Chapter 203: Let’s all call him Uncle.

At that moment, both Green and Seidler were reeling inwardly from shock.

When Amanda had said that Zephyr Red was an elder of his family, they had assumed by “elder” he meant someone of his grandfather’s generation or above.

Instructor Red had already been at the magic academy when they first enrolled. More than forty years had passed since then, yet his appearance had not changed in the slightest. His magical rank had remained at Senior Grand Mage all this time, never breaking through to Saint Mage.

They didn’t know his true age, but he had to be more than two hundred years old.

So when they heard Amanda call him “Uncle,” both Green and Seidler were stunned.

That generation gap... was surprisingly small!

Apparently, Amanda’s parents were Grand Mages as well—and an exceptionally loving couple at that. They must have pushed past the limitations of the human body and had a son when they were already over two hundred years old.

After all, as mages advanced in rank, their lifespans increased and their bodies remained youthful, but certain functions gradually declined.

For example, sexual function.

Once a person devoted all their desires to advancing their rank, they tended to neglect their physical needs and remain sexually indifferent for long periods. Only meeting someone they truly liked might awaken those desires again.

And then there was Amanda himself. He looked seventeen or eighteen, yet he was actually twenty-two?

Zephyr glanced at Green and Seidler before turning toward the other Mage Apprentices.

“What about you? Do you need recommendation letters?”

Shu Li hurriedly pulled a somewhat aged envelope from his storage pouch. “We already have recommendation letters.”

The other Mage Apprentices followed suit, taking out their own letters.

Zephyr did his utmost to ignore the Elven King disguised as a human boy.

“In that case, each of you should find the person your recommendation letter is addressed to and have them handle your enrollment.”

“All right, Uncle!” Shu Li nodded.

Zephyr froze.

He lowered his head and stared at the Little Fairy, frowning slightly. “What did you just call me?”

Under the stare of those imposing pale-gold eyes, Shu Li couldn’t help hunching his shoulders and nervously stammered, “S-Sorry, Instructor Red. I shouldn’t have copied Amanda and called you Uncle.”

He had only wanted to get a little friendlier with him.

Zephyr instantly felt a piercing gaze land on him.

He didn’t dare raise his head to search for its owner. Instead, he hurriedly restrained his imposing aura, softened his expression, and spoke gently to the frightened Little Fairy.

“It’s fine. You can call me Uncle just like Amanda does.”

Shu Li relaxed and broke into a brilliant smile.

“All right, Uncle.”

The other Little Fairies blinked, then obediently followed his example.

“Hello, Uncle.”

Zephyr: “...”

Thank goodness the great Elven King hadn’t called him “Uncle” too. Otherwise, this dragon of more than six thousand years might have been unable to bear it and dropped to his knees on the spot.

“Ahem.” Zephyr coughed to cover his discomfort. “Let’s go.”

Before long, everyone left Zephyr’s office and split up to find their respective—

Well, not their mothers.

The recipients of their recommendation letters.

The letters belonging to Shu Li, Dixio, Angel, Budno, Kumandi, and Ace were addressed to Headmaster Gabri Muse. Nasha’s and Hector’s were addressed to Komoshi Nar, head of the magical formations department.

And so they divided into two groups. Zephyr took his nephew, the Little Fairies, and the Elven King disguised as a human to the headmaster’s office, while Green took Hector and Nasha to find the department head.

Having completed his task of guiding them to the academy, Seidler said goodbye.

Shu Li was a little reluctant to see him go, but then he remembered the Dark Elf still waiting outside the academy gates. After thanking Seidler several more times, he watched him leave.

“Seidler is such a nice person!” Angel exclaimed.

“Yeah. Without him, I wouldn’t even have gotten through the academy gates,” Amanda said.

“Will we see him again?” Dixio asked.

“Hard to say,” Kumandi replied. “Fourth- and fifth-year students are hardly ever on campus.”

“It’s fine,” Shu Li reassured them. “He’ll come back for the final exams.”

“He lives on Maya Street,” Ace said. “If you miss him that much, you can always visit him there.”

