Chapter 34
“I am Zelma, an elder from the Council of Elders.”
That’s how the mysterious woman in hooded grey cloak introduces herself. Rennel who was still slightly out of it nodded her head.
She was still a little confused…
A woman suddenly approaches her the moment she exits the airship station. Worse still, the aforementioned woman took her hand and led her to a fancy-looking restaurant. In all honesty, if not for the fact that her teacher told her to not cause a scene, she would have bodied this woman who was old enough to be her mother, for suddenly touching her without permission.
“You should introduce yourself, “Chaos reminded after seeing the girl just seating there with a confuse look.
Having heard her teacher’s reminder, Rennel quickly told the woman her name. “My name is Rennel,” she said.
The woman, Elder Zelma perked up after the girl introduces herself. She reaches out her hand in hope of a handshake.
Rennel looked at the hand for a several seconds before shaking the extended hand. With the handshake done, Rennel wanted to ask what the woman what she wanted with her since her teacher (who obviously knew what’s going on) won’t tell her anything.
But before she could even start asking, the woman took out items after items out of thin air!
A space ring!
Rennel was shocked after seeing the items filing up on the table. The girl was not shock that Elder Zelma took out several items in succession. She was shock that the slightly annoying woman has a space ring!
Space ring…
A ring or to be more precise, an artifact that was in a shape of a ring that contained a large storage space. Space rings are considered masterpieces of artifact forging. They’re mysterious items whose method of forging was lost a long time ago.
As the method of forging space rings were long lost, very few space rings remained in the world. They were so rare that one could not easily buy a space ring even if they have the money. Basically, space rings have large demands but almost no supply.
These items are so rare that not all emperors or kings have one. If someone possessed a space ring, they would rarely sell them as there’s very little chance that they could get another one.
You might be asking; how does Rennel know all of this? It’s all thanks to her teacher, Chaos.
Rennel herself has a space ring. The ring was given to the girl by Chaos as gift for her second awakening. As for where the space ring came from; Chaos took it as loot after defeating the arrogant three-eyed administrator.
The fact that even an administrator, a demigod, was keeping a space ring, should be proof enough on the rarity of the artifact.
And yet… this strange woman has one and was using it in public without care. Isn’t she afraid that someone would try to steal the ring from her?
Oh right… she’s an elder from Council of Elders which mean that this strange woman was an arch-mage!
Right, there’s no need to worry for her safety. Rennel thought as she looks at the table full of gifts with a complicated expression. It’s a good thing that the food they ordered hasn’t arrived yet.
Elder Zelma smiled with satisfaction after seeing the pile of items on the table.
“These items are for you. I’ve prepared them as our meeting gifts.”
Rennel did a double-take after hearing the strange woman’s words. She looked at the items on the table before looking at the woman. Seeing her expectant gaze, Rennel doesn’t know how to react.
“All, all of this items… are for me?” The girl asked with hesitation.
Seeing the large number of “meeting gifts” the strange woman prepared for her; Rennel’s first reaction was to refuse the gifts. But seeing her expectant gaze, Rennel swallowed the words she wanted to say.
“Why are you giving me all of these items?” Rennel asked with confusion. “Even though you had mentioned that these items were meeting gifts, I don’t feel comfortable just accepting them,”
“I heard that giving gifts to other people would leave good impression on them…” Elder Zelma answered truthfully. “…and since I wanted to leave a good impression on you, I decided to give you gifts,” she added.
Pfffttt!!! What an interesting woman!
Elder Zelma’s honest answer left Rennel dumbfounded and Chaos rolling with laughter. Although she’s already at that age, she was still this awkward at dealing with other people. In a way, Chaos finds her action quite cute.
“Err… why would you… go through all that trouble just to leave a good impression on me?” Rennel mentally wipes the sweat in her forehead. To her, the woman named Zelma was not only weird but awkward as well. If she was to be very honest with herself; she will admit that she doesn’t dislike people like her who wear their emotions on their sleeves.
It’s here!
Upon hearing Rennel’s question, Elder Zelma’s face tensed up. She still wasn’t sure if she had made a good impression on the girl but… she knew full well that she couldn’t delay any longer…
****
“I, I wanted to take you as my disciple!” Elder Zelma blurted out after several seconds of hesitation.
Huh? Rennel stared blankly at the fidgeting woman in front of her. She was so shocked that her mouth was wide open. Chaos, who had been laughing all this time finally stopped and stared at Elder Zelma with great interest. It had made several predictions since a while ago after realizing that the all the city gate have runes that could measure one’s level of mana.
Chaos prediction includes the magicians in Nuathl acting against the girl; taking her in for interrogation; asking the girl to join their sides; some elders showing great interest in the girl’s talent, and more.
Rennel obviously fall into the category of “some elders showing great interest in the girl’s talent.” And seeing that the elder herself took the effort to find the girl, Chaos could tell that she’s very serious when she offered to take Rennel as a disciple.
“Teacher… what should I do? I should quickly reject her, right? Right?” Rennel quickly turned to Chaos for guidance. Since she already have a teacher, she felt like it’s only proper to reject Elder Zelma’s offer. But contrary to the girl’s expectation, her teacher’s answer was the complete opposite.
“Nope, I want you to agree to it,” her teacher answered.
But why?!
Rennel was shocked and could not help but panic. She couldn't understand why her own teacher was telling her accept the strange woman’s proposition.
It, it couldn’t be… Could teacher no longer want me?
The girl’s train of thought was starting to diverge into a strange direction. For her teacher to tell her to accept the woman’s proposition could only mean that her teacher no longer want her, right?
NO! There’s no way! Teacher won’t abandon me!
