TYLSA 04

Chapter 04

Done!

“Help…… Help me!”

As soon as I galloped the horse and got close enough to him……

“……!”

I squeezed my eyes shut and let go of the reins myself.

‘Surely he won’t just stand by and let me die like this, please……!’

Male lead, please!

Fortunately, the very next moment, someone forcefully grabbed my waist from thin air.

‘I’m alive!’

I gasped for breath.

“What in the world is this…….”

A voice laced with irritation came from above my head, but right now, all I could think was that I was alive.

“Oink! OINK!”

I heard the sound of the boar squealing and approaching this way.

The male lead gritted his teeth with a grinding sound.

“A mere pest like you……!”

I could guess the rest without hearing it.

‘It’s because I interrupted his research.’

The Tower Master, furious to the tips of his hair at having his research interrupted, chanted an incantation toward the boar while still holding me.

“Fire Ball!”

‘Ugh!’

In an instant, a scorching blast of heat blew my hair straight back!

‘Oh my, good heavens…….’

An unbelievable sight was unfolding before my eyes.

Flames that looked like they could burn down the entire prairie surged and rushed toward the boar!

“OIIINK!”

But the flames didn’t scorch a single blade of grass on the prairie—they burned only the boar.

And in an instant, it was reduced to black ash without leaving a single piece of flesh behind.

‘I-Impossible.’

Was Fire Ball originally this powerful a spell?

‘I thought it was just a basic spell anyone could use if they learned magic……?’

I take it back. Honestly, when the Tower Master shouted “Fire Ball” in the game, I thought it looked uncool. I retract that completely.

‘This isn’t about whether it looks cool or not…… This is a complete human weapon!’

I got goosebumps.

“Hoo.”

The human weapon who had turned one boar into ash instead of roasting it—no, Male Lead No. 2—let out an irritated sigh and tried to put me down.

But just at that moment.

—

<system> A ‘Rift’ has been detected!

<system> The flow of the ‘Rift’ is intensifying!

—

“Oh no, a Rift……!”

And before I had time to think.

—

<system> The ‘Rift’ opens.

—

The world turned upside down.

—

* * *

—

A short while later, I groggily came to my senses.

“……Are you awake?”

“Ugh, uhm…….”

I blinked and sat up.

“Wh-Where is this……?”

“It’s inside a temporal rift.”

A gruff voice answered my question.

Looking around, the surrounding scenery was rippling as if looking outside from under water.

Feeling dizzy, I groaned and held my head. Then the other person asked, in a slightly softened voice though still laced with irritation:

“You were an unbloomed mage, weren’t you?”

Bingo.

I inwardly cheered. The impatient Tower Master couldn’t hold back even for a moment and asked me again.

“Didn’t you take a test to detect magical aptitude when you were young?”

“I was told…… I took it right after I was born.”

“As I thought…….”

The Tower Master clicked his tongue.

Suddenly, a terrible headache struck. Instead of staggering as in the original, I closed my eyes to endure the intense pain and barely managed to ask.

“Why…… are we here?”

“Ha.”

At my calm question, the Tower Master exhaled sharply.

He brushed back his sky-blue hair and asked back.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“Of course I’m asking because I don’t know…….”

Given that I could lose affinity before we even started if I answered wrong, I answered while subtly gauging his reaction.

But perhaps because, unlike the female protagonist, I endured the headache steadfastly, the Tower Master didn’t throw a severe tantrum as in the original.

He merely furrowed his brow once, then enunciated each syllable as if telling me to listen carefully.

“At the moment your magical power bloomed due to the influence of my magic, the aftershock opened a temporal rift and trapped us here. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Aha…….”

As the headache subsided somewhat, I nodded and rose. The Tower Master shot me a clear look with his eyes—described in the game as ‘pink like roses.’

Wow, I expected it, but he really is breathtakingly handsome.

Unlike Marquis Esteban, who had a rugged, masculine look, his features were sharp and refined.

But his height seemed in no way inferior to the Marquis.

Having worked as a designer, I’d seen countless models who were good enough, but not a single person came to mind who could surpass the man before me.

“You said ‘aha’? After interfering with my research, you sound awfully carefree, don’t you?”

‘Here we go.’

Now. I had to answer well from here.

Because ‘encountering’ a male lead meant his affinity value had been unlocked.

‘Especially in this game, affinity management is tricky…….’

In the early stages, I’d underestimated the difficulty and casually picked sweet words, only to fail the conquest and have the game end many times.

‘And this person, the Tower Master’s preferences are…….’

