I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 266: Change of Plans

XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, Arcana Tower.

On one of the floors constituting the Arcana Tower, one would find a certain floor wherein it is filled to the brim with rooms where highly ranked mages reside in. Inside one of these rooms, one would find two mages. The first mage was a man in a red robe, wearing black-rimmed glasses that complimented his face, radiating a composed aura at any given moment. As for the other mage, she was wearing a gray robe while her light green hair was tied into a ponytail. At the moment, her eyes were fixated on an orb of water she had conjured. Then again, so was the other mage.

Of course, these two mages were none other than Erea and Dane. After meeting up with the Ninth Prince that one time, the two went ahead and did their things for around one and a half weeks so far. It was only when Erea felt like she was stuck at a bottleneck did she come to her mentor’s room, asking him for advice on which areas she could improve on.

“Hmm…” Currently, Dane was looking at the orb his student had just conjured with a keen eye, making sure to not miss any small detail that would go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Eventually, his vision was focused on Erea’s face instead, lightly grinning as he said, “Your control over the Water element has greatly improved. Right now, the orb you’ve created can no longer be told apart from natural water.”

Fwoosh!

As Erea dispelled the water orb she made, she could not help but let out a shy chuckle as she responded, “It’s all thanks to Teacher for letting me borrow your copy of {Beryl’s Aqua Spells}.”

Just as she mentioned the name of the scripture she borrowed, she realized that the promise she had made with him was not yet fulfilled. She then said not long after in a slightly panicked tone, “Ah, right! I forgot to return it to you after I ascended to a Rank 3 class!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” In response, Dane let out a light chuckle as he sat down on a nearby chair, scratching his back as he did not mind his student forgetting about her promise at all. In fact, to him, he felt like it would be better for her to keep the scripture, which he only bought for inspiration, since it would allow her control over the elements to improve. With that in mind, he soon told her, “How about you keep that scripture to yourself for now? I have no use for it, while you still have a lot to learn from it. Don’t you think it would be better if it was in your hands?”

Hearing her mentor’s words, Erea could not help but want to accept his offer, but she still felt a bit of guilt since she felt like it was unfair for her to take something which she had only borrowed at first. Getting a feel for what was going on inside his student’s mind, Dane followed up with another statement, letting out a soft sigh before saying, “How about this? Think of it as my gift to you after ascending to a Rank 3 class. Would that let you not feel guilt anymore?”

Erea pondered over Dane’s words for a bit, eventually nodding as she let out a sigh of her own. Even though her mentor had just said that it was a gift for her, she knew that that was not his original intention. Nevertheless, she decided to not show this emotion to her teacher as she lightly bowed in response before respectfully saying, “Then I must thank Teacher for giving me the scripture.”

Dane finally let out a light smile as a response to Erea’s words, concurrently letting out an inward sigh of relief as well. Soon after, he removed all of the thoughts he had related to the scripture in his mind as his train of thought went back to teaching Erea what she wanted to know. With that, he went ahead and asked her, “Do you have anything else you want to ask me?”

“Now that Teacher mentions it, I do have one thing to ask from you,” Erea replied not long after. She then continued, “I would like to ask Teacher some tips on how to improve my control over magic spells.”

“Improving control, huh…” After hearing what Erea wanted to learn from him, Dane went ahead and recalled all of the information he had regarding magic control, eventually organizing those thoughts into a list. He then went ahead and cross-referenced this list with what he knew about Erea, removing things that felt redundant in the chance he taught her those topics. In the end, he was only left with a few things in his mind wherein Erea could improve upon.

Taking in a deep breath, Dane calmly looked at Erea before saying, “I’ve compiled all of the things that one could improve upon when it comes to magic control in my mind. I then went ahead and cross-referenced it with what I know about you, removing the things that you have a solid foundation on.”

He then added soon after, “Surprisingly, the things you could improve upon can be solved by a certain scripture you can buy from the tower.”

“Oh? What scripture might that be, Teacher?” Listening attentively to her mentor’s words and finding out that a single scripture could enhance her control over magic by a great degree, Erea asked in a curious and expectant tone.

Dane responded in a solemn tone, “The name of the scripture is—”

Whirr! Whirr!

Just as Dane was about to mention the name of the scripture, he was unfortunately interrupted by a loud gust of wind. At first, he let the loud gust of wind pass, taking in a deep breath before trying to tell Erea the name of the scripture once more…only to be interrupted by a loud gust of wind again. Wondering where the loud gust of wind came from, he went ahead and utilized an investigative spell that examined everything around a certain radius, eventually finding out where it came from.

“Oh.” Surprisingly, after realizing where it came from, Dane let out an awkward chuckle as he excused himself in front of Erea, leading Erea to ponder as to why her mentor excused himself all of a sudden.

On the other hand, Dane went towards one of the corners of his room, rummaging through the pockets of his robe before bringing out a small crystal. As he sent a bit of his energy into it, the image of a familiar person appeared on the screen as he felt a connection with this person. This image was of a man in his 20s that exuded a great aura of magnanimity. This feeling was further heightened as the man wore clothes that befitted a noble while a small crown was fixated on his head, allowing one to recognize that the man Dane was talking to was part of royalty.

“What made you call me, Your Highness?” Seeing as the man on the crystal was not talking, Dane took the initiative to ask, to which the man replied with a question, “Remember what I told you back then? Regarding our visit to the Astelia and Arcenon family?”

After rummaging through his memories for a bit, Dane nodded before responding, “You told me, Your Highness, that in a couple of weeks, the two of us would be visiting the Astelia and Arcenon family. What about it?”

