Ch.126The Peaceful Daily Life That Will Always Continue (End)

After that, Irina’s inauguration ceremony also ended successfully.

Everyone was very disappointed and saddened by my stepping down, but I believe our Blood Mages will be able to overcome this well.

And I have no doubt they’ll understand why I made this decision and what concerns led me to it.

After all, our children are remarkable and wise.

“So you finally retired?”

In the evening after the retirement ceremony.

As I was looking outside from the balcony of the building where the party was held, someone approached me.

This voice was very familiar.

“Seria, is that you again?”

“Why are you reacting like that?”

“The Green Tower really is doomed.”

When did she even get here?

“You retired, so of course I had to come. Do you know how hard it was to make time to get here?”

“You could have just not come.”

“I tried so hard to come, isn’t that a bit harsh?”

I wanted to ask if managing the Green Tower wasn’t more important than attending my retirement ceremony…

I felt so dumbfounded, but I decided to just let it go since she might actually get upset if I said that.

Well, from the looks of it, she seems to have finished all her work before coming.

It seems she properly took my advice.

At this point, complaining about why she came would only hurt Seria’s feelings.

She came here for me, so being cold to her wouldn’t be right.

I smiled slightly and waved at Seria.

“It feels strange.”

“Making such a fuss about retiring after just one year.”

“At this rate, when you retire, it won’t be the Green Tower anymore but the Blue Tower.”

“…No, from what I see, when I step down, there will be plenty of people who’ll be happy about it.”

She shuddered, saying it would mostly be the old folks.

Elves seem to have different sensibilities.

Well, it wasn’t a sensibility I particularly wanted to understand.

“Anyway, congratulations on your retirement. You’re free now? The self-proclaimed Count who loves freedom.”

“Ah, well…”

“Ever since I found out your identity, I thought you made a really big decision. Someone with wanderlust who was often absent.”

“…”

Actually, rather than wanderlust, I just had a strong desire to return to my original world.

Back then, I was in a… rebellious phase, you could say.

Seria was always the victim of that, so I feel quite sorry now, but at that time, I really couldn’t bear it otherwise.

As if being dragged into another world wasn’t miserable enough, suddenly being forced into a party to defeat the Demon King was too much.

“It’s fine. It’s not something I worry about. I prefer meeting as friends rather than as Magic Tower Master to Magic Tower Master anyway.”

Seria said with a slight smile.

Well, I felt the same way.

What could be sadder than meeting formally when you’re friends?

“Want a drink?”

“I’d like to, but I need to look after Irina.”

“Come on, we’re not going to drink much. We can have a few here and then go for a second round.”

“…You used to be such a little kid who knew nothing about alcohol.”

“I’ll kill you.”

Can a thousand years really change a person this much?

It’s quite a generational gap when I see this.

“Sleeping for a thousand years and talking about generational gaps…”

Seria grumbled, but there was a smile on her lips.

I’m glad her reaction wasn’t bad.

I chuckled.

.

.

.

After the retirement ceremony.

The Magic Tower, which seemed like it would be in chaos for a while, was running quite smoothly.

This was probably because even though I retired, I didn’t completely let go. I was still overseeing Irina from behind the scenes and somewhat involved in the tower’s affairs.

In truth, now that things were stabilized, there wasn’t much to meddle with, and it was more like things were running well because the people who had been neglecting their duties until now finally started doing their jobs properly.

From the beginning, it was the elders’ strength that somehow kept the declining Magic Tower going.

I knew this would happen, but seeing the Magic Tower running well even without me gives me a strange feeling.

Is this how parents feel when watching their independent children?

It was comical that I already understood a parent’s heart without ever having had a child.

Well… it’s not like we’ll never meet again just because they’re independent, so it’s just a sentiment.

“Unnie, what should I do with this?”

So what am I doing now?

Teaching Irina.

Having to teach her everything about running the Magic Tower from A to Z was quite a big task.

I ended up spending most of my time with Irina.

I did say I’d stay with her to ensure a smooth handover without any issues, but still.

