[V8C30] The Man Who Had to Wait a Year
Translated by Jodas 8: The Witch of the BoundaryOne day, when just over a week had passed since Headmaster Möbius and company left the Wedge Tower on a mission to retake Darwock, the mages left behind at the Wedge Tower overheard a bit of news from a traveling merchant.
—The King of Darwock was dead.
The mages of the Wedge Tower had held absolute faith in the abilities of Headmaster Möbius.
Just before that news came, they had been thinking that he was probably dealing with those Monsters in Darwock by this point.
If something had gone wrong, then they should have received word from Möbius and the others who’d headed for Darwock. But there was no such message… More than that, they hadn’t been able to make any contact with the Investigation Office mages stationed in the town of Merwen, halfway along the road.
There was a clear emergency going on, and the Spiremasters of the Wedge Tower were all on edge.
Following the emergency Spiremaster meeting, Protection Office Director Böll called out to Extermination Office Director Haydn.
Böll and Haydn were classmates back in their Apprentice days. They usually referred to each other casually by their first names, but with all the tension from the meeting just now, Böll spoke in a much stiffer tone.
“Director Haydn, could I borrow a bit of your time?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
Protection Office Director Böll was a tall, thin woman in her late twenties. Her long blonde hair was tied in a single bundle, and a sword was strapped to her waist.
Haydn was a large blond man around the same age as Böll. He was normally a sunny, cheerful, and excitable man, but considering the urgent situation, even he was making a grim expression.
The Extermination Office in particular held the responsibility of taking the fight to the Monsters, so they were the most likely to suffer casualties.
At this point, over half of the Extermination Office mages had already been sent alongside Headmaster Möbius or sent to stake out the Crystal Territory at the Lange and Oks Hamlets.
Böll led him to an arbitrary empty room and lowered her voice.
“I have a message from Director Diehl. ‘Keep an eye on the humans of the Tower.’”
Haydn’s complexion shifted. Even Böll felt uncomfortable as she relayed the message.
Investigation Office Director Diehl was a gentleman who didn’t carry himself much like one would expect a mage to. He was a warm individual who looked more at home sipping on a cup of tea while reading a book, but he was a long-time veteran of the Investigation Office and an incredibly clever man.
Diehl had deployed his subordinates to the towns and villages around the Crystal Territory who always kept an ear out for rumors and an eye out for the movements of Monsters.
Evading Diehl’s astute gaze, the Monsters managed to sneak their way all the way to the Darwock Royal Palace. Most likely, they traveled via the sea to the East or the Mountains to the North where Diehl’s surveillance network could not reach.
That fact by itself was enough to shake the Investigation Office to its core, but on top of that, over the past few days, they haven’t been able to make contact with the mages stationed in the town of Merwen.
“When our contact with the mages in Merwen cut off, Director Diehl seemed to be convinced that there was a traitor within the Wedge Tower.”
“…And who knows this information?”
“For now, only Assistant Headmaster Miriam and the two of us. Since we’re in a position to distribute our subordinates, when the time comes, we have to be on the same page as Director Diehl.”
“…! You haven’t even spoken with the Spiremasters about this!?”
Haydn’s surprise was understandable.
Now that Headmaster Möbius was out of town, the highest authority at the Tower was Assistant Headmaster Miriam.
Then the next most important figures would be the Spiremasters of each of the three Spires: Abel, Lowein, and Alto.
But Investigation Office Director Diehl had blown off those three completely, only telling this information to Böll and Haydn.
—Which meant, Director Diehl was eyeing the three Spiremasters with suspicion.
Haydn furrowed his brows and showed an expression of anguish. She could sympathize with his feelings. They now had to suspect even their own direct superiors.
“As it stands, the Wedge Tower is overwhelmingly short on fighters. So many of the Extermination Office’s true powerhouses are all out on missions.”
“Yes, all we have left… It’s basically only Dammer who can hold his own against a Monster one-on-one.”
While Dammer, the man with an X-shaped scar on his face, had issues with his personality, he was a powerful warrior who had been marked by the Primordial Beast.
But Böll still had to admit that she found it painful that Frederik, Helena, and Rikard were all absent. While those three were young, they were truly effective warriors, and when all three of them were together, it gave her a completely different level of reassurance.
(Although, if Liese were still in her prime… I would feel even more reassured.)
Just as Frederik and his classmates were the cream of the crop from todays youngsters, Haydn, Böll, and their classmate Anneliese Röhm were considered the strongest young mages back in the day.
Especially when the two rivals, Haydn and Röhm, took the stage, no one could hold a candle to them.
Röhm had a babyface, always cut her bangs too short, and was a magic idiot oblivious to all matters of romance, but she was talented and loved magecraft more than anyone else out there.
When her mana organs got damaged and she transferred to the Guidance Office, everyone in the tower let out a wail of despair— Haydn in particular was practically inconsolable.
“Hey, Fritz.”
Calling his name the way she used to when they were Apprentices, Böll looked Fritz Haydn in the eye and asked..
“Won’t you confess to Liese already?”
“Buh—”
Haydn made an undignified noise before covering his mouth with his hand.
His face was turning red from ear to ear. As always, he was a simple man.
“Why would you bring that up now…?”
“I know it’s improper of me. But still, I bring it up because of the situation we’re in! You know any of us could be cut down by a Monster at any point, right?”
