“If I don’t leave, what would I be doing here?” Eugene asked her.
“You can do whatever you like. I don’t know when the Red Tower Master might be retiring, but… Sir Eugene, if you say you wish to become the next Tower Master, the current Red Tower Master would probably approve you as his successor without hesitation.”
“I have no intentions of becoming a tower master.”
“Then how about the Court Wizards? Isn't Trempel Vizardo also extremely interested in recruiting you?”
Trempel Vizardo was the Commander of Aroth’s Court Wizards. Since about a year ago, he had been trying to get close to Eugene to recruit him for a position in the Court Wizards.
“Crown Prince Honein also greatly favors you, Sir Eugene. In my opinion, Crown Prince Honein’s line is one that will be able to continue to proudly make a name for itself over the next few decades, until it even reaches outside of Aroth,” Mer continued to persuade him.
“Although I’m grateful for the Crown Prince’s favor, that also doesn’t appeal to me,” Eugene rejected the suggestion.
“You won’t be able to become the Patriarch anyway, so why do you have to return to the Lionheart clan?” Mer argued.
Eugene just asked, “Do I really need such an amazing reason just to go home?”
“And since when were you so attached to your home?” Mer asked sulkily.
When she had first heard him mention his thesis, Mer hadn’t thought much about it.
This was because, even though Eugene’s accomplishments were astonishing, it would be by no means an easy feat to establish his findings in a thesis.
However, Eugene’s growth far exceeded Mer’s imagination. It had only been half a year since he started writing his thesis, but Eugene had already neatly organized his previously vague magic theories into a coherent hypothesis. During the process, he had managed to advance his own unique magic formula by several steps.
“...That thesis, do you really have no intention of publishing it?” Mer asked.
“I don’t,” Eugene replied with a shake of his head. “This thesis is just for my self-satisfaction. In any case, other than me, no one else would truly be able to make use of it. So I’m just using it to tidy up the details of my magic formula by writing it all down.”
This meant that Eugene didn’t really need to write a perfect thesis. Mer had already heard him say so dozens of times before. That was why Mer refused to retract her pouting lips. As it was a thesis written solely for self-satisfaction, there was no reason for him to worry too much about the quality of the paper, as it wasn’t going to be presented to a panel anyway.
Although that was the case, Eugene wasn’t going to casually write just anything. The thesis he had been working on for over half a year would be examined by Eugene’s teacher, the Red Tower Master, Lovellian. It was Lovellian who had first brought up the opinion that there was no need for Eugene to publish his thesis.
—This Ring Flame Formula can’t be reproduced by any other wizard. Regardless of how advanced their understanding of magic is, it would be physically impossible for them to replicate it.
Eugene didn’t use the normal Circle magic formula.
—It’s also not something that can be reproduced by the White Flame Formula users of the Lionheart’s main family.
Instead, Eugene had replaced the Circle with the Stars from the White Flame Formula.
—I’ve also… attempted to reproduce your results by following your thesis. I was stalled right from the beginning because I haven’t formed a core, nor have I learned the White Flame Formula. So I tried to use my Circles as a replacement, but I wasn’t able to replicate your results, Eugene. Instead, my mana seemed to flow backward.
In order to copy Witch Craft’s Eternal Hole, Eugene had adapted the Eternal Hole to use the Stars of his White Flame Formula in place of the Circles.
He was currently at the Fourth Star of the White Flame Formula. With these four Stars, he made a Circle. Then inside this Circle, just as Hamel had done in his past life, he would ignite his mana to set off a chain of explosions. The exploding mana would then be refined into countless Circles that would then be intertwined with each other to create more Circles. On the outside, the spinning ring of flames in his pseudo-Circle would tightly bind his Stars, preventing any mana from leaking out.
This was the Ring Flame Formula.
Originally, he had intended to attempt something similar once he reached the Fifth Star of the White Flame Formula, but the timing had been pushed forward due to his meeting with Witch Craft. Learning magic every day allowed him to stimulate his mana, and as a result, it also increased his progress in the White Flame Formula.
The two years he had spent at Aroth couldn’t be described as simply hectic; they were far more intense than that.
He had become Lovellian’s disciple, so while half of his waking hours were spent studying in Akron, the other half was spent learning magic from Lovellian.
As an Archwizard, Lovellian could clearly tell what level Eugene had reached. Apart from a strong foundation in mana control, Eugene only knew the basics. Lovellian didn’t give Eugene any lessons on the vital arrangement of formulas or the attunement of mana used to create spells.
He felt there was no need to teach Eugene any of that, and Lovellian’s judgment was soon proven correct.
During Eugene’s previous life as Hamel, with only a poor mana training scripture as his foundation, he had become strong enough to serve as Vermouth’s companion. Hamel was one of the protagonists during the war with Helmuth, and he was right there alongside the others when they had killed three of the five Demon Kings.
