Chapter 265: Return (2)

Her figure, walking down the stairs of ice she had created, her thin coat billowing, was so overwhelming that even Lennok was momentarily speechless.

On the shoulder of her casually draped coat, there was an epaulet with three overlapping golden circles.

It was a symbol of the Magic Tower’s leadership, given only to ten decision-makers, including the Tower Master, at Sinclair Magic Tower.

After returning to Sinclair Magic Tower, Aris had, in fact, legitimately acquired the authority to completely sever the Tower’s interference.

But more than that, what first caught Lennok’s eye was the extremely stable mana radiating from her entire body.

That momentum was clearly different from before, when she was wavering with concerns about Mind Imprint.

There was only one answer.

Lennok also smiled, looking at her.

“It didn’t go as I hoped. Should I congratulate you first?”

“Later.”

Aris smiled and gently pressed Lennok’s mouth with her finger.

She laughed from a distance close enough for Lennok to instinctively close his mouth.

“First, dealing with this monster lump is the priority, right?”

“……”

“That other professors, let alone the administration, took no action until things reached this point… Personally, it’s quite unpleasant.”

Aris’s face was all smiles as she spoke, but her tone was utterly chilling.

Knowing that she had quite a resolute personality beneath her appearance, Lennok shrugged.

“What are you two talking about?”

Mila, who was watching them from the side, mumbled, and Aris’s shoulder twitched.

Turning around with a nonchalant smile, she unhesitatingly extended a hand to Milla for a handshake.

“My apologies for the late introduction. I am Aris Richellen, a chair professor at Rebatenon.”

“Pr-Professor…”

Only then realizing who her interlocutor was, Mila’s waist bent in half.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. Please take good care of my sister.”

“You’re Priscilla’s older sister?”

“Yes, that’s right. How did you know…”

“I cleverly remember excellent students like Silla. And you look just as intelligent, so I recognized you immediately.”

“Professor…!!”

“……”

Lennok stared with a bewildered gaze at Aris, who had instantly won Mila over to her side.

Davi, observing the entire situation from behind Lennok, also mumbled.

[She’s a scary one.]

“…Now that I think about it, she was always like that.”

From their first meeting, she was someone flawless in both attitude and skill.

The reason she had maintained such a balance between the Magic Tower and the university until now was her flexible approach, matching her extraordinary talent.

Now, she had even completely broken through her limits and returned after negotiating on equal terms with the Magic Tower, so what more needed to be said?

“There’s no doubt she’s the most suitable person to handle this matter. It wasn’t intended, but… I’m glad things are working out.”

Lennok mumbled, looking up at the colossal ice pillar Aris had erected.

A Guido Cultist. Moreover, a corpse created by a bishop-level priest using spells directly.

Before heading to Palgung Fortress, he needed to examine its contents.

With Aris Richellen, the chair professor of the Elemental Faculty, returning to her teaching position, things quickly settled down.

Other professors, who appeared a step late, bowed their waists as soon as they saw her face, and the administrative staff, who had been feigning ignorance of their deal with Lennok, also hastily moved.

What did it mean that Aris, who had been summoned to Sinclair Magic Tower, had returned bearing the symbol of the Magic Tower’s leadership?

Unless she possessed achievements and skills that even a Magic Tower, which values tradition and history, could never ignore, there was no way she could have returned to her teaching position.

Everyone understood, even without Aris explicitly stating it.

“So, you’re saying no action was taken until our students were exposed to such danger?”

“That’s not it…”

“I understand that one of the students from the Necromancy Department committed a wrong. However, even if you couldn’t prevent such a situation, it’s hard to accept that the follow-up measures were inadequate.”

“……”

“It would have been normal to intervene immediately once the situation grew beyond the Necromancy Department’s research lab. The fact that you didn’t, wasn’t that an intentional attempt to shift responsibility to my assistant professor, who showed willingness to resolve the incident?”

At Aris’s chilling words, the head of the administrative office could only bow his head.

“It’s a misunderstanding…”

“Well, that’s just my speculation, and it’s baseless, of course.”