The Little Fairies and the young dragon stared at him in surprise.

“How do you know?”

Ace smiled. “He mentioned it himself while we were talking on the way here.”

Shu Li gave him a thumbs-up.

On their way from the teleportation station to the magic academy, the others had been so captivated by the prosperity of Igya City that they truly had no idea what Ace and Seidler had talked about.

Zephyr walked ahead of them, but his senses remained fixed on the group behind him.

The mighty Elven King had disguised himself as a human boy and somehow fooled both the Little Fairies and the young dragon completely. He interacted with them so naturally that none of them suspected a thing.

Fortunately, Zephyr had lived a long life, seen plenty, and possessed exceptional composure. When he first saw the Elven King, he had managed not to cry out in shock.

After receiving the Elven King’s brief whispered message, he temporarily suppressed his curiosity and pretended not to recognize him.

When they reached the headmaster’s office, Zephyr raised a hand and pressed it against the door.

The magical formation on its surface lit up, and a gentle female voice sounded from within.

“Come in.”

Zephyr pushed open the door. The Little Fairies and the young dragon, who had been chatting among themselves, immediately fell silent and followed him inside.

The headmaster’s office was brightly illuminated by magical light stones suspended from the ceiling.

A blond woman in an ornate magic robe sat elegantly on a sofa, holding a steaming cup of tea and sipping it at an unhurried pace. On the coffee table before her sat a plate of adorable little pastries. A palm-sized golden-furred monkey lay beside the plate, practically drooling over them.

When Zephyr entered with the Mage Apprentices, the blond woman set down her half-finished cup of tea right beside the little monkey.

The monkey immediately leaped away, afraid the hot cup would scorch its backside.

“Sorry to disturb you, Headmaster Muse.”

After saluting her, Zephyr pulled Amanda to his side and went straight to the point.

“This child is Amanda, my nephew. He traveled thousands of miles to the Central Court to study. I’d like to ask you to give him a place at the academy.”

Gabri Muse didn’t mind his bluntness in the slightest. She regarded Amanda kindly, and when she noticed the magical badge pinned to his chest, she smiled.

“Zephyr, this child is quite promising.”

The implication was clear.

She had agreed to admit him.

Amanda blinked his gray-blue eyes.

That was it?

Wasn’t that a little too easy?

With his objective achieved, Zephyr curled a finger and lightly rapped the young dragon on the forehead.

“Well? Thank the headmaster.”

Amanda hurriedly saluted and said loudly, “Thank you, Headmaster!”

Gabri smiled. “Zephyr is exceptionally talented. Since you’re his nephew, I’m sure you’ll be exceptional too.”

Amanda flushed at the praise. Scratching the back of his head, he said shyly, “I-I’ll work hard!”

His dream ever since childhood had been to grow into a silver dragon as powerful as his grandfather.

After all, his grandfather had once helped the Elven King defeat the Dark God!

Having settled his own youngster’s enrollment, Zephyr shooed Amanda aside and turned toward the Little Fairies.

“Which of you is first?”

“I’ll go first!”

As captain of the Light Squad, Shu Li naturally had to lead the way for his companions.

He presented his recommendation letter to Gabri with both hands and bowed.

“Hello, Headmaster. My name is Sperien. This is my recommendation letter. Please take a look.”

Gabri accepted it and immediately noticed that the envelope was rather old, its edges already yellowed with age. The wax seal also looked strangely familiar.

Her gaze swept over the magical badge on the boy’s chest, and an unusual gleam flashed through her eyes.

A Seven-Element Mage!

How incredibly rare!

She quickly opened the envelope, took out the letter, and skimmed through it. When she reached the signature at the bottom—

Job Carter Gulain—

a trace of surprise appeared on her face.

Seeing the headmaster remain silent for so long, Shu Li grew uneasy.

Surely the recommendation letter hadn’t expired because too much time had passed?

After a while, Gabri folded the letter away. Seeing the unease on the face of the boy named Sperien, she reassured him.

