The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master [Novel] Chapter 49

The confession that finally escaped like a cough she couldn’t suppress was terribly small. Almost too quiet for her to hear.

The voice kept to a bare minimum, the subject and object left imprecise. Cecilia was not unaware that this was his consideration for her — for her, who wanted to look away.

She hadn’t wanted to be killed. She’d wanted to find the culprit. She hadn’t wanted to be fooled like an idiot, not even by the slimmest chance. And so, in the end, she hadn’t wanted to sustain even the smallest wound to her heart.

She had turned away from his feelings, and from her own, all this time.

But the desire to believe in his innocence had grown stronger than the suspicion. She wanted to believe it was all coincidence — and even if none of it had been coincidence, that every emotion he’d shown her was real. That version of herself, wishing so desperately, was already here.

This irrational impulse, this feeling — it would be fair, at last, to call it love.

Me, falling in love with Rien.

Looking back, love had always been a luxury for her, never a necessity.

If she was lucky enough for someone appealing to come along, she’d share portions of their lives for a while, eventually realize they could never fully blend, and become alone again. That was all it had ever been.

Knowing that she and Rien were like oil and water — unable to mix now, unable to mix in the future, unable to truly understand each other — and still not wanting to let go, still wanting to be together. That feeling was utterly foreign.

“Rien.”

“Yes.”

Cecilia summoned her courage and reached out to him. She brushed his cheek, so delicate it seemed flower-dye might seep from her fingertips. She traced along his unwavering eyes. She gently swept across his silent lips.

A man who welcomed her touch gladly. A foolish, blind man who looked as though he’d smile even if she strangled him right here and now.

Cecilia finally stretched her arms around his neck. She threw herself into him with her whole body.

His center of gravity gave way, and he toppled backward.

Caught off guard, his body went rigid from the spine outward. Even so, he wrapped around her to keep her from being hurt.

The bruised-sweet scent of crushed flowers. And through it, unmistakably, his warm body-scent — already so familiar.

Steeped in a fragrance she felt she would never forget, Cecilia wished with everything she had.

Please. Whatever secret you’re hiding, don’t betray my heart. I pray — truly pray — that you are not deceiving me, who has finally come to love you.

She swallowed every one of those words and buried her face against his neck.

“Just a little longer. I’ll stay like this just a little longer.”

Waiting for the reason that had died in her to come back. Cecilia murmured those words.

Somewhere in the forest on the outskirts of the capital.

Inside an abandoned temple that the first Emperor had personally destroyed — now forgotten by all, its very existence unknown.

People wearing white masks began to gather, one by one, in the decrepit, gloomy chapel with its cracked and crumbling walls.

Once the number who had crossed through the magic circle drawn on one moss-covered wall exceeded twenty, a man who had been anxiously raking his fingers through his ash-grey hair spoke up.

“Looks like we have a majority. So tell us — what’s the reason for this emergency summons?”

“It hasn’t been long since the mansion we used as our main meeting place was reduced to rubble. An emergency summons in a situation like this… even this fallback location could be discovered.”

“Exactly. This had better be an extremely critical matter.”

As the sharp criticism continued, one person ascended the dais.

“It is the Sage’s summons.”

The man who answered calmly bore a golden leaf emblem etched on his mask.

He was the only one among them who could communicate directly with the “Sage.”

“If the Sage has called us, I suppose there’s nothing to argue, but…”

At the mention of the Sage, the commotion died down as if by magic.

Still, several of them could not hide their displeasure with the situation itself.

“Even so, we never know when we might be tracked. For the time being, being cautious would…”

In particular, a white-haired man standing crooked near the entrance burst out in frustration.

“No — what, are we rats? What reason is there to tremble in a place like this? You all know how much our great plan has been ruined because of him! The Grand Temple, him — what is it about that fake that they keep shielding her like this?!”

“It was precisely that attitude — dismissing him and pressing forward — that got us caught by the scruff of the neck and cost us most of our hidden forces.”

