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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Sleepless Nights
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"Hmm, and..."
She recalled something she'd heard while talking with her former male subordinates.
"Boss, for men, being pretty is all that matters."
"That's just this bastard's personal opinion."
"What do you mean? The boss is beautiful!"
"A traitor! Drag that bastard away! Throw him in the hole!"
Some strange lines were mixed in, but since having a screw loose was their defining trait, it wasn't unusual at the time.
"Pretty."
"...I suppose so."
"Hm?"
Helios had covered his mouth at some point and turned his head away.
"Well, yeah. She's pretty, right? It's not like I've never been told that."
"What else?"
"What else...?"
I'm done describing my face. I hardly ever even look in a mirror.
I can't exactly mention my hair color. Ah.
"She has long, straight hair."
"*Cough!*"
Helios suddenly choked, so I had to stop and pat him on the back.
Of course, Helios got angry, claiming it wasn't a pat on the back but an assassination attempt.
He makes a fuss even when I try to help.
* * *
"She has long, straight hair."
Lately, Helios had been feeling a kind of anguish he'd rather not feel.
That strange phantom he'd seen that night, the day he'd made his vow and resolution to reach the top of the tower.
Yes, a phantom. That was the cause.
His master apparently had a female sibling. But from the sounds of it, they didn't seem to resemble each other.
In fact, the description gave the complete opposite impression.
"Haaah..."
So even if he were to actually see his master's sister, there was no way he would feel the same way he did when he saw that phantom.
"She has long, straight hair."
That damn straight hair.
Helios sighed. It was because the image of the phantom was shimmering in his mind again.
If only his master had long hair...
*Crazy bastard. What the hell am I thinking?*
Mint returned to the room just as Helios was running his hands through his hair so forcefully he was practically hitting his own head.
"What kind of lunatic game is that?"
Helios turned his head and flinched.
Standing before him was the very culprit who had thrown him into this agony.
*What the.*
Helios flinched.
And for good reason. Mint usually favored cheap, thin shirts that covered his neck.
But now, completely unlike his usual self, his long neck was exposed, and he stood there with water dripping from him as if he'd just washed up.
The moment he saw the droplet of water clinging to the tip of a strand of hair, Helios felt an unwitting tension.
As Mint approached, an indescribable scent wafted from him.
How to describe it? It was a scent that stimulated the nose with a cool freshness, yet became comforting the longer one smelled it.
"...Master, w-what's with your appearance?"
"I washed up."
Though Mint usually maintained his cleanliness with Kia without needing to wash.
*Washing with water like this isn't so bad once in a while.*
Of course, after washing his face at the sink, he'd gone ahead and washed his hair with a bar of cheap soap.
"...What is this smell?"
"Smell? Ah, is it the soap?"
Helios swallowed lightly.
It was because Mint had unconsciously moved closer.
It was absurd. Why was he so conscious of the man standing right in front of him?
It was all because he was surprised by this different appearance.
That had to be it.
*Of all the...*
The 'Garet' that Mint had created had a rather small Adam's apple. You had to look very closely to even notice its slight protrusion.
Helios finally wiped a hand down his face and let out a soft groan.
That person is a man, and I'm a man!
Why did he keep having these strange imaginings of that person with long, straight hair?
"There's no other word for it but crazy."
"What? Now you're cursing me to my face? Is it a crime to be clean?"
Helios whipped his head away.
"...I wasn't talking to you, Master."
Mint tilted his head.
For some reason, his disciple had been acting very differently lately.
Still, he was keeping up with training just fine and had no problem clearing the floors, so she'd let it slide.
*What's this?*
"W-what are you doing?"
Mint had suddenly grabbed him by the collar and yanked, causing Helios's upper body to lurch forward, their faces drawing close.
Helios's own face was reflected in those transparently clear, turquoise eyes.
"You've lost weight in your face."
"...It'd be stranger if I didn't, with how you work me. Let go."
"Hm? That can't be right."
