Lorin stood at the center of the room, her eyes focused and resolute.
She chanted softly under her breath, “Guide. Lead. Seek.”
As the three words left her lips, waves of magical energy rippled through the air like a stone tossed into a still lake, sending concentric circles out in every direction.
Amidst the undulating magic, a faint, elusive presence began to emerge.
It flickered like a candle in the wind, on the verge of vanishing at any moment.
Lorin quickly reached out and grasped it tightly.
The wisp of energy trembled violently in her grip, causing the surrounding magical light to flicker erratically with a harsh, crackling sound.
Then, the presence slowly flowed into the needle in Lorin’s hand.
The moment it touched the needle, the instrument began to spin furiously, its speed rapidly increasing until it let out a sharp, piercing whistle.
A whirlwind kicked up around it, tangling the surrounding magical lights into a chaotic blur.
After a while, the needle abruptly stopped and locked into a fixed direction.
“It worked!”
Lorin shouted with delight.
The direction pointed by the needle was exactly where Ina was now.
The next step would be to physically locate the place and report the coordinates directly to the Defense Division.
If nothing unexpected happened, that would be the plan… She really hoped there wouldn’t be any surprises.
Shaking her head, Lorin turned and headed toward the Alchemy Workshop.
Before leaving, she needed to craft a few basic magic tools for self-defense.
For her purposes, some single-use magical devices would suffice.
They might only be usable once, but they packed significant power and utility.
If she had more materials, she would’ve crafted another spatial cube—she could’ve just handed that one off to Phyllis.
After all, she was using materials from the Alchemy Workshop anyway.
No need to gather anything herself.
But first… she needed to find Phyllis again.
Facing that wicked woman from the Lin family once more… Lorin sighed mournfully, already grieving her tragic fate.
***
A girl in an exquisitely tailored maid outfit appeared in front of the workshop.
Silky silver hair draped neatly over her shoulders, with a few stray strands dancing playfully beside her cheeks.
On her head perched a cute cat-shaped hairpin, and her feet were clad in delicate leather shoes.
Her long legs were wrapped tightly in frost-white stockings that shimmered faintly with her every movement.
The maid outfit made her look like a fairy straight out of a storybook.
The hem of her skirt swayed gently in the breeze, with lace trim fluttering along like petals.
Who else could it be but Lorin?
She stood at the door, taking a deep breath, her cheeks tinted with a soft, alluring blush.
Slowly, she raised her hand, the bell attached to it chiming melodiously.
“Mr. Hode?”
She knocked lightly on the door of the Alchemy Workshop.
Though gentle, the knock echoed clearly in the quiet air, accompanied by the ringing of the bells on her hands and ankles… striking her pride like precision blows.
This maid outfit was, of course, the price she’d paid to get what she needed from Phyllis.
Thankfully, she’d gotten the goods; otherwise, she really might’ve gone berserk on that woman.
But even after a long wait, no response came. Lorin frowned in confusion.
Normally around this hour, the old steward was fond of sipping tea here.
Where had he gone?
Just then, the door to the apprentice workshop next door creaked open.
Lorin turned expectantly, thinking it was Mr. Hode—only to see a girl in a blue dress with golden hair and tear-reddened eyes step out.
“H-hello.”
Lorin greeted her awkwardly.
She recognized the girl from some time ago—she’d been happily writing her reports back then.
Why was she crying now?
“Are you here to see Mr. Hode?” the girl asked, her voice still slightly choked with emotion.
Lorin nodded.
“Teacher went back already. Do you need any help? I’m his student.”
“Uh… could you help me find the items on this list?”
Lorin pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to the girl.
“Sure! I’m Blanche, one of the apprentices here. What should I call you?”
Blanche quickly composed herself and spoke as they walked.
“I’m Lorin. I’m… um…”
“Princess?!”
Lorin blinked in surprise.
She hadn’t even decided on a fake identity yet, and this girl had already seen through her?
What she didn’t realize was that just the “-raine” in her name, combined with her striking resemblance to Claire and her now silver-white hair, was more than enough to raise suspicion.
Denying it would only make it seem like this princess was playing some strange role-playing game.
“Uh… I’m not.”
“Got it, Princess. Are you here to study alchemy too?”
Lorin: “…”
“Sort of. But could you just call me by my name?”
“Okay, Princess Lorin.”
***
“Lorin, your technique is off. The flow of magic isn’t supposed to go in that direction…”
Blanche pointed and commented as Lorin worked.
“My teacher said this method is wrong.”
“I think you should figure out why your success rate is only twenty percent. That process of yours should have a minimum of eighty percent efficiency.”
Lorin cut her off flatly.
Now she understood where the ruckus from earlier came from—it must’ve been Mr. Hode scolding his hopeless student.
“Stop bullying me. My teacher already gave me an earful…”
Blanche pouted miserably, clearly wounded by the jab.
Lorin smirked but said nothing.
Honestly, Hode could’ve gone even harder on her.
From their earlier chatter, Lorin had gathered that Hode was actually an alchemist of equivalent-level rank.
And yet… he had a student like Blanche.
Good thing she was a girl—if she were a boy, Lorin suspected Hode might’ve resorted to violence by now.
“Watch closely!”
Lorin declared, as she moved into more complex procedures—starting with deep-level material processing, then fusion, and finally imbuing the items with various magical properties.
For magic she hadn’t fully mastered, she extracted the traits from specific materials instead…
Finally, she uncorked a vial of berserk blood, drawing out its potent energy and blending it in.
Before her now lay six softly glowing blue cores.
Single-use Magical Device: Phase Shift Core.
They worked in pairs—destroying one would trigger a spatial collapse, instantly transporting the user to the location of the paired core.
The last time Lorin escaped from Claire’s grasp was thanks to one of these.
Though… it hadn’t helped much.
By that point, Claire’s blood had already transformed her extensively.
Running away didn’t accomplish much in the end—she still became a little vampire girl… and wasted a core to boot.
Of course, such a tool required immensely violent energy to function.
That was why she’d gone to Phyllis in the first place.
She’d gorged herself there, then used a bottle of blood to extract the rampaging energy of a seventh-tier mage.
But the price… oh, the price was all tears and blood.
Lorin glanced at her reflection in the window, staring at the little vampire girl in the maid outfit with utter regret on her face.
Every night, Lorin would ask herself the same question:
Why did I ever think it was a good idea to stab someone twice?