“Young Master, you look as if you didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Are you really that sleepy? It’s like you spent the entire night exercising…”
“Actually, going to Gakaria Magic Academy right now doesn’t seem to be in the schedule the Duchess planned for you. You also didn’t tell me why you asked the maids to add one more bed to your room.”
Seeing Lin Nuo’s listless state, the Head Maid, who had many questions, seemed to have guessed something.
“It couldn’t be… that you and someone… broke the original bed… while doing it, right?”
“Cheep, cheep…”
Fatty Bird flew from the chest of the Head Maid, who was leading the horses, into Lin Nuo’s hand.
It pecked at his palm as if the little bird knew the truth.
— Last night, the boy had completed his transformation.
“You must exercise restraint, Young Master!”
As a Head Maid, she understood certain things that naturally became clear once one reached a certain age.
It wasn’t her place to lecture her master, but she knew there were people in the manor with enough authority to supervise him.
“Young Master, you should learn from Sister XÄ«. As a priestess, she would never fall into depravity over such matters. In fact, Sister XÄ« never does such things. Being as pure and clean as she is would be for the best!”
“Look at her skin—how radiant, hydrated, and tender it is! If you don’t restrain yourself, I’m going to tell Sister XÄ«…”
“…”
‘Restraint?’
‘Restrain my ass!’
‘She was the one who didn’t exercise any restraint at all!’
Lin Nuo was too lazy to explain to the Head Maid.
Last night, even though XÄ« had bitten her lower lip and her eyes had grown hazy because she couldn’t take it anymore, her fatal rhythm had never once softened…
In short.
During the day, she called him Young Master.
At night, the Young Master was the one calling out.
This kind of life where the subordinate overpowers the master was absolutely unacceptable!
‘I can’t be the one pinned down anymore!’
‘Run, I have to run!’
“We’re leaving for the Capital now. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to enter Gakaria Magic Academy…”
“Young Master, can you really do it?”
He slapped his face, trying to wake himself up.
However, last night had been so intense that his entire body was exhausted.
Consequently, the Head Maid’s question fell on Lin Nuo’s ears as: “Blah, blah, blah… You’re no good, blah, blah, blah…”
“Just remember what you’re supposed to be doing.”
“Fine, then I won’t ask! The Young Master assigned such a fresh and pretty maid like me to serve you tea, pour your water, and feed your little birdy!”
“So, what are you writing?”
“I have to take good care of the Young Master’s little bird. Where the Young Master is, what he is doing, and who he is doing it with must all be recorded and reported, of course… It’s just that the Duchess and the Duke are away for now, so I have to report the Young Master’s itinerary to Sister XÄ« first.”
“…”
Setting down her pen and paper, the Head Maid hoisted the bundle she was carrying onto the carriage.
She was turning around to search for something in her grayish-white maid uniform when…
“Clip-clop, clip-clop…”
Following a series of sounds, the carriage actually sped off and left her behind!
“Eh…?” Looking at the carriage galloping away, the Head Maid’s brain couldn’t even process it.
“Young Master! Young Master! Wait for me! I haven’t even gotten on the carriage yet, Young Master!”
“Young Master, all that pocket money Sister XÄ« gave you… you…”
‘Don’t want it anymore?’
***
“Do you feel a bit reluctant to leave this place?”
“Cheep.”
“What about her?”
“Cheep, cheep!”
“I knew you would. She fed you fruit every day… Come to think of it, she fed me every day too.”
He pulled back the curtain at the front of the carriage.
Amidst the sound of the horses moving, the cool morning wind of the forest blew his collar open slightly, revealing intense red marks left from last night.
It was obvious who had bitten him.
Lin Nuo didn’t really blame XÄ«.
Perhaps… on that memorable night, the girl who had flicked her hand to light a Bee Wax Candle and thrown herself onto him to hold him tight had made Lin Nuo keenly feel that this was more than just her simple fire of love.
It was a small, unspoken stubbornness—she didn’t want him to leave, and she didn’t want to be forgotten by him.
Lin Nuo admitted honestly, “Actually, I feel a bit reluctant too.”
“Cheep, cheep…”
“‘A brief parting is only for a more wonderful reunion.’ I told her that much, so I at least have to prove what I said…”
Then, the next time they met, he might show her a different side of himself.
If she still wanted to ride over him…
‘If we meet again and she’s still stronger than me, I guess I’ll just have to let her.’
“Slap!”
Lin Nuo suddenly gave himself a hard smack on the head.
‘No more lewd thoughts!’
In the manor, he had already set plans and goals for himself.
Compared to a Feng Aotian, was it hard work that he lacked?
Not necessarily.
Was it talent?
In the past, Lin Nuo would have nodded frantically but now that he had mastered that bizarre and peculiar magic book, it really wasn’t certain.
It was simply the determination to break the shell and be reborn—a python transforming into a dragon—and the labor pain one had to endure during a forced molting.
