Xia An’s current tasks had temporarily come to an end.
He thought he’d go check on how Luo Ya was sleeping.
Pushing open the door, he saw a small figure curled up in the corner.
Xia An paused in surprise.
‘What is she…?’
Xia An quietly approached to get a closer look.
Luo Ya’s thin little face was full of peace.
There was even drool at the corner of her mouth, and she occasionally made an adorable sucking sound.
She seemed to be sleeping soundly, immersed in a pleasant dream.
Recalling the first time he saw Luo Ya in that shack, she had also been curled up in a corner like that.
Xia An suddenly realized that he didn’t understand Luo Ya as well as he thought he did.
Children like Luo Ya were most likely refugees flooding in from neighboring countries.
They fled from the pillaging soldiers behind them, dealing with famine, plague, and riots every day.
Wearing worn-out shoes with their toes poking out, they crossed several war-torn countries, devouring like locusts anything they saw on the way that could fill their stomachs.
Finally, as the rare lucky ones, they arrived at Deep Blue, this place of refuge.
If Luo Ya didn’t possess decisiveness and strength beyond her age, she could never have made it.
For such a child, it wouldn’t be strange no matter how twisted her mind had become.
Yet Luo Ya still retained the innocence unique to children.
Xia An had originally thought of Luo Ya more like a pitiful little animal by the roadside—giving them shelter to satisfy his own moral vanity.
But thinking this far, Xia An couldn’t help but see Luo Ya in a higher light.
This child wasn’t as fragile as he had assumed.
Only a child would cry out for their parents over a little grievance, flee back to their safe haven, and vent their trivial grievances to someone who would unconditionally indulge them.
But a beast that survived on its own would only silently lick its wounds in a corner.
He gently picked up Luo Ya.
The girl was sleeping deeply and didn’t wake up.
Placing the girl, who felt as light as if she had no weight, back on the bed, Xia An silently tucked her in, closed the door, and left.
Good night.
Sweet dreams.
The next day, when Luo Ya woke up, she found herself back in bed.
‘…Huh?’
She blinked in confusion, trying to recall last night.
‘Did Lord Xia An carry me back to bed?’
Luo Ya felt a little nervous, even though she instinctively knew that Xia An wouldn’t scold her for it.
Still, she felt embarrassed.
Luo Ya’s gaze passed through the huge French window, from the distant mountain ranges on the horizon to the city that spread outward in circles surrounding the tower.
This feeling of being above the clouds was truly unfamiliar to Luo Ya.
It felt as if she had suddenly arrived in heaven.
“Good morning.”
Xia An pushed the door open and saw Luo Ya staring blankly at the view outside the window.
Luo Ya flinched and turned around.
Xia An was now wearing a casual home robe, its hem falling to his knees, almost as long as shorts.
His long black hair was tied back into a ponytail.
“Good morning, Lord Xia An!”
Luo Ya also gave Xia An a bright smile.
Though her figure was thin and her complexion haggard, the girl’s eyes alone were startlingly bright, as if lit by a candle.
“Today is your first day in Deep Blue. How do you feel?”
Xia An said.
“Very good, Lord Xia An.”
Luo Ya said energetically.
‘Not just good? It’s freaking awesome!’
‘In one fell swoop, from a homeless refugee to the disciple of a respected Grand Magister!’
‘Even though everything is given by Lord Xia An and isn’t really mine…’
‘But meeting a teacher like an angel like Xia An, what more can I complain about!’
Luo Ya’s mood right now: ︿(￣︶￣)︿
Xia An didn’t bring up last night’s matter again.
He got straight to the point and laid out everything he had thought through the previous night to Luo Ya.
“I’ve never taught a disciple before, so I’ll prepare for a while. First, I need to see where you stand so I can plan your progress properly.”
As soon as Luo Ya heard this, she immediately became serious.
Suddenly realizing that it was a bit improper for her to sit on the bed while Xia An stood on the floor, she tried to jump down.
But Xia An gestured for her to stay put and pulled up a chair to sit down.
“First.”
Xia An cleared his throat.
“Do you know how to read?”
Luo Ya nodded.
“Before the war, my father was a small merchant. We owned our own shop. I can not only read, but also do arithmetic…”
“Not that.”
Xia An shook his head.
“Maybe I didn’t express myself clearly. I meant magic runes.”
“For magic, magic runes are like written characters. Without understanding magic runes, there’s no way to learn any magic.”
Luo Ya’s expression stiffened slightly, and she shook her head awkwardly.
“You’ve never learned anything?”
Luo Ya nodded silently.
“Then do you know anything about magic schools? Conjuration Transformation School, Evocation Conversion School, and so on?”
Luo Ya still shook her head.
Seeming a bit ashamed, Luo Ya lowered her head.
Well.
Even though he had expected it, the actual situation still made Xia An can’t help but put a hand to his forehead.
Completely zero foundation.
Luo Ya had a lot to catch up on…
No, “catch up” wasn’t quite right.
She needed to start from scratch.
Thump!
In the study, a stack of books taller than Luo Ya was piled together and placed on the table, making a heavy dull sound.
Luo Ya, sitting behind the desk, looked up at the tall pile of books, her entire body enveloped by the shadow cast by the stack.
Her eyelids twitched wildly.
“These are the basics of the basics. Get these down first.”
Xia An patted Luo Ya’s shoulder reassuringly.
“It’s okay. Everyone goes through this stage.”
Luo Ya turned her head stiffly, her speech a bit stuttered.
“These… are all… basics of the basics…?”
Xia An nodded.
Well, even with a Grand Magister like Xia An as her teacher, she still had to put in the work on fundamentals.
But after a brief moment of dejection, Luo Ya quickly rallied her fighting spirit.
“It’s fine! I-I love studying the most!”
Xia An patted Luo Ya’s shoulder approvingly as she looked like she was facing certain death.
Indeed, the fact that children all over the world don’t like studying was universal.
Even children from another world.
Xia An sat in the armchair in the study, watching Luo Ya try to carry the entire pile of books taller than herself in one go, but found it impractical.
In the end, she had to make trips back and forth, taking a few books each time, running down the corridor with her little arms and legs, wearing slippers that were several sizes too big, making a pitter-patter sound.
Xia An narrowed his eyes slightly.
During this period, due to the merging of memories, Xia An had fully immersed himself in the role of Grand Magister Xia An, his words and actions identical to the original Xia An.
But Xia An was still constantly reviewing his memories to ensure he didn’t slip up.
The reason was simple.
Soon, the routine meeting of the Grand Magisters would begin.
As a newly appointed Grand Magister, Xia An would have to appear before nearly a thousand Grand Magisters in the entire Deep Blue Tower.
Most mages were rational to the point of being cold-blooded.
Letting others know that he was a replacement was a huge risk.
Hard to say if someone might take advantage of the situation and make a move.
Watching the crystal sweat on Luo Ya’s cheeks and her expression full of hope for tomorrow, Xia An silently resolved: as her teacher and elder, he couldn’t let her down.
Absolutely not.