Skir and Lucas, who had returned to the academy together, looked for Pola.

Pola, who had been waiting so eagerly, rushed out of the dormitory without even putting on her shoes properly as soon as she heard that they had arrived.

"Rookie!!! Kir!!!"

Pola, who saw the two people standing in the garden, waved her hand widely and ran over.

"Uh, uh!!"

-Thump!

In the end, Pola, whose steps got tangled in her improperly worn shoes, fell flat on the floor.

"Pola! Are you okay?"

"Pola! What should we do! Are you okay? My goodness! Your knee is bleeding!"

Pola, who had fallen, smiled brightly even while looking at her scraped knee.

On the contrary, Skir, who was holding Pola's knee, was making a fuss.

"S-shouldn't we go to the infirmary? Look at this blood!"

"Hehe. It's okay. It's just a little scrape. More importantly, why did you come so early?"

Pola, while saying 'ouch, ouch', smiled brightly and looked at Skir and Lucas alternately.

"Phew. Be careful."

"Are you really okay?"

"Ah! Really, I'm fine, you know? Why did you come so early!"

The level test was still a week away, but Pola, who had nowhere to go, had been waiting for the children in the dormitory all along.

She would sometimes meet Skir and chat and go to the cafeteria, but she still had a lot of time alone.

She would go to the library and chat with the librarian, Brandy, and she would also practice magic by looking at magic books alone, but she was so excited to see them, like a happy puppy, that she must have been very bored.

"Just, I was worried about you..."

"Really? Really?"

Pola fidgeted at Lucas's words. She was so happy that Lucas and Skir were also happy.

"Right, what about Nella?"

"Ah, Nella is probably resting in her room right now."

Nella, who had been entrusted to Aman, would be resting in the dormitory first.

Nella had not officially enrolled yet, but he thought that Aman, who was a professor, would have done something about it.

"Is Nella enrolling too?"

"Yes. It will probably be like that."

"Really? That's great!"

Pola, who was clapping her hands and jumping up and down, didn't seem to care about her injured knee at all.

"But Kir. Why do you look so down? Are you sick somewhere?"

"Ah... no. I'm fine."

"What, your expression since last time... it's like you've eaten something bad."

"Pfft! Eaten something bad...!"

Skir burst out laughing at Pola's innocent words.

"See, how nice is it when you laugh? Now, let's go see Nella!"

"Ah, Nella is resting right now. Let's have dinner together when Nella wakes up."

"Phew... that's a shame. I wanted to see Nella."

Pola, who had grown up in an orphanage, was very good at acting like an older sister to Nella, perhaps because she remembered the younger siblings she had left behind.

Even when she was at the county estate, she would naturally take care of Nella, and whenever there was something delicious in front of her, she would always take care of Nella's share herself.

Every time, Lucas felt a sense of pity for Pola.

'She said she was looking for her older sister...'

Pola had said that she had left the orphanage without a second thought to find her older sister, whose news had been cut off after she had been adopted.

Fortunately, Aman had found Pola, who had come out alone, not too late.

Aman, who had noticed the faint magic in Pola, had quickly brought her to the academy, thinking that the young girl might get into trouble.

Pola had a plan to earn a lot of money by becoming a mage and find her older sister.

"Let's practice. We all have to get out of the beginner class together."

Lucas was in a hurry. At this level, they could all go up to the beginner class together, but it was always better to be sure of everything.

His first goal was to get the kids out of the beginner class all at once.

He wanted to raise the human brats he had made friends with for the first time well by his side.

"Right, okay! I've practiced a lot."

"Me too. I'll show you my skills."

Skir's face also gradually became more energetic as he was with the children.

'A child is a child.'

A gentle smile hung on Lucas's lips as he looked at them.

***

Lucas, who was watching the children gathered in the academy's back garden, couldn't erase his satisfied smile.

The children's skills had improved quite a bit in a few days, as if they had been training hard since they had left the county estate.

It seemed that they were all at the 1st circle level now.

"Now, let's try fire magic."

"...Magic, you mean?"

"And fire magic at that? Can we do that?"

The time had finally come. The time to make the children summon proper magic.

"Yes. You can. Now, gather mana at your fingertips."

"Hey... how do you gather it at your fingertips... I have a hard time gathering it here."

At Lucas's words, Pola pointed to the area around her solar plexus and shook her head.

"No, you can. Try to think of sending the mana slowly to your fingertips."

"To my fingertips..."

The children took a deep breath and began to concentrate.

"Gather it moderately. If you send too much, it might explode."

"Huh? Explode?"

The children, who were closing their eyes and concentrating all their minds on their fingertips, had their eyes wide open at the word 'explode'.

"Yes. Explode. Don't be scared... I'm just saying to gather a little."

Lucas, who remembered the explosion when he had taught Nella fire magic, scared the children a little.

Although he had cast a defensive magic in preparation for the same accident, there was nothing better than preventing it in the first place.

"Ugh... it's scary."

"...I'm scared too."

The children repeated gathering and stopping their mana several times.

Lucas, who thought he might have said something unnecessary, was about to take back his words but stopped. The children's skills would improve noticeably someday.

But if the children didn't learn how to control their magic first, an accident could happen at any time.

"I'll cast a defensive magic. So just control it moderately."

"I understand. Then I'll trust you."

"Okay. I'll try it too."

The children showed infinite trust in Lucas, even though they had never seen his skills properly.

