Chapter 21 (continued)

This was nice too. I was finally no longer a penniless mage. I had an apprentice now!

Ah, ever since I met Mel, good things have just kept happening.

"Yay! Wait here, teacher, I'll go post your bail!" Moli said, dashing off.

Watching her youthful, energetic figure recede, I felt myself growing livelier too. The way she skipped along, she was still just a young girl. Hmm, come to think of it, my apprentice wasn't that old to begin with. She had become an assistant at the institute three years ago, and she'd graduated from the academy at just sixteen. Graduating from a magic academy at sixteen was partly because Moli was truly exceptionally gifted, but I thought it was also because education at the academy was getting worse and worse. Moli's fire magic was indeed outstanding, but even when she tried to cast the most basic Ice Arrow, she ended up with an Ice Needle. And they'd let her graduate like that? If I were the head of the magic academy, I'd fire the magister who gave her that diploma.

Before long, Moli came rushing back with Lusien behind her. Once he opened the door, Moli threw herself at me and hugged me, even nuzzling against me.

Moli, your makeup is really good quality. It doesn't come off even when you rub against me like that?

Lusien saluted me and said, "Please hold out your hands. I'll remove your manacles."

"Sorry for the trouble," I said, holding out my hands so Lusien could remove the anti-magic manacles.

Thank goodness, my poor hands finally didn't have to suffer any more abuse. I flexed my slightly stiff fingers, feeling that I'd need to have my shadow give me a hand massage when I got back that evening.

Lusien added, "Mage Madsen has already taken your belongings. If you'd like, I can drive you back. The prison is quite a distance from the city center."

"No need!" Moli said before I could answer. "I drove here, so I'll take teacher back. Thank you, big brother Lusien!"

Lusien readily accepted the form of address, while I looked with mixed feelings at the captain of the Shield of the New Star, who had suddenly become a generation junior to me. Once again, I felt that having an apprentice was wonderful.

So I said to Moli, "Then let's go. First, we'll go take care of the apprentice registration."

Yes, in modern society, a mage taking on an apprentice had to register it legally. We had to go to the Mages' Association to complete the paperwork.

The relationship between a mage and an apprentice was completely different from that between a magister and a student at a magic academy. At an academy, one paid to attend classes and the other was paid to teach them; they had practically no direct relationship.

A mage and their own apprentice, on the other hand, could sometimes be said to be even closer than parent and child. In ancient times, a mage's tower would have apprentices in it, more or less, and some archmages' towers took in dozens of new apprentices every year. Yes, at the most extreme, they took in dozens at a time, something almost unimaginable in modern society. Especially in ancient black mages' towers, it was common for apprentices to leave, flee, get hurt, be crippled, or die.

But before becoming apprentices, all mages' apprentices knew that they would not only receive their teacher's guidance in magic, but would also become part of their teacher's property. They had to obey and serve their teacher until they were permitted to complete their apprenticeship, or until either they or their teacher died.

Still, I greatly appreciated the relationship between mages and apprentices. As the apprentice of a white mage or a neutral mage, the relationship between teacher and student was usually fairly harmonious. That precious knowledge was passed down

from master to apprentice

from generation to generation, keeping the flame alive. This was the foundation that had allowed magic to be passed down for ten thousand years, remaining fresh despite its long history. Only becoming a black mage's apprentice was somewhat more dangerous, because black magic was mostly dangerous by nature. On top of that, if the black mage had the potential to become a great demon king, they might well take it into their head to use an apprentice as experimental material or something. But to be fair, many dangerous black apprentices taught by dangerous black mages were also quick to murder their masters.