“Job was a student I taught in Daoto City forty years ago. His aptitude was average, but he worked extremely hard. Since he strongly recommended that you come study at St. Velia Magic Academy, I naturally have no reason to refuse. However, there’s one question I hope you’ll answer honestly.”

“Yes!”

Shu Li straightened his back and stood ramrod straight.

“Don’t be nervous.” Seeing his solemn expression, Gabri spoke gently. “Job wrote this recommendation letter for you eight years ago. Why have you only come to enroll now?”

Shu Li froze.

He had thought she was going to ask some incredibly difficult question. His mind had already raced through countless possible answers, only for it to turn out to be something so simple.

“Because something happened in my family...” His expression dimmed. He bit his lip, looking as though the subject was too painful to discuss. “That’s why I’m so late. I’m sorry.”

Gabri wasn’t the sort of person who insisted on prying into other people’s affairs. Seeing the sadness on the boy’s face, she understood that whatever had happened to his family must have been serious.

“St. Velia Magic Academy welcomes you,” she said, accepting his recommendation letter.

“Thank you, Headmaster!”

Shu Li bowed, and the weight hanging over his heart finally disappeared.

It seemed his acting skills really had improved.

In high spirits, he walked over to Amanda. Amanda immediately started making faces at him.

Shu Li lightly bumped him with his shoulder, warning him not to give anything away.

Amanda instantly rearranged his expression into one of perfect seriousness.

Next, Kumandi presented his prepared recommendation letter to Gabri.

“Hello, Headmaster. This is my recommendation letter.”

Gabri accepted it.

The moment she saw the wax seal on the envelope, she froze.

This was...

the emblem of the Mage Sovereign, Danlov Girard!

She stared at the black-haired boy before her in astonishment. He stood solemnly, neither servile nor arrogant.

Gabri asked no questions. She opened the envelope and took out the letter.

The familiar, elegant handwriting immediately met her eyes.

It truly was a letter written personally by the Mage Sovereign.

There wasn’t much written on the page. Just a few sentences explained everything clearly.

The boy before her, named Kumandi, was a child from a mountain village whom the Mage Sovereign had encountered while passing through the Sesis Mountains. The boy possessed exceptional magical talent, and unwilling to let such talent go to waste, the Mage Sovereign had recommended him for admission to the magic academy.

With a recommendation from the Mage Sovereign himself, how could Gabri possibly refuse?

“Welcome to St. Velia Magic Academy,” she said to Kumandi.

“Thank you, Headmaster.”

Kumandi placed his right hand over his chest and saluted her.

Zephyr watched Kumandi walk over to Shu Li, his mind filled with questions.

The two Little Fairies actually had different recommenders?

It wasn’t particularly strange for the Mage Sovereign to write a recommendation letter for a Little Fairy. But why was the recommender for the Little Fairy named Sperien a mage from Daoto City?

Eight years ago, he would still have been a Fairy cub. How had he gotten to Daoto City?

There was no way he could have left the Faerie Forest by himself, unless an adult Fairy or Elf had taken him outside.

But there had never been any precedent for Fairy cubs leaving the forest.

No, that wasn’t right.

There still wasn’t!

At least, in the more than six thousand years Zephyr had lived, he had never once seen an underage Fairy travel the continent.

Yet here were five Little Fairies and a young dragon, carrying recommendation letters to enroll at a magic academy. They were obviously here as part of their travels.

So...

Had the Elven King personally escorted them?

Wait.

The Elven King was disguised as a human, holding a recommendation letter of his own—

and he was here to enroll too!

The great Son of Light, the creator of white magic—the Elven King himself—was about to become a student at a human magic academy.

What kind of earth-shattering absurdity was this?

Zephyr felt as though his brain simply didn’t have enough room to process it.

While he was still trying to make sense of everything, the third Little Fairy stepped forward and presented his recommendation letter to Gabri.

“Hello, Headmaster. This is my recommendation letter.”

Angel offered the letter with both hands.

Gabri saw that familiar wax seal yet again and froze.

She opened the envelope, pulled out the letter, and found the Mage Sovereign’s handwriting once more.

Her eyes widened.