“That’s right. On top of that, after repeated failures, hasn’t the fake gotten a whole contingent of knights attached to her? Galling as it is, I believe this is a time to lay low.”

The opinion that they should stop hiding and redouble their efforts toward the great work clashed sharply with the view that they needed time to regroup.

“Ha! So this place is nothing but cowards now, is that it?!”

“I’d say that’s still better than a fool who can’t tell recklessness from courage.”

“What? Are you done talking?”

The man on the dais, who had listened to their escalating argument in silence, raised his right hand. In a few words, he settled their dispute.

“It is humiliating, but the raid from a few weeks ago has already been reported to the Sage.”

“What did the Sage say in response?”

“As always — that that person’s efforts are nothing but meaningless flailing, and that we should carry out the work.”

The faction that had stressed the need to regroup fell silent at once. Inversely, the group that had expressed fury — the white-haired man chief among them — grew all the more triumphant.

“As expected! I knew the Sage would say exactly that!”

“I’ll follow the order to carry out the work immediately, but then there must be a good plan, yes?”

“……”

A heavy silence settled among them as they recalled the multiple failures and the severe losses recently sustained.

After a moment, someone exhaled a deep sigh and lamented.

“If she’d just drowned that day, things would have been simple. Not even the real thing, yet her lifeline is stubborn.”

“Still, thanks to that, we managed to separate her from the Grand Temple, so it can’t be called a total loss.”

“True. She came to the capital of her own accord, which makes carrying out the great work far easier.”

The great work they spoke of was this: opening the path so the Empire could reclaim its former glory.

And they believed without a shred of doubt that her death would be the starting point.

Under the guidance and support of the “Sage” who had preached that belief, these people — who had orchestrated multiple incidents — let a manic gleam flash in their eyes.

“Then what sort of accident should we stage this time?”

“Let’s seek the Sage’s answer for that.”

The man on the dais summoned a massive scrying orb, far larger than a human head.

“Sage.”

As if answering his call, a silhouette soon began to shimmer inside the orb.

The figure that came into focus was a large man. Over the Sage’s face, draped in a black robe, was the same white mask they all wore.

“Ohhh, the Sage!”

Once the clamoring voices subsided, the man slowly spoke.

“The reason I have summoned you is to deliver important news.”

His voice, apparently altered by some device, was grotesque — like metal scraping against metal. Yet it carried a power that commanded attention.

“A hunting competition will be held soon. His Majesty the Emperor has personally created this opportunity, and we cannot let it pass.”

“Heaven itself aids us!”

“This time, without fail…!”

Presented with an opportunity perfectly suited to achieving their cause, excitement rippled through the group.

As if to calm them, the man inside the scrying orb continued.

“But you will need to think carefully about the method. As you all know, the fake is not alone.”

“Rather, the fact that it hasn’t been long since he struck us could work in our favor. Having dealt us a heavy blow, he’ll be confident things will stay quiet for a while.”

“Setting his movements aside — by this point, wouldn’t the fake have realized these weren’t mere accidents? Won’t she be on guard?”

Especially in a hunting ground, where threats lurk in every corner.

A woman who had not said a single word from the farthest corner raised a cautious objection.

At the valid question, the man in the image fell briefly silent.

He could not reveal his identity to them yet, so he couldn’t say it aloud — but in truth, the man knew the false Saintess well.

The false Saintess was suspicious by nature. And cleverer than one might expect. She had most likely realized by now that the incidents were no accidents.

And yet, despite that, she seemed to want to trust him.

Because I’ve acted precisely so she would.

The face that surfaced in his mind — looking at him, smiling so brightly — was that a flicker of conscience he hadn’t yet discarded?

If only he could finish this before that trust shattered.

“…Better, perhaps, to die in ignorance than to learn the whole truth.”

The murmur, barely more than a whisper to himself, scattered without reaching anyone.

Having erased even that moment of hesitation, the man spoke with finality.

“This time, there is no need to disguise it as an accident.”

As long as the great work could succeed.