Chapter 26

Anyone who saw what I was doing now would laugh, wondering why on earth a mage would waste their time on something this inefficient.

Etching a blood pact magic circle across an entire mountain.

Looking back, it had been brutal work.

The slopes were uneven, and a single misalignment would’ve ruined everything, so I had to pour all my focus into it. To keep the formulas from being damaged mid-battle, I projected mana along the luminous trails created by Moon Ah-rin’s ability—delicate work on par with fine glass artistry.

Thanks to that, no one noticed the circle except for the Sword Immortal, master of Cheonsan and a Transcendent Realm Awakened.

Not even Cheon So-baek.

“You’ve been running around all day with your wings shining, right? Thanks to you, this whole circle belongs to you now, Ah-rin!”

“Wh-why would you do something like this…?”

“Well…”

At her question, I recalled the reasons I’d had no choice but to go this far.

Maintaining my wariness toward Cheon So-baek, whom I still couldn’t fully trust. Leveraging Moon Ah-rin’s gentle nature to exert indirect control over a Familiar. Checking the Red Tower’s asymmetric influence within the Firepower Support Unit. And, yes—tossing in a pinch of pure spite for those smug mages.

In short—

“Because it’s fun?”

“Hyaaaah!”

I’d wanted to try it at least once. And if nothing else, I was dead serious when it came to magic.

I handed Moon Ah-rin a sheet of paper while she sat at the exact center of the circle.

I’d written it after the Sword Immortal left to block Cheon So-baek—not out of boredom, of course, but purely for her sake.

“Take this.”

“What is it?”

[You Can Raise One Too!]

[The Complete Two-Line Guide to Fully Raising the Largest Specimens of the Demon Realm’s Crocodile Turtle Species, Tartaruga Alessis Gragorienti!]

[Rule 1: Every day, feed it 2.2% of its body weight in the same type of material (Cheonsan’s soil, stone, wood, etc.)]

[Rule 2: Never forget Rule 1]

“Now, try calling it ‘baby.’”

“B-baby…?”

Gu-oo-oo-oo-oo…

“Kyaaaaaah!!”

The moment she spoke, the mountain itself shook with vibrations like an earthquake.

Looks like it already liked her.

Seeing it meet a kind owner warmed my heart.

Moon Ah-rin, who only yesterday could never have imagined owning such a grand Familiar, fell into panic and screamed.

“I-I can’t do this! I give up—I want to disown it…!”

“And if you don’t raise it, it’ll get captured by the Red Tower. Who knows what they’d do? What if they turned it into some kind of mech-Tartaruga powered by a White Mage’s mana?”

“S-still, this is way too much for me…”

“Then there’s no choice. If you surrender parental rights, you’ll just have to watch as the other Awakened here let it ‘die naturally.’”

“Ahh…”

Just as expected.

Her soft heart couldn’t abandon the poor Tartaruga, whining with one leg already gone.

In truth, it was basically just a giant turtle.

Though you’d need to ride a helicopter two hundred meters up to really appreciate its size.

After that, I patiently explained its research value, the boost it would bring to the Special Unit, and—most importantly—how cute it was.

Thirty minutes later, Moon Ah-rin finally raised the white flag.

“Fine… I’ll do it… sob!”

“An excellent decision.”

At the center of the mountain range, where the blood pact circle was drawn, the woman in the white robe sat down.

Resigned, her wings began to glow with pure white light.

As the light spread through the circle, the Tartaruga’s resistance weakened, and the Gate’s mana consuming Cheonsan faded away.

Moments later, a ceasefire order was issued across the entire Special Unit.

After finishing the grueling joint training, we were given a sweet two-day break.

No reports required, free leave permitted, and no missions unless an emergency call came in.

The only catch: the losing side had to handle bathroom cleaning and warehouse duty.

Unfortunately, I was the unlucky one.

“I really can’t understand this. Why on earth am I the one cleaning bathrooms? Our side clearly won.”

『Fear not?』

Mala-nim asked, “Were we the losers in all this?”

For a being who usually considered humans too insignificant to even perceive, that was already a thoughtful attempt at conversation.

In the end, Division 4 took the honors for the training.

Sure, the truck had played a big role, but after the Tartaruga showed up, the Old Gods’ Wound side had revealed themselves far too openly.

Robert’s strategy had shone as well—he even captured another outpost in the chaos. With that, it made sense that judgment went in Division 4’s favor.

The problem was, I belonged to Division 3. Which meant I ended up taking the punishment meant for the losers, despite being on the winning side.

A giant misunderstanding, really.

“I was clearly the one driving the truck. Why does no one remember?”

『Fear not.』

“What? You too, Mala-nim? Don’t lie. You said you couldn’t see because it was too dazzling—but you don’t even have eyes.”

『F-fear not!』

To everyone else, I had basically been the deadweight who disappeared the moment training started, never even helping with supplies.

Except for the fight with the Sword Immortal, I’d been locked up in the truck, drawing circles and burying myself in grimoires. Nobody really saw me.

At least Kang Ha-neul testified that I had been the one driving, so Division 3 had figured it out.

I’d asked Yoo Se-byeol for a meeting to present the evidence and prove my innocence, but the senior members rushed in and stopped me.

They said if I brought up the training again, it would sour things badly, so I should let it slide just this once.

They mentioned it was because of the girl riding with me, but didn’t explain further.

