Chapter 63: Completely Just a Pet

The mysterious royal heritage had come to an end.

Though the treasure in the secret chamber had run off on its own accord, the problem probably wasn't too serious.

Probably not too serious.

After all, it was just the loss of a storage device for the array inheritance rights.

Perhaps a replacement could be found?

Surely something similar existed somewhere?

Illuvia was both worried and curious about the origin and destination of that sword.

It was, after all, an heirloom left behind by her ancestors, and losing it on her watch was inexcusable.

Moreover, it concerned the matter of succession!

Although Illuvia effectively possessed full-map perspective over the royal capital, that sword seemed to have activated some sort of stealth shield, rendering her completely unable to locate it.

Furthermore, ever since that spatial teleportation upon leaving the secret realm, the sword had remained completely motionless.

It was likely hiding away and curled up in some obscure corner.

At the very least, she could confirm it had not yet left the bounds of the royal capital, so there might still be a chance to track it down.

Fortunately, being a witch, she lived a long time and was in no immediate rush. Worst case scenario, she could simply find a substitute later.

Compared to that sword, however, Illuvia had a far more pressing question she desperately wanted answered.

"Lady Fram... the control rights of the array are bound to the soul."

"Since I was able to inherit them, does that mean the previous holder..."

Illuvia's tone turned somewhat gloomy.

There were truly very few people in this world who could look at her without prejudice, converse with her, and show her genuine care.

She did not want to lose a single one of them.

Fram patted Illuvia's shoulder to comfort her. "Silly child, who told you that a soul bond cannot be severed?"

"I already told you, your father is alive and well. Are you really that eager for something to happen to him?"

Illuvia looked aggrieved. "...But isn't a soul bond normally unbreakable unless the bound individual dies? This isn't just something from a novel; it's proper knowledge found in standard textbooks."

"Is that so? Then it seems the textbook you read wasn't the latest edition," Fram concluded decisively. "And at the very least, it hasn't been updated in three hundred years."

"The theory you mentioned was indeed correct three hundred years ago, but after the Demon King War, the coalition forces confiscated a great deal of demon spell documentation."

"Humans were thus able to acquire the foundational magic-guidance technology from it, and improved the structure of many spell formulations based on those records."

"The most typical example is the content concerning soul bonds."

"Drawing from the bloodline spells of demon races known as Soul Eaters and Heart-Scourges, humans optimized numerous techniques related to soul bonding."

"Ever since then, breaking a soul bond no longer strictly required someone to die—though this naturally diminished the significance of soul bonding to a certain extent."

"After all, its greatest purpose was to ensure that a certain object or spell could only be used by a single person."

"However, since it no longer poses a threat to the original owner, the value of this contract's existence has dropped drastically, even if the method of breaking the bond is extremely complicated."

"It's just that your royal lineage is still using old antique technology; otherwise, I haven't seen this method used in nearly a hundred years."

"People nowadays prefer to use contract documents developed by the Continental Historical Research Society for binding."

After listening to Fram's explanation, Illuvia realized that what she said might actually be true.

Because the book she had read indeed seemed to be an antique text from over three hundred years ago, written by none other than Norn, the first court grand mage who had followed the Knight King to establish the H斯特 Empire.

At that moment, Fram also asked, "So whose book were you reading?"

Illuvia answered truthfully, "It was written by Mr. Norn, the first court grand mage."

"Ah, that annoying old man. To think that fellow has been dead for centuries and is still leading the younger generation astray."

Fram's commentary left Illuvia with no room for rebuttal.

After all, this Mr. Norn was the hero who had used his very life to lift the first siege of the royal capital—he was still written about in the collections of stories concerning the Knight King, serving as a rather important supporting character.

Fortunately, Fram chose not to continue thrashing the corpse of this venerable grand mage.

She simply turned to Illuvia and said, "Since the business that needed to be done is finished, hurry up and leave the imperial palace now."

"That sword is missing, and I still think it's quite a big deal. You should really look for it properly."

"Otherwise, your royal family's heritage is going to be broken right in your hands."

Illuvia: "..."

...

"I am very glad that for the next few years, I will serve as your academy headmaster to guide your growth."

"I also hope all of you will successfully complete your respective studies."

"Thank you all for listening."

On the temporary podium erected in the plaza, the current headmaster, Hern, finally concluded his lengthy discourse.

Roland let out a long sigh of relief.

He felt fortunate that, at least within this four-hour-long marathon of a speech, the old man had actually managed to say a few useful things.

Rather than filling the entire time with self-indulgent little essays meant to move oneself.

He had no idea with what kind of mindset the headmaster had managed to deliver such an extensive speech.

A full four hours, consisting almost entirely of cliches wrapped in more cliches.

By the final hour, even Caria couldn't hold on anymore.

Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that all the food she brought had been completely eaten.

Back when she still had food in her hands, this fellow had the leisure to grumble to him a couple of times about the headmaster's endless monologue.

Pity that during the final hour, he could only rely on pure willpower to survive.

Mostly because Caria had fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder, and if he fell asleep too, they would likely both tumble to the ground together.

Recalling the lengthy speech, Roland extracted the scant amount of genuine content from it.

Unlike the standard academic year system adopted by ordinary academies,

the Royal Magic Academy championed a merit-first system.

Completing academy research, accepting and finishing commissions issued by the academy, the military, or the General Inspectorate, and passing examinations arranged by the academy would all accumulate varying amounts of points.

If one did not participate in additional projects outside the academy examinations, the standard graduation time was three years.

Completing the academy's assigned evaluations for three consecutive academic years would allow one to graduate from this institution.

"Hoo... hoo..."

A soft snoring sound drifted over, and its owner even drooled a little in the process.

Roland forcibly suppressed his twitching expression, then administered a sharp flick to Caria's forehead to wake her up.

"Ow! That hurts! Teacher, I really wasn't sleeping, I was just thinking!!!"

"Stop it, you're not in class, and the headmaster's speech is finally over. It's time to go."

Looking at the panicked Caria, Roland silently sighed.

Having experienced the events of last night, Roland had tried very hard today to treat Caria as a normal person of the opposite sex.

Yet this fellow always managed to desensitize him in the most inexplicable ways.

To put it simply, the dynamic between the two of them seemed completely unchanged by last night's sudden incident.

Roland still harbored a strong sense of keeping a pet.

Especially just now.

It was the spitting image of a cat or dog falling asleep on top of you.

Moreover, Caria shared many traits with cats and dogs.

For instance, she looked utterly adorable.

And all it took was a piece of beef jerky, a slice of dried fruit, or any portable snack to instantly shift her focus, play along with you, and make her forget all recent unpleasantness.

Ah, she really was a pet—and a voracious one at that.

Recovering her wits, Caria noticed Roland's subtle gaze and asked with some dissatisfaction, "What's with that look? It looks weird."

"It's nothing. Here, I've still got a piece of beef jerky."

With that, Roland shoved the beef jerky straight into Caria's mouth.

In no time at all, Caria forgot all about Roland's subtle gaze and began chewing intently.

See? Exactly the same.