Chapter 400 188: Dorunla

After agonizing for a long time, she finally asked tentatively, "How about you all wait until I'm asleep, then sneak into my room?"

The group was speechless.

'Talk about burying your head in the sand.'

"Alright," Sean joked. "Just don't call us perverts if you wake up."

Dorunla quickly replied, "I won't, I won't."

'You're too handsome to be a pervert,' she thought.

The most she'd call him is a "rascal."

And so, late that night.

After taking the Magic Potion Lante had made, Dorunla was sound asleep.

Sean and the others arrived as promised, quietly sneaking into her room.

Looking from Dorunla's youthful sleeping face to the mature Konina, Sean let out a soft sigh.

"Weren't you two classmates? How can there be such a huge difference?"

One looked like a college student just starting out, while the other was already a mature, married woman. And they were supposedly the same age.

Konina was tempted to ask if Sean was tired and had misremembered—Shar was Dorunla's classmate, not her. But she didn't argue. After all, the difference between them really was huge…

It was mainly a matter of youthfulness.

Konina glanced at Dorunla's delicate face with a hint of jealousy and went along with Sean, "I don't know why she always looks like this either. It's like she never ages."

Eternal youth was every woman's dream. It almost made her want to peel Dorunla's face off and wear it herself.

"Some people just have a baby face," Koni whispered.

'Like me. Not only do I have a baby face, but I'm also petite. So even though I'm a little older than Yisha, she always treats me like a younger sister. I enjoy the feeling of being protected, though.'

"Mister Sopea, it's time."

Sean said, yawning.

'Let's get this over with. I want to go back to sleep.'

"Alright." Sopea nodded, closed his eyes, and began to construct a dream for the sleeping Dorunla.

Koni followed Sopea into the dreamscape. It was a good learning opportunity, after all, and she couldn't miss it.

It wasn't a major operation, so Elvire and the others hadn't come along. For the moment, only Konina and Sean remained awake in the room.

Konina suddenly spoke up. "Do you have a thing for younger girls?"

Sean: "?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just a guess."

Konina's tone was rather sour. "Based on your girlfriend, and what you just said about Dorunla."

'Although Sean had only said there was a big difference between her and Dorunla, without specifying who was better, anyone with a brain could hear his bias. The guy just liked young, pretty girls.'

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

Sean said, annoyed. "What man doesn't like young and pretty girls?"

Konina: "?"

"You're not even going to pretend otherwise?"

Sean: "I'm being honest. I deserve some praise for that."

Konina: "…"

'Bullshit!'

"And here I thought you were so high and mighty," Konina said resentfully. "Turns out I'm just not your type."

"Just you wait. When I make enough money to buy some good Witch Potions and make myself younger, we'll see if you can still escape me."

Sean chuckled. "Good luck with that. Good Witch Potions aren't cheap."

'Even the ones Lante casually brews for their regular travels, which aren't even considered high-end, sell for nearly six figures.'

Konina just huffed and didn't respond.

Sean glanced at Dorunla and changed the subject. "What are your plans for her?"

"I haven't decided yet." Konina looked conflicted. "I was originally planning to have her stay here with me and Shar, but you reminded me tonight that being too close to Wizards isn't good for her. We can't be that selfish."

"Maybe she should go back with you all?"

Konina continued, "She wanted to run away because of Carlos. Now that he's gone, she can go back to Krim State, live the life she wants, and keep working toward becoming a world-famous pianist."

"That could work." Sean said, looking at Dorunla. "She's a good pianist and beautiful, too. It's only a matter of time before she becomes famous."

'There are many talented people in the world, and many beautiful ones, but few who combine both qualities. Otherwise, how could there have been only one Carl Black in several hundred years?'

"As long as nothing else goes wrong," Konina said, slightly worried.

'When you can't protect yourself, being too outstanding isn't necessarily a good thing.'

'Konina once believed she lived in a society governed by the rule of law, where everything was subject to laws and regulations. But reality slapped her across the face, showing her that the so-called "rule of law" was a joke. If you were powerful enough, you could ignore any law. Or to put it another way—the law that truly ruled wasn't legislation, but Magic.'

'She was terrified Dorunla would run into another Carlos.'

'Truth be told, Carlos was actually one of the more polite Witch Hunters. There were plenty of others far more tyrannical and vicious than him.'

"She won't…" Sean started to say, intending to reassure her that there wouldn't be so many mishaps.

But before he could finish, the unexpected happened—

"Something's wrong."

Sopea, who had been Entering the Dream, suddenly opened his eyes, startling Sean.

"What is it?" he asked.

Sopea's expression was grim. "She's not an ordinary person."

"Not an ordinary person?"

Sean narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying she's been deceiving us?"

Konina's heart leaped in alarm as she felt a surge of killing intent.

'As her friend, Konina instinctively wanted to speak up for Dorunla. But then she remembered how her own trusted Chairman, Lemondaff, had been two-faced, and she swallowed her words. If there was really something wrong with Dorunla, she didn't know how she would ever face Sean…'

Fortunately, it was a misunderstanding.

There was indeed something wrong with Dorunla, but it wasn't her fault.

"Her memories and Magic Power have been sealed with a Secret Technique," Sopea said.

"Sealed?"

Sean retracted his killing intent. "What kind of seal is it that even Eleanor couldn't detect?"

"Was it the work of a Grand Mage?"

"Not necessarily."

Sopea explained, "Her memories were what was sealed. The Magic Power was just a byproduct of that."

"For an ordinary person to become a Wizard, there are generally two steps: first, an awakening of awareness, and second, an awakening of Magic Power. Magic Power is generated through Meditation. To learn Meditation—whether the person is conscious of it or not—they must first possess a subconscious understanding of it. Dorunla can't awaken her Magic Power because that part of her memory has been sealed."

"So, the reason Eleanor couldn't detect any Magic Power from Dorunla wasn't because her senses aren't sharp enough, but because Dorunla literally has no Magic Power. No one would have discovered this without going deep into her dreams."

"Carlos probably didn't know, either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so careless as to hire a potential Wizard—one with close ties to other High-tier Wizards, no less—as his private pianist."

Hearing this, Konina didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried. "Can you tell who placed the seal?"

Sopea shot her a look. "What do you take me for, a god?"

Konina: "…"

'This old man is so mean.'

'Her handsome neighbor is much gentler.'

Sopea ignored her and turned to Sean. "I can only tell you the approximate time the seal was placed."

"When?" Sean asked.

"Eighteen to twenty years ago," Sopea said.

Sean: "?"

"That long ago?"

'Dorunla is only in her twenties now. Doesn't that mean she started to awaken when she was just a little girl, maybe even before she started school, and someone forcibly stopped the process?'

"It might have been for her protection."

Sopea paused, then added, "Or perhaps they didn't want to create a powerful enemy for themselves down the line."

"Normally, when a Witch Hunter finds a Wizard, they either kill them or capture them."

"But Dorunla was too young at the time, and given her special status, a third possibility arose."

"Perhaps the person felt a pang of compassion and couldn't bring themselves to harm a little girl. Or, perhaps they recognized Dorunla's Talent and only stopped her from awakening temporarily, planning to undo the seal at the right time and have her serve them."

Sean was thoughtful. "So, her Talent is exceptional?"

"Exceptional."

"More than just exceptional."

Sopea looked at the sleeping Dorunla and said, "From the fragments of memory I could access, she's a Reshaper."

"And…"

"She's one of ours. From the Holy Sanctuary."

"The Paper Pianist, Chervana."

Sean: "?"

"Hang on."

"The what-pianist?"

...