The tower is known to be a cold and silent place where knowledge and curiosity is pursued by mages. But that same place has now turned chaotic once the familiar mana of the tower's master is sensitively detected in the vicinity for the second time in just a short span of time.
Mages residing inside made haste and teleported one after another in front of the huge tower to see for their eyes, the origin of the mana.
To their astonishment, they really found their elusive master in front of the tower.
The Arch mage who keeps on appearing and disappearing on a whim, such an in-demand presence was here again.
All mages alike came down to welcome their master.
'He showed himself all bloody a few days ago, only to disappear again...And now, he's back?'
Mages were thinking the same thing and was inspecting Sai with bewilderment.
To their surprise, the master brought a girl of unknown origin and brought her inside the tower.
Still, that girl did not matter.
The mages rejoiced in joy when their paradoxical master stepped inside the tower on his accord. Of course, despite relief and joy, they felt sad over the fact that their good days that ended a few days ago has really come to an end.
A silent tear flew away from an old magician.
"I guess my freedom has really come to an end as well." He said while thinking that the unreasonable Sai would continue to torment him again with his perfectionist way of thinking like he did years ago.
The good old days for the mages started to fade last three days ago when Sai came back. But Just hours ago, he left the tower yet again which made the mages think that Sai has gone away to yet another escapade.
'We really thought he would be gone for years again, leaving all the work to us alone...'
They wanted Sai to stay frequently at the tower, but a part of them was relieved when he was not bossing them around.
As for young mages especially to newcomers, they were awestruck.
With their sparkling eyes and jaws dropped, they murmured. "So that is our esteemed Arch mage."
"He exudes grace and power!"
"Truly! He is very handsome and seems to be very majestic!"
"I also heard that he was the only Arch mage of this generation! Truly wonderful!"
"I bet he is as benevolent as well!"
"But didn't they say he's a villain?"
"I do remember hearing rumors that he goes around picking fights with kingdoms.."
The more the senior mages listen to the youngsters conversation, the more they felt pity for the young ones.
Zemira, the tower master's apprentice looked at this scene with a blank expression.
"...Who exactly, is benevolent...and what is a villain..."
Sigh. Zemira payed no mind to the chatter and went up to assist the master and his guest.
The mages who are basically magic manias only saw Sai in their eyes, but for Zemira, the guest was a curios topic that she have to escort soon.
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SIEL
"You look too healthy these days, has magic training bee easy or have you just been slacking off, Zemira..." Sai commented when Zemira followed from behind.
I looked at the lady Sai called Zemira.
She is a pretty mage with curly ash hair. With her deadpan look, I could very well see that she's cursing my brother in her head.
Ack.
I rubbed my forehead and nose. Sai suddenly stopped walking in front of me.
As if remembering something,
"Oh, I forgot about those idiots outside."
I..diots? Is he talking about the mages who greeted him?
"Please observe courtesy and respect, master. You have a guest." Said Zemira expressionlessly.
While I agree with Zemira, I didn't say anything. I don't think words were enough to get through Sai.
He looked at Zemira cluelessly, "Respect? What's that?"
"..." Zemira.
She opened her mouth and said "Forget what I've said, you do not posses such manner, sir."
...
'Wow, she's...on fire?'
She bluntly says her mind, how come Sai doesn't flip at her?
Smirking, "Respect is only for those who earn it." Sai.
"Zemira Khysfire. Take her to my laboratory." Sai suddenly demanded afterwards.
Zemira bowed and proceeded to guide me. As for Sai, he vanished in thin air as his mana transported him somewhere.
Zemira looked at me and attempted to do the same. Green lines started to shine beneath my feet. I hastily raised my hands.
"Please, no!"
"Yes?" She asked, confused.
I smiled awkwardly, "Can we just climb the stairs? Teleportation feels sick..."
Zemira softly smiled at me. Then viridescent mana slowly muffled itself around me.
"I used elevation magic on you. Let's just fly." Zemira said.
Wind lifted me off my feet and surrounded my body.
Wssshhhh.
We flew through the long sophisticated stairs of the tower and looking at it, one would wonder why they even built stairs here when mages mostly used teleportation anyways.
'It's so tall that I can't even see the ceiling.'
Each floor seemed to contain observatories, laboratories and never ending rooms; Some I cannot fathom because they are closed.
Before I knew it, my feet landed on the marble floor.
In front of me was a carved door that exudes presence. Zemira opened that door to let me in.
It was Sai's laboratory.
"This is the master's laboratory."
It is filled with magic apparatus, magic stones and thick books on the table. But what amazed me most are the walls. The pillars were embedded with countless magic stones, the broad wall had a gold-framed map of the world.
The map itself was not just a drawn map, it seems to model the terrain well.
The mini-mountains bumped on the map, the obvious sparkling water of the Trivan Ocean where the depths of Trivadocea resides has soft carved waves in it. The four continents were very detailed.
After inspecting the map, I turned around to see more of the walls.
The other wall was engraved with pilled up combinations of circles, stars, moon and other magic shapes. It looked like a pretty mess of formulas in my eyes.
Then the other side contained a huge window, no perhaps a terrace? It had crystal windows so outspread I can jump out of it.
The last wall was spacious and only a vague looking painted figure that hung on a fancy frame was attached to it.
Before I can ask about the picture, Zemira asked me to sit and then served me delightful snacks with wistal clear tea.
"Hey, Zemira? Would you mind me asking about that person in the picture?"
I cautiously asked while pointing to the small frame that hung on the other wall.
Zemira glanced there too.
"Oh..." Zemira looked at me, "Just the one who scares the master."
"Huh?"