Runes and Spirits (2)
'Damn it...'
There was a sign on the gate saying, "No entry except for the owner of the Silence Tower," but she ignored it and entered.
If she were a naughty child, she would have been hit with a slap, but he couldn't do that since she was a 132-year-old grandmother inside.
"Mr. Reed, why are you so late?"
He replied to Freesia, who asked again.
"I apologize. I remember this place not being a reception room."
"Yeah, it's a laboratory. It's a big problem if our Mr. Reed has memory issues in his own tower, right?"
Reed endured her sarcastic tone.
"Wouldn't it be a big problem if dementia comes while having a child's body?"
No, he couldn't hold back and blurted it out.
Freesia's smiling face didn't show any disturbance, but her small hand showed some strength.
"Our Silence Tower's owner has been quite rebellious lately. Do you want to die?"
"What brings you here?"
"Recently, I feel like our relationship has become too distant. I thought maybe we could talk a bit, you know?"
"Are we in that kind of relationship?"
"Of course."
Freesia drew a circle on Reed's chest with her finger, wearing black leather gloves.
"We're in that kind of relationship where we're tightly connected with our lives as collateral, right?"
It wasn't wrong, but it had an unpleasant nuance.
"The rumors are quite rampant."
"What rumors are you talking about?"
"People with eyes see, and people with mouths speak, right? Among those words, I heard that our Mr. Reed brought a very interesting item."
He wasn't surprised, as he had already thought she would know about the existence of the axe when he predicted she would be in the research building.
"Especially this."
However, he never thought she would find it and pull it out.
He had hidden it deep down, so it wouldn't be detected by mana sensing, but she somehow found it and took it out.
Her black shadow floated in the air, showing the double-edged axe in the shape of a hand.
"Does this look interesting?"
"..."
"Give it to me."
"I don't want to."
"Don't make me angry. Give it to me nicely when I ask."
"Anyone would think you left it in my care."
"I did leave it. I'm talking about the thing that will cut off my life."
"I can't cut off the owner of the Black Tower's life with that axe."
"You say that quite confidently?"
Freesia grabbed Reed's tie and pulled his face towards her.
"While I live day by day in boredom, are you so confident while you chat and laugh with women?"
"I express my deepest regret. However, I am also looking for a solution."
"Don't just talk, show me results. It's extremely annoying to see you fooling around. Do you know how angry I am?"
"How angry are you?"
Freesia pointed to the axe with her little finger.
"I'm as angry as the eight runes written here."
"Is that so?"
"What are you going to do about this? A rage as big as eight runes, huh?"
"I still won't give it to you."
Freesia clicked her tongue.
She threw the axe she had caught with her shadow like a piece of junk.
"Then I'll have to take the anger of those eight runes in a different way."
Without giving him a chance to say anything, her shadow hand sat Reed down on a chair.
It was a situation similar to when he went to confront Freesia.
But the feeling was strangely different.
Unlike back then when she moved to threaten him, this time the atmosphere itself was softer.
"What on earth is this..."
Before he could ask a question again, she made a sudden move.
At that moment, Reed felt his thoughts stop.
Freesia sat on Reed's lap.
Freesia, who would furrow her brows and wield violence when she didn't like something, sat like a well-behaved lady.
"Touch me like you would your daughter."
"Do you mean your head?"
"Where else would it be? You seem like a lewd person."
He stopped talking.
Reed carefully stroked her head.
At first, he thought it was a childish prank, but as he stroked Freesia's head, he realized.
This was torture.
A meticulously designed psychological torture.
Stroking the head of a girl who looks young but is an arrogant old woman, who isn't even his daughter, was more torturous than any situation.
It felt like touching a bomb with a lit fuse.
The only difference was that she didn't say anything while he stroked her head.
After about three minutes of silence, Freesia asked a question.
"What have you found out about the runes so far?"
"There's no significant progress."
"I see. It's hard to solve without any information on the runes, and it's difficult even for a genius unless they have outstanding intuition."
Freesia looked up at Reed with a mature smile.
"If you give it to me, I'll solve it in a week. What do you think?"
Reed shook his head.
He didn't want to ask for Freesia's help because he didn't know what she would do afterward.
"I'd like to try to solve it myself if possible."
"Is it the effort of a genius trying to enter the realm of a prodigy? Why do you only say sexy things? Your body is already sensual, and are you trying to have an attractive brain too?"
"That's sexual harassment."
"Would you mind letting me see that brain?"
Her words became harsh in an instant.
Freesia playfully tapped Reed's cheek as a gesture of a joke.
Reed was bothered by what Freesia had said.
"But didn't you say it's difficult even in the realm of a genius?"
"That's right."
"Are you saying you can do it in a week because you have information?"
"Do you want me to reveal the secret of the Tower's owner? Can you take responsibility? If you take responsibility, I'll tell you anything."
"I'll pass."
"Tsk. You always try to pry and then run away. You're such an annoying guy."
Freesia pushed Reed's hand away and got up from her seat.
She glared at him with her red eyes.
"Your head-stroking was pathetic. My hair feels messy now."
"I have nothing to say but that it's beyond my ability."
"Incompetent people always talk like that. Why don't you try to be more competent?"
Freesia's shadow hand reached out and tidied up her clothes neatly.
The tomboyish gothic girl, Freesia, walked out the door and said.
"Runes are the language of spirits."
"Excuse me?"
"It's a story from a very long time ago when spirits also roamed the continent. It's their own language that can't be understood simply by recording it. To understand it, you have to hear it directly from the spirits."
Freesia smiled.
"If you want to know the runes, call the spirits. I'm talking about higher spirits that can communicate in human language, not just lower spirits."
"It's easy to say, but isn't it difficult for humans to control those spirits?"
"As for lower spirits, the higher the level, the more demanding the mana and handling becomes."
In Reed's case, he had "Elemental Sensitivity Lv. 4" and could barely handle intermediate spirits.
"With the 'Eternal Hole' that your daughter has, it should be enough to capture the hearts of spirits. Maybe even possible for the Spirit King."
"Can you tell me that?"
No matter how much of a Tower owner he was, a magician's knowledge was important.
There were hardly any cases where they casually threw the biggest clue for an unsolvable problem.
"I'm just paying off the debt I owe to that Jude fellow."
Jude Roton. He was a magician who was the Tower owner before Reed.
"If you think you've received too much, try to keep our promise."
Freesia took out an umbrella from her shadow, opened it, and spun around.
She left without saying anything else.