It’s hard to define exactly, but I remember that choosing options that didn’t cower and said what needed to be said would at least get you an average result.

It would have been nice if I could remember the original choices exactly, but I didn’t have that kind of memory.

‘So I’ll have to rely on a vague feeling and do it my way.’

“Well…… as you can see, it couldn’t be helped.”

I lowered my brows slightly and shrugged nonchalantly.

“I’m truly grateful you saved me. But can we get out of here?”

I added a wide-eyed gaze to my somewhat brazen tone and looked at him. The Tower Master let out a snort as if to say, “See?”

“I thought so from the moment you let go of the reins yourself…… You’re truly an absurd woman.”

At the same time, I heard the sound of affinity rising—a cheerful ding-dong by my ear.

‘Got it. Success!’

“Ahem. Anyway, don’t worry about useless things. Getting you and me out of here is no big deal.”

As he spoke, as if the headache had returned, he frowned and added.

“Though my research is a mess, of course.”

“I’m sorry for interfering with your research.”

Temporal rifts—an anomalous phenomenon that had been occurring throughout the empire and beyond for some time.

This phenomenon was known to be related to the appearance of magical beasts.

It must have been important research. Since I ended up ruining it because my magic bloomed, I couldn’t say I didn’t feel sorry.

When I readily admitted my fault, the Tower Master cleared his throat uncomfortably but didn’t press further.

“Well. Let’s end the headache-inducing conversation here. For now, let’s get out of here.”

That was welcome news.

“Yes, good. I’m all for it.”

“You really are good with words…….”

Saying that, the Tower Master reached his hand toward the air.

Light flowed from his hand and began to form a complex magic circle.

‘Will it work as in the original here too?’

I quietly watched what he was doing.

After a short wait, the scenery that had been rippling like underwater gradually faded away like mist, and the world became clear again.

“We’re really back?”

At the miraculous sight unfolding before my eyes, I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation of admiration.

“Your magic is really amazing.”

At that moment, a brief, welcome ding-dong sounded.

“……Ahem. Praising me now won’t get you anything, you know.”

Even if you say that now, I know everything. Your pure, spontaneous compliment struck like a dagger in your moment of carelessness.

“Oh my. I meant it sincerely.”

The moment I smiled at the Tower Master.

—

<system> Due to Elijah’s influence, the hidden talents ‘Mana’ and ‘Intelligence’ have manifested!

<system> Mana circuit has opened!

<system> Your True Name has been revealed.

<system> Title ‘Young Mage’ has been granted.

Title effect: Mana +30, slight increase in favor from mages.

—

Along with a ding-dong sound, status messages began appearing simultaneously.

A small status window appeared before my eyes.

—

<Name: Yuri Elrose>

<True Name: Justien Lissir Ellaha Rozenheyer>

<Title: Young Mage>

—

I quickly looked around and saw that a new entry had been added to the stats: ‘Mana: 30/1000’ and ‘Intelligence: 0/1000.’

‘Good, I safely bloomed!’

The moment I secretly cheered.

As if it wasn’t over yet, another status message appeared.

—

<system> Relationship level meets certain conditions.

<system> Entering ‘Hidden Episode: The Tower Master’s Disciple’!

—

……Wait, what?

The Tower Master’s disciple? What does that even mean?

At the same time as the unfamiliar system message appeared, a flustered voice came from the Tower Master’s direction.

“Oh no……!”

“Excuse me……”

“Wait, no, that’s not it…… This is.”

He stammered with a very confused expression.

“Please excuse me for a moment.”

“Ah.”

He brought his hand close to my forehead.

A warm light emanated from his hand, and soon he let out a sigh of lament.

“……Ha, how could this happen…….”

“What’s wrong?”

“So…… well.”

He explained with a troubled demeanor.

“It seems that when we opened the temporal rift earlier, your mana circuit and mine got tangled together.”

“……And what problem does that cause?”

“It’s not a big problem. But to separate the circuits, I’ll need your cooperation…….”

“…….”

“You’re a young mage who just bloomed.”

With that, he made a very troubled expression.

“I’m sorry. No matter how irritated I was, I should have been more careful…….”

“No, well…….”

While I was flustered by the completely unexpected hidden episode, the Tower Master’s explanation continued.

“For now, until you learn magic enough to be of some assistance, we’ll have no choice but to leave the circuits tangled.”

“I see…….”

“The problem is, if your circuits are tangled, learning magic from someone else would take a very long time.”

The Tower Master sighed in a way that suggested he found it all a headache.

“So I suppose I’ll have no choice but to teach you magic myself.”