Escolleia (2)
Reed walked across the white marble bridge with Zekeheil and Yuria.
In the distance, they could see a group of men and women gathered.
Two bishops sent from the church.
Two chief magicians dispatched from the merchant union.
One chief magician sent from the workshop.
And finally, the tower owner of Wallin.
Seeing Zekeheil and Reed approaching, the magicians came forward one by one with greetings.
"Hello, Chief Magician."
"Nice to meet you, Tower Master of Wallin."
"Hello. Yuria Frenda gives her greetings."
"I am the lord of Wallin Tower. Nice to meet you, Ms. Frienda."
Dolores greeted them in return.
When it was Reed's turn.
"......Tower Owner of Silence."
"......Tower Owner of Wallin."
Reed felt a particularly piercing gaze.
"Hi, Unni!"
"Hello, have you been well?"
"Yes!"
As Rosaria waved both hands in greeting, the woman welcomed Rosaria with a smiling face.
It was too clear to say that he felt wrong... the temperature difference was too obvious.
Dolores looked around the group and said.
"Time-wise... We're 10 minutes early, but since everyone seems to be gathered, let's just move right away."
"Go ahead."
"Time is money."
"Do magicians use the phrase 'time is money'?"
"Well, I apologize. You bishops only eat grass.”
The relationship between the merchant union and the church was hostile, like that of the tower and the workshop.
Minors fought psychological battles with each other, and majors fought psychological battles with other majors.
Like an unspoken rule, such division automatically happened.
With Dolores in the lead, they began to move somewhere.
The place they arrived at was the top floor of the academy's main building.
Dolores knocked lightly on the door and said.
"Archmage, Anton Eclipsys. The Tower Master of Wallin, Dolores Jade, and nine others have come to see you."
A moment later, the large door opened, revealing the interior.
Inside, a hunched, short old man was standing.
He was the Archmage, Anton Eclipsys.
A scholar and professor of Escolleia, he was a renowned figure as an Archmage and a pioneer.
'Wasn't he called the Professor of Awakening?'
The Professor of Awakening.
Although Anton didn't teach many classes at the academy, his classes were so competitive that people had to line up a month in advance to attend them.
He had a notorious reputation for not giving good grades, but giving up his grades allowed students to raise their other scores.
The competition was tough, but things changed when Reed attended school.
He accepted a request to allow all students to attend lectures in exchange for building an orchestra theater.
People called him the Professor of Awakening because he opened their eyes to things they had never seen before.
His personality was cold and rational befitting an archmage, and he despised geniuses who were complacent without effort.
And when he met a true genius, he became a completely different person.
The prime example was Dolores.
His attitude towards her was almost unrecognizable from his usual behaviour.
"Our Dolores! Our baby is here!"
He welcomed Dolores as if a grandfather was seeing his granddaughter.
Dolores smiled and accepted his hospitality.
"Nice to see you, Master. How's your health?"
"Of course, of course. You have no idea how happy I am to see my disciple on a day like this!"
"I'm always grateful, but... it's difficult for me when you show favoritism like this."
"Can't we even show affection in a public place? Ha-ha! Now, now, you guys sit down quickly."
When Dolores was absent, the atmosphere was always tense.
However, after Dolores graduated and visited, the conversation always went smoothly.
All the magicians were always grateful for that.
Anton happily brushed his beard.
"Ha-ha, this time you brought even the little ones."
Anton looked down at the girls next to Reed and Zekeheil.
"Who is this lovely young lady here?"
As Anton pointed to Yuria first and asked, she elegantly greeted him, holding her skirt.
"I am Yuria, from the Frenda family. It's an honor to meet you, Principal."
"This is my daughter Yuria. I brought her to visit Escolleia, my alma mater, as she's old enough."
"Ha-ha, a lovely little lady."
"Thank you, Mr. Principal."
As Yuria's introduction ended, Rosaria sensed that it was her turn and stood up from her seat.
"I'm Rosaria Adeleheights Roton. Nice to meet you!"
It was a lively greeting rather than an elegant one.
"Her name is Rosaria. She's not my biological daughter, but I'm raising her like one."
"Hmm..."
Anton's demeanor changed quite differently from when he was looking at Yuria.
Did he not like it?
'No.'
Reed knew the reason for the change.
Archmage Anton knew how precious the information he held was, and he had a deep curiosity about knowledge.
In other words, seeing Rosaria immediately sparked his intellectual curiosity.
'Still, it would be nice if he said she's pretty...'
As he casually looked up, he saw Zekeheil smiling proudly.
It was just annoying to hear him say that his daughter was prettier.
He calmly nodded and said.
"Hmm, a very cute little one."
"Thank you, Grandpa!"
"Ahem! Ahem!"
At the title of 'Grandpa,' Dolores quickly coughed and turned her gaze away, fumbling with Rosaria's words.
"How do you think this year's graduates are, Master?"
Anton shook his head and replied.
"They're nothing special. They're about the same level as last year. There's no outstanding talent. They'll be an embarrassment wherever they go."
Reed didn't know how last year was, but he could guess from the expressions of the people around him.
It meant that at least they were above average.
While scanning the documents, Anton noticed the magical engineering majors and spoke to Reed.
"Speaking of which, Tower Master of Silence, I heard you recently switched to magical engineering?"
"Yes, Mr. President."
"There are... 10 magical engineering majors this year."
It was a non-mainstream major with only 10 out of more than 300 magicians graduating each year.
'It's not something to be discouraged about.'
He always thought that he couldn't be satisfied with the first try, so he took it positively.
In a way, those 10 could become strong allies in this competition.
It's essential to remind this year's graduates of what kind of people the tower's magicians are.
Reed's appeal was directed at the freshmen.
'Because of that, I practiced a lot...'
He practiced countless times, assuming there was an actual audience, until his voice was exhausted.
It was a more important place than the demonstration, so there was no room to worry about anything else.
"Well, since they're similar to last year, what we're going to talk about will also be similar. While we're here, let's take a look at the graduating class's lessons."
"Are they still having classes even after taking the final exams?"
"There's no end to learning."
It meant that he didn't intend to let them have an easy time since they were nothing special.