"What can't?"
"You think I give you two servings and even my own share of food for no reason?"
Helios flinched.
"You're not sleeping, are you?"
"I'm sleeping fine..."
"Should I watch you all night tonight?"
"Are you insane? Who could possibly sleep soundly with someone watching them?"
"Why not? I could put you to sleep with just 30 minutes of training right now."
"..."
As the ridiculous chatter continued, it was Helios who waved the white flag.
"...I'm sleeping a little poorly. Happy now?"
Mint stared intently at Helios.
The dark circles were drawn thickly under his eyes.
This wasn't the result of one or two bad nights.
Besides, the next floor they had to climb was none other than the 29th.
Of course, Helios and Ged's party had done so well up to the 28th floor that it wouldn't be terribly difficult.
But it wasn't so easy that he could succeed smoothly in poor condition.
*He's so high-maintenance.*
A little poorly, my ass.
Mint wondered what to do with this disciple who was lying so blatantly.
*Should I just smack him on the back of the head and knock him out?*
No.
That might help him sleep soundly for a day, but it wouldn't be a fundamental solution.
The longer Mint's gaze lingered, the damper Helios's back became.
"Why are you sweating? Are you sick?"
"No, it's a problem that will be solved the moment you let go of me, Master."
He was treating him like some kind of disease. Mint, of course, paid this nonsense no mind.
"Seeing you constantly try to change the subject with nonsense is making me curious."
"Let go of..."
"How long should I pretend to be fooled?"
It had been quite a while since Mint had noticed something was off with Helios.
Honestly, she had been pondering it.
She thought all she had to do was feed him, make him sleep, work him hard, and climb the tower.
But this male lead seemed to be screaming with his entire being that he was not a dog or a cat.
He frowned, got annoyed, angry, and resentful, and sometimes even cursed.
But within that anger, she could gradually glimpse his true feelings.
Meaning, this current frown was closer to bewilderment than irritation?
The problem was, she didn't know the reason for it.
"This won't do. You want to just take one hit and sleep soundly for today? If you don't get more sleep, it'll interfere with your Kia usage."
"You have a way of making your jokes sound serious."
"It's not a joke."
*I'll even hit you painlessly.* At Mint's words, Helios's face went pale.
"A slight miscalculation could mean you never open your eyes again, but don't worry. I'm confident."
"Pick one, a threat or a genuine offer!"
He was definitely the one who was crazy.
What kind of insane fantasy had he been having about this brutish person!
Today, too, it was Helios who ultimately surrendered completely.
He confessed while grinding his teeth.
That he had barely been sleeping lately, that sleep wouldn't come even when he closed his eyes and lay down.
Of course, he didn't say why.
"This is a problem. I can't just knock you out every night to make you sleep."
"If that's a joke, drop it. If you're serious, don't even think about it."
"I don't want my disciple to end up with brain damage either."
*...So he was considering hitting me hard enough to cause brain damage on a regular basis?*
Helios felt a wave of disillusionment.
*Insomnia.*
In truth, it was a common ailment among the prisoners here.
Anxiety, obsession, depression, and more. In this place where all sorts of mental illnesses ran rampant.
Insomnia was the most basic of them all.
Those who felt guilt were crushed by the weight of their responsibility.
Those who felt despair wailed at the fact they could never leave.
And those who shuddered at the horrors of the tower went mad with the fear of having to return there at sunrise.
For various reasons, they suffered from sleeplessness.
*There are drugs for it, too.*
It was nothing special for illegally manufactured sleeping pills to be circulating.
Before Mint became the leader, a psychotropic powder made by some crazed alchemist in the tower had even become so prevalent...
that the Warden, who always turned a blind eye, had finally been forced to draw his sword.
Above all, Helios wasn't a criminal; he was a normal person.
Would it be easy for a person with two eyes to adapt to a country of one-eyed people?
If anything, it was perhaps stranger that the insomnia was only appearing now.
