Chapter 137: The Clouds of War

The morning sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Mage Tower, casting mottled shadows across the long table.

Lia sat at the table, holding a slice of perfectly toasted white bread.

Her gaze was fixed on the journal that had just been delivered.

The front-page headline featured a massive dynamic magical image: two mages in different colored robes were trading blows, with fireballs and ice spikes flying everywhere.

The title was printed in bold black font: [Battle of Light: The Fourth Street Brawl between the Particle and Wave Factions].

“Drink your milk.”

A flat voice came from across the table.

Lia didn’t shift her gaze from the paper, but her left hand naturally reached out to the side.

A slender hand pressed a warm glass of milk into her palm.

The temperature of the glass was just right—not too hot, yet not cold.

Lia withdrew her hand and took a sip.

“Is there sugar in this?”

“Half a spoon.”

Klein turned a page of his book, not even looking up.

“Too much sugar in the morning affects the activity of one’s thinking.”

“It’s too little.”

Lia curled her lip and set the glass down, picking up a silver butter knife to scrape at the new butter on the tray.

It was empty.

Just as she was about to stand up to get a new box from the cabinet further away, Klein closed his book.

His fingers moved slightly.

An unopened box of butter flew up out of thin air, its wrapping paper peeling off automatically in flight, before landing steadily on the plate in front of Lia.

Then, a butter knife flew over, slicing a piece of moderate thickness and spreading it onto her bread.

The movements were as smooth as flowing water, as practiced as if they had been done thousands of times.

Lia took a bite of the bread.

“Thanks.”

As she chewed, her foot kicked the boot of the man opposite her under the table.

“Are we going to the Association today? The initial refining data for the Mana-Spirit Crystal should be out, and the patent review for that fluid pressure theory ought to be written down by now.”

Klein didn’t dodge her kick.

“We’ll go in the afternoon. I have overtime this morning.”

“Then I’ll go into the lab with you; I happen to need to debug the receiving frequency of that communicator.”

“Mm.”

Just then, a dull thud echoed from the main entrance.

Immediately following it was the mechanical clicking of the lock turning.

The heavy tower doors were pushed open.

A cold wind swirled in with a few withered leaves into the hall.

“I’m back! Does anyone miss me! Or did you all think I died in my hometown!”

Adèle’s voice possessed extreme penetration, instantly shattering the morning silence of the top floor.

She dragged two massive suitcases, standing at the doorway looking wind-beaten, her long red hair somewhat messy, though a brilliant smile hung on her face.

The bread in Lia’s hand nearly dropped onto the table.

Klein’s hand turning the page froze.

Both turned their heads simultaneously to look toward the railing over the hall.

Adèle looked up, her gaze scanning the two people on the second floor.

Her smile stiffened for a second.

She sniffed the air.

“You guys…”

Adèle let go of the suitcases and strode up the stairs.

Her boots made a rhythmic thud-thud sound against the wooden steps.

She rushed to the top floor in one breath, propping both hands on the edge of the dining table, looking suspiciously at the two people eating breakfast.

Her gaze shifted to the left.

Lia was wearing a loose housecoat, her white sleeves rolled up to reveal her fair, slender forearms.

Her gaze shifted to the right.

Klein was wearing a shirt of a similar color scheme, his collar slightly open, holding a massive tome.

Her gaze fell to the center of the table.

The plate of butter that had been half-sliced, and the glass of steaming milk beside Lia’s hand.

Adèle narrowed her eyes.

“Why do I feel like… the air here is a bit off?”

Lia swallowed the bread in her mouth.

“What’s off? Is the ventilation system broken?”

“It’s not the ventilation system.”

Adèle straightened up, pointing first at Lia and then at Klein.

“It’s you two.”

“What about us?”

Klein set down his book, his expression indifferent.

“Now that you’re back, go catch up on the research projects from this past month. The people from the Elemental School were asking yesterday how the discovery of your new element is progressing.”

Adèle rolled her eyes.

“Nagging as soon as I return—Mentor is still so heartless.”

She pulled out a chair and sat down right between the two.

“I brought local specialties.”

Adèle pulled several oil-paper packages from her ring.

“Smoked meat from my hometown, and dried berries.”

She pushed the items to the center of the table.

“I heard you guys went to Leo City? Made a fortune too?”

“A small profit.”

Lia reached out to grab the package of berries.

The string on the package was tied in a dead knot.

She picked at it twice but couldn’t get it open.

Naturally, she handed it to the person beside her.

Klein took it, and with a light twist of his fingers, the knot broke.

He handed it back.

Lia grabbed a handful of berries and stuffed them into her mouth.

