Chapter 52: A Witch Born Evil, This Old Man Shall Now...

Roland walked out of the gates of the Magic Academy.

The afternoon sun remained intense. Even in the growing chill of early winter, basking in the scattered rays still brought a touch of lazy warmth.

Roland stretched lazily, then turned his head to look at Iluvia, who was standing with her hands behind her back, leaning against the window by the wall.

"You really didn't leave."

Iluvia looked at Roland, offering a slightly self-deprecating smile for the very first time in front of him. "So you knew I was eavesdropping and said that on purpose?"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been heavily injured."

"Go back and apologize to Master Toran now... That item is very important to you, isn't it?"

"Besides, becoming his student is something countless people wouldn't even dare to dream of. Don't you find it a pity to just give it up like this?"

Looking at Iluvia's reddened eyes, Roland smiled. "What are you talking about? We were teammates in the examination, weren't we?"

"Though thinking back now, choosing you as a teammate might be the most wrong decision I've ever made in my life."

"But since it was my own choice, there's nothing to complain about."

"A person should take responsibility for their own choices."

"Instead of blaming others when their choices bring them frustration and misfortune."

"And I don't feel like I did anything wrong, nor do I feel like I missed out on anything."

"By the way, would you like a pastry?"

With that, Roland pulled a raspberry biscuit from his pocket—one he had swiped from the cafeteria.

Iluvia stared at the biscuit in Roland's hand for a moment, then covered her mouth and laughed.

"Is this how you comfort a girl?"

"Yeah, isn't it quite effective?"

As he spoke, Roland walked toward Iluvia. Before she could react, Roland was already standing right in front of her.

By the time Iluvia wanted to put some distance between them, it was already too late.

Roland had already stepped close to her side.

"Look, nothing happened, right?" Roland shrugged. "I just don't get it."

"You carried me on your back for an entire night, so why do you deliberately keep your distance from everyone else at ordinary times?"

"You, you don't understand..."

Because she had been standing against the wall from the beginning, Iluvia didn't even have room to step back at that moment.

Looking at Roland, who was close enough to touch, Iluvia turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.

She asked softly and somewhat uneasily, "Do you... really not know the rumors about me in the capital?"

"I don't know, and I don't care to find out."

"Then, then do you really not blame me? During the examination..."

"I do mind that part a bit, actually." Roland turned serious, completely ignoring Iluvia's reaction. "After all, without you, I really could have saved myself a lot of trouble and avoided many dangers."

"Hey! Shouldn't you just go with the mood and say you don't blame me at this point?!"

"I never speak against my conscience."

Roland's righteous and confident demeanor instantly rendered most of the arguments Iluvia had prepared completely useless.

"...Then you just stood up to Master Toran for my sake a moment ago."

Iluvia muttered softly, her hands clasped behind her back as she fidgeted with her fingers.

Roland smiled again. "Who said we fell out?"

Saying that, Roland produced the Lunar Core Fluid, which had been crafted into the shape of a glove. "The teacher is much more open-minded than you think."

"You're already calling him teacher... It seems I was worrying too much after all."

Iluvia's feelings were rather complicated.

Very complicated.

Yet she also found it strange. Clearly, right after Roland finished saying those words, the room had gone completely silent.

And then two minutes later, Roland had walked right out.

She hadn't heard any other conversation...

Could the wiretap have broken?

Seeing the expression on Iluvia's face, Roland realized the time was right.

He pulled an intact, miniature wiretap from his other pocket.

"Are you wondering why there wasn't any sound coming from this thing later?"

Iluvia: "..."

How awkward. What should she do now that she had been caught?

Clearly, she had been extremely careful when slipping this item onto Roland's clothes, yet he had still found it?

Fairly speaking, a wiretap that had undergone special treatment was very difficult to detect without a certain degree of rich experience.

Roland himself hadn't actually noticed it.

At least until he took off his coat, it was unlikely he would have discovered it.

However, after Roland finished speaking, Toran had spotted the wiretap clinging to the hem of his garment.

It was well hidden, but ultimately could not escape the sharp eyes of an eighth-tier warrior.

As for Toran's inner monologue afterward, although the old man hadn't voiced it aloud, Roland had already guessed most of it.

That notoriously stubborn old man naturally couldn't let go of his prejudice against Iluvia so quickly.

Nor did he follow the cliché of traditional stories where a master subjects his disciple to a moral and ideological test before accepting them.

If Toran had been momentarily unobservant and failed to notice the wiretap, then it most likely would have turned out just as Iluvia feared: he and Toran would have fallen out, and at the very least, any benefits and the disciple quota definitely would have slipped away.

But he *had* found it. Upon discovering the wiretap, he had simultaneously sensed Iluvia eavesdropping outside the window.

Thus, a very logical deduction had formed inside Toran's mind.

The extraordinarily gifted student with a constitution born for magitech had been monitored and threatened by that naturally evil and detestable imperial princess!

Abominable! He had almost missed out on such a genius because of some minor misunderstanding!

Truly a wicked witch born of evil; if it weren't for the sake of her imperial bloodline, this old man would finish you off right here and now!

The above was purely a product of Roland's imagination.

However, Roland figured he had probably guessed quite accurately.

Because the other party had quickly manipulated the ambient Greater Source Mana flowing through the air to jam the wiretap and isolate all sound.

Following that, he had sincerely apologized to Roland.

Then he handed the Lunar Core Fluid over into Roland's hands and told him that he could come to him anytime with any questions in the future.

From then on, he was Roland's teacher!

As long as you are at the academy, that odious witch can never threaten you!

Then the old man had hurried off, God knows what he went off to do, but in any case, he had slipped away through the back door of the Magic Academy.

Otherwise, Roland would never have dared to chat with Iluvia so casually right by the front gates.

He certainly wasn't willing to gamble on whether an eighth-tier warrior was hard of hearing.

"Alright, wipe that awkward expression off your face like a kid caught doing something bad."

"I should actually be thanking you. Without this wiretap, I probably really would have fallen out with the teacher."

"But now, well, all's well that ends well."

"He seemed to think I was being monitored and threatened by you, and spoke as if against his own will."

"It seems your reputation in his mind is truly less than stellar. Hahahahaha."

Iluvia: "..."

Would it be better for her to just laugh along at this point?

After a brief moment of thought, Iluvia ultimately chose to admit her wrongdoing.

"I'm sorry, Roland. I shouldn't have planted the wiretap on you."

"Well, let's call this a balance of merits and demerits. If something like this happens again, I'll have to reconsider our relationship."

"R-Relationship?!" Iluvia tensed up. "O-O-Our relationship!?"

"Yeah, if this happens again, I'll have to reevaluate our friendship. A lack of trust is a very serious matter."

Iluvia: "???"

Friendship? Just friendship?!