Ch.364Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

# Respect Your Master.

Finding a good master is as blessed as growing up under good parents.

Cherish the bond between master and disciple, and protect your master’s legacy as you would your own life.

Just as your master did before you.

-A long-standing maxim of wizards.

## Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

The Grand Duchess’s proposal was straightforward.

A question of whether I would like to learn magic from her. Simply put, it was an offer to form a master-disciple relationship.

There was no need to overthink it.

“You’ll… teach me magic…?”

“That’s right.”

At the Grand Duchess’s confirmation, Camilla’s eyes grew as wide as saucers.

Blink. Blink.

The way she repeatedly opened and closed her eyelids while her blue eyes sparkled was unmistakably the look of someone taken by surprise.

Although she had expected this after receiving my hint beforehand, it seemed she couldn’t maintain her composure as if nothing had happened. Camilla took several small deep breaths to calm her startled heart.

“That’s an incredibly generous offer, but… I’ve never properly studied magic before.”

“I know.”

The Grand Duchess smiled.

“I’m well aware that you’ve had neither the opportunity nor the leisure to learn magic. That’s precisely why I’m making this offer.”

Camilla’s tension gradually eased at that gentle expression.

“You have a talent for handling flames, and I am a mage who manipulates fire. In the Magic Tower, such magic is collectively called elemental magic. Perhaps… do you know who is considered the continent’s foremost elemental mage?”

There are three schools known as the triumvirate of the Magic Tower.

Sorcery, Astrology, and Elemental.

Among them, the Elemental School has the most members. With so many people gathered, the Elemental School is home to many mages with exceptional talent. But no matter which mage you might summon here, none would dare compare themselves to the Grand Duchess.

Because she is a Grand Mage.

Without much thought, Camilla pointed to the woman before her.

The Grand Duchess nodded with a gentle expression.

“Correct.”

Despite the praise of being the continent’s greatest mage, the Grand Duchess didn’t show much joy. She simply continued speaking calmly in a kind voice.

Alexandra Petrova’s proposal was simple.

A master-disciple relationship.

Alexandra Petrova would take Camilla as her disciple and become her master, and Camilla would become her student.

“Learn magic. I will teach you personally.”

“Personally?”

It was an extraordinary offer.

In the century since the end of the “Age of Barbarism,” unlike other Grand Mages who stood shoulder to shoulder with her, the Grand Duchess had never taken a disciple.

If one were to look for someone who could claim to be her student, it would be the first generation of the Elemental School, but such claims would be meaningless.

After all, Alexandra Petrova was the founder and president of the Elemental School.

While any member of the school could seek her guidance, that wasn’t the master-disciple relationship recognized in magical society.

But being directly taught was different.

To say that she would receive direct instruction from the Grand Duchess meant, in a word, that Camilla would become the Grand Duchess’s primary disciple. Considering that mages of the Magic Tower silently endure unreasonable customs to become disciples of famous masters, Camilla was an extremely fortunate mage.

“If you inherit my knowledge, I too can set down the heavy burden I’ve carried for so long.”

“Burden?”

“Every mage has their own burden. Things like magic left by one’s master, or results obtained through research. A kind of legacy, if you will. Although I had no one I could call a master and thus inherited nothing, I don’t wish for the knowledge I’ve painstakingly cultivated to disappear into the earth with me.”

So she wanted Camilla to inherit that legacy. Though she left it unsaid, that was her intent.

I quietly exchanged glances with Francesca, who was watching the conversation, and pondered.

To draw a comparison, in our society, a Grand Mage holds a position equivalent to a chaebol. Not just any chaebol, but a billionaire. And here, such a person is proposing to pass on their legacy to someone they’ve just met today.

In such cases, it’s usually one of two things.

Either they’ve seen something in Camilla, or the Grand Duchess has lost her mind.

“……”

The latter didn’t seem to be the case. The Emperor isn’t soft enough to let a senile old woman out in public.

A man who imprisoned tens of thousands of his own citizens in camps and purged all collateral branches wouldn’t send his demented aunt to a podium, would he?

So there’s only one answer.

“She seems to have taken a liking to the Hero. To speak like that.”

“Yes, I can see it too. At this rate, she looks ready to adopt her as a granddaughter.”

Francesca and I stepped back to observe the conversation between Alexandra Petrova and Camilla.

