Dark clouds hung low over the Imperial capital’s sky for days. The heavens were heavily overcast, as if a downpour might burst forth at any moment, but strangely, not a single drop fell. Citizens passing through the marketplace glanced up and tilted their heads in puzzlement.
“Odd. Feels like it should’ve poured by now. It’s been like that for days.”
“The mage sirs at the Magic Tower must be running some new experiment.”
“Not likely. Usually, those experiments are done outside the capital to avoid harming the residential areas.”
“Ah, they can’t do that anymore these days.”
“Really?”
“Even the outskirts of the capital have seen land prices skyrocket. Who’d waste that on experiments? I hear that doctoral-level candidates and above now take trains dozens of kilometers beyond the city for their thesis defenses.”
“Good heavens...”
Their conversation naturally drifted from the sky to the earth. No one in the capital seriously worried about the weather anymore. If rain didn’t fall, they’d just pump groundwater.
If crops didn’t grow, they’d buy more fertilizer. In fact, most of them were no longer farmers, so they had little reason to care anyway. Thus they assumed the gathering clouds were mere coincidence.
But these clouds were the magical product of a certain someone’s doing. Floor 49 of the Magic Tower, the Dean’s office.