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Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part 6

Aishela said so, and sat next to Siluca while smiling from ear to ear.

* * *

Eventually, the carriage arrived at the gate of the mansion belonging to the Meletes family. This was the place where the members of the Meletes family usually resided and from which they were heading out to the Mages Association whenever they were needed there. Of course, Siluca had already informed them that she’ll be coming to pay the family a visit today.

「I’ll be waiting for you here if you’re going to need anything. 」

When Siluca got off the carriage, Aishela called out to her. All this time, she was observing her surroundings with a sharp glare.

「Okay. 」

Siluca nodded at her.

Aishela is no longer a Mage. Although she cannot remain unrelated to the Meletes family, there is no need for her to be deeply involved with them anymore.

After announcing her arrival to the gatekeeper, a female Mage, the gatekeeper’s secretary, appeared and ushered Siluca to go into her room at the embassy. She was then led to the reception room.

「…It’s been a while, Siluca. 」

Tiberio stopped his paperwork, looked up, and called out to Siluca. His face was deeply scarred and has many mottled stains. He was bald from the forehead to the top of his head, the rest of his gray hair curled in a beard. His beard, grown short along his jawline, was similarly curly. She knew that he was over seventy years old, but over the past two years she had gotten the impression that he had deteriorated even more, and she felt sorry for him. However, his eyes remained sharp and his authoritative voice remained unchanged.

「It has been a while indeed. 」
Siluca bowed nervously.

Tiberio is one of the ten members of the Sages Committee.

「There are many things I want to say to you, but first and foremost, you seem to be doing well. 」

「I apologize for any concerns or inconveniences that I might’ve caused you. 」

Siluca sincerely apologized, but she still felt nervous about the entire thing.

「It was a big problem that you made a contract with a wandering Lord without the permission of the Mages Association, but I never thought that this wandering Lord would go on to become an Earl in such a short time. 」

「Yes… I met a good Lord. 」

「I don’t know what will happen to the Lord Theo Cornero in the future, but the name of Meletes has risen greatly thanks to his actions, and my family can maintain its influence in the Mages Association only if it is supported by an influential Lord like him. 」

The Meletes family inherited the philosophy of the Great Mage Michel, who helped the Founding Lord Leon in his quest and ultimately went on to create what would later be known as the Mages Association. It is a very prestigious family that had its members in the Sages Committee for generations. However, it is by no means mainstream in the current Mages Association.

「Lord Theo has high aspirations. I believe he is an indispensable person for the future of the continent. 」

「You may be right. 」

Tiberio nodded warmly.

「He has a growing reputation as a young hero among the people. However, keep in mind that there are people who think that such people can be dangerous because of their popularity. 」

Those who don’t want the current state of the world to change must be feeling like that. The appearance of a Lord like Theo, who has never existed before, is certainly a threat to such old timers.

「Although it was a big deal that you managed to capture the Black Witch, there were some people who found it inconvenient. 」

「That’s something that I expected, but I really had no way of being sure about it. 」

Tiberio’s voice sounded as if he was disappointed by such a development, and his voice even became louder.

「Of course, it’s just a grudge of some of the Sages Committee members… But people don’t forget their grudges that easily. 」

「Hasn’t the Black Witch’s punishment already been decided by the Sages Committee? 」

Siluca asked hesitantly, because she felt like the Sages Committee has already known who the real culprit behind Yana’s actions was without them needing to actually catch her and hear that from her own mouth.

「It’s been a long time since then… 」

Tiberio nods with a grim expression, thus confirming Siluca’s predictions.

「Can you even imagine why 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral 」occurred in the first place? 」

「I have a vague idea, but… 」

Siluca answered while choosing her words carefully.

It is said that when the Grancrest is going to be born, the Age of Chaos is going to be replaced by the Age of Order, and in the age of Order, all the Chaos is going to disappear from the world, including the power of Crests and magic, which both derive their powers from Chaos directly. Stopping that grand change from happening was supposedly the goal of the secret organization of Dark Mages called Pandora.

However, if this entire thing were to be put in another way, that 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」was caused because of the fear of the age of Mages and Lords ending in favor of the ushering of the age of regular men, then the picture of an entirely different culprit would immediately be painted.

「I never thought that the people of Elam would commit such atrocious acts… 」

Tiberio looked disappointed. Although Siluca had never thought of it before, this incident can be said to be a particularly regrettable one for Meletes family, which had sent out many excellent contracted Mages from its ranks to support various influential Lords across generations.

「Since the Black Witch has already confessed everything that she knew, several Mages are going to be punished alongside her. Those who cooperated with them will also be revealed. The Black Witch will then be executed, and that incident will finally be brought to a close. 」

Those involved in carrying out the incident, including the Black Witch, will be punished, which is definitely a good thing, but Siluca couldn’t help it but think that there was still someone else behind them, someone who kept hiding themselves in the shadows just outside of their reach.

「I am sure you understand that perfectly, but let me tell you this just in case. If you get involved in this anymore than you already are, you’re going to be in grave danger, so heed my words and do not get involved in that incident. Your Lord is going to receive a letter of appreciation and a reward from the Mages Association, so as his contracted Mage, all you have to do is to continue to serve the Earl Theo Cornero. As long as you do that, no danger should be coming to you. 」

「Thank you for worrying about me and telling me all this. I really appreciate it. 」

Siluca bowed deeply to Tiberio.

「Ever since you were a child, you’ve always been something of a heretic as far as Mages are concerned. If that decision was left entirely up to me, then I would’ve had Aubest sort you out of the Magic Academy, but him and Aishela had the same opinion about it and chose to protect you. 」

「But you also protected us, isn’t that right, Lord Tiberio? 」

Siluca remembered that the Lord in front of her was also Aubest Meletes’s adoptive father.

She had heard a story from Aishela about when she was first taken in by her adoptive father. She told Siluca that she might not believe it, but when she was first taken in by the Mages Association, she seemed to have closed her heart to anyone around her, and back then, Aubest’s social phobia was supposedly even worse than it is right now.

By bringing the two of them together, old Sage hoped that the two would change for the better, and sometime later his cautious approach did pay off, because Aishela eventually opened her heart to others, and Aubest’s own social phobia also somewhat improved.

「It is the role of the head of the family to protect and develop it as much as possible. But in order to do that, do we really have to filter out all those who are different from what we are used to? I wasn’t always thinking like that, but now I don’t think that’s strictly necessary. Rather, it is those who are considered heretical that bring about reform and create a new era. However, what the current Mages Association is seeking is not change and innovation, but unchanging stability. 」

Tiberio muttered quietly.