Chapter 1 Autumn Sunlight

The stained-glass windows of the arched corridor of Elliot Hall at Saint Kerith Abbey were filled with golden brilliance in the autumn morning sun.

He had only walked a few steps away from the classroom when a lively discussion erupted from within Room 421.

"I bet the Special Operations Division of the Empire will be here tomorrow to record everything in this classroom."

"No, you underestimate those agents. They might be here this afternoon."

"It's okay, the Special Operations Division still has to give Principal Violet some face. Even if those agents come to the school to arrest people, they have to follow procedures. They probably won't be here until tomorrow at the earliest. We don't have to worry about being disturbed, so let's focus on our research."

Dozens of students seemed to have gathered around the long table in front of the podium, recording and analyzing the principles he had left behind.

They spoke over each other, some asking questions to verify, others directly sharing their interpretations of the content.

Some students were even excitedly expounding their views on magic engineering, their excited voices clearly reaching the corridor through the heavy oak doors.

Ranchi, having finished his class, walked along, his left side bathed in light, his right half shrouded in shadow, his gray robe drawing a deep arc behind him.

"Dododododo..."

The little black cat peeked its head out from his shadow, then quickly retreated.

As a spirit beast, its appearance in the school wasn't that strange.

Seeing Ranchi's words and actions in class at Saint Kerith Abbey today, it recalled some memories of the Northern Continent that it might never forget in its lifetime.

Whenever it saw Xiubao looking so worried, it felt a pang of guilt—she was cautious as if she had lost something before.

But as the saying goes, with little power comes little responsibility.

Watching over Ranchi was not something within its capabilities.

"Be brave, Cat Boss. In ancient times, you would have been a town-guarding divine beast worshipped by thousands."

Ranchi encouraged, noticing the Cat Boss's state.

"Town-guarding divine beast meow..."

The Cat Boss suddenly froze, lifting its head.

Originally, it wouldn't have dared to dream of being worshipped, but after following Ranchi, it had obtained pink sacred cards, orange epic cards, and had even become an eighth-order spirit cat.

Now, in these chaotic times,

as long as it established merit,

becoming a town-guarding divine beast seemed within reach. It had to consider whether this was its only chance in this lifetime.

"Do you have such a dream?"

Ranchi whispered softly.

"I want to meow!"

The Cat Boss subconsciously answered.

"Right, Cat Boss? With you and me, let's go all out!"

Ranchi said confidently.

He couldn't guarantee that the Cat Boss would become the town-guarding divine beast of any particular country, but he would do everything in his power to help the Cat Boss realize this dream.

"Meow! Go! I will also work hard meow!"

The Cat Boss became much more excited, no longer afraid, and burrowed back into the shadows.

This time, although the brakes weren't working, neither was the accelerator; there was only a useless clutch.

Thinking on the bright side,

Xiubao couldn't come to the Kerith Empire at all, so she couldn't be scared by Ranchi again.

The Cat Boss immediately felt relieved, even looking forward to the scene of itself being revered by thousands.

"..."

Talia silently watched from inside Ranchi's mind.

She didn't know why the Cat Boss had been so panicked just now.

Ranchi was just someone whose age didn’t even reach her fraction.

It only looked like he had a fast start, but the real difficulties were yet to come.

Magic artificers only had the right to research, not the right to decide how it was used, just as magic artificers couldn't control politics.

As a demon princess, she had also been a top demon artificer in the demon realm. In eight hundred years, she had seen and understood too much. She didn't want to comfort Ranchi as someone who had been there when the time came. Magic artificers looked glamorous on the surface and were admired by thousands, but they had no freedom.

This was the destiny of magic artificers.

In the field of magic engineering, they were remarkable beings.

In the political and military fields, they were just tools.

Now that Ranchi had chosen to walk this path, he had to prepare to be drawn into the vortex.

"The political shadows behind magic engineering research are certainly terrifying, but Tata, trust me, I've always been a politician."

Ranchi said to her, hearing Talia's inner thoughts.

"?"

She remembered that Professor Polao had indeed said that Ranchi had never been a genius in magic engineering, but rather a genius in management.

"Forget it, do as you please. Anyway, I'll comfort you when you fail. Only I can comfort you."

Talia sighed, her thoughts slightly complacent, and stopped chatting with Ranchi.