“……”

“But if the school’s response continues this way in the future, I might have to have a frank discussion with the city council members.”

At Aris’s bright smile, the head of the administrative office couldn’t utter a word.

Even when Aris was at the Commander Wizard level, there wasn’t much the school could do for her.

The only reason she still held a professorship at this school was purely due to her active will.

There was effectively no way for the Rebatenon administration to control her, someone who could quit her teaching position at any time without it being strange.

The reason Rebatenon Magic University held considerable authority despite its short history was due in no small part to the volunteer efforts of prominent mages, including her.

Aris was well aware of this, which is likely why she directly named and notified the head of the office, who had tried to use his administrative staff as shields.

Finally, having secured confirmation for the budget needed to repair and restore the damaged buildings in the Elemental and Necromancy Departments, she sighed in her empty office.

Lennok, who had been observing the entire process beside her, silently offered her a cup of coffee.

Aris naturally accepted it and chuckled.

“When I was at the Magic Tower, I always yearned for this position, but now that I’m back, it’s just full of annoying things.”

“You’re going through a lot of trouble.”

“Though it’s a teaching position I chose myself, there are too many calculating people at this school.”

“……”

“Since it’s directly under the city government and a project led by the city council, it’s perhaps natural, but sometimes, when I see them, they’re worse than the elders of the Magic Tower.”

Lennok had nothing to say and simply shrugged.

Among wizards, perhaps she was the atypical one.

It’s rare for someone who has reached the Archmage level within virtually 20 years of encountering magic to also have as much interest in nurturing junior scholars as in their own achievements.

At least the wizards Lennok had seen desired to be complete mages themselves, rather than someone’s master or disciple.

Even the Tower Master of Blaiver Magic Tower, who deceived Gionis Verbane and turned him into a watchdog, ultimately prioritized protecting the Magic Tower over the relationship between master and disciple.

Lennok hadn’t seen many wizards, but it went without saying that Aris Richellen was special among them.

No, perhaps it was because she possessed such talent that she could preserve her innate goodness.

“Alright, let’s stop with the gloomy talk and tell me about yourself.”

A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she sipped her coffee.

“Later, when I go back to lectures, I’ll check how well you’ve taught in my absence.”

“Could I ever do as well as Aris?”

Lennok chuckled in response.

“I really have no talent for teaching. I’m barely keeping up with my own learning, so I’m not sure if the students have properly followed along.”

“Well, for someone like that, Priscilla seems to follow Lennok quite well, doesn’t she?”

Aris said, her blue eyes quietly shining.

“And you seem to know her older sister quite well too.”

“…We just got acquainted while chasing a Guido Cultist. In fact, that was the first time I met her.”

He brushed it off, but Aris’s keen observation was certainly sharp.

Even without needing to say anything, she had noticed that Lennok was treating Mila relatively comfortably.

As Evan or Lennok, he had always maintained a certain distance from others, so perhaps his subtly familiar attitude towards Mila stood out.

As Lennok subtly avoided the conversation, the smile on Aris’s lips deepened.

“Hmm…”

“……”

“Well, alright. The important thing is that things have been resolved well.”

Saying so, Aris naturally raised her mana.

A warm breeze, swirling from her fingertips, gently swept through the office, causing the faintly accumulated dust to fly out the window.

Lennok meticulously observed Aris’s mana flow.

Aris, perhaps sensing Lennok’s undisguised gaze, said with a smile.

“How is it? Do I seem any different?”

“…What could I possibly feel just by looking?”

Lennok said so, subtly changing the subject, but in the interim, he noticed a subtle change in her mana manipulation.

Her mana pattern, which used to intricately embroider designs, had not only become much more complex and stable, but her mana flow was also incredibly smooth.

What was most striking were the two distinct wicks established at the center of the flow whenever she used mana.

They were so solid and clear, supporting the mana flow so firmly that even Lennok would find it difficult to interfere.

‘So this is how much one changes upon completing a Hierarchy… Interesting.’

Lennok had observed countless spellcasters and Archmages over time, but this was the first time he had witnessed the complete transformation of a mage before and after completing a Hierarchy.