After society entered the modern age, these things were no longer quite acceptable. Most people thought the relationship between mages and apprentices was incompatible with the rule of law, because even a white mage could have complete control over an apprentice. Throughout history, accidentally getting an apprentice killed during an advanced experiment was hardly the exclusive preserve of black mages; white mages had the occasional accident too. Thus, after several rounds of wrangling, the Federal Congress enacted the One Hundred and Eighty-Six Arcane Magic Restrictions, which clearly stipulated the rights and obligations of mages and apprentices. It also stipulated that a mage who wanted an apprentice first had to pass a qualification review by the Mages' Association and be registered, and had to register each apprentice they took on.

After that, mages could no longer make a grand entrance by suddenly descending from the sky, then kidnap a child and run off. Most legendary mages of ancient times had been quite fond of that method of taking on apprentices.

Fortunately, though these messy modern rules had been added, once a mage and apprentice had obtained permission, they could still get along as they had in ancient times. So Moli posting my bail was entirely in keeping with proper procedure. Oh, no, there was one exception: nowadays, you weren't allowed to turn your apprentice into a corpse without authorization.

Not that I'd had any intention of turning my apprentice into a corpse in the first place.

As for the association's recognized qualifications, I was qualified to take on apprentices. That thing was very easy to pass, so I'd passed it long ago.

Outside the prison, Moli led me toward the parking lot. I was even astonished to see an extremely luxurious hover sports car parked there. Although I knew little about modern technology, I at least knew how much this kind of car cost. Several academicians at our institute drove this brand, and I knew that one of them had a project bringing in over fifteen million federal credits a day. To me, that was a terrifyingly astronomical figure.

"...Moli." I grew serious. "You're only an assistant. Even if you saved enough to pay my bail, how could you afford this car?"

Judging by an assistant's meager salary, she could only have bought one wheel in her entire life. But although Moli had no taste, I didn't think she would do anything illegal or immoral. The worst thing she'd ever done was stay up all night reading a novel, then fall asleep during an experiment the next day and plunge headfirst into a beaker.

Moli made her signature gesture of sticking out her tongue again, looking a little embarrassed, but she answered honestly, "Because my family is very rich."

I said, "..."

What a simple reason.

"Teacher! I'm your apprentice now, so all my money is yours!" Moli suddenly declared, thumping her chest. "From now on, teacher, whatever you need, just give your apprentice the order! You'll never have to put up with Doug's moods again, and you won't have to demean yourself by giving yourself to Speaker Reynold and serving him anymore!"

What was that last part supposed to mean?! I couldn't help smacking the girl on the forehead. "Moli, have you been reading webnovels again?"

"Whoa, teacher, you read my mind again, didn't you?!" Moli cried, clutching her forehead.

I really couldn't even get angry with this girl. I couldn't help pressing a hand to my forehead. "Let's go, let's go. First, we'll register you as my apprentice."

But Moli suddenly blushed and hemmed and hawed for ages before finally saying under my gaze, "Teacher... there's no need for that. I registered a long time ago."

Huh? When?

I was genuinely startled. Moli twisted her fingers together and continued explaining, "Teacher, two years ago, I brought you some institute documents to sign. There was actually a form for registering an apprentice among them. I filled it out myself, and since I'd checked that you were qualified to take on an apprentice, all it needed was your signature. Then I took it to the Mages' Association to get it stamped with their official seal, and that was enough to make it valid..."

I...

So this girl had long since figured out my bad habit of signing official institute documents without ever reading them!

I would work on changing that from now on, or I might easily sign something serious without knowing it.

Moli stuck out her tongue and cheerfully swung my arm. I could almost see a little devil's tail wagging behind her. "But you've agreed now! So I only did it a tiny bit early. Please don't be mad at me."

"I won't be mad at you." I smiled very gently. "Now that I'm your teacher, I've decided to get serious about your studies. Come on, we'll start with an assessment when we get back!"

Moli stared at me, her mouth hanging open. She looked like a devil being bathed in holy light.

The little devil came to her senses and let out a mournful wail. "Waaah, teacher, your smile is so scary! You're not really the one giving yourself to Speaker Reynold and serving him. Speaker Reynold was actually enchanted by your magic, wasn't he?!"