The one who watched the antics of the rivals Haydn and Röhm most closely throughout the years was Böll here. She didn’t want to die before seeing those two finally get together.
“You know, one of Liese’s students is this kid named Ella Frank. She’s the Apprentices’ Representative.”
“Ah, yeah… She was the one who had issues with her mana organs, right?”
“It sounds like her surgery has finished already. I don’t know yet if she’ll be able to emit mana… but if the surgery was a success, then there’s a chance that we could heal Röhm’s mana organ damage as well, right?”
Böll thought that now, when Röhm was starting to see some hope for her future, would be the perfect chance for Haydn to confess to her.
Going forwards, if Röhm’s mana organ damage was healed, Röhm would be so overjoyed she’d probably spend all of her time invested in magecraft practice. She wouldn’t have a second to spare for romance.
…But Haydn seemed to be conflicted over something.
‘Come on, make up your mind already! In that case, I’ve gotta give you a little sense of urgency.’ Böll addressed him with a concerned expression.
“In an emergency like this… Liese’s got to be worried sick without her magic, right? She wants to protect her cute little students, but she doesn’t have the strength to keep them safe… Imagine what would happen if someone from the Guidance Office comes to Liese’s rescue, and her heart pounds…”
“Auu…”
“Oh, but no need to worry about Mr. Hütter. That guy’s mature enough to stay professional.”
After his measured response the last time she pressed him on his relationship with Röhm, Hütter had earned Böll’s complete trust.
“The one you need to worry about is Mr. Sombart, I think. He’s got a pretty fact but he’s super sketchy… I’m not really sure about Mr. Armster, though…”
“……”
“Director Hegelich is also pretty strong, so you never know if she might fall for him if he protected her…”
“……to her.”
Haydn mumbled some words under his breath.
Böll couldn’t quite make out what he said, so she responded with an “Eh?” to which Haydn repeated with tension in his face.
“I’ve already… confessed to her.”
Böll opened her mouth so wide from the shock she felt as if her jaw was about to fall right off.
She couldn’t shout here. Trying to keep her voice down as low as possible, she pressed Haydn for more information.
“No way?! When, when, when?”
“…A year ago.”
“It’s been that long!?”
Böll felt like her knees were about to give out.
She never imagined that, after all the complaining she’d done, things had proceeded so far the whole time!
(Liese, you dummyyyy!!! Why can’t you let me in the loop on these kinds of thiiiings!?)
After taking in the utter shock for a moment, a calm thought suddenly emerged in her mind.
Haydn had confessed a whole year ago. Yet there were no signs of the two of them going out together.
That meant…
“D- Did she… reject you?”
“No…”
Haydn slowly shook his head to the side.
“She said ‘Let me think about it for a little bit.’”
Böll ruminated on those words, chewed on them for a bit, then asked.
“…And a whole year has passed since then?”
“…Yeah.”
“Isn’t that just a roundabout way of saying she rejected you…?”
Haydn squeezed out a voice with an expression of consternation.
“Knowing Liese’s personality, if she was going to reject me, she would have just said it straight up…!”
“I see your point…”
In the end, Röhm’s response came as a surprise to Böll.
There was no doubt that Röhm at least didn’t dislike Haydn.
As Haydn’s rival, she always engaged with Haydn with a sense of passion that went beyond just friends. To the point that Böll, her friend, was starting to get jealous.
Back then, she would often pull all-nighters developing magical formulas to use in magic battles.
“Just let me work on it a little more. I really want to win against Fritz, no matter what…!”
Even though Anneliese Röhm acted like a calm and collected adult these days, back then she was an unparalleled magic idiot.
Böll would try to persuade her to ‘Go to bed already!’ to which Röhm would throw a tantrum like a little kid.
“Just! Give! Me! A! Little! More! Time! Please!! If I can complete this formula, then I can resist Fritz’s super-precise tracking magecraft!”
At that time, anyone could clearly see the passion that Röhm directed towards Haydn.
Even if there wasn’t a shred of something you could call romantic feelings in that passion, knowing her personality, you would still expect Röhm to flatly reject him by saying something like ‘I just don’t see you that way, Haydn. I’m sorry.’
(That should mean that Liese also thinks of Haydn as a potential romantic partner at least a little bit, right?… But she isn’t confident that she can call it love, so she’s stuck in place… or something like that?)
In that case, she wanted to give her a little push.
First, once this whole commotion was over, she would invite Röhm to a tea party.
“Böll, I don’t think you should push Liese too hard.”
To stop Böll’s runaway scheming, Haydn spoke quietly but intensely.
“Even if she does reject me, that doesn’t change the fact that Liese is a precious ally of mine, my friend, and my rival. So I want Liese to make the decision that her heart desires.”
Haydn’s feelings for Röhm were the real thing.
Whether his love worked out or didn’t, that wouldn’t change the affection he feels for her.
A man with such strong emotions wouldn’t neglect those emotions, whether they were feelings of companionship, friendship, or love.
He would be loyal to the emotions within him with all his heart.
“I understand. I’ll stay quiet and watch, then. If you get rejected, I’ll treat you to a drink.”
“I appreciate it, thank you.”
‘If it’s at all possible, I hope I can be hosting a party to celebrate their new relationship instead—’ Böll prayed inside her heart.