Chapter 31
Virgil couldn't help but laugh, saying, "Especially when she can keep you company and entertain you."
"That's not the point, and she's not a pet. She is my student."
"Oh, come on. I can already imagine it. Your little wild beast will soon be taught to be just like you - a bookworm. You'll be happily talking about things that I absolutely don't understand, and Uncle Virgil will be left out. It's really sad."
Xerath smiled at him and said, "Virgil, I bet if you listen carefully, you'll understand."
That's true, but Virgil doesn't want to listen to all this magic stuff.
"Where did Hyectra go?"
Xerath whispered the summoning spell, and a golden glow appeared at her fingertips as a water lord emerged from a tear in the fabric of space. He complained, "You have to listen to what this young lady did! It's outrageous! I can't forgive her easily! You know what? When I wasn't paying attention, she opened the doors to the terrace and told those rough boys to 'blow away that blue water ball'! Can you believe it? Is that how a lady should behave? I am a respectable water lord, how can I be referred to as a water ball?"
Outside the door, Xerath sensed an abnormal elemental fluctuation, caused by a gathering of a large amount of wind element. Sylas had secretly learned a bit of a spell to elevate the wind element from her. It might not be entirely correct, as the wind didn't elevate as expected, but it instead became restless and chaotic inside the room. So Xerath decided to add her own twist, casting a partial elevation spell and a simple Sylas-style wind summoning spell to blow the oversized water lord directly onto the wind wall surrounding Aimekotes.
The wind that Sylas summoned opened the wind barrier, then the water lord tried to block the gap, but the wind blew it up to the top of the wind wall where it couldn't come down. It was too far from Xerath to receive magical power and couldn't maintain its physical form in the real world, so it had to return to the Elemental Realm and wait for Xerath's next summoning.
"This cunning little troublemaker used water drops to explode and divert my attention. She took advantage of my trust and plotted against me. She ran to the door, opened it, and made me think it was an accident with her screams. Madam, this was a planned act..."
"I'm really sorry, Hyectra," the archmage interrupted its complaints. "May Sylas apologize to you? She's my student now."
"What... Oh, madam, is this true? You don't plan to sell her? Oh, obviously, I think it's highly inappropriate for any business transaction to involve a young lady. But it's also inconvenient for you to adopt such a young child. I really wish that you could meet the young lady when you're a bit older..."
"Don't worry about me, Sylas. Apologize to Mr. Water Lord, please." She turned halfway, making Sylas's face face Hyectra. Sylas, with tears still on her face, mumbled to it, "Sorry, Hyectra. I shouldn't have called you a big blue water ball."
"Is there more?"
"Shouldn't have blown you away."
"Okay, those were very imaginative spells. They were great and I really liked them."
Sylas slowly lifted her head from the hollow of her shoulder, and the glow in her eyes began to brighten little by little. "Really?"
The gentleman, with a deep blue suit, opened his mouth as if he wanted to speak but stopped. He frowned and glanced at Virgil, then pointed at the two of them in disbelief. Virgil shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he was also helpless.
The most pitiful one was cute little Titus. Sylas was ordered to apologize to the magic wolf that she had gotten involved with in the storm. Titus barked and whined, complaining to her for a long time. They both became more and more excited, to the point where Sylas almost started crying with Titus.
Virgil grabbed Hyectra's arm and asked, "Do you think Xerath intended to keep this little wild creature? She seems like she made a spontaneous decision."
Hyectra shrugged, finding it difficult to assure himself that he understood Xerath better than Virgil, who had grown up with her. He cautiously replied, "From what I can see, the esteemed archmage and the poor little demon beast get along well. Maybe the recent situation just made her less hesitant about certain issues."
"Then it was a spontaneous decision after all. I really hope she doesn't regret it. Children can be a huge trouble." Virgil summoned a droplet of water and slowly moved it towards Hyectra. Hyectra covered his eyes and banished it back to the Elemental Realm.
The living room was in a messy state, and even the chef was swept away. The broken glass was temporarily blocked by a huge Earth Child, while Xerath and Hyectra spent the whole afternoon barely tidying up the other damages. Xerath's books were blown up to the top of the wind barrier and floated there, too afraid to come down. It was the new messenger, Shamodial, who was in a spiritual state, that helped her fly up and retrieve the books one by one.
The broken window downstairs was in the stairwell of the laboratory, connecting the terrace, creating a path of wild wind. Decorations along the way were blown out of the window, scattering all over the stone mage tower. The stone walls were marked with traces left by the sharp winds. Xerath used small Earth Childs to roughly repair them, but the patterns were still visible on a larger scale. However, everyone was powerless to remove the marks left on the wooden handrail.
Xerath didn't really mind. In the future, if anyone came to visit her home, she could embellish the story of the "ferocious wind demon beast" to entertain her guests.
However, there were very few guests who had visited the house in the past ten years, and hardly anyone could make it up to this floor. Leaving the marks would serve as a reminder for Sylas as well.
The little girl seemed to realize the irreparable damage she had caused to Xerath's mage tower in her recent chaos that just happened. She kept apologizing and following behind Xerath, teary-eyed, asking her, "Xerath, will you stay mad at me forever?"
Xerath had to crouch down and look at her. She said, "I'm not mad at you, but I also don't plan to forgive you. I'm glad you realize it was a mistake, and I really hope you can work hard to control your powers, so they won't cause such big destruction again. Okay?"
The little girl grabbed her hand, tears shimmering in her eyes, and eagerly said, "I promise, I promise."
Xerath sighed and took out a white handkerchief to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eye, afraid that precious gems might fall out of the emerald treasure, "Don't cry."
Sylas's tears were barely held back. Xerath stood up and said to Virgil, "I'm really sorry. I wanted to have a good chat with you, but you know this tower can't stay broken."
Virgil seemed somewhat indifferent, but a little incredulous he asked, "Is this how you usually talk to children?"
Xerath widened her eyes as if he had asked a strange question, "Of course, how else would you say it?"
