"This is…" Lucian murmured, sitting in his office, the moonlight shining behind him, decorating the room with pure silver. He was reading the dozens of handwritten notes while Lia sat opposite him, sipping tea with a proud, smug expression. "This kind of knowledge is on par with Hajna's! No… this is even better!" He wasn't lying; it was extraordinary… and Lia still had so much in her head that she was figuring out. This was only the beginning.

"Well, the Golden Claw was one of the strongest of the ancient era!" She chuckled, unable to wipe off her triumphant grin. "You can show this to Hajna, too!"

"I will… She is with your brother right now, visiting the Berisons, but when they return, I will call them up! First thing!"

"Did something happen?" Lia asked, tilting her head, her smile faltering for the first time.

"No, it's just that Reyra, Rangi, and Lakhmu are all unavailable. Your brothers and father are currently playing the role of her messengers, visiting the various Houses while your Uncle is in charge of organizing your home territory."

"Heh! He got his wish in a sense~!" Lia chuckled softly.

"You didn't lie when you said you would be a teacher here, huh?" He looked at her, his smile growing wide and gentle, leaning back in his chair.

"Not just a teacher! I am going to sit where you are sitting right now!" She puffed her chest out, making her tea spill right into her cleavage. "Owie! Hot!"

"Idiot…" Lucian chortled, shaking his head, "But yeah! Sure! Reach the Three Ri stage, and I will abdicate my post to you!"

"Promise?!" She exclaimed, almost jumping out of her chair. "No baksies! No taking back! No-no! Write it down, stamp it with your blood! Somia! Record it! Hey, Somia, I know you are listening in! You are always spying!"

"..."

"Ahahaha! Relax!" Lucian laughed loudly, something he really needed after being swarmed with work in recent years. "I won't go back on my word! I may be a Silly Fox, but I am not a dishonest one!"

"So you acknowledge being silly?" Lia hummed, sticking her tongue out cheekily.

"Only before you! You still studied under a silly fox, so what that makes you, my silly pupil?"

"Err… a not-so-silly mage?"

"Nice try, but no! You are silly squared!"

"Tsk! Bully!"

"I am your Master; I can and will bully you! Now, on the other hand…" He looked back at the study on the elements and the basic description of combining them, written up by Lia herself. "Are you really sharing this? You do know, this is almost like the staple of your House! Of your family name!"

"And?" She asked back immediately, her face full of innocence. "It's all good! Let it spread! Let people learn it! I am sending it to every House! Combining elements is still extremely hard! I guess not many would manage to do so, and if they can, it will be those elements that complement each other well!"

"Well, we are named the Institute of Eight Elements… It is not far-fetched that our world will evolve in this direction! With enough time and work... maybe a thousand years from now, combining elements will be the norm!"

"I am only afraid about what will happen when they finally notice it," Lia murmured, her smile gradually disappearing.

"The Undead?"

"Both factions. In my eyes, the 'Claw' is the same! But yes… they are bound to notice if people start to spring up with elements combined left and right!"

"You just said it's still hard!" Lucian smiled, trying to bring back her happy mood. "So don't worry about it yet!"

"We are filled with talents here, no? We can raise even stronger mages with Hajna's works, and now this! Speaking with Arcus… I realized a Dark Age is not something that would be over in a year. It will be more. Decades even… A century? We are best to start now and prepare more and more for the inevitable!"

"You have grown up…"

"Thank you for noticing!" She winked, fixing her clothes and measuring her breasts with two hands, "I did!"

"Silly Pupil."

"Silly Fox!"

…

…..

……

Back in the Misfits' fortress, when Lia returned, everyone could see she was in high spirits. She immediately called a meeting and distributed the same findings, urging everybody to study it and start combining elements. She was already acting like not just their leader but a future teacher… A headmistress. Nobody questioned it; the opposite, everyone was fired up to experiment and start teaching it to their subordinates. Of the group, Keily was the most mesmerized and inspired, feeling close to combining fire and lightning, something he was most eager to try out.

"You have a visitor." Aurora approached Lia, who was about to leave after their meeting.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Oh? Who?"

"Melody. She is in your office."

"Did something happen?" Lia asked, furrowing her brows and walking up the stone stairs with her sister.

"She wouldn't tell. She says she will inform you directly because you are the leader, and you will reward her the best."

"Greedy!" She giggled, opening the wooden door and entering her office, blinded by the sunlight coming in through her window.

"Ah! Big Boss!" Melody fluttered, running back to the chair she was initially left in by Aurora… yet her shabby clothes were filled to the brim with anything that wasn't nailed down in Lia's office. Books, candle stands, candy, and decorative carvings... Anything that looked pretty was being stuffed into her getup.

"Put everything back in its place!" Lia shrugged, walking past her while Aurora remained at the door, closing it behind her, watching Melody unblinkingly.

"But my reward…" She protested, trying to hold the knick-knacks in her shirt, made from leaves and close to rupturing.

"Fine, whatever!" Lia moaned, rubbing her temple, "But at least tell me what you found!"

"Yes, yes!" She nodded before Lia would change her mind, "We didn't find baddies this time… but we heard something interesting! In the south, there is an underground ruin! Other groups found it, and they are now working to explore it! We didn't get close because there were many of them!"

"Oh?" Lia raised an eyebrow, opened her bracelet, and sent some messages that were answered in a few minutes. "Nobody made a report about the discovery."

"That is against the laws!" Aurora wrote, looking angry.

"It isn't a sub-realm… so there are some backdoor arguments to be made here..." Lia answered, thinking, her thoughts swirling rapidly in her head.