IMMORTAL ART: WHITE KUN TECHNIQUE!
“Cheep, cheep…”
Yawning, Lin Nuo let the Fatty Bird keep watch while he used this time to take a nap and recover some spirit.
At the same time, the Magic Book within his body seemed to sense the progress Lin Nuo had made recently.
It began to undergo changes in silence.
[Priest Class Selection: Open]
[First God Position: Goddess of the Lampfire]
[Level 2: A magical girl who learned Healing Spells because she likes to reward her boyfriend excessively]
[Level 1: Love-struck Array Core Master’s Memory]
[Tyrant Sequence: Open]
[Sequence 1: Magician]
[Level 0: The Moment the Sea of Flowers Blooms for Her]
[Level 0: The Falling Petals of Withered Flowers for Her]
Beyond the second map, there was a drawing of a Magician wearing a tall velvet top hat.
As he waved his hand, beautiful red petals drifted over his moon-white high-collared vest, complementing the gorgeous cloak draped behind him.
And on the first page, there was an winged angel holding a Magic Staff and standing atop a magic circle—the Goddess of the Lampfire.
The Priest Class Selection had undergone a new change.
The next page of the selection flipped open, and a new painted image miraculously emerged.
Below that painting was a new line of text:
[Second God Position: Goddess of the Life Wheel]
[…]
Lin Nuo was not yet aware of these changes.
“Cheep, cheep…”
Woken up by the “Nine Heavens Thunder Dual-Foot Kick” of the Fatty Bird, he arrived at a pier extending into the sea.
Parked in front was a ship slightly smaller than the Gilded.
Instead of boarding immediately, Lin Nuo turned his head several times.
He always felt as if someone was following him.
He asked Fatty Bird, who shook its head to indicate it hadn’t seen anyone.
Under the enthusiastic greeting of a Holy Knight wearing the Clemence family crest who had come to receive him, Lin Nuo had no choice but to let go of that strange feeling of being watched and stop looking into it.
‘Gakaria Magic Academy! I’m freaking coming!’
“Splash, splash, splash—”
Just as the patrol ship picked up Young Master Lin Nuo and began to accelerate under the influence of Magic, heading gradually in a certain direction, Lin Nuo sat on the ship’s deck and turned away, no longer looking at the territory of Luke.
The sound of paper flipping echoed in the spot where Lin Nuo had just been standing.
Along with it, a girl’s voice rang out.
“Hmph, dummy.”
“Exactly. He actually didn’t notice that Sister XÄ« came over to say goodbye again.”
Gurgling bubbles rose from the water’s surface as the mermaid Yosena spun in the water.
She asked, “Didn’t the Duchess give him two months… Should we catch him and bring him back?”
“No.”
“Ah? You’re really just letting him go like this?” Yosena felt that a parting was always a bit of a pity.
XÄ« didn’t say a word.
She lifted her hand from the edge of her priestess habit, and a mirror emerged.
This time, Lin Nuo’s shadow was not within it.
Her Mirror Observation could not see the Gakaria Magic Academy in the Capital.
“I also thought about accompanying him to Gakaria.”
“Yeah! If Sister XÄ« successfully enrolled, you would definitely be one of the Twelve Saintesses!”
“Maybe even that Bell Musician and the Water Saint Princess who are ranked first and second would be surpassed by you!”
Yosena thought for a moment and said, “It’s all because that Ankalamuheng person forbids the use of Magic. Besides, our baby Whale hasn’t grown up yet. He hasn’t fully witnessed the divine arts and the Royal Lady’s greatness!”
“Sister XÄ« isn’t going because she wants to surprise him to death the next time they meet, right?”
There was no answer.
XÄ« merely pinched her chin with two fingers, her tone sounding inexplicably frustrated.
“I said I liked him, but he didn’t believe me.”
“Wasn’t doing that kind of thing with him the most direct proof that you like him?”
“Ah? That… that shouldn’t… count, right?”
“Then, how should one pursue someone?”
“Sister XÄ«, I have to tell you solemnly: if you ask me about potion experiments, I will tell you everything I know. But I’ve really never been in a relationship!”
“I didn’t say you would understand… I’ll just wait until I see him again to slowly explore him inside and out.”
“I hope he can achieve good results during this period of time and train his body well. However, doing that with him by myself at night is quite a struggle…”
XÄ« didn’t reminisce about how her mind had gone blank when she fought him one-on-one last night.
It was just that she had used Paper Magic to come here, and the fact that her somewhat limp legs hadn’t touched the ground the whole way already explained the intensity of last night’s battle.
“Next time I hypnotize him, I have to bring some Paper Angels and play something kinky with him to really win back a round.”
XÄ« turned around and said, “I believe he won’t make us wait too long.”
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
After the sound of flying paper, the girl’s graceful figure vanished.
Looking toward where the ship had departed, Yosena swung her fish tail and dived into the depths of the sea, leaving behind one last sentence, “If it’s him… then definitely!”