[Selene Valcroft, Ninth Circle Mage, arrogant and prideful. She i-]
Before Elira could finish, Selene raised a hand and, with a snap of her fingers, the Court Mage’s voice was abruptly cut off,
“Hero Kael, it is rude to talk to your Lady Companion while you greet people.”
Selene spoke as she looked into Kael’s eyes. The Hero narrowed his eyes at her words. He momentarily glanced at Elira, and the Court Mage shook her head.
Kael was on his own.
“I apologize if I offended you in any way, Tower Head Selene. It is just that you are so important that I cannot afford to make any mistakes here. I didn’t wish to offend you, so Instructor Elira was telling me about your achievements to make sure I showed proper respect to you.”
A condescending smirk appeared on Selene’s face when she heard those words,
“Did you just call her Instructor? A Seventh Circle Mage?”
Selene then looked around, as if gathering everyone’s attention, and,
“So the Hope of Nerathis is now learning from a mere Seventh Circle Mage? And here I thought the Drakthar Kingdom would make sure the Hero is learning under the very best, or…
Is this the best the Strongest Kingdom can do?”
Selene spoke, and a heavy silence fell over the place.
It was just like everyone expected, the moment the Tower Head walked in, things stirred up.
Elira lowered her head, her hands trembling. There was a lot she wanted to say, but she couldn’t.
After all, the person in front of her was the Tower Head of the Fire Tower.
In the Xenthalor Kingdom, where the Magic reigned supreme and the Four Towers had power right below the Emperor himself, Selene’s status was no different than a Duke’s.
If Elira offended her at a party the Drakthar Kingdom was hosting, it might very well lead to a war between the two forces.
Something that Elira could never take responsibility for, especially right now, when Nerathis is in such a critical situation.
Even Arlan, who would usually jump at whoever talked to his sister like this, was sitting at his table with a trembling body as his subordinates held him back.
But…
Kael had no such reservations.
“Actually,”
The Hero stared at the Tower Head in front of him, his eyes had long turned golden.
“I would rather have Instructor Elira teach me Magic than anyone else. I have an easier time looking up to her because she is someone my age.
I mean, just think about it,
There are countless high-level Mages in their 80s. What’s so special about them even if they are strong? They are old; they are supposed to be strong, no?
They had all the time in the world to reach that level.
But then there’s Instructor Elira, so young, yet already strong enough that even higher-level mages feel threatened by her and feel the need to belittle her.
How inspiring is that?”
Kael turned towards Elira. The Court Mage stared back at him in disbelief, and he just smiled and,
“If I choose to become a Mage, I would rather be like Instructor Elira than…
Anyone else.”
By the end of his sentence, his eyes were back on Selene.
Yes, he was sending a very clear message.
A message that made a lot of sense, especially to those who knew a bit about the Tower Head.
[Name: Selene Valcroft]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 83]
[Level: 84]
[Strength: 70]
[Agility: 72]
[Speed: 80]
[Stamina: 125]
[Defense: 85]
[Mana: 250]
[Intelligence: 230]
[Charisma: 120]
[Strengths: Supreme mastery of fire magic, near-limitless mana, strong presence on the battlefield]
[Weaknesses: -]
…
“…”
Silence.
Absolute silence fell over the place.
Every single person turned towards Kael’s table.
Arlan and Elira were frozen still in their place,
As for Selene…
“Did you just… use an ability to gauge me?”
The Tower Head questioned, her voice threateningly low.
At her words, Kael raised his eyebrows in shock as he touched his eye, as if he just realized what he had done.
“Ah, I apologize. It is a force of habit.
I do that when I get too excited.
I still haven’t learned much about table manners, you see? I spend most of my time trying to get stronger, so these abilities are somewhat ingrained into me.
Quite surprising, considering I have only been in this world for less than three weeks. I guess we can say my instructors are doing a great job.”
Kael chuckled.
“You spend most of your time getting stronger, huh?”
Selene spoke as her piercing violet eyes stared at the Hero.
“Doesn’t sound like it when you praise your Instructor’s young age rather than their Magic Capabilities.
It almost sounds like, rather than training, you focus more on spending time with women your age.”
“Did it really sound like that?”
Kael smiled.
“The Tower Head Selene must be as exceptional of a Magic Instructor as she is a mage, huh?”
“I do not deny that.”
“Mhm, I look forward to meeting one of your students—students who became Second Circle Mages within 2 weeks of your tutoring.”
Kael grinned, and Elira couldn’t contain her smile anymore.
The more he spoke, the more Elira’s expressions changed.
For the first time, she was liking this brat’s foul mouth.
She stared at Selene and,
‘Take that, you bitch!
This is the mouth I had to deal with for the last few weeks every single day!’
Yes, even the Mage’s thoughts were very misleading.
Elira, however, didn’t care about what her thoughts would sound like. She just stared at Kael, and a beautiful smile appeared on her face.
To think this brat would stand up for her.
‘I guess he is someone like that, huh…’
The more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn’t out of the brat’s character. After all, this is the same man who is working hard day and night, trying to protect people he doesn’t even know.
Elira’s beautiful smile widened as she thought about it.
Tower Head Selene, however, wasn’t as amused as the Court Mage.
“So this is what it is about, isn’t it?
She would think she is better than others just because she received a few of the most talented mages as her students, but…”
Selene glanced at Kael and,
“Do you know what happened to her previous student?”
Kael frowned when he heard that question.
Previous student?
What?
He knew Elira had quite a lot of students, but…
Who was she talking about?
“That child was quite bright as well. They used to call her the Future of Magic.”
Selene chuckled.
“And where do you think she is right now?
Oh wait,
You wouldn’t know.
You wouldn’t even know who I am referring to because these people erased her existence.”
Elira’s body trembled as she heard those words, clearly, these words had more effect on her than whatever foolish remarks Selene made before.
Her reaction, however, only made Selene’s grin even wider, and,
“What did your instructor do when her prized student ended up that way? Why did she not protect her?
How can one call herself an Instructor when she couldn’t even protect their own student?”