Late at night, at Raphael’s mansion.
After many twists and turns, we finally made it back safely.
According to Aransel, Sohan had gone off with So-woon.
So in the end, it was just Aransel and me who returned to the mansion.
We only went there to gather some information, but never expected things to turn out like this.
I’ve learned once again the hard way. When you see signs of trouble, be cautious.
More than that, the mansion felt strangely quiet.
“Our dear master is nowhere to be found, even though her beloved disciple was in grave danger.”
“I envy how shameless you are, Haru.”
“It’s okay, Aransel. You’re plenty shameless too. Be confident.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
Listening to Aransel grumble, we stepped into the mansion.
Just then, we ran into the head butler rushing somewhere.
“Ah, Sir Haru, I’m glad to see you safe.”
Well, technically I died once and came back.
Aransel glanced at me, but I ignored her gaze.
“Yes, I’ve made it back alive and well.”
“I see. It seems Sir So-woon arrived just in time.”
“More importantly, where’s my master? We should inform her that her beloved disciple has returned.”
“Lady Raphael has gone to the Grace Magic Tower.”
The Grace Magic Tower.
The moment I heard those words, my expression turned subtle.
A bad feeling swept over me.
“…Is it because Black Dawn has someone inside the Grace Magic Tower?”
“So you knew as well, Sir Haru.”
The butler exhaled and looked troubled.
“It seems Lady Raphael has identified the culprit.”
I understand now why Raphael rushed to the Grace Magic Tower.
And with that, my sense of foreboding only grew stronger.
Black Dawn had targeted the disciples and made a move on the Star Cluster Society.
These were the disciples of renowned powerhouses.
If Black Dawn could kidnap them, it would be a huge gain.
But terrorists were usually extremists.
Would those greedy bastards really have carried out just one attack?
Black Dawn didn’t invest much manpower in the kidnapping.
They committed just enough force, barely enough, to snatch the disciples.
So then, where did the rest of their forces go?
My eyes turned toward the window.
In the distance, the first light of dawn was breaking.
Morning was rising over the human nation of Gladeon.
This morning, a lot of things might change.
***
Morning came.
I had stayed up all night, barely sleeping.
Beside me, Aransel sat in the same way.
“You could’ve gone to sleep first.”
“But Master and So-woon haven’t returned yet.”
Fair enough.
For a second, I almost misunderstood that she had stayed up worrying about me.
The head butler brought us coffee and snacks in the meantime.
Now that I thought about it, we barely ate anything at the Star Cluster Society.
I took this chance to eat my fill.
As I ate and filled my stomach, it was already around noon.
Just when I thought it might finally be time to sleep—
“Lady Raphael has returned!”
At the maid’s cry, I jumped up from my drowsiness and dashed outside.
As I stepped out, I saw Raphael trudging toward us in the distance.
“Lady Raphael.”
When I called her name, Raphael met my gaze.
She looked at me with an expression that said she had a lot to say, then tilted her head slightly.
“Haru, you…”
Did she hear that I had died?
As I hesitated while wondering, Raphael finally opened her mouth.
“The seed has sprouted.”
The seed has sprouted.
At those words, I finally turned my awareness inward.
Deep inside my body—
The seed that had always been firmly rooted had sprouted, and I could feel a fresh shoot emerging.
At the same time, the magic power condensed within the seed began flowing out on a whole new scale.
Now that I thought about it, right after I came back to life—
Judging from the moment I faced Aransel, I did resurrect more quickly than usual.
Things were so chaotic that I’d forgotten, but maybe the seed had already cracked back then.
If I had to guess the cause, it was probably because I’d overused the resurrection spell more than ever before.
I’d brought back at least a dozen people—
It must’ve had some effect on the seed.
“Congratulations.”
Just moments ago, Raphael had seemed so worn down, but now she smiled, lifting the corners of her mouth.
“You’re finally a full-fledged holy mage.”
As she said, once the seed was broken, you’re no longer an apprentice. You get recognized as a true holy mage.
At last, I’d shed the label of apprentice.
“So, Haru,”
Raphael looked at me with a smile.
“You’re expelled.”
…What?
I stared at her in utter disbelief.
I wasn’t even sure what I had just heard.
Aransel who had followed me out also looked flustered, clearly confused by the situation.
“W-Wait a minute. Master?”
“Don’t call me ‘Master’ anymore. And pack your things and leave by today.”
With that, Raphael turned to walk past me.
But I already had a good idea why she was acting like this.
She wasn’t the kind of person to do something like this without a reason.
“Does Black Dawn’s connection to the Grace Magic Tower pose some kind of problem?”
Raphael came to a sudden stop.
“…You knew?”
“I heard about it at the Star Cluster Society.”
There were rumors that someone from Black Dawn had infiltrated the Grace Magic Tower.
Raphael’s reason for rushing to the tower was also because of Black Dawn.
“Who in the world could’ve infiltrated the Grace Magic Tower for you to go this far?”
Even so, expulsion? I couldn’t make sense of it.
Raphael hesitated, as if reluctant to speak.
But after coming this far, she couldn’t keep it to herself.
And what came out of her mouth was shocking.
“…My father.”
Her father.
He was the master of the Grace Magic Tower.
The master of the Grace Magic Tower was affiliated with Black Dawn.
We had just seen the Scarlet Flame Lord ally herself with Black Dawn.