Ranchi was a typical example of a young calf not afraid of a tiger. He needed a motherly teacher to help him understand the complexity of the world. Without successful experience, he couldn't possibly not need her guidance.

She was now waiting for Ranchi to be frustrated one day and then recognize her irreplaceable value and status.

"Hopefully things will be a little less busy these next two days. I've only just arrived here, and my work list might be a bit uncountable."

Ranchi also looked at the fourth-floor corridor of Elliot Hall at Saint Kerith Abbey again.

He would still have to come here for class tomorrow, but he might also receive a notice from the school to temporarily change classrooms.

Such things had happened in the history of many schools, requiring the blackboard writing to be preserved for research, thereby slightly adjusting the normal teaching location.

"Teacher!"

At this moment, a clear female voice came from behind, interrupting Ranchi's train of thought.

A black-haired, purple-eyed girl hurried after him, her tassel-like long hair fluttering slightly, her cheeks flushed from running.

Ranchi, who had been planning to leave Elliot Hall, stopped his steps, sighed, and had to turn around.

Elsa Washington, Landri's sister.

Also, the person he had to face.

"Elsa, long time no see."

Ranchi looked at her with gentle eyes, a faint smile appearing on his lips, and said.

"Brother, are you free this afternoon?"

Elsa's tone was shy and timid, but it couldn't hide the longing in her heart.

Standing together, they almost made it obvious to others that they were siblings.

It was just that the brother's pupils were lighter, closer to azure, and the sister's pupils were darker, closer to purple.

"Elsa, I'm very sorry. You should be able to see that I probably can't stop working recently."

Ranchi shook his head, his faintly complicated eyes as if telling her that he had many troubles and didn't want to involve her.

He knew that Elsa wanted to invite him to spend the afternoon together, but he couldn't agree to Elsa even more, and he really didn't have much time to spend with her.

"..."

Elsa parted her lips slightly, her throat gurgling.

"Hurry up, brother."

Originally, she was going to say something, but she swallowed it back.

If Brother Landri didn't leave soon, more students might come to surround him later.

He would quickly become popular in this school.

Not only the most outstanding students of these magic engineering institutes, but also other professors might come to Landri, and those hound-like agents and reporters, even if they had nothing to do with academics, would keenly smell the scent of value and try to learn the first information through the students.

She was sincerely happy for her brother, even more than the loneliness in her heart at the moment.

Perhaps after the content written by her brother in the classroom today fermented, the Empire's military would immediately pay great attention and attention and take action.

Even she could understand that what her brother was researching was extremely pure imperial military industry.

He had already shown the Empire his wartime value.

"..."

Ranchi looked at Elsa being so easy to deal with,

but instead felt a little guilty.

This kind of sensible child who was so considerate of others, you could tell from her expression that she was thinking of others in her mind.

"Elsa, have you encountered any trouble recently?"

Ranchi paused for a moment and asked.

Originally, it would be best to minimize communication with Elsa as much as possible.

But he felt that he should ask her.

Otherwise, his conscience wouldn't let him.

"Ranchi..."

Although Talia soberly believed that Ranchi should not be soft-hearted at this time and ask this extra question.

The more you say, the more mistakes you will make.

This would greatly increase the risk of exposure.

But now she also had an instinct that made her unable to let go of this child, so she could only stop her thoughts and let Ranchi do whatever he wanted.

She inexplicably felt that this child had a bit of Xiubao's deja vu.

"It's okay, I've just been having more nightmares recently. Maybe it's just my illusion. Brother, you can rest assured and work hard."

Elsa hesitated briefly, but still firmly shook her head, answering with a smile.

"Have you been bullied, or have you encountered any grievances?"

Ranchi asked.

"No, no."

Elsa waved her hands repeatedly.

While Ranchi was talking to Elsa, he asked Talia in his heart, and Talia told him that it was indeed the truth.

"If you need psychological counseling, you can come to me at any time. I will take care of you outside of work, and if you encounter any danger, contact me at any time. Don't be afraid to trouble me."

Ranchi earnestly exhorted.

He was now using Landri's identity, and seeing that their brother-sister relationship was indeed so good, he didn't know how to tell Elsa the truth about Landri's death.

The only thing he could do was protect Landri's sister for Landri, as his way of repaying Landri's kindness.

