“Are you alright?”

“Haa, phew.”

She felt nauseous, like she was about to vomit. But since she hadn’t eaten much, she only exhaled hot air.

Unable to close her eyes, the face of the dead Caron flashed before her. Each time, Cordelia retched several times while gripping a tree.

“Shall I bring you some water?”

“No. I’m fine now.”

Rosenblur asked with a worried expression. Cordelia barely managed to stand up.

“Thank you for coming to get me. If you hadn’t…”

She had been lucky.

Cordelia tightly gripped and released the cracked ring that had split in half.

She had survived thanks to the ring. The moment Maximilian tried to harm her, some kind of transparent barrier appeared and repelled him.

Just then, Rosenblur had visited his research lab and encountered him. Seeing Cordelia’s face turn pale, Rosenblur quickly took her outside.

“It seems I arrived just in time. When I heard you’d left with Maximilian, I went just in case.”

“That man killed his own disciple. Right in front of me.”

“…”

Rosenblur didn’t seem particularly surprised. After a brief silence, he spoke.

“Do you know how the Mages’ Association is maintained?”

“No? Why do you ask?”

“Then I’ll have to explain from the beginning. Only a select few can become mages.”

“Of course, that makes sense. You can’t become a mage in the first place if you can’t sense magical power.”

“No. There’s something that takes precedence over talent for mages. It’s the existence of a master.”

“A master?”

Though she couldn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up, Cordelia didn’t interrupt Rosenblur’s words.

“To become a mage, you must have a master. Because magic is passed down through a strict apprenticeship system, which school you belong to and which master you serve is absolutely crucial. Enough to determine a person’s life.”

“Is that reason enough to kill a disciple?”

“Outsiders may not understand, but in this place, a master holds such an absolute position. To put it extremely, if a master tells a disciple to die, the disciple has no choice but to obey.”

Only after hearing his explanation did she understand why Leonard had kept saying what a great privilege it was for her to serve him as a master. At the same time, she understood why Caron had eaten the poisoned food himself.

“But he killed someone. Will no one hold him accountable for that crime?”

“There are certainly laws and order within the Mages’ Association, but Maximilian is a high-level mage with a very powerful position within the Rhiannon school. No matter what he does, the only person who can hold him responsible is one man. Only Lord Menuphio, the Serius of Rhiannon we saw earlier.”

“That’s absurd…”

“You may not understand now, but you’ll come to accept it once you’ve been in the Association for a while.”

Rosenblur spoke as if it couldn’t be helped, but Cordelia simply couldn’t understand their way of thinking.

She wanted to run away from this building right away, but she held back. No matter how scared she was, she couldn’t return empty-handed.

Though it had been a short time, she had come to realize how great Leonard’s status was while at the Ropel Mages’ Association.

It wasn’t just to repay the kindness of taking her on as a disciple.

She wanted to become a ‘useful’ person to Leonard. She hoped he would think that taking her as a disciple wasn’t a bad choice.

“Please take me to my master’s research lab.”

“Are you sure? You look too unwell. Now that you’re here, the lab won’t be closed. So why don’t we rest a bit first?”

“No. I want to go right now.”

Rosenblur tried to persuade Cordelia a few more times, but he couldn’t change her mind.

“Follow me. It’s not far from here.”

“Thank you.”

“No need for thanks. Leonard’s disciple is like my own disciple. Don’t feel too burdened.”

“Elfenbaum’s disciple would be hurt to hear that.”

“Haha, it’s fine. I don’t have any disciples.”

“You don’t? Why?”

“Well. I suppose it’s because I haven’t met anyone suitable to take on as a disciple yet. I was a bit relieved that Leo wasn’t taking disciples like me, but to think he secretly made one. I feel a bit betrayed.”

As they walked while chatting about this and that, her churning stomach had calmed considerably. And finally, after passing through a long corridor, they arrived in front of an old door.

Cordelia’s mouth fell open as soon as she saw that door.

“Here it is. Leo’s research lab.”

“Wow, it’s so complex.”

“Huh?”

“This door. It’s surrounded by twelve layers of magical power. Looks like not just anyone can enter.”

“How do you know that? I heard you were a low-level mage.”

“Ah. I can see magical power.”

Cordelia smiled as she lightly tapped near her eyes. However, Rosenblur’s face opposite her became stiffly frozen.

“You can see it? Magical power?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Just, I’ve been able to see it since as long as I can remember. At first I thought it was just a mirage or hallucination, but I realized it only appeared on objects containing magical power, so I knew I could see magic.”

Rosenblur let out a very long groan before speaking.

“It would be better if you didn’t tell others that you can see magical power.”

“Why? Is it something I shouldn’t talk about?”

“No. Rather, you’re already a target of envy and jealousy just for being Leo’s disciple, but if it becomes known that you can see magical power on top of that…”

He trailed off without finishing his sentence, but Cordelia understood what Rosenblur was trying to say. So she easily agreed.

“Yes. I understand.”

