With Ivankov resigning, Dak had to find another Fairy-type Gym Leader.
But he didn't dwell on the matter much and directly sent someone to contact the candidate.
The one chosen was Morty, the "Socialite," a Fairy-type specialist who had already participated in two Battle Tournaments.
Morty's Togetic had evolved into Togekiss after obtaining a Shiny Stone in the first Battle Tournament. The average level of her team hovered around Lv.54, which was already quite impressive.
In the second Pokémon Battle Tournament—
Although Morty placed in the Top 16 again, just like in the first tournament, the difficulty of making it to the Top 16 had increased two or threefold due to the stiffer competition. So, overall, Morty's strength had clearly improved.
She might not surpass the former Gym Leader and current Contest Master Ivankov, but she wasn't too far behind either.
At the very least, she was more than qualified to serve as the new Fairy-type Gym Leader.
Ivankov, with his level of strength, would've at least made the Top 8 in the second Pokémon Battle Tournament, and even getting to the finals wouldn't have been that difficult.
Having someone like Ivankov serve as a mere Gym Leader was truly a waste of talent.
While Borsalino, Dragon, Garp, and Magellan were no weaker than Ivankov, they all held other positions and were usually very busy.
Ivankov voluntarily resigning to become a Contest Master was, in a way, a noble act of "stepping down to let the worthy rise."
Dak wasn't worried that Morty would reject the offer—he understood her personality well.
She wasn't overly ambitious but had a modest desire for fame, power, and wealth.
The Gym Leader role would fulfill all her little wishes at once—and even exceed her expectations—so there was no way she'd say no.
Naturally, Dak wouldn't take care of this matter personally and handed it off to his secretary, Robin.
As for himself, he took Clarisse back to the Magic World.
Dragon had long been hoping for Clarisse's help. With her assistance, implementing his plans in the Magic World would become much easier.
Now that Clarisse had wrapped up her activities from the Contest Festival, it was only natural for her to head to Albion to assist Dragon.
Dak, on the other hand, returned to Tristain Magic Academy.
He buried himself in the library, working on writing two books—so immersed that he practically forgot to eat or sleep, tirelessly working day and night.
The date turned to Saturday, July 24th.
The first book was filled mostly with fundamental concepts, so Dak finished it rather easily.
Only the parts involving the use of incantations to guide a few basic Ice-type spells took some time.
Still, it wasn't too bad.
Basic spells usually involved no more than three syllables in their incantation. A few attempts were enough to complete the process, and he just needed to record the order of chanting them in the book.
The second book was the real challenge.
It would contain a large number of Intermediate to Advanced Ice-type spells.
Dak estimated there would be dozens, and even the simplest Intermediate spells required five or more syllables to be guided properly.
Advanced spells were even more complicated, sometimes consisting of twenty to thirty syllables.
Inside the library, Dak was immersed in researching the incantations of four other common magic systems.
His original Ice-type incantation system was built upon modifications of these, so studying the incantation sequences of the other systems would give him a formula to work from, making future trials much easier.
At the moment, Dak was fully focused on absorbing knowledge.
To avoid any distractions, he had disabled all perception-based abilities, including Observation Haki and psychic powers.
Because of this, he didn't notice that a blue-haired little girl had silently approached and was now standing right beside him, tilting her head and watching him study the spells intently.
Tabitha hadn't intentionally crept up on him.
It was just that Dak was far too focused, and as a Wind-type mage with a light frame, her footsteps barely made a sound on the floor.
Tabitha's gaze shifted to the side and locked onto something.
"Fundamentals of Ice Magic"
Tabitha glanced at Dak. She really wanted to browse through this clearly just-completed book.
But she felt it would be rude to interrupt someone so focused, so she remained silent, standing quietly by his side, waiting for him to finish this part of his research.
About half an hour passed.
Dak hit a particularly difficult section that he couldn't comprehend, which forced him to pause his studies.
And it was then that he finally noticed the quiet girl who had somehow taken a seat beside him.
"Ah, Tabitha. What's up? Need something?" Dak asked with a gentle smile.
"…"
This time it was Tabitha's turn to be surprised.
She had mentally prepared to startle Dak and even planned out how to apologize afterward, but to her surprise, he remained totally unfazed.