Rennel suddenly clutched her head as if unwilling to accept reality much to Elder Zelma’s, who was waiting for her reply, surprise.
“Are, are you okay? Is your head hurting?” Seeing the girl looking like she was in pain, Elder Zelma could not help but worry for her.
Unfortunately, for the female elder; Rennel wasn’t paying any attention to her as she’s in her own world trying to make sense of her situation.
“Teacher, teacher… Did I do something wrong? Why do you want to abandon me?” Rennel asked telepathically with tear-filled eyes.
“Who’s abandoning who? When did I say that I want to abandon you?” Chaos asked sounding slightly exasperated.
“But… you wanted me to take that woman as my teacher. Wasn’t that the same as abandoning me?” The girl argued.
“Are you stupid? Who said that a person could only have one teacher?” Chaos could not help but face-palmed (paw) after hearing the girl’s words.
"I want you to accept her as your teacher so that you could learn magic from her. Although you have a ‘seed’ in you, and could learn anything a lot faster compared to other people, it’s still better to have a good teacher that would guide and teach you their craft.”
“Really? But if it’s magic, teacher could teach much better than anyone else in this world.” Rennel complained.
“I’m too lazy to teach you magic. Since there’s a good alternative in front of me, why would I bother?”
Chaos answer shut the girl’s argument completely. What else could she do? Her teacher has been always like this. Abandon her lazy teacher and look for a better one? Even if the girl turns the world inside-out, she won’t find a better teacher than the lazy Chaos.
Although, Chaos was lazy and was someone easily bored, its rare advice would often give the girl the feeling of enlightenment. Also, the girl owned everything she had to Chaos and would never abandon it no matter what. She was aware that if not for Chaos, she would have already been sold to slavery…
“Teacher, do I really need to take her as my magic teacher?” Rennel asked after finally calming down.
“Yes…She’s an arch-mage, and a member of Nuathl’s Council of Elder. Other than me, there’s no better magic teacher that’s fit for you in this world. As long as you study religiously under her, she’ll be able to teach you everything about this world’s magic.” Chaos explained.
“I understand…”
While the teacher and student was having a telepathic discussion: Elder Zelma was becoming increasingly uneasy. Although the girl seemed to have calmed down and stopped acting strangely, she still hasn’t given her a reply.
I hope she won’t reject me… The elder prayed.
As if answering her prayer, the girl finally looked straight at her, allowing the elder to see the girl’s beautiful face.
****
“Such a lovely girl!” Elder Zelma could not help blurt out with praise after seeing the girl’s appearance.
Elder Zelma’s unabashed praise made Rennel blushed. Fortunately, she had heard a lot of similar praises in just this month alone and was already tired of it.
“Elder… do you really want to take me as your disciple?” Rennel asked the strange woman in order to verify her real intent.
“Yes!” Elder Zelma answered.
“I’ll be very honest with you, Elder, but… I already have a teacher, “Rennel paused for a bit before continuing. “It’s just that my teacher doesn’t teach me magic.”
The girl’s first sentence almost made Elder Zelma’s heart stop but upon hearing that the girl hasn’t learned magic from her teacher, she quickly calmed down.
“Are you worried that I would change my mind because you have a teacher?” Elder Zelma asked with a smile on her face.
Rennel nodded before answering “yes.”
“No need to worry! It’s normal for talented people to have more than one teacher. Even I have three magic teachers who taught me magic when I was just starting.” The female elder declared proudly.
“You have three magic teachers?” Rennel’s eyes went wide after hearing the elder’s confession. She could understand if the elder in front of her had other teachers in other field… but three teachers in magic?
Elder Zelma could tell what the girl was thinking and quickly explained.
“When my talent was discovered, it was revealed that I could not only control elements, I have talent in other field of magic as well which includes artifact forging, and non-elemental magic. So to not waste my talent, three of the previous elders took me as their disciple.”
“Wow!”
Rennel was truly impressed by the female elder’s talent. Having befriended Natashia; she was aware how rare it was for a person to have talent in three different fields of magic. So for three former elders to teach Elder Zelma their craft was understandable.
“So… do you agree with my proposal?” Seeing Rennel looking impress, Elder Zelma decided to strike while the iron was hot and asked the girl if she agree to accept her as her magic teacher.
Understanding her teacher’s intent, Rennel was no longer against on taking the female elder as her new magic teacher. So with only a slight feeling of hesitation, the girl finally agreed to the Elder Zelma’s proposition.
“Yes… please take care of me, teacher.”
The girl’s words were like music to Elder Zelma’s ears. After looking for so long for a suitable disciple, she finally found the right one. It’s not like Elder Zelma had no other disciple candidate in the past. As an arch-mage, there had been countless promising youth who wanted to become her disciple. But for one reason or another, she would often find reasons to disqualify them.
As someone who was taught by three former elders, Elder Zelma’s standard was incredibly high to the point that none of those who came before Rennel manages to catch her eyes. Actually, to be Elder Zelma’s disciple prospective students must satisfy three of the female elder’s requirements: Character, talent, and feeling.
Of the three requirements, the first two was a bit easier to satisfy but the third requirement was where almost all previous prospective students failed. Why? Because in order to satisfy the third requirement, they must make Elder Zelma want to take them as a disciple which was actually absurd if you think about it…
How could it not be absurd? The third requirement pretty much depends on Elder Zelma’s mood!
If the female elder didn’t feel like taking someone as a disciple, it’s be impossible for that person to become the elder’s disciple no matter how good his or her character was, or how overwhelmingly talented that person was in magic.
It was for this absurd reason that Elder Zelma remained disciple-less for many years.
****
To be continued
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