Chapter 52
His troubles continued even after ending the meeting and arriving at the office.
A knock was heard as Zephiroth gnawed his teeth inside, noticing that Hisran was staring at the paperwork, but he was distracted.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Diana. I’m not here to see the Deputy Master, but to see the Tower Master.”
“Huh…? Come in, come in.”
Hisran willingly consented, so the office door was wide open. Diana, with a light smile, entered with a proud step.
Looking at her, Zephiroth thought.
‘…She is ready to negotiate.’
No matter what the negotiation was, he could bet half of all his fortune on the fact that it would be 100% in Diana’s favor.
“Jaeha didn’t notice anything, did she?”
“Of course. Jaeha and I were just enjoying shopping and tea time outside.”
“Ah, I’m envious.”
Even though he was the person who spent the most time with her, Hisran was still greedy and envious of Diana’s short time with Jaeha. It really looked like he was suffering from severe lovesickness.
And, after Hisran started dating, the ratio of female wizards in the Red Tower increased. He suddenly became a love evangelist.
“Do you like Jaeha that much?”
“It is often said that the shelf life of love is two years, isn’t it time to calm down?”
Diana and Zephyroth asked almost simultaneously. Her question was obvious. Hisran, who just smiled towards her, glanced at Zephiroth and clicked her tongue. It was as if the expert was looking down on the low-skilled.
“I feel sorry for you who don’t know the beauty of love, Zeppy. What did you do without dating for once until you were that age?”
“….”
Diana could see that Zephiroth had lost the smile on his face, even though he wasn’t running rampant with the force to burn up all the red tower wizards.
Usually, Zephiroth was the one who held the string of reason to the end from all in the red tower, though now, he was in trouble. For some reason, it seemed that he would perform the first magic this time.
Diana quickly opened her mouth to prevent the office from disappearing without a trace.
“By the way, Tower Master, I heard some valuable opinions from Jaeha about the proposal today.”
“Oh, what did Jaeha say?”
As soon as Jaeha’s name came out, Hisran’s attention turned to her. Diana saw Zephiroth taking a deep breath with a squint.
“How will you pay?”
“Diana, what do you mean between us…”
“Oh, my God. Since it is between you and me, you have to pay more thoroughly, right?”
“…What do you want?”
“Advanced magic stone.”
“I don’t have any of them either.”
“You don’t want it? There’s nothing I can do. I understand the Tower Master’s feelings towards Miss Jaeha.”
“Hey, hey—Diana, wait!”
Hisran stopped Diana, who was about to turn around and leave with no regrets. In the meantime, Zephiroth was able to cool off the heat that had reached the tip of his head in an instant, and Diana was able to obtain the advanced magic stone she needed.
“Hmm, that’s good.”
“Kugk, I grabbed Aximut last month and had a hard time getting it.”
“I have to risk my life to get Aximut, but Tower Master can easily kill any number of beasts with just one magic.”
“It’s easy to kill. However, it is a problem because there are many cases where the magic stone is also burned while burning the beast. It’s hard to get them unless they have thick leather or skin or strong magic stone durability.”
Saying that, he sounded very full of himself.
Diana and Zephiroth’s expressions turned grim at the same time. Jaeha should have listened to that damn pride.
“So, what did Jaeha say? Tell me quickly before my patience runs out.”
“You are not known for being patient.”
Although Diana responded as much, she confided in detail about the proposal, which was held like a surprise event at the cafe, and Jaeha’s feelings when she saw it. Hisran’s face, which had initially shone with anticipation, had turned dark by the end of the story.
‘Hmm? What’s wrong…?’
A soft, gentle voice could be heard in Diana’s ear as she tilted her head. Zephiroth had restored his usual smile.
“That’s too bad. Jaeha’s ideal type is a man who can handle instruments well. There’s a story that the great social people of the Kainus Empire know well, and I don’t know if Diana will be interested.”
“What is that? I wonder.”
“The Young Master of Marquisate Ephesion is an all-round great person though he has a very distant relationship with musical instruments.”
“…Oh, my.”
That was why Hisran looked like he was about to die, and Zephiroth’s voice showed a hint of merriment. Diana quickly grasped the situation. While she was a wizard from commoners, Zephiroth was a wizard from nobles like Hisran, so he should know more about Hisran.
“Ha. Teacher Julius said that I had a grudge against the instruments in my previous life…”
“It makes sense. It was interesting to hear that the music teacher of Marquisate Ephesion got changed five times.”