The reactions were mixed. Francesca seemed to find the whole situation interesting, while I felt anxious.

What wind has blown for a 100-year-old woman to suddenly take on a disciple in her old age?

Even for a mage, she’s at an age where dementia could set in soon. Shouldn’t she be looking for land to build a retirement villa and a skilled caregiver instead of doing this here?

Even Nikolai VI, who used to hunt and exercise and fly around since his youth, has become reclusive in his later years, presumably due to illness. What reason could the Grand Duchess have for coming all the way to Laterano to take Camilla as her disciple?

I had questions but no desire to ask them.

Then, the Grand Duchess spoke.

“Children who were disciples of Grand Mages all grew into excellent talents without exception. The sisters Laonome and Perimede, who received illusions from Lysidice, became outstanding illusionists, and Khalid, who learned sorcery under Suleiman, made a name for himself as a master craftsman. What do you think you could become?”

“……”

“Whether research or training, it doesn’t matter. If you receive my teachings, the Imperial family will provide everything you need, and you can devote yourself to learning without any worries.”

It was a sweet offer that was difficult to refuse.

Anyone who seeks to understand principles and explore truth through magic would surely have accepted the proposal at this point.

But there was something the Grand Duchess hadn’t anticipated.

That Camilla was an amateur mage.

“Wow, that sounds amazing!”

Camilla started clapping her hands. And that was it.

Lifelong research, a mentor everyone envies, reaching higher realms—none of it mattered. Her interest remained fixed on only one thing.

Camilla, who had been strangely lukewarm to the Grand Mage’s proposal, began to sparkle her eyes for the first time.

“But I have one question.”

“Speak freely.”

“Do you also teach magic that can transform into a cat?”

“…A cat?”

A subtle change appeared on Alexandra Petrova’s face. It was an expression that seemed to wonder what cat she was suddenly talking about.

“From what I know, ancient mages could transform into animals. Is that not true?”

“That’s not quite ancient by historical standards. Even in my youth, transformation magic to become animals was still widely used among mages. But why are you curious about such a thing?”

Camilla beamed.

“I want to learn that!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s cool!”

“……”

The Grand Duchess looked at the girl with an expression of incomprehension. A faint bewilderment crossed her paper-white face briefly, but soon the Grand Duchess shook her head, expressing her refusal.

“That’s impossible. Magic that transforms into animals and objects is one of the taboos of mages. It’s forbidden not only to document it but even to pass it on to others.”

“Oh…”

Camilla’s face crumbled. She looked like Kim Gu after losing his country.

Like a raccoon I once saw on the internet, she put both hands to her mouth, widened her eyes, and opened her mouth in shock.

Her expression was so vivid that even without saying a word, the frustration and disappointment Camilla must be feeling was palpable.

Alexandra Petrova, who had been waving her hands in refusal to teach the magic, shuddered once, cleared her throat, and began to speak haltingly.

“Ahem, ahem. I’m sorry. Instead, I’ll teach you other magic that you’ll find satisfying…”

“I don’t want to learn.”

“Don’t worry and learn ma—wait, what?”

In that moment, the Grand Duchess’s bewildered voice echoed through the room.

It was a voice unbecoming of someone described as a Grand Mage and Imperial Grand Duchess. While Alexandra Petrova was clearing her throat, showing a rare display of confusion, Camilla spoke up.

“I won’t learn magic.”

Her tone was resolute.

Silence fell.

The Grand Duchess, Camilla, Francesca, and I. None of us spoke.

Alexandra Petrova, who had proposed the master-disciple relationship, was blankly blinking her eyes. Her expression suggested she couldn’t understand what she had just heard.

Francesca stood with both hands covering her mouth. Her eyes had grown as wide as saucers, reflecting her surprise. A pair of violet eyes, resembling violets, blinked rapidly.

A confused Grand Mage and a surprised descendant of a Grand Mage.

In this silence, the only normal person was the Englishwoman with the expression of someone who had lost her country.

“Ah…!”

I smacked my forehead with my hand.

They say all manner of vicious and bizarre things come from England.

Now it seems people are no exception.

=

The shocked raccoon expression mentioned in the work is based on that photo.

I’ll bring a Camilla version SD illustration of this later.

I can’t specify the exact timing, but it will likely be before the main character (Camilla, Veronica, Lucia, Francesca) illustrations are renewed.