Chapter 111

 

***

 

Melody hugged Loretta for a moment, feeling regretful, then let her go. A servant came to announce that a carriage was ready at the entrance.

“I’ll be back.”

“Okay. You’ll be back by dinner, right?”

“Of course.”

Melody stroked Loretta’s beautiful blonde hair one last time before turning to head towards the carriage.

 

***

 

The carriage traveled through the city, gradually heading towards the outskirts. After passing a wide field filled with the green light of summer, a tall building loomed in the distance.

‘It always looks so strangely shaped.’

Melody gazed intently at the oddly shaped magic tower.

Normally, buildings are constructed by neatly stacking bricks in a regular shape.

However, the magic tower looked like a sandcastle built carelessly by a child.

Moreover, it was leaning so much to the right that it seemed it might collapse at any moment.

Melody had once asked Jeremiah, “How did it end up shaped like that?”

To this, he casually replied, “It’s due to the repeated cycle of destruction and repair.”

Of course, this wasn’t a satisfactory answer.

Fortunately, before Melody could ask further, Evan, a young apprentice Jeremiah was mentoring, added an explanation.

“Ma, many of the magicians’ belongings explode, so they hastily repair them with magic… Ah, I don’t mean to say that’s what the master says. Sorry for acting know-it-all…”

Evan, at seven years old, was an incredibly timid boy, always quick to apologize.

Thanks to him, Melody understood how the building could maintain its bizarre shape.

It was all thanks to the power of magic.

‘Fascinating.’

The fact that a building so heavily tilted didn’t collapse defied common sense.

Thus, Melody developed a slight curiosity about magicians.

Perhaps she felt a kinship as someone who also ‘defied common sense.’

It was around this time that Jeremiah made her an offer.

The day before Melody’s seventeenth birthday.

Jeremiah had come to see her with a gift, explaining that he couldn’t attend her birthday party because he had to act in place of the Tower Master.

“Happy birthday. And I am interested in you.”

The words that came with the gift were somewhat strange, but the atmosphere was very serious.

“Thank you for the first congratulations. But, interested?”

“Actually, I’ve thought so since we first met.”

The now considerably grown fifteen-year-old boy said, looking down at Melody, slightly fidgeting with his recently acquired glasses.

“I thought I should at least wait until you turned seventeen.”

What could be so important that he had waited until this day?

“Just once would be fine, Miss Higgins.”

He had a look of earnest desperation.

“I want to conduct an experiment.”

Melody, completely failing to understand, asked back, “What?”

“I mean, I want to conduct an experiment with you as the subject.”

This sounded somewhat frightening, causing Melody to instinctively take a step back.

Sensing her apprehension, Jeremiah quickly added an explanation.

“I won’t do anything dangerous. All magicians value their test subjects above all else.”

Melody was momentarily struck by the unusual fervor in Jeremiah’s usually calm face.

“…Will you permit it?”

After a long silence, he pressed for an answer again.

“If it’s not dangerous, I don’t mind. However…”

“However?”

Melody had one concern.

Why he considered her as a subject for his experiment.

After all, Melody had read the original work set in this world and knew some of the future because she was born with memories of her past life.

But that secret was known only to the duke and Claude, so Jeremiah couldn’t have noticed it.

“Why… do you want to experiment on me?”

Thus, Melody mustered the courage to ask him for his reasoning.

And Jeremiah was…

“…Miss Higgins?”

Suddenly, a youthful voice reached Melody, deeply immersed in her memories.

“Ah!”

Startled, Melody looked up.

The carriage had arrived at the front gate of the magic tower.

The one who called her was Evan, who had come out to meet her, peeking into the carriage and staring at Melody.

“Ah… sorry.”

As she quickly descended from the carriage and apologized, he hastily stepped back several paces and bowed his head.

“No, no need to apologize! I didn’t mean to startle you…”

“It was my fault for being spaced out. Thanks for waking me up. How have you been?”

With her greeting, he bowed several more times, as if he felt honored.

“Yes, yes. The master has been very…”

“Good to you?”

“…Yes.”

The boy nodded repeatedly.

Jeremiah had taken Evan, then just a ten-month-old baby, as his apprentice. At the time, the situation of a child raising another child caused quite a bit of controversy, but Jeremiah has since managed to take care of Evan without any significant issues.

Except for his naturally timid nature, the boy had grown into a perfectly healthy and ordinary boy, both physically and magically.

“The master has been eagerly waiting for you. I’ll, I’ll guide you to his room…”

He bowed his head again and started walking ahead.

Melody had visited the magic tower several times with Claude or Ronny, but she had only stayed in the reception room, so this was her first time going to a magician’s room.

She felt a slight thrill, anticipating the wonders that might await.

Following Evan, she climbed the stairs, which were also leaning to the right due to the building’s tilt.

Despite the stairs looking quite dangerous, in places where sunlight managed to filter through, several cats lay sprawled out, enjoying the warmth.

Evan seemed unusually tense as he passed them.

“Sorry, Echo, please let us pass for a moment.”

He was so cautious, navigating around the cats while apologizing to them.

Of course, the cat named Echo only flicked its tail slightly in response and didn’t actually reply to Evan.

Yet, he thanked each cat with a bow as they passed.

After greeting quite a few cats this way, they soon arrived in front of Jeremiah’s room.

A sign on his door read “Absolutely No Disturbances,” and judging by the dust piled on top of it, it was clear Jeremiah always kept this sign up.

Knock, knock.

Evan carefully knocked on the door and opened it.

As the door creaked open, the first thing Melody saw were notebooks. Many of them, enveloped in blue light, floating aimlessly in mid-air.

“…?”

They fluttered around, orbiting Jeremiah’s vicinity.

But occasionally, a notebook would approach him, displaying a page densely filled with text as if it were showing off.

It was as though the notebooks were flaunting themselves.

Melody watched with fascination and stepped into his room.

She heard Evan close the door behind her. From the sound of footsteps fading along the corridor, it seemed he did not enter with her.

“Miss Higgins.”

Jeremiah, who had just opened his eyes slightly, turned to look at Melody, adjusting his slightly slipped glasses.

“You’ve arrived.”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Then, would you choose?”

“Choose what?”

“The experiment plan. There are too many things I’d like to try.”

At his clap, the notebooks stopped in their tracks and neatly arranged themselves on the desk.

“Why do I have to choose if you’re the one conducting the experiment?”

“Well.”

Jeremiah approached Melody and replied as if it were obvious.

“Because you never pick the wrong answer, even by chance.”

It was the same kind of statement he had made on her birthday, in response to her question about why he wanted to experiment on her.

“So, that’s a misunderstanding.”

While saying this, Melody casually pointed to a green notebook.

Reacting, the notebook flew into the air and landed in Jeremiah’s hands.

“A magic power operation experiment, good.”

Jeremiah nodded and gestured for her to take a seat.

Once seated, Jeremiah immediately sat down opposite her.

“The method of the experiment is simple. I will infuse you with my magic power and then release it freely to observe how it moves within your body.”

He moved his chair closer, so their knees almost touched, but Jeremiah seemed unfazed by the proximity.

“What can you learn from that?”

“We can determine how much natural forces influence your decisions, actions, and cognitive abilities. Hmm.”

He then lifted Melody’s chin, beginning to observe her face from various angles.