Father, I Won’t Do Anything

‘Hmm, still a greenhorn. Quite adorable, though.’

Jaina fell into thought, fidgeting her soft hands.

He must have come seeking to become the Magic Tower’s knight, but would soon be rejected for lacking the requisite qualities.

Beyond exceptional skill, knights also required refinement.

Thus, those who passed the knighthood exam would study etiquette under qualified tutors to earn their knightly title.

The issue was that such education was simply impossible for Izren, being of another race.

Not just the knights, but even lowly nobles spewed contemptuous words, rejecting Izren solely for his non-human status.

That was why he had come all the way to the Magic Tower, which had nothing to do with swords, to become a knight.

-Izren, I don’t think of you as non-human. I don’t see you as different from others.

-Your Highness.

-Can’t you just call me Rosian instead of ‘Your Highness’?

Eventually, after being rejected even by Tower Lord Diamid, the wandering Izren meets the imperial grandson Rosian and becomes his knight.

Likely an episode emphasizing the protagonist Rosian’s non-discriminatory nature toward other races.

‘I suppose there’s no chance of him becoming involved with me.’

Given the magicians’ intense reactions, Diamid would surely respond similarly.

He would drive Izren away according to the novel’s events. Moreover, with her own impending death at seventeen, there would be no intersection with Izren.

As Jaina let out a light sigh and turned to return to her room, a voice reached out and arrested her steps.

“Where does some mixed breed think he’s entering the Magic Tower?”

“Just laying eyes on him is bad luck, and he wants to become a knight?”

“Instead of spouting such nonsense, why don’t you offer up those shimmering eyes for research? They do seem quite valuable.”

Jaina’s gaze grew heavier as she peered down from the second floor.

‘Did the other dragons look at me with those same eyes?’

-Just looking at your eyes sickens me.

-A mongrel like you doesn’t expect the same treatment as other dragons, does it?

For a moment, Izren’s form overlapped with her own memory of being the sole blue-eyed member among the Black Night clan.

An acrid smile unsuited to her adorable face surfaced on Jaina’s lips.

‘One side tries to kill me as proof of impurity… while the other wants to pluck out my rare gem-like eyes for research.’

“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s squire.”

“What nonsense is this runt spouting now?”

“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s squire.”

“Are you ignoring me? Why do you keep repeating the same nonsense?”

Despite the surrounding magicians’ taunts, Izren parroted the same words like a broken record.

“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s squire.”

A cruel reality for a sixteen-year-old boy to endure.

Yet he stood in the lobby without any intention of retaliating against the magicians, as if waiting for someone to escort him to the Tower Lord.

‘But no one comes to Izren’s aid.’

Though the Tower Lord was away procuring materials, the unaware Izren spent days and nights in the lobby, hoping to encounter him by chance.

And his attempt miraculously succeeded, but…

Upon returning from his trip, Tower Lord Diamid dismisses him with a single remark.

-I have come to become your squire, Tower Lord.

-Didn’t you come to be research material?

Those words immediately petrified Izren, leaving no time for the shock to sink in.

For the Tower Lord’s wordless gesture to dispose of Izren swiftly followed.

-Get rid of him.

Thinking he would be captured as an experimental subject, Izren swiftly fled the Magic Tower, and his encounter with Diamid ended within mere seconds. All his efforts to become a knight had been in vain.

‘If he can’t become a knight anyway, it’s better to leave before enduring more insults.’

Mongrel, proof of impurity, worthless runt.

Perhaps it was seeing Izren’s shared plight of suffering merely for being born that resonated with her own experiences.

Without realizing it, Jaina’s hands gripped the railing tightly.

Contrary to her initial intent of simply observing the supporting character’s appearance, her gaze kept wandering back to him.

“How about gouging out those gem-like eyes? I heard there’s quite a demand for them.”

“Or we could just sell his pretty face as a whole slave. Hahaha. Apparently there’s a black market for that sort of thing.”

“Don’t you magicians have any spirit of inquiry? I heard eating the gem-eyes of mixed breeds can cure all sorts of ailments. Let’s experiment.”

Hahaha.

The magicians guffawed loudly, flinging about words no ordinary human would dare utter, ruled by the law of might.

In that moment, Jaina noticed something she had failed to perceive until then in Izren’s posture.

‘That’s…’

She had thought he was holding his ground admirably before the magicians, stating his purpose without faltering his expression.

But it seemed Izren was just a sixteen-year-old boy, no different from his peers after all.

