Master, I Swear I Didn’t Mean To! - Chapter 14

‘Other mages went through the same hardships and, after becoming mages, had ten attendants following them around… So why…’

Then she recalled the piles of gold bars stacked in her personal vault, snapped herself out of it, and went back to mopping with renewed focus.

Right. By now, this kind of task was nothing at all. On the contrary, Eki was actually glad she had so many things she could do on her own. Other nobles would never understand how cleaning with their own hands could help clear a cluttered mind. They would never feel this kind of satisfaction either.

‘Good things are good things.’

Eki, forcing herself to think positively, cleaned Cassius’s messy worktable until it was spotless.

Damn Cursius.

But why isn’t he back yet?

It had been a good thirty minutes since Cassius had left. Recharging the restraints with mana was something that only took a few seconds for him.

‘Did something happen?’

Eki hesitated for a moment.

The reason Cassius kept monsters imprisoned underground was to extract magic stones from them. Monsters that had lost their stones would weaken, languish, and die within days. So, once their stones were gone, there was nothing particularly dangerous about those paralyzed creatures.

Thus, Eki decided to go only as far as the basement entrance to check on Cassius’s condition.

“Master! Why aren’t you coming back up?”

The deepest part of the Thousand Dog Tower. The dark underground, where from time to time hollow cries of monsters could be heard.

Though torches illuminated the space clearly, an eerie feeling lingered. Eki rubbed her goosebump-covered arms as she stood before the final iron gate leading to the basement.

“Master!”

She called out again, but there was no response. Something felt wrong.

‘Did something really happen to him?’

Eki’s face stiffened.

Normally, she would have shrugged it off, wondering what could possibly endanger an archmage, and left it at that. But today, for some reason, she had a strange, unsettling premonition. A peculiar instinct, different from usual.

“…Is it the luck potion again?”

She brushed back the hair covering her nape and opened the iron gate.

Creeeak. With the old, rusty hinges came a chilling sound that filled the surroundings. She swallowed dryly and stepped inside.

‘I’m not supposed to come here, but just in case…’

She had the backing of an extremely powerful luck potion. Honestly, even if a dragon appeared, she felt she could escape if she kept her wits about her.

‘No, well. It’s not like a dragon’s really going to show up.’

What else could possibly appear in a basement she maintained every day, besides exhausted monsters?

“Ugh…!”

That’s when she heard Cassius’s voice from somewhere. Eki startled and darted her gaze around, then realized the commotion was coming from the cell holding the enormous slime the monster subjugation team had captured and brought all the way from Pinon Forest just days ago.

“Master?”

She hurried toward it.

The inside of the cell wasn’t visible. But as she strained her ears, she heard Cassius’s pained groan, though she couldn’t tell the cause.

“Ha… keugh!”

Cold sweat ran down Eki’s spine in an instant. She darted forward to the gate and raised her torch high.

“Are you okay?! What on earth is— Uwah!”

Eki’s jaw dropped. She froze like a statue, staring blankly ahead.

“E-Eki?”

Cassius turned his head, flustered.

Shockingly, he was suspended in the air, his arms and legs bound by the slime. If that was all, she might have laughed and teased him with, The great archmage got caught by a mere slime!

But unfortunately, the white robe around his arms and legs was slowly melting away.

Yes, the slime’s slime was stripping him of his clothes!

‘W-What kind of x-rated fantasy novel development is this?!’

Eki hurriedly covered her eyes. Thankfully, Cassius wasn’t completely naked yet, but it looked like even his rear, currently stuck out behind him, would soon be exposed. The situation was so stimulating that even Eki couldn’t maintain her sanity.

“S-S-Sorry! I’ll, um, step outside!”

“What?! What are you talking about! Hurry up and do something!”

“Wh-What?!”

It was an oversized slime, sure, but it was still just a slime. A low-grade monster. How could he have gotten caught by something like that? One blast of fire magic should’ve been enough to kill it!

Her question was immediately answered by Cassius’s shout.

“It has a paralytic toxin. From the neck down, my body’s frozen. I can’t even twitch a finger!”