The women I set free are obsessed with me

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"Tower Master?"

The Tower Master.

The Master of the Magic Tower.

No further explanation was necessary. The title Tower Master alone was enough to explain what kind of existence it entailed.

Not merely a simple administrator of the tower, but the symbolic pinnacle of the magical world.

"That's right. Tower Master! I felt it instantly just now. Child, you are an existence that transcends all others. You can do it!"

Edmund's expression was similar to that of a believer who had witnessed God, but Mirabelle's reaction was rather indifferent.

"I'm not really interested though?"

"Child, you don't understand because you're still young. It's the Tower Master. It means becoming the pinnacle of all mages."

Mirabelle pondered for a moment.

Tower Master? She still wasn't interested in such things. Finding Karami was her top priority.

But even if she met him again, what would change? She had disappointed him by failing to prove her worth. If they reunited without anything changing, she would only disappoint him again.

There would be no more chances after that.

She didn't want to be abandoned.

She needed to increase her value before their reunion.

"If I become the Tower Master, will my value increase?"

"Value? Only fools discuss the value of a Tower Master. All the mages of the world will revere you."

Tower Master.

Yes, perhaps only as the Tower Master could she proudly call herself Karami's slave wherever she went.

And the miracle Harold dreamed of—a world where witches didn't have to hide. If she became Tower Master, she might be able to create the world her family wished for.

"I'll do it. I'll become the Tower Master."

Determination filled Mirabelle's eyes.

***

"…Thus, I, Edmund Alexius Wilmore, nominate this child as the Tower Master."

An elder council meeting for the first time in a decade.

Five elders and the candidate, Mirabelle, gathered in the conference room.

The elders sat around a round table. Naturally, the Tower Master's seat, the place of honor, stood vacant.

To be precise, it had been vacant since the death of the first Tower Master who discovered the Magic Tower when this mysterious structure appeared in the world.

One couldn't become Tower Master merely by desire alone.

The selection process was essentially a recommendation system. Moreover, one could only ascend to the position of Tower Master if all five elders unanimously agreed.

In other words, they had never once selected a Tower Master.

The reasons were more trivial than one might expect.

Not wanting to put someone weaker than themselves above them was understandable, but…

Wouldn't be interesting.

Too old.

Too ugly.

Don't like bald people.

And so on.

Due to all sorts of nitpicking, no Tower Master had been selected for hundreds of years. Since the elders could divide the Tower's affairs among themselves, leaving the position vacant wasn't much of an issue.

Thus, for a long time, under an unspoken agreement, the Magic Tower maintained a delicate balance between the five elders. Even if Mirabelle had steeled her resolve, whether she could become Tower Master remained uncertain.

"Tower Master you say… I had forgotten such a position existed."

The one speaking was Dar'enor.

A dark high elf elder who had been overseeing the Tower since the time of the first Tower Master.

The Magic Tower did not discriminate based on race, gender, age, or any other factor. It was purely meritocratic. Anyone with exceptional magical ability was qualified to become a mage of the Tower.

Mirabelle being a young girl was no obstacle. If anything, her overflowing potential for growth was a bonus.

"So it was you! You were the one who shook the Tower recently!"

A young boy suddenly stood up, causing a commotion. With each movement, the black wings on his back fluttered.

The Tower's troublemaker.

Zakaril Vermor.

A demon born in the demon realm on the opposite side of the continent.

Though he appeared to be around Mirabelle's age, his soul had harbored an expanse of time bordering on immortality.

Zakaril had come to destroy the Tower out of boredom, then became an elder out of boredom. To his eyes, Mirabelle was a new toy that had rolled in.

The corners of Zakaril's eyes curved mischievously.

"You're strong, right? How strong? Play with me!"

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding area was enveloped in darkness.

The spectacle was like a black sea.

The dark ocean churned ominously.

With a sharp hiss, a school of sharks emerged from the sea.

They seemed solid yet rippled like mist.

As if catching the scent of blood, they circled Mirabelle like prey for a moment.

Then, cutting through the water, they charged ferociously. Sharp, gleaming teeth flashed.

Swish.

But the sharks' teeth never reached Mirabelle.

An indigo Grim Reaper appeared from thin air, swinging its scythe. It bisected the sharks' bodies, which shouldn't have had a physical form.

"Oh!"

Mirabelle tapped her staff twice, and gentle ripples spread, calming the raging waves.

A shark that had been rising from beneath Mirabelle's feet crashed into the surface, as though an invisible barrier had been conjured.

The black sea calmed.

Peace.

Zakaril hopped up and down, clapping his hands.

"Wow! You're the first to block my prank! Everyone else just panicked and got eaten before they could even cast a spell."

"It wasn't that impressive though?"

"Haha! It's also my first time hearing such a response. You're really interesting, aren't you? I feel like fun things will happen if you're around. Alright, I approve!"

She had passed the troublemaker's first prank.