"It's not invisible! Yes, yes!" Melody nodded vigorously, "It is an old ruin that leads down! Underground!"

"It still can be a hotbed for Undead. Not reporting it is a capital offense!"

"If there is punishment to dish out, we will do so!" Lia clapped, ending the conversation, "Aurora, take Sion with you and some of your men and investigate it! Go in incognito, and if you need reinforcement, send a call, and we will come!"

"You won't come?" She asked, surprised at her decision.

"I will stay and oversee things from here. I need to delegate more missions to the Misfits and deal with the aftermath of the previous outbreak. I can't leave all this to Lorin, Opparu, and Rinzen! I will visit the cities with her and check how things are going in person!"

"You grew up…"

"You are saying the same thing as the Silly Fox!" She smiled, ignoring Melody, who, when seeing them lost in the discussion, tried to nick more of Lia's belongings before fleeing the scene.

…

….

……

A few days later, Lia, Lorin, and Rinzen were on their way to one of the cities near the Nerifit's border. Ceiline was already there, waiting for their arrival, acting as a temporary governor. The city's name was Deliah, and right now, it was under quarantine, put in place by Ceiline herself. The group was waiting for the Three Ri stage expert to arrive from the Nerifit's territory to take up residence and be the warden of the 20,000 souls living there.

It fought back the Undead attack but still suffered enough casualties and had enough missing people to be placed under the watch of the House of Nerifit. In the past week, Ceiline was organizing the city's life with twenty Misfits helping her out, making a registry of all the people inside the city walls, and getting ready to present the seat of power to the Three Ri mage when he arrived.

"I have some volunteers who are ready to move in and open shop," Lorin explained in the meanwhile, sitting on the carriage, they were driving through the jungle. "With the city closed down, it will be one of the only contact with the outside."

"Big profit?" Lia chuckled, but Lorin simply shook his head.

"Marginal at best. We are not here to get rich on others' misfortune! It will be enough to cover our expenses and build a good rapport with the people here. To show them even though they are under home arrest, the Houses still care about their wellbeing!"

"Um, good." Rinzen agreed silently, nodding and patting Lorin's head like a mother would. "Discontent people are easier to influence. Nice job!"

“Ahm… thanks…” He blushed as it was still one of the famous Six who complimented him.

"Pft! It is the first time I saw you reddening because of a girl!"

"Why?" Rinzen asked, tilting her head, looking confused.

"Lorin here is into boys!"

"Really?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" He smiled wryly, "True and real! It isn't a secret! What I am most bummed out is that I have yet to find my soulmate! But oh well, I am still young and travel a lot!"

"Sorry that Sion is already taken!" Lia giggled, teasing him a little, "And it seems Keily is too... Hmmm… Raufon has wifes… Simbad… I don't know."

"I think Ceiline would not like that!" Rinzen chimed in, her voice carrying a matter-of-fact tinge to it.

"Really? Oh! I didn't notice!" She turned to Rinzen, her mismatched eyes glowing in excitement. "Since when?"

"I think since the incident with Hajna... They have been spending time together, and Ceiline smells nicer when she is with him."

"Huh?" Lia blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to make sense of it.

"She has the bloodline of a dragon." Lorin agreed with Rinzen, "Her scent carries a ton of pheromones, and when you speak about Simbad with her, the air gets sweeter; I also noticed it! Probably because it has no effect on me."

"How quirky!" Lia laughed, tasting the juicy gossip like someone starved of food for months. "Errr… Then does that mean I am the only single one?"

"Me too." Rinzen raised a hand, unabashed, "I don't know how it feels to fall in love. I never experienced it."

"Me neither!" Lia agreed with a shrug, making Lorin shake his head, looking at them pityingly.

"Poor souls! Girls, be a bit bolder! You are still young and extremely beautiful! It's not like you wouldn't find a pair if you didn't want one!"

"I'm not looking for one!" The two answered at the same time, "Well… I don't even know what I would want in my partner…" Thinking about it hard, Lia added, "But I would want someone I can rely on and know he can help me out when I'm stuck!"

"And have a big dick," Rinzen exclaimed with a weird tone straight out of the blue, making the two flinch and look at her in disbelief. "It was a joke." She continued, seeing their faces and feeling nervous because they didn't laugh.

"Let me guess…" Lia patted her hand, "Koa?"

"Um."

"Thought so! Well, it WAS funny, but I was simply surprised it came from your mouth!"

"Agreed!" Lorin joined in the assessment. "You act and look… more aloof than to use words that belong to Koa's sass!"

"You are lucky she is not here!" Lia grinned, and Lorin simply winked back at her, "Oh, but this reminds me! What if you are into girls?"

"Am I?" She tilted her head, genuinely thinking about it, "Well… When we sleep together, it feels nice."

"Nyahaha! It does! We will sleep together tonight, too!"

"Do you like girls?" Rinzen asked unabashedly.

"I don't know!" Lia answered, throwing her hands in the air, "I realized something while I was away, though! I need to think less and live more in the moment! Let the wind take me to where I am heading!"

"The wind?" Rinzen looked closer at her, but Lia simply twinkled, looking much more free-spirited.

"Yep! I should be burning with excitement when I can, cold and ruthless when fighting, and let the wind of fate carry me to my destination!"

"After telling us about all the elements, did you also strike up to become a philosopher?" Lorin joked, but Lia's only answer was a loud laugh as she could feel the wind blow past them, and she was getting closer and closer to grasping at it, unlocking her third element for real.