The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 39

The Tower Lord swung his staff with force once more.

“Urgh!”

“Aaack!”

The Crown Prince’s aide and the Minister of Justice, caught off guard, went sprawling to the floor.

Standing tall and proud on his own, the Tower Lord shouted again at the top of his lungs.

“I heard Namia Roaphie is here! Where is that girl?!”

The Emperor, who had just been talking about protocols for meeting royalty, furrowed his brows with a look of disbelief.

In the end, I had no choice but to step forward, trembling.

“Th-that would be me… Namia Roaphie.”

“What? This scrawny thing?”

The Tower Lord blinked in surprise as he looked me over.

Then he crossed his arms and muttered,

“To use that many scrolls, you need serious muscle… You’ve gotta lug scroll boxes around every day, too.”

I now understood why the Tower Lord’s physique was so well-developed beneath his robe.

In the silence that followed, he planted his staff on the floor with a loud thunk.

“I’ll ask directly.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Is it true that you created 166 defense scrolls in one day, and activated 172 the next?”

“Ah, yes.”

A moment of silence followed my response.

I honestly didn’t expect that fact to reach the Tower.

‘How did that get out? The Tower is basically cut off from the world. There’s no way they heard some passing rumor.’

Our former department head hadn’t seemed interested at all, either.

While I was still in shock, the Tower Lord’s eyes bulged as he stomped closer.

Grabbing my shoulders, he demanded,

“You graduated from the Academy, right? You hid your abilities there, didn’t you?”

“P-pardon? Uh, yes.”

“There was some personal reason you didn’t want to enter the Tower, correct?”

“Uh… yes.”

“You were keeping it hidden, but the situation forced your hand, didn’t it?”

“Yes…?”

“I see. That confirms everything.”

The Tower Lord smiled widely. The old man’s grin was so cheerful it was almost unsettling.

“Well then, let’s go to the Tower.”

“Y—yes?”

With no warning, he flipped me over and hoisted me onto his shoulder.

The world turned upside down in an instant as he declared with pride,

“Normally, we don’t let anyone in past the age of twenty… but we can’t possibly let a genius like this slip by!”

“Y-yes?”

“You’re twenty-three, right? Then just stay until you’re forty.”

Still carrying me, he turned to Kiaros and said bluntly,

“As for the report Your Highness requested, here is my reply: Namia Roaphie is a magical genius and must be brought to the Tower. There will be no further discussion. That is all.”

Panic set in immediately.

It was like a devil was whispering in my ear: “Just go.”

Because… in the original story, the Tower remains safe even during wartime.

‘If I let myself be taken like this, I could spend the rest of the war peacefully studying magic! I’ve always been good at ignoring the world’s problems!’

The Tower doesn’t involve itself in wars. Ever.

And the forces behind the war don’t dare touch it either.

At one point, even the protagonist suspects the Tower must be behind the conflict. (They weren’t.)

But I had to pull myself together.

‘Snap out of it, Namia! You have to meet Dad! They said they’d find him soon!’

Clinging to that thought, I clutched the Tower Lord’s robes and said,

“Um, excuse me… Tower Lord. I don’t want to go…”

Saying it aloud was almost embarrassing.

I had hidden my powers back at the Academy specifically because I didn’t want to go to the Tower—was that really such a surprise?

But the Tower Lord just laughed heartily.

“Yup! I figured as much!”

“Eh? Yes?”

“Still, you’re going!”

What a brute. That’s when—

The upside-down world flipped again.

To my shock, it was Kiaros who snatched me away from the Tower Lord and held me in his arms.

“Miss Namia Roaphie has stated that she doesn’t wish to go.”

Cradling me like a princess, he continued,

“Miss Roaphie is a civil servant of the Imperial Court. It is our duty to protect her.”

He held me tight, as if he would never let me go.

The Tower Lord swung his staff and yelled,

“Nonsense!”

Staffs aren’t needed to activate scrolls.

The Tower Lord’s gait was flawless.

Which meant this staff was just a weapon.

“Geniuses must be where they belong!”

