Tina cried tears of happiness and turned to face me, but tripped over a sunbathing Solina. “Go get your fucking tan somewhere else! Goddammit Lina!”

“I love you too, Tina!”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah, it’s nice to kick back every once in a while.”

Indeed, they took the day off to see my new entourage of students; specially chosen individuals from the capital who arrived last night. They would all go to Perseverance’s Wizard Guild and Knight Guild branches to check in first.

In those weeks of waiting for them, I forwent sleep to visit my castle in the woods. Indeed, it was mostly abandoned. There were about a dozen undead knights guarding the place, which wasn’t a lot for the size of the castle. There was also the vampire lord who periodically checked in with the castle. I spoke with him a few times and learned that he was something of a caretaker. “Steward,” he called it. But in truth, all he really did was ensure there were no sneaky people in the castle.

The castle had a lot of space, and a lot of rooms. It also was something of neutral territory. Because who the hell would go to the castle of a monster on the Death List? It was the perfect place to train wizards and knights.

It was finally time to begin my new job as a teacher, and live out my life happily with Tina and the others. So, we went to the Knight Guild to meet with them first. There was ten of them. Some were wary, some were anxious, and others were neutral at best. But I didn’t particular feel any hostility from them. Pursuing a career as a healer probably explained why they weren’t exactly exuding hatred. Most people in healthcare weren’t dicks.

But the wizards were less than pleased, at best. I could feel the scornful stares. Some of them even made snide comments at me for practicing necromancy, in front of the entire guild no less.

“Hey, nice to meet you guys too.” I had to hold Tina back from saying something rude to them. “Now, I know you were selected and everything, but I’m not going to force you to do anything. If you don’t want to learn, you can leave.”

Around twenty of them left, most of which were older wizards. Most of who stayed were young people, and the vast majority of them were women. The roles of warriors were dominated by men because of physical strength, but the role of magic-users like healers or wizards were mostly women because men just didn’t fancy complicated things in Reuland. If only they knew how simple I would’ve made their casting.

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I did a quick headcount and got about forty wizards. Hmm, fifty people. More than I expected. I worried a little because I didn’t have enough rooms, but luckily, some of them were grouped off and already knew each other, which meant they’d be okay with sharing rooms.

“Okay, in you go.” I put the portal up, which was quite the sight for them. After the last girl went in, I waved at my party, made a weird wink at Tina because I was awkward like that, and jumped into the portal to my castle.

We gathered in the dining hall, which they would often visit for food. “Okay, this castle’s big, so if you get lost, you can just ask an undead knight to help you. They can’t speak back, but they can understand you perfectly, so don’t be afraid of them, okay?” With that, I finally began my introduction.

“My name is Deidre,” I spoke a bit louder than I was used to. “I’m an E-ranker adventurer and member of the Warrior Guild. I’m here to guide you to better magic. If you’re diligent, you’ll all be able to become adepts.”

They finally began murmuring amongst themselves. I knew I caught their attention with that statement, and I was confident in it as well, because Tina was already on the way to becoming an adept. “For now, I’ll just give you a short tour of the castle and show you to your rooms. Those who are okay with sharing rooms, please say so. If you’re having issues with someone else, I expect you to come to me. Violence against another person is forbidden, and if it even happens once, you’re out.”

So, I did what I said I’d do, showed them to their rooms, and then we returned to the dining hall for lunch. Synthesis was a cheat as much as it was a godsend. While we ate, I opened the floor for questions.

“What level of spells can you use?” a man asked.

I expected a woman, who’d have felt much more at home amongst wizards, to put forth a bold question like that. “I’m an expert, so I can use expert spells.”

“Can you, prove it?” someone asked.

“I already did. The portal I created was an expert spell.” I smiled warmly. “It doesn’t have to be flashy, you know?” As I tried my hardest to smile, I remembered the report a couple days ago. Queen Ayana so kindly included me in her circle of intelligence, at least in concern to the demon invasion. There were more and more signs of demons in the human continent. More dead bodies were found, and many missing person reports were made to the nearest ADAS branch in the rural parts of the southern country.

I pondered if I should quicken the process of their training. It was a simple matter of upping the dosage and increasing their meditation time.

Someone else put a hand up. I felt like I was in class. “How long until we get started?” she asked.

“My dear student, you started the moment you came to this castle.”

And so, my training – if you can call it that – began.