Chapter 367: Daily Affairs
The morning sun reappeared.
Sunlight fell upon the top floor of the Magic Association tower again, illuminating the room brightly through the crystal windows.
Inside, Rhodes was standing before a small laboratory bench, inspecting several magic circles and conducting simple magical research.
Serie sat on the sofa nearby. Several documents were spread out on the small round table in front of her, but she wasn't reading them. Instead, she propped her chin on her hand, gazing out the window, her eyes unfocused—clearly lost in thought.
She wore a white robe, her long golden hair draped loosely. Her bare feet rested on the carpet, her toes curling and uncurling unconsciously.
The only sound in the room was the faint hum of mana as Rhodes studied the magic circles.
Until a knock on the door broke the silence.
"Come in," Rhodes said without looking up.
The door opened, and Flamme walked in.
Today she wore neat casual clothes, her red hair tied back. Her expression was capable as always, but a trace of fatigue was visible; clearly, she had been very busy lately.
"Master Rhodes, Master Serie."
She bowed to both of them. Her gaze swept quickly across the room, visibly pausing when she saw Serie daydreaming by the window.
"Morning." Serie snapped back to reality, sitting up straighter. "Coming so early... what trouble is it this time?"
Serie knew that if Flamme came to find her this early, it was usually not good news.
After all, if the news wasn't important, she would have organized it beforehand and waited for Serie to come down, rather than coming directly to her and Rhodes's room.
"Sort of, but not too troublesome," Flamme walked up to Serie, taking out several reports. "It is a summary of the follow-up to yesterday's First-Class Mage exam, and... some abnormal situations you two need to know about."
Hearing this, Rhodes also turned around and walked over, sitting in the chair opposite Serie. "Abnormal situations?"
"Yes." Flamme handed them the reports. "Among the three who passed the exam yesterday, one chose the runes of immortality magic as a reward."
"According to subsequent intelligence, less than six hours after the exam ended, this person made contact with a magical organization from the West in the underground black market of the Imperial Capital."
"It is a secretive organization known for researching forbidden magic and relics of the Mythical Era. Their reputation is not good."
Serie took the report and scanned it quickly, frowning. "Wanting to buy the magical runes directly? Quite an appetite. What was the result of the contact?"
"The specific price offered is unclear, but the newly promoted First-Class Mage refused."
"Did the price not satisfy him?" Serie asked curiously.
Serie wasn't surprised that this new First-Class Mage wanted to sell the immortality magic runes.
After all, this was within her and Rhodes's expectations. Rather, it was surprising that such a thing had only happened now.
"That is unclear. Should we detain him?" Flamme suggested.
"No need. Just continue monitoring him. As long as he doesn't cross the line."
In Rhodes's view, even if that First-Class Mage really sold the runes to the other party, it wasn't a big deal.
After all, no one could understand that stuff except him.
"Understood. I have strengthened covert observation of this mage and am tracking the members of the magical organization he contacted."
Flamme finished her report, put away one document, and took out another. "Additionally, regarding the Southern Delegation. Early this morning, they submitted a farewell letter through official channels, stating they will leave the capital tomorrow afternoon. The letter expressed gratitude and hoped to maintain exchanges in the field of magical research in the future."
"Those people are finally leaving!" Serie huffed. "Smart of them to bring out quite a few useful pieces of magical knowledge. Otherwise, they wouldn't have left so easily."
Although Hess, the leader of the Southern Mage Alliance, had left in disgrace, fortunately, the other mages weren't mediocre.
They had unique insights on the path of magic, especially defensive magic, which was almost at the top level of the entire continent.
This was a major reason why Serie was willing to arrange for people to continue magical exchanges with them.
Although she could teach the Association's mages personally—and her knowledge far exceeded these southern mages—she wasn't a saint. Where would she find the time to teach everyone?
Arranging for other mages to conduct joint research and discussions with the Association's mages was the best choice.
"Flamme, handle the subsequent wrap-up work as you see fit," Rhodes instructed.
"Understood." Flamme noted it down. Then, hesitation appeared on her face as she looked at Rhodes. "Master, there is one more thing... about Frieren."
"What did she do now?" Serie asked first.
She remembered Frieren had run off to learn some demon spatial teleportation magic. Had something gone wrong?
"Her recent research into the ancient demon spatial teleportation magic... encountered some problems," Flamme chose her words carefully. "Tricky problems. Master, you know me; I haven't researched spatial magic much, so I am powerless to help."
"She shut herself in the laboratory and didn't even eat dinner. I am a bit worried."
Serie frowned. "Didn't we agree it would be conducted under supervision? Why did she increase the research intensity on her own again?"
"I didn't expect her experiment to trigger a chain spatial collapse..." Flamme was also somewhat helpless. "It was my negligence. I underestimated the instability of demon magic."
Rhodes pondered for a moment. "In that case, I will go take a look later and solve the problem for her."
"Thank you, Master," Flamme responded, breathing a sigh of relief.
She knew that as long as Master Rhodes stepped in, whatever problems Frieren encountered would be easily solved.
The report came to a temporary pause.
Flamme put away her folder and was about to take her leave, but then noticed her little follower behind her.
Solitär-Flamme.
She was still wearing that simple dress, her long black hair draped smoothly. Her face was expressionless as she calmly observed the three people in the room.
Her presence was very low, so low that unless one looked specifically, she would almost be ignored.
Ever since Rhodes relaxed the restrictions on Solitär-Flamme last time, she had been following Flamme, observing and learning.
Initially, Flamme was terrified she would do something to harm others. After all, this guy was a demon!
If not for the sake of her teacher wanting to research her, with Flamme's personality, she would have slapped this demon to death long ago, let alone allowed her to follow.
But fortunately, Solitär-Flamme had been behaving quite normally recently.
Following honestly behind her, not doing anything out of line.
Serie also saw Solitär-Flamme and frowned.
Even though the demon had been in the Association for a while, Serie still felt uncomfortable seeing her.
"What are you standing there for?"
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