Adèle watched this sequence of actions.

Her eyelid gave a couple of twitches.

“Lia.”

“Hmm?”

“That was a dead knot.”

“I know.”

“You could have used a Wind Blade.”

“That would shred the bag, and the berries would fall out.”

“Then you could have used Disintegration.”

“A waste of mana,” Lia answered as if it were obvious.

Adèle turned to look at Klein.

“Mentor, you are an Eighth-Circle Great Mage.”

“And?”

Klein took a sip from his teacup.

Adèle fell silent.

She felt that since Lia had started following him, her mentor seemed different than before.

In the past, although these two had chemistry, it was the chemistry between a mentor and student, with clear hierarchical boundaries.

Now, those boundaries were as blurred as a family home.

“By the way.”

Adèle decided to change the subject.

“When I was entering the city just now, I saw several groups of people fighting. Is the academic circle I’m in always this violent now?”

Lia wiped her hands.

“Because of Physics.”

“Physics?”

Lia pointed at the newspaper.

“The Optics mages have split into two factions. One insists light is a particle, and the other insists light is a wave. Neither can convince the other, so they throw spells on sight.”

“Yesterday, Professor Green from the Royal Academy got his head broken because he said interference fringes were just an optical illusion.”

Adèle picked up the newspaper and scanned it.

“Finished eating?”

Klein stood up.

“Go to the lab once you’re done.”

Lia drank the last of her milk.

“Let’s go.”

The two walked toward the stairs, one after the other.

Adèle sat in her original spot, watching their backs.

Lia walked in front with small steps.

Klein followed behind, deliberately slowing his pace to maintain a distance of exactly half a body length.

As she reached the head of the stairs, Lia nearly tripped over the carpet.

Klein’s hand shot out instantly, steadying her elbow.

Once she was stable, his hand was quickly withdrawn.

Not a word was spoken throughout the entire process.

Adèle grabbed a handful of berries and shoved them into her mouth.

‘Hiss, why do these berries taste a bit sour?’

Two in the afternoon.

The Royal Capital Mages’ Association.

The hall was a cacophony of voices, more bustling than a vegetable market.

Mage apprentices were running everywhere clutching documents, and lecturers were gathered in groups, arguing until their faces were red.

“Bernoulli’s fluid equation is pure genius! It explains why an airship’s lift changes with its speed!”

“That is Fluid Mechanics! It should be called Fluid Dynamics now!”

“Nonsense! That is an extension of Wind Magic!”

Lia walked through the crowd, her hat pulled very low.

Klein walked on her left, his tall stature blocking most of the surging crowd.

Adèle followed on the right, wearing an expression as if she were watching a good play.

“Lia, you’re a celebrity now. If these people took off your hat, they’d probably lift you up and throw you into the sky.”

“That’s why I’m wearing the hat.”

Lia kept her head down, her pace hurried.

“We’re going to the Patent Office. Hurry.”

The three of them navigated through the crowded hall and arrived at the second-floor corridor.

It was relatively quieter here.

But it was still filled with the smell of gunpowder.

At the doorway of an office ahead, two middle-aged mages were blocking the entrance.

“Hooke! That elasticity formula of yours is a complete plagiarism of my gold—”

“Bullshit!! I measured thousands of springs to derive that! It is concise! Beautiful! What is that long, stinking thesis of yours supposed to be!”

Lia’s footsteps faltered for a moment.

Hooke’s Law.

‘It seems the Mr. Hooke of this world doesn’t have a very good temper either.’

“Don’t look.”

Klein reached out, shielding the side of Lia’s face to block her view.

“Go that way.”

He pointed toward another passage.

Adèle followed behind, watching that hand hovering just millimeters away from Lia’s ear.

It didn’t touch her, yet it formed an absolute circle of protection.

“Oh ho?”

“Mentor.”

Adèle couldn’t help but speak up.

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you being a bit too tense? Lia is a Third-Circle now, and she has so many scrolls in her hand. Those two Fifth-Circle mages can’t hurt her.”

Klein withdrew his hand, shooting her a sharp glance.

“Noise interferes with thinking.”

“…”

Adèle rolled her eyes.

They entered the Patent Office.

The person in charge of reception was a young female mage.

Seeing Lia remove her hood, the pen in the female mage’s hand dropped onto the desk with a clatter.

“Your… Your Excellency Farrien!”

The female mage stood up abruptly, her chair making a piercing screech against the floor.

“You’re here! Oh my god, I’m actually seeing you alive…”

The corner of Lia’s mouth twitched.

“You wouldn’t see me dead, either.”

