Chapter 129
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 129
The Tower Master found himself momentarily flustered, uncertain how to proceed.
Once the timing had slipped away, it felt absurdly awkward to suddenly rise as if he hadn't died here.
'I'd rather die than admit I was frightened of you lot....'
In that brief moment, Namia Loapi grunted with effort as she rolled the Tower Master's body over. Without thinking, he closed his eyes. It seemed like the right thing to do.
"No, no!"
Namia Loapi's voice pierced the air, her face streaked with tears.
"I haven't even gotten to call you grandfather yet...."
Wait a moment.
"Please open your eyes, grandfather...."
I can't resist that.
The Tower Master's eyes snapped open.
"Namia Loapi!"
He immediately sprang up, swept her into his arms, and spun her around in circles.
The old man's sturdy muscles danced beneath his robes.
"How on earth did you get all the way here! What possessed you to come to this place! Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?"
Namia Loapi stood there with a bewildered expression, her characteristic vacant eyes blinking slowly.
"My little one, sniff sniff, you wanted to call me grandfather so badly, didn't you? My precious girl!"
It was precisely when the Tower Master tossed her up into the air, his speech slurring with emotion.
Namia Loapi's eyes suddenly blazed with light.
"Activate!"
At her cry, all the monsters rushing toward them from the distance collapsed where they stood.
Only then did the Tower Master snap back to awareness. This was the Maze, and it was teeming with monsters.
From her elevated position, Namia Loapi surveyed the surroundings once more before speaking sheepishly.
"Ahaha. As you can see, that little one who wanted to call you grandfather has become rather... powerful...."
"I, I see.... Of course."
The Tower Master quietly set Namia Loapi down.
* * *
Entering the Grand Temple was one thing, but there was still a proper order to these matters.
We quickly recounted everything that had transpired.
"You knew, didn't you? That I was an experimental subject...."
"What...."
The Tower Master sighed, his expression awkward.
"I hoped you would never find out. I wanted you to remain ignorant and live happily."
Regardless, the Tower Master knew far more about the Gaejo Faction than anyone else.
He was the man who had investigated them alone for more than two decades.
Of course, it wasn't driven by justice, but by the desire to secretly spirit away his own daughter....
"So, based on my deductions, this is how things unfolded."
The Tower Master began his explanation carefully.
"Your mother underwent experiments using my blood after she became pregnant with you. Well, it's obvious, isn't it? She must have asked them to make you into a great mage like me."
"That's right. The Crown Prince Kiaros obtained a pregnant monster specimen and his deduction matches exactly what we've theorized."
When I relayed what Kiaros had discovered, the Tower Master nodded with an unsurprised expression.
"However, I only formed this hypothesis after seeing you in person, so neither Aran nor the Gaejo Faction would have known about it."
"That's true. If the Gaejo Faction had known about me, they wouldn't have left me alone."
Up to this point, I had also been making rough guesses about the same things.
"Then it seems Aran underwent a second experiment. I discovered this while investigating as well."
"Why on earth would that be? Mother didn't know about my situation, so she must have thought the experiment failed."
"I'm not sure what Aran was thinking. But since she didn't die after the experiment, she probably became willing to try once more. Usually, specimens that don't match well with the Gaejo Faction's experiments die immediately. In most cases, anyway."
That was connected to something I had always been thinking about from the beginning.
No matter how many experiments the Gaejo Faction conducted, those specimens never played an active role in the war. In fact, they weren't even mentioned.
There must have been quite a few specimens like me, after all.
According to the Tower Master, the survival rate from the experiments seemed to be extremely low.
'So the specimens won't become a major variable in the coming future?'
It was a statement that made me worry even more about Father. Whether he's even alive right now....
As I bit my lower lip, the Tower Master glanced at me subtly and added more.
"So I, while Aran is precious to me as well...."
Truthfully, Mother bore much of the blame for how things turned out.
But I couldn't curse Mother to the Tower Master. After all, she was a daughter he cherished terribly.
"I was trying to save your father first.... He said he wanted to see you."
"Yes.... That's understandable."
I nodded while wiping away tears.
After all, the reason I came this far was ultimately because I wanted to see Father one last time.
"I'm curious too, you know."
The Tower Master clicked his tongue once.
"What kind of person is your father, really.... Aran used to say habitually that she disliked muscular men like me."
My father was the complete opposite of the Tower Master at first glance.
Thinking of that long, paper-doll-like frame of his, tears welled up again with longing.
"My father has no muscles at all. He's tall but lean and slender! And he has a pretty face."
"Hmm? Is that so? That does sound like Aran's type."
"His face looks exactly like a kind ethics teacher. He's incredibly considerate and speaks in a gentle manner."
"Ethics, you say.... Aran takes after me, so she doesn't really understand right from wrong properly."
So my father and the Tower Master were opposites in temperament as well.
The Tower Master wiped away my tears and spoke.
"That girl Aran grew up doing whatever she pleased, so she never does anything she dislikes. Your father probably did care for her."
"That must be true...."
I nodded while sniffling.
How could the willful Princess of the Magic Tower create a child with someone she disliked?
But she must have had something more urgent that made her abandon me and Father to return to the Gaejo Faction.
"Mother just...did what Mother wanted to do, that's all...."
"Of course, yes, Namia Loapi, naturally you can't understand Aran, but still, our Aran isn't inherently wicked or anything like that."
The Tower Master stammered as he repeatedly wiped away my tears.
"She has her own desires too, so... we should try to understand her a bit."
Understand? What a word to use.
Even so, I resented the Tower Master for trying to take my mother's side in front of me, no matter what.
I set my expression firm and cut off his words.
"I had desires too."
"Uh, what?"
"I had a man I loved, and I wanted to live happily with him... to have children, to build a home filled with the kind of love I never experienced before."
The Tower Master froze in place. Even Kibon, who had been resting nearby, subtly gauged my mood and tucked his tail between his legs.
"Mother got to do everything she wanted, but because of her, I was forced to part with the man I loved so dearly and ended up here."
I added through my sobs.
"Crown Prince Kiaros said it while killing the experimental monster. That anything unnatural should be eliminated quickly. And back then, knowing nothing, I completely agreed with those words."
"I... Namia Loapi..."
"Grandfather told me to hide it as much as possible because he was afraid I'd find myself repulsive... that if people knew I was an experiment, who would ever love me?"
"Just hide it, hide it. My dear, yes? If you hide it, it'll be fine... just go back from here now. Tell him you misunderstood something, and then just get married."
The Tower Master's answer was utterly absurd. I was so dumbfounded that I immediately refuted him.
"No, how can I live my whole life hiding such a huge secret from the person I'll spend it with? Frankly, what if I suddenly turn into a monster or die depending on the results of Mother's experiments?"
"That's why I'm saying just hide it for now, yes?"
"No, where in the world is there someone so depraved that they'd marry while hiding something like that!"
"We did it with our cute and clever Aran!"
Now I was certain where Mother had learned her twisted sense of ethics.
As the victim of it all, I ended up crying out loud.
* * *
The Emperor had always felt sorry toward Crown Prince Kiaros. Always, without exception.
From a very young age, Crown Prince Kiaros had been a taciturn eldest son who never asked him for anything.
Whether he didn't know what he wanted or simply had no desires of his parents, he was a son who wanted almost nothing from them.
That long stretch of time weighed strangely on his heart. But now...
"Faster, please. Faster. Faster. The speed has slowed a bit at this moment. Faster, give it your all. More."
His son was now making all the demands he would make in his entire lifetime.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------