Chapter 173: A Love That Can Never Be
Flamme quickly stood. And though she was still weak, she held herself straight. "It is my honor to be of service, Lord Balin."
The genuine thanks of another filled her with a strange and new kind of joy, a joy that seemed to chase away her own exhaustion.
Balin's gaze then returned to Serie. "Honored mage," he said carefully, "if I may be so bold... may I know your name?"
She gave the excited dwarf lord a cool, appraising look, and after a moment's hesitation, as if she found the whole thing a bit of a bother, she said, "Serie."
Her voice was not loud, but it was like a clap of thunder in the ears of the dwarves.
"S-Serie!?"
The name, a name that was only a legend, a name sung by a thousand bards, a name revered by every mage in the land. The Grand Mage of all magic, the one who stood with the god-slayer as the strongest of them all, the one who had brought an end to the Age of Myth. And after centuries of silence, she was here, now, having just saved their city.
He trembled with excitement, his voice a stammering, sputtering mess. "It is you! The great Lady Serie! And then, these two... are they...?"
His gaze fell upon Rhodes and Flamme. Were they her servants?
Her gaze also fell on him, a rare, mischievous glint in her cool eyes. "His name is Ard," she said, her voice a flat and level sound, "and he, like Flamme, is my apprentice."
A stunned silence fell over the group.
The look on his face was as if someone had just hit the pause button. He looked from her to him, his mind unable to process what he had just heard. An apprentice? This... this seemingly ordinary human... was the apprentice of the legendary Grand Mage? It was just too shocking. He had heard that she had had an apprentice, an elven woman who was now a renowned mage in her own right. But these two humans... were they her new apprentices? The girl... perhaps. She was young, and she had used magic. But the man... he didn't look like an apprentice at all.
Rhodes, too, was a little taken aback, and then, a helpless smile came to his lips. He knew her too well. His own name was a legend, yes, but did she have to give him a fake one? And what if these dwarves were like Flamme and just assumed he was a namesake? Or perhaps... an even worse thought... a human, traveling with Serie, named Rhodes... they would surely think he was the god-slayer himself. It seemed his elven miss had a rather... wicked sense of humor, especially when she was in a good mood after a battle.
He looked at the dwarf lord's dumbfounded expression and couldn't help but feel a little amused. And so, instead of correcting her, he played along. "Teacher Serie," he said, his voice as natural and as casual as could be.
And at the sound of his words, a new kind of silence fell. A flush, a faint but undeniable blush, began to creep up her fair neck and to the tips of her long, pointed ears. She was still a mask of cool indifference, but he, who knew her so well, he saw it. The elven miss... she hadn't expected him to play along so readily. Her own prank had backfired, and she was now the one who was flustered.
She glared at him, a silent warning in her eyes: 'You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!?'
He met her gaze, and the smile on his face grew even wider: 'Of course I am.'
Their silent exchange, their unspoken understanding, it was a world of its own, a world to which no one else was privy.
But it was a world that the girl beside them was now peering into, and the joy she had felt just a moment before was now completely gone, replaced by a strange and uncomfortable feeling, like a small, sharp thorn that had pricked her heart.
She saw the way he had said her other teacher's name, with a casual intimacy she had never heard before. She saw the blush on her teacher's own face. And she saw the look that had passed between them.
A strange and unfamiliar feeling, a feeling of being left out, of being an outsider, washed over her.
She didn't know what it was, but she knew that the way he looked at her other teacher... it was a look he had never given her, a look that spoke of a bond that she could not enter, a bond that seemed to have been forged over a thousand years.
It made her a little envious. She wanted more of his attention, to be someone like Serie to him.
And the thought shocked her. And it made her wonder... just who was he, really?
He never cast any powerful spells, just demonstrated the basic techniques. Serie was the Grand Mage, her power undeniable. But him... what was his true power? Why would someone as proud as Serie allow a seemingly ordinary human to be her equal, to even, at times, defer to him?
A bold, almost absurd, thought, a weed that she could not seem to root out, began to grow in her mind: Could he be... the legendary god-slayer who had ended the Age of Myth a thousand years ago... Lord Rhodes?
But every time the thought came to her, she would push it away. It was insane. A legend, a hero, a figure of myth... how could he be standing right here, in front of her, a gentle older brother, patiently teaching her magic? And the timeline... it didn't add up. A human could not live for a thousand years. It was a foolish, impossible thought.
His presence, his aura, it was just so... special. That had to be it. She tried to convince herself, to bury the incredible suspicion deep in her heart. But a seed of doubt, once planted, is difficult to remove.
She began to watch him more closely, to observe his every word, his every move, trying to find a clue, and at the same time, afraid of what she might find.
And in that state of a complex and confusing doubt, the days passed. She studied even harder, as if to fill the emptiness in her heart with more and more magic.
Until one calm, peaceful afternoon was shattered.
"Honored guests," the dwarf lord said, clearing his throat, "please, you must come into the city and allow us to show you our gratitude."
"Lead the way," Serie said, her voice now a cool and level sound.
"We would be honored," Rhodes added. He looked at Flamme, who was still looking at the ground. "Come on, Flamme. You need to rest."
She looked up and met his gentle gaze, and the strange feeling in her heart subsided a little. "Yes, Teacher Rhodes," she said.
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