middle of my sentence.

The words “I don’t know her” refused to leave my lips smoothly, a direct consequence of the sudden pang of guilt striking my conscience—a moral compass that hadn’t yet been entirely blunted by my circumstances.

Consequently, I was forced to make a definitive choice.

…I paused for a brief instant to deliberate.

‘Fine, the choice is made.’

The moment my mind was made up, my response came without a single hint of hesitation.

“No, I have no idea who she is.”

“I suppose that makes sense; you wouldn’t really have any connections to the academic world anyway.”

The thing I chose to throw away in that moment was my sense of morality.

Reaching that conclusion hadn’t been simple, but the moment it was cast aside, a profound sense of liberation washed over me.

With a significantly less burdened spirit, I kept the dialogue moving forward.

My initial inquiry was straightforward.

“But are the two of you actually on close terms?”

“Close… we happened to participate in high-level instructional courses together in the past.”

“So you were peers at the institution?”

“If we are being precise, Professor Pelina is my senior. Those specialized seminars were entirely voluntary.”

Ah, so Professor Pelina held the senior position between them. They were linked through academic networking.

Next, I moved to my second question.

“Did she happen to disclose anything to you regarding the Magic Tower?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Parun shook his head defensively and began to clarify the circumstances, which ultimately amounted to a simple chain of events.

‘During the course of the recent institutional inspection, Professor Pelina became entirely disenchanted with her academic position… and then the two of them happened to share a few drinks?’

It had been a social gathering intended for the faculty members, during which a highly intoxicated Professor Pelina poured her heart out to Parun, venting about her various grievances.

“She brought up something regarding a piece of equipment being pilfered, though I couldn’t make heads or tails of what she meant. Regardless of what sparked it, her passion for the academy has completely evaporated. She is currently contemplating establishing an independent research space.”

Yikes, a stolen artifact. Truly a miserable turn of events.

In any case, looking at the big picture…

‘…This implies that Professor Pelina hasn’t actually voiced a concrete desire to associate with the Magic Tower just yet.’

Bringing her up at all was merely a reflection of Parun’s personal aspirations.

I couldn’t prevent myself from raising a doubt.

“Is it… absolutely essential that we bring her on board?”

“Her expertise would undeniably prove advantageous. Any serious academic institution requires a dedicated scholar of magical items. That serves as their primary source of income.”

“Their primary source of income?”

“Precisely. While a handful of establishments operate using endowments from the nobility or the crown, the vast majority offset their operational costs through the production of magical items. That particular stream of revenue accounts for anywhere from twenty to seventy percent of their entire budget, ranging from the lower end to the higher end.”

So, while it didn’t strictly have to be Professor Pelina, they absolutely required an expert in the field of artifacts…

“But is she truly the only option?”

“You talk as if you hold a specific grievance against her. As I previously stated, her standing in the field of artifacts is exemplary. It would be exceptionally difficult to locate a superior candidate.”

“…”

I tightly sealed my lips, choosing not to respond to Parun’s uncomfortably perceptive observation.

It wasn’t that I harbored a personal grudge against her. Well, looking at it objectively, perhaps I did.

It was difficult to put into words.

Setting aside the sheer awkwardness surrounding the artifact incident, it felt as though I was assembling an organization composed entirely of individuals who were completely incompatible with me.

Parun already presented enough of a challenge on his own, and as for Evelyn… let’s not even go there. And now, on top of all that, Professor Pelina was being thrown into the mix? What a nightmare.

‘…Lest anyone forget, I am the actual leader of the Magic Tower.’

It truly felt as though the universe was deliberately gathering the most troublesome personalities possible under my roof.

However, since I couldn’t possibly voice those concerns out loud, I adroitly steered the conversation in a different direction.

Granted, even if we harbored the desire to employ her, the ultimate decision rested entirely upon Professor Pelina’s own inclinations.

“Do we even possess the necessary capital?”

By that, I meant we lacked the resources to fund research projects, let alone provide a proper salary.

However, his response caught me off guard.

“I have already accounted for that aspect.”

“…You?”

Did he truly possess the financial means required to cover a professor’s compensation?

