Anime Magic Card Era

Chapter 124: Chapter 123: Beauty of a Chaotic Age, Enchantress of Ruined Nations

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"Honestly, I have no idea what the Governor is thinking," Victor said, spreading his hands. He understood the urgency these academy representatives felt, but Aldric hadn’t disclosed much to him either, only instructed him to relay the directive.

And during that conversation, Victor had detected something unusually grave in his grandfather’s tone, a clear undercurrent of if you fail to handle this properly, bring me your head. It had nearly convinced Victor he’d committed some grievous crime without realizing it.

"Even your honored elder is being this tight-lipped?" Yvonne Adler, from Nightglow Academy, frowned slightly. She’d begun to grasp at something.

"Yvonne, if you’ve thought of something, say it," Fabian said, noticing her expression. "We’re all here for the same purpose. No need to keep it to yourself."

His prompt turned the room’s attention toward her.

This old fox. His perception is as sharp as ever. Yvonne cursed inwardly. Fabian’s manner carried a veneer of bluntness, but his mind was crystalline, and he had a knack for seizing on the crucial point.

"I’m only thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t have come here at all," Yvonne said, drawing a slow breath before voicing words that startled everyone.

"Oh? Is Nightglow Academy planning to withdraw?" Celeste shot back. "Because if so, I wholeheartedly support the decision."

The academies present all ranked closely to one another. If Nightglow genuinely pulled out, the rest would be delighted to see one competitor fewer.

"What are you imagining? I mean that no matter how much we fight over him, it’s meaningless, because the initiative was never in our hands. Even if our Academy Heads came in person, it wouldn’t make a difference."

"Even the Academy Heads coming makes no difference?" Fabian and Celeste frowned. That was not a statement to throw around carelessly. Then, a moment later, something seemed to occur to them, and their eyes went wide.

"You’ve worked it out?" Yvonne said quietly. "The only person in the entire Eastern Region who could make Governor Aldric this secretive is, perhaps, that individual."

"Fck.*"

In that instant, even with the composure these seasoned figures possessed, one of them couldn’t suppress the curse.

That individual. Who else could it be? The Eastern Region’s Governor. The Night Empress, Lilith Crescent. If that was the explanation, then everything made sense.

The group exchanged silent glances. It was only conjecture, but it fit the present circumstances better than any other explanation.

Victor experienced a flash of belated understanding himself. Luke had won first place, yes, but Victor hadn’t expected the matter to reach all the way up to Lilith. Across so many exam cycles, the only candidate to draw her attention had been Selene Dawnford.

In the end, Fabian, Celeste, and the others stopped raising the question of finding Luke. One way or another, everything would become clear after tomorrow.

If things truly were as Yvonne had guessed, if Lilith had personally entered the field, then no amount of jockeying would matter. And if it wasn’t Lilith, then tomorrow would inevitably bring a bloody scramble. Either way, the smarter move was to rest now and conserve their energy for the morning.

"That’s the stuff."

After a full night’s rest, Luke was in excellent spirits. Yesterday’s exam expenditure had fully recovered.

He raised a hand and beckoned, and Mana and Blanc appeared at his side.

"Tamer-sama!" Blanc, clutching the Cross Barbie trident, gazed up at Luke with timid eyes, looking for all the world like a small, anxious creature.

"Wow! So cute!" Compared to Blanc, Mana’s personality was far more open. Seeing Blanc’s shy demeanor, her bright eyes sparkled with delight.

You’re the literal definition of cute yourself. Luke shook his head at Mana’s reaction, then formally introduced the two of them, letting them get acquainted.

Ding-a-ling!

He’d barely finished introducing the two girls when the doorbell rang. A thought struck him, and he remembered the mysterious VIP Mark had mentioned the day before.

"That’s genuinely early." Luke checked the time, asked the two girls to prepare tea, and headed for the door. He’d assumed the visitor would take at least two days. Instead, a single night had passed.

He opened the door, and the first person to come into view was Victor Ashford. Compared to the composed, unflappable City Lord of Luke’s memory, this Victor looked thoroughly frazzled, complete with a faint set of dark circles under his eyes.

"City Lord, were you out committing burglary last night?" Luke raised an eyebrow. Under normal circumstances, a Card Master’s mana-enhanced physique wouldn’t suffer aftereffects from a single all-nighter.

A Sovereign Realm Card Master like Victor could go a solid month without sleep and be perfectly fine. Unless something major had happened, Luke couldn’t imagine why Victor would be sporting two dark circles.

This is entirely YOUR fault, Victor raged internally. First Fabian and the others had lost their minds and descended on him in the middle of the night. Then Yvonne’s deduction had robbed him of any chance at sleep. And this morning, Lilith and Selene had arrived bright and early, confirming Yvonne’s guess and burying Victor in a fresh avalanche of stress.

Worse still, once Fabian and the others had learned Yvonne’s guess was correct, and caught sight of Lilith, they’d packed up and fled so fast that Victor had nearly cursed aloud. The whole lot of them had apparently traveled all this way purely to inconvenience him.

A pair of dark circles is honestly the best-case outcome, Victor reflected sourly.

"Ahem. Luke, let’s talk inside." However loudly he was screaming on the inside, Victor only spoke with a faintly hurried prompting tone.

At the same time, he stepped slightly to the side, revealing the two women standing behind him.

A beauty of a chaotic age. An enchantress who topples nations.

A mature woman with a flawless hourglass figure came into view. In an instant, Luke felt the world brighten, and that exact phrase flashed across his mind.

She possessed a face that no one could look away from, and that no one could possibly forget. Silver-white hair cascaded past her shoulders. Her peach-blossom eyes were a vivid crimson, features that seemed engineered to be lethal to anyone who beheld them.

Luke knew a great many words for describing a person’s bearing, but in that moment, only one remained in his head.

Allure.

The woman before him was, quite simply, like an enchantress risen from the abyss. Anyone who laid eyes on her for the first time would feel themselves begin to sink. And yet she also carried an aura of inviolable dignity, an authority that made any lewd thought impossible to sustain.