Hours later, near dusk, Erik left the examination room calmly and with a light step, greatly contrasting with the tense atmosphere that seemed to fill the place. He quickly reached the waiting room, at which point he smiled happily upon seeing Eleonora and Sigrún sitting in a secluded corner.

The pair of beautiful Masters were waiting quietly while chatting among themselves and drinking tea, which seemed to turn that small corner into an exclusive spot, as everyone present avoided even looking in that direction, much less approaching.

"How did it go, Erik?" Noticing that Erik was approaching, Eleonora asked with a small smile on her face, to which Erik replied cheerfully as he sat down in a chair next to them.

"Quite well; they already gave me my card."

After sitting down, a beautiful card appeared in Erik's right hand that seemed to have been carved from a huge emerald, which had delicate engravings and runes carved all over its surface. Additionally, an imposing emblem—a cauldron and a book surrounded by threads of fire—was engraved in relief in the center, occupying almost the entire card.

"Hehe, my Erik is now a full-fledged alchemist."

Upon seeing the card, Sigrún smiled broadly and approached Erik, trying to hug him tightly, but at that moment she was stopped by Eleonora, who held her arm and smiled elegantly at her, which made Sigrún pout. Immediately afterward, they were surrounded by runes and disappeared in a burst of light.

In the middle of the garden of Sigrún's mansion, a sudden burst of light erased the tranquility of the place. In the garden appeared the figures of Sigrún, who was tightly hugging Erik, and Eleonora, who looked at the situation with an ironic smile on her face.

"You really don't know how to restrain yourself, Sig." Eleonora commented while shaking her head at Sigrún's behavior, who, without stopping hugging Erik, gave her a mocking smile.

"My disciple became one of the youngest alchemists in history. Eli, I'm really happy." Sigrún spoke with satisfaction as she released her embrace of her beloved disciple, to which Eleonora only huffed in annoyance and approached Erik, then hugged him tightly.

"He is also my disciple and will soon be one of the youngest artificers in history. Hmph."

With a slightly jealous tone, Eleonora commented while feeling the warmth of her beloved disciple, and after a moment, she released her embrace with a bit of reluctance, at the same time that Sigrún looked at her mockingly. Meanwhile, Erik played dead, trying not to get involved in his masters' 'fights'.

With each Master taking hold of one of their disciple's arms, the group walked into the mansion, where Seraphina was standing, waiting for them with her elegant and professional demeanor. Upon seeing them, she bowed respectfully and greeted them in a polite voice.

"Welcome back, young master, young miss, Master Silverwood."

"""Hello, Sera/Seraphina."""

They all greeted Seraphina, who bowed slightly once more, then walked ahead of the group until they reached the main hall, where they separated—Seraphina continuing her way to the kitchen, while Erik sat on one of the large sofas in the middle of the room, and his masters sat beside him.

With familiarity and trust, Erik let his head fall onto Eleonora's lap, who smiled warmly and began to stroke the silky, starry hair of her beloved disciple. At the same time, Sigrún picked up Erik's legs and placed them over hers, proceeding to remove his shoes with practiced ease.

"What did you think of the exam, Erik?" Eleonora asked affectionately as she began to gently caress Erik's forehead, as if it were fine porcelain.

"It was quite easy, to be honest. Only the first part was annoying, since I had to categorize and separate a bunch of ingredients; the rest were much easier." Erik replied with his eyes closed, enjoying how his master's delicate hands caressed his face.

"Hehe, don't say that in public, or many people will want to hit you."

Upon hearing Erik, Sigrún couldn't help but comment with a mischievous giggle, while she began to gently play with Erik's perfectly groomed toes in what seemed like a delicate and affectionate massage, very much her style.

"Really?" Erik couldn't help but ask, somewhat surprised, which made the pair of beautiful masters smile softly.

"Yes, that exam is considered very difficult, so there will be no shortage of those who want to hit you out of frustration at their own inability," Eleonora commented with a slight mocking laugh on her lips, to which Erik responded in a low voice, making a mental note.

Stolen story; please report.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind..."

Amid the curious massage and casual conversation, the group of masters and disciple spent time with cheerful smiles on their faces, until, after a while, Seraphina returned to the main hall. Standing near the sofa with her hands crossed by her waist—a perfect pose for a perfect maid like her—she announced.

"Dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Seraphina."

Upon hearing Seraphina, Erik quickly opened his eyes and thanked her with a slight smile, and Seraphina responded in a professional tone with a small smile on her face.

"It is a pleasure to serve."

Knowing that her disciple must be starving, Sigrún quickly put his boots back on, then they all headed together toward the main dining room, where they saw two attendants finishing setting all the dishes before bowing respectfully and leaving.

