Chapter 16
“You’re the one bothering me right now! Me!”
Archmage Magia shouted, quickly hiding her finger behind her back, where clear bite marks could still be seen.
“You little brat, you’re a human! Not a cat!”
“I’m going to tell Grandma on you!”
“You don’t even listen to a single word I say!”
Just then, Deter appeared, carrying some drinks, and led Magia toward the annex.
Nivellia and Aref hurried after them, each holding a cup.
Siiip—Nivellia took a sweet sip of her drink, letting out a soft sound of satisfaction.
Aref, sneaking a glance at her, quietly took a sip of his own and mimicked her small siiip sound.
“Archmage.”
“What now…?”
Magia, who had only just arrived at the mansion, already looked drained.
“Why did you come to Nini’s house?”
“I didn’t come to see you. I’m here for work.”
“The Archmage works? Nini works too!”
Nivellia, rushing ahead, handed her cup to Deter.
Left behind, Aref found himself alone under Magia’s strange, heavy stare.
“…….”
Feeling intimidated, Aref quickly averted his gaze and scurried over to Nivellia’s side.
Only then did Magia seem to realize her mistake, awkwardly looking away.
Nivellia, now back at her side, spoke up.
“Nini doesn’t have any debt now? Paid it off with work?”
“What? You had debt?”
“One million two hundred eighty thousand Uva.”
“…What have you been doing to rack up that much?”
Just as they reached the annex, they ran into Ardores, who was heading toward the sitting room.
The moment she saw him, Magia showed off her bitten finger and growled.
“Paladin! Don’t you have anything to say after seeing this?”
“Well… at least the bone’s still intact?”
“Your granddaughter bit me! That’s assault!”
“Did you point your finger at her? Then you deserved it.”
“Discipline her, you idiot!”
“Grandpa’s not an idiot! He’s the boss!”
Nivellia jumped in defensively.
“From my 200-year-old perspective, you all look like idiots.”
“The person calling others idiots is the real idiot!”
“No way! Everyone’s an idiot except the Archmage!”
The argument between a 200-year-old archmage and a four-year-old former cat was more ridiculous than anything.
“Anyway, it’s good you’re all here. You should hear this too.”
Casting a look of exasperation at Magia, Ardores led the children into the sitting room.
“First, let’s handle my business.”
Magia sat down and snapped her fingers lightly.
Suddenly, a round hole appeared in the air, and with a loud thud, a heavy coin pouch dropped down.
Aref stared upward in disbelief, but the hole vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Surprised?”
Magia let out a smug laugh.
“This is what we call magic—”
“Money!”
“…Haah. This little cat is just too cheeky.”
The pouch that fell from the sky was brimming with coins—gold coins, no less.
Nivellia couldn’t take her eyes off the glittering pile.
She had learned, through two long years of hardship, that gold coins were the most valuable kind of money.
“Archmage.”
“What?”
“This is for Nini, right?”
“…Why are you talking like that’s obvious…?”
Magia flicked Nivellia’s forehead lightly, trying to shatter her daydream.
This money wasn’t for her. It was the monthly rent—the payment for using the building and the land—due to Ardores.
“This is this month’s rent, Paladin.”
“You didn’t skim anything off, did you?”
“Seeing your granddaughter just now, it’s obvious who she takes after. You, a former paladin turned greedy thug.”
“What’s a thug?”
Nivellia, rubbing her forehead, asked curiously.
“Someone like your grandpa.”
“Then it’s cool!”
“They say even a hedgehog thinks its baby is cute… but this family’s the opposite.”
Ardores calmly took out a prepared magical scale and began weighing and measuring the gold coins—a device Magia had created long ago.
“Grandpa.”
At some point, Nivellia had crept back to his side.
“What’s rent?”
“It’s the money you pay to live in someone else’s house when you can’t afford to buy your own.”
“So the Archmage doesn’t have a house? Even after all that time?”
“Exactly. Over 200 years old and still renting.”
Grandfather and granddaughter worked together to stab straight at Magia’s pride.
Magia fought hard to keep her boiling anger in check.
‘Damn that landlord and landowner!’
If not for the rent, she would’ve smacked them both at least eight times by now!
The Grand Tower of Knowledge—one of the Empire’s greatest pillars of technological progress—was, embarrassingly, a renter.
And the landlord who owned the building and land? None other than Ardores, the former marquis of the Deiamor family.
Each month, the Tower had to pay a hefty amount in rent to him.
‘If only I hadn’t gotten drunk back then…!’
The Tower hadn’t belonged to Ardores from the start.
Forty years ago—
Near the end of the Crepatna War, a brutal campaign to exterminate the monsters.
Magia, overjoyed at the long-awaited end of the war, allowed herself a drink.
And that night, she got very, very drunk.
In a drunken stupor, he blurted out a fatal mistake.
