Chapter 1384: 142. Learning Magic

For the time being, putting aside whatever traps might be hidden in the identity of Enmu.

And not thinking about what had been unreasonable about that entire string of behavior just now.

In any case, the person before him was merely a girl who had only just joined the Enhancement School. Whether in terms of strength or status, there was no possibility that she could affect the position of "Master Enmu," who possessed both a school crest and formidable strength, within the Origin Tower.

To put it another way......unless the Love God really attacked, there was no need to panic for now.

"Agatha, was it?"

At this thought, Muen resumed the bearing befitting the head of a school and nodded reservedly.

"Could you introduce yourself? I still don't know enough about you."

"Yes!"

Agatha abruptly raised her head.

Then, the moment her eyes met Muen's, she seemed to remember her earlier "disrespectful" behavior, and her small face flushed bright red again.

This time, however, she did not avoid his gaze. After taking several deep breaths, she said seriously:

"My name is Agatha Gerald. I'm a local of this City of Magic, born into an ordinary magical family. I've studied magic since childhood, and I'm currently a Mystery-Rank mage. The magic I'm best at is water magic. I hope Master Enmu will guide me."

"Gerald? That surname sounds a little familiar......"

"It's only a small family. Master Enmu doesn't need to pay it any mind."

"Is that so? Never mind. Names aren't important here anyway."

Muen rubbed his chin. "But you said you're skilled in water magic, so why did you join our Enhancement School? Normally speaking, wouldn't the Elemental School be a better place for you?"

"Well......"

Agatha said with absolute conviction, "Because I really love Enhancement Magic!"

"......That's a lie."

Muen mercilessly exposed her.

"......"

Agatha froze for a moment, then lowered her head in shame once again.

"I'm sorry......actually, it's because three days ago, I saw you defeat Jerome in a single move. That's why I thought I'd come to the Enhancement School and try my luck. Before that, I was actually just like most people and had some prejudice against Enhancement Magic."

"No need to apologize. That's only natural."

Muen suddenly smiled. "Given the Enhancement School's previous reputation, if you had kept insisting that you loved Enhancement Magic, I might genuinely have had to seriously consider your motives. But the fact that you admitted it so easily instead proves your 'purity.'"

"Th-thank you......"

"I already told you. You don't need to thank me so many times."

Muen secretly glanced at Ariel beside him and said, "When you came in, you already underwent the trial given by your senior, Alice, right?"

"Mm!"

Agatha nodded vigorously, her eyes filled with admiration. "Senior Alice is amazing. There were so many of us, yet not a single person managed to last even one exchange against her!"

"Of course. Who told her to be the disciple I rely on the most? Under my careful training, it's only natural that she'd be this strong."

Muen deliberately placed an especially heavy emphasis on the words "careful training."

"Staaare—"

"Ahem. Anyway, since you've already undergone the trial, I don't need to verify anything else in that regard. So I'll officially welcome you here and now into our big Enhancement School family."

Ignoring the piercing gaze beside him, Muen even pulled her along to applaud. "Everyone, welcome her."

"Welcome, junior!"

Old Ide lifted his head and clapped especially hard.

"Th......thank you, everyone."

Agatha wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "I'm very happy to receive everyone's kindness."

"Thanking people too many times and apologizing too many times are both bad habits."

"Sorr— I understand! I'll definitely correct it!"

"That's more like it......"

Muen nodded with satisfaction.

As expected of a student who had passed Ariel's trial and had even been praised by her for possessing exceptional talent. At the very least, when it came to comprehension, she had quite a promising future.

"Then next......let's get straight to the point and start class."

"S-so directly?"

Agatha was slightly startled.

She had thought that a "first lesson" like this would mostly involve getting to know one another, understanding each other's circumstances, or perhaps even having Master Enmu personally administer another trial.

And yet they were going straight into the lesson?

"Time waits for no one. Time is life."

Muen spoke solemnly and seriously. "Since you came here because you admired my strength, how could I fail to respond to that? As for getting to know one another......we're all family now. We'll have plenty of opportunities to become familiar with each other in the future."

"I......I understand."

Agatha immediately became serious, pulled out her wand, and prepared herself for battle. "I'm ready at any time, Master Enmu!"

"That's the spirit! Students like you are exactly my favorite kind."

Muen nodded in satisfaction. "Don't worry. As an outstanding Master Mage, I will use my even more outstanding experience in teaching magic to guide you without holding anything back! I guarantee that your strength will improve at an extremely rapid rate!"

"......"

Beside him, Ariel abruptly turned her head and stared at Muen with an expression that clearly said, What the hell are you talking about?

Agatha failed to notice that tiny detail.

She was already so moved that she could hardly contain herself.

He was actually this sincere, this generous?

As far as she knew, in other schools, even after students were recruited, those Master Mages would still put them through all kinds of examinations and trials before formally teaching them.

After all, the magic each Master Mage specialized in was their own closely guarded expertise. Naturally, it could not simply be passed on to outsiders so easily.

Yet Master Enmu showed not the slightest wariness or reservation and was going to teach her magic directly?

A mage this magnanimous was truly rare.

No wonder......

"Please instruct me, Master Enmu!"

Agatha tensed every nerve in her body and even pulled out a small notebook specifically for taking notes, absolutely refusing to let herself miss a single sentence, a single word Master Enmu was about to say......