Erik watched the two attendants leaving for a moment, realizing something, which quickly led him to ask with a bit of curiosity while looking at his masters.

"Now that I think about it, why are there so few attendants in the mansion now? Do we have financial problems?"

"""Hahaha!"""

Upon hearing Erik's question and seeing his slightly worried expression, all the women present couldn't help but laugh out loud. Even Seraphina was unable to maintain her professional facade. After all, it was too funny that someone could think that two Masters, who were among the best in their respective crafts, could have 'financial problems,' especially in the Arcane Order.

"What are you laughing at?" Erik asked, genuinely surprised, which only intensified the women's laughter.

The beautiful women clutched their stomachs and tried to calm down without success, until, after a while, Eleonora managed to compose herself enough to respond, though she still had sporadic giggles.

"Haha, you don't have to worry about that, Erik. We don't have financial problems of any kind; we have enough wealth for you to squander as much as you want without fear for several million years. Haha."

"Haha, you're really adorable, Erik. The reduction of attendants in the mansion is for security reasons, but we never imagined you'd think it was due to 'financial problems.' It's so funny. Haha," Sigrún added, genuinely amused. Erik asked curiously, trying to ignore how Seraphina and his masters were making fun of him.

"Security reasons? Did something happen?"

"Not really, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Before, I lived here alone and didn't have to worry too much about it, but since you arrived, that changed. So we decided to improve that aspect and reduce the number of attendants in the mansion to minimize variables, hehe," Sigrún commented, trying to contain her sporadic giggles.

"I understand... and sorry for the inconvenience," Erik said, a bit embarrassed, to which Sigrún affectionately ruffled his hair and warmly commented:

"I've told you hundreds of times that you don't need to apologize. Better eat before it gets cold."

"Hehehe."

Erik smiled a bit awkwardly and began to eat voraciously, completely forgetting the matter of the attendants, which brought charming smiles to the women present, who looked at each other conspiratorially.

The reduction of attendants in the mansion had begun several years ago, even before they went to the frontier. Eleonora and Sigrún were perfectly aware that their attachment to Erik was far from the normal feeling of a Master towards her disciple.

Moreover, scenes of intimate physical contact, like the one that occurred on the sofa, were too common. Despite knowing that this would undoubtedly cause unpleasant comments or rumors, they were not willing to stop, so they chose the second option: to hide it.

To achieve that goal, Seraphina gradually began changing the attendants' shifts and relocating them to other properties owned by Eleonora and Sigrún, leaving only the most loyal and tight-lipped in the mansion.

The reason they wanted to hide it and didn't dare to take a step further was that both Eleonora and Sigrún were unsure of what to do with their growing feelings. After all, it was the first time they felt something like this, and they were a bit confused about what to do. So they simply decided to go with the flow and enjoy their feelings, while avoiding affecting their reputation or harming Erik in any way.

Amid casual conversations, the group of three continued eating and talking about random things, laughing occasionally at unimportant silliness. Seraphina, who remained standing aside like the perfect maid she was, occasionally offered small comments or politely declined Erik's invitations to sit at the table. After all, such behavior was not befitting of a perfect maid.

"By the way, how have things been going with the rune circles?" Suddenly, Erik asked with curiosity, which inevitably put complicated smiles on the faces of Sigrún and Eleonora, who sighed with disappointment.

"Not well at all. Although we can cast the ones you've created, we have no idea why they work. Many parts seem to contradict all the magical theory we know; it's honestly a mystery how they're even possible," Sigrún commented, full of regret, to which Eleonora added in a similar tone.

"Yes, they're truly too strange. Not to mention that you need an extremely high level of mana control to cast them. The slightest error, no matter how small, makes it fail spectacularly; it's like a house of cards that can fall with the slightest gust of wind."

For some time, Erik had asked his masters to help him develop the theory behind his rune circles. He had given them all his notes on the rune circles he had developed and shown them how to cast them, but apparently there had been no luck.

"I see... that's a shame. I'll keep working on them to see if I can come up with something," Erik said, feeling a bit defeated, as he jotted down his masters' opinions in his notebook. But at that moment, Eleonora stealthily approached and gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, then cheerfully said.

"Don't worry about that. Your rune circles are an unprecedented historical milestone, so it's only expected that they're not easy to perfect. But you've already taken the first step that shows they're possible, and we'll continue helping you. Sooner or later, we'll understand how they work."

"Yes, there's no reason to be discouraged. We'll keep trying things until we figure out how they work, and we'll create the best and greatest magical system humanity has ever seen," Sigrún added with a huge smile on her face after imitating Eleonora and kissing Erik's other cheek, to which he responded with a small chuckle.

"Haha, that's true. We have extremely long lives to try everything until we can develop a viable theory; it's still too early to give up."