Reinhardt called out, as he arrived at the Sky Room with a smile, but froze where he was.
There was a chilling sensation with no warmth at all. A cold wind was blowing in the space that was always kept warm.
Reinhardt’s gaze slowly scanned the room.
There was no one in the Sky Room.
It was really empty.
To be precise, there was only Caspelius, the caretaker, who was standing still and staring at the hole in the window of the Sky Room.
Reinhardt’s eyes sank coldly.
“To think that you liked hide-and-seek. Your taste is also unique, Master.”
His cold voice echoed low in the heavenly room.
“What were you doing?”
Reinhardt sighed and asked Caspelius, who was standing still, as he sat on the bed where Valletta used to lay down.
The face of the Magic Tower’s Master, who Caspelius had thought would be enraged right away, was unexpectedly fine.
Caspelius, who had been watching the curled up corners of Reinhardt’s lips quietly under his robe, bowed his head.
“I apologize. I have decided it was better to let her go than to force her.”
“Ah, that’s good. I’m glad you’re not stupid. You have to know how to set priorities.”
Gently bending down, Reinhardt sat across the bed and slowly crossed his legs.
Wherever she might have gone, he can only guess.
It has been 10 years.
Reinhardt had been watching her for 10 years.
“Will it be okay not to follow her?”
“I’d be in trouble. I’ll have to be a little patient. Master has always hated feeling stuffy.”
Even when she was locked up in a dark room and hung upside down.
She always had a casual expression on her face, but she would touch her neck several times as if she was suffocating in her clothes, and untie her collar.
She felt uncomfortable wearing tight clothes and hated covering herself with a blanket.
“There are many ways to find…”
Reinhardt’s eyes caught sight of a bracelet broken in two, covered in blood and rolling on the ground.
Reinhardt slowly lifted his hand.
A floating bracelet came to Reinhardt’s palm.
The bracelet, which had been hovering in the palm of his hand, eventually merged slowly and returned to its clean look as if it had never been broken.
There was still blood on the bracelet.
“She’s a smart person, so she looked for another way.”
Reinhardt said, slowly licking the bloodstain on his finger.
Seeing that a spirit’s energy remained, it was clear that she had borrowed the power of that stupid bird to cut off the bracelet.
Reinhardt’s red eyes flashed.
“Watchdog.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Would you be angry if I chained your ankles?”
Who he was truly talking about, or the name of the subject was not mentioned. However, Caspelius easily noticed that he was talking about Valletta, who had fled from there.
The unknown being who casually called him by his long-forgotten name.
“… Yes.”
Caspelius answered after thinking. In fact, it was an answer for Valletta as well.
Reinhardt sighed disappointedly at his firm reply.
“There is no official Alchemist Association in the Empire, but an Alchemy Association created by rats, right?’
It was not a difficult question to ask Caspelius.
He was the watchdog of the Magic Tower, but at the same time, he needed to provide any knowledge that the Magic Tower’s Master wanted.
Caspelius immediately found the answer from his old memories.
“Yes, since the Empire’s alchemists are being hunted, they gathered underworld to protect themselves.”
“To think she’ll have to struggle to live, I want to see it.”
Reinhardt lowered his head and grinned.
Reinhardt, who grew up seeing the suffering of others for a long time and enduring the same suffering himself, was somewhat twisted.
Whoever was born as the Magic Tower’s Master, must always be rational.
Perhaps that’s why they were naturally slow when it comes to emotion as compared to ordinary people.
They were not interested even if they saw others happy or scared.
That was why they needed stimulation.They can only feel emotions when they experience a very large stimulus or excitement.
Therefore, former Magic Tower’s Masters searched for a faint thread of emotion by killing, torturing and trampling on people.
They wanted to feel alive in a time when everything stopped and seemed boring, thus, they let themselves enjoy the pain they gave to themselves and surrendered to the pleasure of trampling on others.
However, Reinhardt only had one gasping emotion that resonated throughout his body.
He remembered a time when a buzzing sound tickled his ears as time seemed to stop for a moment.
“Watchdog, have you ever eaten candy?”
“… Yes.”
It was an odd question.
However, Caspelius answered meekly and obediently.
He hasn’t eaten it since his body became like this, but when he was a human he often ate it whenever he was stressed.
Who hasn’t tried candy?
As Caspelius thought about that, the corners of Reinhardt’s lips, as he was looking at the hole in the window, rose softly.
“The first time I tried it, it was very sweet.”
“…”
“After that, I tried a few more times, but it was disgustingly sweet and uncomfortably stuck in my mouth, so I felt very dirty.”
“…”
“But I have no intention of giving it back. I was waiting to see if I could taste that sweet thing once more. I thought she would give it to me again if I listen to her well…”
She never gave it to him until the very end, for the whole 10 years.
“I don’t really like this, you eat it.”
Even if you gave me something you didn’t like.
Or even if it was because you pitied me for not being able to eat.
He still remembered the exhilarating electric current that touched his skin and the orange candy she had placed in his palm.
Caspelius didn’t want to make a voice scratching iron, so he didn’t answer or respond to his words, and he kept his mouth shut.
No one liked his voice.
All of the past Magic Tower’s Master hated hearing his voice and looked at him with disgust every time he spoke.
“Watchdog.”
“Yes.”
“You have to answer me when I’m speaking. I hate being ignored. I need to know if my dog is listening.”
At his cold gaze, Caspelius felt a strange emotion.
Until now, all the Masters did not even want an answer from him, and told him to keep his mouth shut.
Over time, it became natural. He slowly turned his eyes and then nodded his head.
“I understand.”
“Good.”
His white fingers, which seemed like they were going to strangle someone right away, stretched out with no strength.
Reinhardt kissed Valletta’s bracelet once and slowly put it on his wrist.
“My lovely Master who ran away even though she knew she couldn’t.”
He waved his hand
The window that Valletta had broken through returned to its original state in an instant.
The cluttered room was cleaned in an instant.
Reinhardt laughed as he touched the window with his fingertips.