Dad came back in a nervous wreck... but that was mostly because he was worried about Mom and my new baby sister. When it came to the events in the village... it seemed like things worked out.

Apparently, an old friend came by to help sort things out for him, so we didn't have to worry about anything. Though Dad mentioned that he'd be making a trip to the Citadel of Roa in the future.

Something about meeting with the family and talking about his job.

That was a red flag. And I tried asking more to find out exactly why... but Dad kept brushing me off and saying that he would handle it.

I really wanted to know... but a nosy kid like me would only make things worse. And he also seemed to be doing his best to play cool and not make me worry, so I let it be.

Didn't mean I wasn't worried though.

Considering all that Whitey did in the past, I was *really* concerned that he might be trying to do some sort of political scandal thing where he pinned blame on my dad somehow and tried getting us ex-communicated from the kingdom by being branded as traitors.

At least, that was how these developments usually went.

I think.

Past life memories were pretty much gone now with only random bits of knowledge popping up like a search engine in my head, so I could only trust that I wasn't misremembering stuff.

Hopefully I wasn't.

...Well, even if I was, that seemed reasonable enough.

Which meant that I needed to prep more. And think about what the heck Whitey was trying to do.

But I set that aside for the moment.

After my dad came back, my new baby sister woke up and started crying. Because of that, my mom woke up as well.

Dad got all super warm and fuzzy and actually looked like a dad for once when he hugged and congratulated Mom. And Mama Lily was proud too.

They tried to pull me into the happy atmosphere, but since Sylphy was still here, I dragged her outside to play.

Well, I said play, but it was mostly to get my racing mind to calm down.

Right. Let's not think about the fact that there might be a mounted platoon of knights or something coming our way soon. Or that Dad might go visit his formerly disavowed family and then get roped into trouble or accepting blame for something he didn't do. Or the fact that this might be about people trying to silence Mama Lily for not actually dying in that assassination attempt and that there might be people out for her. Or that-

A cold splash of ice on my face.

"Pwah!?" I spat out the snow in my mouth and then glared at Sylphy. "What was that for?!"

Sylphy huffed and said, "Rudy's ignoring me! I thought you said you wanted to come play!"

"A-Ah. Sorry, Sylphy." I took a deep breath and wiped the snow off my face. After that, I took a look around, purposefully taking in my surroundings to cut off my train of thoughts.

Our house, without a trace of Whitey's mana floating around. Mom's tree in the distance, now emitting holy and healing mana to the surroundings after growing for a year. Our courtyard, filled with beautiful flowers and saplings that my mom and Mama Lily were carefully growing over the past year.

A faint baby's cries echoing from inside the house, followed with my parent's panicked chatter and Mama Lily's calmed reassurances... and occasional laugh.

It was fine. We were fine. Everything was fine.

Even if it might not be in the future, right now things were fine.

So... calm down.

And the best way to calm down...

I walked over to Sylphy.

"E-Eh?" Sylphy blinked and tilted her head. "W-What are you doing, Ru-"

I gave her a hug and said, "Thanks, Sylphy. You're always the best at calming me down."

Sylphy tensed and then she laughed and hugged me back. "You're welcome, Rudy. Feeling better?"

"Feeling better." I stepped back and smiled. "Sorry about that."

Sylphy tucked a strand of her green hair behind her ears and then let out a bright smile. "It's okay! So, what are we going to play today?"

"Well..."

I thought about it.

...Sylphy had been terrified today. She saw the knights and didn't know what to do or how to react. And I hadn't been there with her, so she panicked.

That wasn't good. So...

I grabbed Sylphy's hand and walked her towards the open grassland through the gates and past our courtyard. "I want to practice manipulating some earth mana today, so how about I make some mud dummies and you try to cut them up?"

"Ooh! That sounds fun! What are the rules?"

"You win if you manage to make my dummies stop moving. I win if I tag you with one. Got it?"

"Kay~!"

"Great. Then..." I stepped back and held out my left hand, causing five earth magic circles to spin. "Let's get started."

-LIV-

In the middle of the Strife Zone within the Central Continent, far to the southeast of the Fedoa region and Buina village.

There, a single young woman walked out from a collapsing cavern. She adjusted her pointed hat with her left hand, her blue hair billowing in the wind from the destruction behind her. As she did that, she held up her right hand, idly staring at a small floating crystal above her palm. "Interesting..."

Roxy Migurdia. Wandering adventurer, Ranoa Magic University Alumni, the <Runic Thousand Master>... but most importantly to her, Rudy's Master.

She stared at the glowing crystal and then clenched her hand. When she did, the crystal dissolved before turning into blue threads, briefly flickering into a magic circle. But then that circle vanished.

Roxy looked out into seemingly empty space and said, "That's one more hypothesis confirmed." She let out a wry smile and said, "Though I wonder just how my cute disciple is doing...?" She looked up at the blue sky and said, "It's been almost two years now, hasn't it, Rudy? Master's doing her best with this gift you gave, but... It's kind of lonely." She sighed and then rummaged in her bag before pulling out another map. "Well. I'll just have to keep working hard. Knowing you, you're probably already trying out Emperor-ranked magic, so Master's gotta keep up. Though..." She looked up and then waved her hand.

Space rippled before something emerged in the air around Roxy. Something invisible to most people in the world, and understandable to only two.

Hundreds- No, thousands of magic circles intricately woven in an elaborate pattern. Control modules, elemental circles, broken down magic spells replicated in composite melded magic circles...

Roxy reached out to her right and then grabbed the magic circle she made from the magic crystal and fit it inside the intricate magical array.

After that, she sighed and said, "Masters really are the worst, aren't they? Taking credit for their disciple's works and then stealing their ideas..." She flicked her left hand, dismissing the magical array. When it was gone, she adjusted her hat and said, "Well. Master will just have to make sure to give you a proper present for your tenth birthday then... Ah. But if I want to do that, I should probably have a stable job- Hm?"

A faint flicker of color far in the distance. A pure white mist... and one that only showed up when Roxy looked at it through her <Mage Sight>.

"...Odd. That should be in the direction of the Shirone Kingdom..."

An unknown mana phenomenon. Not only that, but one that probably only Roxy and Rudy could see considering how slippery that mana felt.

"...Well. I suppose working as a court magician for a few years should be a nice change of pace. And it would be great to be able to try out some new spells instead of creating new ones." Roxy adjusted her hat and then started walking off.

As she did, monsters and bandits lurking nearby lunged out to attack her from behind.

Arrows, swords, claws and talons... various attacks shot out to try and cut her down.

But Roxy didn't notice, still lost in thought.

She also didn't need to notice.

On its own, the magical array activated, immediately repelling the attacks with ten-fold magic barriers before sending out a counterattack barrage of spells.

Screams and death cries filled the air.

But Roxy didn't even notice that, still wrapped up in her thinking. "Shirone Kingdom is small, but it's fairly old. A place like that should have some deep resources in terms of knowledge, but the combat forces should be low. There's a high chance of at least some King-ranked spell books. Maybe one or two Emperor-ranked...? Then if I take note of those... It would be good to start exchanging letters with Rudy and comparing notes. Ah, but what if someone reads them? Hm... I should look into mana conducive material. If I write a normal letter on that but write my notes in mana..."

Like that, Roxy Migurdia... Wandering adventurer, Ranoa Magic University Alumni, the <Runic Thousand Master>, Rudy's Master... and the <Callous Witch of Destruction> made her way to Shirone Kingdom, looking for a new job.