A Dark Fantasy Spy

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Respect your master.

Finding a good master is as blessed as growing up under good parents.

Treasure the bond between master and disciple, and protect your master’s legacy as if it were your own life.

Just as your master did.

– A longstanding saying of magicians.

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Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

The Duke’s proposal was blunt.

He asked if she would be interested in learning magic from him. Simply put, it meant forming a master-disciple relationship.

There was no need to complicate my thoughts.

“Magic, you mean to teach me…?”

“Indeed.”

At the Duke’s firm affirmation, Camila’s eyes widened like lanterns.

Blink. Blink.

Her blue eyes sparkling, she repeatedly opened and closed her eyelids, clearly astonished.

I had anticipated this since she received prior hints from me, but it seemed she couldn’t maintain her composure as if it were nothing. Camila took small breaths to calm her racing heart.

“I am deeply grateful for the offer… but I’ve never actually learned magic properly.”

“I know.”

The Duke smiled.

“I understand that you haven’t had the chance to learn magic, nor the means. That’s why I am making this proposal.”

At his gentle expression, Camila’s tension gradually eased.

“You have the talent to handle fire, and I am a magician of fire. In the Magic Tower, we call these types of magic elemental magic. Do you know who is considered the pinnacle magician of the elemental school on the continent?”

The Magic Tower has three prominent schools known as the Triumvirate: Sorcery, Astrology, and Elemental.

Among them, the school with the most members is the Elemental school. Because of the sheer number of people, many talented magicians are gathered there. However, no magician could dare to compare themselves to the Duke.

She is the Archmage, after all.

With no hesitation, Camila pointed to the woman in front of her.

The Duke nodded softly.

“Correct.”

Despite being praised as the greatest magician on the continent, the Duke showed no excessive joy. She merely began to speak in a gentle voice.

Alexandra Petrovna’s proposal was simple.

Master-disciple relationship.

Alexandra Petrovna would take Camila as her disciple, becoming her master, and Camila would become her student.

“Learn magic. I will teach you directly.”

“Directly?”

It was an extraordinary proposal.

Since the end of the “Age of Barbarism,” over a hundred years had passed, and unlike other Archmages who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her, the Duke had never taken a disciple.

If one were to think of anyone who could be her disciple, it would surely be the first class members of the Elemental school, but such claims held no meaning.

Alexandra Petrovna was the founder and president of the Elemental school.

If you are a member of the school, you may seek teaching from her, but that does not constitute the kind of master-disciple relationship recognized in the magical society.

However, being directly taught is different.

Receiving direct instruction from the Duke means, in short, that Camila would become the Duke’s most favored disciple. Considering that magicians of the Magic Tower endure unreasonable customs to enter the ranks of famous masters, Camila was an extremely fortunate magician.

“If you inherit my knowledge, it would allow me to lay down the heavy burden I have carried for so long.”

“Burden?”

“Every magician has their own burden. The magic left behind by their master, results obtained through research, and the like. It’s a kind of legacy. Although I don’t have anyone I can call my master, and thus nothing to inherit, I don’t wish for my hard-earned knowledge to vanish with me into the earth.”

So, she hoped Camila would inherit that legacy. The unspoken meaning lay beneath the surface.

I stealthily met eyes with Francesca, who was quietly watching their conversation, pondering deeply.

If I were to liken it, an Archmage holds a position comparable to a conglomerate. Not just any conglomerate but a billionaire. Yet, such a person is now proposing to bequeath their legacy to someone they’ve just met today.

In such situations, there are usually two possibilities.

Either they saw something in Camila, or the Duke herself had lost her marbles.

“……”

For now, the latter seemed unlikely. The Emperor wasn’t a soft-hearted man to let an old person with dementia out into the world.

He wouldn’t send a senile aunt to a cult when he had imprisoned tens of thousands of his citizens in concentration camps.

So, the answer was clear.

“It seems you’ve taken a liking to the Hero. For you to say such things.”

“Yes. I see it too. If left alone, she might even get adopted as a granddaughter.”

