After searching the underground passage twice, Aislin flew away without hesitation.
She had seen Felis run this way with her own eyes, and she was certain Gilbert's secret passage was the only escape route available to the boy here.
But that only proved that Gilbert—and even his two students—had already seen right through her intentions and taken precautions long ago.
Aislin could understand Russell finding a way to contact Felis without attracting anyone's attention and telling him where the entrance to the passage was.
Someone like Gilbert would never tell her about all his secret passages. It was even more natural for him to have some special means of communication that even their teacher knew nothing about.
In any case, he could only operate within the Mage Tower's range of control... To keep a certain tower master of mysterious origins from exploiting any openings, the Black Enigma Tower probably had the strictest rules on external communications of any Mage Tower in this world.
Not even the tower master was exempt. Anyone who wanted to contact people outside through spells or similar means had to go to the dedicated communications tower.
What surprised Aislin, however, was how perfectly Gilbert had guarded against her.
Of course she would never think her dear junior truly trusted her. If Gilbert had been that naïve, he would never have survived this long or held on until this turning point.
But Gilbert had an impulsive streak by nature. Just as he could never tolerate anyone offending him, he also found it difficult to handle matters so thoroughly.
There was always some small opening for others to exploit.
In the past, though, rather than exploit those openings only to suffer Gilbert's frenzied retaliation—a thoroughly unprofitable trade—Aislin preferred to use him to cultivate her image as a magnanimous