The Magic Tower 2

The man introduced as Paul in front of me is familiar as hell, checking my notes I somehow knew why. He's the next tower head of the Magic Tower.

This is similar to me persistently warning myself on my notes, that I need to properly remember my memories.

"Sorry, but is Ma'am Anna at home?"

"No, sorry."

That aside, why are the Magic tower dogs here? I don't remember anything that would pique their intere— no…. No way, it's Milly!

Shit! Her constitution is that of an Elf! Her whole hair is white meaning her mana saturation is on the roof!

Goddammit! Goddammit!

"Oh that's a shame, we can't seem to have her contact, can you fill us in?"

"I'm sorry but no—"

I felt something brush past me, Shit! Is that a black op? Paul is looking at my every movement right now and he was counting every reaction. I couldn't act recklessly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I'm sorry but you must leave"

I said as I closed the door. But it didn't close all the way, as Paul's foot somehow stopped.

"Excuse me I'm going to call security."

"Oh don't be so—"

I pushed his feet away by kicking and forcefully closing it and locking the door. Proceeding to run to Milly and Miella's room.

"huh… strange"

"Bro?"

"Brother?"

"Stay here you two, okay?"

I said those words as I flicked my finger. A barrier surrounded Miella and Milly's room. The two seemed worried but I can't take any chances.

"Come out."

And a black figure in the kitchen rose as I spoke those words. I can't help but be wary myself, this Black ops are good with assassinations, infiltration, and information gathering.

They can't fight back if it's a confrontation but you see, if I'm lower-ranked and the other is higher I'm still fucked. Not that I fought a higher-ranked myself but I don't want to go through that when I have some people with me to be protected.

"..."

"What do you want?"

He then took out a device. It felt surreal to me, I am in a bad situation because I have to defend someone, while I am indeed versed in the art of being in a hunting solo, that's only when I'm solo.

"I wonder, for all these years only B ranked heroes were the only ones who managed to detect me unless one was born sensitive to mana."

"..."

This time I stood silent, I think the magic tower detected the saturated mana from Milly, I have to throw myself on the bus myself do I?

So I looked shocked and started getting defensive.

"W-what do you want?"

I am more like, sensitive to movement, I have a panoramic vision here.

"..."

"I see.."

He then vanished, scattering like dust on his position before I became on full alert. Even risking showing Arsenal in here. I need to tell Anna that her apartment got compromised, but that damn Black ops.

That night I was on full alert, it took hours before I stopped being alert. I called Sophia too and asked for Cero, fuck it my intuition is telling me to do so.

[Mental Stress 17/20, you are now more mentally stable in the cost of your vigor]

Fuck, my paranoia got counted as mental fatigue and now it moved up to 17, I want to avoid that but now that damn perk moved up again it got me annoyed but the emotion got suppressed real quick.

"Hah…"

—Sir?

"Have one of Cero's subordinates come to me, on his recommendation."

—Understood.

The call was cut short, that's all I need to say, I went to Miella's and Milly's room, I even called Anna there to tell her the whole story.

I have to wait till one of the black ops Cero sent came here, it's a man with tall stature, he checked and no, there is seemingly no one in each crevice of the apartment, fortunately.

Now that the coast is clear I have some black ops with Milly and Miella, also Anna at all times.

I don't want to have the eyes of the Magic tower on me, but it seems I don't have a choice.

Keeping Milly off their hands is a must, this Mana fanatics are on the same level of danger with Nexus, they want to divulge on every single thing that involves mana.

I won't be surprised if there are some of them working for Nexus. That aside, I wonder how they managed to track Milly.

And when things are going fine. Tsk.

***

There were reports of strange mana on Ceath, the city of Hunberg. We, the Magic tower, are all obliged to learn about this strange mana.

We've been trying to dissect its inner machinations as mana is a blessing to the world for Science to prosper. With mana, science has advanced for millennia unlike being without it.

Though, the only one stopping us from fully conducting things is the Supreme government which has 6 [SS] ranks on their arsenal.

We will not stop our research! No! If it wouldn't start a war we could've gone and stolen some elven bodies and dissected them because of their mana.

We would've known why their bodies are immune to mana poisoning, that only would occur when mana saturation is at its highest.

We would've loved to do so. Six years ago, however, we managed to get some Elven blood. Their blood is similar to ours however they have a third cell. Similar to that of red blood cells, we call it the mana cell.

Unlike humans who build circuits for our mana to flow continuously not to contaminate blood, their blood has a specific cell that carries mana. No wonder Elves value bloodline.

The tower decided to clone a child since we've also learned that the blood doesn't live long outside an elven body.

But we don't have a donor elf for an egg. So instead we took a risk and made a human egg take the artificial sperm made out of elven blood.

And our hopes were filled as we saw the egg grow into a child. Even though the egg cell was human, it resembled an elf. What made it more delightful is that when the fetus grew to that of a baby, its hair was already white, and the mana inside it was powerful as it is versatile.

It was a happy occasion for the tower until the vermin from Nexus attacked us and stole some of our documents, our lifetime of research, and even the child.

I couldn't believe it. All our hard work! Till finally, the same mana was felt in the city of Ceath. We're finally having some hope!