So it wasn’t entirely strange at this point…
But still, it was baffling to me.
How could people of such high standing possibly join hands with Black Dawn?
Then it hit me.
A gut feeling that Black Dawn’s motives weren’t limited to terrorism.
These guys… there was something more.
Something so enormous, it could even tempt the world’s strongest.
And I understood something else—
The problem surrounding Raphael herself.
If the Grace Magic Tower Master belonged to Black Dawn,
Then his daughter Raphael wouldn’t escape investigation.
The Imperial Family would surely dig into every part of her life.
And of course, that included me, her disciple.
I was a Transporter, and a No-Name at that.
The daughter of a Black Dawn member taking in a No-Name Transporter as a disciple?
How would the Empire see her?
How would they see me?
This world doesn’t punish criminals through fair legal systems like in modern society.
Here, mere suspicion is enough to brand someone a criminal and take their head.
The Empire hated Black Dawn.
They once fought a war against them—
That hatred runs even deeper because of it.
And when the target was a Transporter like me, punishment became all the more ruthless.
Raphael….my only potential ally—
She has already been branded a collaborator in crime.
Before she could even explain, my head would already be rolling on the ground.
And then I’d probably be brought back to life by my resurrection magic.
Damn it.
I imagined getting my head cut off several more times.
then buried in the dirt—
unable to die, but forced to keep on living.
That was the one thing I feared the most.
“……So that’s why you wanted to expel me.”
Cutting ties with me, her disciple, would save my life.
But if she actually did that, it would only make Raphael more suspicious.
A No-Name Transporter and her disciple who was suddenly expelled in the middle of all this?
Of course the Imperial Family would question her.
“It’s fine. I’ve had connections with a lot of people. The Imperial Family probably won’t go so far as to punish me too.”
That’s what she said—
But I could already imagine just how much hell Raphael would go through.
No one ever returns alive once taken by the Imperial Family.
That was one of the first things I learned as a Pioneer.
Raphael would be dragged in and completely stripped bare.
And even knowing that, she still chose to risk it all just to save me.
A sigh slipped from my mouth.
Life… never a day without chaos.
“Master, let’s not use the word ‘expel’. It just sounds too sad.”
But really, the moment I was transported here, peace had already left my life.
“Let’s call it graduation instead.”
From apprentice holy mage to a fully recognized one—
Thanks to Raphael’s teaching, I’d finally reached a level where I could show my face somewhere.
And above all, there was one bit of good news.
“And when the Imperial Family interrogates you about your disciple, just say this.”
Raphael wouldn’t have to be questioned about expelling me.
“Tell them: My disciple Haru died fighting Black Dawn at the Star Cluster Gathering.”
I died fighting Black Dawn in the Star Cluster Society gathering.
And there were plenty of witnesses from the Star Cluster Society who would testify to that exact same story.
They had seen with their own eyes how I melted away under the flame beam fired by the Scarlet Flame Lord.
Raphael, not understanding what I meant, widened her eyes in confusion.
Aransel who stood behind me simply let out a long breath.
Even if I didn’t plan to tell anyone else, this was something I had to tell Raphael.
Because she was my master.
“My ability… is resurrection magic.”
There was no need for her to worry about her disciple dying somewhere out there.
When I revealed that, Raphael’s eyes grew even wider.
The reason I could become a First-Class Holy Mage.
The reason I could be of help to Liliran, the master of spatial magic.
From the big reasons to the small ones—
All the questions in Raphael’s mind about me must have been answered at once.
The people who knew I hadn’t actually died were the head butler, Raphael, Aransel, and Babienne.
It was only natural that the head butler and Raphael knew, and Aransel had no reason to go around talking about it.
Babienne was a bit of a concern, but she also came back from the brink of death herself.
Even if she went around shouting my name, people would just treat her like a lunatic.
If anything, Babienne would be the one interrogated. People would want to know how she managed to survive.
As far as the world was concerned, I had died that day at the Star Cluster gathering.
Because of that, neither Raphael nor I would ever be summoned for questioning by the Imperial Family.
“Haru… what on earth did you get yourself into?”
Still unaware of what had actually happened at the Star Cluster gathering, Raphael looked stunned.
“In Earth’s old sayings, there’s a phrase: ‘The student surpasses the master’.”
Instead of answering Raphael’s words, I responded with a single four-character idiom.
“One day, when my name reaches your ears, that will be the day you proudly think, ‘I raised that disciple well’.”
There was still much I had to learn from Raphael,
But I had already learned so much.
And so, I bowed my head to her.
A show of respect to my master.
“Thank you for everything.”
“…I’m sorry. I wanted to teach you more.”
A faint shimmer of tears appeared in the corners of Raphael’s eyes.
She let out a breath and turned her head.
“I’ve learned enough. The rest, I’ll figure out on my own. I will read books and teach myself.
Besides, Holy Mages are valuable assets, aren’t they?”
Even just working as a Pioneer would be enough to make a living.
I might not be able to travel through two worlds alone,
But I wouldn’t be starving, either.
“Take care of yourself until the day you hear from me.”
Raphael would no longer be able to come see me in person.
Likewise, I wouldn’t be able to send her even a single letter.
Until the Imperial interrogation came to an end,
A master and disciple could no longer be connected.
And so, today was our last day.
My very first master in this other world—
That was how I graduated from my Master’s side.
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