On the other side, Victor was still leading Eleanor toward the Headmaster’s Building.
The players who were busy doing various tasks around the academy — constructing the wall, making bricks from the kiln, and taking care of other chores — noticed his presence. Of course, the sight of a girl carrying a backpack twice her size couldn’t escape their eyes. Speculations were abounded in the air.
“Damn! Look! There’s a person carrying a huge backpack beside the headmaster!”
“Who’s that person?”
“A new character in the game? New NPC?”
“It’s a girl! Yes! Finally, a true human girl NPC!”
“Ooh, ooh, ooh!!”
“Hmm, does this mean that we are one step closer to the open beta? That guy on the forum might’ve been onto something after all!”
With the prospect of progressing closer to the open beta, the players one by one became even more energetic like they were on some kind of drugs. Suddenly, the discussion of the players took an unexpected turn…
“I bet a hundred bucks that it’s the headmaster’s secret lover.”
“Wait, but what about Miss Fairy?”
“What the heck’s wrong with your head? How can a fairy and a human be lovers? Though if it were me, I wouldn’t mind. Hehehe…”
“Dude, this is a fantasy world. The limit is your imagination.”
“Does anyone know a way to contact the police here? Maybe we should construct a jail first to detain these degenerates.”
“…”
Overhearing their banter, Victor could only roll his eyes at their ridiculous assumptions. To him, these players would always act happy-go-lucky whenever they could and never took this seriously. Well, this was what playing a game was all about, wasn't it?
Still, he glared at them as a warning — the players sensed his action and immediately returned to their activities. While the players were speaking in a voice where he wasn’t supposed to be able to hear if he were an ordinary human, and it was something that he didn’t mind, others might not be as benevolent as he was.
In contrast, Eleanor was oblivious and seemed not to have heard them. She was completely engrossed in her surroundings, fascinated by the sights of the academy and the players working hard. Victor wondered what she was running through her mind.
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Since Eleanor stepped into the academy grounds, a lot had been going on inside her mind. The person and the academy she placed her bet on had surpassed her expectations. Despite its apparent newness and some differences from the grandiose descriptions in the books her father had given her when she was a child, the place was bustling with activity.
To the north, she noticed an earthen wall, flanked by kilns puffing out smoke. Nearby, pits for smoking meat and fish were arrayed near a five-story building. The air was filled with the smell of barbecue and non-stop banging noises. There were people smashing stones with pickaxes, operating the blowers to blow air into the kilns, carrying bricks, building buildings, and cutting trees. The scene resembled a vast construction site in full swing.
These people… are all acolytes?
She counted them roughly and found that there were more than a dozen or twenty people in sight alone, all wearing an acolyte robe like the six who had accompanied her before. Seeing people who were rumored to be aloof and would hate manual labor working nonstop caused Eleanor’s eyes to widen. Truly an unbelievable scene.
If it’s them, then…
To tell the truth, Eleanor still harbored a secret that she kept closely guarded until now. Something that she hadn’t divulged to anyone else… She knew that the man leading her, known as Astralium, was not a true Magus, at least not yet. Even his name was an alias, a persona he adopted. However, if there was a person who could restore her family’s lost glory to what it once was, then it would be him.
She wasn’t sure what was the reason for her belief, but as she observed the scene around her, her thoughts solidified. The question that loomed in her mind was how he would react upon learning her secret. Would the value of her being an Artificer be enough to offset the risks involved in associating with her? The risk of potentially making the whole world his enemy?
While the significance of being an Artificer was very high in this world where magic and craftsmanship intersected in ways that could alter the very fabric of reality, the risks might still outweigh the gain. In a sense, she was uncertain…
“I’ve come this far; what more is there to fear?” Eleanor murmured to herself, her determination solidifying with each step. “He agreed to be my sponsor back then, after all.”
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As they approached the building, her resolve grew. She planned to cautiously assess his reaction before unveiling the full scope of her abilities and secret. It was undoubtedly a gamble, but in her eyes, a chance worth taking. After all, it was not every day that one would encounter a promising prospect that could very well change one’s fate.
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Victor, oblivious about what Eleanor was thinking, continued to lead her toward the uppermost floor where his office was located. He opened the door and peered inside, and seeing that Lizbeth wasn’t here, he casually motioned for her to enter.
Hmm, Lizbeth probably knows that I’m bringing her with me here and has chosen to remain out of sight until I summon her. Although he had intended to introduce the assistant fairy to Eleanor, some things were better to be revealed one at a time so as to minimize the shock. Of course, he wasn’t going to explain that these acolytes were all players from another world.
“Um… Sir Magus,” Eleanor called out hesitantly from behind.
“What is it?” He turned around, only to find that she was trying to squeeze her backpack through the door.
“I can’t get my backpack inside; the door is too narrow,” she lamented, her efforts growing more frantic.
“…”
It’s not that the door is too small, it’s your backpack that’s too oversized, alright! Victor almost cursed at her but managed to keep it to himself. She could have put down her backpack first before pulling it inside because it was only awkwardly wedged at the top of the doorframe, but there was no way he would tell that to her, so he simply told, “Just put your backpack outside. No one will steal or peek inside it.”
