Chapter 129: The Guest

“Really, why is that little girl so aggressive…”

After spending the whole night riding the dragon carriage with Leonora, Albert finally delivered her to her destination.

It was a small country called Castia to the east, a place that had long suffered from monster troubles around its borders due to its lack of military strength.

Once, when Albert passed through, he answered the king’s request and helped the border guards clear out those monsters, even destroying their nests.

Since then, that country owed her a favor.

Albert took advantage of that favor, and after negotiating with the king, hid the chosen Hero, Leonora, within Castia.

She had also discussed this with Leonora’s family. Her father seemed unwilling to have his daughter bear the burden of the mission to eliminate monsters—if anything, he didn’t really believe she could accomplish such a thing.

Looking down at the bite marks on her hand, Albert felt a wave of helplessness.

She hadn’t expected that little girl to be so unruly. After releasing her from the spatial space, the girl bit her so hard that bruises covered Albert’s arm and cheek, some wounds even bleeding.

She was supposed to be saved, but it felt like she was trying to harm her instead.

With a sigh, Albert prepared to return.

Upon reaching the Illusory Sea, just as she had suspected, that Paladin had already escaped, and fragments of his broken half-wing floated on the surface.

Now, there was a headache she needed to deal with—how to handle relations with the First Kingdom.

That Paladin would certainly report this matter to the kingdom after escaping, and then they would definitely come looking for trouble.

“It seems I’ll have to leave it to the Headmaster…” After much thought, she arrived at this solution.

Heroes originally appear at the Academy, which means they don’t belong to any one nation.

By tradition, if a Hero appears within a country, they belong to that nation. But if they appear outside of any country, it depends on who acts faster.

It was almost impossible for the First Kingdom to jeopardize its friendly ties with the Academy over this.

Many of the kingdom’s strongest magicians came from the Academy, and it would be incredibly unwise to lose so many talented magicians over a Hero.

So, she decisively handed the matter over to the Headmaster. After all, no envoy from the kingdom would dare raise their voice to the Headmaster, who was a Great Witch.

On the way back, Albert’s thoughts drifted again to the strange magic Aurora had released last night.

If she hadn’t misread it, it was a magic related to time.

Such magic theoretically shouldn’t exist. Even without considering the enormous mana consumption, and even if she had enough mana to cast it, the Goddess would never allow magic capable of altering time to exist.

But… what if it were true?

If Aurora’s magic could truly manipulate time, then maybe she could change something that had long haunted her…

Avira, the girl cruelly murdered by cultists. Albert still hadn’t delivered her body to her family, nor had she told them their daughter had been killed.

Avira’s body was carefully immersed in the Illusory Sea, where time didn’t flow. So her body wouldn’t decay with time; her time was frozen on the day she died.

But if Aurora could turn back time, even just by a day or a few hours, perhaps Avira could come back to life.

Thinking this, Albert seemed to have made up her mind and drove the dragon carriage toward the Academy…

*****

Elsewhere.

Aurora was reading in her room while Zoya played games with some little sprites.

Suddenly, her ears perked up, and her gaze became alert toward the door.

The sprites around her seemed to sense something too, all flying toward the window.

“Gula!”

She called out to Aurora, then shyly curled up into her arms.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Gula gula…” She pointed repeatedly toward the door and called out.

Aurora frowned, put down her quill, stood up, and opened the door.

There was no one outside. At this time, Misha was giving Azalea a lesson, and her little sister should be practicing swordsmanship.

Thinking Zoya might just be tired from playing, she was about to close the door when she suddenly heard the voices of several unfamiliar men downstairs. They seemed to be talking to her sister…

She reopened the door halfway, tiptoed closer to the stairs, and pressed her ear, trying to hear what they were saying.

“You say the Hero was abducted by the Academy’s Headmaster?!”

“I already explained clearly in the letter. If you want to find her, you should go to Headmaster Albert, not come to my home uninvited.”

“Your Highness the Paladin, we don’t want to bother you, but this matter is very important to the kingdom. We hope you’ll cooperate actively.”

“You’re just trying to dump this problem on me. It’s your duty to find the Hero, not mine.”

“My duty is to eliminate threats to the kingdom’s safety, and clearly, the Hero doesn’t fall into that category.”

“You dare to ignore the kingdom’s orders! I will report this to the Law Enforcement Hall to punish you for neglecting your duties!”

“I will act only when the King issues orders personally. You have no authority to command me.”

“Now, get out of my house.”

Bang!

After the heavy sound of the door, it went quiet downstairs.

But outside the window, the two men’s grumbling voices continued.

They talked about the Law Enforcement Hall, docking salaries, and the like, but to Lorabel’s ears, it was like the buzzing of mosquitoes—annoying but meaningless.

“… Hero.”

That familiar yet strange word echoed in Aurora’s mind.

Could it be that her sister’s mission was to find the Hero?

But according to past impressions, the Hero should be the wielder of the Holy Sword, not a magic user. So why was she searching at Ophelia Magic Academy?

Could this generation’s Hero be a mage?

No matter what, it had nothing to do with her.

Not wanting to cause trouble for her sister, she returned to her room and resumed reading.

She still vividly recalled how angry her sister had looked earlier. It was the first time she had seen her like that.

It seemed that beyond her sight, her sister had a side she didn’t know about.

Suddenly curious about her sister’s work, she wanted to learn everything related to her.

If she wanted to understand, she could start by asking those around her sister.

The first person Aurora thought of was Princess Azalea; perhaps she would know…