Magicapita

They soon returned to the Elendir Institute of Magic before Cæ immediately got out of the luxury car, bidding Serulia a hasty goodbye and rushing off to Headmistress Lenolia's office with a determined expression.

Within minutes, he had arrived at the giant doors leading to her office. Outside, two magetant guards stood firmly, gazing at the opposite wall without so much as once glancing at him. His hand reached out to the door to knock on it, only for the door to open before he could even reach it.

They opened, revealing Headmistress Lenolia seated at her table opposite a familiar figure. A jolly old man with messy white hair atop a balding head, seated facing Headmistress Lenolia like he himself was a student.

Cæ recognized him very well, of course. He was Cæ's professor of magiconomics, one of Cæ's favorite teachers.

"Mr. Cæ," Headmistress Lenolia remarked with an acknowledging tone. "What brings you to my office today, I wonder?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Headmistress. I should have made an appointment. I'll let you get back to your meeting."

"Hah, no worries, young lad," Professor Verlix mused with a mirthful tone, getting from his seat before buttoning his coat. "I was just about done here. Nothing important to keep what is clearly something that you are impatient about, judging by your messy hair."

"Thank you, professor." Cæ nodded to him with a softer expression.

"No need to thank me, boy. Though speaking of thanking, I did hear about the heroism that you showed yesterday. Saved a girl's life with great risk to your own, truly remarkable and splendid. It's a great pleasure for me to teach such a noble student. Keep up the good work!"

He patted Cæ on the shoulder as he passed through, smiling at him cheerily, before walking away with a whistle. Cæ's gaze lingered on him for a second before returning to Headmistress Lenolia.

"Come in, Mr. Cæ." She gestured to the seats opposite her. "It would hardly do us any good to have you standing at the doorway, neither in nor out."

Cæ heeded her words, taking the seat opposite her, before heaving a breath.

CLACK

With a wave of her hand, she closed the door to her office with magic, giving him a serious expression. "I assume that this is, in fact, an important meeting?"

Cæ nodded. "I… I wanted to request you for the evidence that you collected of the Nelnmonts' child abuse against Melia."

The air grew heavy as Headmistress Lenolia silently gazed at him with an unchanging expression. Her elder purple eyes bore deep into the stormy gray of his as she studied him with a serious expression, before heaving a deep breath.

"I had a feeling it would be about this."

Cæ wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.

"Unfortunately, I reject your request," she replied with a knowing tone. "I cannot give you what you seek."

Cæ's expression darkened. "…May I ask you why?"

"On the contrary, it is you who must tell me why you truly desire it." Headmistress Lenolia replied. "The Nelnmonts may have taken Leonora's case, but that doesn't mean that they are your enemy in this particular case. You have absolutely no reason to want to blackmail them for any of your personal interests. If you want it, it must be for other reasons."

It appeared that she was relatively certain of the reason, but she didn't say it out loud. Cæ wondered how surprised she would be if she found out the real reason that he wanted what he sought from her. He couldn't even imagine what kind of expression she would make if he told her that he wanted to hide the fact that he was a pure mage from the world.

It would be an amusing reaction, certainly.

"…It's not for me," Cæ tried to lie as convincingly as he possibly could. "It's for… someone else."

"And just who is that?" she stated the question as a statement with a knowing tone.

"…Serulia."

She simply gazed at him with a dubious gaze, almost as if she couldn't even take him seriously. She heaved a deep breath, shaking her head. "Sometimes I forget that you are a young man in the prime of his youth and all the passions that come with it. It can be easy to forget how solemn and intense your demeanor and body language often are. But I suppose you are not immune to the tug of the heart that pulls so many of those of your age into doing things that they know are stupid."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Cæ couldn't blame her for thinking that. He simply tried to sell it as convincingly as he possibly could. He also tried to avoid stating lies to whatever extent he could, ensuring that all of his statements were true to some extent. It should make it harder for even a master mage diviner to see through his deceit easily.

"I…" he began with a solemn tone. "I want her to get justice, Headmistress."

This was the truth.

He did want her to get justice. He had felt just how much power Miranda had put into her killing attempt to know that this wasn't merely an accident, and would have been murder in cold blood if not for him.

However, it was not his driving motivation to get rid of the Nelnmonts.

"I want her to get what she wants," he told her with a hint of passion in the tone of his voice. "I want the person who tried to kill her to get the punishment that she deserves. I want to Serulia to be… safe."