Edmund let out a small sigh and looked over the other elders.

"What do the rest of you think?"

"Just another human. A fragile being who will soon be swept away by the vast flow of time. It doesn't matter, we can always choose another in a hundred years if need be."

"Carisisa, and you?"

She flicked her long snake tongue, then slithered back to her research lab, her serpentine body undulating.

It meant she didn't care either way.

Including Edmund, four elders had approved. Naturally, all eyes turned to the last one.

The Tower Master recommendation process was largely divided into two rites of passage.

The first was playing with Zakaril. Most who came dreaming of becoming Tower Master died, unable to withstand his pranks.

If one passed that, getting the other elders' approval wasn't difficult. They all had a do-whatever-you-want attitude.

Yet no Tower Master had emerged.

The reason was the final barrier.

"Sigh…"

A large, wide-brimmed pointed hat and a dress that clung tightly to the skin, boldly revealing a voluptuous female figure.

It was a woman holding a thin, long pipe.

The last elder.

Morgana Cheriseine.

She was the elder who repeatedly thwarted Tower Master candidates by nitpicking their appearances. No matter how skilled they were, this aspect was impossible to overcome.

Morgana took a long drag from her pipe and exhaled slowly. Smoke infused with mana billowed up.

As the smoke slowly dissipated…

"Pass."

"Huh? A-Are you serious?"

"Yes. She's cute. Adorable children are always welcome. It'll bring some life to this dreary tower. Besides…"

Morgana's narrowed eyes, hidden beneath her pointed hat, fell on Mirabelle. Her gaze held a mix of emotions, like paints on a palette.

"As an adult, I should take care of a young witch."

Morgana winked.

Edmund sighed.

It was more out of exasperation than relief.

To think appearance was a requirement for becoming Tower Master.

Regardless, the fact remained that all five elders had agreed, each for their own reasons.

It was time for a new master to be born in the Magic Tower.

Except… she was a slave.

***

Even with the appearance of a new Tower Master, there were no dramatic changes within the Magic Tower.

After all, mages cared more about their magical research than anything happening in the world. They remained holed up in their labs like cockroaches, refusing to come out.

Mirabelle was similar.

Currently, she was at the very heartily of the Magic Tower, floating in mid-air, engrossed in reading. Around her, hundreds of magic books orbited at a constant speed, like the rings of Saturn.

Each book was more extraordinary than Teacher Go's Pro Tips Grimoire. As Tower Master, Mirabelle had the right to read them all.

She speed-read one book in an instant, tossed it aside, and a new book appeared in her hand. This cycle repeated endlessly.

To others, it might have looked pointless, but Mirabelle was diligently learning magic. She was becoming something transcendent, beyond a mere witch.

No one would have imagined that Mirabelle was doing all this not to grasp the world in her hands, but merely to catch the eye of her master.

Whoosh.

Inside the book bunker Mirabelle had created, space distorted and a Grim Reaper appeared.

"You're back?"

The Reaper nodded.

After becoming Tower Master, Mirabelle had temporarily stopped chasing after Karami.

Though she had become Tower Master, she was still inexperienced.

She would meet him after honing her magic further.

However, not content with just waiting, Mirabelle had been secretly plotting something.

The tiny amount of Karami's mana that Mirabelle originally possessed. She had traced it back and finally succeeded in locating Karami.

Karami was currently in the beastkin kingdom of Vestia.

And as expected, there were slaves around him.

Though she envied those by his side terribly, Mirabelle endured. It wasn't time yet.

Instead, she indulged in a small desire. Using the Grim Reaper, she severed the shackles on their souls. Her goal was Karami's mana imbued in those shackles.

They were no longer Karami's slaves, but that wasn't her concern.

Because she was more urgent.

Mirabelle examined the mana the Reaper had retrieved. An unimpressive black mana. But to Mirabelle's eyes, it looked more precious than anything else in the world.

When breaking their shackles, she had felt a surge of jealousy—Why do only you get to wear Master's shackles—but not anymore.

Mirabelle gathered Karami's mana, letting it flow into her soul.

Then she molded the mana.

Into the shape of shackles.

In Mirabelle's mind's eye, shackles as dark as a moonless night formed.

With her own hands, Mirabelle placed shackles on her own soul.

Click.

She thought she heard such a sound.

Having successfully placed the shackles with utmost care, Mirabelle's expression melted. Her body trembled with exhilaration, and a long, breathy sigh escaped her lips, "Ahhh…"

"This is it…"

The sensation of having her soul bound, of all of her belonging irrevocably to her master.

This pressure.

This sense of security.

It truly felt the best.

She hadn't been able to sleep properly since parting with Karami, but tonight, she felt she could sleep soundly.

I should dream about playing with Master.

Hugging him tightly.

Eating slime fritters.

Mirabelle cast a simple spell on herself, hugged her staff tightly, and closed her eyes.