There were two things from Hisran’s well-known past that he could not overcome.
The first was his frigidity, and the second was playing an instrument.
Even if he was not good at playing an instrument, there was no big problem in his daily life. His rigidity escape plan succeeded at once when he met Jaeha, after he did not give in to numerous failures and continued to try.
Now, with Jaeha, it was so satisfying to be able to stand up well.
‘However, my instrumental performance catches my ankle at an important moment…’
Alas. Even the God Magia doesn’t care.
At the thought, he frowned and knocked on the desk, weeping inside.
Meanwhile, Diana, who did not recognize the seriousness as Hisran and Zephiroth, spoke in a faint voice.
“Isn’t it enough to practice just one song from now on? If the piano is difficult, a more manageable instrument…”
“Diana, would the Tower Master had stuck with just one instrument when he changed his music teacher five times? It would be much quicker to ignore Diana’s story and devise another way.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. Still, I can’t return the magic stone.”
“No! I’m already hung up on this!”
Hisran exclaimed in a hoarse voice.
Proposal after playing the piano, isn’t it romantic and cool? In particular, it seemed like he would be really happy if Jaeha gazed at him with an admiring gaze. Zephiroth refuted gently by demonstrating the art of putting laughter and sadness in his voice at the same time.
“Is it okay if the Tower Master continued to be stubborn? Spending time on things that will fail anyway is a waste of energy. First of all, it will be difficult to find a music teacher because the Tower Master’s notorious in the social world. Well, if you still want to do it this way, you can propose after ten years. No matter how talentless the Tower Master is, he can learn at least one song every ten years.”
“HEY—!”
The moment Hisran screamed, Diana looked at Zephiroth and opened her mouth.
“Well, Deputy Master.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Unlike Tower Master, Deputy Master does play the piano quite well, right? I heard from Deputy Master Zeyran that you had been offered as a tutor by another family.”
…Huh? He never heard of this for the first time?
Hisran stared at Zephiroth with wide, round eyes. Seeing that, he answered with a smile that looked fresher than ever.
“Unlike the Tower Master, I didn’t pour out all of my abilities—including personality—into my magical talent.”
“Zeppy, don’t be ridiculous! To say your personality is good, that’s a huge mistake. When you smile, your insides are twisted!”
“Still, it’s better than the Tower Master. The Deputy Master is the last string of reason that exists in the Red Tower.”
Diana defended Zephiroth with a nonchalant voice.
Oh, you got everything you need, right?
Hisran’s forehead was wrinkled like a piece of paper.
“You can ask the Deputy Maser for help.”
“Diana, I am not free enough to teach anyone. I have a superior who doesn’t take care of the paperwork, so I’m swamped.”
“I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad you knew..”
Seeing them chattering back and forth, Hisran’s shoulders trembled.
“Hey, you guys really…”
Flames flickered from his fingertips. Before the flame fell to the floor, Hisran and Zephyr’s eyes met.
‘If the Tower Master acts like this, would there be anything good about it?’
It was the leisurely gaze of a person who grasped the weakness of others. Since it was related to Jaeha and not anyone else, Hisran got angry but had no choice but to step back.
“…How can I help you?”
“Why don’t you look at all of today’s documents and talk afterwards?”
Hisran saw the devil in Zephirth’s smiling face. Diana rejoiced that she had some good spectacle for a while.
As expected, there was no quiet day in the Red Tower.
From that day on, Hisran took a step into hell. Zephiroth was not only a good Deputy Master but also had the temperament of a strict teacher.
Hisran’s weakness became an excellent weapon for him. With that, Zephiroth pecked him to handle the paperwork properly during the day and imposed various restrictions on his actions, and in the evening, he secretly taught the piano, alleviating some of the resentment he had accumulated.
“You have two eyes, so why can’t you read sheet music?”
“What if I skip the part that I can’t do well? Tsk, I did the paperwork too. It’s no secret that a tiger can never change its stripes.”
“The fingers resemble the master, so it’s very selfish.”
This, this warlock-like bastard…!
Hisran held back what he wanted to shout at Zephiroth. If he hadn’t gained anything from the last week of piano lessons, he would have done it. However, while he did not know Zephiroth’s piano skills, his ability to deliver and teach something to Hisran was second to none.
In the end, Hisran had no choice but to spend dozens of times a day engraving in his heart to be the patient man as taught by Jaeha.
Three months… Only three months left to go….
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