Adopting Disaster
chapter-17

Tower Master Meeting (3)

In the world of wizards, the hierarchy is built on the logic of power.

The strong wizards are the seniors and the masters.

The weak wizards are the juniors and their disciples.

This clear distinction is similar to the structure of noble society, but it boils down to the food chain in the wild.

That's why, during the Tower Master Conference, Freesia acted as an autocrat, and no one could say anything. It was also the reason why Helios was able to take the chairman's seat at the Tower Master Conference.

The more you have, the more your rights extend; the less you have, the more they shrink.

All Reed had was money.

Money? That's not important to the wizards of the tower.

They can make it somehow.

It's not even a challenge to blackmail royalties or nobles to extract money using the knowledge and information gained from the tower.

Money is, after all, simply a small stone.

In other words, the Silence Tower, which has nothing but money, practically has nothing.

So back to the main question.

Why haven't you revealed it so far?

"It's for my daughter."

"For your daughter?"

"Since the tower masters here are making such a fuss, how could I possibly say that she possesses the 「Eternal Hole」?"

The 'Eternal Hole,' which is called the legend of all wizards.

The moment it manifests, regardless of race, the world is turned upside down.

Being noticed may seem like a good thing, but there are too many responsibilities to bear as much as attention.

"I don't have the strength to protect her yet. I couldn't give up either, so I had to hide it."

The tower masters were convinced by that fact.

The conviction led to another question.

"Why did you insist on reforming with Magic Engineering if you knew your daughter possessed the 「Eternal Hole」?"

"I'm curious too. Rosaria must be a promising talent who will become a great wizard, so why did you choose Magic Engineering?"

If she had outstanding potential, it would be obvious that she would become a great wizard, so why would they need to reform the tower?

"It's because Rosaria is Rosaria, and I am myself. This is not a decision made as Rosaria's father but as the Tower Master of the Silence Tower."

Wizards look towards the future, while tower masters must look down upon the tower.

Rosaria was a charming child with great talent, but from the tower master's point of view, she was an unproductive, wasted resource.

Rather, she was like an aggro pile that would make enemies more persistent.

As an example, it was enough to consider the first encounter with the tower master of the Black Sky.

In the case of the Black Sky, it came on strong but had no lingering at the end.

Someone will definitely aim for Rosaria, more persistently and in dirty ways.

If that happens, the tower will sway, and Rosaria will also become unhappy.

If she insisted on pure magic, it would be just as self-destructive.

That's why he didn't make the decision until the flower of her talent bloomed.

"Seriously… making such a talented child fall into Magic Engineering…"

"What a waste of talent…"

The tower master of Jade Tower shook her head with a regretful expression.

"What are you talking about? I don't plan on forcing Magic Engineering on her."

"What do you mean?"

"If she is interested in magic or academia, I'll let her learn it."

At this remark, some of the tower masters were genuinely surprised.

"Are you planning on leaving her education to her own inclinations?"

"Isn't it better to learn magic that suits her talents?"

"Why are the other tower masters surprised by this?"

Some tower masters couldn't understand why others were surprised.

Reed realized that the difference in reactions stemmed from the difference in their upbringing between the nobility and commoners.

The ones surprised were from the noble background, while the ones who didn't understand were from the commoner background.

Commoner-born wizards usually let their talents develop through education suited to their abilities or leave them to learn on their own.

On the other hand, noble-born wizards prioritize bloodlines.

That's why they must learn magic suitable for their bloodline, and if they lack talent in that area, they are forced to learn it anyway.

Reed was a descendant of the Adeleheights, a noble family.

In Reed's case, he must have undoubtedly been forced to receive an education in magic suitable for his family, as it was ingrained in him.

To abandon such noble ideals was surprising for the nobles.

"Are you going to be okay, Tower Master of Silence Tower?"

Dolores, the one who had been with him the longest, asked the question.

Reed nodded his head.

"If I had intended to do as I please, I wouldn't have adopted her in the first place."

The other tower masters remained quiet.

All eyes wandered elsewhere as they became lost in their thoughts.

"Since there don't seem to be any more questions, let's take our seats."

Reed sat back down.

Helios, the chairman, continued the conference, but in reality, it virtually ended with Reed's speech.

* * *

After the Tower Master Conference ended, Reed looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

A grey-haired man with a corner of his mouth curled, as if it was about to touch his cheekbone, was revealed.

It wasn't a muscle spasm.

It was just the expression of happiness that was trying to reveal itself on his face.

"Successful."

He had obtained everything he had aimed for during the conference.

As proof of that, as soon as the conference ended, he immediately received greetings from the other tower masters.

-Goodbye, Tower Master of Silence Tower.

