Chapter 29

It suddenly occurred to me-could those people sneaking around the summit last night have been the Dawn Alliance's lackeys? Hmm, the ones who caused trouble at the prison that day might have been part of the same group.

I'd always made fun of the summit as a gathering for berserkers to discuss going berserk, but while one mage could mock another mage's spells, an outsider couldn't say the same. If a warrior or an archer claimed a mage's spells were no good, the mage would wash their face with a Flame Explosion Spell in no time. So, even though I thought the summit's academic standards were terrible, I couldn't just let an extremist anti-magic organization sabotage it!

Humanity progressed because we learned lessons from history. If those extremist anti-magic organizations weren't stopped, would we have to go through another utterly dark "Lightless Age"?

Besides, those outrageously bold fellows had actually dared to set their sights on my Mel!

Then the news really did report on Mel, starting, of course, with yesterday's diary entry. Unfortunately, its true contents still hadn't been discovered, which left me both amused and relieved. If it came out that it wasn't an academic report at all, wouldn't that be terrible? I figured Lusien would charge us with damaging the dome of the parliament hall...

Going to prison with Mel was quite comfortable, but those handcuffs were really too miserable. If only we could go to prison without wearing them.

Hmm, never mind. Lusien was busy taking responsibility for the prison incident now, so he probably didn't have time to arrest us. Thanks to him for all his hard work. This counted as "carrying the pot," that new internet term Moli had told me about, didn't it? It seemed Ms. Angela agreed with me: knights worked hard without complaint and never refused whatever task they were assigned. They were incredibly useful.

Then the news continued:

"...Archmage Mephistopheles finalized an enormous deal last night, purchasing a new property development near the magic commercial street in the eastern district. Economists have suggested that this promising young archmage is likely preparing to enter the real estate industry..."

Huh?

The report left me stunned. Mel had bought an entire development? How could that be? Mel didn't seem like the type to enjoy doing business. I didn't believe it.

The news anchor began listing Mel's assets. I knew Mel supplied some of the Osland Federation's magic equipment, but I really hadn't expected him to own two military factories that supplied the Federation exclusively... Their annual earnings were a terrifying figure, and what I deeply admired was that Mel didn't need to manage them at all. The Federation assigned people to run them, bought the weapons and equipment they produced outright, then sent the money to Mel. Apart from occasionally helping improve the magic equipment, Mel did nothing but sit back and wait for the Federation to support him.

On top of that, Mel was the intermediary for trade between the Federation and the elves. The elves' position was basically: "Federation, if you don't pay Mel, we won't do business with you!" This had led some Federation commentators to speculate that Mel might have some elven blood.

Looking at it that way, Mel was amazing!

Hmm... Come to think of it, it was perfectly reasonable that Mel could afford an entire development, but what didn't make sense was that Mel would never invest in real estate. Doing that wouldn't improve his magic, and it would be a lot of effort for little reward. It seemed the news producers had spouted nonsense without investigating. They had the makings of politicians.

I looked at the development's floor plan shown on the news and suddenly realized what Mel intended to do.

He'd said he was moving to the capital. It looked like he'd picked a place to live! The residential complex had plenty of greenery and lovely scenery, and the plot was a very neat square.

As I was thinking that, Mel's raven familiar flew in through the window.

"Mel!"

"Xipei!" He hopped inside, bursting with excitement. "Xipei, I've picked out a house! It's in the eastern district, not far from a famous magic commercial street. It's a great place. You can buy all kinds of spellcasting materials there, and there's also a mercenary registry where you can post bounty quests. The scenery around it is lovely too. If you go up high enough, you can even see the Temple of Light in the hills outside the city. The view is beautiful!"

"That's great," I said, pointing at the television. "I saw."

The raven hopped twice, and Mel continued excitedly, "Xipei, what do you think about filling the entire central area with bookshelves? Oh, right, I'm also planning to set up practice rooms, and I've designed rooms for the apprentices too. Your apprentice Moli and my apprentice Anna can live together. They're both girls, and they should be about the same level, so they can encourage each other to study."

With that, Mel looked around and said indignantly, "Hurry up and give this lousy house back to the institute. A place like this, with no room even for bookshelves, and designed in such a 'mecha' style-only your lousy institute could offer something like it. I can't wait! I'm going to set up an observatory on the top floor so we can observe the stars' paths together every night. We might even find a way to open a passage to the Astral Plane!"

"You mean... me... together with you?" I watched in surprise as Mel flew up and down. He was clearly caught up in his excitement, describing everything nonstop.

I... The raven was hopping in front of me with his head tilted, and I could barely resist picking him up and stroking his head!

Mel said "Oh," turned around, and said solemnly:

"Xipei, please move in with me." Mel landed in front of me, the familiar's bright blue eyes gazing steadily into mine. "Xipei, I want to be able to see you every moment. I want to share any new spell with you as soon as I discover it. Xipei, I've even prepared a forbidden arts section for you. We can lock up those books of ours that aren't quite suitable for apprentices to read yet. That way, you can put as many books there as you like! We'll never have to worry about running out of time again. We can study spells to our hearts' content!"

I couldn't help smiling. I could even imagine what Mel looked like as he said it. His eyes must have been curved with a smile, and his own eyes must have been even clearer and bluer than the familiar's jeweled ones.

"Okay," I answered. "Of course. Let me know when you've finished setting everything up, and I'll bring Moli."

That went without saying. How could I possibly refuse Mel?

"Then I'll hurry and get everything ready in the next couple of days!" Mel said. "Sigh... I still have to attend the summit today. Two more days and I'll be free."

"Mel, after I left your place yesterday, I ran into a few suspicious cyborgs. They might be plotting something against you. I suspect they're from the Dawn Alliance." I frowned and warned him, "Don't fall asleep at the summit. That could be dangerous."

Mel scratched the tabletop with the tip of a sharp claw and nodded. "An extremist anti-magic organization? Ha, let them try."

"Mel!"

"All right, I know. I'll be careful." Mel's voice was full of laughter as he answered me seriously. "You be careful too."

Chapter 29

While we were talking, my phone suddenly rang, startling Mel's raven into flapping like a real raven. I couldn't help laughing as I stroked his cold head. The raven pecked my finger—he'd been aiming for the phone. I thought I knew why Mel was always breaking his phones... But once he noticed my hand was in the way, he held back, so the peck only tickled.

I held the raven's restless beak shut while answering the phone. It seemed to be a number from the institute?

The institute was calling me? Were they finally going to fire me?

When I picked up, I was disappointed to hear my assistant Keweite on the other end. He sounded immensely relieved as he said urgently, "Your Excellency, Lord Doug just came by. He was very angry when he saw you weren't in your office. He told me to call you at once and have you put on your uniform and come over immediately."

"Wasn't I suspended?" I asked, puzzled.

"Uh... Lord Doug said he never gave you permission not to come to work... You... please stop going against Lord Doug all the time. Besides, now that you... you've broken up with the speaker, if Lord Doug wants to do anything to you, it would be all too easy..." Keweite's voice grew quieter as he spoke, as though he was afraid I'd get angry.