Chapter 218

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Chapter 218

She looked at Xerath and…should I say mischievous eyes? She was transfixed. They haven’t seen each other for a long time, and Xerath’s face was truly missed.

"I thought you wouldn’t come."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because in your letter, you said ‘maybe I’ll come’."

"This is just a conservative way of saying it, even if I left the previous meeting early, I would still make it to your graduation ceremony. You left school in a grand manner, and this won’t happen again in a lifetime."

"Will you feel… Will you feel happy?"

Xerath said sincerely, "Of course, when I came in, I heard someone wanted to bring you into the tower as an apprentice, but unfortunately they didn’t have the chance. I used to not understand why my teacher was so keen on finding students, but today I deeply understand it."

"To make you happy, I am truly… I am so happy!"

Sylas’s expression couldn’t hide her sincerity, Xerath stopped and looked at her. If their relationship was still as pure as before, maybe it would be an appropriate time for an embrace without any reservations and a warm kiss.

However, she didn’t dare to engage in these risky behaviors. The archmage wasn’t sure if they could resist such temptation.

In the end, she simply raised her hand and touched Sylas’s short hair.

"Shall we go to your activity room?"

"Hmm… okay." They walked side by side, with dark clouds floating overhead. The cool breeze became particularly effective in taking away the summer heat within the shadows. There were hardly any people around, only the two of them walking in the silent alley.

On the road, there were signs of destroyed stones. Xerath wondered, "Has Star Song Castle been peaceful lately?"

Sylas calmly said, "It seems there’s something strange, but the sheriff didn’t find anything in the end, and the Oversight Committee didn’t find anything either. So, it was left unresolved."

As they reached the school gate, the stone gargoyle opened the door from afar. Surprisingly, it folded its wings as Xerath passed by. It was a bit far from there to "Sisters Hall", so Sylas took Xerath on a less populated path, going from the upper floor of Spring Hall through a suspended path to Falcon Fortress. Suddenly, while standing on the tower of Falcon Fortress, the archmage said, "Did Virgil teach you all your dueling techniques?"

Sylas’s figure became noticeably stiff. The archmage added, "Falcon Fortress is a place Virgil particularly likes to come to. From here, he can see the playground and then mock the classmates who perform particularly poorly in combat classes. We do this quite often."

She replied softly, "Yes…"

"Does he know about your dueling?"

"I… I don’t know if he knows!" But I suppose he does, otherwise, he wouldn’t have specially taken her to listen to Methylani dialect…

In that case, he must definitely know, the archmage thought. Virgil loves to gather gossip, so any little things happening in school must have reached his ears. How should I punish this old hunter?

"Come this way." Suddenly, the tiles on the castle roof flew up one by one, forming steps in front of them. The archmage walked down step by step and reached out his hand towards Sylas. Trembling, she walked down and eagerly held onto Xerath.

"Don’t be afraid."

"… I’m not afraid." She was just surprised at how obedient these tiles were. The tiles had magical properties, their characteristic being that they always struggled to fly back to their original position. Unless someone lifted the spell, however, they had just gone against their nature and come running to be used as stepping stones for Xerath.

Then, the excessively flattering sight appeared again. The path of tiles in the air reappeared, taking them from the roof of Falcon Fortress directly to the roof of Red Earth Courtyard. The tiles arranged themselves repeatedly, forming a new pathway, allowing them to move freely on the roof. Finally, they entered the interior of Sisters Hall through a roof that was slightly ajar.

By the way, Virgil had said, "There is no rooftop that we cannot go to." So that’s what he meant.

The activity room was currently empty, with Spider Shirley hanging from a web. When she saw Sylas enter, she made a "squeak squeak squeak" sound.

Actually, the two of them wouldn’t talk continuously during their time together. Xerath wandered around in her laboratory, marveling at the shelves full of experimental materials.

"Did you buy them yourself? Do you still have enough money?"

"Hmm, yes, yes, I have plenty. It’s mainly thanks to Swis. He contributed all the potions he had saved from his past two school years to our experiments."

She absentmindedly pulled out a notebook from the bookshelf and flipped through the notes. Hyectra obediently rolled into a circle. Xerath leaned against the water lord sofa and whispered, "My teacher Emerson once collaborated with Swoboda on a research book about witchcraft…"

"Freedom?" She had a memory of this name and handed a book to Xerath, saying, "Is this it? It’s the only guidebook I have."

"Yes, that’s the one. But later, during an experiment, Swoboda’s eyes were burned, and the study of witchcraft was completely banned."

