To avoid provoking Her Highness the Princess, who might still be watching, Nolan quickly flicked his hand and stowed the doll away inside his spirit ring.
"There's no conflict," Sellen said. "If anything, my two teachers were on good terms with Her Majesty the Queen. They even taught her sorcery."
She released her apprentice and crossed her arms.
"With connections that strong, how did those two masters end up being expelled from the Magic Academy?" Nolan asked, genuinely curious.
"That's something you'd have to ask Radagon," Sellen replied. "But the main reason is simple. They brought it on themselves. Once they offended everyone, no one could save them."
And you have the nerve to say that. Without me, wouldn't you have gone down the same path?
Nolan sat on the bed, utterly speechless.
Sellen showed no sense of self-awareness whatsoever. She clearly couldn't be bothered with such a dull topic, her gaze fixed on the spirit ring, unwilling to look away.
"Teacher, what are you staring at?"
"That doll contains the power of a demigod," Sellen said. "Don't you want to understand it properly?"
"Understand it? You mean study it," Nolan shot back, rolling his eyes. "Absolutely not. That thing is for staying alive, and its power is far too dangerous. Using it for research is asking for trouble."
Sellen lifted her head and met her apprentice's firm, unyielding gaze.
With no other choice, she lowered her eyes, let out a soft sigh, and pinched her chin with mild dissatisfaction. Her lips puckered slightly as she clicked her tongue.
"Tsk. What a miser."
"Teacher, stop thinking about pointless things and just go to sleep."
"We'll talk about that later," Sellen said after a brief pause. Her eyebrows suddenly arched upward as she continued, "From what I heard earlier, you're planning to deal with Seluvis?"
At the mention of that revolting name, a wave of instinctive disgust surged within her. Without realizing it, her voice rose a notch.
"You sound pretty interested in this," Nolan said, looking at her in confusion. Then he quickly added, "But you don't like war. I think it'd be better if you stayed out of it."
Sellen fell silent.
It wasn't that she had suddenly developed a taste for bloodshed. It was just that letting her apprentice face someone like that alone was genuinely dangerous.
Seluvis was a complete bastard, but a capable one. There were only five Preceptors serving the royal family, and he was one of them.
For Nolan, facing him now was still far too early.
"I don't like war," Sellen finally said. "I'm simply interested in killing that man. I once said I would gouge out his eyes with my own hands."
"That doesn't sound very rational," Nolan replied, shaking his head slowly. "There's no need to waste your time on someone like that."
Yet after only a brief moment, the look on his face settled back into calm acceptance.
"But that's fine. Since you want to be involved, then come along. Just so we're clear, when the time comes, you listen to me in everything."
"Everything?"
"That's right. Even eating and sleeping, you follow my lead. Otherwise, I'm not taking you," Nolan said, nodding firmly, his expression utterly serious.
Outside the royal domain, he'd rarely seen this teacher take part in battle or step onto the battlefield at all.
"…Alright. I agree." After a brief moment of consideration, Sellen finally gave a small nod.
Nolan's eyes widened slightly. He had fully expected her to refuse outright or try to bargain, not to agree so readily, especially to such an unreasonable condition.
With the matter settled, Sellen wrapped her arms around Nolan again. The two lay down together, leaning against each other, and soon drifted off to sleep.
Nolan didn't find the atmosphere unpleasant. In a land surrounded by enemies, where war never truly ceased, having someone beside him through the night was already more than enough.
With that sense of quiet reassurance, he finally fell asleep.
...
Early the next morning, sunlight bathed the towering trees. With fewer Cuckoos around, the world itself seemed a little more beautiful.
At the same time, the number of Carian sentries had increased severalfold. Each soldier gripped their weapon tightly, eyes sweeping their surroundings with heightened vigilance.
Their primary focus was the Cuckoo main force stationed along the northern shore. That area was simply too important to the Cuckoo Legion.
Although intelligence confirmed that the Cuckoo Legion had withdrawn to the western shore south of the Four Belfries, the possibility of a desperate counterstroke or covert maneuver could not be ruled out.
When a group of soldiers spotted their commander, they immediately cleared the way. Nolan left his teacher, still sleeping in, behind and walked straight down the wide, empty avenue toward the mess hall.
As the temporary lord of Testu's Island and its surrounding region, and now the master of this former Cuckoo encampment, he responsibly surveyed his surroundings as he went.
"The Cuckoo militia has already started deserting. Dragging this out only benefits Caria."
The Liurnian war was nearing its end. All it lacked was a single decisive battle to settle everything. Nolan even briefly wondered whether he might go to Leyndell and find a chance to kill a few more heroes.
That thought passed through his mind in an instant.
He was in Liurnia now. His task was to see things through properly for Her Highness the Princess. The coalition of lords didn't need him elsewhere.
Just then, a loud voice rang out:
"Lord Nolan, you're here!"
Even through their heavy helmets, the cooks in the mess hall recognized him at once.
That suit of Carian knight armor was unmistakable. He had won a great victory for Caria, and whenever the soldiers saw him, they greeted him with cheers.
Nolan took a seat at random, and the soldiers quickly brought over a hearty breakfast.
Faced with such warmth and goodwill, Nolan accepted it without hesitation.
He was willing to share hardship with his soldiers, but he never forgot to reward merit and punish wrongdoing. The former steadied morale, the latter inspired motivation. The two were not at odds.
Before long, a wave of noise approached from outside as a group of children bustled into the hall.
They were all orphans who had lost their homes to the war and had since been taken in and protected by the Carian army.
Nolan spotted Alicia, the girl he had rescued that day. She ran over happily, her bright golden hair swaying with each step. He casually asked,
"What's got you so happy?"
"It's nothing. I just didn't expect to see you, Brother Nolan. The priest said I'd have good luck today, and he was right!"
A shy smile lit up the girl's face. It was hard to imagine that only days ago she had endured something like a living nightmare.
"Alicia, you seem quite interested in the Golden Order," Nolan remarked.
The girl sat down beside him with a small tray, and Nolan began chatting with her casually.
"Um… I don't really understand it that well. I just think it seems useful."
She turned into the breeze, gently brushing her golden hair aside. A look of longing shone in her eyes.
"I've decided. I want to become a witch someday."
In this world, the title of witch carried no negative meaning. Simply put, it referred to female clergy of the Lands Between, a group held in fairly high regard.
At the very least, even though the Cuckoos were currently looting everywhere, no one dared to rob a church. It wasn't a bad path in life.
"Then you'll have to work hard," Nolan said with a smile, resting a hand on the girl's head and making her cheeks flush slightly.
The corners of Nolan's lips lifted, his smile warm like the spring sun, as he added softly,
"Make sure you really do work hard."
...
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