She placed a stack of documents on the desk.

“I’m applying for patents. Regarding a magical conversion model for fluid pressure and flow rate. Also this, a preliminary concept for high-frequency oscillating circuits.”

“Cer… certainly! I will process it for you immediately! As the holder of the naming rights for Maxwell’s Equations, you enjoy the highest priority channel!”

Just as the female mage was stamping the documents, a massive explosion erupted outside the door.

BOOM!

The entire floor shook once.

Immediately following were screams and the sound of shattering glass.

“They’ve started fighting! The Optics people are at it!”

Someone shouted in the corridor.

“The Particle Faction people brought a mana cannon!”

Lia frowned.

These people were truly getting more and more out of hand.

An academic dispute turning into an armed conflict was rare even in the history of the capital.

“Let’s go out and look.”

Klein turned around.

The three of them stepped out of the office.

At the end of the corridor, dust and smoke filled the air.

A group of mages in white robes were bombarding another group in gray robes.

Beams of various colored lights flew wildly.

“Light travels in straight lines! Only particles can travel in straight lines!”

The leader of the white-robed mages shouted, conjuring a massive ball of light in his hand and hurling it directly.

“Only waves have diffraction! You bunch of blind fools!”

The gray-robed mages were not to be outdone, manifesting a distorted curtain of light.

The light ball slammed into the curtain, exploding into a sky full of light motes.

Several stone fragments and stray shots splashed toward Lia’s direction.

Lia had just raised her hand, prepared to instant-cast a shield.

A deep blue barrier had already expanded in front of her.

Those stone fragments smashed against the barrier, instantly disintegrating into ash.

Klein stood before her, his staff glowing slightly.

His face was grim.

“Too noisy.”

He raised his staff and slammed it heavily against the floor.

Hum—

A terrifying magical fluctuation centered on him instantly swept through the entire corridor.

Eighth Circle.

Absolute tier suppression.

The mages still in combat felt a tightness in their chests; the mana circuits in their hands were instantly interrupted, and all spells were extinguished.

The smoke and dust were forcibly suppressed back into the ground.

The corridor fell into an instant, deathly silence.

Dozens of pairs of eyes looked over in terror.

“M… Master Klein…”

Someone recognized the man known for his famously explosive temper.

Klein looked coldly at the group.

“If you want to fight, go outside.”

“Damage to public property shall be compensated at market price. The bills will be sent to your respective laboratories.”

Having said that, he turned and looked at Lia.

The terrifying aura around him vanished instantly, disappearing without a trace.

His voice returned to its usual flatness.

“Are you finished?”

Lia waved the receipt in her hand.

“Finished.”

“Let’s go. To eat.”

Klein stepped toward the stairs.

The mages who had been seeing red just a moment ago now obediently cleared a path, standing against the walls and not daring to breathe.

Lia followed behind.

As she passed the leading white-robed mage, she paused.

That mage was looking at her nervously.

Lia looked at the baffle in his hand used to demonstrate “particle properties.”

She let out a sigh.

“Have you ever considered,” Lia said softly.

“That perhaps you are both right?”

The white-robed mage froze.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

Lia shook her head and hurried to catch up with Klein.

‘It’s too early to say. Only after these people beat each other’s brains out will they be willing to sit down and listen to what “Wave-Particle Duality” means.’

Adèle walked at the very end.

She watched the two figures walking side-by-side in front of her.

Lia was looking down at the bill in her hand, saying something—likely calculating how much patent royalties she could get.

Klein listened with his head tilted to the side, nodding occasionally.

Adèle pulled a piece of jerky from her bag and took a savage bite.

“Hopeless.”

She muttered indistinctly.

“These two are absolutely hopeless.”

In the past, it was Lia unilaterally depending on Klein’s martial prowess.

Now, it was Klein unilaterally enjoying the feeling of being depended upon.

And besides…

Adèle recalled the shield Klein had instantly expanded just now.

That reaction speed.

It was an instinct as natural as breathing.

Gnawing on the jerky, Adèle hurried to catch up.

“Hey! Wait for me! I want to eat at that roast duck place in the east of the city! Mentor’s treat!”

Lia’s voice came from ahead.

“I want to eat that too. And I want an extra order to go.”

Klein’s voice followed immediately.

“Two orders.”

“Lia can’t finish it all.”

“Take it back for a late-night snack.”

Adèle rolled her eyes.

This life was impossible to live.

Spring in the capital brought a slight chill with the breeze.

But around certain people, summer had already arrived early.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Your Highness, I Want to Eat You

BLFantasyTransmigration

Read Now →
Not interested