Chapter 225: Second Master
When she thought about everything that Elias might have gone through, she felt a pain rising within her chest.
Amongst the Ashborn Family, she only cared about Aliath. And this child was the last direct blood relative of that person that Aliath would have ever cared about.
She still remembered all the times that Aliath had talked to her about his little brother. At that time, Aliath was grieving that his mother had died while giving birth to his little brother. Still, he never blamed his little brother for it.
He knew that Elias had it harder than him. At least he had grown up with a mother to support him, and a loving father who supported everything he did, albeit with some limitations.
Elias was different. He didn't have a mother to support him, and their father had also grown distant after their mother's death.
His Father started locking himself away, or going out on a mission, becoming a rarity to be seen around the house.
Aliath didn't want her brother to live like an orphan, so he started taking care of his brother. For the entire world, Aliath was like a cold blooded demon who could annihilate everything that offended him.
It was only before his little brother that his human side could be seen. Ophilia had even seen Elias a few times when he was little, since Aliath had brought him to the Academy a few times.
Of course, Elias didn't know anything about it, since he had simply possessed the body after Aliath and everyone who cared about him was gone.
When Ophilia looked at Elias, she remembered that bright smile on Aliath's face. If Aliath was here, would anyone have dared to look down on his brother?
Let alone anyone at the academy, even the Ashborn Family would've been brought to their knees by Aliath if he was here.
"Child, do you want to learn from me?" Ophilia asked Elias out of nowhere.
If his family didn't want to teach him, then she was going to become the guide of this young child to help him navigate through the treacherous waters.
Even if she wasn't the most resourceful person in the world, she still had great influence in the Academy.
Just because she had started caring less about her surroundings after Aliath had disappeared, it didn't mean that she was weak within the Academy.
Most people didn't know about it, but in the entire academy, she was the second most influential person.
The only person who had more control over the Academy was Freya. Ophilia was the Vice Dean at the Academy after all.
The only reason most at the Academy didn't know about her, was because had delegated her responsibilities to her subordinates and didn't show herself.
She didn't care about the academy. Even if there was any important meeting within the Academy, she never really attended, and her seat was always left empty in the meeting.
That's why she didn't even know about any big incidents that had happened within the Academy. She was probably the only person in the Academy who didn't know about the appearance of the Heir of Ice Dragon Flames.
It was also why she didn't know that Elias had started attending the Academy. If she had known about it, she wouldn't have waited so long to meet him.
Even though it meant going against the Ashborn Family, she still wanted to help Elias, her little brother-in-law. She wasn't scared of the Ashborn Family.
She was a representative of the Academy, but that wasn't her only identity. She also had the backing of her family, as the only child of the Renford Family's Matriarch.
That wasn't the extent of her identities either, as she had another identity, thanks to the class that she had awakened.
Even Freya couldn't look down on her because of her identities. That's why Freya let her do as she pleased, even though she basically abandoned all responsibilities that were tossed on her.
If she had decided to protect Elias, even Freya couldn't openly try to harm her. Unfortunately, even Elias didn't know about most of these things. He was simply taken back when Freya mentioned that she wanted to teach him.
"You want to teach me?" he asked, coming out of his immersion in the book.
"That's right. If you become my disciple, I can teach you better than the Academy could ever. Your identity as my disciple would also protect you from many unnecessary troubles. I can help you become stronger... Maybe as strong as your brother."
Ophilia was extremely serious about accepting Elias as her disciple. This was her way of fulfilling her responsibility in the absence of Aliath.
She couldn't be there when Aliath needed her the most. She had always regretted that moment. This time, she wanted to be there for the last remnant of Aliath's pure bloodline brother.
Elias had already taken Freya as his master. And now another master wanted to take him? Even though he didn't know the exact identity of the woman working the academy, if she could also get him similar resources as Freya, then wouldn't his speed of progress be faster?
'Kaelen' already had someone to protect him. Only Elias had no one to protect him, while there were many who wanted him dead.
Wasn't this kind of protection something that he needed the most? But if she wasn't capable enough, wasn't he going to drag her down as well? Before accepting her offer, he wanted to know her exact identity within the academy.
"Many people want to kill me, and not just within my family. If you accept me as your personal student, I'm afraid I would only bring you more trouble," he said, trying to test the waters to see if she was really capable or not.
Even though she was the fiance of his eldest brother, he still didn't outright trust her. After all, he didn't know what kind of relationship was between her and his eldest brother before his disappearance, or if she held any grudge.
From her expressions, he couldn't see anything suspicious or any hostility. Still, he was extremely cautious.
If she couldn't protect him, and still wanted to take him as a disciple, then he was certain it could only be something suspicious. After all, why would anyone want to take trouble that they couldn't deal with, without any ulterior motives.
"My identity within the academy is that of a..."
Ophilia started telling him about her identity. She told him that she was the second in command at the Academy. She also told him about her family, which was also a founding family.
Even though her family wasn't as strong and destructive as the Ashborn Family, they weren't much behind either.
It was said that the Ashborn Family had the greatest offensive power. At the same time, the Renford Family was said to have the best defensive power.
Throughout the years, there were many discussions amongst the people regarding the two families as people argued if the offensive strength of the Ashborn family was stronger, or if the defence of the Renford family was stronger.
If the Ashborn Family was a spear, then the Renford Family was a spear. No one really knew if the spear could break through the shield, or if the shield could block the spear as the two sides had never faced each other in battle.
Normally, there wasn't even any hostility between the two families, so there was no need for them to test their prowess against each other.
Moreover, the Ashborn Family was already busy dealing with problems of their own, so they have time to do anything unnecessary like satisfying people's curiosity.
"If you become my student, I promise that I will be able to protect you from your family. You can think of it as me repaying your eldest brother for everything he did for me."
Elias had expected the girl to have a special identity as a Renford Family descendant itself, but even he didn't expect her to be the Vice Dean of the Academy.
If it was her, could she prevent him from having to go to the Asbborn Family territory with Chronos? He wasn't quite certain.
Moreover, even if she could, it wasn't as if he actually wanted to stay behind in hiding. He had already done a lot of preparation for this trip.
Moreover, he did need to leave the Academy so that he could enact his plan to recreate earth as his own personal utopia.
"Master," Elias greeted Ophilia, accepting her offer, if not for the resources that he could get from her alone.
"Good." Ophilia smiled brightly, and once again pinched Elias's cheeks.
Even though having his cheeks pinched made him irritated, Elias didn't reveal his frustration on his face. He was different from Ophilia, and had learned that it was foolish to show their thoughts on their face.
With Ophilia's inclusion, Elias had two masters at the academy, and both of them held the strongest positions.