Tabitha made her entrance with a whistle—a familiar summoning method that, while simple, carried a unique charm.
Illococoo soared in from the horizon and landed on the stage, looking eagerly at the instructor standing beside Tabitha.
"No eating."
Tabitha lightly tapped Illococoo's head with her massive staff.
"Hahahaha." xN
The scene drew hearty laughter from the audience.
"Air Blade."
Tabitha casually uttered an unfamiliar name for a spell, confusing many mages in the audience.
It sounded like a Wind-type spell, but no one present had ever heard of it.
Still, they all had a hunch.
The next moment, Illococoo took to the skies and flapped her wings twice with force.
Two massive wind blades, visible to the naked eye, slashed toward the clouds above.
Though they vanished once they reached the sky, the clouds that were sliced into three sections bore testament to the spell's remarkable power.
"Woooah~" xN
The audience gasped at the speed and might of the technique.
"What do you think of that, Teacher Asahi?"
A student asked the Wind Magic instructor, a high-level mage at the beginner stage of the "Rectangle" rank.
"A 'Triangle'-level Wind Mage using a high-tier spell at full power."
Teacher Asahi gave her assessment, but added with emphasis, "But this move isn't as simple as it looks."
"How so?"
"You've all had your familiars learn those skills taught by Teacher Dak, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Didn't you notice something special?"
Teacher Asahi looked toward the student.
The faculty had all noticed something important about those skills on day one.
"Uhh…"
The student looked confused.
"Our familiars don't use up our magic power when casting those skills."
"...Oh! That's it!"
Prompted by Asahi, the student smacked his forehead and lit up with realization.
"So if our familiars learn those skills, it won't increase the magic burden on us at all?"
"That's right."
"That's amazing!"
After Tabitha stepped off stage, it was Louise's turn with her Pokémon, Riolu.
At that moment, Princess Henrietta, seated beside Dak, perked up and focused her attention on her childhood friend.
Clearly, in her heart, Louise's place was no lower than that of her fiancé, Prince Wales.
Riolu had only been born a little over a week ago and didn't know much of anything yet.
Louise had dutifully followed Dak's advice not to force training on him.
So—
Even Dak had no idea what Louise was planning to show with Riolu.
After all, there wasn't much Riolu could do.
But he quickly realized—
As a white streak darted around the stage like a little humanoid pup, Dak remembered that Riolu naturally knew the move Quick Attack from birth.
Though the performance wasn't as flashy as those before, it was still quite decent.
Riolu was just a half-meter-tall puppy, still far from the stage of dazzling crowds.
Why was Lucario the standard partner for an Aura Hero?
This Pokémon species had its own unique racial advantages.
Once Riolu evolved into Lucario—that would be the moment Louise's fortunes began to change.
Henrietta didn't care about any of that.
No matter how Louise and her familiar performed, she would always offer the most enthusiastic applause and praise for her childhood friend.
After that, neither Henrietta nor Dak had much interest in watching the rest of the show.
Dak didn't delay further and accepted Henrietta's request—to go to Albion and help Prince Wales escape to Tristain.
However—
Leaving aside whether Wales would even be willing to leave Albion...
The way the princess handled this made Dak realize something important.
Some of Albion's nobles had likely embedded people within Tristain—possibly even within the capital itself.
Otherwise, there'd be no reason for the princess to be so cautious and come all the way to the Magic Academy to find someone she could trust.
It wasn't a possibility—
It was a certainty.
In the original story, after Prince Wales died, the new king of Albion immediately launched an attack on Tristain.
He even dispatched mages to lure and assassinate Henrietta—his former fiancée and royal ally—who would soon become Queen of Tristain.
Considering all this, Dak's understanding of the world's situation became much clearer.
The entire continent was divided into three major zones:
Zone One:
Peaceful magical races mostly residing in the western regions, living in harmony.
Human mages generally didn't hunt them—
Because they could one day become potential familiar partners.