“Okay!” She did just that and scampered into the room.
“Please, have a seat.” Victor gestured toward a sofa that had seldom seen any use, tucked away in a corner of the room.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Eleanor was quick to flop onto the large sofa, leaving Victor to perch on a much smaller one beside it. She swiveled her head, her eyes roving around the room with curiosity, before finally fixing her gaze on Victor. From the look on her face, he could tell that she wanted to say something, likely some questions. Well, a Magus academy like this couldn’t be found anywhere in this world — or any world, for that matter. Its existence was one and only.
“I’m sorry that I can’t offer you any refreshment here — we don’t have any tea or the like.” For nobles, it was customary to offer drinks to their guests, but Victor was from a Magus family. Although it was common for Magus families to have similar customs, this was the first time he had received someone here.
“Oh, no problem at all. I always carry my trusty waterskin with me.” Eleanor held up and showed him the waterskin.
“All right. Before we fully accept you here as one of our members, I will impart to you the things that you should be aware of and things that you should or shouldn’t do. But first, there’s something I need to know: What do you think about the pla— I mean, the acolytes of this academy?” Victor laced his fingers together and rested them below his nose.
“They are a unique bunch! But I don’t think that much explanation will do them justice…” Eleanor paused for a second before continuing, “It’s strange… They seem to have an insatiable curiosity and willingness to work hard. It makes me wonder where you found all these people.”
Huh? She’s surprisingly keen on things. Victor slightly jerked his head back and silently thought for a moment.
“I can’t answer that question, but I can give you a hint,” he answered. “Our academy is called the ‘Sanctum of Interdimensional Magi.’”
“Sanctum of Interdimensional Magi?” She then widened her eyes in realization. “You mean these people are from other planes or worlds beyond Seraphia?”
Victor smiled and nodded his head. As expected. There’s more to her than what meets the eye. Ever since meeting her and her mentioning the Faulkner name, then the magic tool she had used in the forest earlier… He wouldn’t believe it if she said that she was an ordinary blacksmith girl who got an incomplete Artificer inheritance at this point.
“Yes. You’re not wrong in that sense, but they are even more special than that.”
“Special?” She tilted her head. “As in what kind of special?”
“I can’t reveal everything just yet. To learn more, you will need to be bound by a magic oath. I didn’t mean the usual kind, but a mark on your wrist. For that, there’s someone here who I want to introduce and can help you with that.” Victor flicked his fingers, expecting her to appear.
But nothing happened. The anticipated dramatic appearance of the fairy didn’t materialize.
He decided to cut to the chase and called her name, “Lizbeth!”
“Yes! I’m here!” In an instant, Lizbeth materialized from who knew where. Her hair was a stunning mix of black and white, her golden eyes shining brightly.
Her sudden, impressive appearance caused even Eleanor to widen her eyes, unable to utter a word. It came to Victor’s realization that she wanted to appear as dramatic as possible, hence the need to call her name.
“Let me introduce you—”
“Who’s this CUTE little thing?!” Eleanor exclaimed, leaping forward to envelop Lizbeth in a bear hug. Eh? It was so sudden that both Victor and Lizbeth were caught off guard.
For a human to hug a fairy, it would be no different from hugging a doll, thus making the scene comical. This was clearly shown as Lizbeth squirmed frantically to escape.
“Get off me! You get off me, I told you! Ahh!!” Her tiny legs kicked in the air, unable to free herself from the enthusiastic hug. Tried as best as she could, her strength was inferior. Victor had to secretly help her by controlling the wind to push Eleanor back before Lizbeth could barely escape and hide behind his back, gasping for air. “Get that thing out of here!”
“Aww! I just wanted to be friends with her…” Her voice might sound a bit disappointed, but she was definitely enjoying it.
Clearing his throat, Victor tried to regain control of the situation. “Seeing that it’s your first time meeting her, I will let this slide. As I was saying, this little one is named Lizbeth, an assistant fairy of this academy. You can ask her a lot of things.”
“Who did you call ‘little one,’ huh?” She puffed her cheeks in mock indignation.
“Anyway, let’s move forward with what I told you before.”
“That’s easy.” Having gained her composure, Lizbeth fluttered over to Eleanor. With a gentle point at Eleanor’s left wrist, a mark identical to the one on Victor’s wrist appeared. However, Eleanor’s mark was a standard subordinate Shadowlink Mark, similar to those given to players, albeit with internal mechanisms tailored for NPCs.
Victor once had a discussion with Lizbeth before recruiting Eleanor. That was about how the Shadowlink Mark could be implanted, and she explained that as long as the recipient was non-hostile and willing, she could implant the mark anywhere within the academy. This made the trip to the Nexus Beacon in the basement unnecessary.
Eleanor, noticing the black mark on her wrist, jerked her head backward. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this black mark?”
“It’s known as the Shadowlink Mark.”