Just then, the Empress pulled a club off the wall and stepped forward.

“Really? Then Namia should stay as a civil servant!”

She swung her club, blocking the staff with ease.

While she distracted the Tower Lord, Kiaros leapt back, still holding me tightly.

The Empress grinned and shouted:

“Our Namia is a phenomenal genius civil servant! She’s memorized every law and reads every document with care! She does her job impeccably and writes amazing reports! She even creates unheard-of scrolls to help the royals!”

“Are you insane? How do you compare a government worker to a mage?!”

“Did you just make a discriminatory comment about someone’s profession?! In an era where even a mercenary can be Empress?!”

The Tower Lord and the Empress clashed, blow for blow. They were perfectly matched.

Standing in front of me, the Empress bellowed:

“I absolutely will not let anyone take my Namia!”

The room was soon thrown into chaos.

But since it was the Empress’s own quarters, no one dared intervene.

The Emperor, however, remained silent.

“Your Majesty… shouldn’t you step in?”

The former Minister of Justice asked hesitantly.

But the Emperor just smiled, satisfied.

“No, no.”

He patted the Minister’s back gently.

“I’m a selfish father. I don’t want to ruin my son’s moment.”

Kiaros let out a deep sigh and murmured softly,

“Uh, it’s just… His Majesty is misunderstanding something.”

“I see.”

“…Don’t most people at least ask what the misunderstanding is?”

Even as they spoke, the Empress and the Tower Lord continued destroying the furniture in their brawl.

Kiaros jumped again, shielding me from the Empress’s club.

Then, a bit awkwardly, he added,

“The… misunderstanding is that I’ve liked you for a long time.”

“…I see.”

“…Don’t people usually react more… surprised?”

At that moment—

Realizing brute force wouldn’t work against the Empress, the Tower Lord tossed aside his staff.

Then he suddenly sat at the table and propped up his chin.

“Fine. Let’s talk about something else first.”

His sudden shift was astonishing.

“I heard the Crown Prince requested access to the Scroll Department records.”

The former Minister of Justice, sighing, shuffled over and sat beside him.

With a scolding tone, he said,

“It’s the Scroll Magic Department, Tower Lord.”

“Oh, is it? Whatever.”

Kiaros sighed deeply, set me down, and clarified,

“It’s the Scroll Management Department.”

As expected, Kiaros was the only one who actually knew our department’s correct name.

He even pulled out a chair for me.

‘Am I… really allowed to sit here?’

And just like that, six people sat around the table.

The aide quietly cleaned up the broken club and staff pieces.

‘I’m technically lower-ranking than that aide…’

It was the most awkward seating arrangement imaginable:

The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown Prince, the Tower Lord, the former Minister of Justice, and… a low-level civil servant.

If Kiaros hadn’t escorted me himself, I’d have been helping clean up instead.

“The Tower expresses its deepest regrets over this matter.”

The Tower Lord wore a stern expression as he spoke gravely.

I’d figured there’d be trouble—but things were clearly worse than expected.

‘Well… I guess the department head’s petition did have some effect.’

Even though he’d been dismissed.

Still, if the scroll review had led to mass firings, conflict was inevitable.

While I glanced around nervously—

“To resolve this grievance, the Tower requests the transfer of Namia Roaphie.”

…Huh?

I thought we were done with that!

The Empress slammed her palm on the table.

“You think that’s the real issue? The damn Scroll-whatever Department keeps churning out traitors!”

“I wouldn’t know!”

“You’re saying you didn’t know they framed me and tried to assassinate the Crown Prince?!”

“I said I don’t know!”

They kept yelling back and forth, voices echoing through the chamber.

Honestly, the two of them seemed like they were perfectly matched.

“We should just burn the whole department down!”

No!

Just as I looked pleadingly at the Tower Lord, hoping he’d at least oppose that idea—

“Really?”

A maniacal grin spread across his face.

“Then I guess they’ll all be dismissed. And since Namia Roaphie is no longer a civil servant…”

He beamed with eerie delight.

“…the Tower will be taking her.”