In the end, I was spared the heavy warehouse lifting and assigned bathroom duty instead. Cleaner, at least, but still humiliating.

Alone in the work space, I lazily swept with five brooms at once, my tentacles doing all the work. But no motivation came.

Others got called “the White Tower’s rising star” or “the Wings that Move Mountains.”

Me? I was stuck here scraping off flattened, blackened gum from the tiles.

“There were loads of expired rations in the warehouse. Should’ve handed those out, huh? Moon Ah-rin even got the nickname ‘Saint of Salvation,’ while I’m stuck here like this…”

『Fear not.』

“A nickname? Of course I’d like one. Mala-nim, what do you think would be cool? I’d love something like ‘Cute Little Nematode’ or maybe ‘Demon of the No-Kids Zone.’”

『Fear… not…』

“What? What’s wrong with my taste? Hm?”

In the middle of my pointless banter with Mala-nim, my smartwatch alarm buzzed.

Strange. No one should’ve had a reason to contact me.

When I glanced at my wrist, I dropped all five brooms at once.

An emergency call—from Cheon So-baek.

The first floor of the Bureau had a café.

With a staff badge, you got a 35% discount and could customize drinks, making it especially popular with the female employees.

“You know why I called you, right?”

Cheon So-baek spoke while sipping on a monstrosity labeled the Black Crunch with Growling Devil Banana Blended Cyclone.

For the record, I was drinking milk. Again.

“From the way you’re reacting, you must feel guilty, like you want to bow your head and beg right this instant. Am I wrong?”

“Not at all. This was a decision I made after very deep thought—”

“‘A colossal monster broke away from Cheonsan and invaded the Nowon district. The Saint of Salvation was dispatched and barely managed to halt its movements, but property damage is estimated at two hundred billion won…’”

“…I’m sorry.”

It had happened after training ended. Moon Ah-rin returned to the Bureau, and the Tartaruga had tried to follow its master—causing a minor incident.

But the damage easily exceeded a hundred billion won.

The moment I saw the newspaper article, I bowed my head in less than 0.4 seconds.

Satisfied, Cheon So-baek set aside the glass of what looked like liquefied darkness and ordered the drink she’d had before.

When “the long pink one” came out, she brought it to her lips with the perfect ratio of coyness and cuteness. Glossy lip balm glimmered on the end of her straw.

“You’re really cruel. Making me out to be the bad one. When did I ever say I’d use a Familiar however I pleased?”

“…Wasn’t that the case?”

“I may be from the Red Tower, but I know how to separate public and private matters. To feed the Tartaruga, we’d have to negotiate with the Old Gods’ Wound. Do you think those bastards would hand anything over to me so easily?”

“…No, probably not.”

A problem obvious the moment you thought about it.

If the Magic Tower had forcibly bound the Familiar and then shamelessly claimed it deserved to be fed with their forests and fields, even I would’ve snapped and tried to kill the Tartaruga myself.

Unless it was a request made formally at the Bureau level, there was no way.

Had I been too wary of her all this time?

She was more than just the disciple of the Heavenly Immortal—she was the Commander of Division 4 of the Special Unit. Her background was so overwhelming that I’d failed to see the woman herself.

Of course, she had also unilaterally changed my division, and she was one of the few who knew my “Black Tower” cover identity. Being cautious had been natural.

But in hindsight, she’d only been trying to get advice from a mage versed in Black Magic, and I’d blindsided her.

For now, there was only one option: bow.

I unleashed my ultimate technique, begging with hands turned to tentacles.¹

“As for how I should take responsibility… Well, I don’t have a sick mother or a foxy girlfriend, but I do spend my meager salary faithfully on in-game purchases. Recently, I was even followed to a supermarket and handed a shady invitation with a big red stamp.”

“…Are you sure you’re not actually living quite comfortably?”

Ah—should’ve leaned harder on the pitiful angle!

As I broke into a cold sweat over my mistake, I heard her mutter under her breath.

“Hm, so you don’t have a girlfriend right now…”

“…Excuse me?”

“Forget it. Anyway, Moon Ah-rin is under my command, and the fact remains that the Special Unit has gained a Familiar.”

“Really?”

“Do you think I called you here just to sulk like a petty ex? Hand back the grimoire.”

“Thank you!”

She said she’d take care of the compensation for the damages in Gangbuk herself.²

Apparently she owned a ton of land that had gone up in price now that there was a new “mountain view.”

Tartaruga was Bureau property; she could’ve let taxes cover it. But she really was the heir to the most powerful Magic Tower left in Korea, throwing money around like it was nothing.

“To be fair, the fault isn’t entirely yours. Failing to persuade you means I couldn’t earn your trust either.”

“Ah!”

I immediately dropped to my knees and pressed my forehead to the floor, repenting for my past mistakes.

Naturally, the eyes of every café customer turned toward us.

If it had been Yoo Se-byeol, she’d be blushing crimson by now and hissing at me to get up already.

But even after a long pause, Cheon So-baek said nothing.

When I glanced up, she was crouched in front of me with a mischievous smile.

“That’s why I’ve decided—I need to show you that you can trust me. And while we’re at it, I want to hear how you managed to persuade Yoo Chae-seon.”

Then she dropped a bolt from the blue.

“You’re free tomorrow, right? Then go on a date with me.”