The towers of Alfea College for Fairies rose like pale spires against the night sky.
From a distance they had seemed elegant.
Up close, the archer noticed something else.
Control.
Every stone, every glowing lantern, every carved archway had been built with magical intent. The entire campus functioned like a carefully constructed magical circuit.
Not magecraft.
But something close enough to study.
Students moved through the courtyards in small groups, their laughter echoing softly between the towers. None of them paid much attention to the stranger walking beside Bloom and Stella—though a few curious glances followed him.
The archer ignored them.
His gray eyes continued analyzing the environment.
Fairy magic.
Bright.
Unstable.
Emotional.
The complete opposite of the rigid logic that governed magecraft.
Bloom led the group through a wide hallway lined with tall windows.
"This way," she said. "The headmistress should still be awake."
Stella glanced at the archer.
"So… do you have a name, mysterious guy?"
Silence.
The archer kept walking.
Bloom elbowed Stella lightly.
"Maybe he just doesn't like talking."
"Or maybe he's secretly a villain," Stella whispered.
The archer stopped.
Both girls nearly walked into him.
At the end of the hallway stood a tall set of doors carved with glowing runes.
Bloom pushed them open.
Inside was a quiet office illuminated by soft golden light.
Behind a large desk sat an elderly woman with silver hair and calm, watchful eyes.
She looked up from the book in front of her.
This was Faragonda.
Bloom stepped forward eagerly.
"Headmistress, we found someone in the forest!"
Faragonda's gaze shifted immediately toward the archer.
The moment she sensed his presence, something in her expression changed.
Not fear.
But caution.
"…I see."
The archer met her gaze calmly.
Unlike the students outside, this woman understood magic on a deeper level.
She could already feel it.
The Archer card.
A power completely foreign to the Magic Dimension.
Faragonda closed her book slowly.
"You may leave us, Bloom. Stella."
Bloom blinked.
"Oh… okay."
Stella looked slightly disappointed but followed her out of the room.
The doors closed behind them.
Silence filled the office.
For several seconds neither of them spoke.
Faragonda studied him carefully.
"Your magic," she said quietly, "does not belong to this world."
The archer didn't deny it.
"No."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"And yet it is stable."
"That depends on your definition of stable."
Faragonda leaned back in her chair.
"Where did you come from?"
The archer paused before answering.
"Another world."
A simple statement.
But the magical pressure behind it carried enough truth that Faragonda did not question it.
She folded her hands together.
"And the power you carry?"
"A tool."
"That is not what it feels like."
Of course it didn't.
The Archer card contained the legend of a hero.
Even in another world, that presence was impossible to hide completely.
The archer remained silent.
Faragonda seemed to accept that she would not get more information easily.
After a moment she spoke again.
"You may stay at Alfea for the time being."
The archer's eyes shifted slightly.
"Temporary hospitality?"
"Observation," Faragonda corrected calmly.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"You are not the first unusual guest Alfea has received."
The archer considered that.
A magical academy was the best place to gather information.
Leaving immediately would accomplish nothing.
"…Understood."
Faragonda stood.
"I will arrange a place for you to stay."
Before the conversation could continue—
A ripple of magic spread across the campus.
Faragonda froze.
Her expression changed instantly.
That wasn't fairy magic.
It was darker.
Sharper.
More structured.
The archer felt it too.
Magecraft.
Faragonda turned toward the window.
"…Something has just arrived in the Magic Dimension."
The archer already knew the answer.
Only one person he knew used magecraft like that.
Somewhere beyond the walls of Alfea—
Lust had arrived.