Chapter 17
Throughout this process, Sylas stared at the archmage with great seriousness. There was a time when her gaze even followed the archmage's hand movement. Xerath asked, "What do you see?"
Sylas reached out and touched the swirling breeze around her, whispering, "It's 'transcendent'."
Xerath seldom felt shy and couldn't help but explain, "Um... I'm really glad you appreciate my magic. Actually, it's not easy for someone your age to understand the rational beauty of magic. You must be a very talented child..." The archmage felt that she was speaking too fast and might have exceeded Sylas's comprehension limit.
As expected, Sylas had no reaction to the whole sentence. She just obsessively touched the wind and then said somewhat regretfully, "I want to play with them."
Xerath was slightly stunned for a moment, then realized that Sylas's voice was very low, probably because she was afraid of causing elemental chaos with her voice. Xerath couldn't help but smile gently, while stroking Sylas's head, she said, "How about we have dinner first? After dinner, I will play with you for a while."
Maybe because these words were all very simple, Sylas reacted very quickly. However, Xerath already had a vague story in her mind that she had imagined: A highly skilled female mage gave birth to an intelligent and clever child. The mage treated spells like nursery rhymes and used root words as laughter, which allowed her child to early master the art of summoning elements. The child learned so fast that she often caused some trouble, and her mom always helplessly told her, "If you're not mischievous today, I'll play with you after dinner."
The archmage thought it was probably the case, but quickly noticed a doubt: If Sylas's mother was truly an elemental mage, she couldn't have been without a water lord servant, but Sylas didn't seem to have a deep memory of the water lord.
Because currently it was known that Sylas could only eat bloody steak, the fire lord chef wanted everyone to eat as soon as possible, so everyone had to eat steak with Sylas. During the meal, Virgil came up from the library and politely knocked on the door, calling loudly, "Xerath, can I come in?"
Hearing his voice, Sylas visibly flinched and looked to Xerath for help. Xerath had to reassure her, "It's okay, I'm here, Virgil won't harm you."
"Did I scare your little demon beast? Or, can you please bring me the food?"
"No, it's not necessary," Xerath shouted to the door and then turned to comfort Sylas, "I'll let Virgil come in and eat, and then I'll take you back to your room, okay? He's my guest."
But then she noticed that Sylas didn't like the word "guest" and was even a little afraid. She held Xerath's hand and tried hard to say, "No, guest, death, blood."
Xerath remembered her own story and quickly added a few plot twists based on these words. She had to hold Sylas in her arms, guessing that Sylas needed a hug at this moment. "I'm sorry, don't be afraid. Virgil is my friend, we grew up together since we were small. With me here, he won't hurt you." Then the archmage felt like these were the most illogical words they had said in years.
She carried Sylas to the door, opened it, took a few steps back, and said to Virgil, "I hope you understand my dilemma. On one hand, we can't leave Sylas alone in a fearful and lonely environment. On the other hand, I want to host you as well as possible. So, just like yesterday, please sit on the other side of the table. I'm really sorry."
"It's okay, to be honest, I can't think of a better way either. Hey cutie, Uncle Virgil is not a bad person. Uncle Virgil won't hurt you. Look, I don't have any weapons." He said, opening his hands. However, there was a tapping sound from outside the door, and the door opened by itself. Titus stood in front of Virgil, shaking his tassels.
Virgil had to crouch down and rub Titus's back, saying, "Okay, okay, you are the cutie."
This meal was a bit unusual. Sylas paid attention to Virgil while occasionally looking at Xerath, trying to use a knife and fork to cut her steak just like her.
Anything in a child's hand can be a dangerous weapon. The archmage, who had this common sense, therefore focused most of their attention on Sylas, casually chatting with Virgil about some harmless gossip.
"When will my... my messenger be able to bring it to me? I thought you would help me bring one this time. Don't you often capture these types of demon beasts?"
"Well, I didn't expect to catch such a weak little creature, so I canceled the original plan to catch a Windbreaker. By the way, what are you going to do with her after you finish your paper?"
Xerath paused for a moment and whispered, "Let's talk about it after I finish my paper. Could you please find out about the buyer for me?"
Virgil freed one hand and patted his chest, "No problem, I can guarantee that you won't lose anything."
Xerath's expression became serious, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed. Virgil couldn't tell what was bothering her, but he knew it must be something significant. The archmage shifted his chair and took a plate from Sylas's hand. He sliced the large, bloody steak into perfectly square and small pieces.
"Hey... dear friend, did you know? There was something that used to frighten me about you. It was when you tore a paper with a score of 99 into tiny little pieces. Taming animals is not so hard, you see how well you get along with her and even go on adventures together! Generally, if you have lived and faced dangers with a demon beast, there is nothing to worry about."
"...Don't worry, Virgil, it's just a matter of experimental methods that others can't do for me."
"Then I can't be of much help. I can only promise that I'll bring you a new messenger next time I come."
Xerath said, "That's great, I haven't spoken to a human for about a month before you came."
"Feeling lonely, my archmage?" Virgil leaned in with interest, "But now you have a little creature that can talk."
Xerath smiled, "But I can't really chat with children about the impact of the Gossen's Triangle on energy dispersion, can I?"
"Oh, Heavenly Script... I'm really sorry, but I can't chat with you. In this respect, I'm just like a child under the age of ten." Virgil sincerely apologized. Xerath's smile looked very lonely. She had devoted almost half of her life to magic, which gave her great honor - like the title of archmage, of which there were only seventeen in the world, including those who had passed away. This also made her secluded, unable to connect with anyone who shared her interests except for a few accomplished wizards.
There is no way, the more profound the knowledge, the fewer people can understand you.