“Did I not mention this before? The financial reserves accumulated by my ancestors over multiple generations are quite substantial. Leading up to my grandfather’s time, my family operated a prominent mercantile enterprise.”

“…?”

This was completely fresh information to me.

“What sort of figures… are we talking about precisely?”

“If we are strictly speaking about the assets held in banking repositories… what is the meaning of that expression on your face?”

“Is there something unusual about my expression?”

“You look precisely like a ravenous creature that hasn’t eaten a meal in three whole days. Just rest assured that the amount is more than sufficient to cover the employment costs of a single faculty member.”

Parun… was independently wealthy.

‘I need to remember that.’

Regardless of his background, his mind was firmly made up.

He was actually willing to dipping into his own personal inheritance just to secure her services? This was coming from the exact same individual who stubbornly refused to compromise an inch when we discussed purchasing real estate.

Perhaps picking up on the look in my eyes, Parun offered a composed explanation.

“The situation regarding the property was an entirely separate matter. A significant portion of my capital was locked up in investments, leaving me with very little immediate cash on hand.”

“Even if that was the case…”

“Diverting funds that have already been designated for specific purposes is a guaranteed recipe for financial disaster.”

“…”

Fine, there was no point in arguing.

Following that remark, Parun proceeded to deliver a lengthy discourse on his personal philosophy of capital allocation, which, when translated into my own perspective, boiled down to a simple concept.

When he claimed to ‘lack money,’ it didn’t signify that he was destitute; rather, it meant that every single coin had already been assigned to a particular budget line, leaving absolutely zero discretionary funds.

Setting that aside, a lingering question remained.

“So… do you truly believe Professor Pelina will agree to join us?”

From my perspective, her integration into our ranks wasn’t inherently a negative development.

I had already discarded my moral reservations anyway. Yes, things should work out fine for the time being. Neither Parun nor Pelina harbored plans to immediately sever ties with the academy during the upcoming term.

And to be absolutely clear, I wasn’t altering my stance simply because Parun was footing the bill. Most definitely not.

The core issue was whether she could actually be persuaded to make the leap…

“There is no need for concern. Provided we accommodate her specific requirements, she will accept the offer.”

“What sort of requirements?”

“A competitive salary is a given, alongside guaranteed financial backing for her independent research endeavors that fall outside the scope of the tower’s immediate projects. While we cannot provide endless funding indefinitely, those ventures should begin yielding a profit in short order.”

He went on to elaborate on a variety of minor points after that, but I simply nodded along, processing the information passively.

I wasn’t entirely certain if this was a positive turn of events.

Furthermore…

‘…This scenario feels remarkably reminiscent of how things played out with Evelyn. No, surely it’s just a coincidence, right?’

Deep down, I knew it wasn’t. It almost certainly wasn’t a mere coincidence.

It left me with an incredibly persistent, unsettling sensation.

The situation felt simultaneously advantageous yet slightly wrong, impressive in scope yet somehow diminished in value. It was a highly intricate mix of feelings.

Even so, it didn’t truly matter.

‘A positive outcome is still a positive outcome.’

Securing a high-caliber individual of a professor’s stature… no, a rare talent of that magnitude didn’t come along every day.

Just as I was beginning to reframe the situation in a more optimistic light, Parun’s voice suddenly cut through my musings.

“Very well, I shall initiate a conversation with Professor Pelina at a later date. But putting that aside, did you truly drop by today merely to see how I was faring?”

“Do you honestly believe that I only visit you when there is official business to conduct?”

“It seems you have matured a bit.”

“…?”

“Engaging in a bit of introspection, are we?”

…Excuse me?

I shot Parun a freezing glare and let out a prolonged, weary sigh.

The playful banter needed to stop here.

It was time to pivot to the primary objective of my visit… I took a moment to organize my thoughts, figuring out the best place to begin the explanation.

After a brief pause.

I made up my mind to present the reality of the situation without any sugarcoating.

“You are aware… that I accompanied the Third Imperial Princess during this recent excursion, correct?”

“I assumed as much.”

That admission certainly streamlined the conversation.

“I am currently contemplating entering into a formal alliance with her. What are your thoughts on the matter?”

“So now your schemes have expanded to the point of defrauding members of the royal family?”