Watching Russell leave without willing to say another word, Felis gently rested his forehead against the block of ice before him.
Did Russell know how smug... how gentle Gilbert had looked when he spoke?
Felis simply could not connect the Gilbert he knew with the Gilbert in Russell's memories.
Though perhaps it was because that Mage naturally showed a different side of himself before students he trusted and cherished, this was still... far too different, wasn't it?
Felis sighed. As expected, people whose Mental Seas had been damaged and remained turbulent for years could not be judged by common sense.
There were many reasons why no one, Rute included, suspected that Gilbert had been replaced, but Black Enigma Tower's innate characteristics were undoubtedly the most important one.
So, even though many people sensed certain differences between Gilbert and the man he had once been, they could only assume that he had rediscovered his true nature... The key was that Gilbert's own Legendary story had long since made people understand that he was one of the rarest kinds of people in this world: kind, willing to give for others, and capable of perceiving the beauty in the world.
After his body recovered, he had become calm and gentle again. That was... still understandable.
Even if there were some subtle differences, no one would become exactly the same as they had been decades ago just because they had regained their true nature.
Besides, after everything Gilbert had endured over the years, it would be terrifying if he were still as naive as before.
If he really had become like that, Rute would probably seize him and check whether he had been poisoned by evil toxins, or whether someone had truly broken through Black Enigma Tower's soul defenses and replaced Gilbert.
After thinking