‘Doesn’t this… make my retirement meaningless?’

I could go down right now and see the Blood Mages just fine.

Of course, I’m not doing that because it would feel awkward to go down and meet them casually right after announcing my retirement.

But seeing how they’re looking for me on the forum, it probably wouldn’t matter if I went around.

…

Or would it?

“Unnie, can’t you just leave me alone for a bit?”

I retired to rest, but here I am babysitting. What am I even doing?

Is this why I retired?

“If I leave you alone, you’ll just be on your MagicPad!”

“That’s… true, but.”

I turned my head with a loss for words at Irina’s outcry.

As Irina said, since I’m naturally lazy, now that I have no work, I just lie down and enjoy browsing forums on my MagicPad.

That’s more fun.

It’s not like lying around and just browsing TowerInside will cause health problems, and there’s nothing to restrain me anymore, so why live a wholesome life?

I’ll proudly just browse forums.

“If you keep doing that, I’ll also do nothing and just lie around for a month like you did.”

“What…”

That, that’s…

“No, at that time, I was really preparing for a month, not just lying around doing nothing…”

“But when I checked your MagicPad, you were just browsing TowerInside all day?”

“…”

When did she see that?

Now I really had nothing to say.

If she goes that far, even I can’t do anything…

“Alright, alright, I’ll teach you.”

“Yay!”

“I’ll educate you so thoroughly you’ll regret it.”

“…Huh?”

Irina responded with a questioning voice.

She had already awakened the beast within me.

Irina belatedly realized her mistake, but it was already too late.

“U-Unnie?”

“Come here. I won’t kill you.”

This mischievous little one, I’ll educate her thoroughly.

Irina trembled and tried to run away, but I grabbed her leg with my blood hand and made her fall.

Where do you think you’re going?

You can’t escape.

Absolutely not.

.

.

.

I literally educated her to death, and got scolded by Seria who came to visit.

After seeing Irina crying from my education, Seria gave me a proper knock on the head, and today I once again felt that the path of parenting is long and difficult as I fiddled with my MagicPad.

“This is ridiculous…”

Seria, who now comes and goes as if this is her own home.

It’s fortunate if it’s just Seria; even Eterna, who’s now a personal friend since I stepped down as Magic Tower Master, visits quite often.

At least they come secretly so the kids don’t get flustered.

But that commoner Ignius and that Iron Tower brat…

“Haah…”

This is probably the only peaceful time I have left, after all the kids leave and Irina falls asleep.

When I think about how little free time I have left, I get that post-nut clarity feeling, but what can I do?

I’ve already decided to do this, and I can’t take it back now.

I was grimacing while browsing my MagicPad, thinking about how my life had become busier when I was trying to make it easier, when I suddenly remembered the Transcendent forum.

Come to think of it, I haven’t been there since then.

‘Maybe I’ll try it once.’

I remember just briefly entering and leaving at that time.

Now that I’m no longer the Magic Tower Master and can spend my time freely, trying out the Transcendent forum might not be a bad idea.

As I opened the Transcendent forum as I remembered, the familiar screen came into view.

A new world full of raw content, a bit different from the TowerInside I’ve been browsing until now.

“…Hmm.”

No community user could resist that temptation.

After contemplating for a while whether to look or not, I finally fell into that abyss.

‘I shouldn’t become an addict like Eterna.’

Indeed.

Can I browse without becoming an addict?

That’s a story no one knows… but.

Ding!

[Yaraehyang: What are you doing?]

“…Hehe.”

Still, I might be better off than Eterna who was always alone.

She became like that because she didn’t have this kind of daily life.

Irina.

Eterna, the commoner, and the Iron Tower brat.

Other Magic Tower Masters and our Blood Mages.

And finally, Seria.

[SuperGeniusPrettyBloodMage: Forum browsing]

[Yaraehyang: Stop it, your bones will rot]

[SuperGeniusPrettyBloodMage: Hahahahaha]

This peaceful daily life will continue from now on.