“I cannot ignore the misfortune of the kind...”
“I cannot stand by and watch the world end...”
“My, that little guy certainly has a way with words!”
Loretta sat on the sofa with a smile, holding a cup of black tea in her hand.
“Those people in the Council must be fuming, right? I was hoping to enjoy their expressions for a few more days, but now they’ve all shut themselves away. What a shame...”
“Can you stop bothering me?!”
Sitting at his desk, the elderly professor suddenly put down his pen, his voice a mix of anger and helplessness.
August had always known about the Dean’s eccentric temperament. He now understood that Loretta was intentionally making his life difficult.
“Are you still thinking about that business with the savings from last time?”
Loretta held her teacup in her left hand, while several Cards of Canal flipped as lightly as butterfly wings between the fingers of her right hand.
She peeked through one eye, looking at August with a half-smile.
“Guess.”
August grumbled inwardly and sighed helplessly, deciding to just follow her lead.
“If you insist on talking about Ain... he’s gone and done something big again recently.”
Loretta blinked in surprise.
“Something big?”
“Didn’t you know? Even my daughter received an invitation from the Xavier family...”
“The new young lady of the Xavier family, Imeve, is getting married next month. The groom is Ain.”
August let out a dry, exasperated laugh.
“He certainly is charming.”
Loretta covered her small mouth in slight surprise. Recalling her conversation with Ain that night, she murmured,
“Such a philanderer... Is he really going to end up being stabbed to death by Erylin?”
August had no time to worry about her muttering; he was barely keeping up with his own workload.
“Damn it, what should we do about this...”
August held the documents in his hand, deliberating for a moment before speaking slowly, “Loretta, the Typhon Chain mission has to be put on hold for a while.”
“Why now?”
Loretta spoke with an air of indifference.
“The mission is just to gather some intelligence. Surely our students can at least handle that? Besides, even for that auction, isn’t Ain there?”
August impatiently tossed the documents in front of Loretta and said, “Take a look at this first.”
“One of the teams discovered a monster that only exists in ancient myths during their investigation...”
“A giant dragon.”
“I never expected such a thing to appear at a time like this...”
“It’s likely here for the holy spear.”
“You’ve been talking about Ain this and Ain that for days. Do you really think he can make this dragon obediently call him master, just like he tamed that magical wolf?”
August couldn’t help but rub his forehead.
“I’d say the kid is lucky if he doesn’t get crushed to death by that dragon’s backside!”
Loretta narrowed her eyes, clearly interested in the dragon August mentioned.
She chuckled, looking at the Card of Canal in her right hand.
Spirit Card (White Card)
【6】 White Dragon
“Let’s focus on this first... Ah, damn it, what is this now?!”
August could no longer take it. He spread the documents out, scattering them across the desk in a mess.
“Fine, forget the dragon. The auction is already a bust.”
Loretta’s smile remained unchanged, as if she had already known something.
“Did something happen?”
August nodded slightly.
“Most of the auction items were lost during transport. Several transport ships crashed in Cassandra...”
“As you know, that’s a lawless buffer zone between the two empires. It’s crawling with monsters and has complex terrain...”
“One of those transport ships belonged to the royal family.”
“Now, the royal family is demanding that we send people to recover the items immediately.”
Loretta flicked her right hand, and another Card of Canal materialized in her palm.
“It looks like the compass is in there too.”
August sighed and said, “That’s what I’m most worried about.”
“This isn’t a rescue; it’s a public treasure-hunting competition...”
“Besides us, there’s the Imperial military, underground mercenaries, and the Titan Prosecution Office from the royal side...”
“I expect the Church will send people as well.”
Loretta frowned slightly, seemingly dissatisfied with the results of her divination.
“No, it shouldn’t be just that...”
“If it were just about recovering items, the Empire and the auction house could send their own people. There would be no need to release the news publicly...”
Soon, several magic circles manifested around Loretta. Cards of Canal circulated beside her until only three remained.
Loretta chuckled.
August asked, “What did you see?”
“Guess.”
August hated her riddles more than anything.
“Just tell me.”
“Hehe~”
Seeing that Loretta was determined not to tell him even if it killed her, August felt as miserable as if he had swallowed a fly.
Damn these Diviners!
I want to know too!
“Let the children continue their mission. It’s a good training opportunity...”
“Hmm... just let the students with poor strength withdraw.”
As Loretta spoke, she casually swept her right hand through the air. Space was torn open like thin paper, and a rift suddenly appeared, expanding instantly to form an unknown passage.
August stared at her blankly.
“You aren’t going to...”
“Exactly.”
Loretta placed one hand behind her back and leaned over lazily. She let out a clear, youthful laugh, looking as charming and captivating as a soul-stealing faerie.
Soon, she stepped into the spatial rift and disappeared, and the rift slowly closed behind her.
After confirming she was truly gone, August finally dared to mutter an insult...
“That damn old hag...”
“That damn what?”
The office door was suddenly pushed open, and Loretta walked straight in from the hallway.
August immediately struck a pose of serious work, picking up his pen and awkwardly stroking his long white beard while laughing nervously.
“You, uh... did you forget something?”
“Mhm~”
Loretta walked over to the sofa and picked up a Corona Gold coin that had fallen from her pocket.
“Next time, you can say it to my face~”
After doing so, Loretta chuckled and left behind one last sentence before vanishing again.
“I promise I won’t beat you to death.”
A long while passed before August finally dared to pick up his pen. Just the look Loretta had given him made him recall the humiliating memory of being beaten so badly by her that he spent an entire afternoon flat on the floor.
Too terrifying, simply too terrifying...
An old woman is an old woman. No wonder no man has dared to take her even now!
August only dared to grumble a bit in his heart.
She’s always talking about Ain. She might as well just go live with the kid!
Seemingly struck by a funny thought, August was about to laugh but forced it back down.
An old cow eating tender grass...
“Sigh, let me see which children should be sent for this mission...”
“Pfft! Cough, cough cough!”
August had just taken a sip of tea when he spat it all out as if he had seen something impossible.
He stood up immediately, adjusted his small glasses, and looked at the letter in his trembling hands with utter disbelief.
“An application for Highest Operational Authority for the Typhon Chain?”
“The applicant is... Ain Aldric?”
“What on earth is that guy planning now?!”
Rate on N.U.
