"Looking for relatives? Sorry, did something happen to you?"
Seeing the witch's surprised and puzzled gaze, Miss Danist answered on Shade's behalf:
"Shade's experiences before becoming a Ring Arcanist were very complicated. Or rather, before becoming a Ring Arcanist, he was that sort of foolish—"
"Idiot."
Shade supplied a fairly appropriate word. He did not mind it much.
"After becoming a Ring Arcanist, it was as though I woke from a great dream, but I had forgotten everything from before. All I faced then was an unknown future. According to the Academy's investigation, my family should all be dead, but no one knows where they were buried."
Or rather, Shade even suspected those people had never existed at all.
Miss Winslet pursed her lips, then stepped forward and hugged him. A strange smile appeared on Miss Danist's face, while Shade himself felt somewhat awkward.
"Can you cast the Bone Seeking Spell on me?"
"Sorry."
But the witch still shook her head.
"The Bone Seeking Spell has severe limitations. You know that every advancement for a Ring Arcanist represents an ascension of the flesh. Your rank is too high. This body of yours is even stronger than that of an ordinary High-Ring Arcanist, and your connection to your blood relatives has already become very distant."
As she spoke, she unconsciously placed a hand over Shade's chest. Her face immediately reddened, and she lowered her voice.
"Still, you can think of us as your family. I mean Galina, Danist, Charlotte, and me. We are all your family."
The Witch Apprentice tried hard not to show an expression that would anger her teacher, while the smile on the Red-haired Sorceress's face became even more pronounced.
The flesh of a High-Ring Arcanist differed greatly from that of an ordinary person. This was also one