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Chapter 48 - The Master
“I don’t want to be a supporting character anymore. No more! Not here too! I will become the main character. Tell me how!”
His sympathy for her dissipated. She was like the stereotypical character he once read from somewhere. It was clear there was no end to her greed. “There is no such thing. Just don’t cause any trouble here. Otherwise, you will suffer the consequences sooner or later. There is nothing free in this world, especially here. I’m not sure what your world was like, but you will never get out of here if you continue to act like this.”
Xylos’s advice fell on deaf ears. Not only was she still confused about her arrival to this world, but she also couldn’t understand the intent of his words. “If I’m the main character here, then I don’t care about returning back to my world! Anyways, I’ll be miserable if I go back. This world is my last hope. I just got this chance again and I am to just live like I’m dead and die worhthless? Why do I have to do that? I will do everything I have in my power to change this.”
“Hey, do you even know where you are right now?” asked Xylos.
“Of course. Someday everyone will know me. Just watch.”
He shook his head. It seemed she was affected by a magical rune. Normal people wouldn’t be affected by it. The rune made people think without being swayed by emotions. It also helped one to remember things two to three times more than usual. Apprentices usually used these runes to help with their studies, but it seemed a strange woman was using its power to think of some crazy plans.
None of this mattered in the end. The magic caused by the runes would disappear once she left the tower. Even if she believed she could accomplish great things, Xylos believed she wouldn’t have the capability to actually do it.
***
After she left, Xylos looked into some books for records of beings similar to her. Then he ordered an investigation on the girl.
According to the results of the investigation, the girl belonged to the Mellin family. He focused on what the Mellin family had been doing recently, and it wasn’t normal, to say the least. Comparing what she told him and what her family had been doing, he found some answers to his questions. Now, he was face-to-face with a girl from the Constance family. This girl seemed to have seen something similar to the Mellin girl and perhaps wasn’t from this world like her. The Mellin girl said she had read about the future from a novel.
It was easy to see that the girl believed everything she read from a book was the absolute truth. He thought that was preposterous. The world is constantly changing, which makes it highly unlikely that everything from the novel would be the same in this world. The only thing that didn’t change was the arrogance of those who came from outside.
“No. I’m not the main character. I just want to be an individual living in this world.”
“Really?” questioned Xylos.
The girl was already appointed to become a crown princess, then to be the empress. She probably was like the main character of a story without doing anything. But the answer that followed was interesting. Xylos felt like maybe this one would be a bit different from the ones he had read about from the records.
“Troubles always happen around the protagonist, and they have a duty to deal with it. It’s tiring.”
“You don’t want that?”
“Of course not. I rather lock myself in a tower like this, eat good food, and sleep eight hours every day.” Ella then came up with an idea and grabbed Xylos’s hand. He frowned because of her sudden movement, but she didn’t notice that. She was too excited by her new idea. “Hire me! I heard even the palace can’t make the Long Moonlight do things how they want. Take me as an apprentice!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course,” she replied.
“You don’t want to become an empress?”
“Nope.”
Xylos became dumbstruck by her quick answer. It has been a long time since someone had surprised him. He found her opinions to be very interesting. Trouble brewing around the main character? That sure was true. At least he was sure that an interesting guest had come this time around. It was great that she was curious, but she shouldn’t spill these kinds of stories everywhere.
Looking at Ella as if she was just a foolish girl, Xylos asked, “Are you sure you can say things like that?”
“Don’t worry. I can figure out who to tell and who I shouldn’t.”
“And you figured it’s alright to tell me?”
“Of course. You don’t like going out, and no one comes for you either. Besides, you don’t like getting involved with others from outside the tower.”
Xylos, who was now interested in Ella, looked at her. If she, in fact, came from the outside world, then she must know his name too. Just like the Mellin girl had called out his name, Ella, too, could have at least blurted his name out. Instead, she pretended like she didn’t know his name at all. It was that difference that made him interested in Ella. After all, he hated it when people pretended to know him well.
“Well. So, you refuse to become the crown princess and want to spend your entire life in this boring old tower instead?” asked Xylos.
“Pretty much,” replied Ella as she smiled and nodded, happy that he understood her words.
Xylos almost smiled at her but managed to stop himself. He had never smiled with another person in his entire boring life, and it almost happened just now. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he asked, “Are you really satisfied? That other girl was much more ambitious.”