The children, who had entrusted their backs to Lucas, began to concentrate again.

At the sight of the children carefully gathering mana at their fingertips, Lucas also began to concentrate on casting the defensive magic.

As the defensive magic, which was layered on top of the children's hands, was completed, Lucas opened his mouth.

"Now, now imagine a flame. You're turning the mana gathered at your fingertips into a flame. It's okay to imagine any form. A candle is fine, and a torch is fine. If not that..."

-Fwoosh!

It was Pola. A small flame appeared at Pola's fingertips.

-Fwoosh!

Next was Skir.

The children's mouths were wide open as they looked at the small flame they had summoned at their fingertips.

"A-a flame!"

"I did it. I did it!"

The children began to get excited as they confirmed the results they had built up in front of their eyes.

"Well done. Now calm down and try to move that flame."

The small flame that was floating on the children's hands was being maintained faintly.

"Move it? This?"

"Yes. Try to move that flame slowly. You can move it from the hand you have now to the other hand, or if not that, you can shoot it to the ground."

At Lucas's words, the children began to concentrate again.

Pola spread her other hand and tried to move the flame there, and Skir was trying to shoot the flame to the ground.

"I-it's done!"

Pola succeeded first. The flame that had moved from her left hand to her right hand was maintaining its form quite well.

-Bang!

"I-I did it too! I did it too!"

Next was Skir. The flame that had been shot from his hand died down not long after, but they both succeeded in moving the flame.

"Well done."

Lucas, who had released all the defensive magic, praised the children.

"Hehe, can we go to the beginner class now?"

"Of course. Not just the beginner class, but the intermediate class won't be far off."

Pola was so happy at Lucas's praise that she was about to jump.

"Really? I feel like we've really become mages!"

"We're really mages."

Skir, who also seemed to be moved, looked at Pola and Lucas alternately and nodded his head.

'They did it. You praiseworthy little brats.'

***

"Alberto-nim. I've come."

The man who had visited the office of the Mage Tower Master, Alberto, was Stun, who had abandoned his family name a while ago.

Stun had gone to the emperor after his own excommunication and had asked for a new surname.

The surname he had received was none other than Alberto's surname.

Stun, who knew that Alberto had no children, had gone to Alberto and had asked him to adopt him.

Alberto, who had initially refused because he was wary of the duchy, had no choice but to accept Stun as his adopted son at the emperor's command.

"Ooh, right. Stun."

Alberto smiled benevolently as he looked at Stun.

He was thinking of using him properly now that things had come to this.

He was so happy to think about how he could cook and use that innocent young man, who had been wrapped in the family's skirt and had never experienced the hardships of the world, that he was about to go crazy.

"Yes, Alberto-nim. You said you had something to ask of me..."

"Right. I have a favor to ask of you."

Alberto, who smiled kindly, held out his hand and offered him the seat in front of him.

The two people sitting opposite each other at the drawing room table were undoubtedly a teacher and a student.

The benevolent Mage Tower Master, Alberto Nimrod, who was recognized in the empire.

The talented young mage, Stun, who had come in as his adopted son, had received a new surname and had been reborn as Stun Nimrod.

As they came to use the same surname, a natural bond formed, and Stun was following Alberto as if he were his real father.

Whatever he said was right, and he was ready to follow whatever his will was.

"Please say anything."

Since this was the first favor Alberto was asking of him, Stun wanted to carry out his request no matter what.

"Hoho, right. It's nothing else... it's about the story you told me."

"What..."

"I mean the Rodrigo County in Citata."

"Yes. You mean that group of traitors?"

"Hoho... a group of traitors..."

Alberto was very pleased with the excessive loyalty that the innocent young man in front of him was showing.

This innocent young man didn't even need to be cooked. He had been completely devoted to him ever since he had come under his wing.

Alberto was planning to move this loyal horse and touch the Rodrigo County.

"If not a group of traitors, then what? I can't understand my father... no, the O'Neil Duchy. But why are they..."

"Ah, it's nothing else... I need someone to go on an inspection to the county..."

"An inspection?"

"Right. An inspection, I mean. I don't know if you've heard, but they say a mine was discovered in the Rodrigo County."

"Yes. I know. They say it's a pretty big mine."

"Right. The scale seems to be amazing. They say that Gold Nine in Vamaras is opening up a sales channel."

"You mean Gold Nine?"

Not only the people of the empire, but everyone knew about Gold Nine.

The products that Gold Nine produced were popular everywhere, and whatever product it was, if it had their mark on it, they would trust and use it.

"Khukuk... right. But as you know, Citata is a territory that is permanently granted to the county."

"Hmph, so they say. I don't know what kind of heavenly luck it is."

Alberto thought it was the right thing to do when Stun sneered.

"Right, so it seems that those who have raised a banner against His Majesty the Emperor should not enjoy such heavenly luck as they please..."

Alberto stroked his beard with a very serious expression.

"That's right. What should I do?"

Then Stun quickly straightened up and corrected his posture. As if he was ready to do anything.

"Hoho, there's nothing to do right away. Just go and see for now."

"I understand. I'll leave right away. I'll go and find out what tricks they're using."

"Be careful. Because you are my son."

"...Yes. Father."

Stun, who felt a great bond at the word 'son', felt a sense of certainty that he was finally on the right path when he uttered the word 'father'.

'I will never disappoint you.'

(End of Chapter)