Chapter 30: Stay with Me for a Little While Too

Deep in the night, in a room within the Governor's Mansion, Flam had just finished her lecture on ideology for Kalia and watched her head off to bed.

Although Flam was curious as to why Kalia had remained so cheerful and showed no signs of dissatisfaction, even after being nagged for an hour, she had more pressing matters to attend to than speculating on her student's mood.

While the turmoil within the city of Ryskan had settled, the incident surrounding Kalia and Ryskan was far from over. Who had interfered with the communication magic between herself and Kalia, and when had their correspondence been compromised?

Interfering with communication magic to prevent Kalia from reaching her was not particularly difficult; there were countless ways to do so. Flam herself rarely initiated contact with Kalia, so she wouldn't have noticed anything amiss for some time. The problem, however, was how the secret code—known only to the two of them—had been leaked from the falsified message. Kalia would never have trusted that message had she not seen that code. Clearly, someone had intercepted their previous communications and extracted the cipher that served as their mutual verification.

Flam had been completely unaware of it. As an elven mage who had lived for a millennium, Flam had witnessed the entire Demon King War, personally enduring that vast, world-spanning conflict that lasted for a thousand years. Her long life had granted her not only immense power but also a wealth of experience and heightened vigilance. Yet, she still hadn't noticed. To bypass her perception would require a powerhouse of equal standing, and to infiltrate the communication link between her and Kalia would require even more than that.

Thinking of the complications involved, Flam sighed softly. Even for an elf, whose emotions were naturally subdued, this felt burdensome.

"It really is as that fellow said; it's quite a troublesome matter."

"Still, it's not as if I have no leads."

With a wave of her hand, Flam manifested the previously invisible spell circuits of the communication magic before her.

"Just as I thought. To prevent me from discovering it, they targeted that child, Lia, didn't they?"

"The link was hijacked at the sending end. Honestly, I told that child not to send me so many messages."

"Sure enough, to avoid causing too much of a stir, they didn't even clean up the traces properly."

Flam quickly identified two familiar magical fluctuations. One came from a bishop of the Chaos Brotherhood with whom she had dealt many times. This magical signature was used to mask her perception, layered with a disguise that would make it appear as Kalia’s magic to anyone not inspecting it closely. Flam didn't pay much mind to this old rival; she had dealt with them back when they were still called the Absolution Society. They were nothing more than bullies who picked on the weak and feared the strong. They only dared to block her perception because that individual didn't dare to truly confront her.

As for the other signature...

"Has the stench of politics finally stained me, too?"

"It’s just as you said, Salah."

"If you weren't also a student of mine, I wouldn't bother with your family affairs."

Having identified the true mastermind, Flam was no longer surprised that they knew she possessed a sealed portion of divinity and divine power. That person, after all, was well aware of it. Flam looked out at the night sky, suddenly feeling that her three hundred years of peaceful life might be about to become complicated again.

"A promise is a promise, I suppose... Ah, just thinking about it is such a hassle!"

"That boy named Roland seems sharp enough. I hope he can take good care of Lia."

...

December 8th, 1029, Imperial Calendar.

Ryskan had returned to normal operations. Although the Governor and his family had unfortunately met their end, the city hall’s functions remained unaffected. After a brief lockdown, the port had reopened—partially, at least—allowing the city, which had just experienced a terrorist attack, to begin regaining its former vitality.

Roland looked down at the harbor through the library window. After lingering for a moment, he placed the stack of books he had been carrying onto the table. Kalia, who had been sitting across from him reading a novel, couldn't help but whisper when she saw the meter-high pile of books Roland had brought over: "Are you really here to study?"

"Are the courses at the Royal Academy of Magic that terrifying?"

Kalia trembled slightly. She had to admit that she was not gifted at studying. While she was undoubtedly a genius when it came to the practical application of magic—even Flam believed Kalia’s talent far surpassed her own—her level plummeted the moment theory was involved. If going to school meant having to learn all of this, she would rather bang her head against a wall.

"Yes, school is truly a terrifying thing."

"I once heard a saying: if you want to quickly destroy the spirit and body of a sixteen-year-old girl, you only need to send her to school."

Roland’s calm response reached Kalia’s ears from behind the mountain of books. But Kalia wasn't buying his nonsense anymore. The spines of the books Roland had brought were facing her, and the clear labels indicated that they were all works on the history of magical development.

"I didn't expect you to be so interested in the history of magic. I really couldn't tell."

"It's not about interest; I'm just looking for something."

As he spoke, Roland pushed aside the stack of books and looked at Kalia. "This might take a while. If you don't want to wait, you can just leave."

Without waiting for her reaction, Roland began to examine every book on the history of magic he could find in the Ryskan Grand Library. He didn't have a specific direction for his investigation, so he had to rely on intuition to find clues. Since magic could be reverse-engineered into runes and carved onto objects and tools, perhaps magic had originally evolved from runes? With this hypothesis, Roland decided to search for traces within the history of magical evolution.

Most of the surviving books on the subject were only three or four hundred years old; anything older had largely been destroyed in the flames of the Demon King War. Of course, the elves, who had lived for who knew how long, might have a much richer collection.

He spent the entire day searching. As the sunlight outside the window slanted westward and the library lights flickered on, Roland finally finished flipping through every history book on magical development he could find. As expected, he found nothing. It seemed the Ryskan Grand Library could not provide the answers he needed.

Looking ahead, the seat opposite him was empty. Kalia had indeed left, though he hadn't noticed when. *Since I left her alone for the whole day, she shouldn't be so clingy anymore, right?*

Thinking this, Roland stood up and organized the borrowed books to return them. Just then, soft footsteps sounded behind him, followed by a familiar voice.

"Finally finished, huh? Looks like I'm back just in time. Here, your dinner."

Kalia walked up behind him and handed him a sandwich wrapped in newspaper.

"I've kept you company all day, so you'll have to keep me company for a bit now," Kalia said, tilting her head and blinking at him.