"Sorry, but you need to have prior appointments with Ma'am Anna for that… "

—Slump

These mere mortals, I won't kill it because we're not here to cause trouble. I only made it fall asleep.

I, Paul, have a proper objective. Not to cause the tower shame, I'm here to bring it back to its former glory, and even make it rise more!

I'll be back with our subject, oh dear Child 22.

***

[Anna's PoV]

Damian told me what happened this evening. I couldn't help but worry, Damian is already out of trouble but it looked like he will be in it again.

After all that Mafia skirmish fiasco I thought everything would be done. But, today my blood boiled in anger.

The Magic Tower is an association in the whole Human domain that everyone knows. It's an association where people like to investigate anything related to mana and magic.

And now Damian told me about them possibly aiming for Milly, the poor child whose background we don't know.

I mean we did try to ask, letting Damian probe, but somehow it only gives the child memories of traumatic events that Damian has to comfort her for hours.

We can't let trouble befall this child once again, As said by Damian when we've only known each other for a few weeks, 'Building a background gives someone a shield that would make someone think twice before attacking.' I finally fully understand.

Milly and Miella are my daughters, and as their mother, it's my duty to protect them. And for Damian, I'll make sure to make your business so big no one could hold a candle against it.

I'll make sure that nobody will mess with us.

I held Milly and Miella close to my embrace, being an orphan since birth, makes me want to have my own family.

And now that they're here I'm not letting that go anytime soon.

—Snuggle~

Milly and Miella hugged each other, while they were sleeping.

snuggle with me too…

***

[Back to Damian's PoV]

There are about 3 more days as the whole tournament is a week, it would last for three more days.

The moment I left Anna with the kids I knew I had to do something, so with this I decided to brief Elron about the circumstances.

"The ones that the elves rejected?"

"Yeah, I don't know why the magic tower is targeting her though"

A man dressed in a three-piece suit tapped my hand, then I corrected it. He's Singe, by the way, constantly pointing out my manners.

"Hmm... I can't seem to point my hand at why they would target her"

"Milly has white hair, according to Elven culture she would be in her highest form of mana saturation."

"Oh… yeah, the towers are fanatics when it comes to magic. So they're probably after her constitution."

"That's part of it"

"Then?"

"She's a girl, a girl you know. They are probably going to do shit with her eggs once she goes puberty."

"That's indeed bad to hear…"

Elron's face turned grim as he sighed and drank his tea, pondering for a moment as he looked at me and asked.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Nothing yet, the Tower is the same with Nexus in terms of power. I can't act rashly. Instead, I need a Mana cuff."

"You know those aren't in circulation"

"I need it to hide her mana, you know it"

"..."

—tap tap tap.

He taps on the table showing concern on his face, this man is completely thinking this through.

Mana cuffs can hinder one's use of mana once equipped. It's only used in the Prison of Dawn. Where Ex-Heroes and Villains are imprisoned. Well, ones that are hard to be executed.

"Alright, but…"

"Just an E-grade cuff. Only one for an arm since we aren't securing a prisoner."

"I see"

One might think, are there not any magic cuffs on the black market? Not even the black market fears selling that item, no one would do that unless they have a secured background.

Elron drank his tea before putting it on the tiny plate it comes with, I did the same and got a tap from Singe.

"Oh well, I hope I'll get something out of this"

"Sure, as long as It's within my power"

"Then… how is your mercenary group going to work?"

"..." My face was silent, that project was not disclosed to anyone except Sophia.

"Oh don't get me wrong, as a Mayor, I know who registers around here, and knowing that the guild who gave a recommendation is connected to Riley it can't be helped but to be related to you"

"Makes sense" I nodded my head "Well, I plan to clean Ceath even if just a little bit"

"Oh, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

"Well, I don't want to keep bothering you, and of course, I thought you might destroy that guild Riley's in contact with."

A chuckle came out of Elron's mouth, what I said is true. He's been dealing with a lot lately, when he came to some higher-up kinda banquet or feast he was bombarded with questions as to how he managed to suppress the effects of his perk.

Well, he asked me about it but since I'm not planning to mass produce as of now, he didn't tell anyone the reason why.

"True."

—Tap

I got another tap from Singe, ugh why am I learning etiquette again? Oh yeah, cuz why not.

"Well, after my Mercenary group got formed why not hire us for some things, just make it reasonable though"

"Sure, I'll use your service if I had to"

Elron chuckled and stood up. It's time for our little tea time to end. I stood up as well and left along with Elron

As long as I can protect Anna's family this is a good trade, Anna's my employee anyways it's just part of the service because I'm also dragging her into a deep hole she'll never get out of.

…

As I was walking towards my dorm I suddenly stopped in my tracks, the one in front of me is none other than Paul.

My brows furrowed as I stared at the man in front of me, his mustache tugged upwards and like being tugged like a curtain folded in a creasy smile.

"That white-haired child…"

If it weren't for the crowd, I'd already pulled out my guns and eliminated him.

"It's what we're looking for."

Calling Milly it, irritates me a lot. With an aloof expression, I looked at him once again.

"What child?"

I'm not showing anyone anything. Not to the supreme government, not the Nexus, especially not the magic tower.