"Thank you, brother."

Elsa said softly.

"See you tomorrow."

Ranchi didn't stay at Elliot Hall any longer, raised his hand to say goodbye, and slowly disappeared at the end of the fourth-floor corridor.

Elsa still watched her brother worriedly for a long time before turning around.

Suddenly, she noticed a familiar figure—

Ursula, the griffin's daughter, was shaking her head and clicking her tongue, watching the brother and sister from a distant corner.

She had left the classroom just now and hadn't paid much attention to Professor Landri's blackboard writing at this time, but was watching the Washington siblings' conversation from afar.

"Ursula, are you looking for me?"

Elsa frowned slightly and walked back towards the classroom, asking the purple-haired, green-eyed girl.

As a noblewoman from the Roland family and the sister of Marquis Ryan, the Amethyst Seat of the Ninth War God, she should not be from the same world as herself.

Their relationship was neither good nor bad, they had just known each other for a long time and often met because of their talents beyond their age, resulting in some intersection.

Because Ursula liked to tease her, she was a little annoyed by Ursula.

But Ursula also inherited the excellent traditions of the Roland family, possessing the sense of justice of a griffin knight. She would appear out of nowhere to help Elsa when she encountered trouble, and Elsa didn't feel like she could hate Ursula.

"Just tell him directly. What's there to hide? You're like cotton. Do you know, he looked like a scumbag who was skillfully declining women just now. I feel like he has a lot of experience in this kind of thing."

Ursula spread her hands and bluntly criticized Elsa.

She had vaguely heard snippets of Elsa and Landri's conversation just now, but she didn't need to hear it clearly to know what Elsa wanted to express.

"No, you're not allowed to say that about my brother."

Elsa looked a little angry, which was rare, and said to Ursula.

"I'm just saying bad things about him. What can you do to me?"

Ursula leaned closer and asked, puffing out her chest.

"I..."

Elsa gradually turned her eyes away and couldn't speak.

She began to retreat half a step, avoiding Ursula.

"Your brother doesn't seem to not care about you. What's there to worry about?"

Ursula stopped and stared at Elsa, asking.

The reason why Elsa was so valued by Principal Violet was because Elsa had signs of atavism, which gave her the potential to become a Moon Priestess.

And this potential brought her unique abilities and dangers.

Many times, Principal Violet, who held important positions in the Empire, was not present, and Elsa might face danger.

Ursula was one of the few people who knew Elsa's secret. It was precisely because Elsa was too easy to consider other people's feelings that she could only open her heart and speak without restraint to her, who was willful and carefree.

"Let it be. If there's no trouble, then everything is good. If there really is trouble, I don't want to involve my brother."

Elsa murmured.

She knew the cause and effect between her brother and the gods. It was normal for the Goddess of Fate not to favor him.

"Tsk tsk."

Ursula no longer intended to instruct Elsa in anything.

"After not seeing each other for many years, how do you feel about your brother?"

Ursula put her hands behind her back, leaned against the wall, and chatted with the girl next to her.

"Although I feel like my brother has become a bit different, he looks a bit unfamiliar. He has also become much colder in my eyes, as if he has lost a kind of emotion that humans should have. For some reason, I feel like my brother is a humanoid creature after his brain has been taken over by an evil parasitic beast..."

Elsa answered, with worry in her eyes at first, but finally a hint of relief,

"But I feel that his heart is still so gentle, which puts me at ease."

She covered her chest and said softly.

"You're really full of thoughts about your brother."

Ursula's expression became a little complicated after hearing this, but she quickly covered it up and showed her usual frivolous smile to Elsa, as if mocking Elsa.

"What is it."

Elsa's cheeks suddenly turned red, and she didn't want to talk to Ursula anymore.

She saluted angrily and quickly walked away.

Ursula would never understand her. She and Ursula were different. She would never cause trouble for her brother, nor would she deliberately make her brother angry.

Only Ursula would desperately make enemies for her family, without considering the feelings of her family at all.

Until Elsa had left the fourth-floor corridor for a long time.

"..."

Ursula was still leaning against the wall.

Her eyes were lowered, with a hint of self-deprecation.

"Sigh, not knowing how lucky you are to be blessed. How nice it would be to be paid attention to."

Ursula spread her hands and sighed, then walked away.