And Muen truly did not hesitate in the slightest.

He immediately stated the first key point of learning Enhancement Magic:

"Start running."

"I see. Start running. I've memorized it. What an exquisite......huh?"

Agatha froze.

She blinked, first looking at the two rather unfamiliar words she had written in her little notebook, then raising her head to stare at Muen in confusion.

"Master Enmu......did I hear you wrong? Aren't you supposed to be teaching Enhancement Magic? Why is something completely unrelated to magic mixed in?"

"You didn't hear wrong."

Muen said seriously, "I said exactly that. Start running."

"Huh?"

Agatha felt as though her little brain was shriveling at a speed even faster than the rate of improvement Master Enmu had just promised her.

But she was given no time to think any further.

"What are you standing around for?"

Muen clapped his hands. "Turn left and start running. Look at Old Ide in front of you. He's already a hundred meters away!"

Agatha turned around blankly and discovered that Old Ide really had already run quite far away......

He was clearly eccentric, and even his running posture looked like some bizarre creature, yet his speed was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, even his back was almost out of sight.

"But......"

Agatha still could not help asking, "What exactly does this have to do with learning magic......?"

"Are you questioning me, an outstanding Master Mage?"

Muen frowned.

"No, no, I'm not......"

Agatha shook her head vigorously.

"If that's the case, why aren't you running yet?"

"I......"

Agatha began to question her own questioning.

Right......

How could she doubt such an outstanding Master Mage?

Although running really did seem to have nothing to do with magic, if a master was telling her to do it, surely he could not simply be fooling her.

What purpose would that even serve?

At that thought, Agatha immediately started moving and chased after Old Ide.

As a pure mage, she had never trained her body before. In fact, because she frequently used magic for transportation, her physique was even slightly weaker than that of an ordinary person.

Even so, she showed no hesitation whatsoever and quickly ran forward.

That's right......

A Master Mage's teaching methods definitely had their own reasoning behind them!

She was about to become stronger any moment now!

......

......

Agatha's swaying figure gradually disappeared from sight as she ran along the edge of the entire floor.

Muen withdrew his gaze and shook his head.

"At that speed, she's not even as fast as the old lady next door taking a stroll."

Then he received a contemptuous stare.

"So this is how you fool a young girl?" Ariel folded her arms and sneered.

"What do you mean, fool?"

Muen widened his eyes. "The Goddess can bear witness, and heaven and earth know my conscience. When have I ever fooled her?"

"You call this teaching someone magic?" Ariel bared her little canine teeth. "A pure brute who doesn't even know magic himself, teaching someone else magic. This really is the first time I've ever seen anything like it."

"But I'm not wrong, am I?"

Muen innocently spread his hands. "Right now, I can't teach her how to increase the multiplier of Enhancement Magic, but I can directly increase the base value of her own body. Doesn't that produce the same effect? In fact, considering her current physical condition......the effect will probably be even more obvious."

"That's sophistry. Enhancement Magic doesn't only strengthen the body. Do you think everyone is a brute like you?" Ariel rolled her eyes.

"Ah, I'd like to teach her properly too, but if I really became such a good teacher, somebody's vinegar might sour me to death."

Muen chuckled as he reached for that soft little hand.

Only for it to be slapped away.

"Hmph. Who's jealous?"

Ariel's expression was unfriendly. "Do I look like the kind of petty woman who gets jealous just because another woman appears?"

"......"

Don't you?

The instant Agatha grabbed his hands just now, it had felt as though Ariel was about to draw her sword and cut someone down on the spot.

"Of course I know you're not."

That was what he thought, but what came out of his mouth was something entirely different.

"Who doesn't know that Ariel Bugaard is the most broad-minded beautiful girl in the entire world? But if I can make you even happier, why wouldn't I do it?"

"Is it just my imagination? Somehow, I don't feel like you're actually complimenting me."

"I told you, don't overthink it."

"Hmph."

Ariel huffed again.

This time, however, she allowed Muen to take her little hand again.

"If I'd known that woman had the potential to become such a shameless seductress, I wouldn't have chosen her in the first place."

Remembering what had happened earlier, Ariel still could not suppress her irritation.

She had dared to put her hands on him the moment they met.

If she took a few more lessons, what would happen then?

Would she become a rebellious disciple who threw herself at her teacher?

"All right, don't be angry. That Agatha is obviously a little strange."

Muen soothed her.

"Oh? Did you discover something?"

"Not yet. I just think there's something odd about her. Whether it was her reaction when she first saw me or her reason for joining our school, neither seems as simple as she claimed."

"Then......what do we do next?"

Ariel narrowed her eyes. "Kick her out?"

"There's no need for that yet. We still don't know what her purpose is. Driving her out now would only attract outside attention, especially at a time like this."

Muen thought for a moment. "We might as well keep her here and let her study more 'magic.' Whatever else you can say about the Enhancement School, it's certainly big enough."

"She won't interfere with us?"

"No. Whatever her purpose is, she's still too weak right now. She's only Mystery-Rank. She isn't even comparable to one of our little fingers. Whatever we're planning to do, there's ultimately no way our paths could intersect......unless......"

"Unless?"

"Unless......"

The corner of Muen's mouth crooked upward as he sneered.

"She has some incredible secret of her own."