Zone Two:
The western-mid regions and the last three kingdoms:
Tristain and Germania in a standoff; Albion locked in civil war.
If Albion's civil war ended, the balance would shatter.
If Wales succeeded in taking the throne, Germania would inevitably fall.
If Wales died, Germania could sit back and watch Tristain and Albion fight—
Then strike when both sides were weakened and conquer them in one blow.
Zone Three:
The eastern-mid region and the first three kingdoms.
On the surface, Golia appeared to be playing diplomacy with the continent's greatest nation, Germania.
But in truth, King Joseph of Golia was secretly wary of Romania, which claimed "neutrality."
Until Joseph awakened the "Evil Dragon," this standoff wouldn't change.
Another point—
Tristain's conflict with its southern neighbor, Germania, seemed to be escalating.
If that weren't the case—
Henrietta could have simply dispatched a unit to Albion to support Wales and help him claim the throne.
But she didn't—which meant things were likely not going well down south.
Perhaps Germania had received messages from certain Albion nobles and reached some agreement to pressure Tristain on the front lines, preventing them from sending aid to Albion.
With all that in mind—
Henrietta's earlier despair and disheartened state made perfect sense.
To her, it wasn't just the death of her fiancé on the line—
Her entire nation, Tristain, was facing a crisis of survival.
Fortunately, Dak had accepted her request, giving her some relief.
With Dak, an Ice-type mage of at least "Rectangle" level, on the mission, Henrietta felt much more at ease.
She was so relieved that she ran straight to Louise's dorm that night to tell her everything.
This was a confidential mission.
Dak and Louise would have to come up with their own excuse to get time off from Headmaster Osmond.
That was simple enough—as long as it had nothing to do with Henrietta.
The next morning.
Before dawn—
A carriage was already waiting at the entrance of the Magic Academy.
Driving the carriage was Musketeer Captain Agnes, one of Henrietta's most trusted people in the kingdom.
But inside the carriage were not only Dak and Louise—
Tabitha was also present.
Tabitha didn't know what Dak and Louise were heading out to do.
She had simply woken up early as usual and spotted them trying to leave quietly.
Originally, she had no intention of interfering and just kept reading by the window.
But Dak noticed her gaze and beckoned her over.
As someone who respected Teacher Dak deeply, Tabitha wouldn't refuse a request from him.
She quickly put on her mage robes and followed along—
Even now, she still didn't know the purpose of their trip.
She didn't ask either.
Just sat quietly inside, reading her book, seemingly uninterested in anything.
Her behavior made Dak laugh out loud.
It was the first time he had truly sensed what the "three-nothing" archetype was like in real life.
Louise, however, couldn't resist blurting out the entire plan to Tabitha.
It was clear that over the past days, she had come to trust Tabitha deeply.
"Albion?"
Tabitha closed her book and looked seriously at Dak when she heard the name.
"What is it?"
Dak raised an eyebrow.
It was the first time he'd seen such a distinct expression on Tabitha's face.
Outwardly, she still wore the same icy poker face, but the seriousness in her eyes was unmistakable.
"It's unstable there."
"Of course. They're in the middle of a civil war."
"No..."
Tabitha shook her head and continued, "There's a third faction in Albion besides the royalists and the nobles."
"Oh? How do you know that?"
Dak's lips curled slightly, though he quickly suppressed it.
He was genuinely surprised at the scope of Tabitha's intel network.
Even Princess Henrietta of Tristain only knew about the civil war, not the deeper details.
Yet Tabitha, still at the Academy, had quietly learned of the Gekko Army?
Dak knew just how well-hidden the Gekko Army was.
"...I once went on a secret mission to Romania. Though I failed, I discovered some intel in the Pope's palace."
"!"
Dak was shocked.
Tabitha wasn't talking about the Gekko Army—
Which meant she didn't know they existed yet.
So that meant—
The Gekko Army was actually the fourth faction in Albion.
Before they even emerged, another power had already infiltrated the conflict?!
And this faction... seemed to be connected to the Pope.
(End of Chapter)
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