“Now I see how you became Leo’s disciple. Such an incredible talent. Even the great mage Rachel couldn’t see magical power. …It’s really a shame.”

“What is?”

“If you had met me before Leo, I would have taken you as my first disciple.”

He looked at Cordelia with eyes full of regret.

At those words, Cordelia briefly fell into imagination.

Not the ill-tempered Leonard who always scolded her saying her head was just for decoration, but being the disciple of this kind, handsome, and gentle Rosenblur. Just imagining it made her smile. She felt she would never tire of doing magic homework every day.

“I’d like to take it back even now if I could, do you know any way to undo it?”

“Undo it? Leo would be hurt.”

Thinking Cordelia’s words were a joke, Rosenblur laughed it off.

It definitely wasn’t a joke, but since she had heard from Baron that there was no way to undo it, Cordelia sighed deeply and took out the key from her pocket.

Unlike ordinary doors, the keyhole was in the middle of the door. Cordelia inserted the key into the hole. As she did so, she could see the twelve layers of magical power that had been tightly wrapped around slowly dispersing.

Just as she thought it was done and was about to push the door, suddenly an eye as big as Cordelia’s fist appeared in the middle of the door.

“Ahhh!”

“What? Who are you to have the key to Atilei’s research lab?”

The eye’s appearance was so bizarre that Cordelia unconsciously screamed. The eye also seemed surprised to see Cordelia and blinked its eyelids rapidly.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Who else? I’m the 132nd demon, Candias. Though I’ve been tricked by that damned Atilei into being a doorkeeper. Who are you?”

The eye spoke. It was an extremely strange sentence when put like this, but it was the accurate word to describe the situation. Cordelia calmed her fluttering heart and said,

“I’m Leonard Atilei’s disciple.”

“Disciple? Don’t make me laugh. Hey. Since when does that guy have a disciple? You should lie about something believable.”

“She is Leo’s disciple, Lord Candias. She even has Acheron’s seal.”

“Hmm?”

When Rosenblur stood up for her and defended her, Candias looked Cordelia up and down.

“Hold out your hand.”

“My hand?”

“Whose else would it be? I only have an eyeball, don’t I?”

Cordelia hesitantly held out her hand to Candias, feeling like she was offering it to a wild beast. When her hand touched above Candias’ eyelid, he opened his eye wide.

“It’s real. What? That Atilei actually took on a disciple.”

“If you’ve confirmed it, please open the door now.”

“I can’t just open it because you have the key. …Hehe. You must solve the riddle I pose to enter here, foolish human.”

“The answer! Red flower!”

Candias was about to ask the question in a deep, dignified tone, but Cordelia was much faster.

“Hey! How can you give the answer before I’ve even asked the question?”

“Huh? Isn’t that the answer?”

“It is the answer, it is. Aish, where did Atilei find a disciple with the same impatient personality as him… Come in!”

As Candias shouted angrily, the door opened.

Finally entering Leonard’s research lab. Cordelia felt oddly moved and proud of herself. How many difficulties she had overcome to get here.

Cordelia carefully entered. The moment she took a step inside, the door slammed shut quickly.

“Ah! Lord Elfenbaum couldn’t come in yet.”

“That fellow can’t come in here.”

Candias’ eyeball that she had seen earlier appeared in midair.

“The only one who can enter this research lab is Atilei. No, now you too.”

“Should I call you Lord Candias?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s better than being called ‘one-eye’.”

The research lab was more ordinary than she had thought. There were books strewn about messily, a desk cluttered with pens and papers, and a sofa with a blanket on it sitting alone.

Cordelia slowly scanned the space. Somehow, the image of Leonard sitting at the desk came to mind, making her feel a bit strange.

“Did Atilei tell you to bring something?”

“Yes. Ransel’s… Huh? Ah, no. My master has passed away.”

Answering without thinking, Cordelia was startled herself and quickly changed her words. Candias snorted in response.

“Dead? Him? As if he could die.”

“It’s true. He really passed away.”

“If that guy was dead, this bothersome contract should have been broken too! Seeing how sturdy it is, he must be alive and breathing somewhere for sure! Aish, how annoying.”

“I, I don’t know. I was told he passed away.”

For now, Cordelia pretended not to know. Feeling like she might really be found out if she talked with Candias any more, she quickly changed the subject.

“Um, do you know where Ransel’s last flower, the Saint’s tears, and the red dragon’s breath are?”

“Coming to pluck the most expensive things right away, huh. Wait a moment. I saw that guy put them somewhere here.”

Candias floated away and disappeared somewhere. Cordelia glanced around once, then sat down quietly on the sofa to wait.

But something felt uncomfortable under her bottom. When she stood up to look, a thin, round bracelet decorated with gold was lying on the sofa blanket.

“Wow, it’s pretty.”

There was a red jewel set in the center, and delicate antique patterns were intricately carved on the bracelet. After fiddling with it for a while, Cordelia slipped it onto her wrist. Of course, she intended to just try it on briefly and then put it back.

“Huh? Huh? Why won’t this come off?”