"You really are something, young boy..." He blankly said under his breath as he sighed the agreement papers.

He had already taken the Mana oath as per the legal procedures of any dealings, so we were alright now.

But I had to say... this was one of the toughest negotiations of my life and it didn't just end with the land I was taking.

The deal was attained and for the land, all the authority, the <Mana ore> vine's forty-nine percent profits after full mining rights, I gave him the remaining profits, my agreement to join as a student council member, and information on the remaining mines.

He didn't actually know about some of the ones I had known about and, although he wasn't certain about this information, he just believed that some of it were true.

And ultimately, it would benefit the school rather than him, as the whole thing was the school's property and not actually his.

He was cunning, sharp and good at extracting information. He's so good that I ended up telling him about three big ore vines that would be most profitable to him.

And because these vines have been present since ancient times and continue producing ores even after a lot of mining, they were special resources the previous headmasters had blocked information about in order to have them in times of need.

And though he had the clue about what the places marked as <safes> were, maybe these new discoveries genuinely surprised him.

He couldn't believe just how I knew this much about a place he had stayed in for millennia but, he had already figured out my master was older than him and had deep connections with the academy in the past.

And she did actually have deep connections with this academy.

She had helped one of the founding members, after all.

And at that time, she was a famous figure throughout the world.

Well, those things were not available in the known history and I knew aside from [< Masters >] who are beings similar to my master, no one would know about her name of that time.

But it was just the name of that time.

Even though I didn't know all the identities, names, and titles she had in her more than twenty thousand years of life, I didn't have to worry about that one.

Lucy knew.. that was more than good enough.

In those peaceful times we were together and the times she told me stories out of the blue, I had only speculated she was around three thousand years old but, when she left, she told me her age, and after hearing that.. I didn't know how someone could live that long, all alone themselves, and still, be alright.

She was amazing, and I had Lucy, who knew everything about her creator.

So, as time will pass and I will get stronger, I will be able to know more things about her, as well as know things she left for me in the fresh memories I had.

Well, the deal was a good one, and he was a tough opponent in this field indeed.

We signed the agreement and as we were doing this in a separate space, so my poor tied friend couldn't hear and just vaguely see us.

Aside from Zoe, no one knew about the specifics of this deal.

Oh, Celes knew, but she was outside of this room with his white owl.

That one was an Origin beast too, and Celes, Rein's crow, and his owl were chatting for a while now.

We had left those two outside when we transported back to the dining hall, and after he suddenly sneaked up on me, he had put a strong barrier that separated this entire room from the outside world.

And even grandpa Zhen was thrown outside from the barrier.

Well, Celes was good with keeping her mouth shut and both of them were merrily chatting with their senior, the owl that was even older than his master.

Maybe his owl would remember my master's old name if I mentioned it before him, but it wasn't necessary right now.

Celes was doing her work, and the owl was talking with them comfortably. That was enough.

"So, can you please end this? First her, please. She will destroy everything if she's left like that for a while more."

He was calm for a while after signing the contract and had a cheerful smile, but that changed at my words..

At my words, he remembered there existed a family frozen under his spell, as well as a furious witch he had tricked in the past.

And right now, though she couldn't move or speak, her enraged eyes were enough to even scar me.

"I... oh~! Reinelle~! Isn't this a great day~? How have you been, young lady? You know how much I missed the grand lady of Atraxia?"

As soon as he realized things he had done wrong and removed the restrictions on her, he greeted her for the first time after he came here with a sudden, genuine smile.

And that smile was so natural, he might actually beat me to acting.

But she just looked down after getting freed and I could feel the perfect harmony of anger and worry she was feeling right now.

She wanted to just beat this jerk if she could, she genuinely wanted, but that wasn't something possible for her. For her and us at the very least.

Shaking her head, she looked up at me, and I smiled at her calmly.

'I'm alright~. Everything went well. Are you ok?' I asked after telling her things went well, and on this question, she also calmly smile and nodded her head.

She was fine and the tears of relief in her eyes felt... attractive (?) to me.

She stood up with that same face and in those moments, the old ones were also almost out of the spell.

They were strong ones, some of the strongest in the empire, and even the spell of an archmage wasn't enough to stop them for longer than it already had.

But, without caring about anything, Rein first just walked up to the old man and smiled brightly at him.This chapter's initial release occurred on the N0v3l-B1n site.