[The Special Event ‘Escape the Half-Lich’ has been cleared!]

[Gained x1 ‘Random Skill Ticket’]

After dismissing the system panels, Zeke and the rest made their way back to the surface. Despite his limited vision, he could see the perfectly circular hole created by the Grand Mage. He didn't have the energy to ponder it at the moment, so he continued dragging his feet toward the spot where he and Lysander had left their borrowed horses.

Before Zeke mounted his steed, Creston suddenly took out his greatsword, the sheer speed generated a gust of wind following his abrupt movement. “Who's there! Show yourself at once!”

Silence…

“...Are you sure you're not just being too sensitive, Cres?” Solren crossed his arms in nonchalance as he stared ahead at the direction where the sword pointed.

“Solren, they might be invisible.”

Hearing the ice in his tone, the Grand Mage sighed. He did not need to be told twice and held out his staff. A blinding glow emanated from the floating gem, seeping through the gaps between the trees and lighting up the area like a second sun.

Almost in an instant, Creston leaped into the bushes. A surprised scream sounded out not long after, but Zeke had a feeling he'd heard that voice before. “Wait. Don't tell me…”

“...Lady Ruelle?” Creston walked back out holding Circe by the hood of her Darkwing Mantle. His perplexed expression faded as soon as he let the girl down. “What might you be doing here? Didn't we tell you to return home?”

“I…” Circe glanced at Zeke, a brief moment of asking him for assistance, though even he didn't know what he could say at that point. “I was simply worried about my lord…that's all…”

Lysander spoke up instead as his father quietly returned to the forest, “Still, what you did is reckless.”

“Well, it's alright in the end,” when Creston returned, he threw something into the ground. Upon closer inspection, Zeke realized it was the same fire magician he'd fought back in the cave. Despite the multiple shallow cuts on his face, he was only unconscious. “Since the little lady did catch this rat for us.”

“Ah…” Circe turned to Zeke.

He sighed, “It's fine…They already know our secret.”

Though she seemed a little surprised by his words, Circe managed to face Creston with confidence. “I caught him just as he appeared using a teleportation scroll. I thought he might've been important since I recognized Lord Silas’ threads on him.”

“...Did you need to cut him up like that though?” Zeke glanced at the unconscious man. “I already pulled his arm out of its socket and broke a femur…”

To that, Circe gave him a bright smile, “Well, he started spouting nonsense about killing Lady Rowena from the start or whatever, so I may have acted a little out of line for a bit…I controlled myself and didn't kill him though~”

Silence filled the air yet again.

“Oh, don't worry about it, my lady,” Zeke smiled back just as wide, “After we get all the information we need from him. We can cut off his tongue for saying something so foul.”

“Just his tongue? Maybe we should gouge out his eyes and make him tear his own vocal cords with his screams.”

Zeke turned to Rowena, dismissing the surprise and horror on her face, “Rowena, what would you like to do with that guy? He kidnapped you, you know? I won't blame you if you want his limbs shredded one by one.”

“Uh…” Rowena glanced at Creston, but after seeing not a hint of dismissal on his face, she turned to Lysander; he had the same expression as their father. “I am angry at them for what they did…yes, but I prefer to leave the punishment up to the proper justice system.”

Zeke smiled at her words, “Aw, my baby sister has grown up so well,” he lifted her up onto the horse, “How mature of you. But if you change your mind later…you can always tell me.”

“I told you not to treat me like a child!” Rowena frowned.

“But you cried into my arms just now though…”

“That's…!” Her face turned bright red, “That was a moment of weakness!”

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After letting out a long sigh, Creston silently left the group. Solren watched the marquess for a moment, then returned his gaze to the two siblings while leaning in to whisper to Lysander, their sounds of laughter and banter continuing in the background, “...I thought those two don't have a good relationship, was I wrong?”

“I believe it's merely because they never got to know each other until recently” Lysander responded quietly, “Though…Silas can definitely be a better older brother to Rowena than I ever could. I learned that today.”

“Hm…” Solren turned back to the scene, accidentally making eye contact with Circe. She gave him a smile and a courteous bow, to which he accepted with a smile of his own. “I'm surprised this family has acknowledged the good-for-nothing youngest son. Though the fact that the lady can be so…vicious surprised me even more…”

Lysander chuckled, “They're a perfect match, don't you think?”

“Totally,” Solren responded as Lysander hopped onto his horse, “It takes a crazy to get along with a crazy, after all.”

.

.

.

Some time passed, and now they only had five days left until the reopening of the academy. As promised, the Grand Mage had submitted a request to the Headmaster, allowing Silas Salvador to transfer to the magic faculty without issues.

“I would read the new schedule I got from Solren…but I can't really see anything right now…” Zeke let out a sigh as he leaned back against a pillow. Even though a bandage covered his eyes, he could still vaguely see the sunlight seeping through.

“What did you just sigh for?” Circe's voice ran out from beside him, “Did your eyes hurt again?”

“No…” Zeke mumbled, recalling the time he screamed at the top of his lungs when he suddenly felt intense pain in the middle of the night. The estate doctor quickly gave him painkillers, and he still took them till today. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you said you would stay at the Peregrine's estate.”

Circe shrugged, though there was no way for Zeke to know that, “Is there a rule saying I can't visit? Did you know how worried I was when I saw that you got Magic Rebound?”

She'd explained that she rushed out of the banquet hall the moment the system notified of her party member's status ailment. Luckily, the minimap guided her towards his location precisely, and in the process almost caused Lilia a heart attack due to her sudden disappearance.

