The moment I finished preparing and stepped into the Magic Tower, I immediately sensed a chaotic atmosphere.
Everyone was running around frantically, carefully carrying valuable items in their arms, hauling away shattered debris as if something had exploded.
The entire place looked like a construction site.
‘This scene… I’ve definitely seen it somewhere before.’
‘Could it be the Elders’ Council regular meeting day? Every time those bastards visited the Magic Tower, the atmosphere always turned like this.’
Twice a year, the Magic Tower held regular meetings of the Elders’ Council.
Officially, the meetings existed to review the various major and minor affairs of the tower every quarter.
In reality, though, they were basically legalized sessions for the elders to gang up on the Tower Master.
In crude terms, it was called a “group beating.”
Because there were many elders doing the scolding, and only one Tower Master suffering through it.
‘Of course, none of them dared do that to me after getting thoroughly crushed before. But with Kanak, things might be different. They never liked him to begin with.’
Their harassment extended throughout the tower.
They would deliberately clear their throats and criticize every little thing as “unclean,” terrorizing the mages like hunting dogs after rats.
Sometimes they even rummaged through other people’s laboratories under the pretense of inspection and stole precious materials or crafting recipes.
‘Now that I think about it, I’m suddenly getting angry again. Even if I’m not Lesha anymore, I’m still an Imperial Princess and the head of a major project. I can’t just sit by and watch!’
Even if I couldn’t yell at them as fiercely as I once had, I could still use my status to protect the mages.
Just let me catch them in the act.
Determined, I climbed the stairs.
The moment the mages saw me, they practically erupted in cheers.
“Ah! Your Highness! The Princess is here!”
“Your Imperial Highness, finally!”
“She’s here…! Dear heavens…!”
“…What?”
Why was everyone reacting like that?
So it wasn’t the Elders’ Council after all?
“What’s going on?”
Just as I asked uneasily, Robel—apparently having heard I arrived—came rushing over and bowed deeply.
“Your Highness, your timing is perfect! Forgive me, but there’s somewhere you must come immediately.”
“Huh? Ah… alright…”
Without understanding anything, I was hurried along by the panicked Robel until we arrived at—
“…The Tower Master’s room?”
The very top of the Magic Tower.
The place where I had spent so many years I could practically live there blindfolded.
Now it belonged to Kanak.
The day I collapsed from mana rampage, Kanak had brought me here.
Even as an Imperial Princess, the tower’s summit was supposed to be a space reserved solely for the Tower Master, so it had surprised me greatly back then.
“Why are we here?”
BOOM! KWA-BOOOOM!
The instant I asked, an enormous explosion thundered from inside.
The resulting vibration shook the entire area, making me instinctively step backward.
“W-What is all this?!”
Before Robel could answer, another deafening crash rang out the moment my stunned mouth fell open.
RUMBLEEEEE! KABOOOOOM!
‘Honestly… maybe it would’ve been better if this really were an Elders’ Council meeting day.’
Why in the world were sounds like an entire building collapsing coming from the Tower Master’s bedroom?!
Thankfully, multiple layers of separate barriers had been installed around the summit, so the Magic Tower itself remained intact.
“As you just heard… things are disastrous. Haha…”
Seeing my eyes shaking wildly, Robel wiped away cold sweat and gave an awkward laugh.
His pale complexion suggested he had already suffered through quite a lot.
“Robel, please explain everything slowly from the beginning.”
Robel hesitated briefly before glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.
Only after another explosion echoed through the tower did he finally whisper the truth.
“…The former Tower Master, Lady Lesha’s divine beast, suddenly returned this morning. Since it disappeared five years ago alongside Lady Lesha’s absence, everyone assumed it had vanished permanently, so the impact is enormous. Please keep this secret for the time being and be careful not to let it leak outside.”
‘Romi came here?’
Yesterday he suddenly disappeared, and apparently he had come straight to the Magic Tower.
Now I understood why Robel spoke so cautiously.
‘If people find out Romi is alive, they could misunderstand and assume his master, Lesha, is alive too. But if it’s Kanak, he should immediately realize Romi’s body is overflowing with my mana.’
Sometimes great mages who deeply cherished their divine beasts transferred most of their mana to them.
I was one of those people.
Because of that, it wasn’t uncommon to see divine beasts continue surviving long after losing their masters.
So Romi’s existence alone shouldn’t actually be a problem.
“Is Lady Lesha’s divine beast being alive an issue?”
“Not at all. The problem is… for some reason, the moment it arrived, it began attacking Lord Kanak.”
“…What?”
“…With its full power.”
“…Ah.”
Now this…
This was something I genuinely never expected.
I was utterly dumbfounded.
Feline divine beasts were famous for their fiery tempers, but I never imagined one would attack the current Tower Master with killing intent.
‘Romi probably thinks Kanak stole my position. This is bad.’
Normally, something like this would never happen.
After all, a divine beast born from its master’s mana understood better than anyone when its master died.
But now, even though I was alive, someone else occupied the summit of the tower.
Naturally, Romi would assume his master had been driven out.
And because of that, Romi would try to kill Kanak and restore everything to its rightful place.
Divine beasts were blindly loyal creatures who served only their master for as long as that master lived.
“We hurriedly reinforced the barriers around the tower with several more layers, but the clash between the divine beast’s power and Lord Kanak’s power is practically a war. We can’t completely contain the aftereffects… Everyone’s busy moving valuables before the tower collapses. For now, we announced that an ancient demonic beast escaped its seal and invaded.”
As I fell deep into thought, Robel continued speaking.
An ancient demonic beast…
Honestly, judging by the destruction, that wasn’t even an exaggeration.
I looked at Robel quietly before finally speaking.
“Why did you call me here, Robel?”
I couldn’t understand why he believed someone who was merely Kanak’s project partner could help in this chaos.
‘Kanak once said Robel was his only subordinate over the past five years. That means Robel is exceptionally suited to assisting him—quick-witted, capable, and decisive.’
Most great mages kept numerous close aides to handle their overwhelming workloads.
Even I had more than twenty.
So Kanak having only Robel was incredibly unusual.
Though, considering Kanak’s personality, maybe everyone else simply ran away.
Still…
‘There’s no way… but could Robel have realized I’m actually Lesha…?’
If the truth were exposed, only I would suffer.
After all, I still planned to recreate the magic circle someday and return to Korea.
Everything I was doing now was for survival.
‘And if Kanak finds that out, he’ll never help me.’
Because that child hated the idea of me leaving.
There were too many troublesome consequences afterward too.
Which was why, to everyone else, I absolutely had to remain nothing more than “an ordinary Imperial Princess whose magic awakened late.”
“As you probably noticed, separate barriers have been placed around this area. But if the divine beast’s power and Lord Kanak’s power continue colliding like this, the barriers will eventually fail. And if that happens…”
“The tower will collapse.”
The moment I answered calmly, Robel lowered his head with a despairing expression.
Covering one ear against the relentless explosions, he continued:
“Yes… Looking through the research reports you wrote, it seemed you possess knowledge of barrier magic as well, so I hoped you might help. Since Lady Lesha’s divine beast is involved, there are very few barrier specialists we can summon immediately.”
Robel nervously stomped his feet, explaining that several barriers had already been destroyed.
“Why hasn’t anyone stopped them until now? Even if high-ranking mages are few in number, you could still call them.”
“We already deployed every one of them, but… every mage who entered was thrown into the Mist Forest and later found barely breathing.”
“…At least they were still breathing.”
At this point…
It looked like I’d have to go in myself.
