Chapter 10: Is it funny that my master’s master is my mom?

A few days earlier.

Looking at the smiling, golden-haired young woman before her, Chloe’s eyelid twitched for some reason.

“Rhynes… Master?”

The person who appeared before her was indeed her master, Rhynes Lopesi but she felt as if her master had changed.

The once-renowned Mist Witch had actually turned into a housewife wearing an apron. This stark contrast was something Chloe found hard to accept.

With a loud thud, a heavy bag of gold coins was slammed onto the table by Rhynes, almost cracking the wood.

This was even harder for Chloe to accept. ‘Throwing out so much money without a second thought, am I, Chloe, the kind of person who can be blinded by money?’

While protesting internally, Chloe pocketed the money bag from the table.

“So, Master Rhynes, it’s been six years. Why have you suddenly summoned me here this time?” Chloe took a sip of her red tea and asked the master who had vanished from the Starsea Magic Academy without a word all those years ago.

But Rhynes didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she pointed out the window, motioning for Chloe to look outside.

Chloe followed the direction Rhynes was pointing and saw, in the courtyard outside the window, a little silver-haired girl, about five or six years old, holding a crudely made magic wand and pointing it randomly at a nearby tree stump.

“That child is…”

“My eldest daughter, Charlotte. What do you think? She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“Your child, Master? She is indeed quite cute. But, is she… practicing magic?”

Seeing the small whirlwind that appeared out of nowhere on the tree stump, Chloe couldn’t help but look surprised.

‘To be able to do this at such a young age, what will she be like when she grows up?’

“Master, are you asking me to teach her magic?”

“No,” Rhynes revealed a devilish smile. “I want you to crush that child’s desire to learn magic.”

“Eh? Why? Isn’t she your most adorable, precious daughter? Why would you want to crush her desire to learn magic?”

“Are you really that dense, or are you just pretending? Is she at an age where she should be learning magic? Have you forgotten what happened to Mashiro when she wanted to learn magic early? She was in so much pain that she rolled around in bed for three days and three nights, unable to sleep.”

“Uh… that’s true!”

“I won’t force this child’s growth just because she has a talent for it. More than her becoming the most powerful witch, I want her to enjoy life in this world in good health. After all, her being born into this world is already a great fortune.”

“Master… why weren’t you this gentle with me back then?”

“You talk too much nonsense! It’s been six years, are you starting to miss my little whip?”

“No, no, no, no, no, I’m not into that sort of thing!”

“You say no with your mouth, but you’re always the one who screams the loudest!”

“Master, please stop! I’ll do it, okay? I just need to make that child give up on learning magic, right?”

“That’s right! Simple, isn’t it?”

****

Now, looking at the high-spirited little Charlotte before her, who could effortlessly cast spells with a mere gesture—and chantlessly, at that—Chloe, sitting on her broom, couldn’t help but frown.

“Master, is this what you call a simple request?”

‘This child isn’t even six yet, and she’s already this ridiculously powerful. If she grows up, won’t she be able to tear the roof off the entire magic academy?’

‘I have to teach this child a harsh lesson before she gets any stronger, let her know who’s the boss around here!’

‘Fortunately, the magic book this child has read only contains some elementary spells from various schools. Even if she can use them skillfully, she’s no match for a top student from the Starsea Academy like myself.’

At this thought, the corners of Chloe’s mouth turned up slightly.

“Since it’s a request from my little sister, then I’ll have to get serious!”

Saying this, Chloe waved her wand, muttering an incantation.

“Oh, spirits of ice, display your power, destroy everything before you—Ice Shard Barrage!”

Instantly, countless ice crystals materialized above Chloe’s head and shot fiercely towards little Charlotte.

Without a word, little Charlotte raised her arm, and a wall of wind instantly appeared in front of her.

The countless ice shards crashed against the wind wall, shattering into pieces with a clattering sound.

Little Charlotte also began to prepare a counterattack. She swung her right hand back, and a palm-sized whirlwind suddenly appeared in her palm.

She hurled the whirlwind fiercely at Chloe, but Chloe dodged it with a slight tilt of her head.

The whirlwind struck the grass ten meters behind Chloe. Instantly, a massive storm erupted from that spot, unleashing an unstoppable shockwave in all directions.

Luckily, Chloe had flown into the air on her broom beforehand, avoiding the storm’s impact.

Watching the storm slowly dissipate below, Chloe couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of doubt.

‘Is this the kind of power an elementary spell is supposed to have?’

But before she had any time to think, little Charlotte waved her hand again, and a stream of water, twisting and turning like a snake, rushed towards Chloe.

Chloe directly countered with a fireball spell, which smashed the water snake and struck heavily at Charlotte’s feet.

Instantly, a large cloud of thick smoke billowed up, and Chloe slowly descended to the ground.

‘I won’t lose in a firepower duel.’

However, little Charlotte suddenly leaped out of the thick smoke, and in the blink of an eye, she was diagonally above Chloe, holding a spear of flames, ready to throw it.

At such close range, even if Chloe started chanting a spell immediately, it would probably be too late.

However, to little Charlotte’s surprise, she saw Chloe’s lips move slightly, and a massive ice spike suddenly shot out from underground, piercing through the ground and coming straight for her.

Little Charlotte hurriedly thrust her flame spear at the ice spike. As the flame spear and ice spike collided, a powerful shockwave instantly spread outwards. Little Charlotte was sent flying backward, almost falling to the ground.

“Forcing me to use high-speed casting to deal with you… you’re the first, little sister!”

Seeing Chloe effortlessly neutralize her surprise attack, little Charlotte’s brow furrowed.

Her original plan was to catch Chloe off guard while she needed a long time to chant, but it turned out this person also knew high-speed casting. Although her own chantless casting was superior, under the pressure of absolute power, she had no chance of a successful sneak attack.

Moreover, she had only learned a few spells, so her combinations were very limited. If this dragged on, her opponent would eventually figure out all her combinations, and then she would have no chance at all.

“As expected, the older, the wiser,” thinking this, little Charlotte couldn’t help but complain.

“Who are you calling old, little sister? I’m only sixteen this year!”

“Oh? You’re only sixteen? No wonder…” at this point, little Charlotte suddenly revealed a strange smile, “…you stepped into my trap without even realizing it!”

“Hmm?”

Chloe was instantly on alert. She suddenly realized that in front, behind, to her left, to her right, and above her, a wind wall had appeared, like a perfectly sealed cage, trapping her inside.

And directly below her, a scorching flame was about to break through the surface of the ground, ready to heat up this small space like a microwave.

“Not good!”

Just as Chloe was about to force her way through the wind wall on her broom, the flames below broke through the ground and exploded.

The explosion was so violent that little Charlotte, watching this scene, couldn’t help but get excited.

“I did it! Hmph, now you’ve seen what I’m made of, big sister!”

“Oh? Is that your ultimate move?”

Chloe’s voice suddenly came from behind little Charlotte.

Little Charlotte quickly turned around, only to receive a heavy blow to the top of her head. She instantly felt the world spin and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“Sleep spell!”

Watching Chloe pull a frying pan out of a dimensional space and strike little Charlotte hard on the head to knock her out, Yukina, who was watching from not far away, couldn’t help but retort.

“What kind of sleep spell is that?”