Under the Oak Tree (Web Novel KR)

241 Chapter 2

Awakened by a loud knock at the door, Maxi groggily raised her head. She had stayed up all night studying books on magic until her eyes were bloodshot, and the tiredness now weighed on her. Not wanting to get up, she lay curled under the blanket for a while longer before drawing back the thick curtains.

The brightness of high noon was blinding. Groaning, Maxi rubbed her throbbing eyes. The banging on the door grew impatient, and she slowly sat up.

“A m-moment, please!” she stammered.

Despite her request, the knocks did not cease. Maxi pulled her slippers out from under the bed and put them on. When she flung open the door, she found herself face-to-face with an irritated Miriam.

“Have I not warned you I would skin this wretched creature if it ever entered my workshop again?” Miriam snarled, dangling a black cat between them.

Jolting awake, Maxi let out a shriek. “Roy!”

Holding the cat by the scruff, Miriam yanked him upward out of Maxi’s reach. Roy let out a sharp yowl, but the evil witch did not bat an eye.

“Nice try, but I’m going to cook this furball into stew this time!”

“G-Give him back!” Maxi implored, hopping up and down. “Y-You’re hurting him!”

“And what about the trouble he’s caused me? Did you know he made a complete mess of my workshop?”

Standing on her toes, Miriam pushed Maxi’s head down with her free hand. Maxi’s face flushed with embarrassment. With her tall stature and long limbs, it was something Miriam did often.

Shoving the woman’s hand away, Maxi glared at her. “I-It’s because your little insect of a fairy keeps provoking Roy! It always—”

“So? Are you saying it’s perfectly acceptable for your furball to wreck my workspace?”

The venom in Miriam’s eyes drained all the fight from Maxi.

“Isn’t an apology warranted?” Miriam continued acidly with a look of disdain. “Or is our noble lady not familiar with the custom? Or, could it be that you think your pet is more important than my workshop?”

The harsh reproof made Maxi flush again.

“I… apologize for the trouble my cat has caused. I-I shall make sure he doesn’t get out of my room again. So, please… overlook it just this once.”

Miriam’s lips twitched as if to launch into another tirade. Instead, she clicked her tongue and tossed the cat into Maxi’s arms.

“This really is the last time. If I ever see that horrid creature lurking in my room again, I’ll skin its fur and make slippers out of it.”

Miriam blew her messy bangs to the side and whirled around.

“You’d better tidy up my workshop!” she barked as she strode away.

After watching her leave, Maxi heaved a sigh and looked down at Roy. The cat was purring with his head buried under her arm. Maxi stroked his soft fur soothingly and plopped down on her bed.

Roy had unwittingly hitched a ride to the Mage Tower in her luggage. While she had been flustered upon discovering him after boarding the ship, it had felt nice to have a friend with her in an unfamiliar place.

However, that was before she realized how much of a troublemaker the little rascal could be.

“I told you… to stay away from that woman’s room. The evil witch will eat you, you know.”

The cat drooped his ears and let out a pitiful purr. Frowning, Maxi noted his singed tail. After lowering him to the floor, she yanked back the curtain and discovered a half-bent latch lying on the window sill.

She ground her teeth. Her hunch had been correct. There was no doubt Miriam’s fairy had snuck into her room to lure Roy away. Though she very much wanted to seek out Miriam and tell her that she ought to manage her familiar properly, she knew she would only make a fool of herself if she took the woman on without irrefutable evidence.

In the end, Maxi sighed in resignation. She used a fork to fashion a makeshift latch for the window and prepared for the day. She had to hurry if she was to clean Miriam’s workshop before lessons started. Pouring water into a basin, she hastily washed her face, dressed, and swept her tangled hair into a ponytail. She was about to leave the room with a broom and rag in hand when she caught her reflection in the mirror.

She was the image of a fledgling maidservant — a shabby dress and hollow eyes in a pale, haggard face. What would Riftan say if he saw her in this state? After gloomily assessing her appearance, Maxi ran her fingers across her neck in an unconscious gesture, grazing the copper coin she had made into a necklace before leaving Anatol.

Her heart twisted painfully. At some point after arriving at the Tower, she had begun to experience a sharp pang in her chest whenever she thought of Riftan. She caressed the scorched coin for a moment before biting her lip and pushing him from her mind. There was no hope of getting through the day otherwise.

Steeling herself, Maxi stepped out of her room. She had chosen to come here despite knowing how much it would hurt him. There was no time to be moping around. If it would help her return to Anatol even a minute sooner, she had to do her best each day.

***

The Mage Tower was comprised of five structures. At the heart of the island stood the cone-shaped tower, Urd. The fire tower, Kabala, stood in the west; the water tower, Undaim, in the south; the wind tower, Sigrew, in the east; and in the north, the earth tower, Nome Hall.

As a general rule, mages who had yet to specialize in a particular element were free to study at any of the five. However, this rule more or less existed only as a formality, as most mages settled on which tower to study at while they were still apprentices. As such, the Mage Tower did not foster an environment where novices could freely learn a variety of elemental magics.

Maxi sighed as she recalled her recent lesson at Kabala. Fierce competition existed between the mages of each tower, and this was especially true between those affiliated with Kabala and Nome Hall. They could not seem to stand each other. Maxi felt as though she were walking on eggshells whenever she attended lessons there.

And I haven’t even settled on studying at Nome Hall yet.

For some reason, people already regarded her as an earth mage. She gazed despondently up at Nome Hall, which rose above the dense olive tree forest.

The earth tower resembled a massive fortress. The dark structure stretched horizontally as if pressed down by an invisible force. A pulley with a giant cage about six kevettes (approximately 180 centimeters) high was installed next to its arched iron doors to lift people up to the higher floors. Iron chimneys dotted the walls like lint, plumes of smoke issuing from each.

The black tower’s exterior held many more strange devices still — a complicated web of cast iron pipes, clockwork machinery that screeched unpleasantly, transport pulleys of various sizes, and a massive, spinning windmill at the top. Maxi was gazing uneasily up at the cluttered, seemingly haphazard fortress when Roy squirmed in her arms.

“N-No, I am not letting you out of my sight today.”

Pulling the cat closer, Maxi quickened her steps. As she wound through the stout trees and reached the tower’s entrance, the clanging of hammers assaulted her ears.

Roy yowled, frightened by the loud noises, and began to struggle more violently. Maxi moved as quickly as she could while trying to soothe the scared cat. Though she had wanted to leave Roy in her room, she knew that Miriam would not go easy on him if he were to slip out and cause trouble again.

“It can’t be helped until I can set up a device on the window to keep that fairy out,” Maxi whispered to her cat, almost pleading with him. “I-I will give you a treat later, so bear with it until then, all right?”

She was about to enter the main section of the communal workshop when she heard a lively voice behind her.

“What’re you mumbling to yourself?”

Maxi flinched and turned around. Two identical boys with round, ruddy faces looked up at her, each with a large sack hoisted on their shoulders. Both were less than five kevettes tall. Maxi quickly hid Roy inside her cloak and pulled an awkward smile.

“H-Hello, Alec… Dean…”

“Were you practicing your speech for the competition at Urd?”

The twin brothers of the Umri tribe cocked their heads in unison. Maxi took a surreptitious step back and let out an uncomfortable laugh.

“I, um…”

She was trying to think of a credible excuse when Roy shot out of her cloak and darted for the workshop’s entrance. Maxi called after him, but the cat paid her no heed. He bolted across the hall and out the door. Right then, Anette Godric, who was entering the tower behind her brothers, snatched up the fleeing creature by the scruff.

“Roy!”