"Professor, this,"
Tabitha snapped out of it quickly and pointed at the book before her.
She had experienced many things from a young age, transitioning from a princess to a tool. She had seen too much.
Even the revelation that Dak was from another world couldn't shake her. So something like this was hardly a big deal.
"Oh, I just finished that this morning. I plan to use it in class tomorrow," Dak explained.
"May I take a look?" Tabitha asked politely.
Her small hands rested neatly on her lap as she quietly awaited Dak's response.
"Of course. I wrote it for all of you to read, after all," Dak nodded and gestured for her to go ahead.
Watching the emotionless, quiet blue-haired girl in front of him, Dak's eyes suddenly grew thoughtful.
Tabitha was nearly invisible in this school—so much so that he had completely overlooked her true identity.
Now, Dak finally remembered.
This unassuming genius girl before him was actually the former princess of Golia, the second-largest kingdom.
Tabitha's real name was Charlotte Elenore Orléans.
Her father was the brother of the current King Joseph of Golia and was originally the legitimate heir to the throne.
The reason her father, and not Crown Prince Joseph, was the rightful heir was because Joseph had extremely poor magical aptitude and could barely use any spells.
However, the truth was that Joseph lacked skill in the four traditional magic systems because he was a Void Magic user.
A mage with Void Mana cannot contain any other magical energies within, so his abilities in the traditional systems were almost nonexistent.
Joseph hadn't known about his Void nature in the past. Believing he had no talent, he was content with using his military prowess to support his younger brother.
It wasn't until he summoned the Void Familiar Sheffield that he realized he was a remarkable mage and began studying Void Magic.
But as his magical power grew, so did his ambition.
He began to covet the throne of Golia, believing it rightfully his—which, in a way, it was.
When he had been weaker than his brother, he had accepted it. But now that he surpassed his brother in all aspects, he couldn't accept not being the heir.
To seize the throne, Joseph had Tabitha's father killed.
But that wasn't enough.
Joseph feared that his niece Charlotte—Tabitha—would one day seek revenge and reclaim the throne, so he planted assassins in her home to poison her with water-based toxins.
Tabitha's mother discovered the plot and took the poison herself to protect her daughter, which drove her mad.
This incident gave Joseph another idea.
He took control of Tabitha's mother and used her as a hostage, forcing Tabitha to carry out various near-suicidal missions for him.
Yet, in order to protect her mother, Tabitha always returned alive and racked up achievements worthy of knighthood and land grants.
Naturally, Joseph didn't want her becoming too famous and only gave her the title of "Knight."
As of now—
Joseph was busy with two things: planning to awaken the Evil Dragon to attack Romania, and leading Golia's army in a war against Germania.
He had no time to deal with Tabitha and so allowed her to roam freely, which eventually led her to take refuge at Tristain Magic Academy.
Interestingly, Joseph wanted to use the Evil Dragon against Romania and not his usual rival Germania for a very specific reason.
Joseph—often mocked as the "Inept King"—had noticed that the Pope of Romania harbored great ambition and was plotting something massive.
He didn't know what exactly, but he wanted to thwart it anyway.
Joseph was, at his core, a prideful man.
He never took Germania seriously but was deeply wary of the supposedly neutral Pope of Romania.
Clearly, he had discovered something not shown in the original story.
At the same time, Joseph was extremely ambitious and dreamed of unifying the entire Magic World.
A man like that was highly unlikely to humbly lead the nobles of Golia in submission to the Pokémon League or help usher in a peaceful new era.
However, a better option had now emerged.
Tabitha—someone who disliked war but held royal Golia blood—was the key to winning over the Kingdom of Golia.
Dak figured that if he could help Tabitha ascend to the throne as Queen of Golia, it would be equivalent to securing the support of the second-largest nation.
With Dragon having already backed Wales as King of Albion, and his wife Henrietta becoming Queen of Tristain—
Then,
With the support of Tristain, Albion, and Golia's royal families, the goal of ushering in a new era in the Magic World would be halfway accomplished.
"If you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me anytime."
Thinking of all this, Dak grinned and prepared to invest in cultivating the blue-haired girl's potential—and improve her opinion of him.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My Patreon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/zaelum]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]