It was the first time for Aris to directly confirm how a wizard, who reaches the Archmage level by completing their Mind Imprint from the Commander Wizard level, precisely grows and changes.

Therefore, even as Lennok feigned ignorance, he couldn’t easily take his eyes off the mana flow Aris was using.

Ideally, he would have liked to witness the moment she reached that level directly… but it’s no use dwelling on what’s already passed.

As if reading Lennok’s thoughts, Aris spoke.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t show you directly.”

“Huh?”

“To be honest, I wanted to complete my Mind Imprint in front of you, Lennok. In a way, you were instrumental in solving the problem I was grappling with.”

Aris continued, swirling her coffee cup.

“But as I sat in that secluded room in the Tower, reflecting on the time I’d spent in this city… I became certain of what I truly desired.”

“……”

“People are truly ironic. Only after letting something slip from their grasp, only when they think they might truly lose it, do they realize its value.”

Aris smiled bitterly.

“It’s embarrassing, but that’s how my time in this city was for me.”

Lennok also offered a wry smile.

She spoke vaguely, but Lennok knew exactly what time she was referring to.

Why she was telling Lennok, of all people, about the feelings she experienced upon completing her Hierarchy.

It wasn’t difficult to guess what kind of landscape resided in her heart.

However, answering that question was difficult for both Lennok and Van.

Both Aris and Lennok knew that fact keenly.

“If the opportunity arises… I hope to witness that achievement someday.”

“Hmm, I won’t show it to you easily.”

She grinned and crossed her arms.

“So, once Lennok completes his Hierarchy, let’s show each other.”

“…Huh?”

“A Domain’s true scenery is the Mind Imprint closest to one’s origin. It would be a bit embarrassing for me to show that alone.”

“But how could I ever be like Aris…”

“Don’t worry about that.”

It didn’t take long for Aris’s smile to deepen even further.

“Because the research we’re going to conduct together will be a great help to Lennok’s achievements as well.”

Even after completing her Hierarchy and becoming a great Archmage revered by everyone in the city, what she desires remains unchanged.

The paradox is that because she clearly understood what she wanted, because she had imprinted the desired landscape into her heart, she could see the end of Self-transformation.

Lennok, understanding her feelings to some extent, chuckled instead of probing further.

“Is it alright for you to teach me so much?”

He wasn’t just being polite.

Aris’s high-dimensional mana flow manipulation.

For her, who handles various attributes, it must be proof that the water-attribute system, using mana flow and freezing, has become supremely mastered.

It was inevitable that, in the process of studying Domains with Aris, he would thoroughly analyze her spell formulas.

“What do you take me for?”

But Aris, even after hearing Lennok’s words, smiled with a confident expression.

“I haven’t been training so shallowly that my foundations would be exposed after just a few years.”

A week after the commotion at Rebatenon concluded with Aris’s appearance.

“Is it mostly over?”

Lennok looked around his somewhat chaotic home, lost in thought.

Contrary to her confident words, Aris didn’t immediately push for Lennok’s assistance, claiming she needed him right away.

Instead, she granted him a long period of paid leave, saying he had suffered greatly in her absence.

Therefore, Lennok was able to quickly decide what he needed to do without much hesitation.

Bishop and Missionary Walter Martinez of the Guido Cult.

If he didn’t search Palgung Fortress, where the fiend’s main body was located, now, it would be difficult to track his traces.

If the cult truly knew something about time magic, Lennok had no intention of missing this opportunity.

“Palgung Fortress, huh…”

The Palgung Fortress Sky Auction House ticket he received from the Agents in exchange for helping Blaiver Magic Tower.

This would be enough justification to set foot inside that closed society, wouldn’t it?

The hidden place within the fortress where time flows slowly, the pursuit of Walter, and the visit to the auction house.

There were more than enough things to do.

Except for the fact that he needed to contact someone first to use this ticket.

“…I didn’t expect to have to contact her first.”

After pondering for a long time, Lennok finally picked up his phone.

Above the number displayed on the green screen, the name Evelyn Marcia appeared.