After her first battle with Lime, Elianora decides to ask me a question.

“So, which academy did you study under?”

“Academy?”

She raises an eyebrow and decides to change the question, “Who’s your master? I bet they must be pretty famous to have raised you to be this powerful.”

“I don’t have a master,” I say nonchalantly.

Silences envelops the living room as she spits out the wine she was gently sipping, coughing in the process.

“W-what do you mean you don’t have a master?”

“I mean exactly that.”

“Then, are you telling me you’re self-taught?”

“Yes.”

She just stares at me with her mouth agape, clearly surprised by that revelation. I decide to briefly explain a little about my past and how I trained all those years ago.

“That’s insane. So, you’re telling me you got this strong through trial and error? How are you even still alive?”

I understand her surprise. Magic isn’t something you can just learn through trial and error because one mistake could lead to irreversible damage to your mana core or your mana veins. Of course, it wasn’t easy but what can I say. I gritted my bloodied teeth and refused to give up, that’s all.

“You know, at first, I thought you were from the Iridora Academy.”

“Iridora Academy?”

Silence once again falls within the room.

“You’re kidding right?” she says, her mouth twitching in astonishment.

I look at her with unblinking eyes. She opens her eyes wide and shouts from the top of her lungs.

“JUST WHAT KIND OF ROCK DID YOU CRAWL OUT OF?!

Calming her throbbing head, she finally speaks.

“The Iridora Academy is the best academy in the continent. It’s found in the Esteria kingdom’s capital city. Although the Domarry Academy of the ‘Great’ Empire,” she rolls her eyes, scoffing in the process, “believes that they are on par with them, that’s not true. After all, the Iridora Academy’s founder was none other than the Witch of Mist.”

She said all of this with her chest puffed out. I guess she’s proud of herself. Iridora Academy, huh. Doesn’t sound that great. Although I was interested in the Witch of Mist at first, I lost interest a long time ago. I’ve reached a level where casting superior-level magic isn’t a challenge at all.

“I find it funny how I know more human knowledge than a human,” she says as she chuckles proudly.

“So, what makes you so sure that this Iridora Academy is stronger than the Domarry Academy?” I ask just to keep the conversation going.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Isn’t it obvious? Legacy. The Iridora Academy has been around since two thousand years ago while the Domarry Academy only has a three hundred years of history. The Iridora Academy has a lot of powerful relics left by its founder.”

I open my eyes in shock. What does she mean by that? Two thousand years of history? But the Witch of Mist was alive two hundred years ago. How can a human live for 1800 years?

“Are you sure about what you’re saying?”

A sly smile blooms on her mouth, “Finally caught your attention didn’t I? You were acting like you didn’t care a few minutes ago. Hehehe!”

She laughs proudly before she continues, “Yes, I speak the truth. In fact, from what I’ve heard from Queen mother, it seems the Witch of Mist is more than ten thousand years old.”

Another shock. Ten thousand years old? Okay, we’ve already established the fact that a person can extend their lifespan using mana and magic. By doing so, at best a human can live up to 400 years or even 500 years. Of course, it depends on one’s mana capacity and control. There hasn’t been a case for more than 500 years.

In my case, it’s possible to live for thousands of years, maybe even more considering my growth hasn’t shown any signs of stopping. Of course, I consider myself an outlier in this world.

To think someone has actually lived that long is absurd. The amount of mana one would need to have is crazy. And if she has that amount then that means she’s at least on par with me in strength… and yet why has she done nothing? She could have ended the demons 200 years ago, instead she disappeared and the Holyland was forced to summon heroes.

So, it doesn’t make sense for such a powerful person to exist and yet not have any contingencies to act on her absence.

“Tell me more about the Witch of Mist.”

And so, we spent half the night talking about the Witch of Mist. What I learned from Elianora is that the Witch of Mist actually saved her mother when she was young and spent a few weeks travelling together until she returned safely to the Elven Forest.

Elianora managed to hit me with another shocking revelation. Turns out the Witch of Mist was one of the Heroes who saved the world from the Great Evil that befell this world. Thanks to our talk, I was able to make one conclusion. The Witch of Mist isn’t equal to me in strength.

The amount of mana one would have to use to sustain their lifespan for over ten thousand years was astronomical. That’s like putting yourself on life support just to live more than you should, which means you can’t do anything properly.

However, due to Elianora’s story, I grew interested in this Iridora Academy.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pay it a visit,” I mutter under my breath. Elianora’s ears perk up as she smiles enthusiastically.

She then continued to tell me more about the Iridora Academy. Her mouth wouldn’t stop. She kept talking and talking to the point I was surprised how she knew all this.

“So, how do you know so much about a human academy anyways?”

She chuckles lightly as she puffs out her chest again, “That’s because my uncle is the headmaster of the academy.”

I look at her bewildered, “An elf as a headmaster of a human academy?”

“Well,” sweat beads fill Elianora’s face as she stretches her neck. “My uncle is a bit different you see. Queen mother and uncle share the same mother but not the same father.”

Ah, I see.

“So, your uncle is a_”

“Don’t say it. P-please don’t,” she says as her head hangs low.

A half elf, half human. A Halfling for short. It’s not only dark elves that face discrimination, halflings also face their share. Which is why it’s rare to see Dark elves and Halflings in the Elven Forest since many of them decide to venture out into the human world.

“Sorry,” I say to Elianora.

“It’s okay. My mother hates him but I don’t. Uncle has always been nice to me and I love the stories he would tell me about the outside world,” she says, her cheeks flushed. “Anyways *hiccup*, Allen. Want to kiss me?”

Huh? For a second, I feel like the world lost its colour. Things that made sense didn’t anymore.

“Oh come on, don’t be shy. You’d be the first to kiss this royal self.”

That’s when I realise, she is drunk. Shit, I’ve been drinking this wine relaxed because of my protocol that can eliminate ‘poisonous’ substance in my body. But that’s different for her. After all, after some research, I discovered that my recreated alcohol was a tad stronger than most alcohol found in this world.

And so, I spent 20 full minutes arguing with a crazy girl who wanted to kiss me without my permission. As I watch her slumped on the couch without a care in the world, I can’t help but chuckle. These two days have been the most relaxing days I’ve ever had.