“Change of plans,” the man replied without delay. “I’ve received news that one of the people I’m scouting has finally come back to the Arcenon family household, deciding to stay there for a while before heading off onto another trip.”

Obtaining the hidden meaning amidst the statement said by the man, Dane replied to the man with a question, asking, “So…you’re telling me that we’re heading to the Arcenon household right now?”

“More or less,” the man responded with a shrug of his shoulders, leading Dane to let out a short inward sigh before composing himself. He then turned his head around for a bit, gazing at Erea, who was looking at him with a slightly curious expression. After that, he focused his vision back onto the crystal as he mulled over the pros and cons, eventually agreeing with the man’s proposition by saying, “Alright, then. I’ll accompany you, Your Highness. Should I teleport to your pavilion?”

“No need,” the man hastily replied as the image behind the man slightly changed. He then continued, “I’ll just come and meet up with you outside the palace gates.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Dane said in response to those words, eventually cutting off the connection between him and the man.

“What were you doing, Teacher?” Seeing that her mentor was finished with what he had to do, Erea went ahead and asked him, to which Dane responded, “The Ninth Prince called me just a while ago. He wants me to accompany him on his journey to a noble family.”

“Oh?” Hearing that the Ninth Prince called her mentor, Erea could not help but become slightly startled. Just as she thought that it would be fine if Dane went ahead and met up with the prince right now, a thought soon surfaced in her mind, reminding her that she did not know the name of the scripture her mentor was about to mention a while ago. Scratching her head for a bit as she pondered on how she would ask her question, she asked Dane around ten seconds later, “Teacher, if you’re planning to leave me here for now, could you at least tell me the name of the scripture you were about to mention?”

���Eh?” The question Erea asked him left Dane off-guard, not expecting his student to be fine with him leaving for the prince over her. With that in mind, he could not help but feel a bit thankful for the Erea as he hastily responded, “{The Art of Manipulating Magic}. For you, the first two volumes would be more than enough for you to experience great improvements in controlling magic.”

After he was finished saying that, just as he was about to go ahead and teleport to where the Ninth Prince was, he suppressed his urge to teleport before adding, “If you don’t have enough funds to buy the scripture, just tell them that you’re buying it under the orders of Educator Dane.”

Whoosh!

Soon after that, Dane went ahead and conjured a dark magic circle that covered his body, disappearing in front of Erea’s field of vision not long after. In just an instant, she was left alone in her mentor’s room as she committed the name of the scripture Dane told her into memory. Letting out a short sigh, she then made her way back to her room as she muttered, “Guess I’m back to self-studying for a while.”

…

Whoosh!

After a few minutes have passed, a man in a red robe could be seen appearing tens of meters away from the gates of the Seraph Kingdom’s royal palace, startling the guards that were vigilantly guarding the gates. But after noticing that the man went ahead and sat down after that, radiating an intent that he was waiting for a certain person to come out, the guards decided that it was better to not mess with the man, continuing with what they were doing a while ago.

Of course, the man that had just appeared was none other than Dane, utilizing a 4th Circle teleportation spell to make his way towards the palace in less than ten minutes. Remembering what he had done over a week ago as a show of power to his student, he could not help but slightly regret doing it as he muttered, “I should have saved that usage for occasions like these.”

Creak…

After waiting for a while, the gates of the palace were opened all of a sudden, startling the guards that were on the other side of the gate. Naturally, they were curious as to which person from the palace had opened the gates, eventually revealing a dashing man in his 20s who wore clothes that were more akin to that of a noble.

Realizing who the person that came out of the gates was, the guards respectfully bowed to the person before returning to what they were previously doing. As for the dashing man, he went towards Dane with a grin on his face, eventually telling him, “Let’s go!”

In response, Dane stood up from the ground, wiping off the dust from his robe as he asked the dashing man, “Has Your Highness obtained permission for this outing?”

“Of course,” the dashing man, who was naturally the Ninth Prince, let out a light chuckle as he responded. He soon radiated the aura of someone at the top of Seraph royalty, allowing Dane to know that the Ninth Prince had truly obtained permission from the king.

As Dane nodded to the Ninth Prince’s answer, he then asked him, “Do you know where the household of the Arcenon family is located, Your Highness? I haven’t gone there yet.”

“Good thing you asked,” Vanadir said in response to Dane’s question, rummaging through his pockets before unfurling a decently sized map that had the territory of the whole Seraph Kingdom inside it. After looking at it for a while, he then pointed to a certain position of the map as he said, “Telmerann Province. That’s where their main household is located.”

“Do you think you could get there as fast as possible? We might miss her if we’re too slow,” he asked not long after, to which Dane looked at the map for a bit before eventually nodding.

Dane then replied, “I’m not too sure if we could arrive there in less than 10 minutes, but if it’s fine for us to arrive in around 30 minutes, then yes, I can do it.”

“Speaking of which, who are you trying to recruit from the Arcenon family, Your Highness?” he could not help but ask not long after. Although the Ninth Prince told him that they were recruiting one person each from the Astelia and Arcenon family, after all this time, he was still left in the dark as to who those people were.

Surprisingly, Vanadir let out a slight grin with a nostalgic hint to it before responding, “Someone who has ascended to a Rank 1 class at the age of 7, Rank 2 at 11, Rank 3 at 17, and Rank 4 at 23. She’s commonly known as the Healing Witch of the West.”

“Her name is Valentia Corinne Arcenon. To everyone, she’s a drop-dead gorgeous beauty,” he added, making Dane feel a bit expectant to see her in person. Unfortunately, his imagination was brought to a halt as the Ninth Prince continued to introduce her.

“Sure, she may be incredibly beautiful to others. But to me…”

“She’s just my cousin.”

——–

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