Sarah looked straight at each of the hardened faces of her disciples and threw off the cloth covering her face. Then she could feel them flinching slightly. She smiled bitterly and stopped creating letters in the air. Then she spoke with her voice.

“Here, I no longer exist as the master you know. So you shouldn’t be here.”

It was a firm but strict word. They couldn’t say anything when they saw their master’s face stiffen for the first time. Because they were rejected by their master even before they could adapt to her face and voice. Among them, Benjamin came to his senses first and said, grabbing Sarah’s hem.

“The place where I will be is next to Master.”

“Your master, the Great Elder of the magic tower, is in the magic tower, not here.”

Benjamin’s face hardened at his master’s gentle but cold words. Oliven said with a contorted face and wept.

“No, Master is not in the magic tower right now! A magic tower without Master means nothing to us!”

“That’s why.”

“Then, then why did you……”

“How long did you plan to be under your master’s shadow?”

At her words, Oliven didn’t say anything, as if he had been caught off guard. How long. It was a question he had never thought of. Because it was so natural to be by his master’s side.

“You are all magicians who can be on your own now. But how long are you going to be tied to me?”

“……For the rest of my life if I can.”

“Benjamin, that’s not what I want.”

Sarah shook her head and said in a more stern voice.

“Just look at what you guys have done just because I disappeared from the magic tower.”

“……”

“If it wasn’t for me and Duke Ambrosia to take over, you would have become a force that attacked the Imperial family. I think you already know what this means.”

Benjamin, Belluna, and Oliven quietly knelt down and nodded their heads. Even if they had ten mouths, they had nothing to say. If they were found to be magicians, the Crombell Empire would somehow try to seize the power of the magicians, and they didn’t know what other Empires and Kingdoms would do to guard against the power of the Crombell Empire. It had now been 100 years since the Continental War ended. It was too long for peace to last, but they were too accustomed to the present peace to wage war again. Sarah’s disciples almost became a fuse in breaking the 100-year-old peace.

“It would be good to take some time to think about why the magicians go into the magic tower and don’t come out. All three of you”

“Yesss……”

“I understand.”

“……”

Each of them nodded quietly, but Sarah knew. She knew that they were children who could cause other accidents with their calm faces that seemed to listen to her well. Even though she had scolded them countless times in the magic tower, weren’t they the children who still caused big and small incidents here and there?

“Haa. Please tell me that this is all you’ve ever done.”

“……Of course, it’s everything.”

Oliven nodded his head vigorously, although his words were awkwardly vague. Sarah squinted at the appearance. Then Oliven lowered his head and avoided her gaze. He was feeling a bit uneasy.

“Your disposition will be decided after consultation between me and the elders of the magic tower. Just reflect on yourself here until then.”

At Sarah’s words, Oliven raised his head. His eyes, which were trembling in shock, turned to her.

“You’re going to send us back to the magic tower?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Master!”

Benjamin called her with a desperate voice, but Sarah had no mercy. She had always been an infinitely weak master to her disciples in the magic tower, but this time it was different. She was heartbroken that all three of her disciples were crying, but she thought she should be strict as they were precious to her.

“I made it clear that your master wasn’t Sarah Millen, but the Great Elder of the magic tower.”

“……!”

“That’s my meaning and will. I want you to respect me.”

At Sarah’s words, the disciples said nothing. It meant that they could no longer approach their master who had the identity of Sarah Millen. As long as they were the disciples of the Great Elder of the magic tower.

“There must be something we can do here, too. The power that Master was studying, hasn’t been fully figured out yet.”

Benjamin desperately tried to convince Sarah. He wanted to stay with his master, even if he had to prove his worth somehow.

“Benjamin, I’m saying I don’t want to entrust my work to you anymore.”

“……!”

His face contorted as if it was about to collapse. Oliven, who was quietly cheering for Benjamin next to him, also collapsed.

“If Master’s will is so, I will respect it.”

Only Belluna had her head bowed with a calm face. Sarah turned back to give her disciples time to accept the situation. They were smart children, so they would realize it quickly. Before she grabbed the doorknob and opened it, she turned back and looked at Oliven, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, and Oliven?”

“Yes! Master!”

“Come out and talk to me later. I have a lot to tell you.”

“……Urk.”

Oliven’s face immediately became tearful at the sound of his master’s eerie voice.

“Are you mad at me?”

“That’s a given.”

With that last word, she slammed the door shut and left.

“……”

“……”

“……”

After Sarah left, Benjamin, Oliven, and Belluna fell into a heavy silence. Oliven cried quietly lying on the floor. Starting from around his eyes, the floor was soaking wet. Belluna, who had been contemplating for a moment while looking at him, got up and approached him.

“Oliven.”

“……What?”

“You have something else, right?”

“What?”

“Aside from that magic stone, you caused something more, right?”

Oliven’s shoulders flinched at Belluna’s words. He replied, still lying on the floor and not raising his head.

“There’s nothing moree.”

“I’m sure there is.”

“There isn’t!”

“There is.”

“There isn’t!”

Eventually, Oliven jumped up and jumped in denial. But Belluna, who was more suspicious of his appearance, narrowed her eyes. It was so similar to his master’s appearance a while ago that a cold sweat broke out on Oliven’s back.

“Why do you think so?”

“Because I don’t know what you did while we were apart.”

“What are you talking about? I told you everything. I told you everything about combining two magic stones. What else would I hide?”

“Yes, you’re good enough.”

Oliven quietly kept his mouth shut at the resolute answer full of certainty.

“Now I won’t go with what you’re doing again.”

“Hey, Belluna……”

“Whatever you caused, it has nothing to do with me. You’d better tell Master clearly as well.”

Belluna said so and turned her back on Oliven. She strode over with her long legs and grabbed the doorknob her master had opened and left. But the door rattled and didn’t open.

“[Smash it.]”

Seeing the door was unlocked by breaking the doorknob with magic, Oliven rubbed his arms with goosebumps. Anyway, he was more afraid of Belluna than Benjamin. Oliven looked at Benjamin with his last hope until he couldn’t see the back of Belluna, who had gone out like that.

“You know, Benjamin……”

“The same goes for me.”

But Benjamin, noticing the hint, stopped him in advance.

“Don’t tell me, don’t talk to me. Ah, just don’t breathe.”

“……That’s too much.”

Benjamin also looked at Oliven with cold eyes, then followed after Belluna. Oliven, who was left alone, fell down on the spot again. He murmured in a low voice as he rubbed his cheek against the damp, cold floor.

“Belluna has a really good sense.”