Awoken by a loud knock on the door, Maxi raised her head drowsily.
She had spent the entire night studying magic books until her eyes were red, and exhaustion now weighed on her.
Not wanting to get up, she remained curled up under the blanket for a while longer before pulling back the thick curtains.
The midday light was blinding.
Groaning, Maxi rubbed his throbbing eyes.
The knocking on the door became impatient, and she slowly sat up.
“U-one moment, please!” she cooed.
Despite his request, the beatings did not stop.
Maxi took his slippers from under the bed and put them on.
When she threw the door open, she found herself face to face with an irritated Miriam.
“Did I not warn you that I would skin this wretched creature if it entered my workshop again?” growled Miriam, dangling a black cat between them.
Startled, Maxi screamed.
“Roy!”
Holding the cat by the skin of its neck, Miriam lifted it out of Maxi's reach.
Roy let out a high-pitched meow, but the malevolent witch didn't blink.
“Nice try, but I’m going to cook this furball in a stew this time!”
“G-Give him back!” Maxi begged, jumping up and down.
“Y-You’re hurting him!”
"And what about the trouble he caused me?
Did you know he made a complete mess of my workshop?"
Standing on tiptoe, Miriam pushed Maxi's head down with her free hand.
Maxi's face turned red with embarrassment.
With her tall stature and long limbs, it was something Miriam often did.
Pushing the woman's hand away, Maxi glared at her.
"Yeah...
because your little fairy bug is always teasing Roy!
She always“"
"So what?
Are you saying it's perfectly acceptable for your furball to destroy my workspace?"
The poison in Miriam's eyes drained all of Maxi's fight.
“Wouldn’t an apology be appropriate?” Miriam continued acidly with a look of disdain.
"Or is our noble lady unfamiliar with this custom?
Or, could it be that you think your pet is more important than my workshop?"
The harsh reprimand made Maxi blush again.
"I...
apologize for the trouble my cat caused.
I-I'll make sure he doesn't leave my room again.
So please...
let it go just this once."
Miriam's lips twisted as if she were about to launch into another diatribe.
Instead, she clicked her tongue and threw the cat into Maxi's arms.
"This really is the last time.
If I see that horrible creature stalking my living room again, I will skin it and make slippers out of it."
Miriam tossed her messy bangs to the side and turned around.
“You better clean my workshop!” she barked as she walked away.
After seeing her leave, Maxi sighed and looked at Roy.
The cat was purring with its head buried under his arm.
Maxi calmly stroked his soft fur and sat on his bed.
Roy had unwittingly sneaked into the Wizards' Tower in his luggage.
Although she was confused to discover him after boarding the ship, it had been nice to have a friend with her in an unfamiliar place.
However, that was before she realized how much trouble the little rascal could be.
"I told you...
to stay away from that woman's room.
The wicked witch will eat you, you know."
The cat lowered its ears and let out a pitiful purr.
Frowning, Maxi noticed his singed tail.
After lowering it to the floor, she pulled back the curtain and discovered a half-bent lock lying on the window sill.
She gritted her teeth.
His hunch was correct.
There was no doubt that Miriam's fairy had infiltrated her room to lure Roy.
Although she very much wanted to look for Miriam and tell her that she should take proper care of her family member, she knew that she would only make a fool of herself if she confronted the woman without irrefutable evidence.
In the end, Maxi sighed in resignation.
He used a fork to make a makeshift lock for the window and prepared for the day.
She had to hurry if she wanted to clean Miriam's workshop before classes started.
She poured water into a basin, washed her face quickly, got dressed and tied her hair in a ponytail.
He was about to leave the room with a broom and a cloth in his hand when he saw his reflection in the mirror.She was the picture of a novice servant“a shabby dress, sunken eyes in a pale, tired face.
What would Riftan say if he saw her in this state?
After sadly assessing her appearance, Maxi ran her fingers across her neck in an unconscious gesture, brushing against the copper coin she had turned into a necklace before leaving Anatol.
His heart twisted painfully.
At some point after arriving at the Tower, she began to feel a sharp pang in her chest whenever she thought of Riftan.
She caressed the charred coin for a moment before biting her lip and pushing it out of her mind.
There was no hope of getting through the day any other way.
Steeling himself, Maxi left the room.
She chose to come here despite knowing how much it would hurt him.
There was no time to lament.
If it would help her return to Anatol even a minute earlier, she had to do her best every day.
The Wizards' Tower was made up of five structures.
At the heart of the island was the cone-shaped tower, Urd.
The fire tower, Kabala, was in the west; the water tower, Undaim, in the south; the wind tower, Sigrew, in the east; and in the north, the tower of the earth, Hall of the gnomes.
As a general rule, mages who had not yet specialized in a specific element could study in any of the five.
However, this rule more or less only existed as a formality, as most mages decided which tower to study in while they were still apprentices.
As such, the Mage Tower did not foster an environment where newcomers could freely learn a variety of elemental magics.
Maxi sighed as he remembered his recent Kabala class.
There was fierce competition between the mages of each tower, and this was especially true among those affiliated with Kabala and the Hall of Gnomes.
They just couldn't stand each other.
Maxi felt like he was walking on eggshells whenever he attended classes there.
And I haven't even decided to study at the Gnome Hall yet.
For some reason, people already considered her an earth mage.
She looked dejectedly at the Hall of Gnomes, which rose above the dense olive forest.
The earth tower resembled a massive fortress.
The dark structure extended horizontally as if pressed by an invisible force.
A pulley with a giant cage about six kevettes high was installed next to its arched iron doors to lift people to the upper floors.
Iron chimneys dotted the walls like lint, plumes of smoke rising from each one.
The exterior of the black tower contained many other strange devices“a complicated web of cast-iron pipes, unpleasantly creaking gear machinery, transport pulleys of various sizes, and a huge rotating windmill at the top.
Maxi looked anxiously at the junk-filled fortress as Roy squirmed in her arms.
“N-No, I’m not letting you out of my sight today.”
Pulling the cat closer, Maxi quickened his steps.
As she wound through the sturdy trees and reached the tower's entrance, the sound of hammers hit her.
Roy meowed, startled by the loud noises, and began to struggle more violently.
Maxi moved as fast as he could, trying to calm the scared cat.
Although she wanted to leave Roy in the room, she knew that Miriam would not go easy on him if he escaped and caused trouble again.
“There's no other option until I can install a device in the window to keep that fairy away,” Maxi whispered to her cat, almost pleading.
“I-I’ll give you a snack later, so hold on until then, okay?”
She was about to enter the main section of the communal workshop when she heard an excited voice behind her.
“Who are you murmuring to?”
Maxi jumped and turned around.
Two identical boys with round, reddish faces looked at her, each with a large bag on their shoulders.
Both were less than five kevettes tall.
Maxi quickly hid Roy inside her cloak and smiled embarrassedly.
“H-Hello, Alec… Dean…”
“Were you practicing your speech for the contest in Urd?”
The twin brothers from the Umri tribe bowed their heads in unison.
Maxi took a discreet step back and let out an uncomfortable laugh.
“I, um…”She was trying to think of a plausible excuse when Roy emerged from his cloak and bolted towards the workshop entrance.
Maxi called out to him, but the cat paid him no attention.
He ran down the hall and out the door.
At that moment, Anette Godric, who was entering the tower after her brothers, grabbed the fleeing animal by the neck.
“Roy!”