“...How was that place?” Zeke inquired, kicking the blanket away from him. He hadn't gone outside for two days, and the weight on his lap began to irritate him. “And I'm sure you looked through your academy schedule already?”

“...One thing at a time,” Circe let out a sigh, a small smile decorated her lips, “The estate is just like what we've seen in the game. It's as big as this one…though it certainly felt much…gloomier, somehow.” She paused for a moment, her eyes darting up, recalling her memories, “Ruelle's siblings didn't bully her, surprisingly. I guess Cleo did give me a nasty glare when I walked past her in the hallway once…the two brothers and the father didn't even look at me while we were having dinner.”

“Ruelle's mother passed away, right? If I remember correctly…”

“Yeah,” Circe nodded along with her own words, “We never got to the part where they revealed why Ruelle's so hated in her family…but now I know. It's because her mother died right after giving birth to her.”

“...Oh,” Zeke couldn't find his words for a moment, “They didn't say anything about that…but is that it? How is it the child's fault that the mother died? That's just unfair.”

“I know,” Circe sighed, “But that's the setting. Besides, the Peregrine family is rather old school like some of the aristocratic household. They still think women belong in the kitchen, after all.”

“Which is totally bullshit.” Zeke frowned, but immediately relaxed his expression when a sharp pain ran through his eyes, realizing that he glared by reflex.

Circe chuckled, “Anyway,” she placed something down on the bed beside him, judging from the dull sound it made, he roughly estimated it to be fairly large. “I brought my academy handbook with me.”

“Schedule for Apprentice Mage, Ruelle Peregrine. School Rank, six hundred and fifty nine over one thousand two hundred and forty six. Overall Mage Rank is three thousand six hundred and two over five thousand four hundred and sixty one.”

‘Schedule for Apprentice Mage: Ruelle Peregrine. School Rank: 659/1,246. Overall Mage Rank: 3,602/5,461.’

“I believe we are continuing the second semester of the grade,” Circe continued, “We'll definitely graduate late because everything's been delayed by a year. But hey, the subjects seem pretty fun.”

“We didn't read the curriculum last time.” Zeke turned towards her despite the fact that he couldn't see anyway. “What are the subjects we're going to learn?”

“Each schedule is different anyway, so I'll just read some of the possible subjects you could get.” Circe flipped the handbook over a few pages.

“Here are the main subjects: First is ‘Intermediate Arcane Studies’, it's an expanded version of the ‘Basic Arcane Studies’ which focuses on spell composition and sigil drawing. Next is ‘Spell Theory two’, this one teaches more about intermediate-level spells and magic channeling.”

“...I don't see the difference between those two,” Zeke tilted his head, “They sound similar.”

“How would I know?” Circe laughed, “Even Ruelle isn't that good at magic, her schedule's more focused on non-combative forms of magic and other studies.”

“Hah, her family would do anything to prevent her from becoming a swordsman, even if they have to make her academy grades horrible.”

“I know right?” Circe scoffed, as if brushing off the matter, “Anyway, next are ‘Elemental Magic two’ and ‘Defense and Protection Magic one’. The former focuses on elemental combinations and the latter will start teaching about barriers and counterspells.”

“Learning Counterspells will be very useful,” Zeke noted, “I wouldn't need to use so much brain power to decipher a magic circle. Just cast one Counterspell and it's all good.”

“Counterspells are very hard to learn though,” Circe hummed, “And while they're certainly useful for disabling spells in a single chant. It's more situational since every spell has its own counter. You basically have to memorize every form of magic including their Counterspells for the art to be effective.”

After a moment, Zeke nodded, “I agree with you on that, but still, even if I can't find much use for Counterspells, learning about them might help me use Circuit Disruption better.”

“Fair point.” Circe flipped a page on the handbook, “Okay next…’Practical Alchemy two’, this just teaches more combinations of potions from its first part…Oh shit there's ‘Basic Botany’.”

“...Why the ‘Oh shit’?” Zeke frowned briefly.

“Because I've always hated botany when I was in high school. It never clicked with me,” Circe sighed, “Next is…Ah, this is one of the secondary subjects: ’Intermediate Magical Engineering’, focuses on artifact creation. Ruelle has this class on her schedule if I recall…she mainly has it and alchemy. Oh, and also ‘Personal Combat’, it's a very important class since it teaches self-defense for when a knight doesn't have their sword or if a mage can't use magic. Though it isn't a main class…for some reason. I think it should be.”

“Well, you can't really fit every subject into a curriculum,” Zeke slowly slid down the pillow, eventually laying on his side. The morning's still young, but the pain medicine he took clouded his mind, “Is there anything else?”

“Yeah, there are these ‘Special Classes’ that we can participate in to earn extra marks, although they're not mandatory,” Circe flipped the book to another page, “Every Friday, or on the last day of the school week, the professors of each grade will hold these classes. It could be a joint event between two tracks or two separate events. Apparently we get to do something new every week since the activities rotate. Some of them are…capture the flag…survival training…oh! There's even board games in here.”

“Woah,” Zeke managed to sound excited despite the weakness in his voice. He didn't even protest when Circe began twirling her fingers around his hair. “I guess that's another reason for students to look forward to Fridays.”

Circe chuckled as she patted his head, “Exactly,” the room fell into silence. She waited for Zeke to speak up, but she heard nothing but his rhythmic breathing. Quietly, she smiled and got up, taking the handbook with her, “...Is my voice boring or soothing? I can't tell.” She covered her lips with the back of her hand and chuckled, “Get well soon, my lord.”