Francesca and I took a step back, observing the conversation between Alexandra Petrovna and Camila.

The reactions were mixed. Francesca looked intrigued by the situation itself, while I felt anxious.

What on earth could lead a hundred-year-old woman to take a disciple in her later years?

Regardless of being a magician, at such an age, shouldn’t she be out looking for land and a skilled caregiver to build a villa instead of doing this?

Even Emperor Nikolai VI, who used to hunt and exercise vigorously in his youth, seemed to have fallen ill in his later years. Why on earth would the Duke come all the way to Lateran to take Camila as her disciple?

Questions arose, but I had no desire to ask.

At that moment, the Duke spoke.

“All children who were apprentices to Archmages have grown into exceptional talents. Laonome and Perimede, who received the art of illusion from Lycidike, became outstanding illusionists, and Khalid, who learned sorcery under Suleiman, earned his name as a master craftsman. What do you think you could become?”

“…….”

“Whether it’s research or training is irrelevant. If you learn from me, the royal family will provide all the support you need, so you can concentrate solely on your studies without a care in the world.”

It was a tempting offer hard to refuse.

Anyone who sought to grasp truths and explore knowledge through magic would surely have accepted the proposal at this point.

But there was something the Duke had not expected.

That was the fact that Camila was an amateur magician.

“Wow, it sounds delightful just to hear it!”

Camila started clapping her hands. That was where it ended.

Life-changing research, a master that everyone envies, and even higher realms were all meaningless to her. Her interests were solely focused on one thing.

Camila, who had consistently shown a strangely indifferent reaction to the Duke’s proposal, now began to sparkle with excitement for the first time.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“Feel free to ask.”

“Will you teach me the magic to transform into a cat?”

“…A cat?”

A subtle change crossed Alexandra Petrovna’s face. It was a look of confusion, wondering why she suddenly asked about cats.

“As far as I know, ancient magicians could transform into animals. Is that not the case?”

“It’s a bit too close to modern times to call it ancient. Back when I was young, magic to transform into animals was all the rage among magicians. But why do you inquire about such a thing?”

Camila beamed.

“I want to learn that!”

“Why is that?”

“Well, because it’s cool!”

“……”

The Duke stared at the girl with an expression of incredulity. A faint hint of embarrassment washed over her pale face for just a moment before she shook her head, voicing her refusal.

“That is impossible. Magic to transform into animals and objects is one of the magician’s prohibitions. Not only is it forbidden to document it, but passing it on to others is also not allowed.”

“Ah….”

Camila’s face crumpled. It looked like the face of Mr. Kim Gu, a man who lost his country.

Like a raccoon I had once seen on the internet, she placed her hands near her mouth, her eyes wide and mouth agape in shock.

Her expression was so vivid that I could almost feel the disappointment and despair that Camila must have been experiencing without a single word being uttered.

Alexandra Petrovna, who had been vehemently refusing to pass on the magic, flinched and with a cough, began to speak hesitantly.

“Um, um. I apologize. But I will teach you other magic that you may find satisfying….”

“I don’t want to learn.”

“Don’t worry and just learn the magic—uhm…?”

For a moment, the Duke’s flustered voice echoed in the room.

It was a sound that didn’t quite fit the title of Archmage or the Duke of the Empire. As she displayed rare signs of surprise, Alexandra Petrovna was interrupted by Camila.

“I won’t learn any magic.”

Her tone was resolute.

Silence fell.

Neither the Duke, Camila, Francesca, nor I uttered a word.

Alexandra Petrovna, who had proposed the master-disciple relationship, blinked in confusion, as if she couldn’t understand what she just heard.

Francesca stood there with her mouth covered by her hands. Her wide eyes seemed to reflect her surprise, blinking rapidly, as if she were a pair of violet eyes resembling violets.

The Archmage and the surprised descendant of an Archmage faced each other in silence.

In this hushed gathering, the only one who appeared composed was me, wearing a face that resembled someone who had lost their country.

“Ah…!”

I slapped my forehead with my hand.

They say the world’s most heinous and bizarre things originate from Britain.

Looks like people are not an exception either.