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Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 2

However, starting with Margret, all the senior members of the magic division are so beautiful that I hate it.

「Well, sex appeal is important when a witch is still young. 」

Zelma muttered and nodded her head.

(It’s important, huh…)

Siluca looked far away when she heard that.

「Anyway, I knew you were coming and I was expecting you, so let us come inside before we do anything else. 」

Zelma stared at Siluca, beckoning her with her slender arm like a dead tree.

「I’m sorry for disturbing you. 」

Siluca remembered that she was here on official business and she apologized to Zelma. Then she proceeded to give her the names of her companions and introducing them one by one. However, Zelma didn’t respond to it at all, and instead focused her gaze on Theo’s face next to Siluca.

「Is… is there something wrong with me? 」

Noticing that, Theo pointed at himself anxiously and asked.

「You seem like an individual that is doing quite well for himself. I feel that even if there is going to be a big obstacle standing in your way, the strong power that seems to be accompanying you is going to help you overcome that obstacle, or an others that might appear in your path. 」

「Is that so? 」

Theo replied without changing his expression all that much.

「If it really is going to be like that then you should feel happy about it. 」

Siluca whispered and nudged Theo on the side with her elbow.

「I thought so too when I first met him. In time, Lord Theo will definitely become a splendid Lord . 」

Priscilla smiled broadly at him and put her hands together in prayer.

(Not thanks to you he isn’t!)

Siluca’s mouth twitched a few times as she thought that.

She couldn’t help but be happy that Theo was so highly regarded by Zelma. However, since she is his contracted Mage, she cannot just express her feelings so honestly and openly, even if she is truly overjoyed at such a development.

(Even so, who would have thought that the elder of the witches would approve of him… )

All the witches are incredibly adept at the skills such as divination, prophecies, and reading from the palms and people’s faces. Even at the Magic University, those techniques are taught in the Red Faculty of Liberal Arts. Siluca was also trained in them, but she wasn’t very good at them, because these types of arts seem to rely more on intuition and experience rather than rationality, but she was unable to figure that out herself until one of her professors pointed it out to her.

「You are a very good student, but unfortunately you only seem to be using half of the potential of your entire brain. 」

Those were the exact words that the professor used when he was pointing that out to her. After she heard that assessment of her she simply agreed that there was nothing that she could have done with that and dropped these subjects, focusing instead on the things that she really excelled at. The reason why she chose the Purple Faculty of Creation Magic as her last was exactly because of the fact that Creation Magic relied heavily on its user’s intuition and the experiences that they have been through, and that was also why she has decided to study that particular branch of magic slowly and methodically. But the opportunity to do that was now lost to her, and she was never going to reclaim it again. But she was fine with it, because now Siluca found something that was more important to her than becoming a Rainbow Mage.

Siluca and the others were then guided by Zelma and entered a large building.

Immediately after entering, they saw that it was actually a large hall where many girls and young women were training to become witches. Some had fortune-telling cards laid out before them, while others had things such as medicinal herbs or dried insects, no doubts the ingredients that were going to be turned into potions and brews at one point or another. But the thing that was perhaps standing out the most was the large cauldron placed unter the equally large hearth right in the center of the hall. Several girls surround it, throw in various ingredients, and stir it up with a very serious expressions. At first glance, it just looked like a regular soup, but the unusual and bizarre ingredients they were using in order to make it should have been a dead giveaway as to what was going on right now. Like it was said, aside form magic, witches were also masters of making potions and brews, but just like with magic spells, one careless mistake could lead to the ruination of all the preparations and ingredients committed into the creative process.

「You are going to follow granny now, while the others will stay here. 」

Zelma said to Siluca. When Siluca turned to Theo, he nodded to indicate that he understands and that Siluca should go without worrying about him..

「You there, make sure that you keep our guests company. 」

When the elder said so and clapped her hands, the girls all shouted and swarmed over Theo and Irvin like they were trying to swallow them both up whole, while Priscilla was ostensibly pushed to the side.

Siluca then entered the back room with the elder. It looked like a typical room belonging toa witch, complete with fortune-telling cards spread out on a small desk, smoke from the incense burner filling out the entire room up to the ceiling and a Chaos Globe…

「The Chaos Globe… 」

Siluca unintentionally spoke those words aloud.

It wasn’t quite as large as the one in the Grand Cathedral in Elam, but for a Chaos Globe it was still pretty big. It was so big that Siluca would not be able to wrap her hands around it even if she tried. Inside the transparent crystal ball, light and darkness mingled and swayed.

「I’ve heard rumors about you, and about that young Lord you brought with yourself… 」

Zelma sat down at her desk and asked Siluca to sit on the chair opposite of her. Siluca obediently did what was being asked of her and then looked at the witch elder.

「I heard that he gave up his title as a Viscount just so that he could keep you as his contracted Mage. 」

When the elder says so, she let out an incredibly hoarse laugh.

「W-Well, yes, that is exactly how it was. 」

Siluca nodded as she blushed slightly.

「He’s quite an interesting young man, isn’t he? 」

The elder narrows his eyes.

「And his ideal are truly splendid. 」

Siluca answered proudly.

Although his title has returned to that of a simple Knight, Theo’s fame has already spread to the neighboring countries. It’s undeniable that the rumors are going their own way, but she had to admit that elder Zelma was right: there truly is something special about him.

「Elder Zelma, if I may ask, what exactly did you manage to see when you looked at Lord Theo’s face? 」

Siluca asked, wondering if Zelma had figured out something about Theo when she looked at him back in the great hall.

「Hmm? Ahh, you mean what I said to your Lord back there? Do not worry yourself about it too much. It is just a standard thing that I am saying to all the people who come to visit me, since no matter who they are, this is a phrase that is not going to make anyone feel bad and will even lift their spirits if they are feeling down, since pretty much everyone nowadays is convinced that they have some kind of hidden power dwelling deep down inside of them. 」

「Oh… I see… I-Is that so… 」
Siluca suddenly felt very weak.

「But I feel that this young man will not be satisfied with the words of this old lady. 」

「Yes, he has been through his fair share of hardships already. 」

Siluca nodded in agreement.

「I don’t know if it’s because of that, but Lord Theo seems like a person who does what he wants to do and doesn’t regret being proud of what he’s done. 」

「Hou hou…?」

Zelma let out an owl-like cry.

「You might think that doing what you just described would be easy, but it actually is something that is incredibly difficult to do for most people. That is why young people like him who can still do that after all they have been through are exceedingly rare. 」

Then, for a moment, she let out a hoarse laugh and nodded in satisfaction.

「It’s true that young man has a strong side to him, but I don’t know if it will come out for good or bad for him. You should keep that in mind as well. 」