“If the Saintess and the Paladin, hiccup, fall in love and get married, huh? Then I, the Archmage, will—hic—give them the Tower building and land as a wedding gift! Uuugh!”
Everyone just dismissed it as the ramblings of a drunkard.
But Magia, furious at being ignored, immediately cast a spell, forging an everlasting magical vow right then and there.
And soon after the war ended—
The Saintess, Muniel, and the Paladin, Ardores, received the Tower and its land as a wedding gift.
On the day when everyone else was celebrating, Magia was the only one shedding bitter tears in public.
It was the most humiliating moment in her 200-year life, despite her long years of human longevity.
“Archmage.”
As Magia sat there, trembling from the memory of her own stupidity, Nivellia approached and gently tapped her knee.
“Kitty…”
Was she… trying to comfort me?
The warmth from the little hand touching her knee felt strangely tender.
Magia’s eyes grew misty with emotion.
“Move over. Nini wants to lie down.”
“…….”
Pouting like a sulking child, Magia reluctantly stood up. Nivellia quickly sprawled out on the sofa.
“You got your rent money, right? I’m leaving now, okay?”
“Before you go, I have a favor to ask.”
“If it’s not about lowering the rent, I’m not listening.”
“If you agree, I might consider it.”
“…Well, I did come all the way here. Might as well get a cup of tea or something.”
Half-risen, Magia plopped back down. Though Nivellia’s legs were squished under her, she didn’t seem to mind.
Ardores spoke.
“Can you arrange for Nini and Aref to attend the Tower’s kindergarten?”
“Have you lost your mind? Are you really that senile now?”
“The Tower’s kindergarten is meant for the children of mages affiliated with the Tower! How could you bring in outsiders like this?”
“Especially the granddaughter of that greedy Paladin who still squeezes every penny of rent from us? A descendant of Deiamor?”
“I swear, the biggest regret of my life is not stopping you that night you got drunk and ruined everything!”
The elders of the Tower exploded in anger at Magia’s decision.
It was already maddening enough that they had been paying rent for forty years when they shouldn’t have been — and now they were expected to take care of the children of the Deiamor family too?
Their faces flushed red as they shouted in protest.
In the midst of their uproar, only Magia remained calm.
She wore a serene expression, like someone who had glimpsed the truths of the universe and reached enlightenment.
Magia spoke gently.
“If we take care of the kids, we don’t have to pay rent anymore.”
The elders became even more outraged.
“Why didn’t you bring the children sooner?!”
“Even if the Tower’s kindergarten was originally for mages’ children, how could we discriminate against others? That would go against the spirit of education!”
“Absolutely unacceptable!”
“Archmage, what are you doing? You should dip into your own funds to buy them snacks!”
Although she was deeply annoyed at the elders’ sudden change of heart, Magia swallowed her irritation.
After all, she had plenty to feel guilty about.
She was the reason the Tower had lost its ownership to begin with.
‘Still… I wonder if they’ll behave properly.’
After sending the noisy elders away, Magia sat quietly and recalled her conversation with Ardores.
“They can’t just live like pampered house pets forever.”
“They need to socialize with their peers, learn rules and discipline…”
“Of course, my daughter-in-law runs a company daycare too, but if I send them there, they’ll cause trouble again trying to find their mother.”
‘So it’s not like they’re being spoiled without discipline.’
Even though the promise of no rent had tempted her into agreeing, Magia started feeling uneasy about her decision.
‘Can the kindergarten even handle that little rascal?’
She was only worried about Nivellia.
‘The wolf is fine.’
Aref had been gentle even forty years ago.
‘Maybe I should’ve given him a piece of candy when I saw him at the mansion.’
Even now, in his reincarnated form, Aref still looked tough for his age, but his personality remained quiet and steady.
‘The real problem is that cocky little cat who always acted like the boss on the wolf’s head.’
What if she tried to be the boss again at kindergarten and caused trouble?
Thinking this, Magia stepped onto the lift.
‘Or maybe… she’ll cry? She’s shy around strangers, after all…’
I should stop by later and check on her.
Ding! The elevator arrived at the top floor with a soft chime.
As the doors slid open, Magia stepped out—and immediately stopped in her tracks.
“…….”
“…….”
Nivellia, who had been scurrying around the laboratory, also froze.
The two stared silently at each other for a long moment.
Magia spoke first.
“…Kitty, what are you doing here?”
“…I’m not doing anything.”
“Why aren’t you at the kindergarten?”
“…….”
Nivellia avoided her eyes like a guilty kitten.
The little hand she had been stretching out toward something slowly withdrew.
“Nini’s just… um… just hanging around…”
“…….”
Magia turned her gaze toward the desk Nivellia had been reaching for.
Sitting atop a brass tray was a lump of black metal—the same one they had been asked to analyze a few months ago.