"That is a moving sentiment, Mr. Cæ," she replied with a composed tone. "Miss Serulia is blessed to have a man like you to harbor the emotions for her that you do. However, you needn't fear. The case is airtight, for the most part. It is highly unlikely that even Leonora will be able to extract victory from the jaws of this defeat. There were eighteen witnesses, including yourself, each of different backgrounds and walks of life, each corroborating the testimony of attempted murder. There are the injuries that Miss Serulia sustained despite your heroic protection of her that are consistent with the testimony that everybody has given. It is indeed true that justice is… money-minded, shall we say, but the Vritra Family is not one to lose in a contest of money to very many entities. Especially when Lord Leonul is as invested as he is. Rest assured…"

Her tone grew more reassuring, "…that Serulia will get everything that she needs and wants."

"I know, but…" Cæ hesitated. "We just had our first meeting with her legal counsel, and there have already been some roadblocks. The deal I concluded with the Nelnmonts in exchange for me risking my life for my testimony might be used to invalidate my testimony under the suspicion of corruption."

"That is hardly guaranteed." Headmistress heaved a deep breath. "It's not that easy to invalidate testimony as indisputable as yours. Leonora likely has accepted that her child will be convicted of attempted murder and will serve out whatever sentence the judge deems fit for a young apprentice mage with elite talent and a bright future ahead of her. Most likely, she will be sentenced to a decade of magic labor where her services as a mage will be put to use by the state. Leonora knows that proving that she is innocent is a pipe dream; she is likely going to try to minimize the severity of the sentence."

Of course, Cæ agreed with her words entirely, but he couldn't show it. He needed her to agree to what he sought, but with each exchange, that proved to be more and more impossible.

"Please, Headmistress, do me a favor this one time." He made a direct request of her this time.

"No." She unhesitatingly rejected him. "There is a reason that I'm averse to using it. A reason I'm sure you can deduce."

Of course, Cæ understood the rationale.

"Simply put, you don't want to push it?"

"Essentially, yes." She nodded. "The fact of the matter is that while the evidence I have would prove to be very rough for them, it is not at the level where I can singlehandedly bring about the destruction of the Nelnmont Family, at least not directly or immediately. If I do reveal everything, they would take a massive hit, certainly, but they would still be the most powerful legal group in Colohen City. The city that my branch of the Elendir Institute of Magic is in. Do you understand?"

Cæ nodded. "You have leverage, but you don't have their lifeline in your hands."

"Not even close, yes," she added. "The reality of the matter is that I cannot use this leverage for anything beyond Melia's protection, or they will call the bluff. It will weaken my position too much."

"Serulia is also your student, Headmistress." Cæ tried one final attempt.

"Oh, stop it, Mr. Cæ." She frowned. "Her situation is not even comparable to Melia's, and you know it. Melia has no protection against her family, which is the hostile party in this case. Serulia is very well-protected by a family that dotes on her."

Cæ heaved a sigh. "…Fine. I'll drop the idea."

"If you ask me, this will be a useful lesson for Serulia," Headmistress Lenolia remarked. "From the perspective of an equitist like myself, it is good if she understands how scant justice can be even for someone as powerful as her family. It will broaden her worldview. She is only twenty years old, after all."

Cæ's head drooped as he grew completely resigned to the idea of getting what he sought.

"On another note, I have taken measures to improve your security on campus." Headmistress Lenolia added. "However, as I previously noted, I cannot help you outside of the magicademy."

"Yeah, well…" Cæ heaved a deep breath. "I have already made my peace with the associated risks."

"…If you have made up your mind after knowing all that needs to be known, then so be it." She closed her eyes. "I will not question your resolve. For what it is worth, I will leverage my divination and my intelligence networks to try to look out for any attempts at assassinating you. I am certain that I can detect anything short of the most furtive and clandestine attempts, the kind that I highly doubt that Leonora would bother trying."

"Thank you for that, Headmistress." Cæ nodded with a grateful expression. "That does bring me relief. Although I have decided to brave it out, it does not mean that I'm not afraid of the consequences."

"Mmm, rest assured, I will do my best. But you need to be careful as well. Try to avoid unnecessary trips outside. Try to go with as much protection as possible."

"Yes, Headmistress."

The two of them spoke about a variety of topics, including the Magic Contest, his magicademics, divination, and his business ideas. Strangely enough, Cæ never felt that the gap in their statuses as student and headmistress, or the gap in their mage ranks, impeded their conversations. Likely because Cæ was more irreverent than most and Headmistress Lenolia was more grounded than most, allowing them to speak on a more level speaking field than normally possible.