HYCBV 10

Chapter 10

“What?”

“What did you say?”

The wizards stared at Frisia in stunned disbelief.

“What did you restore? The data?”

“Even if the Duke is terrifying, that’s quite the boast!”

The wizards, fussing and panicking, seemed pleased—as if Frisia’s boldness would somehow lessen their punishment.

“Shut up.”

“Ugh.”

“Gulp.”

With a single word, Cayen silenced the wizards and gestured to Aaron.

“Aaron, check it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Aaron hurried over and placed a verification artifact on top of the thick pile of documents.

Whirrr.

The artifact vibrated as it activated.

Numbers began appearing on its surface.

0. 1. 2. 3… the numbers started climbing rapidly.

“…!”

Aaron’s eyes widened slowly.

A moment later, he shouted in disbelief,

“My god. It’s all restored!”

“Really?”

“How… how is that possible? It looked hopeless!”

The wizards, expecting Frisia to fail, froze in shock.

One particularly skeptical wizard checked the artifact himself—and turned pale.

“This is insane. It’s really 100%!”

The wizard pointed at Frisia with a face as pale as death.

“This is impossible! There’s no way all of this could be restored overnight! What did you even do?!”

“Quiet, quiet!”

Aaron shouted at the wizards and turned to Frisia.

“Miss Violet, could you explain?”

“Wait… Violet? Violet, you mean…”

One wizard pointed at Frisia.

“Could it really be… the Cinderella ‘Despair’ story?”

Frisia’s expression stiffened.

“All she ever did was follow her impressive fiancé around, couldn’t keep up with the academy, nearly failed every time—a complete fool!”

“Oh! I heard that rumor too. Duke, surely she must have tampered with the artifact—uubp!”

At that moment, Cayen grabbed the chattering wizard’s lips.

“Uubp? Bbbp!”

The wizard’s lips stretched unnaturally, and he groaned in pain.

“Stop squawking. Your noise is reverberating.”

“Ubbp…!”

The wizards immediately fell silent, shocked by the cruel display.

‘Wow… unbelievable!’

Even Frisia’s eyes widened—though for a different reason than the other wizards.

‘So cool… one day, I’ll make sure…!’

One day, I’ll twist Felix’s annoying mouth just like that!

Filled with determination, Frisia quickly pulled out her notebook and began taking notes.

Cayen glanced at her.

“New recruit. Explain yourself.”

“Ah, yes!”

Frisia hurriedly put away her notebook and spoke.

“I analyzed the surrounding data of the missing sections and fortunately noticed a consistent pattern. Using that, I was able to reverse-calculate the lost data.”

Her explanation was clear, even if she hesitated slightly.

“A… pattern?”

“Wait, there was such a thing?”

The wizards exchanged confused glances. Such applied methods weren’t in the textbooks they had memorized.

‘There’s no way that inferior student knows something we don’t!’

In the strange silence, Cayen said nothing, remaining statue-like as he simply stared at Frisia.

After a moment,

“Huh.”

A faint curve appeared at the corner of Cayen’s mouth.

“Impressive.”

He slowly brushed his lips as he spoke.

“Not bad, new recruit.”

The wizards’ eyes nearly popped out in shock.

“Not bad?! Not bad?!”

No wizard had ever earned such praise from Cayen before.

‘Why would he compliment a D-grade student like that?!’

As the wizards struggled in envy, a lazy smile spread across Cayen’s refined face.

“A person finally arrived at the magic tower who’s mastered the Imperial language.”

“…!”

Instantly, the wizards’ faces turned red—they didn’t even know the language.

“Well done.”

“…!”

Frisia blinked and hesitated, as if hearing the words for the first time in her life.

After a moment, she awkwardly responded,

“Th-thank you…!”

The wizards glared at her, burning with jealousy.

One wizard had been friends with Felix at the academy, often sighing whenever his fiancée was mentioned.

‘Ah… my fiancée? She’s not stupid, but she loves to go out so her grades are terrible. That’s how girls are, right? They hang out, chat, and eat delicious food.’

And yet such a frivolous girl earned the Duke’s recognition! Surely she must have used some trick they didn’t know.

The wizard whose lips had been stretched like cheese glared at Frisia with envy.

At that moment, Cayen spoke again.

“The new recruit should get some sleep first.”

Only then did Aaron notice she was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, her lips slightly chapped and complexion pale.

‘She stayed up all night here?’

Aaron nodded to Frisia.

“Go on home. You’ve worked very hard today.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow at work…!”

Frisia bowed politely to Cayen and left.

Cayen turned to the wizards.

“And you lot.”

His calm voice was almost gentle. The wizards slumped.

“Since you’re incompetent and jealous assistants, I’ll give you a special gift.”

A gift?

Though their hearts ached from the harsh words, the word “gift” still made them hopeful.

The wizards looked up at Cayen eagerly.

He smiled faintly.

“An opportunity to return to your roots.”

“…Huh?”

“Yes…?”

“Everyone is demoted to janitorial duties. Start over by cleaning and scrubbing. Fun, right?”

No!

The wizards grimaced and protested desperately.

Cayen’s smile deepened.

“Of course, if you have skill, you can be promoted again. So do your best.”

He lightly tapped one wizard on the shoulder.

The wizards dropped to their knees in panic.

“D-Duke!”

“We beg for another chance, please!”

They had lived arrogantly as tower wizards, and now being reduced to janitors was the ultimate humiliation.

Cayen waved dismissively, as if tired of listening.

Then the wizards were pulled away by an invisible force.

“D-Dukeeeee!”

“Please give us a chanceeeee!”

Their pleas echoed into the distance.

Cayen, smiling faintly as he watched the scene, finally spoke.

“The new recruit’s name was Frisia Violet, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Aaron nodded quickly.

Tap, tap.

Cayen tapped his desk silently for a moment.

With a serious expression, he finally spoke:

“Investigate her background.”

I left the magic tower in a daze.

So many unexpected things had happened, leaving me confused.

But one phrase remained clear in my mind:

‘Well done.’

It was the first time anyone had truly acknowledged me.

Just thinking about it made my heart race.

I wanted to feel that way again.

[My master is truly brilliant!]

Pipi, who had been silent, bounced excitedly in my pocket.

[All I did was the simple calculations! I admire your ingenuity, master!]

Hearing praise from Pipi made my face burn.

[Meanwhile, I was of no use, master.]

Pipi’s voice drooped.

[Today I was just a talking calculator. You’re far too clever. I might be useless.]

‘What are you talking about! You saved me so much time with your calculations!’

I mentally scolded her.

‘Besides, thanks to you, I finally got back at Felix! Something I hadn’t managed for years!’

[Really?]

Pipi peeked out of my pocket, her little black eyes looking up at me.

[Am I useful too?]

“Of course! Immensely so!”

Pipi brightened instantly.

[I’ll keep improving! Until master can’t live without me!]

Seeing her energized in my pocket made me smile.

[But master, can you upload more data into me?]

“Huh?”

[I want to be more helpful. But honestly, my memory is empty right now.]

Apparently, most of the data inside Pipi had been lost during the explosion accident.

‘How can I feed data into you?’

[Everything you experience becomes my data! Reading books, checking papers—anything!]

…So basically, she’s telling me to study.

[I’ll learn diligently so one day I can unblock master’s mana channels!]

I paused.

‘She knows everything I remember.’

Apparently, she had read my memories from childhood—before my parents died, I was considered a magical prodigy.