"…And then?" The book indeed had a tragic story behind it, just as she suspected.

"There isn’t much ‘then’ to tell, just to let you know that it’s still taboo. Although it’s not as forbidden as shadow magic spells, don’t go around telling people casually. Before you leave, make sure to pack all these things up. Are you ready?"

Sylas shook her head in confusion. She didn’t have time to pack her bags, but it was already afternoon! Because of Xerath’s arrival, she had to go home tonight. She hadn’t forgotten how poorly Xerath slept outside. She quickly got up and said, "Please have a seat! I’ll pack my things…"

Xerath had no intention of helping her, as there was something more important to do: finishing this book, "The Beauty and the Duel."

Sylas sorted her own books and books to return, occasionally interrupted by Xerath, who would ask questions.

"There’s a long section in the middle where you win in one hit. How did you come up with the idea of ramming someone? It doesn’t seem like a wizard’s way of thinking."

"Well…" Sylas tried to explain but ended up flipping through a notebook for Xerath. "I analyzed this for a while and came up with a simple model. I feel like it can be calculated this way."

Xerath took a look at it. The person was represented as a dot, with an arrow indicating the direction of force. There were many measurements recorded on it, probably done using a hanging scale. All the information written there was about weight units.

"Hmm… very clear." It was an abstract model similar to the complex wind element spells. Next to it, there were approximate measurements of the opponent’s weight.

"If they’re too heavy, use Leunen to crash into them. Dueling has different rules and it’s much more fun than just breaking the opponent’s armor."

"Yes, Dueling Law didn’t originally start from the world of mages, but from various professions that involve wrestling. During the era of the Saithe Empire, there were dedicated arenas for dueling. It became popular near the Methylani Principality and can be considered the beginning of Dueling Law."

Sylas continued packing up her things, and Xerath interrupted her, asking, "Do you really say this to everyone?" She started to scold, but then felt like she couldn’t say it, and Sylas, asking "Say what?" leaned closer to see what Xerath was pointing at. It was the sentence, "If I don’t say bad things about Xerath, I can let you leave intact." She looked at the archmage who was hesitant to say her own name, sensing a hint of secret shyness in her expression.

"Basically, yes," she stared at Xerath, admiring her expression. "But if you come for a duel, the Shame Mark only lasts for five days, and it’s white."

"What if it’s not?"

"If it’s red, it lasts for a month, and the words on the Shame Mark are more shameful."

"It also says that some people take pride in losing to you."

"Maybe." Sylas smiled and put the book in a cardboard box against the wall. An Earth Child fell out of a rift in space, and she had to return all these books later. Because of the previous events, she completely forgot about packing and returning books.

Xerath accompanied her to the activity room to return the books and take care of other formalities. However, she hadn’t finished reading the book "Beauty and Duel". The book kept flying in front of her face, blocking it perfectly. She just needed to look through the gap at Sylas’s feet, which appeared and disappeared intermittently. When she needed to go up or down the stairs, the small beast transformed into a guide dog would reach out and hold her hand, reminding her to be careful while going downstairs.

She didn’t need to worry about walking anymore, she only needed to show her face when she needed to sign something.

Sylas now had two boxes, one containing the books she bought for herself and the other for luggage. Hyectra carried both boxes as the darkening sky reminded them that it would soon be time for the banquet.

Sylas’s doubts became deeper: Does the archmage really remember the dance steps? Would she suffer from the frustration of forgetting like "middle-aged people forget everything"? She didn’t intend to embarrass Xerath, but if she said "forget it" in front of the proud archmage, the consequences could be severe.

Kuowa seemed to appear out of nowhere, landing in front of her with a rustle, and reprimanded her seriously, "Where did you go? You ran off after the speech! And you! Were you so eager to take her away? I didn’t even get a chance to tell her that she’ll be dancing the first dance tonight!"

Xerath politely smiled and said, "Kuowa, long time no see."

"Yeah," Kuowa’s face showed an expression of provocation as she poked the archmage’s shoulder and said, "You came to my territory and didn’t even come to say hi, huh?"

"Yeah, didn’t have time."

"Pay attention next time, hurry up, it’s about to start!" Kuowa reached out one hand and grabbed Sylas. "Who are you going to dance the first dance with?"

It was obvious and unnecessary to ask, Sylas was about to answer when Xerath dismissively said, "With who?"

Sylas hurriedly stopped and was about to speak, when suddenly a deafening music came from the hall. Kuowa rushed behind them and urged, "Don’t hesitate, let’s go in first and then decide, okay!"