“Indeed, there was a high-level Forest Lord hidden in the Mist Forest. Afterward, we drained that swamp, and the Forest Lord’s true body was rooted beneath it. Its root system had a radius of about two kilometers.”
“Additionally, after draining the swamp, we discovered many magic beast corpses at the bottom of the swamp pool, including high-level ones like the Chimera…”
In the conference room of the Imperial Capital Magic Academy, the head of the academy’s security department was reporting to the school leaders seated before him. Melrose was also present, her expression serious—a complete contrast to the lazy demeanor she had shown when alone earlier.
Two kilometers… Melrose silently repeated in her mind. This meant that, centered on the Forest Lord, at least a two-kilometer radius within the forest was its territory. Having personally clashed with the Forest Lord, Melrose knew full well how formidable it was.
Although its plant-based nature limited the Forest Lord’s mobility, without Ximo’s magitool, they absolutely could not have survived that encounter.
“That Forest Lord had already developed a certain level of intelligence. It usually hid at the bottom of the swamp pool, and combined with its special ability, it evaded the academy’s routine pre-exam inspection. This was our negligence.”
“Sigh,” Principal Meier, seated at the head, let out a breath. “Moreover, the magic puppets that the academy had deployed for research were all controlled by a single magic beast. This is no mere negligence. Fortunately, no students lost their lives in this farce, or the academy would have no way to explain it…”
“Melrose, on behalf of the academy, I must express our gratitude to you.”
“You’re too kind, Principal. I was merely fulfilling my responsibility…”
Melrose put on a humble expression. She had learned long ago, back when she was still a child, how to conduct herself in such settings.
But this was just a simple post-incident report—did the principal really need to convene an emergency meeting with so many school leaders?
Her intuition told Melrose that this meeting was not so straightforward. Sure enough, after the security personnel left, Shasta, who had been lounging in the corner, slowly walked to the front.
“I’ve already examined samples from that Forest Lord. No issues there. A Forest Lord with intelligence that knew to hide itself happened to use the magic puppets to set a trap and ambush our freshmen—this was indeed a stroke of bad luck for the academy, a pure accident.”
“But there was something off about those magic beast corpses… Hold on, let me find it.”
Shasta lazily rummaged through her pockets for a moment before pulling out a glass vial containing a small bone fragment.
“I also collected and studied the magic beast corpses from the scene. The results were unexpected—Melrose, you fought those magic beasts in the forest, right? Did you notice anything wrong with them?”
Suddenly called upon, Melrose responded promptly: “Let me think… Chaotic, berserk magic power, and eerie flesh regeneration abilities. It was like they were overdrawing their own lifeforce for a temporary boost. That wasn’t normal.”
Melrose recalled that troublesome Chimera. In terms of raw strength, she and Xiliya together could handle it without issue, but that magic beast had possessed an extremely eerie recovery ability—and that wasn’t something inherent to a Chimera.
“It’s not normal because those magic beasts had been artificially modified.”
At Shasta’s words, all the school leaders present revealed surprised expressions. So, the incident in the forest that day wasn’t just an “accident”?
“I suspect those magic beasts were injected with some kind of magic potion that caused their vitality to surge in the short term. Of course, the side effect is lifeforce overdraft. This wasn’t the Forest Lord’s doing; it merely parasitized and controlled them.”
“In other words, the forest incident consisted of two parts. The Forest Lord part was a pure accident, while the mutated magic beasts part was man-made. And these two troubles coincidentally combined, leading our freshmen right into it.”
Shasta succinctly summarized the situation.
Now Melrose understood why the principal had called an emergency meeting. An accident and sabotage—these were not the same thing at all.
“We still can’t determine the culprit’s motives for now. Although the Mist Forest is within the academy’s jurisdiction, we don’t usually control that area strictly. The academy is currently dispatching people for an urgent investigation…”
The meeting continued with the principal making arrangements and ordering the matter to be kept under wraps for the time being to avoid causing panic among the students… In short, there was nothing more for Melrose to do.
“Melrose, hold on a moment.”
However, as the meeting adjourned and people began to leave, Shasta suddenly called out to Melrose.
“Do you have Ximo’s contact info? I forgot to ask her for it earlier.”
Shasta pulled out her own terminal. Melrose realized then that she herself hadn’t added Ximo as a friend yet. Perhaps it’s time to find an opportunity to get that little maidservant’s contact information.
“Sorry, Teacher, I don’t have it either.”
“Is that so? You two seem close; I thought you might. Oh well, I’ll ask her for it next time there’s a chance. It’s not urgent anyway. Assistant students are such a hassle…”
Shasta muttered as she opened her parasol and prepared to leave. Melrose’s heart stirred, and she subconsciously called out.
“Instructor Shasta, um…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Nothing much. I just wanted to ask your opinion on this matter. After all, you examined those magic beasts… What do you think the culprit’s goal was?”
“Ha? Let me think… Probably research.” Shasta answered offhandedly. “Not to ‘harm students,’ but to use those magic beasts for ‘experiments.’”
“This conclusion isn’t from examining the magic beasts; it’s the intuition of one ‘researcher’ to another. The Mist Forest is a natural testing ground. Didn’t the academy also deploy magic puppets there to collect test data?”
“But speculating wildly like this is pointless. Wait for the academy’s investigation,” Shasta waved her hand and turned to leave. “Oh, right—if you see Ximo, give her my contact info. I still want her to be my class representative…”
Melrose watched Shasta depart… Wait until she sees Ximo? Come to think of it, although that little maidservant hadn’t come looking for her today, over the weekend, she should have some time to meet, right?
Perhaps even Melrose herself hadn’t realized that, after the Mist Forest incident, she had begun looking forward to meeting that secretive little maidservant, Ximo.
Thus, time flew by until classes resumed the following week… but Ximo still hadn’t sought out Melrose.
On Monday afternoon, Ximo sat in the classroom, staring blankly at the Basics of Magic Potion Refining and Alchemy textbook in her hands. Her heart felt empty, and her mind was blank.
Great, turns out it’s not just magic— she didn’t know anything else either… So she really knew nothing and understood even less!
*Damn it, how the hell was she supposed to get through this class?!