-I hope Magic Engineering goes well, Silence.

The greetings themselves may not hold much meaning, but wizards, with their bull-like pride, would never initiate conversation or offer greetings to their inferiors.

Approaching first means recognizing Reed as someone they need. In other words, it indicates that their intentions were successfully perceived.

-If I had intended to do as I pleased, I wouldn't have adopted her in the first place.

What would the Tower Lords think upon hearing the words of a devoted father who lives for the happiness of his daughter?

For ordinary people, it would have been a light-hearted situation where they could be touched or tease him for being a dad-obsessed person.

However, mages, especially Tower Lords, are different.

Rather than emotions, they prioritize reason, and their thoughts are driven by benefits based on that reason.

Educating in magic depends on the interest of the person concerned.

And not imposing one's will and leaving them alone.

When they spin their minds to interpret those two sentences in a way that benefits them, it is interpreted as such:

-We can bring that monster into our towers as well.

Each tower had specialized magic, and entering the tower as an apprentice meant having an interest in that field of magic.

For example, if Rosaria is interested in water or ice magic, she will go to the Wallin Tower, which specializes in ice magic, to make the most of her talent. And if she wants to learn dark magic, she will go to the Tower of Black Sky.

Simply having that possibility was good news.

In order to build a favourable impression in advance, Reed was their top priority as the father of the daughter.

Parents are mirrors for their children, and parents' emotions unknowingly influence their children.

The Tower Lords offered their greetings to Reed immediately after the meeting to plant a good impression now.

And ‘sincerely’ wishing for the unlimited development of magic engineering.

‘It's a bit disappointing that I can't get everyone on my side...’

Tower Lords like Nix from Stony Tower and Nicholas Rottenstein still didn't like Reed.

It must be an eyesore that they were utilizing their daughters to gain favor from other tower lords.

'Better to have certain enemies than ambiguous allies.'

Reed decided to draw lines with the Tower Lords hostile to him.

Perhaps it was because he was thinking about those enemies that his twitching lips finally regained stability, and Reed left the restroom.

He glanced at the parked carriages through the window.

He could infer which Tower Lords were left just by the color of the carriages.

‘Is it the Tower Lord of Wallin?’

A sky carriage painted deep blue, like the sea.

It was parked about two spaces away from his own carriage.

‘The Tower Lord of Wallin is still here.’

He thought so, and then, as he was turning his head, he stopped suddenly.

Dolores was standing in front of him on the way.

"Are you leaving now?"

He answered her question with a calm face.

"I had some business to attend to. And you?"

"I had some business as well. Just."

They didn't ask each other about their business.

They just walked naturally towards the exit together.

"You won't make a good father."

Dolores muttered, covering the hot sun with her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"I only said what was obvious. You pretended to care for your daughter but you only wanted to do what was best for yourself."

"Everybody can guess that much."

They all must have felt the nuance that they should be kind to me.

It was an unbelievably arrogant behavior, but no one opposed it.

It's attractive and fatal.

Nobody said anything now because the card called Rosaria he had was such an existence.

"What would she think if she knew that you used her like that?"

"She will resent me if all I said was a lie."

Reed looked down at Dolores with his golden eyes.

"However, I didn't lie. Everything is for my daughter."

Making the Silence Tower a force to be reckoned with, and having all the tower masters keep an eye on Rosaria, were both for her sake.

She had an overwhelming talent that, try as she might hide it, but will still stand out.

In order to stand against those who envied her, Reed brought the tower masters over to his side.

"Don't hurt her too much. She seems like a really nice girl."

Dolores didn't seem keen on holding Reed's actions against him any longer and closed her mouth.

As they continued their conversation, the carriages were finally in sight.

"Careful on your way, Tower Master of Silence."

"Take care, Tower Master of Wallin."

"And, about Magnesium."

"Hm?"

"I'm looking forward to it. The idea of manipulating the material using magic stones is quite interesting. I hope you achieve good results."

"…"

Reed was taken aback by her comment.

Because, among those who said goodbye, not a single person mentioned Magnesium.

Reed stared blankly, unable to speak, and Dolores' face reddened.

"When this happens, you just say 'thank you'."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't imagine anyone hearing about that. I thought there would be no interest."

"I studied Magic Engineering a little in the past. Just out of curiosity…"

Dolores began to say something but stopped herself, rolling her eyes and then making eye contact with Reed.

He was silent, recalling an unknown memory that only Dolores knew.

She swallowed back her words and politely bowed her head.

"Be, be careful on your way back."

She quickly turned her body and walked away, almost as if escaping.

Reed stared at Dolores quietly.

'This guy, what did he not like about her that he hurt such a nice girl?'

Reed of the past became even more hateful.