"In case you all forgot, I'm telling you now. I'm only twelve years old. Why are you encouraging your children to become my students? There are so many other mages capable of mentoring them. I'm not one of them and never will be!” Meyara snapped, but her appearance looked a little cute, standing in the center of the circle made from the crowd. She might have grown a bit taller after so many years, but her body still looked small compared to the other people around her. Even the children who were being pushed towards her looked bigger.

“Calm down, kid.” Ben, Meyara's father, spoke slowly beside the girl. “They trust you enough to teach their son or daughter. You don't have to accept everyone, but you do have to be a little kinder. There's nothing wrong with doing good to others. We do not live alone in this world, you have to learn to get along."

"What do you know?" Meyara glared at Ben. "You don't have a magic spirit inside you, so you don't know how annoying people are when they want you to do something for them."

Ben smiled bitterly at that. Silently, he stopped his wife from reprimanding their daughter. “You're right about that. But I can say the same for you. You don't know what it's like to be helpless, not that I was hoping you would experience it, but honey, why don't you just try to help these people? After a while, if you still feel uncomfortable, you can stop."

"Please, he is my only child after his older brother disappeared a few months ago," said one resident. "I just hope he can protect himself when he encounters danger."

“Me too.”

“We were also worried after one person mysteriously disappeared again. Adult mages are already busy enough to solve this problem, you can at least help us to protect ourselves.”

Meyara massaged her temples which were throbbing quite painfully. She had just spent the night before learning a new spell. Lying around all day doing nothing sounded super tempting, but these people definitely would not let her go.

Running out of ideas to get out of here, Meyara tried a new approach. With all her might, she tried to adjust her expression to something gentler, adorable, and less overbearing. The pout on her lips made her look like a sad, poor kid who just wanted to have more free time.

"I understand. Our village has a small number of great mages, I haven't gotten that far myself yet. So I'm afraid I won't be able to handle that many children at the same time even if I wanted to.” The people around looked ready to fight back but Meyara quickly continued her words. "So I'll pick one kid who I think will catch up with me in no time. After that, that kid can teach another kid and so on, until boom! We have enough little mages to rely on while the grown mages are away."

Meyara was just boasting. She wasn't completely sure that there would be a child capable of keeping up with her abilities. However, at least what she said was enough to make the people around him ponder for a moment. No doubt, they quite believed and were amazed by Meyara's simple plan.

"Just say yes already," she muttered softly.

What she didn't expect was the presence of a boy who volunteered himself. Adriel, Meyara remembered him. Ever since the incident where Glory almost drowned in the river, that boy had followed her wherever she went. No matter how bad Meyara was at him, Adriel would still smile cheerfully at her.

“Adriel Cassius,” Meyara said his name subconsciously.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Adriel's face lit up. "You remember my name."

"How could I not? You follow me every day," she retorted. Her intention was to make Adriel feel guilty, but it seemed futile. "So ... you want to be my first student, huh?"

"Only if you agree with it." As usual, Adriel spoke very softly and politely. Based on the glint in his eyes, one might think he was talking to a crown princess rather than a teenage mage.

Meyara was silent for a moment. She really didn't want to teach anyone, especially in the long run. She could already imagine how much energy would be wasted, where this energy should be used for learning. She was still far from her dream of becoming the best mage in Midehelm Kingdom, especially after her learning activities outside Deterville were restricted because many people mysteriously disappeared. Having students was the last thing Meyara wanted.

However, in a way, she couldn't continue to ignore the requests from the villagers. The more she dodged, the more people chased after her.

After all, it didn't seem so bad for her to choose Adriel. She already knew the boy well enough. It would be even more troublesome if she accepted someone she didn't know at all.

"Okay. I think we can try it," Meyara answered, lifting her chin. "Is everything clear? Apart from Adriel, I won't be teaching the other children. Adult mages will help you all as usual. So don't bother asking me anything else."

With that, Meyara left. Adriel followed right behind her. He didn't hide how excited he was. He almost tripped over his own feet as he jumped up merrily.

Ben and Brenna, Meyara’s parents, could only smile. A little sad after witnessing their daughter acted selfishly and apathetically towards others. Deep down, they blamed themselves who didn't raise Meyara to be a kind hearted girl who happily helps people.

"So what do we do now? Do I have to show my skills first so you know what to teach me?" Adriel asked enthusiastically. He sneaked a glance over here and there, noticing that they were walking away from the center of the village. Instantly, the smile faded from his face. "If you don't mind me asking—"

"Don't."

"What?"

"You don't have to ask anything, okay? Just do as I say. I'm your mentor now, remember?" Meyara snapped, she turned around with both arms raised, fire burning aggressively in her sleeves, making Adriel's eyes widen.

Again, what Meyara didn't expect was the way Adriel immediately held her hands. Without hesitation, the boy patted Meyara's hand to put out the fire, without realizing that the fire didn't even feel hot in the slightest.

"Don't worry! I'll make sure they won’t leave any scars! My God, why are you suddenly burning—huh?" Meyara knew exactly when Adriel realized what had just happened. "Oh? Was that just one of your manipulations?"

Meyara just stared at him, looking bored. Maybe Adriel was just an ordinary boy who did the most unexpected thing in the world, but that didn't interest Meyara at all.

“Wow! You almost scared me to death! Your skills are out of this world!”

With ease, Meyara put out the fire. She just stood there, watching Adriel tell her about how amazing her abilities were.

But she immediately got fed up.

“Enough! Now tell me your true intentions, or I will burn you alive, this time for real,” Meyara threatened. Her gaze became very dark, rivaling the sky of afternoon that overshadowed them.

"W-what?" Surprised, Adriel unintentionally raised his voice. “Isn't it obvious, I followed you out of admiration and wanted to be like you? What more reason could you want?

“For real,” she said, “don't ever think that I wholeheartedly believe everything you say. Don't you think I don't know that people are secretly trying to find my weakness?”

"Yes, maybe. But I'm not one of them."

“Anything that makes you sleep at night,” Meyara replied halfheartedly. “Anyway, I have nothing to show you. You can follow me until you get what you want. I don't care what you do as long as you know your limits.”

"That's more than enough," the boy said confidently, “I will show you how sincere I am. Even if a deathly storm comes, I will stand in front to protect my precious teacher.”

Adriel should have never said that.

***