His hands were saying, ‘I’m not alright. I’m anxious.’

Repeatedly rubbing his palms, clenching and unclenching his fists, tracing patterns on his skin with his index finger.

With a hunched back, Izren fidgeted endlessly with both hands, as if silently pleading for someone to save him…

“Haah.”

Letting out a sigh, Jaina slowly lowered her gaze.

Yet Izren’s image kept resurfacing in her mind.

After a moment’s contemplation, Jaina made her decision.

‘I wonder where Mikael is around this time.’

She intended to use communication magic to promptly relay the situation to the Tower Lord.

Since he would likely dismiss the squire request within seconds anyway.

‘It seems better for him to get away from those magicians sooner rather than later.’

Jaina turned and headed toward Mikael’s room.

* * *

Knock knock.

After the customary door knocks, Jaina immediately entered while opening the handle.

“Mikael, could you communicate with the Tower Lord for me using magic?”

He would have sensed her presence beforehand anyway.

But today, Mikael greeted her with utter bewilderment.

“Woah, when did you get here?!”

“Couldn’t you hear me approaching? I didn’t try to mask my footsteps or anything…”

It seemed Mikael had been deeply engrossed in something.

“Hey, wait a sec. Just wait.”

Mikael made vague gestures as if concealing something, but Jaina ignored it and stated her purpose directly.

“I came with a request. A prospective squire has come to the Magic Tower, so could you use communication magic to ask the Tower Lord what he intends to do?”

“What? If it’s about becoming a squire before an official knight, isn’t the standard response to tell them to first cultivate etiquette?”

Mikael let out an incredulous chuckle before circling his head with his index finger.

“Is there nothing in that idiot’s head?”

“He didn’t seem that way to me.”

“What do you mean? Though many magicians have requested to be taken as the Tower Lord’s disciple, this is the first time a knight has come.”

Adding that he alone had been accepted among countless magicians, Mikael continued:

“There’s no need to ask the Tower Lord. As his disciple, I’ll have him thrown out half-dead.”

“Please don’t.”

“Why not? Some wannabe knight dares to make a mockery of the magicians’ sacred ground?”

“He didn’t seem to be joking, but rather quite serious.”

“Well, madmen always appear serious in their delusions.”

As Mikael’s lips curled upward, an eerie light flickered in his eyes, as if an entertaining spectacle had finally arrived after so long.

“Otherwise, why would a knight come here instead of a martial arts school?”

Recalling the look Mikael had when intrigued upon her first arrival at the Magic Tower, Jaina blurted out urgently:

“It’s because he’s of another race.”

“Oh right, another race… What did you say?”

“Those who are different get ostracized. The weak have no choice but to submit to the strong’s logic.”

At Jaina’s words, Mikael momentarily froze.

In the ensuing silence of his room, Jaina’s voice echoed softly.

“That prospective squire must have been rejected everywhere else before coming here as a last resort.”

“…”

“Since the Tower Lord likely won’t accept him, it seems better for him to leave quickly.”

After a pause, Jaina added:

“The magicians are currently tormenting him.”

She then carefully reconsidered her phrasing to Mikael.

Requesting the Tower Lord to accept some mixed breed as a squire would be preposterous.

Relaying those words might earn her a reprimand for overstepping her bounds.

She had anticipated Mikael’s response.

“…Alright.”

However, contrary to her expectations, Mikael readily nodded.

“Got it. I’ll convey it to the Tower Lord.”

Surprised by his unexpectedly easy agreement, Jaina asked doubtfully:

“You promise? You can’t forget later or change your words.”

“You don’t think I’m a blockhead, do you?”

Though a clear answer, Jaina remained uneasy.

She forcefully pulled Mikael’s hand toward herself.

But his hand was larger than an average adult male’s, while Jaina’s was smaller than her peers’.

Even grasping it with both hands, there was still a gap.

Yet Jaina paid it no mind. Mikael likely wouldn’t comprehend the meaning of her action anyway.

She was simply putting her mind at ease.

“What’s this now?”

“It means to make a promise.”

Ignoring Mikael’s piercing gaze, Jaina solemnly hooked her dainty pinky finger around his.

As Jaina turned to leave, Mikael pondered with a dazed look.

‘I was in the middle of that communication magic with the Tower Lord, to whom she wanted me to relay.’

Jaina’s sudden arrival had startled him into abruptly cutting off the spell.

‘The Tower Lord didn’t hear Jaina’s voice, did he?’

With an uneasy feeling, Mikael reestablished the communication magic with Diamid.