All while only having learned such a common and cheap mana training scripture.
So Lovellian only taught Eugene various spells. And among the myriad of spells that he knew, he taught Eugene only the most useful. He tried to simplify their complicated formulas as much as possible, then left it solely up to Eugene to figure out how to arrange his mana to cast these spells.
After Eugene had managed to establish his Ring Flame Formula to a certain extent, Lovellian had provided his helpful critique as Eugene began to write his thesis. He had also assisted in adapting the existing Circle spells to fit Eugene’s unique magic formula.
There wasn’t really a need for Lovellian to do so, as it was possible to cast the usual Circle spells with the Ring Flame Formula. However, if Eugene was going to be using his own unique magic formula, wouldn’t it be better for him to use improvised spells so that they were both stronger and easier to cast?
“Are you upset?” Eugene asked Mer.
Mer harrumphed, “Why would I be upset?”
“Because I said I’ll be leaving even though you asked me to stay.”
“I’m not upset. What right do I have to stop you from leaving? Sir Eugene, if you say you’re going, then you can just go. Although I’ve never thought about wanting to go somewhere, even if I did, I’m just a familiar who can’t leave Akron.”
The more Mer talked, the further her lips protruded in her pout.
“That’s why you should just feel free to leave. You can just leave me here all alone in this boring, dull, and quiet place while you go off by yourself. I’m not at all disappointed about parting ways with you, with whom I’ve been playing for these past two years. After all, I'm not really a living human being, and I know full well that humans are just selfish creatures.”
“Is that so?” Eugene calmly asked.
“Of course, I’m well aware of this. Because I’m two hundred years older than you. Even so, Sir Eugene, please at least come and see me before you leave. Don’t just leave without saying anything like Lady Sienna,” Mer pleaded.
“Alright,” Eugene readily agreed.
“Even though I’ve said all this, you’re still as calm as ever. Though it feels like I’ve thought this hundreds of times over these past two years, you really are a piece of trash,” Mer grumbled.
Eugene argued, “Why am I a piece of trash?”
“Because I just get that feeling from you. It doesn’t matter if there’s a reason or not. You, Sir Eugene, are simply trash. You’re really so annoying. Even though you’re a lot younger than me, you haven’t shown me any respect as your senior. If an adult tells you to do something, shouldn’t you just be a good child and accept the order obediently?”
As she grumbled these words, Mer picked up the hat she had placed next to her and put it back on her head, covering her face in embarrassment.
“...Of course… if you were to be truly persuaded by my words and chose not to leave Aroth, then I’m sure I would feel extremely distressed because of that,” Mer haltingly admitted. “But I can’t help it. As my personality is based on Lady Sienna’s childhood, my emotions and behavior can’t help but be influenced by a childish temper.”
Eugene seemed doubtful, “Is that really the case?”
“Yes, of course, that’s the case,” Mer insisted. “That’s why I say such childish things and show a child’s stubbornness. Even under such circumstances, part of me still accepts that it’s your right to leave. That’s why I still feel like an idiot for uttering such nonsensical words. Because I’m sure that Lady Sienna wouldn’t act like this. I feel like my actions are an insult to Lady Sienna.”
“...Hm,” Eugene hesitated.
“That's why you should just treat my words like air. Since I’m just being childishly stubborn about this, there’s no need for you to pay attention to what I’m saying. It’s not like there’s any point to it, and I don’t really have anything I can offer you,” Mer meekly conceded.
“Maybe,” Eugene said, even as the pen he was using to write his thesis continued to move. “But the real Lady Sienna might have acted just like you.”
“Please don’t say something so nonsensical. There’s no way that Lady Sienna would do that.”
“No, she would have.”
“And how would you know that, Sir Eugene? When you’ve never even met the real Lady Sienna. Could you really be saying that while thinking of Lady Sienna as she’s depicted in the fairy tale?” Mer asked as she lifted up her hat, revealing her face.
Pffft.
Mer blew a raspberry at Eugene.
“In the end, that was just something someone wrote while using their imagination,” Mer scolded him. “I knew Lady Sienna; she wasn’t that kind of person.”
“My thesis should be finishing soon,” Eugene declared as he childishly returned Mer’s raspberry with one of his own. “As long as I don’t get too needlessly ambitious with it, I’ll probably be able to finish it before the end of summer.”
“So what about it?” Mer asked grumpily.
“I’ll definitely come looking for you before I leave. I might just have something I’ll need to say to you at that moment, you know?” Eugene teased.
Mer demanded, “What is it? Are you trying to provoke me? I really will kill you.”
“I’ll tell you at that time,” Eugene replied with a smile.
