n

n

nWeeks turned into months, and months turned into years as the time went by as I was teaching the trio while becoming honestly impressed with all three of my dear students.

nPrince Horeo was overwhelmingly powerful – to such a degree that I had no doubt that he himself was a transcended magician, but as there was nothing above the light magic at the moment, his true strength would not be recognized for a while - and his aim and control over the power of his light beams were some of the best I have seen in my life. He still lacked the proper level of concentration to be using teleportation but if he managed to do that before the age of twenty he would be named the greatest prodigy in the history of the kingdom – is what I would be saying if I did not see through his little deception...

nHonestly... As the subordinate of the royal family, I can't wait for the day when he will ascend the throne...

nThough... I must say that he didn't really put his heart into learning the physical augmentation enchantments, the young first prince would usually only talk about the beam attacks being the man's romance – which was a phrase that had always confused me, and would always cause fits of laughter from Zoemi each time Horeo said it.

nBut while the prince was consciously laying low and hiding his true potential, lady Miriette was far too prideful to follow his example...

nShe mastered the spell for sending messages and every augmentation enchantment – and with her overbearing amount of mana they were the strongest enchantments I ever heard about.

nI did try to convince her to try and develop a detection ability like her mother at some point, but she refused after declaring that she was working very hard to develop her own original magic that would allow her to fly!

nAnd she did not mean a measly levitation spell that most of the wind magicians could use after a few years of training, where they get to hoover a few feet above the ground - she wanted to actually sore through the sky, free like a bird.

nThis was such a grand dream even I was moved by it and secretly cheered for her when she was slouching and clenching her fist while trying her hardest to raise her body above the height that was the limit of the levitation spell.

nBut for the time being, she looked like a struggling baby bird, and the waves of her mana were stirring up the air like a pair of desperately flapping wings – powerful, but still uncoordinated and ultimately useless... but as the side effect, she did create an interesting wind barrier spell that was quite proficient n deflecting both magic and physical attacks.

nLastly, there was Zoemi.

nThe smartest, most hardworking, and the cutest child I have ever met...

n...but also the weakest one of my students, by far...

nHe had to be very careful while practicing with his magic because of his limited mana that made his attribute that more dangerous than it already was.

nI was extremely shocked once he told me that he had less magical power than the average commoner - but whoever did that measurement must have been very sloppy since when I measured everyone's power to show them how the mana crystal device works and compared the results with the notes about the trio that I was given beforehand, I shook my head seeing the inconsistency with Zoemi's data.

nIt was obvious that there has been a mistake in the black-haired boy's measurements.

n|Sigh... What kind of lazy bum made such a mistake? Zoemi was obviously weaker than the average darkness magician but far above any commoner! I'll have to report such negligence in documentation! Tsk... who am I kidding, this has been most likely done out of spite, to bring Zoemi down...!|

nBut again – the amount of mana he possessed was really holding him back.

nZoemi could hide in his shadow only for a minute, and as far as I know, that was a rather terrible result.

nNormally it should have been at least half an hour if not more.

nNot to mention that the dreaded Ghosts were said to be able to stay hidden inside for literal hours depending on the difficulty of their mission.

nThe black-haired boy also never used the instantaneous travel part of that spell when I was around. He kept on claiming that he doesn't have enough mana for that, but I did some research on my own - and a lot of calculating based on said research – and found out that my favorite student should be able to travel at least three hundred feet without worry.

n...but that would be only a one-way journey as he would lack mana for the ay back – though, it wasn't a distance that he should be worried about...

nAside from that, he kept coming up with interesting ideas of how prince Horeo and lady Miriette could use their amazing powers more efficiently.

nThere was also a certain odd thing.

nZoemi once told me that since his awakening, he kept having odd dreams.

nBut still, with everything that happened to him up until this point, I would be more surprised if he didn't had at least one or two nightmares.

n---

nAs I announced the end of another lesson, both the prince and the lady ran towards the black-haired boy.

n

"

"Let's go, Zoemi!

"

"

nThey shouted and grabbed his hands at the same time.

n

"Miriette, there's only a year until we go to the Aspakeony Academy and Zoemi still has to practice defending against long-ranged attacks!

"

nThe first prince pulled Zoemi towards himself.

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"No! Zoemi and I are going shopping, he's my attendant, so he needs to carry my bags!

"

nLady Miriette didn't even consider letting Zoemi go and pulled him towards herself.

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"Exactly, he is your attendant, you are together with him every day! Just give him some free time already! We need to practice! Defense is super important!

"

nThe young prince declared with a serious expression.

n

"As if you want to practice! You just want to give him that fancy shield you bought for him and show off!

"

n

"Miriette! How could you! That was supposed to be a surprise!

"

nMiriette shouted angrily and Horeo gasped in shock.

n

"Serves you right! Blee!

"

nMiriette stuck out her tongue at him in response.

n

"My prince, my lady...! We can do both of those things, all three of us. We'll just go shopping and after we'll return we will practice the defense all toge...

"

n

"

"That's not the same!

"

"

nZoemi tried to defuse the situation but got shouted at by both of his friends instead, ad lowered his head apologetically.

n

"Don't listen to her, she's talking nonsense! And besides! Don't let her fool you, Zoemi! She says that she wants to go shopping but then she will- oh so accidentally - enter the smithy and will - completely by accident - pick up a sword that she had secretly had order-made for you!

"

nThe golden-haired prince scoffed and revealed, glaring at the black-haired girl.

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"You...! You're awful! You've ruined everything! Zoemi, just come with me!

"

nLady Miriette got red from anger and pulled on Zoemi's hand with all her strength.

n

"Meaner! Stupid-face!

"

nShe shouted at her fiance while doing her best to free her attendant from his clutches without using andy strengthening enchantments to not harm the black-haired boy.

n

"Oh! Because it was okay when you have done the same thing, huh!?

"

nPrince's face also became red, he was every inch just as stubborn as the girl, and instead of letting go of Zoemi, he put his back into pulling him away from his fiance – also not using any enchants so that no harm would be brought upon the black-haired boy looking between the two unsure about how he should act.

n|Oh, that's right! It's Zoemi's birthday!|

nI nodded and kept organizing my notes while the bickering continued.

nIt's been over six years since I started teaching those kids. Soon our lessons will finish. I believe that all three of them will become the top students at the Aspakeony academy, haha...

nThe academy...

nIt's so nostalgic...

nOr I'm just getting old...

n|Still, will Zoemi be alright around those two? Their rivalry over him gets worse with each passing year!|

nI took another look at the fierce battle over Zoemi's companionship and chuckled.

n|It actually looks like Zoemi is the girl and the other two are the desperate suitors!|

n